Post by The Smith on Mar 24, 2008 17:51:54 GMT -5
Ser Tarannon sat alone in the library in Faircastle. Lord Jaymes had dropped him off at the castle before joining the rest of the fleet in Lannisport, so that his arm could be seen to by the castle’s maester. Since the Valkyrie was the lord’s personal flagship, it had a maester assigned so his wounds had been treated from the moment he fell in battle. He had passed out after killing his giant opponent, and woken up three days later to discover he lacked half an arm. He had blocked a terrible blow with his shield, but it had ruined his arm too badly and the maester’s only recourse had been to amputate the mauled limb.
He had stacked a number of books on a table and clumsily leafed through them with one hand. At his left elbow were a bundle of tightly wrapped linen bandages, which the castle’s maester changed twice daily. At first, upon waking, he had been disillusioned and refused to believe that his arm was gone. Then he raged until he was exhausted and had collapsed back into his bead. Slowly, he had accepted his fate and Lord Jaymes had come to see him before leaving for Lannisport. The lord was remorseful and guilty and the two talked until both knew that neither was at fault.
That was half a fortnight ago, and now Ser Tarannon had free reign of the castle since the maester had deemed him fit to rise from his chambers. He spent much of his time in the library, poring over maps, charts, and books of strategy. He knew that he could still train with the sword, though he would need to radically change his fighting style, but he also knew his arm needed to heal before he could do something so strenuous, so he settled for training his mind.
He read compendiums of naval knowledge that had been passed down through House Farman for generations. The Lords of Fair Isle had always been seafaring men and had vast stores of knowledge stored away in books for their descendants to learn from. He studied maps of the entire western coast of Westeros, memorizing every detail of every shoreline on the most detailed maps he could find, focusing especially on the Iron Islands. Ser Tarannon was determined to not lose his value as a soldier, sailor, commander, or warrior just because he lost an arm.
Hours later he looked up as the torches around him began to flicker and die one by one. He had made it halfway through Lord Kevan Farman’s Treatise on Ship-to-Ship Combat. The book itself predated House Baratheon ascension to the Iron Throne, and Lord Kevan himself had served House Lannister when they were still the Kings of the Rock, not merely lords. The man had been a naval prodigy, destroying entire Ironborn fleets for almost seventy years before his own death at sea in the very year that Aegon the Conqueror landed on Westeros.
Ser Tarannon Falastur increases to Novice Navigation
Ser Tarannon Falastur increases to Expert Naval-Battle
He had stacked a number of books on a table and clumsily leafed through them with one hand. At his left elbow were a bundle of tightly wrapped linen bandages, which the castle’s maester changed twice daily. At first, upon waking, he had been disillusioned and refused to believe that his arm was gone. Then he raged until he was exhausted and had collapsed back into his bead. Slowly, he had accepted his fate and Lord Jaymes had come to see him before leaving for Lannisport. The lord was remorseful and guilty and the two talked until both knew that neither was at fault.
That was half a fortnight ago, and now Ser Tarannon had free reign of the castle since the maester had deemed him fit to rise from his chambers. He spent much of his time in the library, poring over maps, charts, and books of strategy. He knew that he could still train with the sword, though he would need to radically change his fighting style, but he also knew his arm needed to heal before he could do something so strenuous, so he settled for training his mind.
He read compendiums of naval knowledge that had been passed down through House Farman for generations. The Lords of Fair Isle had always been seafaring men and had vast stores of knowledge stored away in books for their descendants to learn from. He studied maps of the entire western coast of Westeros, memorizing every detail of every shoreline on the most detailed maps he could find, focusing especially on the Iron Islands. Ser Tarannon was determined to not lose his value as a soldier, sailor, commander, or warrior just because he lost an arm.
Hours later he looked up as the torches around him began to flicker and die one by one. He had made it halfway through Lord Kevan Farman’s Treatise on Ship-to-Ship Combat. The book itself predated House Baratheon ascension to the Iron Throne, and Lord Kevan himself had served House Lannister when they were still the Kings of the Rock, not merely lords. The man had been a naval prodigy, destroying entire Ironborn fleets for almost seventy years before his own death at sea in the very year that Aegon the Conqueror landed on Westeros.
Ser Tarannon Falastur increases to Novice Navigation
Ser Tarannon Falastur increases to Expert Naval-Battle