At Ready [D5, initially Donnel & Laena]

Laena would have sighed at the older knight's efforts to not startle her, if their prior interactions hadn't indicated that it was entirely necessary. Mostly because she was focused on other matters both times, but still. She turns gracefully, then waits for him to come to her, not taking one step closer. "Ser Donnel." She greets him with a curtsey. "Please tell me you're joking. Your son's actions yesterday have completely wrecked any hope we had of that plan succeeding. I doubt even the *Levalles* would accept him right now."

She aggressively sighs. "I have spent a lot of time and effort since then trying to find ways to salvage the plan, at least in its broad strokes, and I *maybe* have one. But it depends on him actually wanting it enough that he can put his needs ahead of his ego, as well as a bunch of other things, but one problem at a time. Have you spoken to him about the idea yet?"

Laena clearly ponders a moment, then glances around to make sure her ever-lurking chaperone is still visible before nodding at the knight. "So long as you are certain that doing so would not provoke your wife to put poison in your wine, certainly." She takes his arm. "Or mine, for that matter." From her tone, it's not entirely clear how much she's joking.

As they walk together, Laena puts on her 'sympathetic' face, believing that his son's actions are likely taking a toll on the older knight, so she makes it clear that she is willing to listen to his problems should he wish to speak of them.

Laena listens attentively through his story, though even at the end, she can't quite understand the reason behind its telling. Still, she doesn't let her confusion show, since it clearly meant something to him.

"You love him." She says simply. "I have no idea what having a loving parent is like. The closest thing was something I lived in fear of once my age hit double digits." Her voice is utterly dispassionate as she said that. "But I can imagine you did everything you could to make him bold, strong, noble, and chivalric. Like you. And even now, you are willing to work and sacrifice for his sake.

"Meanwhile, Ser Balon murdered an innocent man to help a treasonous war because King Daeron succeeded where even Aegon the Conqueror failed. And then slandered my cousin to her face so badly that she lost her temper, before slamming her to the floor as he left." From her tone, the latter is a *far* more serious crime than the former. "Do you know that she refuses - refuses! - to tell me exactly what he said, because she knows how hard I've been working towards better relations between our houses, and she knows that I am nowhere near so even-tempered and forgiving as she.

"He did this in full knowledge of the damage it would do your house, and the pain it would cause you in particular.

"He's been a man grown for, what, coming up to a decade now? I'm sorry, while guilt over your perceived failures as a parent is natural, I was parented by an absentee monster, and a present broken shell. And still, I've somehow yet to murder anybody! Why? Because, whatever my parenting, my actions are *my choice*. Not my father's, not my mother's, not my brother's. *Mine*. The poison flowing through my veins may tempt me down dark paths, but it is always -*always*- my choice as to if I walk down them, and *I refuse*! So, forgive me if I have little sympathy for a trueborn man with honourable blood who so casually saunters down paths I have to resist the grip of every day, with the aid of the Seven and a stubborn streak as wide as the Mander!" While intense, she has at least been keeping her voice down.

She takes a few calming breaths, before continuing in a more normal tone. "My apologies. It occurs to me that I may have been ranting slightly. But, as much as it pains you, and as a parent, I have some small idea of how much it does hurt, you cannot truly help your son until you accept that yes, he really is a bad man, he chose to be a bad man, and he seems utterly unapologetic of that fact. Until you do, you'll be like a maester trying to cure a sword wound by applying leeches."

"I do not dispute there is good in your son. My *father* saw my brother squired to Lord Leo, so even he had his moments. And your son firmly said that he would not cheat in his joust against Ser Walton when I spoke to him shortly before, and I believe that claim. He just did everything short of that. In that way, he clearly morally superior to Ser Otho, but that is a *very* low bar, and just because there is *some* good in him does not mean that he is not a bad man. Or that he is redeemable." She shrugs. "Nor does being a bad man mean he is *irredeemable*, either. People are not simple creatures, each unique, and all bar a blessed or cursed few have a mix of good and bad in them."

"If a man uses self-admitted lies to manipulate another man he hates into a particular situation, the first man's cause would benefit from his death, and the second man dies while in said situation, forgive me if I believe the simplest explanation, rather than tying myself into knots to try and make it something it's not."

