eachdraidh | (third lemon cake) voice ✧ open to both courts

( VOICE: OPEN TO BOTH COURTS )

Fellow [ ... ] shardholders. Seven blessings upon you all.

[ sansa is back in caer glaem, but there is no visual recording to accompany this address. (perhaps foolishly) she believes she may be somewhat protected from joffrey's attention. she would avoid an address altogether, but she feels there are those in the opposing court who ought to be quietly warned against the evil presence in their midst. trouble is, she doesn't know their names. and so here is a quiet attempt to draw out some of those people she'd spoken with at the very outset of using these lockets. ]

These lands are impressive. I have spent the larger part of two turns of this moon travelling them. Their roads are hard, perhaps, but I find myself oddly...pleased that I made any progress at all. [ there is a quiet (and honest) reverence in her voice. improvement and daring is not a thing she expects of herself, and so the mere understanding that she can now build a fire or ride a horse for days? it kindles something in her heart. a spark of pride. ] Seelie. Unseelie. Both territories boast beautiful landscapes -- I should like to see them painted, perhaps. Are there any artists in either court? Painters? Sculptors? [ ... ] Have we any musicians? These kingdoms must have their own songs. I would fain learn them.

From what played at the first feast, I imagine fairy music must always be a delight.

[ a protracted conversations, perhaps. but she hopes to catch the ear of wary allies and would-be friends. and as for her public behaviour? ah, well. she will be alayne stone a little longer. she is not ready to reclaim herself in one headlong rush. small steps and little leaps must be made. ]

(ooc: this post comes on the evening of june 27th. if your character is in caer glaem and is more apt to find here somewhere around the castle, go ahead and hit me with an action thread instead. i'm good with it. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ her tone betrays little more than idle curiousity. in a land where people are torn from their homes, she imagines it isn't suspicious to be curious about one's countrymen: ] I had heard that Lord Eddard Stark had held such a conference. His name is...well-recognized in Westeros.

[hey, good enough for him.]

Oh, you're from the same place? No wonder you were especially interested in him...

He was -- is again, perhaps -- the Lord of a Great House. [ even-voiced and informative. ] He is known for his honour and his honesty, Jason. If there are any Westerosi worth trusting here, then he is chief among them. Provided the tales are true.

I wouldn't doubt that they are. He seemed like a good guy to me.

[granted, he's been making an effort not to judge people without knowing them fairly well first, after the whole nico situation, jason's probably not the most cautious judge of character these days. hell, he promised jaime lannister he'd keep an eye out for his sister.]

I guess we're lucky that he's on our side, then.

Most fortunate. He was a well-lauded leader in the war that won King Robert his throne. [ ... ] Have you met the other Northerners who have taken up residence here?

Maybe? I've met a lot of people, but only some of them have told me about the places they're from. And I don't really know a lot about your world, so if they don't straight-up call it "Westeros" then they could name all kinds of things and I still wouldn't know it was the same place you came from.

There is Lady Arya Stark. [ oh, how she imagines her sister would broil at the title. but how can she not give it? alayne would never be so familiar as to call arya only by her name. ] And Lord Commander Jon Snow. And I have spoken with Lady Meera Reed of Greywater Watch.

The rest of us are of the more southerly kingdoms. The Vale. The Stormlands. the Crownlands. The Reach.

[he frowns a little in thought, the expression stretching the little scar on his lip in an odd way.]

I think I might have talked to Arya. Is she the one with the wolf?

An impressive creature. I was told that each of Lord Stark's children had a wolf of a similar sort at one time or another.

Yeah, she seemed really interested in them. She was asking me if I'd seen any direwolves while out exploring, near when we all first got here.

[ ... ]

And have you?

No. But I guess she got hers from a boon or something, so it doesn't really matter now.

[ she watches the distance over jason's shoulder. surprised, still, by the view. and therefore ignorant of how she could now be seen again -- all red hair and bearing the marks of her own boon.

sansa sighs. ] They are too kind to us. For every boon I get I wonder where the true price will be.

[there's a quiet curiosity there, but dying one's hair isn't anything particularly strange where he comes from, so the surprise is extremely muted. and it's certainly not something he'd interrupt a conversation to comment on, considerate as he tries to be.]

Well, we fight for them and help their kingdom, right? You don't think that's enough?

I haven't fought.

I mean "we" in general.

Is it fair, then, that we are all so well cared for when we do not all contribute equally?

Just because you're not fighting doesn't mean you're not contributing somehow -- or that you won't in the future. If there's anything I've learned from dealing with the gods so much, it's that they usually have a plan. These things happen for a reason.

[ she wants to voice her hesitation over being a part of someone's plan but the protest sticks in her throat.

instead: ] From where do you derive such optimism? Is it your faith?

[ how much easier faith must be when it can rely on certain knowledge of the gods, she thinks. ]

I think faith is supposed to be about believing in things you don't have any absolute proof of. [but who knows, he's never had any need to learn much about other religions. save that for the athena kids.] I just...don't want to give up so easily, I guess. I don't know, maybe it's just my nature?

[you wouldn't be the first person to think he's kind of excessively positive. ask nico sometime. or better yet, ask luke, who's still trying to fend off all that irritating blond optimism and friendship so he can continue to sulk on his own out at the station.]

Sometimes I feel as though such natures are inevitably broken in Westeros.

Good thing we're not there, then. I don't wanna be rude, but...well, I am glad you're not there anymore. Being kidnapped and all that sucks, but Westeros still sounds like a lot worse a place than here.

I would not be so quick to pass judgement, Jason. We have not been in these lands long enough to know how much hardship they might give us.

[ certainly, she'd lived over a decade in westeros before she'd learned how it could break a girl. it used to be the most beautiful place. ]

Edited 2014-07-10 13:10 (UTC)

But Westeros sounds bad because of the people. Uh, some of the people. [smooth, bro.] I'm not saying I subscribe to everything the rulers here believe in, but so far they seem like they're on our side. As long as the hardships are just in the form of monsters, this place can't be any worse than home.

[hell, if it's just got monsters than it's better than home. the gods are at least half of what makes home miserable sometimes, even if he is technically on their side.]

Don't you fear that there might be monsters in our midst?

video;

oursavinggrace - 2014-07-15 03:03 (UTC) - Expand

steeledskin - 2014-07-15 14:26 (UTC) - Expand

oursavinggrace - 2014-07-15 14:27 (UTC) - Expand