eachdraidh | (sixth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

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(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. )

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You speak well, my lady.

[ And he is smiling. He might not be her father, true, but he has cared for her these last months; he is proud to see her growth, her strength. ]

I am glad to see you taking matters into your own hands.

My own hands are shaking. [ a soft confession. ] Had I taken her offer -- and that lord's -- I would have to ask no one to bleed on my account. Our account. Yet...

[ she presses her lips together. makes an uncertain humming sound. ] What if I lose the Cothromach?

Let me tell you a secret, Sansa Stark. The fact that your hands still shake means that you have overcome fears to find your courage. That is something to be admired, not shamed.

[ He shakes his head, leaning back. ]

Robert feared losing Storm's End when he rose against the Mad King. I feared losing it too. Stannis, I am sure, feared losing Dragonstone and your brother feared a loss of the North when he came to fight for you. We all fear losing what we have gained, but it simply means that what we seek to earn is just as worthy as what we might end up without.

But I am not a rebel! [ she treads a careful line -- letting panic touch her words. she does not mean to say the old king and his brothers were traitors. nor her lord father neither. except they were for some time... ]

I aim to do right by my Court. [ hah. a gentle easy lie because for now it's as true as anything else. ] Certainly, it must stand behind me. Won't it?

[ His expression barely flickers and he tilts his head, just listening. ]

That does not negate the balance you are striving for. Risk versus gain is a battle that we all must face, no matter who we are, from the simplest of men outside the walls of King's Landing to the king himself.

[ Finally, he shakes his head, looking up. ]

Certainly. None can fault you for doing what you can, my lady.

[ she allows some misery to show: ] I nearly played their game. Very nearly.

Sansa. [ He leans forward, into the camera, face solemn and careful. ] We do what we must to survive. You have found a means to be proud in the face of the dangers forced against your hand. You should be proud of that, and know that I am for you.

My lord. It was your own nephew who turned the tide of that decision. [ ... ] I owe him my pride.

[ if not her city's safety. ]

Gendry is as stubborn as the mantle he wears, I think, my lady, that I cannot deny, but I am certain that you would have found your way. You are as brave and bold as the North ever was.

There is a tap at the door and Sigrid is standing there, hands folded in front of her. The moment the door opens, she is moving in for a hug.

[He does not bother making this message privately. He might support the Unseelie, but he considers himself above these kinds of political maneuverings. The Gerudo never wedded anyone and so these kinds of unions did not exist.]

Power through marriage. [He scoffs disdainfully.] To think that the Unseelie have stooped to such insipid means to gain territory. You're certainly brazen to have refused. Was this Unseelie lord named to you?

[It certainly hadn't been Ganondorf or else he's certain he would have heard of it. But if it was Reynard, then that would change the matter entirely.]

If there is anything that I can do from my present location, please tell me.

Her arms were quick around Sigrid's waist. Encompassing all of her; holding her near. And then, when understanding that the door was still open, Sansa dropped her embrace and grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her inside the room. Such weakness, she decided, ought not to be seen around the Lady Keeper's quarters.

"I'm afraid I may have condemned the whole city--" she said first in a rush of honest worry.

The High Queen did not name him. Not in her letter, nor by her courier neither.

[ sansa knows his name, of course. knows his face and voice and distant smirk. but lord ganondorf has not asked for these things: he asks merely whether saralegui was named to her, and so she answers only what she has been asked. ]

I cannot hope for Unseelie Shards to turn against their own. But if you know some names, perhaps... [ no. no -- that is too ambitious. too quick. too clumsy.

sansa sighs. ] Tell me I have not chosen poorly. Please.

I'll see if I can get some additional aid towards you. I'd ask what the lines are like, but that might be too sensitive to share over the network.

[Waver frowns at the request, and leans back in his chair. His study is behind him, all books and work benches, scattered with paper.]

From where I sit, you've done what you think is right, and demonstrated your reasoning to everyone, so that no matter what, your perspective and actions are understood. That's no easy thing to do, and I can't fault those decisions.

Sharing intelligences does not come easily to me. I was taught... [ it doesn't matter what she has been taught. ] They must be told how Morla chooses to conduct her affairs. Holding that to my own heart would do none of us any good.

It might help if you can chart out where they are along your city. Are they in the mountain pass that leads to your gates? If so, reinforcements could come up from elsewhere, behind them, and press them between your walls and the new, fresher army.

[It's the easiest example Waver has on hand, and he speaks of it too calmly, considering the end result.]

You're right - it does more harm to keep quiet about it. Moreover, it helps to make people question what she's done, and what she will do in the future. If she does this to one of her own, would she do it to any of them? Those are the questions you're provoking right now, and they are important ones.

A-and magic. I fear some foul magic is at play. In the central keep, I receive word of men turning to fire on the field. [ ... ] How do we fight fire?

[ a soft pause. a thought. with ice. ]

Water would be logical. If you have your own magicians on hand, that can aim it and put those flames out, you buy delay time.

[This only serves to fuel her ongoing distrust and dislike of both High Queens. Merida clenches her hands into fists, remembering how not long ago she had been facing a marriage she wanted to part of, though at the time she considered her mother to be a bigger beast than the High Queens.]

That was brave of you, m'lady.

Was it? ...Thank you. Such kind words.

[ she knows better. her refusal was part-cowardice and part-stubbornness. not her stubbornness, of course. but ser gendry's. sansa had no stubborn joints remaining in her body. she begins to fear it would have been far braver to spare her city this fiery onslaught on her doors. ]

[There's just a chuckle on Lancer's end as he stands out atop the gates.]

They're gettin' close, Lady Commander. You wanna give the signal?

[ lady commander! she nearly chokes at the thought. and yet. and yet...

gods, lancer. help deliver her city from this fire and she will rain reward upon you. she has so little, but her heart is generous. ]

I've never -- [ a shiver in her voice. ] Winter is coming, Lancer. Bring it to them.

[ one might think that fire comes to melt away the ice and snow and blizzard -- but she is of winterfell, and she would see the chill laid upon these strange fire beasts. when once she fretted over lancer's involvement, she now feels an utter faith in his presence. a hard reminder of why it is not so terrible a thing to have refused the queen's bullying. ]

Aye, it was. Forgive me for bein' bold, but if your people have love for their lady, they will rally behind her, just as th' lords came to my father's aid when he needed them.

[She knows her words probably mean very little to someone she is only just meeting, but it's only cold comfort that she can give. Merida is still learning from her mistake, but here this lady has a choice.]

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(sixth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

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