eachdraidh | 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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[ 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.

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

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