(Phase 2) Honour and Loss (Roland and Lynesse)

Roland's squire, Hugh Blackwood had the typical dark hair of his family and greeted Lynesse with a bow. His master greeted their guest with a deeper bow in acknowledgement of the noblewoman's high rank, gesturing for his squire to copy the courtesy. With that, Hugh was dispatched to fetch Septa Marei to chaperone the pair around the Sept at Whitewalls.

All knew of House Daverhyl's troubles.

"My Lady Lynesse, my condolences at your recent bereavements. I am no stranger to the sting of loss. I am glad you have been able to find shelter with my friend Ser Titus's kin, even if his true heart and strong arm is not at Glydenhall to guard you."

Polite courtesy for now. A Daverhyl man had tried to kill Roland after all. He suspected, but was not yet certain, that Lynesse must be at risk from Ser Sandor Daverhyl. Why else seek shelter elsewhere? Roland knew what it was to differ from your family in politics, and even to be at risk from those you should be closest to.

Roland exhaled, briefly looking down at the ground before looking down at his young visitor.

"That he did, and it is noble of you to apologise on behalf of your house when none else thought to write or visit. By the judgement of gods and men Septon Abelar is absolved. It was Ser Titus himself - your protect and my friend - who swayed me. He found it in himself to forgive Septon Abelar as the wronged party and I can but hope the Septon is able to focus his righteousness in the right locations in the future. By good deeds he may yet provide recompense for the horrors he helped unleash at Highgarden."

A seasoned veteran, Roland still found the riots at Highgarden worse than any battle. No quarter, no yielding, no honour. Just a mass of flesh trampling all before it.

"It is most mournful to have served in war against our Dornish foes and barely taken a scratch thanks to the quality of Reach armour and the teachings of my old master of arms only to almost be killed twice by Reachmen over the last year."

He looked out at the Sept, drawing strength from the familiar scenes depicted in coloured glass.

"What has become of us?"

He shook his head.

"No insult was offered on your part, only penitence for a deed that was not your doing in the act or commission. Whatever absolution I can grant for this, consider it offered in full."

"Truth be told, I had once thought I knew all the best swordsmen and lances in the Reach, particularly those that thought to call me foe. Does your uncle have some quarrel with the Septon? Or with mine own self or House Starling?"

He recalled Lynesse's disgraceful words at Summerhall but held his tongue on the matter for now - the woman had come to him in friendship and apology, even if there were others that deserved her apology more.

Ever one for the dramatic gesture and for saving young maid, Roland dropped to one knee at the mention of Lord Piggy, bringing the tall knight closer to a level with his poised young walking companion.

"Then I too owe you an apology. I had thought that the happy betrothal I won for myself and the freedom from sadness for Lady Alicent Yronwood would have ended that beast's prospects. It seems the Realm has no shortage of ambitious men who will sacrifice even their own family to that fiend. I do not know him, but Ser Eustace is cold blooded indeed if he will buy an alliance with his own kin's health."

"The corpulent disgrace that sits Longtable had his dog violate House Starling's finest rose in site of all at Summerhall and by his own hands has done worse to her maid servant. I will not have men say I won my own happiness and Lady Alicent's only to condemn another in her place. If by word or deed I can aid you against such a fate you need but ask."

He looks up at the young woman expectantly. Septa Marei is clearly used to such dramatics from the young knight. At least he had the deeds to back them up. So far. And he had come perilously close to his limits at Old Town against Lynesse's family already...

Given recent discoveries Roland's mind was on the his late brother, doubtless slain by their half brother.

"Well spoken. The kinslayer is forever cursed."

He rose, gesturing at the Sept and nodding at her show of fiath.

"A better match then. It is for Lord Daverhyl to sanction any match after all, not his knightly brother. As you say, a duel of champions is a last, decisive resort but you will not lack for champions between Ser Titus and myself. Ser Titus's brother is a most able swordsman too, although attaching your cause to his risks blackening your family name by association. Is your grandfather fond of you? He was a stout man still when we served together in Dorne, but the years since have been hard on all of us."

"See it not as seeking advantage, but granting a knight the opportunity to avoid turning a good deed in to a foul one. As I said, I will not have it said that I saved one maid only to doom another in her place."

Roland sighed, but gestured at the imposing Sept as he spoke.

"It seems for both of us our families are sources of strife where they should be pillars of strength instead. Still, Faith can provide succor. I too lack the wisdom of my late father and mother when it is most needed, but the Seven give me another Mother and Father to guide me. The Butterwells may be merely a step above cattle thieves, but at least here they have put their scrabbling for dragons to good use. Even if a man suspects that they are motivated by display rather than House Blackbriar's true piety."

