#rivervale_lodge

Tove munches her breakfast muttering something about everyone getting to tell her what to do.

She may not have a sluagh's sense of a Troll looming comfortably nearby, but eventually she may feel a set of eyes on her.

"Hello?" She turns and for a moment is confused until she realizes she's gotten used to looking at troll level. Her eyes lower

Connor is in boy form, sitting just underneath a coffee table, and gazing at her solemnly. "lo."

"Hi, Connor. How are you?" She says

He gives this question a good deal of thought, then comments, "Everyone was loud and worried. But now they're quiet and worried."

"I had a bit of a spill, but I, and the baby, are fine" Tove says and pats the spot next to her for him to sit down on

He comes over and hoists up a bit to sit beside her. "Did you trip over a stick? I cleared the ones on your yard, I did. But there are still ones on the paths. I can get those, too." The yard HAS been rather clear since, oh what was it, a month ago, that one time she asked him to tidy away some fallen stuff. His expression is sober and he seems intent that yes, if she asked it, he would clear every branch and twig from the entirety of the forest pathways.

"I have not thanked you recently for all your hard work," She says, "how rude of me. No, it was not over a stick. You helped prevent that." She kisses him on the forehead, "I owe you a meal and maybe some fun money don't I?"

"I watched the Dorothy movie with Flapjack so that he could see that the Lion had courage all along. But then when I was in bed, I 'membered the part with the trees and the apples, and dreamt maybe they don't LIKE when we take their branches even if they dropped 'em, and what if they reached out and grabbed me up and pulled me apart? It was a bad snooze."

"Oh my... yes. Nightmares can be very rude like that" Okay, now he's getting a hug, "But in the end, Dorothy and her friends win out, and you are even more clever than Toto"

"Toto defeated the scary wizard, and turned him into a silly old man." A grin at that.

"Very pooka of him, don't you think? To reveal illusions by poking fun at them?" She nods

He nods with a grin. "I was thinking, maybe I don't work by job for a bit. I could come by and visit. When Dagmar is Sam, and Mister Jaymes is 'hey-do-ya-got-any-more-in-the-back', I could run up and down the stairs. Then you can stay just up or just down, and they won't have to be all forehead liney, like..." He tries a worried look, but just seems to be making a squinched up comical face.

"I know when Miss Kerri was sick and getting better she didn't like A Fuss and Everyone Looming Over Her, but I'm too small to loom."

"Did Jaymes or Dagmar put you up to this?" Her brow lifts.

He nods. "Oh, yes. They cornered me and grabbed my scruff and gave it a big ol' shake and said listen here you beastie, that Tove is a wimpy wuss and can't take care of herself worth nothin! You better babysit her or there's a whallop in it for you!" A nod. "They always sound just like that."

She huffs and crosses her arms and looks at him

A sheepish grin and a single twitch of his tail. "Or maybe, I was thinkin, if they're all worried then Mister Boss won't want to go to work. And Dagmar won't want to go be Sam at school. But I can't do either of those things, I can't make the Register go, or doodle on tests. But this is something I CAN do."

"And even if you don't need me, it might make their foreheads less worried."

"You are sneaky clever" She says after a moment, uncrossing her arms, "And perhaps have spent too much time around we trolls. Getting all protective"

"Is that a bad thing? I didn't think I could have TOO MUCH Troll. I'm only so big, I'm like a little half pint and you're a bunch of those big steins. I can only have maybe a half pint of protective before it overflows. But that's okay, I'll just slosh some out the edges to make sure there's still room for pooka."

"Mm good, because you're a very good pooka. Maybe it's just the shepherd in you?" She offers "They're always looking after folks. Fine, I will tell my husband and daughter that you will be spending time with me as an extra pair of hands and eyes . Maybe they'll feel better. There's a price to this, of course. You'll have to help with some food tasting... pre spiced if you want."

His eyes wide and his tail thumps. "Oh, dreadful no. Please don't make me taste the things!"

"Oh, so there was a sheepdog, see, and he went to the shepherd, and said, here you go, here's your forty sheep."

"And the Shepherd, he says, "But I only have thirty-seven sheep!"

"And the sheepdog, he says, "I know! I rounded 'em up!"

She laughs "Okay, that's funny"

"And a sign you were paying attention in math studies!" Impressed

He grins! "One of the Farm teaches told me that one. She has a nickname for me, it's "The blackboard is up here."

A smile "Well, I think Connor is a fine name but I can guess why"

"School is easier in the winter." He admits. "There's less going on outside the windows."

"Spring Fever soon eh?" She says "Oh don't you worry, spring is coming. "

"Oh, yes. They say that it comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, that's March, that is. And I looked and looked, but I didn't see ANY lion. I think there will be lambs not too far away, though."

Tove says and smiles, "You know how on some shows just break into song? "

He nods! "Someday I wanna sneak over to Paschak so I can see them singin' and dancing in the halls."

'Well , I can't promise that, but as a skald, I can promise while you're watching me, sometimes I will. " She rises carefully, and goes out to observe the still gray scenerey of winter's ending

And she starts to sing

"When lonely feelings chill
The meadows of your mind
Just think if Winter comes
Can Spring be far behind?" She smiles at him

"Beneath the deepest snows
The secret of a rose
Is merely that it knows
You must believe in Spring" ANd motions to show him where green is fighting to come out

"Just as a tree is sure
Its leaves will reappear
It knows it's emptiness
Is just the time of year" A gesture to a bird , a brave one, coming early with confidence.

"The frozen mountain dreams
Of April's melting streams
How crystal clear it seems
You must believe in Spring" She opens the window, the air is crisp, but not cutting as it was before.

"You must believe in love
And trust it's on it's way
Just as the sleeping rose
Awaits the kiss of May

So in a world of snow
Of things that come and go
Where what you think you know
You can't be certain of
You must believe in Spring and love" She enjoys the scent of the woods blowing in.

"You must believe in love
And trust it's on it's way
Just as the sleeping rose
Awaits the kiss of May

So in a world of snow
Of things that come and go
Where what you think you know
You can't be certain of
You must believe in Spring and love" And she picks him up so he can feel it too.

Oooh, he does love music. His ears perk happily and his head tilts from side to side, ears flopping, as she moves with each new verse. "Oh, I do! I do believe."

"Well then, we'll definitely have one, a spring I mean" she assures him as she holds him up in her arms, "Childlings belief has saved fairies before. Since before the Tinkerbell incident even. Why without children believing , the sun would be just a big ole ball of gas, Skald Pratchet taught us that."

"I try hard. I spend a lot of time believing." A nod!

"I know," She says

He leans against Tove and wraps an arm around her.

And they snuggle a bit

Then something, or someone, kicks Connor in the tailbone

He startles, and gives Tove a wide-eyed look. "Your breakfast BUMPED me."

Welll, clearly SHE felt something, but the fact he felt something surprises her "you felt that? Oh my. I think it's the baby, not my breakfast."

"The baby?" He says, in a hushed tone, and gazes enthralled at her midsection. And he tentatively leans in to rest his cheek softly against her belly.

"Hello?" He whispers