Runestone

[Deleted]

OOC: Sorry, was away to get some food.

"Lady Elane has been staunchly loyal to this House, my lord," the maester said. "Still, it is good for this to be investigated. May the old gods protect you, my lord."

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

Lord Commander Jon Royce and a company of the Vale Watch depart Runestone for the Gates of the Moon.

[sara]

Sara and Piers arrive at Runestone, bedraggled and tired but unharmed. Sinking down in the entrance she calls into the empty halls. "Jon? Aunt Martina? Anyone? Jon!?"

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

Septon Robbett hears of the Lady Sara's arrival and rushes to her.

[sara]

"Oh, thank God, I was afraid we'd returned to an empty hall. Are my aunt and cousin still here?"

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

"Your aunt is here, but the Lord Jon has gone to the Eyrie. We are fortifying it now, in the Lord Arryn's name. But what are you doing here, traveling so alone? What of your husband and home in the Westerlands?" the septon asks. "You bring a child, is this your daughter Jeyne? She looks like a sweet creature."

[sara]

"Yes, this is Jeyne. She's a wonderful child." She stops, tears welling in her eyes, before continuing. "And we... had to leave Casterly Rock. They're all dead. Murdered. We only lived because Ser Piers helped us escape. All murdered!"

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

"What!? All! Who! Thank the seven you are safe. Is your husband safe?" the septon asks, not knowing Allard was behind the carnage.

[The Smith]

Piers reaches into his cloak and pulls out a letter and hands it to the Septon, "I need this delivered to Lilith Royce."

Turning to Sara he bowed deeply, "Milady Your company has been a great pleasure on what would have been an otherwise horrendous journey. But I have business to attend to south of here." Piers starts to leave the keep.

[sara]

"Perfectly safe. He did it. Killed them out of some sort of petty spite...Lord Baldwin, gods know how many household knights, Baldwin's daughter imprisoned, her husband dead, Lord Steffan's family...And now he's telling everyone his father had some sort of tragic accident and he's proclaimed himself Lord of Casterly Rock"

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

"By the seven, what a horror. Thank the gods you are safe. You must know, much has changed here as well. Your brother Rhodri has sworn to Callen, and Callen has named him the new Lord Arryn and Warden of the East. He is in King's Landing with the Baratheon army, allied with the Tyrells. Ser Jon is now raised to Lord Presumptive, with his father Robert still unfound after the battle of King's Landing."

"We are calling our banners with the war still raging. The Riverlands are burning with Reavers and the Blackwoods are digging in. The Dornish rattle their spears as well."

"And now it appears we must fear the Vile Lion as well."

[sara]

"Arryn!? Truly? So, he will rule the East from the Eyrie now, or is he to stay here at Runestone?"

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

"He will rule from the Eyrie. Jon is there now, seeing to its defenses. The Lady Elane stayed there for some time helping prepare it as well. It is time our greatest stronghold returned to glory, and Lord Arryn will see to it."

[Deleted]

"The Eyrie's household is complete and ready, awaiting Lord Arryn," Maester Cerwyn added, nodding and smiling. "And we will be our King's most faithful and powerful servants. Come this way, my lady, and let me take that babe. Long travel is not good for children, and I shall see if she is healthy." Cradling Jeyne Lannister, the elderly maester bowed Lady Sara in and turned to go to the maester's tower.

[Deleted]

The maester tended to baby Jeyne carefully, struck by the dark curls and brilliant blue eyes, and the look of the face. It wasn't as...aquiline as most Lannister faces were. The maester studied the baby girl thoughtfully.

The realm knew that Lannister blood ran fairly strong, for King Robert's and Lord Eddard's discovery of Queen Cersei's incest had become one of the most famous events of Baratheon royal history. Of Baratheon blood, Lord Eddard Stark had claimed that Lord Jon Arryn had said, "the seed is strong," - but Maester Cerwyn had studied enough to suspect that Royce and Arryn seed was a little weak against Lannister, Tyrell and Tully.

Full of trepidation, he went to Lady Sara's private apartments. "My lady," he said. "Anything spoken to me is done in complete confidentiality, and I am loyal to House Royce, that is known. I was brought here in my seventeenth year, to serve your father Lord Alyn, and I have served faithfully ever since. But now I must ask you, in the interests of our house - is it possible that this babe here is not a Lannister, and that Lord Allard suspected rightly?" His eyes are gentle, with no hint of accusation or reproach.