He swallowed, finding a lump in his throat as conversation turned to Lynesse's brother, a squire at Glydenhall.

"With each passing of the moon I am given a fresh reason to mourn the passing of my friend Ser Donnel Blackbriar. He would have been an ideal tutor for your brother."

A pause.

"The singers would say his heroism can teach us lessons even in death, but I would sooner he were here to teach them in person."

"I have unfinished business with two of your brothers then, for I will not allow men to seek to use my body as rung in their ambitious climb. My betrothed is of a high Dornish family, but that does not blind me to the trickery some of that blood are capable of. From your words and their deeds so far, these brothers of yours seem to have more Martell trickery in them than Yronwood honour."

Roland's service in war had been a brutal tutor in Dornish cunning.

"Your cause has moved me, a pox on politics. If I can aid you by word or deed then you need but write or visit. I lack the wisdom to say whether revealing Ser Eustace's true nature to your grandfather is the best course, or if appealing to the Hightowers would serve better. My concern for the latter part is the tumult that family finds itself thrown in to - just one of many victims of the Black Tourney."

Roland nodded.

"You are right. These are troubled times, and politics pollutes justice in many cases. But do not fear that such will stay my hand on your behalf in a noble cause."

Daeron would be a natural ally for Lynesse, as would the Starkwoods. Yet the fiery young maid had already risked her good name with both. Latter, he must counsel her to set matters right before the wound blackened.

"I do not lack for evidence. I put stock in the gods, and Septon Abelar and two duels of honour have all given their verdict on this matter. Mortal man agrees, for Maester Ronnel of Starkwood is a learned man and has produced compelling evidence of the expected colourings of Cordwayners with various matches."

"But a brother's evidence does not end here. I saw my brother at Summerhal for the last time, where he told me that it was better to maintain peace by living a lie than risk it all crashing down in tragedy. Yet now the very tragedy he sought to avoid has been visited upon him, doubtless after he found his courage to confront my sister and bastard brother. All a brother can do is strive for justice." Too late, too late.

"Ilyn preferred white meat to the rich meat on the bone, yet supposedly perished choking on a chicken bone. Even as a page I remember the squire mocking him for it, saying my brother liked his meat as bland as he was. I gave the rascal a black eye, then he and his fellow squires chased me all over Highgarden. He may not have had first claim on his wife, but my brother still ruled and would enjoy the first pick of the meat."

Roland blinked rapidly before continuing.

"To a brother the tale was fanciful enough, but my sister by marriage did not even see fit to write me on the matter. My own betrothed was left to break the news to me. Doubtless my sister by marriage and her brother wished to consolidate their hold on Hammerhal through my nephew before I learned of my brother's murder. Such would be typical of them - they have driven many good and honest men from my family's seat and filled it with their own creatures. There are honourable knights that were forced from Hammerhal that will speak of their belief, even if they lack decisive evidence."

"My nephew is a good lad and my niece was as a sister to me - I only recently learned that Maegelle was intercepting my correspondence with her, even though it contained naught but pleasantries and fondness. They are both innocents in all of this will not be harmed on my watch. Yet nor will I let a bastard without a drop of Cordwayner blood sit Hammerhall. There is honour in service with the Silent Sisters or some other house."

[OOC: TN Awareness 8 if you want to roll against something to try to gauge Roland's statements, can PM across Lynesse's reading of Roland based on DoS.]

"I was too quick to forgive and see the best of people as a younger man and found myself able to dismiss individual incidents. With merely one or two of the matters above I would offer my sword to defend my family's name and find myself in error. Yet with all this arrayed before me I am forced to confront the unhappy truth. I was blind, and now my brother lies dead for it."

"It would be a failing on my part if I did not seek such out. All men must tell the truth before the Seven, but a peasant may struggle to speak out against the lady of the house and risk his family's hearth and health. I doubt I would be welcome to ask such questions at Hammerhal, but should chance bring you to a place to hear such talk I would be grateful indeed."

Roland swallowed his habitual contempt for the smallfolk. The late lady Ashara had somewhat softened his heart towards the peasantry.

"Wisdom from one so young. From what you say of your uncle, the wisdom is hard won. I shall indeed seek to ensure I have the backing of the faith and present Maester Ronnel's full evidence of my family's lineage."

[OOC: Awareness roll:
- Roland is completely sincere in his belief that his bastard brother and sister by marriage killed his trueborn brother, the late Lord Ilyn Cordwayner.
- It seems Roland may be aware of further evidence, albeit not quite a direct eyewitness.
- Roland is indeed fond of his niece and nephew, although his tone is fonder for his niece despite the wicked rumours that have swirled around her.]