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Post by Father on Oct 8, 2018 10:07:27 GMT 1
"You confuse Dornish and Rhoynar, good master Malyk." Alicent takes what she assumes to be a jape in stride. "House Yronwood have always prided ourselves on our Andal heritage, Dorne is just a place, now the Orphans of the Greenblood, as pure Rhoynar as it gets, they have horns and tails, skin red as the sunset even. Her ability to keep her face straight could probably fool a child to believe the statement. "I wish you luck in finding whoever are responsible for the death of the good septa, though I fear I know nothing that might aid your efforts"
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 8, 2018 11:45:39 GMT 1
"Do they?" He glanced at Parmen in surprise. "I would very much like to see that." He pondered. "Actually, I think a tail might be quite useful at times."
Waving away the distraction. "As to the Septa, perhaps you can help me with your impressions of the incident. I said I didn't believe you in any danger. That's not precisely true. I meant I did not see any immediate danger to your life.
You see, on the surface what these men did does not make any sense. Just because these men were evil did not make them stupid. They would know that the only threat they faced was Ser Roland. Had they dispensed with him quickly and with surprise they could have killed you and the Septa easily. The events as they unfolded only make sense if Septa Tyane noticed them and they were trying to prevent her from warning Ser Roland. Once that failed, they killed her quickly so as not to be encumbered by her. I have considered any number of scenarios over the last few minutes, and only one that fits the events is that you were the target, and they were under strict instructions to take you alive."
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Post by Father on Oct 8, 2018 13:52:00 GMT 1
"Yes, the men that good Ser Roland took captive admitted as much, they had been hired to find out how I learned of this nasty rumor concerning the death of Ser Daven Bracken, they must have thought I was the one spreading it, so much blood spilled for a single mistake" She doesn't seem overly willing to dwell on it. "Apparently the falcon have gone to ground and her pursuers have mostly given up searching, just a few that are really, truly wanting the pot of gold that awaits whoever might discover who she might be and whether any of her words are true."
"The Lady Ashara seemed to suspect that Lord Eldon might have a hand in it, the assassins had knives from his forges, but you could get those from a stall in the market here." She grimaces at the thought of him. "I have endured his company quite enough to have few doubts as to him being capable of everything he is said to have done, but I do not believe him to be a murderer." Such a candid description of her betrothed might suggest the reason why they have never married, it cannot be as much as ten years since she became a woman grown, but it is at least five. "Though the lady did seem quite convinced, so that might be a lead to pursue."
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 8, 2018 17:52:12 GMT 1
"My Lady, you are thinking... restrictively. I don't think they tried to take you over some bit of gossip. Their reasons for taking you are merely what they were told. I see no reason to believe they were told the truth. It would be incredibly stupid on their employers part." Malyk sighed. "I can think of countless reasons why someone would want to kidnap you. Perhaps it was Lord Eldon who desired to force you to relent to your betrothal. Perhaps it was another who sought to coerce Lord Eldon or Lady Rhonda in some way.
It may be the attack was completely unrelated to politics. You are a beautiful woman with a reputation for flirtatiousness. Perhaps someone you have bantered with decided to make you their own. Is it so unbelievable that a man with wealth and power might decide to take something by force he could not have by more peaceful means?"
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Post by Father on Oct 8, 2018 19:03:44 GMT 1
"They were given instructions to kill me afterwards, so I do not believe kidnapping was ever on the agenda" She talks surprisingly calmly about the whole affair. "And the information they sought would be something ambitious men would walk over corpses to obtain, someone might have told them that and the motive was my death all along, but that possibility seems rather remote."
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 9, 2018 3:01:16 GMT 1
"You may be completely correct, my Lady. I would only ask you continue to take sensible precautions," glancing at the guards, "at least until the tourney is over. Even if the immediate danger has passed, there may be others who take this opportunity to capitalize on these events for their own purposes. Your betrothal to Lord Eldon is just one example. I expect there are some that grow impatient with the delay in the marriage. There may be others who for political reasons would sooner have the betrothal nullified. There may be still others who have more base designs upon you. You walk a tenuous line, and I can imagine the reasons, but it may have unintended consequences."
