eachdraidh | (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!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Aye, would you now? I might like to see you meet that challenge. Mayhaps a roll in the mud might do good for you.

[She can't help the lascivious grin at her next words, knowing the double meaning and basking in it.]

I can be dirty with the best of them.

The best of them, eh? They anyone I know?

[He latches onto her double meaning and plays along, even though he can't help but feel just a bit jealous at the notion.]

Well if highborns do not lie in gutters, then he must not be highborn. He would be very dirty, the dirtiest even.

[And she toys even more. There is none she would rather choose than to roll in the dirt with him, but she does not say this. Instead she is coy and smirking, too devious to be innocent.]

Would he? Then I do know him. Dirty bugger, him. Never took a bath in his life. He smelled so much, not even rats or flies would have anything to do with him.

[Intentionally missing the point? Perhaps. Gendry is rarely one to flirt, much less in this situation, or with another highborn lady so near.]

[She laughs sweetly, much as she did the night they met.]

Good thing there are baths in the castle. One can go from a mud puddle to a bath quite quickly.

Aye, plenty in the castle, but not a one to be found out here. Likely the flies will be just as disgusted with me when I've made my return.

[Not that he wasn't above a dip in a river or stream. But now he knew that it was quite a bit different from a real and proper hot bath. He'd never felt so absurdly clean as he had after the one she'd arranged for him.]

Then we shall get dirty then bathe. [Oh, the implications.]

As you say, m'lady.

[It might sound a dismissal, but for the way he says it.]

[It makes her laugh and miss him all the more.]

Do come back safely, Ser Gendry.

I will. You'll see, m'lady. Two months ain't so long a time. And the way I hear it, we ain't likely to grow much older during that time either.

Good. Then you shall be young and full of vigor for time to come. [Which just means she will get to oogle him.]

Aye. Suppose I will, won't I? [Not that he truly believes that. Old age was not a common cause of death in Westeros and especially not for the poor. For people of his breed, he might as well be middle aged already.] As will you.

[His words have her smile again.]

I would rather you remember me as I am now in this moment.

I think, m'lady, I'll remember you in your white dress with those pearls, that first day we met. Better that than a picture and a voice in a locket.

[This strange magic, though far beyond anything they could expect at home, was a shallow imitation of being there in person.]

Please do. [Because she can already feel that girl being consumed. By this place, by her own fear, by the name Sforza. She would hate for him to dislike her for that, for a marriage she is forced into. But still she cannot tell him. Not here, not over this.]

I would wish to always be remembered by that night.

Then you will. I have your gift with me still. When I return, I've a mind to ask your for a second, if you would spare it.

I would have to think on something special enough.

No no, it need not be nothing new. I've a mind to put the pearl to use, but I'll need two.

Then if that's all you wish, I shall give you another. You would have more of a use than I.

Aye. Thank you, m'lady. Once I've made my return back, you'll be the first to see what I do with them.

I await you everyday then.

(second lemon cake) video ✧ locked to seelie

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