(sixth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

[steeledskin]

[ 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. )

Comments

video;

[steeledskin]

That is...quite a claim. [ she doesn't disbelieve it. but it is...hard to believe. ]

video;

[notyetlegend]

I would nae be wearin' this bow just for show. I'm quite a good swordswoman too.

[She lifts her bow off from around her body, tilting her head before withdrawing an arrow from her quiver.]

Point me somethin' tae shoot, Lady Sansa. [She gestures around her, the outdoors wide and wild.] An' I'll entertain ye.

[Hopefully some fun would alleviate her fears for the Cothromach.]

video;

[steeledskin]

-- Anything? [ she queries. ]

video;

[notyetlegend]

Aye. Anythin'.

[steeledskin]

That leaf. There. [ she points, though the pointing does her little good. ] The one on the tree to the left -- it's already wholly red with the end of Summer.

[ a fiery jewel in the thick of yellowed half-green leaves. ]

[notyetlegend]

That one?

[Merida turns her head, pointing to the tree just a little off to her left with a slightly raised eyebrow. Setting her locket down where Sansa can see, she knocks her arrow into place and pulls the string back. With a couple of carefully precise seconds, she lets the arrow fly

knocking the leaf off the branch and embedding it into the trunk of the tree, dead center.]

[steeledskin]

--Tremendous. Have you been training at your arrows long?

[notyetlegend]

Since I was a wee lass. I started when I was five.

[steeledskin]

And it was allowed?

[ princesses, she supposed, had strange freedoms in other lands. ]

[notyetlegend]

Well, my mam would've preferred otherwise, but my dad believes lady or not, learnin' tae fight is essential.

[steeledskin]

Essential? [ a puff of her cheeks. ] I hardly see how it would be essential.

[notyetlegend]

[She raises an eyebrow.]

One needs to know how to defend herself, does she not?

[steeledskin]

Do you not have a sworn shield?

[ some guard! some protector! she is a princess, after all. ]

[notyetlegend]

[Sorry, Sansa, she can't help laughing a little at the question.]

My father trusts no man to look after me better than I can look after myself.

[steeledskin]

How...bold.

[notyetlegend]

We're a bit like that. If my family was here, you'd understand, m'lady.

[steeledskin]

...You're alone here.

[ it's an assumption. but an easy one to make. ]

[notyetlegend]

Aye. I am.

[She ignored the homesickness beginning to rise in her stomach.]

[steeledskin]

I am so sorry.

[ it must hurt. sansa can imagine. although she has had kin here from her first day, she'd been bloodless in her own lands. for two years. ]

[notyetlegend]

It's fine. I wouldn't want my brothers here, wee as the are.

[She shakes her head, smiling softly.]

[steeledskin]

How young? Please, tell me all about them.

[notyetlegend]

Four, th' three of them. Hamish, Hubert an' Harris. Mischief making rascals like you've never seen. I don't know how many times their poor nurse has been scared out of her wits.

[Bless Maudie and her soul.]

[steeledskin]

Triplets! [ gods! ] You poor creature. An older sister suffers long.

[notyetlegend]

Aye. [She giggles.] I'm th' only one who can tell them apart though. An' askin' them for favors means riskin' my desserts.

[steeledskin]

Their favours come with prices, do they?