House Avalon

[Deleted]

"How very serious this talk has become," Lettie said. "I never knew you felt so strongly about things, Petyr."

"Of course I do," Petyr said, with a wounded look. "Aye, and Brandon has a point. Let us see if His Grace will turn out like his father. Damned good man, King Callen," Petyr said.

Lettie snorted.

"Oh come, Lettie! Was there ever a highborn lord who was so friendly? He never snubbed his nose at us, not like most of those other lords. Those fancy Tyrells and that haughty Lord Arryn. Lord Bettley was nice too, though those Blackwoods were so proud. Callen Baratheon, the Young Stag." Petyr drank to him. "He rebuilt this city, and he was rebuilding the Dragonpit for the common people. Did you ever know that, young Brandon? King Callen was going to let us rule ourselves."

[Lord Howland Royce]

"I am afraid I don't know much of the past of Westeros, I just arrived in Gulltown 2 years ago," Brandon said. "So by all means educate me," he smiled and listening intently he somehow managed to feed Lettie grapes at the same time.

[Deleted]

Lettie smiled at him and took the grapes in her mouth delicately.

"He was going to turn the Dragonpit into what he called the House of Commons," Petyr said, leaning back against large, plush cushions. "And we would have had power to decide the laws, and the men who ruled us would have been chosen by us. The lords would have to listen to us. Us, Brandon, common people like you, me and Lettie. Can you imagine how that would have been? The Crow's Coup would not have been so easy, I tell you, and those highborn folks would not have had so much power. It would be our time in the sun."

Petyr frowned. "It would have happened, if Fossoway hadn't killed King Callen."

[Lord Howland Royce]

Brandon nods. "That is indeed a fine notion, no doubt the peasants in the North thinks the same, though they use more drastic means. I wonder how Westeros would have been if King Callen had lived. What exactly happened to him. I've heard about the Fossoway Folly, but people doesn't seem to talk about it that much"

[Deleted]

"I know that story better than Petyr does," Lettie said, reclining on her own cushions. A maid removed the dinner and brought bowls of fruit for dessert.

"There was a feast going on down in the Reach, I remember, after Lord Barret commited suicide. The Rotten Apple, Fossoway, was named Regent of the Reach. The king went down to the Reach for this feast, and there Fossoway read out Lord Barret's last decree. Something about how the Reach is to be independent from the Iron Throne, and that King Callen should respect that. Callen said no, so he was taken prisoner. One of the white knights, Ser Erik, was a Tyrell and betrayed him. The other white knights, Ser Giles and Ser Edrick, were taken prisoner. King's Landing was up in arms. That meddling Dornish princess, Emelia, came here with her guard dog, Timm Dayne, and tried to take over the city. All the lords assembled their armies beside the Blackwater Rush. Fossoway had Piers' wife hostage as well, and threatened to kill both her and the king if the northern armies crossed into the Reach.

"Meanwhile, Lord Hewett, a crony of Fossoway's, led a sea attack with Lord Redwyne against Lannisport, but they were beaten back, I think.

"Then Lord Lyas Bolton did what the armies could not do. He named himself King in the North, and went to meet some of the Reach lords in secret. I think it was Lord Hightower, a Tyrell named Ser Cole, Lord Varner and Lord Falgrave. With their knights and men. When they arrived, it turned out that with the Bolton men were Blackwood soldiers as well. And the Boltons and Blackwoods butchered the Reachland party. Only Falgrave and Varner escaped.

"Then the king died, and Lord Falgrave rescued Lady Bettley and the Kingsguard knights, betraying Fossoway, who also died. And so Fossoway's Folly came to an end, and the Reach was split into the Mander and the Far Reach."

[Lord Howland Royce]

Brandon puts his arm around Lettie. "With gems like this in King's Landing, it is no wonder King Callen wanted to make a House of Commons," he sais as he look at her in a new light. "Splitting the Reach was a good move unless the Lords there are too cozy with eachother I think".

[Deleted]

Lettie winked at him. "Brandon has a honeyed tongue, I see. And no, Reach lords are no cozier than other Kingdoms, I think."

Petyr just drank more wine.

[Lord Howland Royce]

"A singer must learn to sweeten his voice unless a lord decides he doesn't like what he hear and remove it," Brandon made a face at that. "How long have you been in the entertaining business, Petyr?"

[Deleted]

"About eight years, I'd say. Where were you before you arrived in Gulltown two years ago?"

[Lord Howland Royce]

"I was raised in Braavos by my mother, told me about my father at her deathbed, thing is he died years ago, so here I am trying to make the best of what family I have left. What about you, Lettie? What's your story?"

[Deleted]

"Always wondered what it would be like to live in Braavos," Lettie said. "Must've been fun. As for me, I'm born and brought up in King's Landing. Father was a baker, mother dead when I was nine. My father died in the last Targaryen war, when the dragon Aelerion burned the city to ashes and dust. I was never a whore, but I sold dead bodies to wizards, and worked for a gang of thieves, until I worked for Mally as an...agent." She grinned. Lettie was shorter and a bit more rounded than Dacey, but she had bright brown eyes and curly dark hair. "Dacey was always my friend, even in those days."

[Lord Howland Royce]

Brandon perked up at the mention of wizards though he kept attention to the whole tale. "I have always wanted to see a dragon, though it would have to be far away or maybe very little. I've seen some of the skulls in the Red Keep. I can't believe cousin Garrett managed to slay one," Brandon sighs. He absent mindly strokes Lettie's hair. "You mentioned wizards are there any such still around in King's Landing?"

[Deleted]

"Aelerion was a fiend," Lettie said. "A glorious, hateful fiend. I saw the charge of Ser Garrett. It was frightening as well as awe-inspiring. After he stabbed Aelerion through the heart, the dragon blew flame right into his helmet. The steel melted over his face. He was cooked in his armor, though his friends dragged him away, with his broken leg and ruined face, before his body could be further damaged. He was pretty, Garrett Redfort, till he died."

She laughed. "Men who call themselves wizards and think they can cast spells exist everywhere. I never believed it."

Petyr was watching, suddenly alert. "Brandon, did you say you're the Dragonslayer's cousin?"

[Lord Howland Royce]

Brandon winces at the mental image he gets from Lettie's description. "Luckily I won't have to worry about getting burnt," he thought.

"Ah yes he was a distant cousin, I took no offence from the mummer's play if that's worrying you?" Brandon said offhandedly.

[The Smith]

Many of King's Landings most famous ruffians enter the House of Avalon. They come in seperately but the move to specific locales and do not move.