She takes a dainty sip of the wine, tasting it carefully, before giving a small nod of approval. "My blessing for your seeking out my cousin depends on your intention. Do you simply intend to say some pretty words of apology? If so, you do not. Well-intentioned as such an act would be, it is pointless. If you intend to tell her how you punished your son for his actions, and have taken steps to prevent it happening again, then you do. Actions are what is important." She frowns momentarily. "Or, as your own house words put it, I believe, 'Deeds, not Words'."

She sighs. "Let us hope it doesn't come to that. But that you are at least considering it does actually relieve me that you do understand the severity of the situation. One bad man can cause far more damage to his house's reputation than a dozen paragons of morality could undo."

Laena clearly ponders him for a good few moments, before slowly nodding. "Very well. I will tell you some things, though afterwards perhaps you may regret your curiosity.

"I understand that growing up, my mother was a pleasant young lady. She believed in honour, chivalry, and Starkwood honour. She wholeheartedly believed that she would be married off to a dashing knight, who she would give many fine children, and they would live happily together. Unfortunately, she lived under the power of Lord Brandon Starkwood, may he rot in the Seven Hells. Age sixteen, head still full of the romantic ideals she'd been raised with, she was thrown under the King in exchange for Lord Brandon becoming Master of Laws." She taps her fingers on the table for a few moments before continuing. "Needless to say, she was disabused of her romantic notions very quickly. And roughly. Take those out of her, and there wasn't enough to make a full person again afterwards. And she had a nice little silver-haired reminder of that night nine months later, hanging around constantly. My education growing up was rather different to hers. A charitable interpretation is she didn't want me to suffer the same way she had. So, once I was old enough to understand, she made absolutely clear to me that Lord Brandon had a son who he wanted the King to give a prestigious position to, and persuading him with my body, once I was old enough, was my sole purpose in life. After that, I'd be discarded and forgotten, like her."

Her voice is cold, emotionless, as she locks eyes with the older knight. "The night I was conceived, my mother prayed for a noble knight to come and save her. After all, she'd been brought up believing that the realm, and the Reach specifically, was full of such. Surely, surely, one of them would save her. One of you. You swore an oath to protect all women, after all. She prayed. She screamed. And not one of you answered. It was no secret what he was doing. And yet, not you, not Lord Starling, not Lord Bryce, none of you saved her.

"I was raised to not have such ... unrealistic expectations of men. As it happens, I was saved. Not by you and yours, of course. But through my father rotting to death in his own shit. But for that, I have no doubt I'd be just another discarded whore by now."

She lets her words hang between them for a good few moments, before she sits back, taking another sip of the wine. "Regret your curiosity, now?"

Laena clearly ponders for a few moments before answering. "While I don't know the exact words said, your son did clearly and unequivocally make a threat to murder my other cousin, Ser Symon, in roughly the same style as he did Ser Walton. Given his blind hatred and past actions, we consider this a very serious and credible threat. Removing him from any opportunity to make good on that threat would go a long way, in my opinion."

She looks down at his proffered hand. While she doesn't slap it away, nor does she take it.  Her response is cold, passionless. "My heart is not injured, Ser. An injury comes from betrayed expectations. In my life, knights such as yourself have never failed to act according to my expectations. When you have conflicting oaths, where one requires you to act boldly and risk everything for no personal reward, and the other requires you to do nothing, risk nothing? I am neither injured nor surprised that you chose the latter. It is simply ... expected." She locks eyes with him. "Should I ever doubt the complete and utter failure of chivalry, I have but to look at a mirror and confirm my existence to see all the proof I need. That I can look out over a field now and see plenty more evidence scattered in the hair of a good number of those present just nails the judgement home.

"There is no need to travel to the court to encounter truths to fear. Nor split oaths to decide between. The seeds of your past inaction has grown into rotten fruit in your own land - given how often your son chants a particular name, it is self-evident that his current moral plummet is a direct result of your prior inaction, and now you face the same choice again, this time even more painful." A hint of emotion enters her voice. "And truthfully, I expect no different from you this time."