eachdraidh | Video - Seelie locked - Forward-dated to the 3rd

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Video - Seelie locked - Forward-dated to the 3rd

I'm back!

[Sigrid has bathed and washed her hair and polished her skin and everything is braided and tucked and in place as she sits before the locket, sitting like a lady instead of a girl.]

I'm in Caer Glaem and I have presents for a lot of people. Treun is a wonderful city and I will go back, and not only for business. Let's see...

[She looks at something off-frame, ticking each item off on one hand by tapping each fingertip against her thumb.]

Sansa, Gendry, Arya, Jon Snow, Lancelot, and Fili, I've got presents for you all from Treun and I want to see you. But!

[She smooths herself out and looks a little more formal.]

I am Sigrid of the House of Dale. We didn't get any new alliances in Treun, but we've got something just as important happening.

[She can't help the smile that breaks out.]

Before the envoy was sent, Treun was struggling to trade with Caer Glaem. You and I, shardbearers, can use the fairy rings to travel safely from here to there and back, but those without shards cannot. Treun is a hub of trade--traders come from round the world and their goods ship along the Road of Eithne to Cothromach, and from there across the mountains to Caer Glaem. As you know, most of the major battles of the war in the last few months have taken place along the Road of Eithne, making it very dangerous to travel. We have been on the brink of losing trade not only with Treun, but with all those who come by the Road of Eithne--the eastern world, more or less, and a great many by sea.

With the Council of Treun, it has been agreed [her smile splits into a grin] that a new road is to be built south of the fighting that will allow merchants from Treun to travel safely not only to Caer Glaem, but to the western world.

Trouble is, I need people to help build it. I've got three lovely earthbenders who'll work it through the mountains, but we'll need as many as possible to help make this safe path happen for the merchants. The monarchs will supply most of the laborers, but I need foremen. People who know what looks wrong, mostly. We don't even have roads in Lake-town, so I'm not much good there. Oh--there will have to be a bridge over the river.

...Thank you. For listening, even if you can't help.

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It's a beautiful city, like what I imagine Dale used to be. We were there during the Wreath Festival. [Oh, she's so sad she didn't bring a wreath back to give to the Elvenking, even though she couldn't have known. She'll have to find wheat and make him one.] Our host was very rich and our rooms were luxurious. And I was a diplomat, and they liked me, and I'm making the world better. I love it and I don't want to stop.

It gladdens my heart to know you are content. [ If she has a career and no spare time on her hands, it can only mould her into an admirable woman. ] Your father would be well pleased with your accomplishments, Sigrid.

I know. [It's spoken with neither hesitation nor wonder. Bard would be proud of her, and far from taking it for granted, she has desperately needed to hear him saying it, lately. Her smile has vanished and she's trying not to think about how much she misses him.]

I wish he was here, [she admits quietly, because she thinks she might burst sooner or later if she doesn't.]

He would want you to do just as you are. In that vein, Sigrid, I have a matter of diplomacy to balance with you too, now that a road must be built. [ He tilts his head. ] I have a request for its placement.

[She collects herself and nods. She's been expecting this kind of thing, if not exactly from other shardbearers.]

I would gladly hear your proposal.

There is a large contingent of Elves which I intend to re-home in the southern Greenwood. Orminairi, Galatath and others besides. [ Depending on exactly how many Legolas has been busily spreading the word to. ] They are not warriors all, with babes in arms to speak of.

Their own lands have been plagued by evil and they cannot remain there.

Your road, which needs must be built for the people of Treun, would be best placed skirting the mountains, if not on the eastern side of the forest river. It will act as a natural barrier between wayfarers and the aelfen clans who will assuredly wish to protect their new lands. This could be simply done.

The road as planned now runs along the east bank of the river, but the river itself would undoubtedly be coveted by merchants who would float larger wares upstream in barges, not to mention other settlements and the elves themselves wanting to benefit from a trade road. There's a lot of people who'd pay to have the road come near, and a people already suffering would...I thought would have been among them.

[ His smile is fleeting, but there. ]

A trade road, yes, not so much the traders themselves.

Beneath the Hidden Falls is a fork in the river; an outpost there to receive aelfen trade sent downstream would be useful. There is a northern inlet where deliveries can be sent west to the Falls to be newly gathered by an elven outpost. This way the Falls would be left to us, no one need cross into the clear boundary of the river's western banks, and you will still require only a single bridge.

I shall be glad to have that built for you, in return.

[It's all very generous except that Thranduil isn't offering her anything he actually has right now. She presses her lips together briefly in thought.]

Your son invited me to a gathering in the Greenwood, though I do not know when or where it is to take place. Either way, it will be better to discuss over maps and contracts than over lockets. Would this be agreeable?