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Post by Father on Oct 9, 2018 12:53:46 GMT 1
"Of course there are those who grow impatient, chiefly those who brokered it" She appears to be very well informed. "I suspect they have a hope for it's cancellation, but none are quite willing to lose face and be the one to do it without proper cause. And then there are others who would not mind if Lord Eldon remains unwed and that the Merryweather line passes through to his brother." From the way she is acting, she appears to be just fine with that arrangement. "The man himself seems not to care, oh he is slighted, but he cares naught for his line or legacy, only his own pleasure. It would please him greatly to finally take possession of me simply because it offends him that I will never wed and bed him. But murder?" She hesitates, as if she wonders if she is saying too much. "No, murder is not how he repays that slight."
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 9, 2018 20:38:38 GMT 1
"Then I am confused, my Lady." Malyk's got that rather vague diffused look he often had when he was trying to work out something. He looked like a young boy that had just found something unknown at the side of a river and was about to poke it with a stick. "There are many who do not wish this marriage to take place. Lord Eldon, if slighted, may have soured on the agreement. You clearly have no desire or intention of marrying the man. If you are correct and those that brokered the arrangement hope for it's cancellation, then why does everyone carry on supporting this theater. Why support a goal that all parties concerned no longer want? Is it just for pride?
I have dedicated my life to solving problems and helping others. I have assisted many to their goals and have learned many lessons in that pursuit. Chief of these lessons is that problems are a wound that need to be healed. Left untended they grow and fester. They become infected and not just to the individual, but those around them.
Consider for a moment the attack on you. You are convinced of the reason for the attack, and perhaps you are correct, but let us pretend for a moment the reason was due to your betrothal situation. If the attack's intent was to nullify the contract, then this problem not only endangered your life and that of Ser Roland, but it directly resulted in the death of an innocent Septa."
He paused for a long moment. The vagueness disappeared and he looked at Lady Alicent with a steady gaze. "I do not have the words to express my sadness if the reason Septa Tyane died was simply due to other's pride."
Like many nobles, Lady Allicent was confident, assured and convinced of her own self-importance. She maintained the fiction of a betrothal for her own comfort. As a noble she might be forgiven for not realizing her actions had dire consequences on innocent people. The question was, when faced with that reality, would she dismiss that as flippantly and with such conviction as she had from the beginning of this conversation? Would she care? Many nobles wouldn't.
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Post by Parmen Redwyne on Oct 10, 2018 4:26:25 GMT 1
Between Malyk's insights and Alicent's beauty Ser Parmen found himself lulled into a pleasant waking sleep. Then something that Lady Alicent said brought his focus back.
"You say that murder is not how he would repay that slight, my lady. In your experience how would he repay it?"
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Post by Father on Oct 10, 2018 10:54:33 GMT 1
"Pride is indeed the word master Malyk" She agrees, though whether she does not get the point he tries to make or elects to ignore it is unclear. "The answer to why any man of power does anything not motivated by greed or lust, whether someone wanted to end the betrothal in gruesome fashion or if someone wanted to find the source of the rumors to silence or investigate them, Septa Tyane is a causality for their pride and ambitions." She hesitates for a long time before answering Parmen's question. "He takes out his lusts and frustration on others, common girls, golden haired ones typically, tall ones if he can find them. He is driven by his lusts of that which is immediately before him, he sees me and he wants me, but when I am freed from his hungry gaze it is already looking for something more readily available" Had Malyk and Parmen met Megelle they would now most likely find the similarities in appearance between the two troubling.
