The Sealord's Palace

[brigida]

Tristeza spared a piteous glance for the Lady of the Crownlands, but she did not speak, nor approach the distraught woman. Her condolences would not be well-accepted. She followed Timm solemnly from the room, glancing back only as she passed through the doors.

[Deleted]

Aranya remained in her kneeling position, cradling Felryn in her arms and kissing his hair and face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Guilt overwhelmed her. He would not have been here if it wasn't for me, she thought, stroking his hair. She had convinced him to try and capture Aellion Targaryen, and he had lost his best men, his ships, his swords, his very life...all because of her. And the pain doubled when she realized how much she loved him.

Fierce anger burned in her heart. Valar morghulis, she thought, stroking Felryn's cheek and thinking of Clegane, Vikary, and the Sealord. Valar morghulis.

[Deleted]

///

The Sealord and his cronies had long left, but Aranya did not have the heart or the strength to move. Finally, when Felryn had gone icy cold and rigid in her arms, she looked up with wild, red eyes and said hoarsely to one of the surrounding bravos, "I need to take him to the Arsenal."

[The Stranger]

Although warned against speaking to the woman, the bravo couldn't help himself.

"Why?"

[Deleted]

"I need to drown him," Aranya stared at the bravo, daring him to challenge her. "He must be returned to the sea, to the deep halls of the Drowned God."

[The Stranger]

"That doesn't require going to the Arsenal." The bravo said, sounding bored. "We'll just dump him in the canal."

[Deleted]

Aranya didn't move, but she pulled Felryn's sword out of his cold, rigid grasp. "I am taking him to the sea. Let me pass, or I'll spill your guts on this floor."

[The Stranger]

"Drop the sword NOW." The Bravo's thin waterdancer blade was in his hand in a flash. "Drop it right now woman." The man's eyes were wide and terrified, although whether of Aranya or what the Sealord would do to the man if his captive either escaped or was slain, wasn't clear.

[Deleted]

Instead, Aranya rose to her feet, contempt and hunger in her eyes. "It would be so easy to kill you. All you need to do is let me go to the Arsenal and give Felryn Harlaw his last rites. If you're so terrified I'll escape, send guards with me, or one of your lord's sixty-three pet dogs."

[The Stranger]

"Put the sword down..." The Bravo said, backing away slowly, "and perhaps something can be done."

[Deleted]

Aranya's stare was cold, but she lowered the sword. "What can be done?"

[The Stranger]

"Put it on the floor, and kick it over here by me." The man said. They had been warned repeatedly. Do not take the woman for granted.

"I will talk to my superior." He said, his eyes darting towards the exit.

[Deleted]

Aranya stared at the bravo for a moment, and then tossed the sword at him, and it clanged to floor beside him. She did not fear to fight him barehanded, if she had to.

When the bravo left, she knelt back beside Felryn, trying to arrange his ripped clothing. She avoided staring at his sliced neck. His skin was already mottling slightly.

[The Stranger]

The Bravo backed slowly from the room, before returning with six more men, all in the attire of the Sealord's personal guard. The men quietly whispered among themselves in their own language, before one approached.

"Would it not be acceptable for us to transport the body to the sea on your behalf. If there are any particular rites you'd have carried out, it could be arranged."

[Deleted]

Aranya reared like a viper. "You will not touch him," she snarled. "Never again will you touch him. He was mine, and I will carry out his last rites."