eachdraidh | (fifth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

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(fifth lemon cake) video ✧ open to both courts

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. ]

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[ a thin pause. she wonders -- ought she behave stronger before waver? can she let herself give in to that same old vulnerability? does he have faith in her?

the questions haunt the background of her voice as she answers: ] I welcome it, my lord.

Don't expect perfection of yourself immediately in your new position, no matter how tempting it is.

I confess it is not my own expectations I worry about betraying. There are other marks I might fall well short of. [ ... ] I know I am not perfect, nor likely ever to be.

[ i am a stupid girl in far above her head. ]

[Waver's smile is thin, but warm at that.]

And that knowledge means that you should be quite fine.

-- I was going to be Queen. [ the words rush out too fast -- as if it's a confession long in the making and she cannot quite stem it. but she hasn't been able to commit this fear to words with her other allies. her family cannot know the depth of her doubts. ] Thank the Gods I never did. Thank them for a hundred hundred reasons but not least of all because no Lady should become Queen when she already feels daunted by a city.

[ maybe she does need a husband. gods, even tyrion would do! certainly the dwarven king would approve of the match. ]

[The words put Joffrey in an entirely new light, although Waver immediately moves any thoughts on that matter to the back burner. They're irrelevant to the conversation at hand.]

It's a new set of responsibilities, and you're going to be overwhelmed with them for a bit. That's normal. I was the same way with my current title. [Not in the least due to the person that had it before Waver, and because it opened so many doors that would have been closed to Waver otherwise.]

As daunting as it seems, consider the following: you have someone leading your armed forces that you trust. You know what your limits are. You might not have the city under your feet, but that comes with time. Yes, there's an incoming threat that ups the pressure, but you know about it, and that means you can begin to plan for it. That's a lot of headway in a short space of time.

If you were me, my lord -- fresh in title and with a city to protect -- how would you use your next boon?

[ should i even earn another -- her record in earning them has been spotty at best. but perhaps she should lean upon them more heavily. as little as she cares for the court and as much as she knows her father had reached the end of his patience with caer glaem, she cannot ignore a source of power and protection. ]

[The question's a good one, and one that Waver has to give a very long consideration to. There's too many options, and boons are limited.]

I'd wait to see what my city needs, and then use the boon to fix a particular failing that you might not have the resources to address in a speedy manner. For example, if you have armed forces in need of new equipment, I'd request that.

Then might I put the question to you once again when I've returned there and have taken better stock of my Lord Father's city?

Certainly.

[Waver has a feeling he may simply end up being a consultant for a while, and the truth is, he's actually a little excited about being able to help Sansa get on solid footing.]

All in confidence, of course.

Anything that I consult on for you will remain between us. If anything comes up, I'll alert you to the fact that consultation will have to pause for however long.

My only regret is that I cannot honour your efforts with proper rewards. [ she thinks her father would give a man like this titles and comforts. but she must keep her dependence upon him a relative secret. ]

Honestly, I just enjoy the opportunity to problem solve.

[And truth be told, Waver would decline them if they were ever offered. Much of his own plans rely on a certain level of discretion, and titles would make things tricky.]

...So let us hope I do not end up with so many of them for you to solve.

[ she wishes her father was still here. ]

I won't comment either way on that matter, as not to curse this enterprise before it starts.

That said, I'll alert you that I will have some biases, and they'll be centered around neutrality. I say this so that if any decision feels off, or if I'm too strongly opinionated on this, that, or another matte,r you'll be able to pick up on it and get a second opinion.

I do wonder if true neutrality exists. [ her protest is soft. thoughtful. she is not trying to belittle her friend's stance, but rather understand it through careful inquiry. ] In Westeros, every house is tied by blood. And blood is never neutral.

Most likely not, but it is the best short hand I have for finding a middle ground between two extremes and refusing to engage in a centuries old conflict that is so mired in it's own lore that finding the true root of it is getting more and more impossible.

Something to the courts' advantage, certainly, but not to anyone else's.

[Any further, and Waver will end up in over-analysis mode. He knows when to stop himself.]

Is there ever any peace back in Westeros then, with such close and personal ties?

I thought the ties were meant to knit us together. Sew us up like pretty pennants. My Lord Father married a Southron lady from the Riverlands and thereafter the Tullys were his friends. [ her mother. she frowns. ] Wards and fosters and marriage pacts. They none of them kept us from civil strife.

But I think there must have been peace, once. The world felt peaceful when I was in the North.

Your family seems like the exception to the rule of the rest of Westeros, if I may be honest. And I mean that as a compliment.

[Although Waver knows that too much honour - like the little he saw of Ned on the network - leads to nothing but problems. It's impossible not to think of Rider's words to Saber back in Fuyuki, tearing down the idea of a just king with just laws that gives all for the kingdom.]

We are of the North. The blood of the First Men rushes through our veins. Our ways are not the same as those in the South. [ those ways she used to envy-love-and-covet. but now she knew better. ]

I take it your capital is also in the south?

King's Landing. [ she shivers to say the name. ] Well to the South. I was shocked by how warm even its late summer was. I doubt it snows there even now.

Being so far removed from a hub of central politics I suppose is a factor in all of this too. It's harder to get out of a cycle of corruption that encourages things like civil war - throw family into the mix, and I can easily see what you've mentioned.

[And the continuity between worlds is astounding.]

Mages back home have their own government, since we're stretched across the various countries. My closest friend and ally lives on the other side of the government headquarters, whereas I live and work right in the middle of it. The levels of what impacts her versus what impacts me are comparable.

-- Capitals. Every word is a dagger in a capital city. I am convinced of it. Is it like this too in yours?

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