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[The feed comes on sideways, and gives a good view of a big black nose. Bryndis, loyal to her master, has found some way to turn on Kìli’s dropped locket. There’s a brief snuffle from the pup and she draws back to her master’s side, who is lying on the ground with his eyes closed, looking half-beaten and certainly nowhere near sober. He is apparently completely unaware of the locket being on and is slurring out words in a mixture of English and his own native tongue. There’s a nice cut down his forehead, blood trickling down into a black eye, but he’s too gone to care.]

Thatrulkhud fandùna, bunmel, ulnas... She’s gone, Bryn, she’s gone... [He curls in on himself, giving a small little whimper. His fingers curl into the dirt.] I am makarfûn. Mahal, I...this is...this is... kherkhar.

[The pup whines, sitting down beside him. Kìli reaches for her, one hand stroking her fur before pausing in her scruff and tightening there.] Zusul, Bryndis. I...I thought...I thought she was my sabrel, that I could...ihrêr.

[The direwolf pup shifts, her wagging tail hitting the locket and sending it skidding another direction as she comes closer to comfort her master.]

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No matter. [ she speaks like ice. brittle. ] Where did you find...him? Her?

[ she thought only her siblings had direwolves. each of them but her. ]

She was a boon, actually.

-- Oh.

[ her turn to have her words fail her. sansa frets. ] Beg pardon. But -- you're not of Westeros, certainly?

[ because she'd thought he was one of those dwarves. one of gimli's kin, isn't he? but she did not anticipate someone not from her north to suddenly have a direwolf in their care. ]

No, I...hail from Middle Earth.

[A pause.] Is that where direwolves are from? Westeros? I had never heard of them until Master Jon informed me Bryndis was no ordinary wolf.

Their presence is rare even in my family's lands -- just below the Wall. I am shocked to see anyone but my brothers or sisters with one such companion. That is all.

[ soft. distant. she does not commit too much emotion to her words. ]

I see. [He pauses a moment.]

I was led to believe they are not so uncommon as a gift here.

How curious.

My siblings are here -- they all of them have their wolves, but those pups were found in a rare handful of miles south of the Wall. The first my Lord Father had heard of in many many years. Perhaps it's good that they are more common in these lands. They may be dangerous, but they are beautiful. I love them -- as I ought to, my family's sigil is a great grey direwolf.

I find there is a...particular sort of beauty in danger. Sometimes a creature can be beautiful just because it is dangerous and powerful.

[Like women.]

As you say.

[ she doesn't agree. not really. sansa does not fear the direwolves, but she fears just about everything else: and she does not find much of it beautiful. ] Bryndis. Is that what you said her name was...?

Aye. [He nods quietly.] Named in part after my mother, a queen in her own right.

A -- a queen?

[ oh no. a prince. give her a moment. this is a lot to process. ]

My uncle is king, and my mother is... [There's a soft laugh.] She's the closest to a queen our people have.

[But yes, technically, he is a prince.]

Royalty means so little to an impoverished people. We're all poor, regardless of blood.

Blood must yet mean something. Surely.

It will once we've reclaimed our kingdom. If I ever get back to Arda.

Arda. [ she repeats it. careful. ] It's a pretty name for a land. Is it also, then, a pretty land?

I haven't seen much of it. [He sounds a bit sheepish.] My home, Ered Luin, is very beautiful. Cold and snowy, but beautiful. Mountains and forests.

How familiar it sounds! My home is called only the North, for that is where it lies. Cold, too. And snowy as well. Though we leave the mountains for the Vale of Arryn, though I swear I have lived there as well.

[ as another girl; another daughter. ]

Cold places breed hardy folk. [Because if any race is hardy, it's dwarves.]

They do. [ she agrees -- happy, but mild. ]

[Kili hesitates a moment.] It seems to me we have much in common. I...would like to meet, should our paths cross.

[He's curious, and Mahal knows he needs more friends around here. At least ones that aren't elves.]

What is your name, good ser?

[ she has her suspicions by now -- if not for a name, then at least for his kin. but she plays the ignorant. ]

Kili. [No more 'at your service'es, he's rather tired of all that.]

And yours?

Sansa. Of House Stark.

[ and lady keeper of the cothromach, though if he resides within her city (and she thinks he does if he is indeed master gimli's kin) he will know the title matches the name in his own time. she will not need to flaunt it. ]

And so I think we have no fear of never meeting, Master Kili.

[He doesn't pay much attention to politics within the city, but he does recognize that name almost immediately. Gimli had a job with her, after all, one that Kili and Fili were both assisting with.]

Oh! [Kili laughs a bit sheepishly.] No, it would seem not.

I pray you are enjoying my sweet strong city. [ but she remembers his grief upon the very outset of this conversation. ] I would be made quite sad, I think, to learn the Cothromach has done you any harm.

audio

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