(second lemon cake) video ✧ locked to seelie

[steeledskin]

Dear fellows and members of the Seelie court -- [ the voice which addresses the locket is composed and clear and perfectly conscientious. but the girl whose image accompanies the voice looks a little less than all those things. her dark-dyed hair is fastened in an uncommonly simple braid...and if one looks very closely, she can be seen to have a haggard look about her. she's somewhere outside and all her caution is bent at hiding a panic she doesn't want to share with strangers. nor with those few genuinely waiting on her return. ]

I don't want to alarm any of you. Indeed, I speak to the very opposite of that effect. It's -- [ her gaze flickers 'off-screen' for a moment ] -- it's Alayne Stone. Those of you who are acquaintances [ not friends ] ought to know that I've found myself...left behind. I'm sorry. It should not have happened. But I suspect I won't make Caer Glaem again for some time. [ the fault of the matter is a little trickier than that, but she knows better than to play with implications. so after a steadying breath, she presses onwards. ] Or we won’t -- because I'm not alone. [ i have nymeria, she thinks but doesn’t dare to say. just like how sansa wants to speak directly to those who know her for who she really is -- but instead: ] I have a knight with me.

Don't I, Ser Gendry? [ and she twists her locket, letting it capture the surly blacksmith who stands a few paces away from her with an irritated expression. his armour is dented and blooded and the man sags with an obvious exhaustion. ser gendry is a man who looks and feels beaten, but it does not stop him from standing tall. he is a talisman of sorts: a warning, to any sansa fears might prey upon what would otherwise be a journey fraught with vulnerability. ser gendry is here; she is protected, albeit not happily so. he at last looks towards her and her locket and grumbles an unhappy agreement to her statement, which is accompanied by a nod. ]

A lady needn’t despair when she’s so well accompanied. Instead, my thoughts are with the returned; I pray the High Queen’s desired prize was taken without steep costs or losses. [ following this, there is no formal farewell. no official sign-off. her attention lingers, perhaps waiting for one or two responses in particular. ]

( ooc; sansa and gendry are now officially stranded and making their long way back to caer glaem -- and it’ll take them at least two months, though they’ll be reachable by locket at their respective ic inboxes. but for now, responses to this post will receive replies from one or the other or both!)

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[firith]

[ They are very alike in some ways, the quieter type that seeks to survive. Perhaps that is why he favours her, this clever daughter of Men who took pride in her true name upon knowing when to give it back to herself. It is the way of kings to hardly notice the Your Graces and Your Majestys, too, while addressing others as the situation requires. ]

There is a very dangerous Elf in those woods by the name of Celegorm. Avoid him at any cost. To best hide from him and any of his kind when you need to rest, [ as well as you both can, ] try to sleep under over-hangs of banks and boulders. Lie to him and say you are lost, if you encounter this creature, for he considers that castle his very real home.

[steeledskin]

Celegorm. [ she repeats it as she's repeated every name and word he's given her that was not immediately familiar: carefully, respectfully, and with an aim to remember it in future. but today it is with some dismay; she'd rather hoped that elves were finer creatures in every individual of their race. that they might all be as stalwart and sheltering as he and his son are. ] I'll approach no strangers. I'll not treat with them. I swear it. I'm not fond of strangers.

[ ...she wonders whether she ought to warn him. join his warning with hers. ] There is a dangerous man, as well.

[firith]

Which man is this?

[steeledskin]

Jaime Lannister. He --

[ locked away in this smaller conversation, sansa might be able to confront a bit of the blame. a bit of why she and gendry never made it back. ] I ran when I heard he was near, your grace. I was craven, and now Gendry and I are lost.

[firith]

If you had true cause to flee, then you did well not to tarry for the sake of appearances. This man frightened you, whether he knew you were there or not, and I shall not forget his name.

[ Gendry can just deal with the situation. ]

Contact me with the lockets when you have reached somewhere safer. You ought to remain on the move for a while to put distance between yourself and the Unseelie.

[steeledskin]

My sister's wolf is with us. [ she says it quickly, as though guilty of letting it slip her mind in the midst of so much learning. her tone quiets a moment as she explains: ] Arya is back at the castle, but when she learned of the quest. She...the direwolf is very big. And very strong. We only wait for her to come back to us before we walk again.

