eachdraidh | (second lemon cake) video ✧ locked to seelie

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(second lemon cake) video ✧ locked to seelie

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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[It is fast beginning to seem as though nothing went right the past couple of weeks.]

You had three words to speak, did you not? To return to the castle?

[Perhaps he misunderstood the Queen's message.]

But not wits enough to speak them.

[ when accosted so directly about what had happened, she veers almost self-destructively into blame. sansa is not one to make a righteous stand behind her decisions. she'd rather receive her slap on the wrist and be done with it. ]

[She may not get the chastisement she expects from this particular voice.]

I see. [A moment's pause and a sniff follow.] I have heard tell someone was kidnapped from Caer Glaem. We also lost many soldiers in the fighting.

[Connor sounds more tired than anything, but there is a hint of frustration there in his clipped tone. This place seems to take a perverse delight in heaping feelings of helplessness upon him. Helpless to return to his own lands, his own conflicts, helpless to return to his people. And now helpless to even see anything work out here.]

Perhaps the monarchs should have thought to train their ill-gotten army.

Or to not send the untrained at all. [ a gentle sigh. ] It was not all a disaster. I was not on the fighting lines, but asked to help with the wounded and the exhausted. It was not so difficult. [ at times, she'd even felt useful. but then... ]

There was a panic at the end. I lost all sense of standing still and speaking...magic words. Magic doesn't come naturally to me, I'm afraid.

Or that. But they would likely say we do not understand enough to suggest they handle this war with sense and decency. [There's the frustration again, a growl he hastily bites back. Fabric rustles as he stands and moves.]

Why was there a panic?

I got scared. And I ran. And --

And Ser Gendry was good enough to follow after, but by the time he'd caught me up? It was too late. We were too late. And it's my fault. I know it.

[Firmly-] No. It is not your fault. Our captors should not have put you in that situation. It was dangerous and you were not prepared.

I am glad that Ser Gendry thought to follow you and that he accompanies you still. You said he is a... knight?

A knight. [ she confirms. a minor one -- perhaps no better than a hedge knight, really. but a knight. and one that so far hasn't threatened her, though he speaks roughly. and sometimes, it seems, without thought. ]

One I'd never met before coming here.

But one who is familiar with war? Does he plan your escape from those lands?

He does. [ though in truth she is not certain just how familiar with war she can claim gendry to be. but as for their escape: ] We venture south. Our thought is to aim for the place called the Station, where others might be found.

[ except it's a lie she and gendry chose to tell together -- not that they were against the finding of the place, but they both doubted the wisdom in letting strangers know exactly where they were headed. ]

I have heard of this place. [Yet only in passing. If he knew more about the location, he might have an opinion on whether or not it makes a good destination point. As it is, he can only offer well-wishes.] I hope your journey is a safe one.

Wait -- a moment, please. Would you tell me what you think of it? The Station. And what's said of it.

[ could it truly be a neutral place? ]

There is not much for me to tell. It is said it is an... in-between place? And that strange machines are found there. It sounds as though it would make for an interesting visit, but as I have not traveled that way myself, I cannot speak for what it is really like.

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I was too late in saying them.

[For which he can thank Sansa.]

What happened?

[It was only three words. Three simple words, at that. It's difficult for Connor to imagine a situation in which he wouldn't be able to quickly utter the phrase they were given. They must have been faced with unimaginable danger.]

I was asked to look after Lady Stone, so I waited until she said the words before I did.

I waited too long.

Could you not have spoken the words for the both of you?

[He pauses and thinks.]

Could I have? [He assumed it was a one person ticket home.]

[That makes two of them clueless about magic words and the speaking thereof.]

I do not know. I thought it magic that was meant to transport all of you back at once, but... [But that obviously isn't the case.]

If the magic only works to move one person, you might have been able to hold on to Lady Stone to bring her back with you?

[An idea, a theory. Useless now. Because magic only lasts so long.]

Neither of you were wounded in this, were you?

[All of this sounds reasonable enough, but it's too late now. He sighs, because it irritates him to think he might have saved them both.]

No. I've a few bruises from the battle, but no more'n that.

Some good news, at least. So what will you do now? Do you chart your course to take you straight back to the castle or will you travel the lands for a time?

We'll make our way back. I ain't got no interest in travel and Lady Stone ain't made for country like this.

I understand, but if you have any experience with traversing unknown lands, it would likely be in Lady Stone's best interests to learn as much as she can from you in the coming weeks. Once you are back in Seelie lands, that is.

With our captors' ability to transport us to wherever it pleases them, a return to the castle does not guarantee her safety.

You mean I should teach her to start fires and things like that? [He frowns. He supposes if Arya can do it...] She won't like that.

Yes. It is your choice, of course. And there is no use forcing lessons if she is uncomfortable. But it would be good for her to have those skills here.

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