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Post by Laena Pyre on Jun 25, 2019 23:08:49 GMT 1
[Chronologically, this occurs some time after Roland meets Ser Preston Oakheart, and also after my second meeting with Ser Balon, although that's less likely to be relevant.] The background buzz of schemes being laid makes way for the closer buzz of insects doing honest work, as Laena enters the garden she'd arranged to meet Ser Roland at, followed by Septon Niclas. She didn't need him explicitly - she rather doubted Ser Roland of all people would be inappropriate towards her - but she still needed a chaperone, and she was growing rather used to the hatchet-faced, warm-hearted septon. Before proceeding, she takes a moment to stop, and take a deep breath in through her nose, the sweet aroma of blooming flowers soothing her. When she finds the knight, she gives him a small curtsey of greeting. "Ser Roland. Thank you for meeting me. It has been a while." Her face and tone softens. "My condolences on the loss of your brother. From what I know, he was a good man, doing his best, who did not deserve his fate."
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jun 27, 2019 15:27:21 GMT 1
The young knight ran his left hand over the flowers, admiring the peace of the gardens.
The strange familiarity that had afflicted him in recent combats made its debut in a social setting. He was once more with a young woman in a fine garden, accompanied by one sworn to the Seven. A warrior's practical thoughts flashed through his mind. This septon looks a grim faced fellow and a man's strength may win himself a few more seconds against ambushers, but would he have Septa Tyane's bravery? Would Roland?
Previously one to disdain the valour and wisdom of women, some element of the bravery shown by Ashara, Tyane and his wise beloved Alicent had begun to chip away at his conservatism.
Roland bowed deeply, recognising the significant difference in rank between the pair.
"My Lady Laena."
"My condolences to you also on Ashara's loss. She was as blood to you and I grieve her passing. The Reach bleeds and we are left to mourn."
His tone is firm but sincere rather than a courtier's soft words.
"My brother was a good man, and was becoming a braver man when last we spoke."
He shook his head in sorrow, hardening his voice involuntarily.
"I suspect such killed him."
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jun 27, 2019 21:42:43 GMT 1
"My condolences to you also on Ashara's loss. She was as blood to you and I grieve her passing. The Reach bleeds and we are left to mourn." "Thank you for your kind words, Ser. More than that, thank you for your actions around my heart-sister's funeral. Between you and the Seven, you made the Kingdom a better place. I despise my father more than I can say, yet were I to attend his funeral today, I would remain silent. Because whatever our feelings, there are rules of behaviour that define us, not simply as nobility, but as human beings." "My brother was a good man, and was becoming a braver man when last we spoke." He shook his head in sorrow, hardening his voice involuntarily. "I suspect such killed him." Laena's smile broadened. "Really? Good for him!" Her smile hesitates slightly. "Obviously, I do not wish the *result* on him, but the hardest thing for any man to do is 'change'." She reaches forward and consolingly pats his shoulder, and continues softly. "From what you're saying, not just the Father and Crone would have welcomed him, but the Warrior, too. There is more than one kind of battlefield, and they all require courage. Exponentially more so for someone unfamiliar with them. "I take it, then that you see the news of him choking on a chicken bone as ... suspicious?"
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jun 28, 2019 16:01:50 GMT 1
Roland nods at Laena's view of the appropriate conduct even at the passing of beast like Aegon the Unworthy.
"The Kingdom needs men who will do their duty and stand up for our funeral traditions. Such are sacrosanct, yet knights who had sworn vows seemed willing to shame themselves in remembrance ceremonies at both Highgarden and Summerhall."
Roland does not yet seem able to smile on the matter, but does at least nod again when Laena praises his brother. He blinks when her hand touches his shoulder, perhaps restraining tears.
"Well said. I cannot claim to have been truly brave until the riots at Highgarden - even in battle I knew I was well trained and harnessed. My brother had neither of these advantages in his final battle."
