#elsewhere

"She's interesting. I wish she would come out and play like you do. Not just because she's a fairy, though that might be part of her nature. I just find myself curious about the sort of girl who is rescues unknown creatures, make her way unguided through the umbra, and brave enough to attack a bane-spirit head-on. You, I've learnt a bit about. And I DO like Dee, very much. But Sam is still a mystery."

"How about I take you to visit her sometime?" A laugh

"I'd like that! And I will send her a gift. Don't worry, my riddles aren't the mean kind. One of Raven's commandments is to laugh, and if she's too serious, it's not good for the soul. I know just the thing." A mischievous grin.

"Oh dare I ask?"

Her eyes glitter in amusement. "I can give you a hint, but why tell, when I can show? I'm a bit shaky still, but this I can probably do." She sits up, and glances across the picnic tableau, and picks out a saucer, and a bottle of water. Pouring a small amount of water into the saucer, she leans down, staring into the dish for a long moment as the ripples fade, leaving a thin, reflective surface..

the satyr peeks

After a moment, Dee feels... something. A tickling, a feeling almost like static, or the crackle of the air on a very dry, hot day. Nevara's lips move, and Dee hears something... but the words are nonsense, senseless, they fall through her ears like water dripping through cracks.

"i..." Confusion, shake of head

Nevara scooches back a touch, and the water quivers, and then splashes her on the face!

"Rude! Does your big momma know that you're behaving like this, pond-brother?" She speaks to the spirit, and then translates aloud. Nevara tilts her head to one side, listening to an answer that Dee doesn't hear, from something that Dee doesn't see. "No, be polite, your momma promised me a boon." She looks to Dee, and then reaches over, taking the Satyr's hand and lacing their fingers together. "My friend here is one of the fair folk, protectors of old of ring and glen, of pond and glade. Let her admire you?"

A ripple in the water, and something comes into being - or rather, it wavers into view, as though it was always there, and Dee can only now make it out. It's... a small frog, sitting smackdab in the middle of one of Marigold's saucers! But what a frog. The color and form wavers and shifts, like a channel that doesn't quite come into focus. First brown and green, then bright colored and vibrant, now dark and warty, and for a moment, are those claws on it's knobbly little feet? It's eyes blink at her, one after the other, first left , then right... and a third eye in the middle of it's forehead watches, unblinking.

A side whisper to Dee, "Spirits are very vain as a rule."

"Oh, you're lovely," She says "I can see why princes and frogs are so often in stories together"

her best courtly behavior

The throat on the frog swells up proudly, and for a moment, he glistens silver and gold. "Grr--nn---nnn--nnnkkk." He croaks.

"See, that's better. Now, Momma Frog told me she owed me - all of us, really, but I only speak for myself - a boon for taking down the false frog shifter banes. I'd like to call in my boon. I have a friend who I'd like to gift a present to, and I could think of nothing more fitting for Spring then a token from Frog."

"Rbbbbbibbibbbt!" He responds, and Nevara listens, nodding as the spirit speech makes sense to her. "Oh, nothing specific. Specifically, that is, nothing specific." "Crrroooaaaak?" " Precisely. Isn't that fun?"

A glance of apology at Dee. "Sorry for the one-sided conversation. Spirits speak their own language, you see."

"I see" she nods "or hear. No worries. This is amazing"

Nevara listens to the Frog once more, and then grins. "Dee, I think we have a deal here. Do you want me to barter for something for you as well? It may cost a little fairy magic, but I can always ask."

"Huh? Ooo tempting. I... oh.. no, no that might be beyond this spririt's power... helping a couple make up... that's a finese thing"

Blink blink, and his throat swells and lessens as it waits. "Frog is normally not much of a matchmaker. You want Cow for that, or a fertility spirit." Nevara translates.

"Or maybe Dove, for peace...." Nevara ponders. "It can get into all sorts of philosophical debates."

"See that's my ignorance" she admits

"What's Frog's speciality? If i may ask?"

