#rivervale_lodge

"Shadows" he says "The son of adam not at all. Frank is a Liam though so he picked up where the Beaumayn dropped the ball."

A blink. "Dropped the ball?"

"The priest was saved?"

"Yeah... no thanks to me. I didn't even get a CLUE he was there" A frown "My hatred of thaallian had me focus on the hammer so much I think i tuned other things out. I.. apologize for that. Anyway, Frank saved the guy, turned the hammer over to the Baron. "

"A mortal is saved, and the hammer secured. I see no ball dropped here, Mountain. Tell me...have I ever given you the impression that I expect your visions to be complete and flawless? For if I have, that was an unrealistic expectation for me to hold."

"They're never flawless, but it is the one thing I can offer no Previous Mountain could"

She sighs. "There is a quality that is shared among all the Rivervale Mountains. Two qualities, actually: a keenly attuned sense of duty, and periods of immobilizing self-doubt." A pause. "And this is coming from me," she adds in a lower tone.

"Mountain Vali, your skill of sight has often served us well, but it is not the only reason you are Mountain. I hope you know that."

"I'm... learned in the arts, know troll traditions, but ...i also got cocky ...overconfidence is worse than self doubt when it risks someone else"

"Did you, indeed, get 'cocky'? Or did you take what you believed to be a reasonable risk considering the information available to you?"

A pause and he thinks it over "I was excited. I hate Thallian with a passion. It is a hate I feel no guilt for. I almost revel in it. So when I saw a glimpse of an object of power that would hurt them, i may have gotten fixated on the wrong thing. I should have done a broader working with omen on top of my visions. I almost missed the raid on Teaneck... " A troubled look "I thought it reasonable at the TIME, but Frank would have been more methodical before committing someone else to the task"

Brekke considers, then nods. "Perhaps. And then a mortal would be dead, and whatever they were attempting to achieve with that sacrifice would likely have been successful."

A frown then "You're right. Sorry, Chief. I just don't know how to put a spin on this that makes me look as wise as I should have been. Lucky, yes. Wise? No"

"Then...this concern is about how you appear? Ego?"

A brow.

He looks slapped "No" and that's true "It's about the people I put at risk"

"Then when those people turn their criticism on you, that is when to dwell on these questions. Have they criticized you?"

"Actually" He admits "My wife told me to lay off hanging from Odin's tree, we needed the rope for important stuff"

A brief snort of amusement.

"She wishes you to be at peace with yourself. I think, for a Beaumayn, this is not always easy."

"She does, and it's not," Vali sighs 'No, no one has critized me. I think maybe if they had I would have felt better. we won, but so many got hurt, and almost died. Hard not to feel the weight"

Any amusement has slipped away, and the look she gives him is one of sympathy. "True." Pause. "Over time, you will find the weight does not lessen, but your shoulders become stronger."

He rubs at his shoulder as if feeling it "Hope I bulk up sooner rather than later" A pause "Tiffany tells me Frank is being hard on himself too. if so I don't know why. He saved that man's life"

"Guess every Mountain does tend to have some common self doubt"