(sixth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

[ before the lockets sits a well-composed and well-turned-out lady: her face is set with discipline -- though below it she wants to crack and cry. but sansa stark has a duty -- some imperative -- to speak calmly of grave matters. nothing about this is comfortable; nothing about this is within her conventional grasp. she could compare it to her makeshift trials before the lords declarant or her audiences with the king, but this stage is far wider. out of frame, her fingers tremble. ]

Dear Shardbearers of either court --

[ if her voice shakes then it is by design. some honest fear is permitted into her tone, for what better to move the hearts of strangers than to express genuine dismay at this great knotted problem? she would not have thought to even sell it as injustice until living here and meeting many a person who appeared outraged over these alliances. these marriages. these common cages. ] One turn of the moon ago, High Queen Morla delivered onto me an ultimatum: to marry some Unseelie lord of her choosing, or else invite war upon the Cothromach. Whatever your loyalties, I beg you all to recognize the attempt for what it was --[ and do please fill that blank with your own outraged conclusions. ] I call for aid and support.

[ some words are permitted more of a quiver than others: morla; marry; aid; war. ] But I fear war has come already -- has long already been present -- and today I will refuse the proposal offered, because I fear it was only ever a blade's poisoned edge. I would prevail upon some soul from that queen's court to speak my refusal to her. [ powerful men have met her vulnerabilities with laughter, only to turn and shake their heads when she took small careful steps towards decision. what else is she to do? if she will not play the game by their rules, she must try to write her own. but even now, she hinges her action upon the passion of someone else's protest. someone else's judgement -- for better or worse. ]

The Lady Keeper of the Cothromach will not swear away her city to another court by marriage vows or by vows of any kind. [ except for other partial vows made in quiet rooms with would-be neutral parties. but those meetings are a secret and her announcement today comes instead to engage the hearts and sympathies of prospective champions who might grow incensed over a bully's tactics. lady sansa is not above playing upon their pity if said pity will protect her, her family, and her new city. anyone's pity will do: seelie or unseelie alike. ]

High Queen Morla's dogs are at the gate; let us be wolves when we meet them.

( ooc; i know some efforts have already been made re: the unseelie camps by lancer and others -- there's also a fresh log for the battle itself. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's seat was my Lord Father's before he left these lands. It passes to me by the Cothromach's own laws.

And it was given to him? Taken by him?

[He's sorry for the questions, Sansa. These are relevant questions (as far as he's concerned), he swears it.]

Granted to him. A Seelie keep for a Seelie lord, given by the Seelie court.

[ she is not upset by the questions. she will let the truth steer the decisions of each potential ally. ]

Perhaps you understand what I am getting at, then. No matter who or what granted who the land you own, these monarchs are the ones who hold the ultimate say. One Queen grants the keys to the city. One Queen wishes to take them away. You find yourself in the middle of a battle that has been fought for ages, as I understand, and will be fought for ages still, until an ultimate victor is had.

And yet you stand your ground. Why is that? What is this city to you, my lady, that you would risk so much to keep it? That you would ask the same risk of others as well?

[He's not judging! This above all should be noted. All of Faolan's questions and statements are delivered with the same calm, collected and reserved tone. His face passive, his eyes bright, assessing. She is up against one of the greatest powers in the land. It stands to reason that she should weigh carefully each decision she makes. She probably knows this already. But there are reasons that he was the king's assassin, the king's spy, the king's friend, back home. He is not afraid to ask the hard questions.]

[ the city is legacy. the city is blood. the city has grown into a symbol for the family that back in westeros is broken and betrayed. but she cannot voice these motives aloud -- not to him and not so publicly. she trades as forthrightly as she can but does not cross the line into indulgence.

softly: ] Both courts ought to know what one or either or both Queens are capable of doing. Of threatening. Of planning. And Cothromach is a Seelie city in Seelie lands. Those souls in it should not be made to suffer Unseelie rule.

[ a pat answer, but it fits with the wide-eyed persona she plays upon in her first message. ]

[He is quiet for a moment, weighing her answer and the delivery of it. Somehow, he feels as though she may be smarter, wiser, than even her response would suggest. And it gives him pause.]

It is a difficult road that you pave for yourself, to take such a stand. [A beat.] Yet. If that is what you wish, then I wish you well, my lady. You are brave, to set such an example, but both Unseelie and Seelie alike, it is an example that we all need.

Edited 2014-11-04 02:20 (UTC)

[ she wants to tell him she has no desire to be anyone's example. that she only had a promise to keep her to her dear father. but these answers are better-- ]

Your name, stranger?

[He would understand, if she did say these things. Perhaps understand better than any desire to set any sort of example of herself. Loyalty to loved ones will trump loyalty to any “greater good”, as far as he’s concerned. Which is probably why he would never please the Seelie court. But that is neither here nor there.]

It is Faolan, my lady. Though in return, I would ask for yours. [Even if he technically already knows it.]

Edited (oops replying from email from work makes editing the subjects difficult sometimes >>) 2014-11-05 17:37 (UTC)

Sansa. Of House Stark. [ he had the title; he used it; he did not need to have her remind him of it. ]

Are you the Faolan spoken of by sweet Sigrid?

[He nods, raising an eyebrow slightly.]

I am. Dare I ask what you've heard of me?

((ooc: i apologize for this coming so late, i understand if you would rather not continue, but i thought i'd give it a try in responding before i gave up on it <3))

Our mutual acquaintance has only told me good things.

Ah, well. She is young, and has a habit of only seeing the good in people. Or perhaps has been raised well enough to only share the good things, one of the two.

[His tone would suggest he's not that good, at least not as far as a lady's definition of the word is concerned, being an assassin and a spy. But he's honest, and that has to count for something, right? At least, he's being honest now.]

(sixth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

i'm good with it. though we can always start something knewer if you prefer!

newer would be lovely! i just don't know what scenario to suggest sob he's all over the place rn