Outside of King's Landing

[Edric Stark]

The area outside the capital covered in small copses of trees. The terrain is fairly smooth; a great place for a ride.

[Edric Stark]

Edric had ridden his horse south of King's Landing along the coast that day, looking for a place in the water that was not riddled with those sharp rocks Blackwater Bay was so famous for. He had finally found a suitable spot about three hours' ride from the city, thrown off most of his clothes, and went for a swim. An hour later, he re-emerged from the water and rested for a while, letting the sun dry his skin. Opportunities like this were hard to come by in Winterfell.

[The Smith]

Just overlooking the beach was a rise with a small copse of trees. There was a horse in there. Edric thought it was tied down.

[Edric Stark]

Edric rose and stretched, trying to determine whether it was worth looking into. He threw on his trousers, riding boots and white shirt, but did not care to button it up; the heat was intolerable enough. Not as bad as it was at Stepstones, he thought. He buckled his sword belt and pulled his horse by its reins, walking up the small slope.

[The Smith]

The horse in the woods watched him approach silently.

[Edric Stark]

"Are you here alone?" Edric asked, reaching out his hand as he moved closer to give the horse's nose a rub. He was a little wary since animals seemed to distrust him, generally. His own horse happened to be the calmest beast they could find at Winterfell back in the day and even he seemed to have his doubts.

[The Smith]

After a moment he heard a reply, "Yes, I am a magic horse good Ser, and I have come to grant you one wish."

[Edric Stark]

A little surprised for a moment since he had not seen anyone around, Edric chuckled slightly at the response and tried to see where the voice was coming from. "You sure have good manners, magic horse," he said and patted the animal's back.

[The Smith]

A slight girl in brown leathers stood up and said, "Sorry... sometimes I can not help myself." She had short red hair, and pale skin. Her nose was pronounce, but she was still very pretty. "And her name is Cloppers."

[Edric Stark]

Edric smiled a little at the sight and respectfully removed his hand from Cloppers, unsure whether the girl wanted strangers handling her horse. He feigned a look of disappointment. "Now that Cloppers' secret is revealed, I suppose I do not get my one wish?" he guessed.

[The Smith]

"Hmmmmm." The girl twisted a weird smiled, and tapped her lips with a finger. "I am not sure. I guess it depends on the favor." Edric saw that the girls eyes were red-rimmed like she had been crying before.

[Edric Stark]

Because she was alone, Edric assumed she was lost and had been crying about it. "I would have wished for a magic horse, of course, but it would have been terribly rude of me to take her from you," he said, attempting to lighten her mood a little. He then remembered his shirt was still open and he started to button it up. "A favour, let's see.." he ran a hand through his half-dry hair, accidentally exposing some of the scar above his eyebrow in the process. "How about I escort you back home?" he offered.

[The Smith]

The slight woman shook her head, "Thank you, but no thank you." She looked toward King's Landing and sighed deeply. She sat back down against a tree and stared out at the sea. "I am not going back there quite yet."

[Edric Stark]

Edric looked from the red city to the sea and he realised the girl had rode out here to get away for a while, just like he had. "Forgive me. I did not mean to intrude," he said, taking a step or two back as if to make his point.

[The Smith]

"No... I did not mean to chase you from your swim. I am sorry." She replied, and rubbed her temples with her thumbs.