[ At the very least, he has the elf-power for a bridge from the company Legolas has swollen in his absence, and now Sigrid is aware what is wanted on the Eldar's side. He really doesn't want to ruin her project, but neither is he inclined to live alongside travellers and a noisy by-road for the convenience of Caer Glaem; the opposite of what he wants. ]

Yes. We will host the gathering before our forces shift, after our own business is concluded.

When and where, Elvenking? Construction will begin soon, and if the precise locations of the road must be changed, I must know. I also need terms of the use of the river in detail and writing to send to my contacts in Treun, and to know which parts of the land you have secured so people will know not to trespass. And if some of the parts of the land you want happen to be in Caer Glaem's possession, especially the river, then I might arrange something for you in exchange for...some things we'll discuss. I'm going to get information together on my end and we'll come to something that will suit both our needs.

Sigrid.

[ There's a note of impatience in his tone, harder than he usually employs with her. She is Bard's daughter, his friend's child, and he allows her great leeway — but she forgets to whom she speaks.

Easing the sharpness, his unblinking eyes remain fixed on her through the locket. ]

You have dealt with the Men of Treun admirably, but now you must await my direction on behalf of the Eldar and Aelfen, even if it frustrates you. There are many clans, in various states of dissolution, which must first be brought together for their own safety before any action is taken on the Greenwood. Construction will not begin soon — that is how negotiations are done, with patience and timeliness. All roads on the eastern side of the forest river are of no consequence to us, build there what you will, but the threat of Caer Glaem withholding land is of no import. The southern forestlands are where we intend to settle.

I am willing to bet Treun shall have a readier ear for an Elvenking's display of might if they seek to goad it to their halls by impressing haste where it is not wanted.

[ He will take Legolas, their Mirkwood contingent, native aelfen clan leaders and march them into the citadels of Treun to have his say, if it comes to it. Thranduil is not shy of business; he is simply busy. Stealing her thunder in this matter isn't what he wants to do, not at all — letting her keep this project would be preferable — yet a dozen or more fully armed immortals fearlessly making their intentions known to the faces of the Treun council, albeit only to talk, will have a far more lasting impression than one girl.

Widening his eyes, he remains firm on the matter despite his regrets. Lastly, he offers her his help on how to compensate for a change in plans. ]

Tell them of the situation. Tell them an Elvenking intends to march on the Greenwood when he and his son have concluded their business, and will provide an excellent ally — or a powerful enemy. If they are still impatient to stake their claims where they are not wanted after that, I will deal with them directly.

Edited 2014-10-04 15:43 (UTC)

Construction will begin soon--and by that I mean probably months down the road, and it's going to take a very long time for the road to be finished. Years, probably. Here is my compromise: we will begin our end of construction in the mountains, where it will take the longest. If you're still not ready when that's done, we'll move to Caer Glaem and begin work there. Once that's all done, we can discuss terms and precise locations of the road in your area, and negotiate about the river, if we haven't before then. But it won't be hard to make sure your part of the road is the last part worked on. Nobody needs to stake any claims anywhere, and we're not putting trade on hold any longer than we must. I'll just have a great lot of contractors angry with me, but better than they have a lot of elves angry at them.

Edited 2014-10-04 16:27 (UTC)

[ He wonders that Bard's strength lives in her so; brave enough to object, to argue even, and against the Elvenking she was so afraid of when they first met.

'I do not bite unless expressly provoked.'

'But you're the Elvenking.'

Bard would be proud of her, yes. Thranduil is glad of his certainty in that, if irked by the enthusiasm of one he considers too young to be having dealings with the Eldar. Already, he makes his own plans, ones he does not wish to share here. Should the Aelfen clans continually expect Legolas and himself to re-home them, the Elves will do as they please in the meantime on the western half of the river. That is no ones concern, after all, but theirs. ]

I must make it clear that although I would be glad to discuss the river trade-route that is vastly preferable, as it was between Eryn Lasgalen and Lake Esgaroth, it is not by any means my current priority. I cannot say when it will become so.

[ A dismissive shake of his chin is given as with regards to the rest she mentions. ]

The eastern road I care nothing for, as I said — do with it as you will. Begin if you must, and with all the urgency of Men at your back.

[ If there is a note of ~~elfdad~~ disappointment in his tone, he can't take it back. ]

Edited 2014-10-04 16:44 (UTC)

[She gives a frustrated huff.]

So I'm making every compromise here and you don't care at all. Elves.

[But she doesn't take back anything she said. Lady Fortuna was a joy to work with. Thranduil is just going to be her great test of patience.]