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 10, 2018 18:40:10 GMT 1
So, denial and evasion is the order of the day. Septa Tyane was simply an 'unfortunate' casualty. Nothing to do with her. She is obviously intelligent. Is she singing a song I do not hear, or is she simply dancing to another's music because she likes to tune.
"So what is it that you want, Lady Alicent? Men with pride and ambition built you a gilded cage and you thwarted those ambitions by settling in nicely into that cage. I am sure you get some pleasure from their frustration as you peer out from behind those golden bars, but a cage is still a cage no matter how comfortable. Septa Tyane saved your life at the cost of her own. You are clearly a woman of intelligence that deserves better than to be a political plaything or an object of desire.
It may be that no-one's life is truly their own. Ser Parmen is a Knight. I am a commoner. You are a noble Lady. Each of us are constrained by the nature of our circumstances, but that does not mean we don't have options. That does not mean we cannot reach beyond those constraints. Ser Parmen was not always a Knight. I was a scullery boy in the Levalle kitchens. You do not need to live in the cage they have built for you if you do not wish to; although I readily grant you it is far easier and more comfortable to do so."
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Post by Father on Oct 10, 2018 19:00:32 GMT 1
"We are all free to chose our path, master Malyk, though we must live with the consequences." She starts to wonder where this strange boy is going with the inquiry. "You chose wisely given the opportunities given to you I reckon, but did Ser Parmen truly have a choice? Of course, a Redwyne could surely study at the Citadel or take a septon's vows, but otherwise the expectations of him earning his spurs would be strong, to the great shame and disappointment of those around them. Few men would want to live with such consequences."
"Similarly, it was decided for me, and strongly expected of me to marry Lord Eldon, I chose that this comfortable fiction I now live in to be a far more preferable."
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 10, 2018 19:42:31 GMT 1
More evasion. More deflection. It was becoming readily apparent Lady Alicent was so comfortable in her cage and her complacency that shifting her out of it would be nigh on impossible. Like the slave that cannot even conceive of freedom and would not know what to do with it if it was handed to him.
"To be honest, Lady Alicent, I don't care if you marry Lord Eldon or not. It just surprises me that someone with your obvious talents and abilities would not strive for something more than a prize to be awarded to a man like Lord Eldon. So long as women accept that they are simply objects of convenience, they will be treated as such." And so long as they use their bodies and good looks to toy with men's desires, they will be treated as such. "Perhaps if more men of power and ambition were shamed and disappointed the world might be a better place." He shrugged. "You must do what is best for you. I cannot help someone who is resigned to their circumstance. I'm only suggesting you may have options."
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Post by Father on Oct 10, 2018 20:09:14 GMT 1
"Well, good master Malyk, I must declare myself confused, you approach me offering to find the hand that moved the killers of good septa Tyane, and now try to debate my circumstances and choices that I may or may not have available to me" It might occur to them that she could be deflecting such talk simply because she has little reason to trust them with anything of the sort, even before taking into account that they serve House Levalle. "A Lady might come to suspect that your interest in the topic goes beyond mere curiosity"
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Malyk
House Levalle
Posts: 648
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Post by Malyk on Oct 10, 2018 20:52:44 GMT 1
"Well then we are both confused my Lady, for I do not know why anyone continues such a fiction no-one seems to want." He shrugs. "The Seven gave me gifts suited to help people. That is my purpose in life and it is one I relish. I want to help find those ultimately responsible for the death of Septa Tyane. I would also help you if that help is needed or wanted. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. I would also like to prevent any repeats of recent events. I do not need to know the Septa Tyanes of the world in order to help them.
Personally, I think you should stand up and take on these men that put you in a cage, but my personal feelings are irrelevant. It is your life and your choices. You cling to your cage because it protects you as much as it confines you. Most women do not even have that little protection and I can understand why you would be loathe to give it up. If this were Dorne I doubt you would put up with such a situation for a heartbeat. It's too bad you are not in Dorne. From the stories I have heard they would recognize and appreciate your obvious abilities."
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