#goldfinchfreehold

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set the channel description: A vintage, renovated recording studio by day, and commoner mews by night

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A new balefire springs to life…

Jimmy is the first one to throw up in the toilet, a feat that should go into the history books, but won't.

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The party goes on long into the night. Some eventually head back home. Others stay and find crash space here or there on the floors throughout the freehold proper or the upper floors. And in the morning, Sylvi slowly stirs in Colton's arms and blinks awake, listening to the sounds of people sleeping all about her.

She tries to move without waking her boyfriend, shifting to get a look at the room.

She hears music , even when no one is singing.

A pleased sigh, and she sinks back into Colton's arms again, looking up towards the ceiling, the riggings and the rafters. "We did it," she whispers to herself and the freehold.

"You did" A familiar voice, Sally mae "Congratulations"

"Oh! Hey..." She says quietly. "I didn't know...when did you get here?" She tries again to disengage from Colton in a way that will allow him to sleep on.

He grunts but she rolls him gently to the side

"Bit late," She admits "In fact, just now. Sorry I missed the party, but kinain can't donate much"

And she stands, smoothing her clothes as best she can, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm glad you came, though. What do you think?"

"Piper was rightt. The value was not in the money it could make" She says "Oh, iwas told it doesn't have a kitchen" She holds up a bag "I made something for you guys"

"Ooooh! Here, put it over here..." still whispering she leads the way to a longer table at the side of the room.

"Only a third of it is Spamrelated" Wryly

She does set it down

"Oh, I heard about the Spam-ageddon," she says with amusement. "I'm sure there will be plenty of people who are glad for this. The party went pretty late." She unwraps things and takes a nibble of what seems most appealing at the moment.

A mix to say the least, a few burritos, a sealed Salad dish, and some cold cut sandwiches (I leave it to your imaggination which one has the spam)

"How are you feeling?" Sally Mae asks

"Well...I'm just waking up..." she points out with amusement. "But...." She gets a listening expression. "I think I feel...tired, but refreshed? And...connected..." A pause. "It's a little hazy yet."

"That's not atypical... the bale is young, learning itself. Some seem to have a gender others don't... Talk to Chieftain Brekke if you're ttryinng to sort it out, but typically there's a reason chieftains ..err freeholders, end up staring a lot in the fire. It's like meditation that's shared for them"

She blinks at the kinain. "You know a lot about balefires."

"Except how to bond with one personally..." she says looking for a seat "that's beyond anny kinain. But yes, I was there a the lessons. Every DeBuke kithain hears them.Any moment we could get atacked, lose a family member ... if a raid came and killed half of us, anyone might get a fast promotion"

"Ooof. Yeah...you guys have always lived with that hanging over your head." She frowns. "I guess that's a factor here, too, huh? I mean...the Lodge would help us if things got bad, but we're going to have threats...and I don't want to run to them for help over and over."

"Let's just say you'll need to be ready to fight for it" she nods, "But the good news is you've got a lot of talent of all sorts"

"We do," she murmurs, looking around at the sleeping bodies. "Trick is, keeping that talent."

"Well that's on you,holder. " A smile "If I may say? Do everything you can to keep Piper here. She.. she loved this place before it was a hold. She loved it enough to give up control of it"

"OH, there's absolutely no question there. I mean...it's like her baby, in a way. I'm kind of hoping both the freehold and the studio grow together, like...symbiotically? I think that's the word." She looks around and sighs, pleased. "Even Symon gave it the thumbs-up."

"is it true this thing has a giannt shush switch? If so, no wonder he loves it"

"It seems to. He found it, but I haven't yet. That's going to change," she assures. "That could be one heck of a useful tool."

"You'll find little touches even at the smallest hold, not always Earth shaking suff, but little bits of whimsy. Every Ostara our chickens , we don't have many, lay colorful eggs"

"I remember that!" she smiles. "I wonder what else we'll find here. I'm looking forward to finding out." A sigh of relief. "I'm glad we're on the other side of it. The waiting and not telling was hard, and I was really afraid I was going to screw it up and the balefire would snuff out."

"I have to admit, I think the timing got cut close."

She nods. "It did. Things have just been complicated, trying to sort out things here and things at DarkGate."

A glannce to the sleeping Colton "How is... everything there?" Yup another look at Colton

Sylvi follows her glance. "Well...he's disappointed. I mean, understandably. And...we're working on it," she finishes, biting her lip a bit.

"Delicate situation for you both," She nods "I'm sorry, wish I could say it was easy, but a lot of holders I know are lonely even in a crowd. Clem has some fellows courting but she's not sure what to do about and how close she dare. Countess Jessica, well, I hear she broke up with Duff. And the Chieftain of Rivervale, thank goodnness she and Frank found each oher, but from what I hear there was a time her seat was just her. It's not my place to give opinions, but I'm goinng to give one anyway - if you want to keep him you're going to have extra hard juggling. That's up to you if you want to put that many balls, no pun intended, in the air"

She listens, and then nods, looking down. "He deserves...." she trails off. Then nods again. "Yeah. It's going to be complicated," she murmurs quietly.

"Let him decide what he deserves" A brow that resembles Kerri just a bit "And you decide what you deserve, then you compromise botth of you, if you want to try- THAT is how it works. None of this hanging from Odin's tree out of some martyr complex"

"I'm not that bad, am I?"

"Sylvi Davidson, one can never befree of their unseelie side, and even Seelie, you are prone to finding a way towards writinng yourself a spotlight, even in saving others, and your kith is prone towards playing Atlas when the world was rolling just fine without a set of shoulders. Maybe you're not that bad, but I am warning you you could easily slip into that if you try to do this wrist to forehead country song lyrics sounding taking the hits for others"

"or did you want me to sugar coat that?" She munches a burrito

Sylvi blinks at her, nonplussed.

After a moment, she says, "Tell me how you really feel, SallyMae." Perhaps a bit put-out...but grudgingly so.