#rivervale_lodge

Hands clench.

Kerri watches her, quiet for the moment.

"Good. You can take the practice rapier with you and practice at your own home if you want... not sure how often we'll be practicing or if I'll be the regular tutor, but I know you want to at least keep it at the current level or better"

"He already liked Piper..."

"He misses you. As a friend."

"He has other friends."

"You are not a simple thing that is easily replaced, Dagmar."

"I can? I mean, I can take one to practice?"

She draws in a sharp breath, frowning, fidgety.

"And you are allowed to still feel angry at him...but he needs to understand that, and he needs to know what he can do to restore his part of your friendship." A pause. "And you need to know what you need to do to achieve the same."

"Sure. Frankly, if i t were up to me I'd give you a real chimerical rapier .... nothing like nearly killing yourself with a sharp object to teach you not to play with them"

"But the seelie of the group are a bit more strict"

"Yeah?!?!?"" Then, disappointed. "Oh."

"I can't be angry at him!" She shouts - angrily.

Adam glances at the yard....

Olgar turns at the sound of the yell

A blink. "So you'll be angry at yourself instead? How is that fair?"

"It's my fault."

"It was your choice...that does not make it a fault." Kerri is firm.

"If I wasn't so screwed up I wouldn't have been so bad at it to start with, and I'm already... I'm not doing it right this time either...."

Olgar says "Practice is over right now, Adam. You had a good start. Take your practice rapier and one of the light weight dummies if you want"

"Dagmar, there is no 'right.' But you need to find your way, and hiding from the problem or trying to kill it before it starts is not going to help you do it."

"I just need to find the right way to do it without hurting her."

"Or...you and she can figure out how to move forward, together."

"The same with Adam. You and he can work together to figure out how to be friends now. Not 'friends again' because you'll never be friends the same way you were. None of us could do that. But friends now, moving forward, together."

Adam takes the practice blade and...... leaves.

A soft noise of distress from the back of her throat.

Olgar waves to the boy with a reassuring nod

"And I know...it's a frightening thing."

"It's too hard."

"Is it?"

Jaw-jut.

"It's hard. It's certainly hard. But too hard?" She shakes her head. "You do the hard things for those you love. And that includes for yourself."

She folds her arms around her torso, sullen.

Kerri watches her quietly.

Her eyes are flickering, but her expression muddled as she tries to stay stoic and blank.

The Hearth tilts her head slightly, watching that emotion seeping through the cracks, waiting....

Star stomps a foot, tossing her mane a bit at Kerri. Menacing HER person.

"Star, no..." A break, quick to soothe the horse.

Kerri shoots a calm look at Star: I know what I'm doing.

She nuzzles the tall girl, reassuring herself that she’s alright. A snort, breathing sweet hay scented breath into Dagmar’s face.

"No, Kerri's okay. It's okay..." Soothing, reassuring - pulled out of that ramping-up inward cycle before it reached an explosion. At least a pause in the build up...

The mare calms under Dagmar’s reassurance.

That ramping used to lead to shouting and smashing. And, to her credit, Dagmar hasn't exploded outwards in months.

A nod to Dagmar. "Thank you. And I'll point out...Star is not a stupid animal, and she knows you are worth treating with love."

She bristles at the last.

She manages not to sigh as she wonders if she misstepped there. Silence again.

"Star's protective."

"Mm." A nod.

"She'll even protect Stormwake, though she won't let him get cocky."