Season 2 - Episode 79: Little Talks

## Synopsis

River comes to visit Henry at the Fort now that it's been restored. Henry talks with her about their lead on the Empty Man and tells her to keep an eye on the Blackout Society while they're gone. River cautions Henry to be careful with the Empty Man before saying she has to go. On her way out, she talks with Sammie. River asks Sammie how she knew she liked Oliver and what she'd do to protect him. Sammie says that she realized she liked Oliver when she realized she'd do anything to protect him. Sammie and Miguel finish her new knife which is imbued with fire magic. Bjorn has a chat with Indigo about what's been going on lately in Thornvale. Bjorn discovers that while they were in Alabama, two creatures came through the Rift. It seems they only came through when they weren't on the island. They also discuss what to do about the Blackout Society and Indigo suggests that Bjorn give diplomacy a try.

## Episode Description

Our heroes prepare for their trip to Ireland. Important conversations are had and important questions are answered.

## Key Events

* River comes to the Fort to visit. After telling Henry she's sorry about what he's going through and to be careful, she goes to talk with Sammie. She asks Sammie what she would do to protect Oliver and Sammie says anything.
* Sammie and Miguel finish working on Sammie's new knife imbued with fire magic.
* Bjorn discovers that while they were in Alabama, two creatures came through the Rifts. It seems the Rifts only opened while they were gone.

## Summary

River comes for a visit to the Fort, Henry meets her outside in the courtyard. He leads her inside and to the kitchen, River is admiring all the rooms as they pass. As they sit in the kitchen and eat some lunch, River asks why he's so stressed. Henry tells her that they finally have a lead on the Empty Man and they'll be taking a trip to Ireland to follow it. Henry says he's unsure of what the future will look like after they find this information but he's trying to take it one step at at time.

Stanley walks in to get a drink and then grumpily leaves. River asks what's wrong with him and Henry explains that the last creature they faced was targeting people Stanley trusted. River looks uncomfortable at this. Henry asks if River can keep a tab on Sophia and the Blackout Society while they're gone and River agrees. River then reaches out and grabs Henry's arm and tells him she's sorry about everything he's going through. Henry says he just hopes they'll find something at the archive to help with getting rid of the Empty Man. Henry then shows off his new claws to River.

River says she has to get going and squeezes his arm again. She tells him to be careful because the thing they're going up against is really scary. Henry agrees and then River walks out of the kitchen and down the hallway of the Fort. The smile fades from River's face as she walks down the hall and then stops in the doorway of Miguel's workshop, where Sammie and Miguel are working on her new knife. River tells Sammie that Henry invited her over to check out the Fort. They chat a bit about the Fort before River asks Sammie if she can talk to her about something. Sammie agrees and follows River outside to the courtyard.

Once outside, River turns and asks Sammie if she likes Oliver. Sammie blushes and says yes. River asks how she knew she liked Oliver and Sammie sheepishly admits she's probably not the person to ask about these kinds of things. River asks what Sammie would do to keep Oliver safe and Sammie says that she would do anything, and that that's probably the answer to her first question - that she knew she liked Oliver when she realized she'd do anything to protect him. River says thank you and then Sammie promises to keep an eye on Henry. River turns pink and then heads back to her boat.

Sammie heads back inside to Miguel's workshop. When she gets back, Miguel is holding out the knife for her as he's just finished polishing it. Sammie twirls it around in her hands. Sammie asks if they should test the magic runes and Miguel pulls out a dummy for her to test it on. Sammie says the Spanish word for fire and the knife is suddenly alight with flame. Sammie practices on the dummy with her new fiery blade.

After practicing, Sammie asks Miguel what to expect in the archives. Miguel says it's big, that there's a lot of books, and he doesn't really want to spoil too much before they experience it themselves. Sammie asks if she'll need to watch her back as it's a Council archive and Miguel says that the librarian there is cool, usually, and she should be fine now that Jadis has been purged from her. Miguel says that the last time he was there, they had extensive anti-Rift magic protections in place. Sammie asks him when the last time he was there and Miguel says right after his wife died, trying to learn more about magic. He says that he's not sure why the librarian let him in, as they don't normally just give anyone access to the archives, but he supposes the librarian is a bit of a softie and will let anyone in if they're desperate enough.

Bjorn is writing is report on the wraith for H.U.N.T.E.R. - he details everything with Morgan Jenkins, his wraith, how he was targeting Stanley, and that he now has a lead on the entity known as the Empty Man. Later on that night, Bjorn gets a call from Indigo. Bjorn tells Indigo that he'll need to go out of town to Ireland to track down a promising lead on the Empty Man. Indigo approves of Bjorn traveling out of the country and asks him to give him as much information about the archives as he's allowed to. Bjorn agrees and thanks Indigo for allowing him to have the freedom to share as much as he's allowed. Indigo says that Bjorn is one of his top agents and the only window he has into this world so he'd prefer to keep him close.

Bjorn changes topics and asks how long he's going to be on probation or review, referring to Agent Thor still being on the island and originally sent here to keep an eye on him. Indigo says that H.U.N.T.E.R. is still working on shoring up the tunnels underground after the incident with the giant worm but once he and his team are done with that he'll allow Bjorn to continue working on Thornvale alone. Indigo mentions that Thor killed a lightning cat recently and Bjorn is rather shocked at this news. Bjorn asks if they were able to verify where it came from, as he's noticed a pattern with creatures not coming from the Rifts lately. Indigo isn't sure but notes that the squonk and the lightning cat seemed to have come through the Rift while they were out of town. Bjorn notes that it's interesting the creatures came through when they weren't there but he's not sure what that means.

Bjorn then brings up the Blackout Society. Indigo agrees that it's a problem and has his people looking into it. Indigo says that they'll need to be careful how they handle this situation and Bjorn agrees. Indigo asks if Bjorn has talked to Sophia and Bjorn says the only time he's talked to her is when they dealt with her when they were handling the banshee. Indigo suggests that Bjorn try to talk to Sophia, suggesting he give diplomacy a try before they resort to more drastic measures. Indigo admits he would be worried about how Bjorn's 'Council' would deal with this and asks Bjorn what he thinks of the Council's morality. Bjorn admits that they're good people but their morality is more grey, careful about who they allow to have knowledge of their existence and devoted to protecting their species. Indigo thanks Bjorn for the information and to report back in when he arrives in Ireland.

Bjorn, Henry, Sammie, and Oliver stay over at the Fort to prepare to leave for their early morning flight to Ireland.

## List of Appearances

* Henry Marlowe
* River Hanson
* Stanley Marlowe
* Sammie Overbrook
* Miguel Rodriguez
* Bjorn Olafson
* Indigo
* Oliver Allen Evans