Ch. 7 - Bitter Bridge

Rula

§

We stayed ten days in all in the Inn of the Spreading Oak, and nice as it was, with the rain pouring down outside and the company not always pleasant, it got tiresome. I saw Azeline trying to flirt with Tom the Harper, under the watchful tutelage of Rivenka, and I didn’t think much of it, until I heard Azeline saying something about what he’d tried to do to her. Distraught and near tears, she said he had tried to kiss her in some awful way with his tongue and everything. Were it anyone else, I might’ve laughed, but this was Azeline, and she’s a good girl, and I like her. And then I saw Rivenka with Harper Tom suddenly in her service pretty as you please, and I could tell by the feeling the air between ‘em it wasn’t a willing agreement. Gave me an uneasy feeling, like maybe our Azeline had been getting set up this entire time to be in a situation Rivenka could rescue her from.

When we finally got on the road, seemed there was a lot of foul tempers, and everything was made of mud. Some folk had trouble with their horses, including his lordship Kai, who ended up getting bucked over into the mud in a way that had a lot of us laughing, though not too loud as to get in trouble for it. That night, I sat myself down next to Tom, who’d just finished a surly exchange with Rivenka. I waited until she was gone, and said “Azeline’s a good girl. And I’m fond of her. And I’m going to keep her safe.” I let that sink in a bit, then continued. “You might as well make the best of all this. Don’t think about crossing ‘em, the nobles. They’re smarter ‘n us. Meaner than me. Not worth it.” He sort of grunted at that. I suppose he’ll have to see for himself. I do dark work, but it’s not me comes up with the plans for doing it. Either way, I’d no plans to trust the harper any farther’n I could spit.

In the morning we were going over a bridge spanning a swollen river when there was the sound of a horse panicking, and suddenly my brother and his horse were in the water. The horse got stuck under the bridge, but Slaange was floating downriver at a rapid pace. He can’t swim, and I can swim but a bit, but here in Westeros, he’s all I’ve got, so I threw myself into the water after him. I saw him ahead, trying to grab onto a tree trunk that was being carried off in the current as well. It had branches everywhere, though, and he couldn’t get a good grip. I made it to him and the tree, but I couldn’t grab for him before he lost hold of it. Everything was moving too fast, but the trunk was pointed straight downriver, and I saw the only way I could get a little speed.

After Vasili taught me to be faster than a snake, he said he would teach me to run as if I was made of the wind. I may not, for all that I’m called a water dancer, be a swimmer, but if I have a moment or two for my feet to work, it’s more than just dancing – It’s practically flying. I hauled myself onto the end of the trunk, and even as it spun in the water, I ran across it, never missing a step, never hitting one of the protruding branches. I launched myself off the end, catching Slaange far faster than I ever would have been able to in the water. Unfortunately, he was panicked, and pulled me under damn near soon as I grabbed him.

I managed to get us to the surface, and I saw Azeline and Quaynlis on the bank, doing something with a rope. Then I saw the rope stretched taut across the surface of the water, and both my brother and I grabbed it, and they helped haul us out. I was too cold and too wet to stand on ceremony and propriety, so when Slaange started stripping off his wet things to get a dry blanket over him, so did I. I saw Quaynlis sort of staring, looking between us as if it were the first time it dawned on him that but for my brother being a male and me being a female, we look alike. I was shivering too hard to be flattered, though, and once I had a blanket around me and was sitting with Azeline on her horse, I was only thinking how miserable a place this country could be.

Kai had remembered that my brother’s bag was on his horse, with his traveling kit of poisons, but he remembered when the dying horse had gotten free of the bridge, and so he sent men after it, but it was too late. The only hope was that it could be found and some of the contents salvaged if the dead horse made it down the river to the grate at Bitter Bridge. Not a pleasant thought.

It was a hard journey, and by the end, everyone was looking a little tired around the edges, which is why Odette nearly killed the guards at the toll gate with one of her stares when they said we had to pay up for use of the road. In the end, though, she consented to payment, a pittance in comparison to what we owed the Spreading Oak, and we all went through. We got into Bitter Bridge to a nice reception, and there the nobles had nobling to do, ‘cept for Azeline, who as usual came with us the moment she could get away. We all decided it was best that we go as quickly as possible to try and find Slaange’s bag, as anyone opening it could get a nasty shock or three. We headed down that way, tryin’ to look casual, and as I’d been dressed up as Lady Azeline’s handmaiden and being as I was in a full proper dress for the first time in I don’t know how long, I weren’t doing too good at it. Looked like I was about to bring suspicion on us as a guard came by, and Slaange and Azeline were already sidling off, so Quaynlis threw me up against a wall and kissed me like we was lovers. He was good at it to, so for the moment I forgot where I was and kissed him back, and when he pulled away, maybe my cheeks were a little pinker than they ought to have been.

I tried not to look at my brother too hard as we went on, realizing that it was his man I’d been kissing, but Azeline kept asking me how it was, saying it looked nice. “It was nice,” I told her at last. “Very… nice.” She said it looked a lot nicer than Tom had tried on her, and since I hadn’t seen that, I supposed I agreed.

