#rivervale_lodge

"She's really talented with woodworking," Sylvi nods.

"I guess so! Ok, so.... nice to get a chance to talk, Sylvi... Mrs. King, thanks again. I wish I could stay longer, thanks for letting Sam know what I said." He nods, waves, and heads out carrying the staff.

Tove looks at Sylvi once he's gone, "Your take on him?"

"Bye!" Sylvi gives a little wave as he goes, but doesn't get up from her chair. When Tove asks, she sighs. "I don't know. He's...kinda full of himself, isn't he?"

"Teenage boys tend to be at the high and low ends of self esteem in my experience." She says "he has a decent heart I think, but that doesn't mean that will always win out."

She nods. "Plus, sidhe-kin, so...." A frown and a shrug. "Hey, is Dagmar okay? I thought she'd come back down."

"She's been better" Tove says "But.. a moment." She walks to the stars, then calls up "Dagmar, I'm sorry but Adam had to go!"

A pause, and then the creak of floorboards and the sound of a door opening.

Sylvi listens, concerned.

Tove waits patiently.

Footsteps, before Dag appears - arms full of Siamese cat. "...oh."

"He took the staff, and.. he said the nicest thing" Tove says

"It was pretty nice," Sylvi allows.

"Oh."

"I screwed it up and broke off part of it."

Sylvi shrugs. "Might have been meant to happen. Seems like it's just the right size for him."

"Glad it worked for him, right?" She hugs poor Odin again, hiding her face in his fur.

"Hey...you okay?"

He protests and twines around to sit on her shoulders. Well, perch.

"Uh-huh."

A half-grin from Sylvi. "Odin thinks you're Yggdrasil."

That earns a bit of a gruff laughter.

"Odin is sure he's Odin."

"Anyway...he said this cool thing about how you and Tove and Jaymes have this...what was it, Tove? Something about family and strength."

"He said what you have, what we all have is ... " really cool". And that it says a lot about what strength really is" Tove repeats

"Yeah, that's it. It was nice."

Purple, frown. "Oh."

Sylvi frowns a bit herself. "He still bugs me a bit, though."

"Bugs you?"

"Well...okay, I was just saying to Tove, he's kind of full of himself, y'know? But more than that..." She pauses, then says, "Do you think he looks just a little bit like Count Hemlock?"

"Siv said that, too..."

"But, like, I've only seen Hemlock that one time...."

"It's...mostly just when he gives that smirk, y'know?"

"I... I thought he had a nice smile." Flustered. Purple again.

"Well, when he's really smiling it's nice...but...." She pauses, then sighs. "Sorry. The Count used to pat me on the head and stuff when I was little. I hated that."

"He does have a nice smile" Tove says

Tove smiles herself, this time at Sylvi "Look on the bright side. Now you could pat HIM on the head. you shouldn't, but you could"

"You guys know the Count better than I do. Honestly, I was so nervous and sidhe are hard to look at direct..."

"I'd get banished from the County, Tove!" Sylvi laughs.

A deep breath. "I was kind of anti-sidhe for a while, Dagmar. I mean...well, I was childish about it. I'm over it, but sometimes they just rub me wrong, y'know?"

"Nadeen can be pretty tough..."

"But, well, she's lonely."

A half-smile. "You're more generous than I was, back then."

"I don't know many sidhe, and most of them are far away?"

"In thyle we kept them as thralls...bound tightly. It was wrong."

Tove may never have mentioned that part of Thyle before

Sylvi blinks. "You...what?"

"Thralls... an old nordic custom of slaves taken by conquest. We hated the sidhe... called them..well another term that I will not say, it is best dead. Not I... I lived in squalor, but that does not excuse..." A deep breath "Thyle kept them locked because they hated them and were afraid of them."

Dagmar frowns.

Sylvi's jaw drops. "I...wow..."