The Gardens - 598

[Ser Kyle Payne]

Kyle keeps his face as straight and serious as any other time. "I said, Ser Benjen, that I had heard tell. I do not know what their occupation entails, and I do not know how my luck would fare with them."

[Marie]

"They guard the city, of course, catch thieves, put out fires, hang evildoers, that sorto f thing. You might be an officer of the Watch since you are of noble blood."

[Ser Kyle Payne]

Kyle shook his head. "Even though helping the common folk does seem appealing, I do not wish to bring pain to supposed 'evildoers'. It's all a matter of viewpoint, you see? Even the most desperate man may commit atrocities if they are trying to feed their family, and therefore may be forgiven for minor crimes. Murderers, however," Kyle's massive hands balled into fists, "must be locked away and tortured in order to teach them a lesson."

[Marie]

"Then perhaps you might apply for a job as the King's Justice," he said. "Would you care to hang murderers for a living?"

[Ser Kyle Payne]

"Not hang, Ser Benjen, simply... teach a lesson to them."

[Marie]

"Murderers must not be suffered to live," Benjen asnswered. "or are you thinking of becoming one of the royal torturers?"

[Ser Kyle Payne]

"Truthfully, Ser Benjen, if I cannot be king, I would not like to be a Targaryen. Figuratively, of course."

[Marie]

"Must you object to all of my suggestions, Payne? It is not your place to pick and choose your service."

[Ser Kyle Payne]

Kyle sighed. "Aye. That much is true. If I could, I would like to work at the gardens on occasion..." He inhaled deeply and gave a ghost of a smile. "Nature's beauty is unrivaled by any other."

[Marie]

"You wish to be a gardener, a man of noble birth?"

Benjen was in fits of laughter again.

"You really have no concept of work proper to your rank, man!"

[Ser Kyle Payne]

"No. I guess not. But how ridiculous is it for a man to have a love for nature? To want to raise something from the earth to help it grow into a being mightier than yourself? How ridiculous is it to want to nurture something instead of destroy it?"

[Marie]

"Oh there's nothing wrong with that but you will not make a name for yourself in that way. The palace gardeners are servants, man, no more. Well, so are the highborn, but they at least seek more dignified means of servitude."

Benjen looked oddly at Kyle.

"Are you sure you're a Westerman? Your ideals sound as if they would be more in keeping with the North."

[Ser Kyle Payne]

Kyle shrugged, "I was trained by a northman. He taught me everything I know, since my father was rarely around in order to do it instead." He moved back over to the bench he was seated on earlier and sat down. "Please, Ser Benjen, join me."

[Marie]

Benjen dseemed to debate for a moment but then he sat.

"My mother is of the North," he confided. "A Reed, of Greywater Watch. I lived my childhood among the crannogmen and my first years of manhood in the cold expanses of the North. I was new to Court myself, not so long ago. I daresay I'd be in your own position, had my father not been a cousin to the former Queen."

He looked hard at Kyle with those Valyrian purple eyes.

"I never knew my father, he died before I was born, but his name has done me good though it be naught but a bastard's name. I don't suppose you have any acquaintance with the high and mighty, no matter how slim?"

[Ser Kyle Payne]

"None here. Only people of my father's station and my own in the West. I suppose you could say that I was... sequestered. I came here to expand my horizons, and perhaps meet some new people."