#rivervale_lodge

Piper starts to step right through the door, but then pauses and knocks, looking a bit uncertain.

"Come on in," Sounds like Mountain Vali is on the watch today

Piper perks up! "Just the mountain I was looking for. How's it going?"

"Well, I'd like to say great but I am having a bit of a challenge with..."

A chimerical wall fish appears on the wall next to Piper, flaps around, and slaps the wall and begins to sing "Young man, there's no need to feel down, I said
Young man, pick yourself off the ground..." as it starts the YMCA song!

She jumps away, startled, and gives it an EYE. "Whhhhhhhhhhy?"

"Blame Olgar, our new Storm isn't used to being tied to the balefire, and he's accidentally recreated an old novelty device that brought him some humor. I'm supposed to be finding a way to remove it, but it requires him to wish it away, and MEAN it, and he seems to just love the thing, DESPITE the fact it drives his wife nuts"

"Y M C A...!" It flaps happily

"Yeah, getting on MY nerves now" says the normally jovial troll

"Why is the storm affecting the bale?" She blinks. "I thought it was a freeholder thing."

"Lodges are often bound to more thaqn one" he assures

"Now, what can I do for you?"

"Weird. Oh! Yes." She turns away from the offending fish and looks up at Vali. "Remember that pendant you had asked me about?"

"mmm? Oh yes. Nasty stuff that."

"What about it?" he asks

"Well, I'd like to have it."

"But I have a good reason!" She adds, quickly!

For a moment his brow shoots up in that troll gesture she has learned to translate as 'Oh dear, the little people are endangering themselves again'. Jonas gets it sometimes too. But it vanishes as she offers a reason "Please go on":

"You see, there's this sea monster.... has Siv told you about it yet?"

"I've gotten word, been working on something that might detect it to put on her ship but it'll take awhile. She took out one, but it had a mate. Terrible sea vengeance, etc. Stay away from Jamaica? Did I get that all right?"

"It's terrible that the first monster had to be killed - I'm a bit of a bleeding heart, but I do recognize that a creature can't be allowed to predate on kithain. But this one that's left - it's not just killing, it's hunting - and it's hunting for MY love. That means that she's at danger when she sets to sea - and her heart lives there as much as it does with Jonas and I - and it ALSO means that any other seafaring trolls are potentially at risk too, if this vengeful widow happens to mistake them for Siv.

But." She holds up a finger.

Vali was listening, and nodded at her points about other trolls at sea being at risk, a fair point.

"But?"