(fifth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

[steeledskin]

Fellow Shardholders. [ what follows is a rehearsed speech, likely written beforehand and committed to memory. sansa stark (better known by most as alayne stone) sits before her locket in troichean beinn. she has, pinned to the shoulder of her fine silk dress, a direwolf. every instinct in her body tells her she should not say what must be said. should not announce what must be announced. but before his absence, her father had been giving her gentle instruction in how to meet these responsibilities. it makes her weep to imagine disappointing him -- yet she is far out of her depth. she needs help. but the speech she must do on her own. ]

With a heavy heart I tell you that Lord Eddard of House Stark -- Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, and a Keeper of Cothromach -- has left these lands. H-he is gone. [ she does not elaborate upon the very grief of his absence, but the cause cannot be too difficult to surmise: else why should anyone's heart be heavy for a man returned to his own world? ]

Yet if Lord Stark has made you promises or oaths of any sort, no matter your court, I wish to see them honoured and fulfilled. [ it takes tremendous will not to beg for the opportunity. she swallows hard. ] And if any have in turn have sworn service to him, I tell you now that I am his eldest daughter and the noble city of Cothromach has deemed me heir to his title. And to his duties. I would be humbled if those sworn to him would consider entrusting me with those same vows -- though I understand asking you to put your trust in a daughter of his house is not a thing easily done.

Likewise, if any in these lands wish to take refuge or make their homes in Cothromach, I would speak to you. My Lord Father wanted to see the city built up to its proper glory, and any Shardholder willing to join us in the task will be welcomed within its walls. For now, Lady Meera Reed sits as castellan while my family travels. Once my efforts in Troichaen Beinn are finished, I look forward to to returning as Sansa of House Stark.

[ by now her voice is shaking and it was a challenge merely to say her true name. it had been a lie, of course: she does not look forward to being herself once more. she knows such honesty runs against every lesson taught to her in the south. honesty leaves her open. vulnerable. but in the south she'd not had jon. nor arya, really. nor any manner of true ally -- none like those allies who have helped her in these lands.

it is for those sweet supportive souls that she speaks her final piece. it is the most difficult thing to ask, and it isn’t hidden behind rehearsal. it is not courtly. ] To those who knew and cared for the girl Alayne Stone: I apologize for my falsehoods. I swear I meant no harm. Please -- forgive me.

[ this confession is done. and so too was alayne stone. ]

Comments

[baseborne]

[Jon gives a small, thin smile, satisfied by that. It's strange: he can still remember her as the little girl who would weep and wail when she did not get what she wanted - when the beautiful southron singers would abandon her alone in the cold hard North. He could recall her as the girl who quaked and trembled at everything around her, when he came to find her stranded so many months ago.

But she was not that girl, here: she had learned some things, he knows not where, and she learned them well. He'd spent days watching her charm dwarven councils and navigate through their politics without his aid - or any aid at all. Not... fearlessly, exactly, but gracefully. Despite their shared poor habit of bumping their heads on the tops of doorways.]

I will speak with Lady Meera on the state of the castle, if you wish. It would do best to have an exact number in mind for what we will need there when you go to negotiate for it. That way you will not look unprepared or unsure of your task. [How many canons or builders they can ask for? How many self-repairing walls, and those strange clockwork soldiers that he has caught only a brief hint of, that he is determined to find out more on?] Perhaps, if Ser Gendry is amenable to it, we might arrange for him to learn such craft here and settle in Cothromach to keep them running and as its smithy when he finishes. [And if not, well, he's certainly someone Jon would still want on the Guard...]

[steeledskin]

[ she is every one of those girls and none -- a fractious personality caught up in stark skin. tully skin. she trembles now, behind the shut locket and the closed door. but at least the south has taught her how to lie and lies could hide her fear. ]

Ser Gendry! [ friend (perhaps) though he is, she'd not considered recruiting him so officially. ever since they'd spoken of ned stark on the road, she felt a wariness in the pit of her stomach every time the question of the knight's loyalty arose. he promises his protection and his smiles but only for a friend and not liege-lady. she's not certain she can ask him to settle anywhere. and yet-- ] Oh, I wish he would. It might not be impossible to convince him. He liked Cothromach when we were there.

[baseborne]

[Jon gives her a small smile.] He is a bit difficult, isn't he? [But Jon quite likes that about him, truth be told. It's lickspittles he finds harder to stomach.] I could speak with him, if you don't wish to, though might be it ought to come from you. [A pause...] I've offered Stiles a place, as well. Any guard would benefit from those healing potions he makes, even if he won't fight for the city.

[steeledskin]

I can do it.

[ but she sounds unconvinced. sansa wants to be the one to invite the smith into their fold, but she cannot muster the certainty that she can do it. but she will try. as for stiles-- ]

How did Stiles receive the invitation? [ she sounds worried. ] He will come, won't he?

[baseborne]

[Jon nods, encouragingly. She's a Lady now - a Keeper. She can do this small thing, no matter how unconvinced of her ability she is - she faces the dwarves every day, who are at least some small part stranger than Gendry Waters.] He was pleased, it seems to me. He wished to be sure that you would consent to it.

[steeledskin]

Certainly! I do -- I do consent. I wish he would come with us. His magic is fresh and unrefined. He hasn't an ounce of courtly manners, I don't think. But he knows things -- doesn't he? About how to speak to other people from his lands. We may need him.

[ her voice gains pace. speed. spark. ]

[baseborne]

[Jon looks pleased, despite himself. It's so good to hear something in her voice that's not fear, or mourning.] Aye, we may. And gods know he ought to have someone to look after him, he's the sort to get into all kinds of trouble when left alone.

[Seriously. Seriously.] I'll tell him you said he's allowed, then.

[steeledskin]

And when you do, you ought to report back with his reception -- whether he smiles, or whether he laughs. I would like to know.