#elsewhere

Siv cranes her neck, hope and dread alike in her eyes. Hey, she's got a scar on her lip, like it was busted recently

Jonas turnnns as well.. harder to read

Piper has a worried expression too. Her hair is a fluffy mess, and her sundress wrinkled - lake rinsed and dried in the sun. It's more the circles under her eyes, showing a bit of sleep loss. She closes her eyes for a moment as she stands by the booth, then, "I've missed you both. Siv - did you.. are you okay?"

"I'm scared to death you're not coming home" Siv says "So no.. not okay. You?"

"She means the lip" Jonas glances over Siv "From the fight you picked at that bar"

"Oh" Siv shrugs "that was ... fine" Piper can take either side, Siv is on one side, Jonas the other. Assuming she sits at all

She pulls up a chair at the outside of the booth, sitting so that she can see both of them.

Jonas takes a breath "What we have here is a quandry where each party has one basic disagreement on just what a compromise is. I am not a therapist, but pehraps we should use 'I feel' terminology?"

An uncomfortable fidget. She reaches across the table to offer a hand to each of them.

Siv latches onto it like a life life, and Jonas takes the other with a gentle grip

"Siv... when I asked for a break? What does that mean to you?"

Tentative.

She squeezes Siv's hand back.

"You ..." Siv catches her beath "How I feel about it is that you were gone for four days, without warning, and not responding. I feel you've been on a break, and asking for MORE break is just just saying you want out of us, with extra steps. Piper, you have a life in Bergen, I don't want you throwin that away"

"And I donn't wannt you throwin US away, but tha's Selfish"

Her eyes well up. "That's not what I want. You don't ..." She stops, and nods to Jonas. "I feel that... maybe you don't understand. I'll try..." A deep breath. "Siv, you're Fiona. You don't know fear any more. I mean, you're afraid of losing us, but, I don't think it's the same. When I face.. when I'm even around..." Her breath is shaky. "It's not a conscious bias, try to understand? There might.. I admit, there might be SOME of that, but it's more. My brain goes numb, and my.. my heart clenches in my chest, and it hurts to breathe. I can't think, other than to try to get away. I don't hate your squire, or any of them..."

A touch of untruth there, a flash of something in her expression, but we're not talking about HIM. "..I'm terrified of her. And no, it doesn't make sense, but... I can't control it."

"But what about Carowynn?" Siv blurts forgettinn the i feel stuff "he's beenn at the lodge plenty of times, at events you've been at. Att the store.. he's Liam and you NEVER freaked out like this with him"

Jonas says "Siv...lower your voice" A look to Piper "I have to say, I do feel that's a major .. point of confusion. "

She drops her head a bit, shoulders curving in slightly. "When he first showed up? I almost skipped town. I thought he was here to... I don't know. Take me away, or something."

"It's not so bad around your Da. He's Liam, but he's not sidhe... it doesn't... hit the same way." The Satyr is a bit standoffish with the Mountain, well, Mountain Emeritus, but seldom has it been that they've been alone in a room together.

"Yeah, but we cleared that up... least I THOUGHT we had. You've shared a ttable with the man, opposite end of it... " Siv stares "I.. why did't you tell me Carowyn freaked you out that badl yif he did? It was because of what i thougght was your closure with him that i didn't think there would be a problem with a mere kid"

"Siv.." Jonas says

Siv sighs "I FEEL frustrated you didnn't tell me that you felt that strongly about Carowyn"

Jonas says "Siv, she's been brave, and we didn't realize how much. She never really talks to Carowynn, and when she meets him, it's always with folks she trusts. " A beat "I wonder if the fact he's Autumn helps? Different..vibes. Unlike Jude, he actually did under go the changeling way"

Piper can't help it, she flinches a tiny bit at the name.

"I know you promised to keep Kassedy away." She looks to Siv, and swallows. "But I can't.. you can't do that to her. I've been thinking. A lot. Putting pieces together. She's living at the Lodge now... that means she doesn't have another family, doesn't it?"