If you do or don't care about the road, just say yes or no. The river can wait. The river was there a long time before either of us came and it's not going anywhere. It's the road I have a lot of people breathing down my neck about, and they will start whether or not I tell them to. Things don't work here the way they work in the Woodland Realm, Elvenking. Now it's begun, this doesn't just stop when I tell it to. There've been contracts written and signed and people are waiting to begin work so they can support their families and I've got to know if they'll have spears thrown at them if we proceed as makes sense for construction. Do you or do you not want the road built before your people settle in?

[ Things devolve at a rapid pace, almost as if that's what she wants, and it shows in the way his brow pinches in surprise at her rebuff. There is a sharp difference and a thin line between braveness and foolishness — but he withholds his temper because she is young, because she is his old friend's child. Because she clearly has no idea of the demands she makes of him under the guise of business. More of this and he ought to direct all the forces he possibly can to take the lands he wants, along with the river, refusing to have anything to do with the mortals and dealing with the bigger issue of Caer Glaem directly — the idea grows increasingly tempting. Sigrid is not the lynchpin she imagines, with contracts the Aelfen will shred rather than respect in pursuit of a home, and she does not realise it.

Calmly, he enunciates his point as tactfully as he can after a short, staring silence (that he has used on his own son in the past). ]

Perhaps you ought to seek the counsel of Sansa Stark in matters of diplomacy, Sigrid. As I understand it, she has had significant experience in such matters, unlike yourself.

[ Of subversion in an identity to protect from possible enemies (Alayne), of when to reveal her strength (Cothromach), and precisely how to navigate relations between opposing races (Troichaen Beinn). Valar know what else Eddard's daughter has learned. Thranduil is willing to put money on it being more than a girl who spent her entire life raising children in a fishing community. Harsh realities could be shared here beyond his initial suggestion, withheld for the sake of this being a public correspondence; smearing Sigrid's capabilities is not what he wants.

She has a fearlessness about her confidence as she huffs at him that can only be viewed as inexperience. ]

This is certainly not the Woodland Realm and I have no intention of sharing the same good-will I did with Esgaroth or Dale with any other. [ It will be something greater, he hopes, with even more cultures than simply Sindar and Silvan to draw on; stronger, bolder, a force Treun will learn to fear, if necessary, if only to keep this sort of temperament at bay. They cannot be stupid enough to object to an alliance with all the aelfen clans on their doorstep. ] I am very much still the product of my realm, whether I am there or not. You would do well to remember that.

[ Lakegirl, he thinks, snapping the locket shut in exasperation and effectively ending the conversation there. I am not your enemy, yet you will make many of others if a steep learning curve is what you court. ]

[That...first one gets her face flushed. She's shaken when he closes the locket. After so much success, she is slapped in the face at last with how utterly inexperienced she really is at this. And she may have just ruined things with a budding neighboring nation.

Good.

Oh.

She is going to have to make this right. Before the road, before anything, she has to make this right. Even if it's out of her own pocket, she has to do something.

She lights the candles and gets to work.

A couple of days later, a raven appears at Thranduil's location, bearing a rolled-up parchment. Unrolled, it proves to be a notarized labor contract. A number of human settlers in the Greenwood are to begin in the ensuing weeks and finish a wooden fortress wall by winter--small and not greatly fortified, but a beginning. It is not a contract with Caer Glaem. There are three lines for contractees to sign--two for payment, one for power of oversight. One payment line is signed already by Sigrid. The other two await Thranduil's signature. Included are blank pages for rough sketches and plans Thranduil may provide, and a written note as well:]

I have invested well, but I am not wealthy. I would like to give to you the fortress you need at no expense, but my resources are finite and will cover only about half the expenses necessary. The workers are those who will one day construct the road, and they need employment till then. All powers of choice I leave in your hands. You have every apology for my pride and rudeness, though this project is not contingent on your forgiveness. I hope this will give your people the protection they need till they are fully settled.

Your friend (again, I hope),
Sigrid

Edited 2014-10-04 18:29 (UTC)

[ The bird that returns to Sigrid over a day and night is not a sparrow or any other sweetling creature, but a message in and of itself; a hawk, crying out before it alights before her and allows the scroll to be taken. ]

The hands of Men will not touch the Halls which I desire, yet the gesture is appreciated.

As your sincerity is not something I will question, I suggest that you have them build the docks at the river's forks, above and below, where trade will be cyclical. The forest and river above must remain untouched, for our craftsmanship is superior. It would be a waste of their efforts there for Eldar hands to tear down their hard work.

Never was I once otherwise than your friend.
—T.

[Oh for--!

Wait, she's not going to be mad. She's going to be happy she can spend Caer Glaem's money instead of her own. But dammit, he didn't have to deny her gesture and insult her craftsmen. What a jerk.

She tries the locket this time.]

You were right. I'm going to learn from Sansa first. I've already learned a lot from you.

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Video - Seelie locked - Forward-dated to the 3rd

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