#rivervale_lodge

"I don't know. Dating is not really..." She shrugs.

A sigh, and Sylvi thinks about that for a few moments. "I think...I think if it's something you both talk about, and not when one of you is not-quite-you, but when you're both being really yourselves...then what you decide is going to be better than getting angry at something said during an enchantment or whatever."

"Aye." She ponders "I ..it's been getting intense with Bancroft. GOOD intense, but ... I'm only 17. I'm not.. Oh" A sigh "I'm a lousy troll"

"No, you're not. And...I know he was talking about stealing you away to Hibernia with him. And that IS intense."

"YEAAHH..." She says "He.. when he apologized, he all but proposed. And.. a part of me froze up. I mean..holy shit."

She rubs her arms a bit

"Ooof. Do your folks know?"

"Seventeen is too young to get hitched."

"And you're a very good troll."

"He didn't EXACTLY Propose, but he..offered to take me to Hibernia, move in with him.. the whole.. whole deal. "

"I mean, the Truthbranches did, but they were truehearts before. You....wait, Siv...you don't remember Bancroft from the Dreaming, right? This isn't some ancient thing, right? It can't be!"

Truth to tell Siv looks a bit spooked, "I was tempted"

"It can't be'" She reminds them "This is my first and likely last life"

"Oh, see, THAT could be a quest..."

"Right...right...Oh, that is so weird, not having been here before...."

"It could, but her quest, not ours," she points out to Dagmar. "And like she said, it's not."

"Quest ? Didn't you guys nearly blow up the Winter Palace or something?" a bit of teasing

"GEEZ, Siv! SHHhhhhh!"

"..not that nearly."

"That's not even funny!"

"Okay okay, but it's not exactly a secret for long atl east not IN the lodge"

"Right, but...well...just don't talk about it, okay? I mean, nobody else needs to know."

"Oh agreed... sounds like I missed a really strange ride" She says "You two ARE okay right? Maybe if I'd gone with.. well, no I guess I wouldn't have made much of a difference"

"You were a sidhe. We probably wouldn't have been able to get anywhere near Goblin Town if you were with us."

"It worked out, so - right? We're good."

"Yeah. Of course. Totally good." Sylvi nods.

She eyes Siv. "How did you like being a sidhe, anyway?"

"Oh yeah, they're not Sidhe Friendly" She says then thinks about Dagmar's question "I felt, so sure of things. It wasn't ..simply arrogance, arrogance is too ..one dimensional. I knew, without a doubt, that I was the heir to the Tuatha Dananan, and that there was an order to the universe that I was crucial too, and that it might cost me my life, but I needed to be there for my people. It wasn't trollish duty but.. it .. I see what some say about troll and sidhe being closse even when opposed"

"Because duty first? Dunno if that's all sidhe..."

"It's not duty first...it's privilege first. And authority first."

A sigh. "Sorry. I still...there's some who just like being in charge, and don't live up to what that really means."

"I am okay not being in charge."

"It's not... I was quite aware that the Unseelie nobles were out there.. that the dance, the great game, was in motion and I should be ready for them. I..part of me looked forward to it. Like matching myself against htem, by steel or shadow, was part of the dance... " SHe looks at Sylvi "I'm not sure it was that... I mean, it was... but it also recognized the .. so hard to explain. I did not think the common folk were nothing.. far from it, I cheerished them, and i knew they were crucial it's just.. I felt no shame in moving them, by leadership or guile to where they needed to be for our success. For the land's needs. I.. I think it will take a while to process it all"

"It sounds complicated."

"Well, I'm glad you're you, and Chief is Chief, and everyone is everyone, even if it WAS fun..." A pause and an odd look as something occurs to her.

"It was... and yet so obvious" Siv admits "And I'm with you, Dagmar. I think perhaps I might captain a ship, but I'll never be a leader of a home or hold. Which, I suppose doesn't bother me"

"Well, a little it bothers me" she adds

Sylvi looks at Dagmar. "Hey, for what it's worth, you made an uber-cute satyr. Did you enjoy it? Being a satyr?"

"She's right, you totally made a great satyr. Like you better as a troll, but you were having so much fun I'm glad you did take the cookie" Siv agrees

She nods. "It was good. Fun. I felt... lighter, does that make sense? Like... in the moment?"

Sylvi sighs. "So did I...but now I gotta pay for it."

"Well, auto heist."

"Pay for it? Oh yeah, your mum was hissing mad"

"Good cause!"

"Hopefully you'll be allowed to have friends over?"

"I heard she was a sluagh...but she changed back before I got home."

"What did she look like?"

"And yeah, I hope you guys can visit me in my time of need." A wry grin.

"I didn't see her, she was hiding under the stairs."

"Under the stairs? Wowww...."