"Frog is a totem of wisdom. This little guy isn't BIG MOMMA Frog, of course, not Frog herself, but he's one of her lil' messengers. Frog can manipulate the weather, the rain and the tides, and is related to seasonal changes, so Beltane is a good time to ask for Frog's blessing, their magic is high, Swimming, of course, and jumping, and oh, many little things. They're quite remarkable. Tiny and fierce, people forget that Frog is a predator, too, for all that he hunts bugs and small things."

The frog spirit swells up again and croaks proudly at the praise.

"And good thing too, thank you guys SO much for reducing the mosquito population" And she means it, "Hey, if I give him a bit of glamour, would he be able ot put in a good word for great weather this beltaine?"

"Let's see!" Nevara grins, and regards the Frog once more. "Can you add a bit to one of those flowery cookies?"

To the spirit, "O Spirit of Frog, listen up. What if I sweeten the deal with a treat? Here is a baked good of incomparable quality, from a fairy kitchen and baked by a master fae chef, and with a touch o' the fairy magic in it?" The Frog's eyes glisten, and his throat swells up once more. "Ah ah, it's not free. We want a blessing on this land for Beltain, clear skies and sunshine, morning dew and a fine sunset for the holiday."

The Frog considers, looking at Dee searchingly. "Grrr-nn-nnnnk." It opens it's mouth!

She puts just a bit of glamour to a flowery cookie, the green decorated one

"Did he say yes?"

The Frog waits until she holds it close, then FWIPP! A long sticky tongue darts out and pulls the offered treat into his mouth, where - even though the cookie was nearly as large as the frog itself appears to be - it disappears!

"Done deal!" Nevara grins.

"Well wow.. thank you!"

"Good trade. And..." She extends a hand and focuses... and her flesh shimmers, and skin grows out into half-fledged feathers, just long enough for her other hand to grasp and yank one out. "Ouch! I never get used to that." The feather is offered to the frog as well, who takes it with his tongue similarly. "That's chiminage - spirit payment, for it coming to visit." She shakes her hand, fingers returning to normal.

"Thank you, Frog." She bows her head and whispers to him, and the frog jumps into the air... and vanishes.

Nevara grins over to Dee. "Cool, huh?" On Nevara's face, there are now small patches of clean, newly grown skin, not the entire burn, but a start - where the water splashed her.

On the saucer, there is now a small brownish-grey lump where the frog sat.

"Hey, you healed up some.." A look at the lump "Ah.. what's that?"

"That's for Sam!" She picks it up, looks it over for a moment, then nods and offers it to Dee.

A small, roughly molded figure of a frog, in stone, or perhaps hard clay?

"Adorable, she'll love it"

"I asked Frog to add a simple Gift to it - that's like, our basic magic tricks. The trick to the Trick is, it won't manifest unless you figure out what the gift will be. She has to, you know... 'think frog'. Spirits LOVE that sort of riddle."

"Oh she'll get a kick out of it" A smile

Nevara realizes she missed a post, and touches her face. "Oh, I did? I did! Sneaky Frog. They can heal, it's not one of their common gifts. Now I look like a patchwork quilt." She smiles though.

"Oh hey, it's faster.. .annnd I could kiss that little prince for it"

"I'll ask a Falcon jaggling to drop this off for Sam after Beltane. That way they can bind it to her. Spirit magic is tricky if you're not half spirit like a shifter. You're half magic, but it's a different flavor. Close enough to work, though! Some of our kin can use Gifts too, but not everyone."

"I hear you, " She says "Of course, you realize from our point of view, you prodigals are just confused faerie that ggot lost right?" A grin

"Some of us say that the spirits of shifters who lost all of their kin turned into faery shape shifters. Otters, and ferrets... even eagles and owls. No one knows for certain any more, except maybe the oldest of the dragons... but there are stories. I hope they are true."

A smile "Oh you are going to love Pooka... or want to swat them. Either way"

"I can't wait to meet all of your friends! But for now, that calling made me hungry again. Are there any more of those little cream puffs?"

"Oh yeah.. try these.. SO good"

And Marigold will get a FULL report

(End scene)