#rivervale_lodge

Kerri considers that a moment before saying, "I think...even if he were to react badly at first...it wouldn't be a permanent rift. I think your connection is too strong for it to be broken so easily."

She rubs the back of her neck. "I dunno."

"We never Oathed. We'd talked about it, but it just..."

"Which kind of Oath?"

"Clasped Hands."

She nods as if that were what she expected.

"Before this past year, I didn't doubt. But I just... I dunno."

"There's this other girl now," she provides.

"It's not just her. It's that he didn't even tell me about her. That he was there, but not... not there, and I felt so alone all the time."

"To her, I'm just his roommate."

"Perhaps that's part of what feels so off. He can be secretive, but unless I'm mistaken, he's not secretive with you."

"Not until...this."

"Yeah. He's always... yeah."

"I don't want to mess things up worse."

"Mess things up...for whom?"

"Me? Us?" A helpless gesture.

"Seems like the only friendship I haven't totally screwed up is Sylvi."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I think you two are good friends for each other." A pause. "Do you think this girl is good for Symon?"

SCOWL.

"She's using him,"

"He deserves someone that cares about him." A sullen rumble.

"I agree."

"If there's anything you need me to do, any way I can help...."

It's an offer.

"I don't think there is? I dunno. It would be easier if I felt different, maybe. I tried to feel that way. I do care about him, lots."

A blink. "That way?" she echoes, uncertain exactly what Dagmar means.

A little handwave.

It clicks. "Oh. That way."

"So...loving him, but not loving him, makes things complicated?"

She nods.

A nod. She gets it.

"And it's not fair. I know how awful it is to not be enough. And what I can give isn't enough, either, and it's just... just a mess. It's not like I like someone better."

"For what it's worth -- I think you both deserve being treated right. Not used, and not ignored. Maybe whatever that is, whatever it looks like for you two, will be something you have to invent. Something you can't imagine yet."