#rivervale_lodge

"What..." Vali sstarts to sputter.

Frank might notice that the side of Jaymes' face that Vali cannot see just let a small almost smile slip

Frank frowns. "Are you planning to ask the Chieftess about this?"

"Frank, are you about to put up a barrier to me laying down a few thousand dollars to help with Jaymes getting a nice two bedroom house?"

Frank folds his arms over his chest.

"I don't know that she was all that comfortable with the novels, Vali. With marked understatement. "A video game?"

"Possibly a video game Franchise. And before you ask, I checked , the character will not be wearing a chainmail bikini...." Vali says

Jaymes pauses, "What protection could one possibly get from a chianmail biki..."

"Not.the.Point." Vali says "i am trying to help Dagmar here, and to a lesser degree Jaymes"

Frank does not seem moved.

The front door of the lodge opens.

Vali turns, hand moving to his weapon but not drawing it.

And one of the dogs barks and goes to check this out

The figure in the doorway is armed!

Frank looks over his shoulder, face grim.

"Hey?"

Vali goes to see who it is

"Dagmar?" He rumbles, glancing at Jaymes.

"Hey. Am I intruding? Hey Oak!" She crouches to greet the dog.

"No no..." Vali relaxes

Frank nods at Jaymes and goes to freshen his coffee. "Come on in, Dagmar."

"Hi Frank. Hi Vali." A slight pause, shifting from casual to something less certain - hopeful? Hard to quite read. "Hi Jaymes."

Jaymes , who does not often give smiles in full, lets one slip before it behaves itself, "Hey, Dagmar. I was just mentioning to Frank not long ago how quick you picked up on the fishing"

"Vali, give me a hand in the kitchen."

"Fishing was fun. Oh, Frank, Jaymes said we might go out on a boat next time!"

"Oh, also, next lesson, can we talk about Thallain? And Merfolk?"

Vali nods" Right away" and heads towards the kitchen

Frank nods. "Of course." To Dagmar. "Jaymes might know something about Thallain and Merfolk. I'll be right back." And he heads into the kitchen.

After a good ear-rumple for Oak, she rises to head closer to the fire.

"Well, she already heard my..." A shrug when Frank goes on in, then he looks to Dagmar, "Truth to tell, I did some research after the talk with you and Symon"

"Yeah?" She claims a chair, turning it around to straddle it backwards.

"Yeah, turns out the Merfolk are said to be even snottier than Sidhe, and have three noble houses of their own. Depending on which marine animal they have an affinity for."

"Now theyr'e not the only sea fae. You heard of Selkies?"

"No?"

"They're skinchangers, they have magic seal coats that allows them to take Seal or Sea lion form. Kind of like pooka, but they don't lie, and they're tied to the shore. they need to spend so much time by the sea or in it."

"What happens if they lose their coat?"

"In the stories, some mortals would take a Selkie woman's ccoat to keep her from returning to the sea, maybe even make them marry them..though in some cases the mortal really did love the Selkie but was afraid of losing her to the sea instead. Banality I suspect is the curse in these times. It's said that if you destroy a Selkie's coat, you destroy their fae soul. So they are very protective. Very romantic kind of guys and gals, Selkies but sort of sad."

She folds her arms along the back of the chair and rests her chin on them, listening attentively to the grump. "Sounds it."

"Are we close enough to see them around here?"

"Not in this County I don't think, but other parts of Jersey? Sure maybe. I'll try to find out."

"I've been to the shore."

"It was nice. I like the woods better, though. I want to go to Yellowstone - have you heard of it? It's got geysers."

"And bears."

"Heard of it," he says "Wyoming right? "

"I don't actually know... West? Like, way west."

"Look it up, let me know. I'm curious," he says

"Okay. Can do. Hey, do you know Jessica?"

"Frank's oldest? Yeah, met her, but I don't know her well. Now you want west? She's in Tijuana Mexico...south of California. Runs a hold. Siv talks about her. Seems to think her big sis is awesome"

She nods. "From what Sylvi said..." She hesitates. "Like, she's not really Brekke's?"

"She's adopted?"