#rivervale_lodge

"Jaymes..." Her jaw juts, then sort of rocks side to side as she tries to find the phrasing.

"mmm?" Brow raised

"...have you ever... I mean, not chimerically, but..."

He waits. He's good at that.

"Have you ever killed anyone for real?"

"yes." He says simply.

"How do you... like, how..."

"A claymore " He says

Perhaps misunderstanding

"How do you get square with it, though?"

"Ah," A nod "Sit down. Listen. "

She sits, heavily.

"When you raised Flyswattter, were you planning to kill someone? or were you planning to save someone?"

"Save. He... he was the biggest, the only troll in the group... and he... I mean, he got me, too, but I just.. I didn't hold back..."

"You followed the code. " A nod "He wanted to kill , you wanted to save. It's good you didn't enjoy it. But nor should you hate yourself .. no one ever won a battle dying for his or her cause. They win by having the other one die for theirs. he chose to fight for death. You championed life. In the end, you each got what you fought for, but not in the way either of you hoped"

In an odd revesral, Tove is the silent one

She nods. "We weren't planning on a fight. But.. yeah. They were doing bad things."

"And in the Dreaming, Siv says, you die there you die-die. So."

"Ah, yes. He will be back. That maybe no comfort, but there it is."

Nods. "In another life, yeah. But.. it.. yeah. I don't like that it happened. I only hit him once."

"That's why I don't think it's very singable."

"Did he wear armor?" Jaymes says

"Well, I'd like to hear more about the rest of it to see if I can at least make a ditty if it won't make you sad"

She nods. "Uh-huh, but it failed."

"Flyswatter can hit hard. There was him... the redcap, I just hit him out into the sea. He flew like a grand slam! Siv took the sidhe and the piskie..."

"The sidhe, she tried to make ME hurt the chimera! The one I was protecting from them!"

"Mm then you gauged for him to be able to take more and it should have...but it failed. Bad craftsmanship" a grunt "His armorer had as much to do with it as you did"

Tove listens raplty "What chimera were you trying to save? It must have been precious"

She nods. "He... he was wonderful, yes. We went to the Sea of Honalee..."

"Puff the magic dragon?" SHe says delighted. "you... wait.. they were trying to kILL PUFF?"

"Right?"

Jaymes looks up at his wife.

"You can't kill Puff!"

"Who DOES that? " T ove paces in a circle "Puff is a friend to all children, even on T HYLE we knew... you don't kill PUFF"

Wow.. Tove's eyes are actually a bit dark and stormy

"He has other friends, finds other children, not just Jackie Paper." She seems very pleased by that knowledge.

Jaymes clears hi s throat (Your mother might be upset by them trying to kill Puff)

"Puff is alright. He healed me. And he... oh, he's wonderful."

Tove turns "he sees other children? Of course he does " She calms "There have been stories of Puff beyond the song, but to have confirmation... good g ood I..." She looks at her daughter then smiles "And our daughter saved him."

Jaymes ponders "Did you ask him where we might find a dragon bane weapon to kill his kin with?"

"JAYMES!"

"The bad ones" he clarifies

She shakes her head "I didn't want to upset him."

"mmph" he says

"Really, Jaymes. She's raised better than that" Tove looks at Dagmar, "You were right."

"He was... kind. I don't think he's able to be anything but that."

"Well, I'm glad to hear he's as nice as the legends say. So he told you he still looks after little boys and girls?"

She nods. "I asked. I always thought the song was sad."

"Well, there's a version of the song that was lost that had him finding others they say. So... guess that's true. " Tove nods

Jaymes grunts "Glad he's not lazy. "