#rivervale_lodge

When Dagmar enters, she sees a troll-sized body on the cot by the balefire, turned away from the door. Brekke sits nearby in her usual chair, but stands as Dagmar and Tiffany enter. Her expression looks carefully neutral. "Thank you, Thane. Please stay here." She indicates Frank, for Tiffany to stay with him if he needs anything. "Dame, come with me." She heads out the front door and towards the stables.

A blink, confused... but she follows.

Jonas goes back into the lodge

As they walk, Brekke says, "I meant to talk to you sooner, but there have been...other matters."

Tiffany is in the lodge. And she has sat next to Frank, "So.. MOuntain, you come here often?"

He appears to be asleep, or resting. Eyes closed, prone on a cot before the 'Fire, turned towards it.

A frown. "Am I in trouble?"

"you want something to drink, or eat, or shoot? I got a gun" The pooka says

Jonas says "Thane, don't disturb the mountain"

"That" Tiffany observes, "Sounds incredibly Zen"

"Mm?" A blink, then Brekke shakes her head. "No." They come to the stables, and she greets the horses. "Stormwake. Star." She pats their shoulders absently while going to feed them.

Brekke nods for Dagmar to assist her.

Dagmar does so, refreshing water buckets.

After some minutes of working together to tend the horses, Brekke says, "You experienced the fury. I thought you would wish to speak about it." Her voice seems flat-ish, tired.

She looks at Brekke, uncertain. A frown. "You have a lot on your plate." (True) "Besides, I'm fine..." (Not exactly)

"Mm." A glance at her, then she starts checking Stormwake's hooves. "I arrived near the end. Tell me what happened."

She follows suit, with Star's.

"Oh, um... we were gonna use Vali as bait, right?"

A nod.

"So we were in the bad part of town, and had him looking beat up - like, torn up clothes and blood on his lip. Vali says the thallian can sense him, so we figured they'd draw out for him, then..."

"Anyways, I was back with Frank, hiding, and.. like, it's a pretty rough neighborhood, I guess. But I heard..." She scowls.

"Like, this lady, i heard her shouting at a kid, then.. she BEAT him, I heard it, and all he could do was cry and beg and..." She takes a deep breath, as the anger wells up at the memory.

She waits.

A glance to Star, then she resumes tending the hoof. "The boy was in pain."

"For a long time, yeah."

"But a lot, right then.. I.. I guess Frank saw I was upset?"

"I mean, we had a mission, but we... we went up there, because I was mad."

"Frank knocked, pretending to be a cop... " A scowl. "Bitch still went and lied to his face."

"Not surprising." Brekke finishes with Stormwake's hooves as Dagmar speaks.

"I.. uh..." She frowns at Star's hoof as she cups it in her hand.

Brekke observes her.

"Do you wish to brush, instead?"

"I kinda... called her out. Loudly."

"It.. like.. a lot of stuff happened."

"Really fast. She had a gun..."

"I knocked her down, so she couldn't get it, but I.. she started shouting how I was crazy, how I was a junkie..."

Brekke quiets and listens, nodding occasionally.

"I was already mad..."

"Yes,"

"Already kinda.. causing trouble, I mean, If I'd just... dunno.. dunno, if I'd been different..."

"But then it was different. Like... all that was left was the anger. Just filled up red. And her smug, lying face.. she's was his foster mom, and she was beating him, and lying, and she called me... and she..."

"I wanted to SHOW her. Show her how it felt when somebody bigger...." She bites on her lip. "That's against Dagda. Everything I did, like.. that..."

"Mm." Brekke nods. "It is against the code. But it is part of our House, Dame. It is not to be sought...but it is not always avoidable."

A steady look. "It is not shame."

She's let Star's hoof go back to the ground, and she's chewing on her knuckle.

"I hit Frank, too."

"He pulled me off her, I think. I could've killed her."

"You cold have. It is good he stopped you. You could not have stopped yourself." Then she repeats, "It is not shame. It is part of who we are."

"I should have done better."

Brekke frowns. "How?"