Spinning Leaves Report

General Summary

A few days before Thanksgiving, Sebastian Vasquez approaches Skulde on her way home from school, reminding her of their agreement: if he can cause Frank to completely embrace the Unseelie Court, then she will become his apprentice. Skulde agrees, suggesting a nearby field. But Sebastian disagrees immediately, insisting on the Mason-Willcox Mill. This makes Skulde suspicious of him, and she decides to inform the baron where she and the other children will be. Just in case. When Hilda tells Frank where they're going and her plan to allow Sebastian to try and utterly fail to convert Frank, Frank is absolutely delighted. For the first time in her life, Hilda has made a good plan - which incenses Hilda, but after they bicker for a bit, Frank suddenly ends the fight with a tight hug and declares that they need to go get Charles, and along the way pick up George as well. Upon the four children speaking to the baron, Skulde lays out everything that is happening with Baron Vasquez's cousin. She asks outright if Sebastian is dangerous. The baron hesitates, but says he doesn't believe that Sebastian is any danger to the kids. Skulde notices, and asks if he can set up an escort for them, regardless. Vasquez agrees. He also gives Skulde her armor: sidhe plate, fashioned like ice or diamonds. Crystalline plate armor, as the baron calls it. They meet their escort at the gates of Ashby Manor: a wilder ghille dhu named Austin Grant, from House Fiona. As they approach the mill, Sir Grant waits outside and the motley enters. Sebastian is already waiting for them, and introduces himself to Frank. He seems surprised that Skulde told Frank about the bet, but rolls with it. He and the middle schooler sit across from each other, Sebastian explains that he will show the future to Frank, and Frank can make his own decision. Only, that is not what Sebastian shows. Instead of the art of Soothsay, he uses his mastery in Chicanery to show a dark future: one where Frank's family's restaurant has gone out of business and there is nothing left but a dilapidated building where there was once a vibrance of culture and family. Fortunately, Frank sees right through the illusion, and is even able to catch onto the fact that Sebastian is using Chicanery. He breaks free of the illusion, shocking Sebastian - and the elder sidhe loses his bet to Skulde. He accepts it with seeming grace, bowing to Frank before leaving the mill without so much as an unkind word. Having dealt with one struggle, the motley turns to the second: Herrick's. They lock themselves in the library for hours upon hours, conducting research and running numbers. Eventually they come upon the answer they have been searching for. The executives who have been pushing for this revitalization of Roseland are selling a bunch of hooey: all this new store will do is shut down the local shops. What's even more damning, however, is that there is evidence that these very same men knew that this would be the outcome and still hocked it to the Roseland city council. The motley takes this evidence, and hands it over to Hannah Veneer, who is overjoyed to have concrete evidence in her campaign. She promises to use this immediately. And as the fall turns to winter, the seasons pass more and more quickly. Time seems to fly past with the flurry of sparrow's wings. Soon the children are no longer children, and with that a promise of more danger and adventure is lain out before them.