eachdraidh | Video | Forward-dated to June 2

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Video | Forward-dated to June 2

[Sigrid has the locket propped up like a mirror on her dresser. Flung over the arm of her chair is a mass of scarlet wool she is sewing into a new gown. Everything else in her room looks, to her, rather sparse and unlived-in. She's never had her own room all to herself. Nervously, she brushes stray hairs away from her face even though they were never in the way.]

I've kept my own house these last six years.

...What I'm saying is I need work, and I'm willing to work. I'm good with children, if you need any looked after. Otherwise I can do chores as you need them. I read and write well, and I sew, cook, spin, and knit. And clean, of course, and do laundry and all. Da taught me ciphering so I could manage our money. Anything else, I can learn.

Thank you.

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Nearly two turns of the moon yet. My...companion and I were lost on the wrong side of one of their awful fairy rings. We are to make our own way home.

[ alayne must be light-hearted and sweet, now. if she wants to win the girl's friendship and stave off her loneliness. ] But you must wait for me, Sigrid. Or else talk with me during the long hours of the journey.

I can talk with you and work at the same time, my dear Alayne. [What a lovely little thrill goes through her at the chance to call someone "my dear!"] You shall have petticoats when you return, and there will be other things to make after that. Do you know ciphering? I could teach you.

[ sansa shrinks from this sudden burst of friendship -- as sweet as it sounds and tastes, she isn't yet certain she can trust it. it's fast and quick-blooming. but alayne, she knows, is bastard-brave. capable of reaching out and saying what needs to be said.

so she keeps the crutch of alayne stone still: ] Ciphering! [ hmm. sigrid had mentioned it next to money and so -- ] Is that...your sums, you mean? I know my sums. Not well, perhaps. But I know them.

Perhaps you can make them better.

[Sigrid hasn't had friends her age in a long time, not since Ma died. That was when she started to feel very different from the other children her age, and those willing to brave the drama that was her family life started to draw away from her for finding her suddenly a stranger to them.

And maybe she's digging her claws in too quickly, but her father taught her that's how she gets what she wants in life. And she wants Alayne.]

My da taught me enough to keep our money straight. Bookkeeping, he called it. It isn't very interesting, I'm afraid, but it helps us know what's gone where.

[ speaking of books being kept-- ]

And you said you know your letters, as well? There's a fine library in the castle. Until recently, I was trying to keep its spines in order. [ not because she likes to read all that much but because king thranduil had asked for her help once. and ever since, she'd found the stacks a quiet and solitary place. good for avoiding the stress of other people. ]

It's quiet there. If you ever want quiet, please find its doors.

[ if she has any piece of wisdom worth having, she wants to add it to sigrid's other inheritances. ]

Edited 2014-05-30 00:02 (UTC)

Thank you. [Quiet moments are rare and precious as scarlet fabric.] Of course I will.

[She suddenly thinks of Tilda, and how some of their fondest times have been snuggling close and exchanging stories made up off the tops of their heads.]

Would you...like for me to find a book to read to you, sometimes? Till you get back to the castle, I mean. Perhaps it will help pass the time, and give you something to look forward to every day.

[As soon as she says it, she thinks it sounds stupid. Alayne is older than Tilda, and she won't want to listen to stories like a little girl.]

Edited 2014-05-30 00:22 (UTC)

Sigrid -- [ a soft breath. almost sad sounding. ]

[ her thoughts race. she is checking the offer for any sort of hook or catch or unforeseen blemish. but what could it be but kindness?

sansa suffers herself to smile. ] It would be an undeniable pleasure.

[Her heart sinks at Alayne's sigh, then leaps at the smile.]

We shall be two well-dressed and educated women.

I should like that very much. There is good company at the castle, but -- some of it can be baffling, at times. [ she should feel bad saying anything negative about her fellows in caer glaem. but she cannot help it. ]

They speak strangely. And of strange things.

I've already heard a number of stories. [She hesitates.] Have you...heard from anyone you know? From home, I mean. I was just with two of the people here two nights ago, yet they say they've been here for weeks.

I travel with someone from the same lands as me. But he and I never met before here -- and there are others, still, in Caer Glaem who I've known but have not seen for years. None I've spoken to so recently have arrived.

But that does not mean they won't. [ the last line is to encourage hope in the girl. ]

But how can it be, that they were taken on the same night I was, but they've been here for weeks and I only a day?

I can't lie to you and tell you I know how it works, Sigrid. Only that there are men and women -- [ and a girl ] -- here whose last memories of home are not in line with my own. Fairy magic. -- I can think of no other explanation.

Magic. [She nods. Sometimes that's the only way to explain something.] Like where a dragon's fire comes from.

[She swallows.]

Yes -- exactly! Only I suspect one may yet be worse than the other.

[ she has no love for dragons. not least of all after the way in which her conversation with the targaryen girl ended. ]

Much worse. [She doesn't really want to talk about dragons right now. For all she knows, there's one that killed her whole family.]

Maybe there's time for the fairies to take them away, too. I mean--my family.

[Then she realizes what she said isn't going to make sense to Alayne and just shuts up.]

-- Time? Why is time required?

Edited 2014-06-01 01:59 (UTC)

[Yeah what a way to take your first conversation with someone. "My family might get eaten by a dragon and I can't stop thinking about it." Cheerful.

She shakes her head.]

Nothing. Don't even think about it. I was talking aloud to myself.

[ she imagines there is something more to it. but who is she to press? if alayne stone will have her secrets, then sigrid must have them as well. better for the pair of them if neither divulge them so publicly. ]

If Sigrid tells me not to think on it, then think on it I won't. Tell me instead about the feast you must have had. I am so sore to have missed it. Were there candies? Lemon cakes?

I don't remember very well, I'm afraid. I spent more time looking than eating, but when I grew very tired the fairies brought me a very soft blanket and a cup of hot mulled wine and it was so lovely I nearly fell asleep at the window. But I met Sergeant Patrick, and he saw me safely to bed. He is a kind and gentle soul, the best sort there ever was.

Who is Sergeant Patrick? [ and what a funny name is sergeant! ]

A big soldier from a place I never heard of. Big, and brutish-looking but so very sweet, Alayne. He made me laugh, and never let me feel unsafe. He speaks a tongue he called Gaelic and said a god made it up for them to speak. I ought to tell him I've remembered dwarves say something like that too, or at least it's what they've said of the dwarves trading from the Iron Hills. They say the god that made them gave them their own tongue to speak, unlike any other spoken in Middle-earth.

[It's a sign of comfort when Sigrid becomes a chatterbox.]

Dwarves-- [ no. that's not important. alayne would not care half as much. and so: ] If he is half as good as you say he is then you must introduce me when I am back. It's so surprising how the brutish ones can be so...

Comforting.

It's like having a trained bear, I suppose, if you're certain of its loyalty. Only the conversation is better.

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