#rivervale_lodge

"Oh..." She runs her hands through it, it should be safe too now " yeah, too punk?"

Brekke is outright staring at her, jaw dropped slightly. Once she realizes that, she closes her mouth and then shakes her head. "No...no, I..." Another pause. "It is dramatic. It becomes you." A strange awkward tension.

"Thanks. It was actually Dagmar's suggestion. Did you know she has dyed hair? I didn't. But I figured hey it can't get much worse so.. here we go."

"I...I did not know. And I think it is an attractive solution." She still sounds like she'd choosing her words carefully, but not out of disappointment or disapproval.

"mom? I'm glad you ah.. like it, but you're acting kind of weird. What's up?"

She runs her hands along the wood grain

"I...am remembering something. You look very like somebody I remember."

"yeah?" A grin "Who?"

"Well...me." A bemused grin. "Come sit, Siv."

"Wait, what?" A delighted smile "Oh please talk on that" She does sit

Brekke continues to work, though slowly, as she speaks. "You recall the tale of what happened at Thyle, before you were born? The betrayal that led us to find Jaymes and the other slaves?"

"Yes, a salt monster ambushed you...at the commands of the evi Gilderdgrain'

Her eyes as bright and engrossed as they were when she was half her current age

Brekke nods. "For all that Gildergrain knew, I was dead. I had to seem dead, but I needed to determine what we should do next and negotiate with those who could help. So I took on a disguise."

"to throw them off the trail. Yeah. Aunt Clem elderformed you" She nods "She told mee that."

"Yes. She elderformed me into the shape of a young woman, whom we would say was Brekke's daughter. A lean thing compared to my form, with a shock of blue hair."

"I..." Siv blushes, then touches the side of her own hair "So I.. you looked like this? Sort of? the same hair? that's..wow"

Another grin. "Were you ever told what I called myself then?"

"Noooo... I don't think that part came up. " then realization "oh you dinnae!"

A bit of a shrug as she looks up to recall the past. "I became Siv, and Siv became strong in my mind, almost another true self over the course of a few days. That is a danger of elderform, the forgetting of one's original self. So...months later, when you arrived...I knew what I would call you."

"I hope you do not mind that."

"Mind it? I ... love it. I've always worried I was born from near nothing, not normal and here I discover YOU and Dad didnt' just have me, you dreamed me. I.. I'm never changing my hair again"

She's agog and delighted and hugs her mother

A slight sound of surprise at the hug and an amused tone. "Well, if that makes you happy, well enough. I do think it suits you." She carefully touches a lock of the blue hair and nods.

"I owe Dagmar so big. She's like a little sister you know? I mean, at least she's my cousin but she's really been great."

"I am glad. And...I am surprised. I did not think Dagmar would know how to do such a thing. Has she done it to her own hair as well?"

"I think anyone messing with her hair better be prepared to die, mum. I'm not sure I'm joking. Far as I know only Aunt Kerri has come close and she took her that one time to a specialist or something? "

"I do not know much about that." She indicates her own very Scandinavian, very long braid. "But I am glad that you have given her another way to show her talents."

"I do love your braid" She says meaning it "but I don't think I could pull it off like you do."

"Well, there is no need for you to try, is there. It is not a uniform. Your style is different, just as you are."

"I suppose not, but the fact what I have now was dreamt by you , worn by you, even in disguise? It's... like we're sharing something. I like that." She returns her gaze to the wood "Do you already have it all in your head how it's going to turn out?"

"Mm." A nod. "Mostly. Of course, what I think I see and what eventually emerges are never identical. The wood will tell me where I need to make adjustments...but it will be close enough, I think. And, if not, I will try again."

She nods and ponders "this is another way you touch nature, isn't it? Taking the tree's offering of itself and making its beauty last even longer?"

A slow nod, and a careful shaving of an angle, bringing away a delicate curl of wood. "I try to do it justice."

"Me I used to see trees and go "Would it make a good hull or yardarm?' but Im afraid you've worn me down. I saw this beautiful tree the other day, would have been great for a masthead. You know what came to my mind instead?"