#rivervale_lodge

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Speaking of good hands, Chief Kerri finds her husband going over some plans and notes

Kerri's just come out of the kitchen wearing a puzzled expression. She shakes it off and goes to join him, looking over his shoulder. "Defenses?"

"Yup. Some of these are notes from Brekke... but seems she was...she nixed a lot of things. Chimerical fences, particularly barbed wire, because she didn't want to hurt land nor critter. I get that. But she also was cautious about altering the tree lines even if it gave a better line of sight"

Kerri frowns a bit as he points out the spots that currently have blind spots. "How much are you thinking needs to be altered?"

"I'm not sure... Brekke loves nature, a lot and fought hard to keep it green. I don't blame her, but the real question is how far are we gonna go?"

"Well..." Kerri takes a seat next to him as she thinks about it. "Maybe some of it can be done without destroying the trees themselves. I'm not sure how, but...maybe the kubera at the Farm and our resident glome can help."

"KLUMP" he says "Course, forgot about that big lug. Maybe Dagmar will take up message delivery? He likes 'little thunder'' A smirk "One of the few that can still call her little"

Kerri smiles. "She definitely makes a fine intermediary for him. It seems to come naturally to her. I'll ask her. So...yes, ideally, we'll find a way for the trees to relocate. But that might mean we have to adjust in other ways. Different flood patterns or wind breaks, that sort of thing. We can do it. I just want to make sure we do it right."

"Good point. I'll check the science of it, though not my strong point, and I'll see what we can do to have less effect." He says, writing more notes "Also working on a proper Weapon's rack in here, for fast emergency arming"

"Here in the hall?" She looks about the room as if to envision where it might go.

"SUre" He says "Near the door is best"

Aesthicly, that might be...an eye sore

"That seems...well, it would make sense if this were an armory, but...a lot of people come in and out of here, including strangers and childlings. It might make more sense to put it somewhere more out of sight?"

A brow lift "You think it would be ugly, don'tcha?"

He DOES know her.

"This is my singing fish alarm clock all over again" He mutters but good naturedly

"Well, that too," she admits, kissing him on the head.

An eyeroll. "I have my limits."

"I still remember how that thing got pushed further and further into more and more obscure rooms until one day it was gone. Where DID you hide it?" He asks suddenly curious

A blink. "I thought you just eventually surrendered and gave it away. You didn't?"

"No" he says surprised "I figured maybe you put it in the toolshed, or even the lakehouse?"

She shakes her head, baffled. "That means..." a look of dawning horror "...it's still here, somewhere, lurking."

He perks up "You think so?"

She winces. "It's going to haunt me, isn't it?"

"I don't think it was haunted" He chuckles

And then, Kerri hears ... singing

Her eyes widen. "Shh-sh-sh..."

Staying alive was one of the tunes that thing played,a nd now, it's the SAME damn song

Olgar kens "Hey, right there on th wall" he points

Unlike his old one, this one appears fully chimerical

She points a finger upwards. "You hear that, right?"

"It's coming from the fish... and yeah thats... it moved" He says

And the sound is on another wall

as is the fish, SINGING

A groan, and she puts her face in her hands. "I have a nemesis so soon?"

"It's a chimerical duplicate of it at least, but why is it here? Let alone appearing on various walls in sequence?" he says baffled, and amused then he sees his wife "Sorry , honey. I don't understand"

THen , it sinks in. Olgar has been joined to the fire. This might just be a new 'contribution' to the lodge in the form of his subconscious will

The revelation occurs and she glares at him. "This is your fault." And without a further word, she retreats to the kitchen.

"Huh?" Olgar blinks.

Later, Mountain Vali will confirm that. And operation 'how do we get rid of the fish?' will commence.

But that is a saga for another day!

(End Scene)