#rivervale_lodge

TXT: Chief & V know, good news. V is keeping necklace for now

(End scene, at least for Brekke and Vali)

Once it is just them, Vali lets some of his confidence slide and shows mroe concern "I'm worried about Symon. Even if the is nothing left to the magic, this can be traumatic. "

"Hm." She frowns and taps the table with her fingers as she thinks. "I admit, I did not think the relationship between them had this nature, but now that it is said, I can understand it. If anything jeopardizes it now, we must find a way to help them both." A thought. "When did you last see Symon, Mountain?"

"Well, there was that beach lodge event... I didn't talk to him much" He ponders "Cairran actually took him out now and then, but I noticed they were n't snuggling per se"

Brekke has the slightly uncomfortable look of somebody trying not to imagine something. "Hm. I should have been more aware and helped him get free of her."

"Chief, we're trolls, we're ALL going to take a turn blaming ourselves for not doing more, for missing something, for not being there. Trust me.. I'm Mountain, and this working was under MY watch, at least on weekends and part of summer" A scowl "I'm beating myself up too. And Dagmar, well, she's dagmar. If someone gets wet near her she apologizes for not blocking the raindrop first. And Symon is far more special to her ,as we've learned. She'll flog herself for weeks , mentally at least. But it's in the past, and more than that, had we tried to hover over them, grown wilders and college students, we would have done them a disservice in a different way. It's.. a tightrope walk and falls are going to continue to happen."

He's not Vegard or Frank, but Vali HOPES this sounds wise

A sigh. She raised Siv, and she was present for Jessica's early 20s....she's been through this. "You are right, of course. It is just difficult when we wish to protect them from hurt. Still...." A slight hint of a grin. "I think they can be good for each other, if they can get past this. There will be challenges, but...they are good together, are they not?"

A smile at that "They are. They have a yin yang groove that's hard to beat" Then he says "And yes, I'm well aware that when Theon is old enough to hit college, and screws up there you get to throw some of the stuff right back at me. We need to get Symon help recovering, and I would like to keep the treasure longer to see what harm it may have done or left behind, but it might take awhile"

She nods. "You have my approval. We must also make the Hearth aware." Then she frowns. "Although it is necessary, I imagine that Symon will not appreciate how many people know of this."

"No he won't" A frown "And as I kind of like the kid... pardon, young man, I regret that. We need to not make a scene out of this. None of us like our dirty laundry aired either. Perhaps one of us should apologize to him for the necessary prying into this event and try to assure him we will not be making a show of it. He might not believe us, but... " A shrug "It might help?"

A brow, and then a pause before she says, "I will do it."

He looks the brow, trying to read it, then nods "I'll keep looking into the necklace for a bit then. If he comes to me first, should I direct him to you?"

Vali may get the sense that Brekke doesn't completely appreciate having to undertake this uncomfortable conversation, but she sees it as her duty. "You may, yes, but do what feels appropriate at the time."

"Then I may end up taking to him before you so he doesn't mistake me for blowing him off, begging your pardon" He says .

"As feels appropriate," she reiterates with a nod of approval. Then a sigh as she sits back and looks over at the twins fondly. "It seems such challenges are far in the future for those two, but the time will pass more quickly than we can imagine."

He nods "it will and..."

One of the babies wakes up and starts to fuss "Oh dear, feeding time. You or me?" He looks at the bottle of formula "Either way, our meeting is over , priorities" Wryly

"I will," Brekke says, and Vali can clearly see that she's pleased to be grandmother-ing, even if her expression might seem neutral to any outsiders.

And Vali inclines his head. He ain't gonna mess with the rank of Grandmother.

And Brekke excercises that rank with delight

(End Scene)

Kerri gets a phone call

OOC: That will iimmediately pause or be re roomed if Rae shows up

After two rings, Kerri picks up. "Hello?"

"Hearth Kerri? It's Hearth Kourtney" The young Hearth says, "There's... do you have a moment? There's been a situation on the farm"

"Certainly, Hearth. What's the problem?"

"Well, you know some maniac is sending driverless carriages to abduct those in the middle of their dream dance. One such got stole in our area ,and while not on the farm, one of our own got hurt. A childling of ours, brave boy. The one who seems ot think Fallout is a fun place to be? Well.. Clem was livid. Almost raced off alone but Buck, good fellow, insisted on going with and she doesn't pull rank on him despite her efforts...."

A frown that almost carries over the phone connection.

"Did they succeed?"

"Yes they did. They found and bashed that carriage, and found a childling inside... and CLem has been acting... I mean, she's taking a liking to kids before, but this is... it's a bit instant and fast. Ditto for Buck though mostly because Clem is happy. FOUR years old. About as young as you can get. But this childling is a Wichtel, a rarer kith we don't have much experience with. Normally we try to get kith mentors of the same sort set up for the childlings sake..." then a pause "Now, I wont' say we have never stolen children before, most holds will take a kid from parents who are too banal or incompatible, but she's not even BLINKING at the notion this time. Not with Chasye, or "Chase" as she's calling her. I'm.. talking, but I'm so young I don't think the others, Storm Mountain NOR Chief, are heeding my concerns. I don't know what to do"

"Hm. It sounds rather sudden, but...." A pause. "Would you like me to come up and talk with her, make sure things are okay?"

"I should rightly do my OWN Duties" She admits then a beat "But .. if it's not too much trouble, I can swallow my pride." A beat "I can trade you some summer squash for the service. You know we got loads of that, or Corn."

"Nonsense. Part of a Hearth's duties is figuring out how best to connect to the people who need help, and sometimes that means reaching out for help."

"Well, you're still getting squash when you come here. We need to get rid of a barrel of the stuff" Said stoicly but Hearth humor is implied

"Is it all right if I come up tomorrow?"

"It would be wonderful, and thank you. Should I announce you're visiting me or pop it as a surprise on them?"

"Oh, let's make it a surprise. Otherwise, she'll be bracing herself for whatever she thinks I'm coming up for."

"What she doesn't know.. and all that. THanks again, Hearth Kerri. I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow"

"Tomorrow, Hearth!"

She disconnects and the smile fades.

When Kerri hangs up, she see a blinking light on the lodge phone. A message!

must have come through when she was on the call.

She blinks right back at it, and then plays the message.

“Hello? Helloooo. Um. I’m calling for…” the female voice is not familiar, and hesitates, but sounds Concerned. “I’m looking for Symon and it is quite urgent. If someone in charge can call me back at XXXXX that would be fantastic. This is Karen O’Neil, by the way.” CLICK

She listens, then pauses, then plays it again.

And she considers.

And, for the moment, she does not return the call.