#rivervale_lodge

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Later, Frank seeks a private word with Brekke.

He finds her outside the Lodge, not quite patrolling, but pacing in the darkness.

"Alaska." quietly.

She turns. "My path. How do you feel?"

Outside, the sky is storm laden

A soft grunt. He has felt better, and worse. "You?"

A frustrated exhale.

"At least two are safe, for now."

"I do not know if I can wait for Siv's plans. I wish to seek them out now."

Frank nods. "I would counsel restraint. Get word to Siv, ask her to be in touch."

"I have already told her of the gathering at Clearlake House. That there are other hunters with other maps."

"Did she respond?"

"I spoke with her. She has the information, but I do not know what her next steps are. She has said she is working on gather all of them together...but I suggested to her it may be better to attack the source of the funding while the hunters are scattered."

Frank sighs. "Well. She will do what she will do."

Brekke frowns, but nods. She is restless.

"I wish to go there now," she repeats.

"We are healed. Supplied. A welcome to the area would be helpful." he reminds her tactfully.

"But.... it would not be the first time to operate without permission, for me."

She looks at him a long moment, considering.

He watches her back, calmly.

A frown. "Not alone."

"And..." she shakes her head. "No. We do not know what Siv is planning. We cannot risk undermining it. I may want to go now, but it is not right to do so."

"...unless...perhaps you should speak with her directly."

"I agree."

"A phone call?" they have other means but.....

"That is your discretion. But...if you plan to do anything, she must know first."

"I will wait, for now. I have concerns here, too."

"Jordan?"

He nods. "I do not wish history to repeat itself."

"Mm." She nods, understanding. "We have three days to start. And...I will speak with Dagmar again. She says she remembers how she was...but I think she has forgotten how she became what she is."

"That will help." a pause "It may be that this is not the best place for him, if it comes to that."

A brow. "We are not without our unseelie."

Frank nods. "Perhaps I am ... sensitive about it, now. I do not wish to try to pound another square peg into a round hole."

"But, as you say. We have three days. You wish Dagmar to speak with him, perhaps try to guide him?"

Brekke frowns, but after a moment, she nods at his first comment.

To the second, she says, "No, not yet. But I do expect he will meet Kerri, and...she may be helpful. And I would have him speak with Olgar."

Frank nods. "He is not likely to trust me." he says without any judgement "I will do what I can from that necessary distance."

She nods. "But your priority now, I think, is what you suggested before." Her brow furrows. "I do not like it, though."

"I will call Siv. No, text. There is no urgency to her response unless you are ready to move now."

"Oh, I would move now if I were certain it would not undermine her efforts." Pacing again. "Yes, text her."

Frank grunts agreement and pulls out his phone, pressing tiny little buttons with painstaking care.

But there is no immediate response

Brekke does not envy him that chore. She goes back to observing the treeline and the sky.

While Frank tries to get in touch... Kerri is in another room getting an update... with Anne Marie

Anne Marie goes on ".. but you may have already been told all that and want me to skip onto his family news?"

In the kitchen, Kerri nods as she continues to wipe down counters at what must seem to Anne Marie to be a glacial pace. "What did you learn?"

"Well, apparently his parents were on the banal side. You can't judge all Atheists by the sterotype, but they were heavily involved in... well, 'any religion bad' angle, to the point of protesting high school students wearing crosses , stars of David, or pentacles. They also were a bit lawsuit happy? You know the sort 'pick an ideal for the 'good' of everyone' and twist it to serve you?" A shudder "Works for those who take a faith system for selfish ends too. Near as i can tell, they were very much 'if you can't sense i with hands eyes ears it's not real'"

"they died in what is reported as a car wreck, but there's a mystery there" She admits

Kerri turns to look at her. "A mystery? What sort?"

"Well, what I hear is that their breaks failed to work so they careened into traffic. But... well, the foottage, did I mention I ggot the footage? It's truncated. We only see the last part of them going over a muddy bridge"