#rivervale_lodge

His tail is whipping back and forth.

Gerd beams "I totally made pancakes"

"...Good morning, Connor...."

"Where is your coat? And your shoes?"

An aside - Zara is sockless, and her toes are... very, very long.

Kerri tries hard not to raise her voice too loudly.

His ears perk and his nose twitches, and he spins around to stare at Zara in surprise. A smile breaks over his face. "It's my friend!"

Siv stirs and yawns. Clearly she feels much better.

Meanwhile, Kerri is trying to get the cold, wet socks off of his feet.

Siv will hear voices in the kitchen.

And the smell of many, many pancakes.

"Honestly...." she shakes her head and fishes a pair of warm, clean, Connor-sized socks out of the laundry basket. "Put these on."

Surprisingly, his socks are barely damp, and his hair is just dusted with snow. He lets her peel his socks off anyways if she insists, and wiggles his toes. "I had my fur coat on." He nods solemnly. "And booties look SILLY." creeping over towards Zara if he can escape Kerri's care.

There's the sound of boots at the backdoor, and Frank carefully makes his way in. "Hmm. Full house."

Siv wakes up, but not before her hair does.

"Did you have fun outside?"

"Dad?" as ifs he heard the truck... Siv gets up.

"Well...okay, then." Kerri's pneumonia-alert level moves down from DefCon4.

And she brushes the snow out of the boys hair, just as the kettle starts whistling.

Zara winces, briefly.

She gets it quickly and sets up the teapot.

"Kerri, can I help?" At the door, from which he might be worried about moving.

He shakes his head at Zara. "Oh, no, it's so cold and terrible and the snow is all fluffy and you jump into it and it all goes POOF. And you can draw pictures in it. The worst."

Gerd helps in the kitchen

"Well, at this point, everybody can help by moving into the other room. Connor's fine, I hear Siv getting up, and it's a crowd in here. Go. I'll bring things out shortly."

"Aye..." She scoots towards the door, balancing her plate.

His nose twitches curiously as he gazes at Zara, then suddenly dives away into the kitchen, and starts rummaging through cupboards. Finding what he seeks, he comes back and offers out to her some small lump wrapped in a napkin. ...one of the nice cloth napkins, at that.

"Come on, Gerd, you take the platter...." Frank offers to take some pitchers or something, herding everyone towards the dining area gently.

"Yes , Sir" Gerd says

Siv looks around, "Is there a raid on the kitchen?"

He trots behind Zara to offer his... whatsit to her once she is settled.

Kerri's used to managing the kitchen traffic and putting platters in hands en route to the table, and so everything is out in short order. Pancakes and butter and preserves and syrup.

"No, Siv, just breakfast." Umm.... what are the odds Brekke's told Frank about Siv's little adventure by now?

Siv's hair might appeal to sluagh sensibilities.

"Ah... thank you, Connor?" She takes the lump.

It would appear a bird has made a nest out of the left side and upper crown of her head

Siv yawns and scratches, all lady like then smiles "morning dad. Thank you for the car"

Within the napkin is a cookie! A very STALE cookie, now. Gingerbread, with an assortment of also stale cereal bits on it, some of which are raining off onto the floor now that the frosting has gone hard and crumbly. And it appears to perhaps have been nibbled down from a larger original size. "I made this for you. For Yule." He beams a bit.

"But you didn't come, and maybe someone ate some of it." A guilty look, ears drooping.

Sylvi comes downstairs. "Did I hear breakfast?" Flopsy hops in her wake.

"Come on down," Siv says "yeah..." Meanwhile, like a second head, Siv's hair seems to bristle in greeting to Sylvi

"Siv, what is up with your hair?" Sylvi laughs.

Frank offers Siv a fond smile. "Welcome. Go wash up, come down and eat. I'll save you some."

Kerri makes sure everybody has plates and utensils and enough to eat...and actually manages to get her own breakfast, too.

"Oh. Drat." Siv looks at a reflective material "Oh lord, it's in a mood. Be right back." She walks by Sylvi, and pokes at HEr hair as if to mess it up. then races upstairs

"It's a lovely cookie, and aged just how I like it. Thank you very much, Connor."

"Hey!" Sylvi un-rumples any damage Siv may have caused.

A laugh and up the steps has gone Siv, in a good mood.

His worry melts away as though her praise is the sunlight on snow in spring, and his tail flashes happily once more. "Oh, good!" surreptitiously sneaking a bit of the fallen-off cereal off the floor... munch, munch. "Is gub."

Gerd is sure to say "I did a lot of the pancakes. the Hearth taught me how. It's easy once she teaches you"