[Day 2] Hunter and the Hunted [Laena]

[No intrigue just yet.]

"Given how it used nowadays, I doubt that was its only designed purpose, though plenty of men seek to hide a particular thing in its many dark corners." she gives a smirk. "A game I've no doubt you're quite skilled at."

She takes a deep breath. Pauses just a moment too long looking down, before finally looking straight at the lord. "I need your help, if you would be willing." She swallows before continuing.

"I've spent too long in isolation. I know reputations, but not *people*. When I decided to speak with you, I expected a pretty face, a skilled tongue, but not much besides. A good warm-up for my skills.  I could not have been more wrong." a small smile. "If only it were always so pleasant to be wrong.

"Most people in such a circumstance could turn to those near them for the information they need. Unfortunately, those near me suffer universally from being good people. It is a tragic affliction, frequently fatal in troubled times, with no reliable cure. And with troubled times ahead, they are not sources I can afford to rely on, nor can I rely on simply stumbling around blind.

"Unless I have misread you, you live and breathe The Game. You see things how they truly are, not how you believe they should be. You collect the levers to move people as a matter of habit. You don't have 'trusted friends', you have 'useful tools'." She takes a breath. "You're like me.  Except that you haven't spent the last five years distanced from everything."

She looks up at him, eyes wide and vulnerable. "So, I believe you can help me. Will you? Please?"

She nods in acknowledgement of his point, simple truth as it is. "I do not have time to waste on petty dances. I am already over twenty.

"Dancing with you is enthralling, but I'm not delusional. I have ties to two houses - one barely knows I exist, the other, the Reach barely knows exists. And if they do, there's a good chance it's solely due to hatred of the heir's skin. And who you are as a person doesn't really matter in marriage, it's all about the power gained through those links."

She lets out a sigh of breath. "Telling you this is hard. It's cutting through all the layers and layers of deceptions I cloak myself in, including Laena the Dragon - I like her, she's fun and interesting, right down to the core of a scared little girl crying out into the cold, uncaring void for her parents.

"But, I need to give you the tools to manipulate me in order that you might help me. Which requires that I ... trust you. When my entire life has taught me that to trust someone is to invite betrayal. Something to cultivate in those around you, but never give out yourself. Players will betray for advantage, pawns will betray unwittingly out of weakness."

She sniffs, and draws herself up. "This is pathetic. *I* asked *you* for help. I should be ready to tell you what you need to know, not beat about the bush like this." She looks up at him again. "How do *you* do it? You say you trust some friends." She clearly flounders momentarily, before finally articulating "How?".

Laena gives a small sniffle and a nod at that last line. That struck her as all-too-true. "At least with you I can trust that any betrayal would be an artful thing of beauty, rather than petty vindictiveness. I do not see you as a petty man, at all."

She swallows before continuing. "My mother was the King's rape-toy, and I reminded her of him every day with my hair. Lady Allyria and Lord Ulbert benignly tolerate each other, though the former barely acknowledges my existence, and the latter ... he'd honour any deal involving my marriage, in both letter and spirit. But were I to have a small piece of my body cut off and sent to him every day he refused to go along with a proposal he didn't like, he would not only not bend, he likely wouldn't even shed a tear." She takes a deep breath. "Even Ser Vernan, it became clear after the birth of Landar, valued me only as a womb with pretty packaging. Oh, he attended his duties, but really, I could have been anyone."

She clenches her fists. "Over time, what was originally my sanctuary became a prison. Suffocating. Unchanging. I was to manage the household? What was to be done? Well, the same as yesterday, and the day before. Just as will be required tomorrow and the day after. If it weren't for my children, I would have thrown myself off the tower, just to finally experience something new. Different." A small smile. "My children saved me. Unpredictable, constantly changing. Always new. Ever different."

She huffs quietly. "I don't want to be like Lady Johanna Meadows, taking a man's role. Nor do I want to be like Lady Maegelle Cordwayner, carrying her husband's balls publicly in a box, maybe let out twice a year for good behaviour. But nor do I want to be powerless as I watch screaming as my husband's blind faith in unreciprocated honour leads him and the house off a cliff.

"I want to be doing well enough that I can receive gifts from my husband. Not daily, or even weekly, just occasionally, to celebrate something. An exotic dish from the market. A new shawl. Maybe an occasional trip. *Something*. And I'd like to be able to give similarly in return.