"Aye, if anything 'suspicious' understates it. My brother was a lord with his pick of the meat and always preferred light break to dark legs or wings. Others may not know this or even believe it, but a brother knows."
"My sister by marriage did not deign to contact me by Raven, keen to secure her deceitful hold on my family's lands. Cruel fate left it to my betrothed to deliver the message to me. Nay, not cruel fate. Cruel Maegelle."
"Thirdly, he passed during a meal attended by only my sister by marriage and my bastard brother after telling his squire that he meant to 'end the mummer's farce'."
"I am quite convinced that my brother found his courage at the last and died for it."
Roland's right hand clenches and then lets go as his anger and frustration pours through him.
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jun 28, 2019 17:55:11 GMT 1
"Vows do not make a rotten man good." Laena says softly. "They merely provide guidance for an honest man looking for the righteous path. These times are simply exposing the rot for all to see."
Laena doesn't point out how foolish his brother's actions were to act without backup in a confrontation - likely Roland realised it, and it served no purpose to criticise the dead. So, she slowly nods in agreement as he lays out his suspicions. "While not damning, it is certainly ... indicative, let's say.
"I'm sorry, I'm unfamiliar with the details of your personal history. Are you familiar with the current Cordwayner maester? Because it occurs to me that, unlike the murder of her son's bethrothed, her presumed murder of her husband happened at a time and place of *his* choosing, not hers, thanks to his courage. The cover-up had to be improvised on the spot, and she clearly doesn't have confidence in it holding up, hence denying you the news as long as possible. Lady Maegelle and Ser Normyn clearly benefit from the risk, but their maester doesn't benefit. Yet, since he would have certainly examined your brother's body, he is complicit.
"It could be he is an honourable man, feeling trapped by his oaths to the house, looking for an honourable path forward. "It could be he is a coward, keeping silent out of fear of retaliation. "It could be he is greedy, his loyalty bought by coin. "Or possibly one or two other options, or a combination thereof.
"In each case, identify the means of control, and you identify a way to subvert it, and unlike a servant's, a maester's testimony holds weight."
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jul 11, 2019 16:31:23 GMT 1
He nodded at Laena's commentary on vows. "Grim words from a woman's lips but no less true. My brother oft said female singers sang of sorrows better." Now a shake of the head, and the pretense of looking at the gardens to compose himself. Knowledge (Breeding) - Who is the Cordwayner Maester?: 4d6k3 8 - I'd assume minimum TN 9, more likely 12 given Cordwayner's status so let's go with Roland having characteristically neglected this. Roland suddenly felt foolish for not knowing who served at Hammerhal. For all the attention he'd paid to the matter it might even be the same man who helped letter him. "I do not know the man. I thought such was not my concern, that my duty was elsewhere. It may be the man that tutored me and my brother, or some new creature of my sister by marriage. She is fond of forcing good men out and her own men in." The double entendre was unintended and lost on a man of Roland's wit. "Honourable men are unwelcome in her service, better for her purposes if he has the vices you describe so she can control the man." While he had neglected some parts of the puzzle, he had at least begun to cast off his naivety and had reviewed the political implications of this matter with Malyk, Alicent and others. "But I fear that if I seek out such testimony it shall be coloured by what I stand to gain from the matter, much as if I were to gain similar testimony on the typical characteristics of Cordwayner children from some learned maester."
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jul 11, 2019 18:15:02 GMT 1
Laena carefully represses a snort of laughter at Roland's double entendre. It was highly unlikely he'd be deliberately joking about Lady Maegelle's infidelity, and she didn't want it to seem as if she was laughing at his late brother's misfortune.
She sadly nods agreement at his argument. "Plus, should there be the slightest chance that he would do the right thing, your sister by marriage would dispose of him the moment she heard the two of you had met. As a woman who has been married, I can say with certainty that, however poorly the marriage may be going, to deliberately murder your own husband - a man who you have seen everything of, and has seen everything of you, who you are bound to by the Seven themself - that ..." she shakes her head "that takes unimaginable levels of callousness and cruelty.
