#rivervale_lodge

"Fair enough. And I think being able to go to other holds has helped her with that. Our little girl has become kind of sophisticated." Maternal pride.

"Yeah" he shares in it "She has."

She grins at him. "Nicely done. Got me feeling better by getting me to think about Sylvi instead of Siv. You're sneaky. I like it."

"Either that or I'm just lucky, which is a more believable theory when you see how i married up" a squeeze of her hand, "Sides, it's true. Sylvi is learning not just what she likes, but adaptiveness, and how to take from life's tables the best of the selections. And yes, you SHOULD be proud of that, we both should"

"Yes...." Her tone trails off.

"Okay, what's that?" he nudges . He can catch that after all these years

A pause before she answers. "I wonder if she's being so adaptable that she's unable to choose a direction, a goal. I mean, she's only fourteen, and for her mortal side that's still too young to be picking a role in life...but she's fae, and she's done a lot of important works already, but she doesn't seem to be interested in committing to anything. You've seen how set Dagmar is on becoming a Thane."

"Yeah, I have" he ays "Look, honest to gosh, there are times I see our little girl as the next chief of this place. Crazy right? I mean, I'm not talking soon, hell, we don't age here, but I see in her some... maybe it's a father's cataracts ... I see greatness. Vali says she has a destiny. Not just her. How right he is, I don't know, but I think the best we can do is let her move around, see more options and eventually she'll find something she loves right? I know one can be overwhelmed but I'd rather her have too many options than pigeonhole her. She'd reseent the latter."

"Yes. I just...I want her to find her direction, eventually, so she can really find her strength, y'know? But...you're right, no sense in trying to push it, because that just doesn't work."

"What do you think would make her happy? What direction I mean?"

A baffled look. "Haven't a clue."

"Then we keep an eye out, see what makes her eyes light up and she talks passionately about." A nod "Best we can do right?"

"Agreed," she nods, squeezing his hand. "But for now...you'll talk with her? See if I'm right about the Nadeen thing?"

A nod , a squeeze , and a kiss o the cheek, "I'll let you know how it goes"

A return kiss on his cheek. "You'd better. Go. I have things to do." She swats his shoulder, then adds, "And thank you, hon. I needed that."

A grunt , a pleased one "It's what I'm here for" And off he goes to find their daughter.

Kerri takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and returns to do battle with the dishes.

And if there's a glilnt of copper in the far back..well....

(End scene)

(Meanwhile, Connor wanders off wondering where he can find Frank. He wants to see juggling, after all. That sounds fun to watch!)

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Sylvi feels a bit crowded of late, which is weird. Dirk is gone. Nadeen only visits for lessons. Yet lately the sidhe girl seems everywhere. School, of course, cheer squad, and yes now even often at Rivervale. She looks outside and sees through the window, the Chief doing her duty and teaching the girl about the fief, probably about nature.

She watches for a bit, absently scritching Flopsy between the ears while she frowns down at the scene.

Flopsy ennjoys the scratch then an ear goes up "Someone coming up to your door. Heavy feet, of course, I think your father..the boots are more distinctive"

And sure enough, a knock

"Thanks." She doesn't get up, though she does pick up a homework book that she'd set aside a few minutes prior. "Come in."

Her dad walks in, "Doing homework? good. " His eyes drift to the scene out side the window "huh. Well, that's the chief's cross to bear."

She looks out the window again. "I guess." A shrug. "Need me for something?"

"yeah. Wanted to talk to you about feelings" He sits down "how's that for a plot twist?"

She gives him a dubious look. "Um....you know Mom and I had The Talk a long time ago, right?"

A snort "Yeah, besides, why torture us both. No, this has nothing to do with boys."

"Well, now I'm confused" Flopsy admits

"Ahem" Olgar looks at the rabbit, "Go harrass the dogs for a few, would you, Flopsy?"

Flopsy looks over at Sylvi to see if she's okay with that

Confused now, but she gives Flopsy a nod and a parting scritch. "Don't let 'em catch you, but they could use some exercise, I guess."

"Let them catch me?" Humph goes the rabbit "not if I were in a fully stocked backpack with horsehoes in it" and to prove it, he STREAKS down the steps

She grins as he goes, then gets serious again. "Did I do something?"

Olgar nods "Flopsy's got pride. Props there" Then he shakes his head "Honey, you've been great. Honestly right now it's Siv giving your mom problems. And I'm hoping that resolves. Nah, it's what you left out of your report recently. Nadeen's arrival? "

She frowns and sets her book aside, glancing out the window again, and then looking back at him. "But...but I didn't! I'm pretty sure I included everything...." Her brow wrinkles as she searches her memory of what she saw and what she reported.

"You told us a lot" her dad says "What it looked like, a damn good listing of the chimera... How it freaked Dagmar out...attempted use of magic and more... but you left out the most important thing to me, honey"

"What?" She's clearly concerned about having left out a key element of a report.

"How are you FEELING about it? " he puts arms around her, "YOu just saw a mortal soul get snagged for the first time... wherever you might or might not think Tanya is now, it had to freak you out at least some. So... how are you holding up there?"

She stiffens at the hug. "I...don't...." A sigh. "Does it matter, Dad? It's done. It's not like we can undo it, or stop anybody else from doing it, and...." she stops...then hugs her father back, as hard as she can.

He holds on, and sees if she says more

A long pause. Then, "...it makes me feel sick."

"And powerless, sounds like. Nobody likes that, first time I saw it...I felt like a god had landed and an instinct to thank it for sparing me and taking the mortal. Then when I relaizzed how I had felt, I resented the hell out of her"

"I...she...it was like the most amazing, beautiful thing just gobbled up Tanya and...and...for a second I was like, why wasn't I good enough to get gobbled up? Just, like, a split-second, but...." she shakes her head against him. "Sick."

"It's not fair." A weak protest.

"I mean..." she clarifies, taking a breath. "I mean, it's not fair that they just scoop people up like that."

He strokes her hair, "no. It's not. I'm not going to be one o those assholes who throws around the 'life isn't fair' thing. Most folks doing that use it as an excuse to be assholes in the first place. Life isn't fair, but it wouldn't kill more folks to TRY to be. Sidhe? Sidhe complicate things." A sigh "Sometimes they can't help where they land. They're dying as soon as they arrive. Without a body, they feel themselves disolving and they can't come back"