The Kingsroad

[Marie]

The Kingsroad between Lord Harroway's Town and Kings Landing.

[Marie]

Queen Rhaenys rode at the head of the army as they moved south.

[Marie]

/////////////

Rhaenys dropped back to speak with Ariel. Her cousin was still under close guard.

"Ariel, I have news for you," she said.

[Princess Ariel Targaryen]

Ariel lifted her head from her pillow book. "Oh, Your Grace? Is it time for my trial?"

[Marie]

Rhaenys smiled.

"No, there's to be no trial. You're to marry instead, a better match than you deserve. Owen Lannister, heir to the Rock."

[Princess Ariel Targaryen]

Ariel looked at Rhaenys with a couple of blinks, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then a slight smile touched her lips, as she analyzed the situation.

"I see," she responded. "So, you mean to give me a pardon, then, so that I can secure your alliance?" she asked, as if repeating Rhaenys' words for clarification.

[Marie]

Rhaenys shook her head.

"No pardon is required without a formal sentence of treason being passed."

[Princess Ariel Targaryen]

Ariel looked at Rhaenys and nodded slowly. "Alright, but I'll do this properly." She looked directly at the Queen. "It'd be incorrect form for you to attempt to stand in as my father, mother or brother, as I am myself a free woman, not one of your sisters. I'd like your permission to go to Tyberion and make the formal proposal myself."

"Do you have any other requests or orders you wish to make of me?"

[Marie]

"Yes. The proposal has been made already and Lannister has given his consent. You will do nothing except say the words. Until that day comes, you will not be released. There are those who will to trust you, even after you are married, and I won't give them fuel for the fire."

For a moment, Rhaenys looked regretful but then the impassive expression was back and she looked the queen she was.

"Act outside of your remit again, Ariel, and I will not be able to save you. Is that clear?"

[Princess Ariel Targaryen]

Ariel looked at Rhaenys. "Your Grace. I have never broken my word once given, I had placed my trust in you, and you have cast that trust in the dirt. You gave an order, an order to every person in Westeros, and I made the mistake of trusting that you meant it, when I went with Lord Karstark to fetch Aegon for you after his month of grace. And now you trump up charges because you had made a deal with him, and not announced it. You threaten me with execution and offer me the out of being an appendage for Owen Lannister, and you will not even assent to having it done properly. You ask a dragon to submit herself to chains. But I have done nothing wrong."

She breathed slowly, calming herself. "Your Grace, I have asked very little of you, but I ask this. Allow the proper forms to be observed, accept my sworn parole, and I will go through with the marriage and secure your alliance. Do not force me to dishonor the words of our House."

[Marie]

"The marriage is being done properly," Rhaenys insisted. "Let us speak no more of Aegon and Karstark. What you did was not what I meant to be done. I had hoped my people would understand that, but you did not. Be that as it may, I will put the matter aside once you are wed to Owen Lannister."

She sighed.

"Come, Ariel, do you not see that your confinement is for your own safety as well as for the benefit of my subjects, and indeed my own peace of mind. You say you are loyal, well, I want to believe you, but there are those who will seek to use you against me. "

[Princess Ariel Targaryen]

Ariel blinked, then smiled a bit. "The first of whom, of course, would be Tyberion Lannister. And the best way to stop that is to keep me as an independent player, one strong enough to tell him to piss up a rope when he names me Queen."

She then shook her head. "Rhaenys, please understand. I will not go to the altar as your ward, nor have you remove your cloak from my shoulders, nor will I surrender my name and will to any man even should I marry. I'm not going to degrade myself to placate Euric Dayne." She smiled again. "He was the first to call for my head, wasn't he?"

[Marie]

"He was," Rhaenys agreed. "This isn't about Euric's wishes, Ariel, except in that he and Alysanne are of one mind. I had to marry you to Ser Owen, to prevent those two from suffering broken hearts. This is about protecting our lands from one who would bring much suffering if he was not given his own way."

She paused for a moment to take a breath. Some of Ariel's concerns rang true with her and she was not such a hypocrite as to ignore them.

"I understand your position as regards your name and will. It's much the same as my own, excepting a few particulars. You will have to give the appearance of obdience to your husband, at least, no matter what you do in private. That doesn't concern me in the slightest, but I hope you will keep an eye on Lord Lannister for me. However, I am a little concerned about the matter of the cloak. Someone must remove it, that much is certain. It's tradition and I'd sooner not mess with the traditions of Westeros. Even I must find someone to do the honours for me. So, if you won't have me, who will you have?"

[Princess Ariel Targaryen]

Ariel broke into a chuckle. "Your Grace," she responded, "if you had said this at the outset of this little meeting, it would have been much shorter." Her voice hardened a bit. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're asking my help at the same time you insist I must be kept chained 'for my own good,' at the same time that you're asking me to give up what happiness I might have in remaining happily unwed and taking lovers...of my own preference, to save the heart of the poor man who's asked you to execute me."

She looked into Rhaenys' eyes. "I'm helping Euric out here, I'm tired of being a prisoner to his annoying agenda, and I'll need to have the private talk with Owen at any rate; I'd prefer it to be before the wedding. So I still request immediate release. You need not worry that my resistance and bitchiness will endanger the alliance." A low wink. "Men love bitches."

"As for the cloak..." She paused a moment, then chuckled. "Trade you? I remove yours, and you remove mine. You are right about the tradition, even if it's tempting to cast my own cloak to the floor just to be Ariel."

[Marie]

Rhaenys had to smile at the image, but it wouldn't do.

"No," she said. "While it would be fitting for me to remove your cloak, it won't be right for you to remove mine. That way it would look like you were backing my queenship and marriage...in entirely the wrong way. I'm of a mind to have one of our male kin do it. Saenarys won't be back in time but Maekar will do it if he's well enough. If not, I might ask Aegon, depending on where I ultimately send him. He's a prickly sort but I don't think he'd refuse a request that so obviously honours him. Otherwise, there are others who will do just as well."

The circumstances are far from ideal but we must make do. I'll find someone.

"If I give you freedom of the camp, I'd expect you never to abuse my trust. Unfortunately, I would still have to be seen to keep an eye on you to begin with, whether I will it or no."