"If your own husband's life means nothing to you, then *no* life means anything to you." She puffs out a breath, and shakes her head, continuing in a softer tone. "My apologies. That particular atrocity particularly offends me. You would be wise to stick close to armed friends - even the sharpest man's eyes can only look in one direction at a time.
"In the meantime, mayhap I'll be able to at least discreetly learn the truth of the man for you, which may present a path forwards. If you want?
"After all, time is not your friend in all this. You can bet Lady Maegelle is doing everything possible to ingratiate herself with the revolutionaries, to ensure they will defend her to keep House Cordwayner in their camp. On the other hand, that blade cuts both ways. Mayhap there is someone in the crown loyalist camp interested in turning House Cordwayner to their side, who could help expose the truth?" Perhaps a little too blatant, but Laena hardly sees the man before her as an intellectual giant, yet she wants the idea to be his. In truth, she has no idea if Bloodraven would care about the fate of a single house the size of House Cordwayner, but it would quite possibly be easy for him to do so, given how much someone as limited as Ser Roland was able to find, and he'd likely appreciate having a lord owe him his lordship.
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jul 17, 2019 11:38:34 GMT 1
Roland nodded at Laena's advice to be wary - he was oft near his fellow Ccompanions, but beyond that merely had his squire Hugh to keep watch. He had no sworn swords or guardsmen to call his own. That said, he could count on good friends beyond House Starling such as the doughty Mikel and the talented Titus.
"I want such keenly - I yearn for justice. The Seven must will it too. Keep safe in your search - my sword is yours if your body or good name has need of it in this undertaking. Whatever you learn of Hammerhal's maester will ease the path to bringing my brother's murderers to justice. I would not forget such a kindness."
"I shall seek aiding in pursuing justice wherever I can. The enemy of my enemy may well be my friend in this endeavour."
Hoary old cliches ever felt like wisdom to Roland, and seemed to inspire him to flowery rhetoric.
"If Maegelle seeks to buttress her kin-slaying with treason she shall find the king still has many loyal friends to aid me in tearing down her ill-made edifice."
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jul 17, 2019 18:56:05 GMT 1
"I thank you for your offer. I will do what I can, though I can make no promise of success, particularly here - I am unfamiliar with the most effective gossip circles so far north. Still, I will try, and let you know what I discover."
She gives him a cautious look, and puffs out a breath before she carefully broaches a subject. "I am glad you are well-disposed towards me, for there is another matter you should consider carefully before you ascend to your rightful seat. And it is not a pleasant subject, but it is necessary. Tell me: what, if anything, did you learn from Lord Desmond Bridges' brutal murder?"
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jul 18, 2019 17:13:00 GMT 1
Roland nodded.
"I am a Reachman, not a Dornish knave. You can rest assured I will not shoot the messenger, however grim the message."
Such was offered with a smile. Even among the throne's loyalists, ill feeling towards the Dornish casually occurred in speech and deed. Particularly from veterans like Roland.
He paused at the question, letting his eyes wander over the beauty of the garden while he pondered the matter.
"That while no great armies are mustered and no hosts march this is already a time for wolves. Lord Bridges was a competent sword arm and had a score of his guard with him. There are those with sizeable forces who will stoop low indeed to secure what they could not gain by tradition and precedent in the debates at Highgarden. There are sore losers and murderers loose, and they have the friends to temporarily conceal their outrages. But in a force of such a size one cannot expect universal silence for long. Men talk. Ser Dagos Manwoody was there, and men will brag of slaying such a skilled knight, or seeing the deed, no matter how ill-done."
He turned back to Laena, making a dismissive gesture with his left hand.
"Lord Farman was married with unseemly haste and benefits from this disgraceful show. A man that may well have sanctioned such a strike, planned it or at the very best failed to investigate the matter fully. Some may claim Lord Bridges should have expelled Farman upon taking his seat."
