#rivervale_lodge

Frank finishes his coffee and stands, moving around the room to gather his outerwear and other things he'll need for the garden work.

And Siv finishes up, gives her dad a hug "Tell mom I'm only a phone call way and for that matter same to you, father mine. I will send more letters"

Frank takes her hug and returns it. "I will write. Thank you for coming."

"Loved it! Even the embarrassing parts." She admits with a chuckle, and heads out

Frank watches her go, and then takes himself off to the gardens around the Lodge, to finish up any projects (including clean up) from the party the day before.

Jack Flap wants to help, but then the boy has learned to love green things. And so, Frank has the help of a small set of hands

(end Scene)

Kerri lays helpless, unable to move, a prisoner !

okay, she COULD move, but does she really want to?

The foot rub is going along quite nicely, as Olgar's fingers work away the soreness of the greening the other day

Oh, it's a terrible, terrible fate. The worst of it is that if she wants to shift to sit up and sip her wine, he might stop rubbing her feet. Oh, the peril.

Life is full of hard choices, in't it? Olgar moves on "So, Dagmar is swearing with Tove today. Did you leave the cake for them there, or they supposed to come in and pick it up?"

"I dropped it off earlier with Tove." A murmur, and then a helpless gesture towards her wine glass.

"Oh you poor thing" he gets the wine glass and brings it to her lips, careful not to spill

"Ohhh, yes, I suffer so," she murmurs and sips. "Thank you."

"You earned it, the childlings were thrilled, you kept Siv from going overboard on the 'ra rah mom' stuff, yet still Brekke got a bit of a tip of the hat.. or in this case a flower crown. You think I didn't see your hand behind more than the food? Ha. I know the maestra's orchestrations by now"

"Well, I can't take credit for all of it...but yes, I nudged, now and then."

When she's had her sip, he focuses on the feet again, "You know, Sylvi is impressing me. 'Pretty Mongoose' boy aside, Eden is now going to her regular, has friends again, and hanging with Dagmar too. But focusing on Sylvi, I think our little girl is... mmph.. well, acting pretty damn mature. I thought her new youtube channel would go to her head but she's knuckling down on learning it like a science and art"

Kerri leans back, but tugs a pillow over to prop up her head enough to look at him. "When you said 'mature' I thought that was the start of a complaint. But then you go and express approval. Hmmm...." She gives him a measuring look.

"Well, maybe she's not the only one maturing" A shrug "Not that I'm entirely secure. I find myself playing the part of Frank, in that I'm worrying how we're going to keep her around. She's got to have her own agency, but I'm a selfish unseelie type as you know?" oh there we go, ankles to toes in smooth motions

Kerri sighs and looks up, flexing her foot in his grip. "Oh, I do know," she says with a smile. "I count on it, sometimes." A pause. "Do you think she's going to stay long enough to finish high school?" A worried tone.

"Not sure HIGH School is open enough to be there for her at this point" he frowns "I'm going to encourage her to see it out. Might be unfair about it"

"Well, I will too...but I suppose after all this, there might be more options for her to pursue, even if she doesn't actually attend a school...." she trails off, frowning.

"Well, let's face it, she's one of the only things holding the wilder community at the school together. Dirk ? how the hell she salvaged him I don't know but he might backslide. Eden is leaning on her heavy and is going to school. Dagmar is..better, but sometimes might still need someone with Sylvi's skills. I don't knwo if our daughter realizes how she keeps things running smoothly there"

She gives him a bemused look. "Is she the Hearth of that school, you think?"

"If not Chief, yeah" He says with amusement "probably both. You have taught her well"

"Oh, Olgar...you know she follows your lead, probably more than mine a lot of the time. "

"Oh, she'd make a good rover but she wouldn't be happyy at it... too many long waits on lonely roads, and she's a people person." He says "No regrets though there. "

"She really is, it's true...but she's also got a taste for risk and adventure, sometimes. And she knows how to identify which risks are too stupid to take. Usually."

"Heh. Yeah. I think... maybe sometime during the summer we may want to encourage her to go out, have a quest or two... with hopes that she'll be happy to re-embrace school."

A sigh. "I think we'll be lucky if she doesn't want to relocate to be with Colton after this school year is out," she says ruefully.

"Damn it. He's turned out to be a decent guy, but is it okay if I resent that he didn't prove to be a little shit she needed to dump?"

"I suppose you could keep your fingers crossed...but I don't think that would work out well for anybody."

"nah. She kind of asked me not to behead her. You know what these means? We're in danger of becoming empty nesters" The term is used with a slight smirk as the lodge is hardly empty

"Oh, so then I have to spend all my evenings at yoga classes or something?"

"On one hand, yay extra limber wife, on the other hand... I'm not allowed to tackle you in Yoga class"

"No, you'd have to have some self-restraint...so that's a non-starter," she says with a wink.

A chuckle at that "There we go, both feet feeling better?"

"If I say 'no,' how much longer can I get you to keep doing that?" she replies with an innocent look.

he runs a finger along the edge of one foot, "Oh you know how I am for a challenge..."

"Hey! No tickling." The firm dictate of the Hearth, which he is certain to respect. Right?

Apparently the peasant is revolting...as he does tickle "Sorry, what's that? didn't hear..."

A yelp and she tries to tug her foot away. "Hey! No! Stop!" But it might be hard to understand between the giggles.

He does stop, that is, he moves from the feet to kiss her instead

"Mmmm." The kiss is returned. "Much better," she murmurs. "I picked an okay husband, I think."

"I hope so, because the time to trade me in has long expired," A chuckle

"Well, it's a good think I pay attention to maintenance and upkeep." Another kiss. "Don't want you getting rusty."

"Oh hey, careful, delicate midlife crisis might kick in" but his eyes heat over her "On the other hand, given what this maintenance might involve... I could probably see benefits" And he dims the lights

"Oh, by all means. A tune-up definitely seems in order," she agrees in the dark, her voice loving and amused.

"Well, let's see what's under the hood..." and... well...this dance is one they both know the steps to, but it's no less welcome for it's familiarity.