Video | Forward-dated to June 2

[kingsdaughter]

[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.

Comments

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[kingsdaughter]

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.

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[steeledskin]

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

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[kingsdaughter]

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.]

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[steeledskin]

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.

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[kingsdaughter]

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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[steeledskin]

Or a hound. [ she is almost wistful. gendry is not the worst companion, but there is another she would want more. ]

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[kingsdaughter]

That's a better example, yes, [she answers with a small laugh.]

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[steeledskin]

[ a hound will die for you but never lie to you. and he'll look you straight in the face-- ]

I was once told that dogs can smell a lie. This -- Sergeant. Is he an honest man?

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[kingsdaughter]

In the ways that count. He told me plenty of tall tales, but that's all they were and we both knew it. But he's honest, in such a way where he's nothing but what he really is. No pretense at all.

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[steeledskin]

I have seen sometimes that even showing such a lack of pretense can be its own pretense. Is this not the case with him?

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[kingsdaughter]

He saw me safe to my room. Or more than that, he made me feel safe. No jokes, nothing to make me uncomfortable. He is all warmth and kindness, and I haven't known many who are like that. But when you talk to them, it's sort of unmistakable.

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[steeledskin]

You don't fear it could be some -- some very careful lie? That perhaps he is very good at behaving so warmly.

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[kingsdaughter]

If he was going to hurt me, he'd have done it already.

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[steeledskin]

[ no, she thinks. sometimes they wait. bide their time. but alayne cannot be so straight-forward. so: ] Even so, please won't you be careful?

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[kingsdaughter]

Of course I'll be careful. Surrounding myself with big, terrifying-looking men has something to do with that.

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[steeledskin]

Is he a knight? Do you know to whom he owes his allegiance?

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[kingsdaughter]

Not a knight. He's a soldier, and he's from a place called Ireland.

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[steeledskin]

Good. [ not all knights can be trusted. ]

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[kingsdaughter]

What does that mean?

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[steeledskin]

Knights. They -- [ but wait. would alayne care so deeply about a knight or two? she bites her bottom lip. ] I only mean that it must be good that he is otherwise unhindered by whatever oaths he's sworn to whoever commands him.

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[kingsdaughter]

[She doesn't know any knights. She knows watchmen, though.]

You mean they're not paid to enforce someone else's "justice." I know the type. No, he's not like them. You know how some men look at you like you're too stupid to see they're leering? He didn't do it once.

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[steeledskin]

[ ... ]

I know the sort. [ and it doesn't surprise her that sigrid knows the sort as well. it seems a universel truth of womanhood. ] And I am sincerely glad he isn't one of them.