lowers temperatures

“I haven’t seen much to suggest otherwise,” I admitted. The piece ended and we segued from a waltz into a fox-trot, which again she picked up almost immediately, and during one of the turns I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and the temperature of the room seemed to drop about three degrees. “There. Is that her?”
“Cold, pretty, and scary?” Freydis asked. “Yes, that’s her. Should we do it now?”
“Wait for her to get settled,” I said.
Her green eyes tracked past my shoulder, watching intently. “She’s talking to the big grendelkin.”
“He’s not a grendelkin,” I muttered.
She arched a brow at me.
“You’ll have to trust me. The Forest People are different than the grendelkin.”
“Big, hairy, strong, stinky … If it walks like a Grendel and talks like a—”
“You and I,” I said, meeting the Valkyrie’s eyes, “are about to have a serious argument.”
Freydis’s eyes flared with defiance—but she looked away first.
“That’s River Shoulders. He’s okay. Tell your boss I said that.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself?”
“Because as long as he’s using a messenger, I will, too,” I said. “Not sure why he’s keeping his distance, but I’ll respect it. Could be he doesn’t want to look too chummy with me here. Point is, tell him that River Shoulders isn’t a grendelkin.”
“He’s chatty enough to be one,” Freydis growled. The next turn let me see River Shoulders speaking earnestly—how else?—to Mab. Mab was listening to him with intense focus. How else? I saw her nod, speak a short phrase, and turn to continue toward her chair in her appointed camp. Molly was walking a step behind her and to her right. She paused to put a hand on River’s massive arm and say something that made him let out a rumbling chuckle. She beamed up at him, patted his arm again, and kept pace with Mab.


Peace Talks Chapter 25, Page 243-244