#rivervale_lodge

the childling closes in

Frank glances out the window to the left of his desk.

It's a DeBuke, he thinks, has a slightly unseelie cast, but an easy smile despite it

Oak barks an announcement

An eyebrow, and he rises to go to the door.

As Frank opens the door, the boy looks up. He's dressed in a baseball cap with a Loki t shirt. A slight green tinge to his blue skin. Frank thinks his name starts with a J.. but cannot rrecall

"Mountain Frank?" He grins "Can I come in?"

"You may." he moves aside "You are....?"

"Oh, Juniper DeBuke, sir. You may not remember me too well as I was probably in trouble so handling the clothes line or what not" Juniper comes in and looks around "Sure looks grand here"

Oak snniffs the boy

"Juniper. Come in and take a seat." he rumbles "Can I get you a lemonade or something else? I think our Hearth has made cookies...."

"Sure thing, Sir. We're all allies and all... so I figured I'd chip in on that if I could. Oh, brought you something in exchange " He reaches into his pocket and offers a harmonica , not a top quality harmonica, but servicable

"Thank you." Frank takes the harmonica. "Wait here just a minute." he goes to the kitchen and returns with a tray of snacks and drinks. "Help yourself, please. How can we help you?"

"Yes sir, I been doing some research" He digs into the tray, "thank you" then he pauses "Help yourself to some too, Mountain, I ain't greedy." Then he continues "I'm a childling now, but a forward thinking fellow like myself needs to look ahead, learn about the world as is and not just as he'd like. Now I won't bore you with the details but I thought about checking out some holds in the area. Seeing how they work and the like. You know any what are troll and childling friendly? "

Munch of the food while he waits for the answer

"Mmmm...." Frank rumbles "Troll Freeholds that are childling friendly.... more of those than Childling Freeholds that are Troll friendly...."

"Well sir, what about NON troll holds that are childling and troll friendly? Not that troll holds that are childling friendly aren't good?"

"Trolls are valued in many places. Our Kith is steady, reliable, and strong; there's always room for people like that." Frank considers "I know a Freehold in Feathered Serpent that might suit you in that way."

"Already covered, Sir"

Frank tilts his head. "What do you mean?"

"Uhm.. nuthin" He covers..er says "Just.. well... we already know about it, but thank you"

Frank stands and pours himself a cider from the pitcher on the sideboard.

"Don't suppose Rivervale would do?"

"Might, sir." A look at him "You're a knight, right?"

"I am."

He returns to the table.

And sits.

"Why did you become a knight anywho? I mean, seems like a bit of a restrainnt when you could just hero your way anyway"

Frank sips his cider thoughtfully.

"I wanted to help people."

"But, couldn't you do that as the mountain, or just mr. King? or even Frank the troll begging your pardon and all"

Juniper seems to be sincere in his probing

"I was just Frank at the time." there's a tone of amusement in his voice "I needed a little help to get to a point where I could help people. Money, training, that sort of thing. Joining House Liam and earning my spurs was part of getting those things. And..... I needed a family, at that time."

"Ah" Juper snaps his fingers "Well THERE you go... thank you, Sir. I think you just gave me a clue"

"A clue to what?"

"Why noble houses are so popular with other trolls" He nods "they ain't all got families like DeBukes. We got the Fix in"

Frank strokes his beard. "There's something to that, yes."

"Sure does make sense. Mmmm maybe if we made 'House DeBuke'...." He ponders

His beard moves. "Mm. Might be a bit more to it than that."

"needs work.. but we could jazz it up some"

"There are -bannerhouses-." he points out.

"Bannerhouses? " Clueless to those "Ain't they all go banners? Big trees, huge falcon"

"Think of bannerhouse as... hybrid Houses with a central focus. Either an offshoot of one of the Great Houses or a commination of two Great Houses. Liam is involved with several."

"Gotcha"

(Pause)