"When a decision is to be made, I want him to turn to *me* first. And he should consider what I have to say. He doesn't have to agree, though he certainly should in a crisis, and he can and should certainly consult others. But I want to be the one he turns to first.

"I don't want someone who's constantly 'Grump, grump. Cold gruel three times a day breeds character. Fun is a luxury, and luxuries breed weakness. Grump, grump.'. But nor someone with no sense of restraint or self-control."

She clenches her fists, and, without turning, thumps the wall behind her with the base of her fist. "Put it all out there, and it's just this impossible list. A young maiden from a good house would be lucky to achieve that, and this is my second time on the market, clearly no maiden. It doesn't matter how I'd be an amazing asset to the house as a person. Give me a task, and I'll commit to it, utterly. No. My house and prior marriage close too many doors.

"But here I am. Today, I am to offer my favour to a man. I'm at an age where I cannot really afford to wait overlong." She gestures helplessly. "'Live a life that will shake the heavens?' I fear it's far more likely I'll barely shake the ground when I kill myself from sheer tedium while others froth at the mouth over who sits on a pointy chair."

She unclenches her fists with a sigh. "I'm sorry. That was very chaotic and disorganised. And I probably said both too much and too little." She clearly struggles for words for a few moments, before continuing in a small voice. "Help. Please."

There's a few second's silence after he asks his question, Laena clearly caught off-guard by the question, and taking it seriously as she closes her eyes to think.

Finally, she opens them again, and answers. "I *need* to leave Starkwood lands. I can't handle living there for years on end. I only barely managed to cope this last year. Children ... I'd want, but if there were other things to occupy me, I could probably do without any more. What I *need* is the stimulation. The new. The challenge."

She looks up at him. "Did you have a specific idea in mind? I must admit, I've been rather blinded by the objective of marriage to consider alternatives." She's clearly cautious - not willing to throw out the entire idea of marriage just yet, but at least willing to consider alternatives.

Laena gives a bitter snort of amusement at his first comment, before carefully listening to the rest of his answer, a brief flicker of a smile crossing her face when he mentions 'ambition'. When he is finished, she nods slowly. "Your words carry truth. Let us include those who merely give access to the Lord - I am confident I can handle such a handicap. Who, then, do you suggest meets those criteria, while still being someone I can reasonably hope for, with my familial connections being as they are?"

"Ser Aemon? He may be natural-born, but he's both attractive and chivalrous, as well as House Florent being a significant house. Rumour says he has his pick of lord's daughters lined up ready and waiting. While I am no defeatist, you honestly believe that he is any more achievable from my position than you are?

She silently wrinkles her nose at the thought of the Levalles. Even widowed bastards have standards. Still, if Lord Marq is going to place bait *that* obviously, it would be rude to just ignore it. "So, if it is not a secret - and if the Levalle's know, then clearly it isn't any more - what was it he was asking about, may I ask?"

As soon as Ser Abelar Hightower is decribed as 'boring', a small, quiet grunt is the only external indicator of his name being cast aside.

She remains carefully stoic as he suggests Lord Eldon, successfully holding back the urge to vomit.

Her looks turns calculating as he suggests Ser Sebaston Rowan, seemingly unconcerned over the possibility of competition. She gives a thoughtful nod, but says nothing.

Near the end of his description of the Bridges', something definitely catches her attention. "Many would rejoice?" She strokes her chin in thought. "I must admit, I had overlooked him before. But *reminding* a man how to have fun and enjoy life seems like a much more worthwhile and enjoyable endeavour than having to explain the concept from first principles to his grandnephew. And, well-intentioned as he is, Ser Desmond seems to swing too far towards the rigid, while Ser Farman swings too far to the wild. Perhaps, were I to attempt such, I could help the house achieve a happy medium." She frowns. "Of course, were I to give him my favour, I would be sacrificing any real hope of achieving much prestige. But maybe that would be worthwhile. It does sound like ... an interesting project. And yes, I am not blind to the beneficial side-effects, either."

Laena gives a quick burst of laughter at his words. "Thank you. I feel I needed that."

She gives him a deeply respectful curtsey. "Thank you, Lord Marq. You have given me the guidance I needed. If things do not go well, then perhaps - perhaps! - we will speak again of alternatives. But if things do go well, I will remember your help today, and I will be sure my husband knows who is to thank for his good fortune."