#rivervale_lodge

"Frank?"

Frank spins around, startled.

"Brekke? Oh." He moves as the dogs dash into the dark.

A blink, and she shuts the door. "I heard you." She offers him a mug of coffee.

"Thank you."

A nod, and she looks out over the yard and gardens where the dogs are happily chasing each other about.

He sips.

"You are troubled by something?" A sip.

"I screwed up with Siv. And Vali's had a stupid idea." One is clearly more a problem than the other.

A brief sigh. "I have heard the stupid idea. I have given permission. What happened with Siv?"

"You did?" Startled. "We don't need the money."

"You and I do not. Vali points out, though, that it would help others. And...Silverhand is not Chieftain Brekke of Rivervale, Frank. Not anymore. The injury to me is minimal at most...the benefit to others is potentially great." A sip. "It is the right thing to do, I think."

"Mmphm." He grunts. "If you do not object, I certainly don't have grounds." He stares at his coffee.

"You have an opinion, though?"

He frowns. "I don't like it. But as you say. She's not you." A very small smile. "No one else could be."

"Ah!" That got a grin out of her, as well. "Thank you, my Heart."

"My Alaska." Quietly.

She reaches to take his hand and gives a squeeze. A quiet moment, then she takes a bracing breath. "Tell me of Siv."

A deep mournful sigh, like the soul of a foghorn. "I yelled at her. She yelled back. We haven't spoken since this afternoon." A pause. "Sally Mae thinks I'm a bad father."

"She's probably right."

A deep frown. "Sally Mae said that?"

"Yes. No. Not ... not exactly. I'm pretty stupid though."

Brekke sighs. "With Siv, we have both had our stupid moments. But...why did you yell at her?"

"She -sunbathing,- in a -two-piece,- on the -Rig!-" Hard to say what the deepest cut is.... no, no, it's involving the Rig.

She stares for a moment, trying to process the words into a single coherent image, but the impossibility of it thwarts her. "She...on the Rig??"

"Yes!" Pain and hurt justified.

"Right on the -hood-!"

A slight wince, and a sigh. "Well...did she dent or scratch it?"

"No." Muttered. "She wasn't wearing enough to dent or scratch it."

A quiet moment as she processes that. "Ah." Another moment. "Frank...that is bothering you, as well?"

"Yes."

"So...if she had been sunbathing on the lawn...?"

"It's only May, she could catch her death."

A blink...and then a grin...and a slight chuckle. "Frank. She has lived through blasts at sea and ridden a maddened Tyrannosaurus Troll. I do not think a breeze will be the end of her, were she naked as the day she was born."

"If she was little as the day she was born, that would be fine." Grumpy.

She reaches for his hand again. "But she is not."

"No." He sighs. "I know. I don't think she'll let me apologize, though. I remember the fights with Jessica, I'd like to think I learned from them but.... I keep doing it."

She frowns. "Why do you think that is?"

"I want to protect them and they don't want protecting."

The frown slips away, and she merely nods. "They do not," she agrees. "Jessica...she has gone on to do wondrous things...but also very dangerous things."

He nods.

He doesnt' like THAT either, but....

A pause, then, "But...you wished to protect her from cool air and warm sun...?"

"And... eyes."

A sigh. "My Heart...she is sixteen."

"I don't approve of that either."

That gets a slight sympathetic chuckle. "Nor do I. But it is beyond our control."

"Frank...come inside. You can apologize to her in the morning. I think you will both be more ready for it by then."

Frank nods, and follows Brekke inside with a whistle for the dogs.

The two dogs come in, panting and wagging and ready for sleep.