"No, she doesn't" Siv says "She's been alone without family for years"

"Evenn before her dance" At the flinch, Siv strokes her

Quietly. "She needs you, then. To be her Knight, and her family. How do you think it would feel to her to be told, "Okay, I'm going home now - you can't go there because my lover can't abide you and all you stand for?"

"What's sad is, she's used to it." Siv tells her "look, i know you have a leggit phobia that I SEVERELY misread and missed. I'm sorry, but she's a wonderful girl. Heck, makes me thinnk maybe I'd like a kid of my own one day, as a mother. Little troll girl or satyr. No I don't see her as a daughter but it makes me think is all. Kassedy ggot sprung on you, but ... could you try to ge to know her?"

Eyes widen at THAT - they've never talked about kids. A glance at Jonas, questioning?!

Jonas looks STUNNNED

Siv looks at both of them, then blushes 'Okay. I'm the only one who thought of that? Ever. Well. I'll just die of embarrasment then" A blush

"I don't want to leave you. Or lose you. I did some soul searching.. if I wanted something, someone else I could have had it in any flavor over the past couple days." Said in a straightforward way, not boasting or trying to rub anything in their faces, just... satyr upfront honesty.

"I thought about it. It would be easy to come back and just leave it on you to keep her in your back pocket like a sidepiece, like overlooking a mistress as long as she doesn't come into MY home." Trust a satyr to pick THAT metaphor.

"And she's okay with that" Siv says "I mean, she understands she's nnot allowed at the appartment"

"But.. I'm not okay with that. It's not fair. That kind of thing, I admit, can work fine. With adults who understand the situation. But she's NOT a mistress, or an adult. She's a kid, and it's NOT okay that she should be okay with being treated that way!" Piper argues, somewhat surprising herSELF with her strength on the subject.

Jonas says "If I may? First.. thank you for your honesty... temptation is... well, none of us are above it. Secondly, what DO you suggest that won't involve the child banished entirely, or you gone from our lives? "

She fidgets. "Ideally I had hoped that she could be someone else's Squire." A sigh, and she adds to Siv before the Fiona can speak, "I know that's off the table." Piper retrieves her hands - not to pull away, but to rub at her forehead for a moment, looking strained.

"What I was thinking... when I asked for a break... I'm sorry. I should have explained to you, but I don't really have a good answer yet. I see now how it sounded." She apologizes to Siv.

"This is my trauma, my problem. It's not something for me to dump on her. But I can stop hiding from it, and find some way to get through it. I'll go on a quest... I'll work through it be interacting with other..." SHe stumbles a bit, and says it, "Other Liam Sidhe. I already know of one knight that a new friend said they can introduce me to... we have a bit of a shared past, he and I."

"If that doesn't work, I'll go on a REAL quest. And find a treasure, or a cure, or a boon from a freakin' Jack Skellington in the dreaming that blocks fear. Hell, if it took bending the knee and taking on the mantle of Fiona? I'd do it! To get trough this and keep us together. Not that they'd have me. I know that's not the right reason to seek a house." She explains, "Just... understand, this is... YOU are both important to me. And I will make things right. But it will take work, and time, and I don't even know how to do it... but I want to find a way."

"you would quest for us? For our sake?" Siv asks

She sniffles. "Of course I would. But quests aren't certain. I didn't... I don't want to leave you hanging waiting for me to try to fix my damn brokebrains. What if I can't? Maybe it's a curse from... before. Or the Dreaming warning me that I haven't atoned for what I did? I don't know. So I didn't want to make you wait for me..."

"You don't have to quest, we can work onn this... " Siv says "Together, but it means the world you'd try"

Siv can't take it, she moves from her spot and HUGS Piper

"I missed you, and I'm sso sorry I missed so many clues. I'm such a self absorbed bitch sometimes" Siv sighs into piper's shoulders "but are you sure you'll be able to face this friend's knight?"

She shoves her face into Siv's side. Muffled. "No. But I'm going to try. And if I can't, then I don't hurt anyone's feelings running away. See?"

That's when the bell at the door rings

"Hey, Therese, who is your friend?" A server asks

"This is Njera, she was in the mood for some food" A voice of the incoming sort

"Yes," Njera 's voice "Hello"