Grandview

[Teirney Lannister]

Aerie wanted to tear her hair out of her head and perhaps scream like a vexed direwolf into the night. “How tragic,” she managed, barely able to keep the frustration from her strained voice. She would try once more, but she did not know how long she could keep up these shoddy tactics. “How lonely it must have been without him to keep you company in this cavernous place. Did you spend every moment he was home with him?” she asked, feigning a knowing smile to goad the woman on. “From the moment he arrived to the second he stepped out of Grandview?”

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

"Oh, what time I could, but he is oh so busy. And he broke his leg on the road, so he was quite vexed, and only stayed until it was well set."

[Teirney Lannister]

Aerie made a concerned noise in her throat, but her ears were ten times as sensitive to any sound from Fenra that might even possibly resemble a word. “How did he break his leg?” she asked in forced incredulity. Did he tell you the moment he came home, or did the poor thing go and rest first? I have some experience with helping to heal broken legs,” she lied with acumen, “and they tend to be painful and messy affairs.” She winced for a dramatic touch.

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

Lady Fenra's mouth opens and she is about to speak, "Well, it is really the most intri-" when she is cut off by Ser Yarrick, now standing near this end of the trestle table.

"Valwert is an old man. He fell from his horse."

[Teirney Lannister]

It could not be helped. A sly smile unfurled upon Aerie’s face, causing her green eyes to coruscate with triumph. I was all she could do not to giggle into her plate like a serving maid caught doing something unsavory. “Ser Yarrick,” she protested indignantly, “let the poor woman speak. There is no fun in it when you put it so bluntly. Let us hear Lady Fenra’s views on it.” She nodded graciously to Fenra to continue, her foot nudging Ser Krag’s ankle under the table to ensure he was paying attention to this. He had most likely heard every word the women had exchanged, but it did not hurt to be scrupulous.

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

Lady Fenra's eyes turn down and she attempts to change the subject, something along the lines of her regret at never having a daughter.

[Teirney Lannister]

The furtive smile inverted into an annoyed frown, and she shot Ser Yarrick an accusing glare while all her features tightened in disapproval. She had lost her. All the coaxing and chattering about arbitrary nonsense, and now she back to where she had started. No, I’m not, she realized suddenly. She knew there was something going on now, and Ser Yarrick knew about it. He seemed rather alarmed at what Lady Fenra was about to say, and would not let her go on with it. The lady, too, seemed surprised with herself and was feebly attempting to steer the conversation in a different direction. Lord Valwert did not break his leg falling from his horse, she was sure of that. Aerie cast Ser Krags a surreptitious glance to ascertain he was following the trail, but he seemed busy with his plate. Curse the man. But if she knew him, he was aware of what was occurring.

“Ser Yarrick, how did Lord Valwert fall from his horse?” she queried maliciously just to humor him. “Was he hunting, perhaps, and a stag took his horse unawares?” She shouldn’t have said it, but it was an innocuous enough question, expect to the Castellan.

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

Yarrick of Haystack is a soldier, not a great fighter, but a great defender, and knows how to command a castle. Give him a few dozen men and he could hold Grandview against an enemy more than ten times their number. He was a smart man, too, if a bit plain and tedious. But he lacked the skill needed to mask his thoughts, or mask his surprise.

Yarrick's draw dropped to his chest when he heard Aerie's words.

"Um, the horse, it stumbled over a root and through him," he stammers out, but his eyes remain wide.

[Percy Rivers]

OOC: Actually a horse tripping over a root isn't that uncommon, that's what happened to mine just about a week ago

[Teirney Lannister]

OoC: Definately. I've seen horses fall on their rider after tripping, and I've had more than one horse almost go down on me doing that. I was just mocking him because he was being so unconvincing about it.

Aerie fought the urge to laugh. “It tripped over a root?” she snorted humorously, her smile growing more vicious by the second. His stunned reaction was all she needed to confirm her suspicions. It would seem the Stag had indeed trotted by Grandview to have a little chat concerning thrones with Lord Valwert. Why else would Ser Yarrick look like a bull had just charged him in the chest at the mere mention of his lord and stags? But what is his purpose? What did Callen set Lord Valwert to do? “I hope the animal was okay. The horse,” she said calmly to assuage the Castellan’s shock so he would not draw so much attention to the words that had just been exchanged. “The roots in these parts appear…especially vicious.”

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

OOC: That's why Yarrick used it as an excuse. It is a good one. My description was more that he's not good at telling a lie. A good lie poorly told is no better than a bad lie.

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

"The horse is dead." There seems a peculiar emphasis in Yarrick's voice.

[Teirney Lannister]

Ooc: Yeah, I understood that. Aerie just didn't believe his lie because it was so poorly executed.

[Teirney Lannister]

“A pity,” Aerie returned savagely, a true grimness setting in her eyes. “I do hate to see good horses killed when their deaths could be prevented.” There was more to her words as well.

[Lord Rhodri Arryn]

There is an awkward pause. Yarrick are both still, for a moment, and it almost seems the chatter of the guards has died down as well.

"Well," Yarrick finally voices, "It is a shame, but we have more mounts in the stable." With that, he returns to his seat at the far end of the trestle.