#rivervale_lodge

Later, once the visitors are gone, Connor looks to Dagmar as he brushes some straw from his hair. His tabard is hung to one side so he can help with cleaning up the stables without getting it too messy.

"Did I do okay?" He asks, a touch anxiously. "I tried to stay out of the way."

"You did SO WELL."

"And you showed how good you are at being a squire. I am very proud of you, y'know."

His tail beats a few rounds. "Chief is mad again. Her face went all stone." Sweeping hay into a small pile. "I don't understand why."

"She's worried."

"See, like... like.. there's two kinds of lies, right?"

His brow furrows. "There's just... true. And false. Right and wrong?"

"Well - like, there's pooka lies, yeah? Your tongue twists up the truth, but it's not meant to harm. Or there's being careful, like, if someone gives you okra and they're all proud of it and ask if you like it...."

"You did a good job of cooking it?" He volunteers.

"Right, see? So more.. avoiding. But other lies..."

"You can lie and not say anything that isn't the truth."

"And you can try to paint a picture using half-truths and hidden motives to make something seem nice when it isn't."

"That sounds complicated. I just try to say what I mean, and I mean what I say, but the words aren't always... right?"

She nods. "Yeah."

"But... you remember Little Red? The Wolf came, and he spoke so nice and sweet to her, right? He was friendly, he was kind..."

Sweep sweep, thinking. "You have wolf friends?"

"Right.." Frown.

"She likes me." He remarks, softly.

"But like in the story... THAT wolf, yeah? He pretended to be a friend, but he was planning to eat Little Red."

"Lupe likes you, yeah."

A small shake of his head. Then a nod. A frown. "SHE likes me." He tries again.

"Even though I'm not a bird?"

"We're not as sure about Calanthe."

"So... so Chief, she's worried. She wants to be sure Calanthe is a safe person." Frown. "You can... you can love someone, and not be safe. My birth mother loves me, and I love her, but.... but she's not safe for me, neither."

He thought about this for some time. "Would Chief be mad if you wanted to talk to your mama? Not-Tove." He clarifies.

"Chief would be worried, I think."

"Like she was with you. Not-Tove... she.. she let people hurt me, when I was small."

"I don't like worrying people..." He worries. "Is it bad to want to talk to her? To...want her? If she wants ME? I don't have... I mean. I have lots. Lots of people." A bit of a guilty look.

"It's not bad to want to talk to her."

"But we also want you to be safe, too. So maybe, once we make sure the gift is alright - I'm gonna have Symon double check it - then we'll figure out when it's best for you to play with it. Like, maybe - like, when I was smaller, like you, I could see Not-Tove, but I had to have a grownup with me."

"I'd LIKE to call people." Wistful.

"So, like, just to be sure nothing unsafe happened."

She nods. "And I want you to be able to call her, okay? So we just need to figure out the best way to do it."

"She said I could call Briar, too. Did you meet her? She's terrible."

"I don't think... wait... the redcap?"

He shakes his head, but his tail says yes. "She was at a bad place with me. Before I went to the other place where I met my first friends. Before Matthias, and before here."

"She wasn't Briar then. Just a bad girl, and I was a bad dog." Carefully sweeping the hay onto a dust pan to leave the stable floor as clean as it can be.

"And you aren't a bad dog, and she's not a bad girl."

"And maybe you could call your sluagh friend with the books, or you could call Enri and Isis, or the little girls in Fenix."

His tail is wagging profusely now. "Do they ALL have numbers? Siv said to be careful, but I can, I can. Honest. Cross my heart and Spark hopes to fly."

"We can find out! But - there might be some rules, okay? People you can call anytime, and people you can only call when you're with a... a... protector, yeah?"

"Would I say something wrong? I know what not to say to who. Like who gets to go on the little bridge to the farm, and who doesn't..."

"More... more since you can't always tell us straight what people say, y'know? So if someone says something scary, or something you aren't sure about, or you have questions... we'd know what was said, so we could talk about it?"

He nods. "I try, I really do. But it's hard. Is that enough hay for Star? She's more hungry then ever these days."

"When Spark is old enough for apples, do you think she'll be happy that she's not being chomped on? Or mad that she has to share the apples?"

Star nickers. She HEARD "Apples" and her name...

She gives him an impulsive hug. "I know you try! We all care about you and want the best for you, okay?" A look at Star. "I think that's enough - it takes a lot of energy to turn hay into milk, so no wonder she's hungry."

He hugs right back, he'll never refuse a hug, and Dagmar gives good hugs.

"Oh, you've done it. You better find Miss Star an apple, or she'll fuss." A grin.

He fetches them from the basket and makes sure to get one for Stormwake too. Spark sniffs curiously, but isn't quite sure what those things are, even if they smell nice.

"FRUUUUIIIT" A figure swoops by the apple basket attempting to snag it