"I once told House Levalle's seneschal that I could not countenance the execution or banishment to the Silent Sister or Wall of my niece and nephew. I still cannot. But these are hard times. A man's thoughts instead turn to exile to send the dagger far from his breast, or perhaps retaining "guests" at Hammerhal to better control the dagger and see any strike coming."
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jul 18, 2019 18:39:54 GMT 1
Laena nods, pleased he saw the argument she was making, and is willing to engage with it.
"Lord Farman is irrelevant for the purposes of this event - he may or may not have had any hand in it, which is the point. Even if he did nothing, there are enough immoral people out there looking to flip the loyalty of houses that heirs don't have to do anything to stand a good chance of early inheritance. Keeping your heirs close does little to nothing to actually protect you.
"But that is less important than the main point I wish to make. If people try and assassinate you once you're seated and married, in order to flip the loyalties of House Cordwayner, it will all be for naught should your widow step forward and claim to be pregnant.
"They will not let such an obvious counter-move be played. And they have proven that travelling in a group is unlikely to be sufficient protection." She lets that hang for a moment, so he can understand her point.
"I am not telling you what you should do. That is for every man to decide for himself, for every man must answer to the Father for his own actions. I simply wish to make sure you are aware of the stakes of your choice. It is not just your own life on the scales.
"You have to weigh which course of action is the least bad: taking away the liberty - but not the life - of two people your sister by marriage has shaped how she willed since they were born, or putting both yourself and your wife-to-be in great danger. And given the moral character of the men who would be hired for such a task, Lady Alicent may not be granted the dignity of swift, honourable death." She raises a hand quickly in a quelling gesture. "I say this not to upset you. I simply wish to make sure you understand the weight of the decision you have to make. Lady Alicent is an admirable woman, who resisted and denied Lord Eldon for a long time. She deserves happiness now."
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jul 22, 2019 10:40:50 GMT 1
"Aye, my betrothed is past the age she should have been wed. I shall endeavour to make our match one that is worth the wait. Alicent's safety and happiness means the world to me."
His mind may not have been made up, but his betrothed's safety and sense of security clearly weighed heavy in this dilemma.
"A dark choice, should I ever find myself having to make it. A grim world, where even success merely places one in a position to make unwanted choices."
"For my own part, Alicent and competition are the chief happinesses left to me. Beyond that, I live for justice - for my murdered brother and my murdered sister to be. Are your children the same for you - the beams of light in a world growing darker?"
"It occurs to me that one of the few kindnesses I could offer you would be a place for your children when they come of age, or recommend a place with a suitable ally? Your son is young, but boys in particular benefit from a strong knightly exemplar. But safety and security with some lord or knight may mean distance from a mother's hand and serve an unkindness to the mother."
Still, too long hiding behind a mother's skirts did no favours to a child. Roland had spent much of his own childhood beyond Hammerhal after all, and Alicent had more years beyond Yronwood than at it. Clearly this did neither of us any harm.
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jul 22, 2019 18:37:10 GMT 1
"A dark choice, should I ever find myself having to make it. A grim world, where even success merely places one in a position to make unwanted choices." Laena gives a sad smile and nods, dropping the subject. The decision, and its consequences, are his alone. "For my own part, Alicent and competition are the chief happinesses left to me. Beyond that, I live for justice - for my murdered brother and my murdered sister to be. Are your children the same for you - the beams of light in a world growing darker?" Her smile immediately widens to a proud one. "They are! Them, my brother Aerion, and-" Her smile weakens. "Well, them and my brother. Though, to me, the world is not growing darker. "It's always been this way." "It occurs to me that one of the few kindnesses I could offer you would be a place for your children when they come of age, or recommend a place with a suitable ally? Your son is young, but boys in particular benefit from a strong knightly exemplar. But safety and security with some lord or knight may mean distance from a mother's hand and serve an unkindness to the mother." Mixed emotions cross her face. "I have long accepted that I would best serve my children's interests by handing them to another. Particularly since their father is no longer around. And that I am unlikely to have the influence to give them the Highgarden education I was so fortunate to receive. While there are likely very dark times to come, that could change much, I doubt Landar could do better than to be educated by the man who was ever-so-nearly Champion of the Black Tourney, especially if he is a lord himself by then. And I would like it were Sylvina to be raised with him, so they have each other to turn to, even when I'm not around, as me and my brother were in Highgarden. But I would not wish for your betrothed to feel put-upon and resentful, and there is still almost a full year before even Sylvina is of age, so there is time. Still," she gracefully gives a curtsey, "you are most correct that you offer a fretting mother a kindness that is worth a great deal to me. So, while circumstances may change, as things stand, and are predicted to be, I am most interested and grateful for the offer."
