#rivervale_lodge

Kerri enters the kitchen a little bit after Dagmar gathers her ingredients. She smiles. "Dagmar! Making something?" she asks as she goes to add a few items to the shopping list on the fridge.

"Pupkin cookies. Connor's here."

"Oh, good. Those are always a hit. Do you mind if I forge a couple of batches for Swilla?" She nods towards the cauldron.

"Sure. I mean, no, yeah. Um. Yes, you can make more cookies?"

Dagmar's irritation leaks out in the clatter of a bowl, or the too-forceful closure of a cupboard.

Kerri's smile fades abruptly. After a moment, she says, "Do you mind if I'm here while you work?"

"Course not."

"I'm not... am I in the way? You need the kitchen?"

"Just checking supplies, doing the shopping list." Brogan would be able to tell Dagmar that Kerri's been extremely careful about stocking the kitchen for the last week or so. There are multiples of everything, and several items besides the pumpkin are home-canned.

"So no, you're not in the way," she says to be clear.

A worried crease between her eyebrows.

"...Are we doing okay?"

"Mm." Kerri doesn't often 'speak troll' the way Brekke and Dagmar do, but here she has clearly communicated: We are. For now.

"I'll replace what I used."

"Um. Maybe store-bought pumpkin."

"If they're feeding our people, it's fine. The cauldron helps. But please, use that pumpkin," she nods towards the home-canned. "It'll keep for a while, but I'm not sure my canning skills will keep it fresh as long as the store-bought cans."

"...Okay."

"I just... pupkins are Connor's favorite. So. Yeah."

Kerri nods and returns to inventory work for a few minutes.

"He's been here most weekends I've made it home this semester, actually. I think he's got a spy pigeon or something." A touch of a smile.

A chuckle. "I haven't noticed one. Of course, if it's a good spy, I wouldn't. It is good to see him more often."

"Yeah." Softly.

Kerri moves over and watches for a moment. "I remember when you were just learning," she says quietly.

"You taught me." She carefully measures out flour, face a picture of serious concentration.

Baking, indeed, seems to be tackled with all the stubborn determination of a complicated battle strategy.

"You have always been an excellent student."

"Maybe not a great mentor, though."

Ah, there we are. "How so?"

SHRUG.

Her mouth twists and she starts cracking eggs into their own bowl.

Kerri waits patiently.

"The horses are adjusting. Star's not sure about Bucky, but Lady O is making good strides."

"It'll take time. It always does, when a new element is introduced."

"Yeah. Thought the Lady'd be good."

"She seems to be very empathetic, from what I've seen."

"She's a really wonderful mare, for sure. Polite. Willing to let Star be the boss."

"And that's fine, as long as Star doesn't overdo it and become a bully."

"I don't think she will."

"But I'll keep an eye."

"Good. I trust your instincts with them, and with many things."

"Mmph."

"But it sounds as if mentoring is...not going well?"

"I dunno. Maybe."

"Tell me."

"It's not fair."

A blink. "What is that?"

She taps some flour into the egg-and-pumpkin slurry. "Like - it doesn't matter how you feel, you just gotta be perfect and patient and just let everything roll off your back."

A sudden frown and a flash of guilt as she looks up at Kerri.

"That's one way to do it."

"I'm not very good at it."