(fourth lemon cake) voice ✧ open to both courts

[steeledskin]

Fellow Shardholders. [ of either court! ]

I would speak to a man of law -- should any find himself amid our numbers. [ such a profession is unknown to her, but stiles has explained some occupations and tenets of his world and this one in particular piques her interest. sansa stark could make use of such a man who might be bound by her confidentiality. of course, she does not quite understand the ins and outs of the arrangement.

but that's why she asks today: to learn; to plan; to piece together little patches of her defence. ] Anyone who would call themselves lawyer. I would speak with you. That is the word for it, yes? [ lawyer. ] My apologies if I've gotten it wrong; I'm only a simple girl and I am unwise in these matters. I want to learn about the things that are mysteries to me.

[ like whether a lawyer's strange binding powers of argumentation would even apply in these lands. once her conversations are finished, she snaps the locket shut and can be found in the library -- where she organizes books she doesn't care to read, because the practise soothes her and distracts her mind from its darker thoughts. or else come the evening she sits in her chambers, and allies of hers are welcome to stop and knock. ]

Comments

[bullhorned]

Stiles. He put you up to this? [He was suspicious now. Not because he thought their friend was mean spirited, but it was always difficult to judge just about anything he did.]

[steeledskin]

He did not put me up to it-- [ not least of all because stiles does not know of her circumstances, but sansa is not about to announce so. ] He told me about something and I am pursuing it on my own.

That's not a bad thing, is it?

[bullhorned]

[Gendry is hardly the expert on morality or what is appropriate. He pauses to think.]

No? At least, I don't think so. Just seems a strange thing, coming from him. I saw what his world was like at the Station. It was mostly rubbish. His lawyers might be the same.

LOCKED.

[steeledskin]

They have the power to break vows.

[ power. it is a strange way of putting it -- but it's how she understand it. ] And they are not allowed to tell their patrons' secrets. Whatever magic they use, it must be strong.

LOCKED.

[bullhorned]

[... vows. Like marriage vows, he realizes too late.]

So you mean to ask them to do away with your marriage. So you can marry another.

LOCKED.

[steeledskin]

Marry another-- [ the thought strikes across her like a cut. a slice. and the wound is shallow, but it lets in a trickle of new fears. ]

No. I would ask them to do away with it so I can be what my Lord Father expects me to be: a good heir, whose claim remains uncompromised by...

[ she could go on being married to tyrion forever and ever so long as he was not near her. in a way, that marriage kept her safe from other threats. but she cannot be the eldest legitimate stark heir with a lannister husband. ]

By enemies to our House.

[bullhorned]

[Until now, he'd not thought to think of her as an heir. In truth, he'd thought little of these things and he had this vague notion that even were that the case, it seemed as though Jon should be the heir. If he were not a bastard, at least.]

I see. [He frowned.] You don't need a lawyer to break vows. Men do it all the time.

[steeledskin]

They do. [ that much is true. ] But I'm not looking to have my vows merely broken. They must dissolved. [ a man could call her sansa lannister and he would not be mistaken. ]

I suppose men have more leeway in the breaking of their vows. [ your father broke his, and yet you are not heir to anything. i could break mine a hundred times and all it would take is one lannister baby to threaten my house.

they are words she cannot say. but only pray he understands without hearing. ]

[bullhorned]

[Knowing little of these matters, he doesn't understand. Not the heart of it, anyway. He sees only unhappy marriage, rather than threats.]

We could look for one, if you like. A lawyer, that is. I'd go alone, but I wouldn't be able to read the signs. I don't know what sort of pictures they'd have for a lawyer shop.

[steeledskin]

[ the offer is achingly generous. and she should thank him -- more still, she ought to refuse and take the burden upon herself.

but instead: ] I can show you the way the letters look together. Would that help?

[bullhorned]

[He imagines his fairy to be rather upset at the invitation. But fortunately, he managed to elude her again. Still:]

Aye, that might do, if you was to write it down.

[steeledskin]

[ she reaches for a quill and a piece of parchment and on it she writes two words: LAW and LAWYER. her letters are clear and the shapes obvious. ]

I will have one of Sigrid's fairies bring the sheet to your forge. [ she still hasn't been there herself, but she'll send a fairy there. ]

[bullhorned]

Thank you. I'll let you know if I find anything. Promise.

[He meant it, as well. He was free, thanks to being in this place. He thought she deserved that freedom too.]

[steeledskin]

And...and you will look with discretion, won't you?

[ she likely does not need to ask. not least of all because she's openly asking about lawyers over the lockets herself. but it became another issue if some saw gendry trying too hard to help her in the matter. ]

[bullhorned]

I don't see how it would be anyone else's business.

[In other words, yes. He will do just that.]

[steeledskin]

You have such a forgiving way of looking at things-- [ she sets the locket aside, and its wide angle catches her hands as they work deftly to fold the paper over three times. she has no wax with which to seal it, but she does pen his name upon the topmost fold: SER GENDRY. ]

[bullhorned]

Forgiving... ain't quite how I'd say it.

[He did not really imagine himself as all that forgiving a person, really.]

[steeledskin]

No? [ she thought back to the conversation she'd had with her lord father -- evaluating and passing verdict on gendry's character. upon his self-esteem. ] How would you say it, ser?

[bullhorned]

Just that... it's your business, what you say and do. That's all. It ain't no one else's concern.

[It's his own narrow perspective on things, reflected from his own desire to do as he liked without the judgement of others. It was born from a desire to be his own man.]

[steeledskin]

[ her laughter is tin. it is hollow and unyielding. ]

No, ser. I mean to ask -- how would you say you are, if not forgiving? For it sounds forgiving to me.

[ and she anticipates that he will paint himself as a realist. ]

[bullhorned]

Oh. [He frowns and, as ever, screws up his face as he thinks about that. He did not generally describe himself except in terms of skill or physical attributes. It took him time to navigate around working out what he was.]

Stubborn, I think. I see things... the way they are. Maybe a bit of how they ought to be, as well. But that's the way a smith is supposed to look at things.

[steeledskin]

It must be frustrating -- [ she starts, but does not continue. ]

[bullhorned]

Frustrating? Why?

[steeledskin]

To always see how things ought to be -- flickering in your mind's eye. Not yet made. Not yet perfect. [ the potentiality of every object and concept. the eventual blade in every lump of steel. the inevitable curve of metal.

perhaps this is why he scowls so: ever disappointed in how the very lines of the world around him do not match what his mind wants to make.

sansa finds this sad. ]

[bullhorned]

Mayhaps. People and kingdoms aren't like steel, though. I can't do much to shape them. I'm not the sort meant for that kind of thing. So there's no use being frustrated over things I can't change.

[It's a lie, though. He does get frustrated, because he wants things to change. He's worked hard at it. But he's only one man with barely an ounce of any real power. He is supposed to be content with what he has.]