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Post by Roland Cordwayner on Jul 26, 2019 18:23:36 GMT 1
Her smile immediately widens to a proud one. "They are! Them, my brother Aerion, and-" Her smile weakens. "Well, them and my brother. Though, to me, the world is not growing darker. "It's always been this way." Roland nodded. "Before Highgarden I would have offered you some song or tale and disagreed, with my most courtly courtesies of course." "Now I fear I was a warhorse with blinkers, unable to see the world as it truly is. No more" He smiled as Laena discussed her children. "I have happy memories of my own time serving beyond Hammerhal as a boy. Everything seemed like an adventure then. If I can offer a place for both or find a higher ranking friend to offer them a roof worthy of Targaryen blood then I shall raise my voice on their behalf. We shall find them a house with a sturdy master of arms, a wise septa and a learned maester." "Speaking of maesters, I saw House Starkwood's Maester Ronnel at Old Town aiding Septon Abelar in denouncing my sister by marriage. I am no scholar, but it seems a learned, neutral man has already done the research in to my family's bloodlines and colouring. Mayhap we could add his name to those willing to testify? Maesters are neutral and learned men after all."
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Post by Laena Pyre on Jul 27, 2019 0:57:56 GMT 1
Roland nodded. "Before Highgarden I would have offered you some song or tale and disagreed, with my most courtly courtesies of course." "Now I fear I was a warhorse with blinkers, unable to see the world as it truly is. No more" Laena gives a sad shake of her head. "You were a good man, raised and trained by good men. Society expects, and to a certain extent requires, lords and ladies to believe certain fictions about their true nature. It is not your fault that you were blind. It is the fault of conscienceless, ambitious men that you do and must now *see*." "Speaking of maesters, I saw House Starkwood's Maester Ronnel at Old Town aiding Septon Abelar in denouncing my sister by marriage. I am no scholar, but it seems a learned, neutral man has already done the research in to my family's bloodlines and colouring. Mayhap we could add his name to those willing to testify? Maesters are neutral and learned men after all." For a moment, Laena gawps, mouth open, before burying her face in a hand. "Urgh! I do not say this often, but I am an idiot!" Raising her face again. "Yes! Maester Ronnel had at least done some research into your family tree before arranging the betrothal between" her voice softens "Lady Ashara" before returning to normal "and then-Ser Quentin. He is a very intelligent and diligent man. Given how things ended, and given the likelihood that it was Lady Maegelle behind Ashara's murder, I think it entirely likely he has continued his research, and I feel it likely he will be *very* easy to convince to help. Just make clear that you have a great deal of respect for his intelligence and skill, and that no other maester could likely help you as well as he can. He loves that kind of thing. And don't mention I suggested it. Or at all, really. I don't think he likes me much. Between the two of us, there was just a bit too much ego in a bit too small a space while we were both in Starkwood lands, I feel." She frowns briefly in thought. "Thinking of House Starkwood, if you seek good-hearted knights to support you and watch your back, aside from Ser Mikel, who I believe you are already friends with, you might also consider speaking with my brother Ser Trystane. I cannot vouch for his capabilities in investigation, but I can vouch for his heart."
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