[ and nymeria would come back. sansa doesn't doubt it. she only wishes she'd come back sooner. ] I didn't want to mention her to everyone else. [ but she'll mention her to the elvenking, who tries to hard to imbue sansa with useful things. there is little she wants to hide from him. ]

[firith]

I will not make mention of her. [ Any of Sansa's confidence, he will keep. ] I am glad to hear you have the direwolf with you and will on your journey back to Caer Glaem. I do not intend to return to the castle, once I meet with Legolas, though we may stay at the Station for a short time.

[steeledskin]

...You won't be at Caer Glaem?

[ she wishes she did not sound so heartbroken. sansa does not begrudge a king his wanderings or his plans. if thranduil intends to go elsewhere, he must have a good reason for it. it doesn't make her any less sore to hear it. she only wishes she could hide her sudden girlish sadness at the thought of losing his company once she's back behind the stronghold's walls. ]

[firith]

I will not, Silathiel. There are those in these lands who would find us quickly if we were to remain so obviously planted and cause us far greater pain than my son is currently enduring.

[ He is sorry, and he likes her very much. Trying to convince Gendry to stop snivelling about responsibility and to actually look out for her is something he wants to accomplish very much. But Legolas is wounded and broken, and Thranduil loves his son more than any quest these kings and queens wish to bestow. His child's life is worth more than this for such blind obedience.

Enough. ]

We can still talk with the use of the enchanted lockets. When I have carved out a new home for us, you will be most welcome. This is repeating history, for me, following in the footsteps of my father who thrice moved our people while he was alive.

[steeledskin]

[ she wants to weep. deep down she understands the tears would not be only for the elvenking's leaving. they would be tears for everything: for missing her sister and the comfort of her own feather bed. for living on road rations. for the blisters on her heels and the fact that she had no fairy servants to help pin her hair as beautifully as it could be pinned. they would be tears for the blood she'd seen at the support base. tears for thinking jaime lannister had been so close. tears for all her dead family. so many tears.

but she breathes deep, hides a sniffle under a clearing of her throat, and chooses instead to consider it remarkable that even level-headed elves see fit to look to the future with such optimism and hope. when thranduil carves out a new home -- she likes how he avoids the word if. ]

I should be honoured to visit it. Perhaps after this, the journey to where you settle won't seem so impossible. [ if he can have hope, so can she. ]

[firith]

[ Her despair is like a bird with a broken wing, trying so hard to shield its plight from view but obvious all the same. ]

It will be a safe haven, a quiet place as once my own Halls in Eryn Lasgalen were. We are friends, you and I, and I would speak more of this with you so that you knew you owned a trusted retreat if one were ever needed. Try to reach the Station.

I will wait awhile there, not only while Legolas rests but on the chance I will see you.

[ The distance to Caer Scima is around two months for a normal human, to the Station it will only be a month or so. Thranduil intends to ride as hard as an Elf can, which ought to shave a week or so off the wait. ]

[steeledskin]

I...[ hmm. ] I will speak with Ser Gendry about our heading. If he deems it safe, I'm certain we'll see you at the Station.

[ certainly it sounds as though she'd prefer that version of events. if not only because she would relish the opportunity to see both thranduil and his son. but gendry is a prickly knight -- and sansa is skittish of knights to begin with. he'd claimed to be one thing but then acted like another. and she could never quite keep her attention off his hands, wondering if they were ever going to come cracking down on her jaw.

maybe she did him a disservice by fearing violence. but he'd done little to reassure her otherwise. ]

[firith]

Very well. I must make haste, I wish to cover a day or two's ride unless the horse weakens first. Stay safe, Sansa.

[ Which translates to If you come to harm, I will know which man to blame. ]

[steeledskin]

Perhaps we might speak in the evenings, your grace. [ then they would both know whether they were safe. ] Nothing at length; only a word or two. To be certain.

[ a friendly voice -- because he calls me a friend and i am grateful for it -- would keep her happier on the trail. she thinks she might eventually go mad with only gendry's sullen words for company. ]

Good weather and good fortune. When you see your son, give him my regards. Tell him I hope to give them to him myself in due time.

[ and with that, she lets the conversation end. there is no reason to force words where none were needed. ]

[firith]

We will meet again, Sansa, and perhaps it will be with happier tidings.

[ He hopes so. Not one to bandy words unnecessarily, he gives her a nod and disconnects. ]