#rivervale_lodge

"Then if you have sex with Bancroft, your folks'll live forever."

"Ewwwww."

Siv breaks out laughing

"I.. heh....I did it for you and mum, da!" more laughter "Because I love you both so..."

Laughter. "Oh, that'll go over great!"

A bit more laughter "Sorry, Dagmar, but, it is funny to imagine my dad's expression. He'd swallow his FACE."

A little snerk. "Okay. Maybe... okay, that's funny."

"Oh oh.. I'll be good and ..and change the subject" A smile "Okay.. uhm Yule gifts. Is there anything you want for yule, Dagmar, Sylvi? While I've got time?"

"Um. I... um." She blinks. "Whatever, I guess?"

"Well, I don't want to get you a new hoodie if you'll never use it, for example. Or feel bad if you don't"

"I have two hoodies. Jaymes got me a new one for school."

"...Do you think a bird house is enough?"

"Jaymes would love a birdhouse from you. Just make sure it dosn't become a Odinfeeder"

"For Jaymes? He'd love it, I bet. That'd be a great gift for the Chieftain, too, you know."

"Siv, I can always use another scarf or something like that."

"Oh... no, not for Odin..."

"Oh mom wuld like that, she has a soft spot for wild animals. Once, she watched two otters playing for hours. I mentioned they were silly creatures joking around while the beaver nearby was all serious. She gave me the weirdest look. " A shrug "Then smiled JUST a bit. I asked her what, she said 'another time' and then went back to watching the otters"

"Scarf or something like that, noted" She ponders

"Who doesn't like animals? Okay. Birdhouses I can do. They aren't too hard."

"We have got to get you out to the sea to see some whales or dolphins sometime, Dagmar. You'd love it."

"On the boat?"

"Oh yes, " she says "I know mum and da worry I'll sail off and not come bac, but I don't see why I can't do both." A smile looking dreamy eyed about it "The swells and bellows of the waves, the breeze above it...and all around you, the great blue and gray of the ocean where dolphins dance and sharks hunt, where leviathans lurk below, and schools of fish like great colorful parades pass"

"I'd like to try a trip like that."

A sigh. "I want to go. And go to the dreaming. And see dragons and unicorns and mermaids..."

"It'll happen, for all of us" Siv assures, "Dagmar will be sained, and we'll have a summer and who knows wwhen exactly? but it will happen. Sylvi, you're already doing great things, and Dagmar already showed all Pennons her war skills. We'll be amazing."

"We are amazing." Sylvi corrects with a wink.

"I wish I could get Sained for Christmas. But I have Odin and TwoBit and lots of stuff..."

"When's your sain-day again?"

"Oh you've done wonders, Odin actually TOLERATES Twobit, a dog, that's partially because of you, Dagmar"

"April, I guess? Since it'll be a year then."

"Spring Saining sounds grand"

"You'll totally be ready for a quest by summer!"

"Right! I want to go see places! And trods!"

"Oh we are SO all going to firnost to have a party or something the day after you get sained" Siv decides "or some other hold. Just wilders"

"Perfect!"

"Totally." A smile, even if her arms are wrapped around her torso. Her gloomy mood seems to have retreated entirely.

"Who do you want to invite for that? Symon I assume?"

"Well, sure. The squad?"

"Sounds good to me, now, Sylvi, you know Firnost best. Is there much to do there?"

A shrug. "It kind of depends on the day and who else is there. The last couple of times I've gone, it's been pretty quiet, honestly...so maybe I've talked it up too much...but still, we should all go, and you should get a tour and learn about all the trods linked there. You can get pretty much anywhere via Firnost."

"Now THAT is cool. Like - LA? Or Seattle? Or Disney?"

"Well, it might take a couple of jumps, but yeah, I think so."

"Grand!"

"What is the weirdest place you've ever been?"

"Ummm...well, the trod to Everwyrd is pretty wild, and Everwyrd itself is spooky. Nobody really goes there anymore, that I know of, but I guess it might be full of sluagh and I'd never know. And I don't know about weird, but EarthRunes is really pretty. I mean, it's totally all about the nobility there, but I had a great time anyway. But just for looks, it's...wow."

"The sidhe are... wow. Hard, sort of. I'm glad we don't have them here, really."

"Hey, Bancroft's a sidhe" a bit defensively "And he's nifty"

"Bancroft's weird. No offense, Siv, but he is. How many sidhe do you know who are thanes?"

"I... I guess, but, like, how do you look at him?"

"Like this..." She gets a dreamy look on her face and sighs