Ch. 3 - Branches

Cyril
§

Dawn, Cyril imagined, came far too soon for the newlyweds. Still, while it was early and the sun was just barely cresting the horizon, Toby was at the door, saying that they were to all meet in the sept. The knight went off to relay the same message to Zel, and they all filtered into the little sept. Florie came last, looking a little tired but otherwise composed. She was dismayed to find that Corwin had attached himself to Toby and didn't seem to want to leave. At last, Toby called the boy over and told him to go to the kitchens to have a picnic prepared for later in the day. Corwin grinned at that and hurried off to have it done.

Florie drew closer to the rest of them and said that she had been thinking hard about what they should do. On their own, she said, they would have little enough to offer Florent. They needed lands and men and funds, things that Blackbane gave them access to, but that would be severely diminished if they were to leave. Cyril saw the other two looking the same way he felt. To stay here would mean telling Lord Felsward the truth. And if he reacted badly... they might not even make it out of Blackbane. They began arguing, keeping their voices hushed, but footsteps in the hall announced Jonys. He swaggered in, and snorted at their apparent piety. Toby politely invited him on the picnic, but Jonys seemed restless, and declined, but told Florie that her father wished her presence. Jonys turned, and they were about to let him go when Florie called him back. She gave her brother a long look and said that she knew they had never been as close as she and Argent, but now they only had one another. Gruffly, he told her not to talk about Argent like he was dead, but Florie just pressed on. She asked him what he would do if he could aspire to greater than the Arbor. Taken aback, Jonys said he didn't know what she meant. Toby hissed her name in warning, but she didn't pay attention. Cyril took a step back to distance himself from the situation, watching Florie try to angle her brother into admitting some ambition. But Jonys was not rising to the bait, so Florie at last let him go with a frustrated little huff.

No sooner had they started arguing again about the wisdom of the decision Florie wanted to make when Lady Felsward appeared in the doorway, looking better than she had recently, but with a strange expression on her face. "Maester," she said, "If I might have a word with you."

"Of course, my lady," Cyril said, and moved out to the hallway with her. She said she had heard that Lord Garon had spoken with him about answering only to him when administering medications, but that she wanted Cyril to know that the lord needn't be troubled by small things, and that Cyril should continue to minister to her on her orders. Cyril started to talk about how he had made a promise to the lord of the house, and Vallya stepped in even more and closed bony fingers hard around his wrist. "If you cannot do this for me, then the letter I have already written will be sent to the Citadel. The letter describes how you took advantage of me in my weakened state and had your way with me. They will recieve the letter, and then your body. Do I make myself clear?"

Chilled, Cyril stammered agreement, and took a moment to compose himself before returning to the others.

Florie
§

Florie knew she could not keep her father waiting for long, but she wanted at least one of the others to see what she saw, that to leave as fugitives would be, ultimately, to admit defeat. She knew she wasn't convincing them, but she knew, too, that they would not break from her decision. So she went to see her father.

She barely heard Garon when he started to talk. He was saying something about how he knew that this wasn't what she had expected, but Longtable would be a good place, and how he hoped to visit his grandchildren there. Florie touched the seven-pointed star she wore around her neck, gathering strength and resolve. Then she looked her father straight in the eyes and said there was something she needed to tell him. She started off with how he must have known something was suspicious about Colin Florent's death. She pressed on and past his incredulity as she named her mother the murderer, and described the letter that Florent had sent. And then the fight started in earnest. Florie had to convince her father that her course of action had been the best, had been divine will. She had to show him that she was every bit a capable woman and not a little girl peevishly defying her father. She had to keep from crying.

Garon tried to bring Argent into it, how they both missed him terribly and about how much harder it would be to bring him back this way. The thought stung her, but Florie rallied, telling him with a sad smile that he didn't know Argent as she did, and that he had left with full knowledge of the treason, had shown ambition even greater than hers, and how his move was in part a bid to protect the Gardener bloodline. That had her father stunned, and so she finished out that she had agreed to aid Florent. Very carefully, Garon said that he loved his daughter and would not abandon her, and that her treason would have to be his. He would get her out of this, he said, and before she could protest, asked if she had moved against Highgarden. So she told him about the caterpillars. He put a hand over his face and said that surely she had not moved against King's Landing. Florie swallowed hard, and said she had sent word to Florent that an uprising could likely be stirred up in Duskendale. She saw a thread of something she had never expected to see in her father's eyes when he looked at her. It was horror. It only increased when, her voice shaking, she said there was one more thing he had to know.

"I married Tobias, Father, in secret."

Garon stared at his daughter. "In a sept?"

"Yes."

"With... witnesses?"

"Maester Cyril and Zel Flowers, yes."

"And..." Her father's expression was very near rage. "Consummated?"

Florie wanted to crumple, but she didn't let her gaze waver. "Yes."

