#rivervale_lodge

"Mr. Gardner.... well, don't want to take French so..."

"Are there more, uh, Sidhe around?"

"Mostly passing by. Bancroft used to be in the area quite a lot. But he had to move"

"Oh." Disappointment.

"oh, Brogan. cute kid" Tove says "He seems mostly regulate himself to Kerri's side though."

She looks at Dagmar "Am I missing another?"

"Mostly just Nadeen, though."

"Could take him to Teaneck? Lots of sidhe, there..."

A flash of a grin.

"There are?" Immediate interest.

She nods. "Yeah. Most nobles are sidhe."

Tove says "be..careful. Not all sidhe are nice. Nadeen may seem a bit haughty, but her behavior is actually ..well let's just say I trust her to do the right thing mostly. Some sidhe are true tyrants"

"The book.... I think it said something about like, kings and the feudal system?"

"So, like, there are squires and knights - like me, or Sir Frank, or Sir Vali. Knights don't often have freeholds - but, well, exceptions for everything. Then there are barons, who hold a territory - like Chief. Teaneck, that's Baron Kealan. Above Barons are Counts - ours is Count Hemlock, and Chief, she's served him for a couple lifetimes. Then there's the Duke of Gardens, which would be ALL of Jersey, and then there's the King... in Apples, we have the High King, that'd be David, who ended the war AND he totally has a magic sword."

"Most fae don't have titles, though. Probably 10 or 20 to one."

Tove looks proud at Dagmar

Adam thinks about that. "And all of them are fairies." He confirms.

"And all changelinggs , no matter the kith, are supposed to be protected by and live by the Escheat" Tove adds.

She nods.

"You're like Sally Mae, so... a cousin?"

"You don't have the second soul, so to speak. But you have magic in your blood. Sort of?"

"But I'm not a changeling." He clarifies. "Im... kin, not kith."

"Right!"

"Kinain is the term" Tove says "For those who a not Kithain but are fae kin"

"And kin... kinain... don't have titles."

"Oh there are a few who have made knighthood. They're..very good" She says

".... I'm sorry. I'm still new at this, too. It's been about a year and a half... less, really... since I found out."

"You're doing fine," Tove says

He brightens at that. "Yeah? How do you get to be a knight?"

"Well - I was made a knight in a past life." Purple. "So I don't know the whole story. But Colton - he's a squire, so he's serving a knight, to prove himself?"

A shrug. "Ok. Can I serve you?"

Tove looks at Adam, then at Dagmar, "Ah, Adam. I think Dagmar is too new to knighthood to feel..ready for a squire."

"Oh. Well, someone else then?"

"Why do you want to serve?" Curious

Blink... blink...

"So I can be a knight. "

"Oh" Tove says then glances over at Dagmar who is slowly coming back to them.

"I don't know if I... I've only been a knight since April..."

"So, like, you're a junior knight? You get enough so you level up to Knoght?" A grin. He's teasing?

"You should talk to Sir Vali. I don't think HE has a squire" Tove throws the Beaumayn under the bus in record time to help her daughter

"Sir Vali. The French teacher?"

Adam checks the list. "Can I talk to him?"

"Yes, he's on the list"

"Good."

"So.... if he says yes, what then? What happens?"

"Well, I don't really know. But I would guess you take another oath, this one of obedience and he swears in turn to be a good lord to you"

"There are a lot of Oaths, aren't there? There were a few in the book....."

She winces "There shouldn't have been. Whoever wrote that is endangering changelings everywhere"

Adam is quiet a moment. "The, uh, Chief.... she's not going to give my book back, is she?" Glum.

"It would be like giving your average citizen a barrel full of toxic waste while you lived in a land full of rivers" Tove says sympatheticly, "But ..we have a quarterstaff made of fallen Blueheart Oak...Dagmar carved it."