Great Hall

[Edric Stark]

"Ah, always so modest," replied Edric in good humour and claimed a glass of wine. "That is excellent; five more to go, then."

[Lord Gareth Hightower]

Nov 15, 2013 15:16:20 GMT -5 Marie said:

Meanwhile, Gwayne smiled at Rickon.

"Ah, a man of simple needs," he said. "That will make my job rather easier. But I'm pleased you are content. I didn't know you had met my cousin though. He did not speak of such. Lord Royce and I were remarking upon the situation in the North. I for one am pleased we will be playing at war here in Oldtown, rather than fighting for real in the North."

Gareth who had taken a seat nearby as per his rank, gave his brother a sharp look. The Stark had struck his own brother and the Lord of Oldtown said nothing in rebuke. He tapped his fingers on the table in agitation and filled his cup with wine, his fury mounting. 

[Horas]

As the evening and conversation moves on, Lord Bayard is pleasantly sociable to his hosts and many of the lesser lords and knights who greet him. When the Lannister contingent is announced by a herald, Royce sends his manservant over to them.

The slim Volantene man bows courteously to the dowager Lady and her young grandaughter. "Lord Bayard Royce is requesting the pleasure of your company, my ladies," the man says in a thick Valyrian accent.

[Horas]

The party had not been the most exciting one Bayard had ever attended, but he could not fault his host's hospitality. After a time he simply let himself mouth the pleasantries he had exchanged a thousand times before while sipping his wine and contemplating another issue. House Lannister was still a house worth greeting, however -- even with the daughter's recent shame and the bad blood with the Baratheons.

"Lady Lannister," Bayard replies. The title was not technically accurate, but he had come across Winifred enough times over the years to guess that it would please her. "It is always a pleasure. And to meet you as well, Lady Sansa. I trust all is well at the Rock?" He asks, that more towards Winifred again.

[Horas]

"It is a busy time for my family. Donnel is the Lord Commander of the Goldcloaks now, and Damian commands the Vale while I attend my niece's wedding," Bayard answers with considerable pride. The success of his children was one thing that made Lord Royce truly happy, though he often wished they would take more initiative in their own affairs. "Kara is seeing to some of the formalities of integrating White Harbor with the Vale."

"I recall Ser Jon." He remembered hearing of him at any rate, though he doubted they had ever met. "Is Lord Aurane ill?" Bayard had not thought the Lannisters would make it so plain that their lord did not rule in his own right.

[Horas]

Gerion Lannister had been a weak man, and Bayard thought that Aurane had grown to resemble him. It made a certain amount of sense to Bayard: only a withered tree could grow from a poisonous seed. He wondered how long it would be until one of Aurane's own sons murdered him, continuing the cycle of rot. Bayard never thought he could see his own father dying young as a blessing, but by comparison to the Lion he wondered if he should count himself lucky.

Bayard said none of that, of course.

"He is a hale man, not yet old. I am certain he will be stronger than ever when he rises from his sickbed," Bayard replies with something sounding similar to sympathy.

[Horas]

Bayard was amused, but covered it by accepting a second bottle of wine one of the servants brought to the table. The first bottle had been good, but Bayard had sent it back in favor of a superior vintage. "A house that does not stick together is weak," Bayard answers. As the girl had decided to join the conversation, he pours her cup first with a steady, practiced hand. "Though I am sure you did not mean to imply that about House Lannister, Lady Sansa. What is it you would do if you were laying in a sickbed in his place?"

[Horas]

Lord Royce finds he cannot get a word in edgewise. His manservant hands him another goblet, which Bayard pours for himself. It was a peculiar thing for a high lord to do for himself, but Bayard preferred it that way. He does not drink it, merely setting it on the table for the moment.

Once the shouting match reaches a momentary lull, Bayard takes the opportunity to get a word in. "You should let the wine breathe," he says calmly (though with slight disapproval), as if that had been the most important fact he had taken out of the outburst.

After another moment: "Though I admit it would be a shame for you to retire before the wedding toast, lest Lord Hightower take it as a slight." Bayard doubted Gwayne would take it any such way, but the present conversation had considerably more zest to it than his last one. "You have a harsh view of the world, Lady Sansa," Bayard continues, "All men fall prey to illness at some point. Shall we simply end their lives when they grow weak, and write off any hope of recovery?"

[Horas]

The girl was still as much child as she was woman, Bayard could tell, lacking in the necessary social awareness required at court. Still, Bayard found it refreshing. "It is quite alright," Bayard chuckles. "Most lack the courage to ask about my scars. When I was a child, my father was murdered in an ambush. I was riding with him, and these attackers sought to end me as well. They were less thorough than they believed they were."

[Lord Gareth Hightower]

Nov 18, 2013 2:50:36 GMT -5 @elane said:

"Was that a rude question, Grandmother?" Sansa asked blankly. "We are talking about weaknesses and recovery."

Sitting close to Lord Bayard, Gareth had been mulling over his wine, his mood still soured by his brother's friendly overtures to that whoreson of a Lord Commander. He had been listening on and off to Lord Royce's conversation with Lannisters.

"Of course it was a rude question girl." Gareth interrupted sharply, irritated at the younger girl's seemingly naive question to her grandmother and not caring she was a Lannister. "Surely your mother has schooled you in what is appropriate to ask a Lord and what is not. You are fortunate that Lord Bayard chooses to answer you in the manner that he did." 

[Horas]

"I am also sorry about my father," Bayard replies simply. "And yes, I suppose I was near your age when I stopped using a regent."

Bayard recognizes Gareth's voice, though he had not realized the Reachman had been listening. "She is young, Ser Gareth. I am sure Lady Sansa did not mean offense." Bayard lifts his goblet and swirls it gently before savoring a sip.

[Lord Gareth Hightower]

"If I need to teach you why it's rude girl, then your mother has not taught you enough." replied Gareth. "Perhaps if you showed more manners at my brother's table, then I would not need to interrupt."

[Lord Gareth Hightower]

Gareth mockingly looked around the hall examining its contents in an exaggerated manner.

"It is my brother's table," he repeated firmly. Indicating with a sweeping hand their surrounds, he gave a thin smile. "And this I believe is my brother's hall. Lord Royce is an honored guest in my brother's hall. As an honored guest of my family, it is my concern how you speak to him."

[Lord Gareth Hightower]

"Indeed. Fourteen?" said Gareth in mock disbelief. "By your manner I would have have picked you to be much younger."

[Lord Gareth Hightower]

Gareth gave a bark of laughter. "Perhaps the fourteen year olds he knows don't publicly blurt out ill-mannered questions to great Lords they barely know. I'm sure your brother's squires know their place. So should you."