"Then go," Garon said, voice low, "And fetch your husband and your witnesses."

Florie looked at her father and saw, angry as her father might be, that she had been successful. Battle won, she dared not question him now.

Tobias
§

Anxious, but not really knowing what to do, Tobias went to the kitchens to see how the picnic was coming along. At least, he resolved, if they had to take off running at moment's notice, there would be food ready. Cyril and Zel joined them, and they chatted for a bit, trying to avoid the uncomfortable topics on all their minds. After a time, Florie stepped into the kitchens, as pale as Toby had ever seen her. She gave the others a cursory glance, then stepped up in front of Toby. "My lord husband," she said, very softly. "My father requests our presence."

Toby felt like the bottom of his stomach dropped out of existence. So that was it. She had told Lord Felsward. He looked at the others, and saw Cyril and Zel looking like maybe they might run out right there. "I'll protect you," he told them in a low voice, deciding that the lord deserved to be heard out in any case. Reluctantly, they came along, Florie leading the way. Once they were in the room with Garon, he barred, the door, checked outside the windows, and looked them over. He confirmed that they all knew what his daughter had done, and said heavily that Tobias was an orphan, foundling, a good squire and loyal knight, and had become something he never thought he would be-- a son. It seemed a dubious honoring at best to Toby. After years of wishing that Garon would see the boy he had raised as his own, now it was a forced thing. But Garon had turned his attention already onto Zel, saying that Highwayman Flowers would have to be bound into Felsward service. Zel looked relieved, saying that she agreed, and had not collected pay at any rate while in their keep. The only thing left was to send her letter of resignation, which Florie had already promised to draft. Garon grunted his acknowledgement and looked to Cyril. "That chain around your neck is short, Maester," he said, slowly and carefully. "And I /will/ bring you to heel on it." Cyril just dipped his head graciously, as if they weren't all terrified. Garon stepped back and said darkly that now he must back his daughter's treason, and now that he was aware they would once again answer to him as their lord. Everyone nodded, and Garon sent the others out, saying he would speak with Lord Ore alone.

Tobias tried not to be nervous as he faced Lord Felsward. Garon gazed at him for a minute, then assured that Toby had married Florie out of love, and that the knight would be certain to protect her. She had, Garon said, extended herself beyond her father's ability to protect her. Therefore, her new husband would have to.

"What will you say?" Toby asked quietly after the silence had stretched for a time.

Garon looked up at him. He looked tired, and now less angry than resigned. "To Longtable?"

"To the world."

"I will tell them the truth. That you have wooed her since she was five, and there is no separating you."

Toby nodded, and the conversation drifted a bit. Then Garon started to talk about honesty, and no more secrets, and Toby knew he must out with the last thing he had been withholding. Slowly and carefully, he talked about how years ago, he had taken the beating for Argent over the laming of Lord Felsward's best horse. And the he said how Argent had repaid that debt, by taking the blame for Toby had done to Collard Greyfell. After this, he promised that was all. There were no more secrets.

Drezielle
§

Zel watched Florie pace back and forth near the kitchens. It said something about how agitated her friend was, since for all she made shows of it, Florie was not given to idle fretting over the things she had wrought. The maester was with them, but he seemed lost in his own thoughts, the lines of his face drawn tighter than usual. Zel, for her part, could hardly believe they had made it to this point with nobody sentenced to death or imprisonment. Where everyone else was still on edge, Zel permitted herself relief. They would be through this, and she would serve the Felswards or the Gardeners, whatever they ended up calling themselves. She would have a place here, and maybe, just maybe in the future, something much grander.

She stopped Florie, tired of her restlessness, and drew her aside. She told Florie she had been thinking, and that Florie had been right. She could not always have a man beside her, especially a man who was not her husband, and Zel knew Florie might need her help more often. Reluctantly, Zel continued, saying that she would like Florie to assist her in sometimes being a girl. Florie's strained features broke out in a grin at that, and she readily agreed, promising to teach Zel some more womanly behaviors. They were talking of what would need to be done to keep Zel's two personas separate, since besides dresses she would at least need a wig, when purposeful footsteps sounded in the hall. They turned to look, and Zel saw Toby, his expression difficult to read. But then he pulled Florie to him and kissed her. Zel coughed and looked away, only to see the kitchen servants staring as if the couple had just sprouted tails.

"We are to go on that picnic," Toby said when he pulled away. "Now."

Florie laughed, and helped strongarm the other two into going. Corwin was delighted, and helped speed them along. Toby explained as they walked through the orchards that Garon would be telling Longtable of the wedding, and it was best for them all to be gone while he did so. Zel watched the young couple walking ahead of her and couldn't help but wonder-- with news of the wedding in the open, and the bond accepted by Lord Garon, what would become of Lady Vallya?