Storm debris had been pulled from the grates across the river, and so we would have to look where the dead animals would get taken if we had any hope of finding Slaange’s bag. We found the place… and we found a room with three(?) dead men inside of it, and a funny white powder around them. Slaange got a little pale then, saying anyone setting foot in that room would probably meet the same fate. We had to get the poisons out of there, and Slaange could maybe go in, covered entirely, but it would be dangerous. And we didn’t suppose we had much in the way of time.

Ch. 5 - The Lament of Long Table

Kai

§

I was laid up in bed for a week with my leg injury. Florie and Ravenka doted on me the entire time, so it wasn't as unpleasant as it could have been, but it still irked me that what had seemed such a small task had gone so horribly wrong. At least we had the damnable mushrooms, although now, with our targets returned to their home, we would have to travel to use them.

The week was full of preparations too, that I heard of in bits and pieces as I rested. The announcement that winter was soon to come meant a great deal of preparation. It also meant that readying ourselves for war would be a much thornier project, as we would simultaneously be needing to build up our stores and get the harvest in in the hopes that we would have time for a second one before winter settled into the south. As I began to recover and started limping around Highgarden, I could see that with my father busy preparing for the seasonal change and my brother busy... doing whatever undoubtedly important task he had been given, it would be left to some of the rest of us to go around the countryside consolidating our power and favor with our bannermen. That would also give us a chance to visit Longtable and complete our darker work there.

We prepared a party with twenty-five guardsmen, myself and my cousins, Odette as chaperone and organizer (I had hoped my father would find himself unable to spare her, but she has a way of getting what she wants), as well as Slaange, his sister, and Quaynlis. After watching them all work in the caves, I was plenty glad to have them along and working for us, even setting aside Slaange's more specialized mission on this trip. We would be traveling to Cider Hall, , and Ashford before Longtable, then on to Bitter Bridge and to some of the minor houses north of the Rose Road before making our way back to Highgarden.

We traveled for a week to Cider Hall, and I blame my convalescence for the discomfort I felt on the horse. I do need to take more riding lessons as well, I suppose. Odette briefed us all on the situation with the Red Apple Fossaways at Cider Hall as we went. Their feud with the Green Apple Fossaways, of course, was as always in progress, but allowing them something at the expense of our other bannermen was something we could not risk. So while we knew what they wanted was to have a dam torn down, currently benefiting the Graves and the Manders, it was not a move we could make. Someone would have to offer them something they would understand as valuable without doing harm to our cause. We had brought gifts, of course, for all the houses we visited, and did our best to make sure it felt like an honor to host us. Florie ended up deep in conversation with Lord Ambrose Fossaway, while he tried to bargain his importance over the other families with her. She smiled prettily and didn't give an inch on our position while still maintaining that they are our closest bannermen, and not just in distance. He was clearly charmed by her – who wouldn't be? – and Florie ended her talk with him confident of their loyalty.

We traveled next to Ashford, where we knew that flooding last harvest had done serious damage to the lands. Odette informed us that they would probably desire tax leniency, especially with winter arriving soon, but again, that would not be an easy thing to grant. With the possibility of war on the horizon, we needed every bit of taxes we would normally collect. Odette, though, as the keenest mind amongst us on matters of money, took point here. She talked to Lord Gymber Ashford, saying that if we were to grant him leniency on taxes, we would need something in return. She asked him to send the able-bodied sons in Ashford to Silver Hill, where we would now be training men so that we could have an army at a moment's notice. Ashford balked at first, accusing her of making sure that they would lose this harvest as well by taking away the sons that should be laboring for them. Odette assured him, though, that we would never forget Ashford come harvest time and that we would only make the house stronger by making the sons of Ashford into soldiers as well. Gymber backed down readily, apologizing for any perceived threat, and agreed to Odette's conditions.

Our next stop was Honeyholt castle at Beesbury. Lord Danton Beesbury had ruled this house, but now his widow Lady Danlee was in charge. I knew from Odette that she was a woman used to getting what she wanted and making it so people would owe her favors. It became readily apparent during our reception there that what she had been looking for was a replacement for her husband who would not be a threat to her power and authority. While I couldn't be a husband to her, I imagined that the lady was rather lonely after her husband's passing, and so I made sure we had time to talk alone. She was distant at first, evidently concerned that our progress was here to wrest some of her control away. I assured her we were very pleased with what she had done with Beesbury, and also that she looked very lovely for a woman who worked so hard. I saw a flush start in her cheeks, and knew that my compliments were working. She lamented about being all alone with her dear husband gone, and although the best I could offer at a moment was one night, I thought it was just the kind of diplomacy I'm skilled at. In the morning, I left the Lady Beesbury content as a purring kitten, and though I knew it wouldn't last, I thought that perhaps she would think fondly on us in terms of picking a new husband for her. I puzzled it over with Odette, and we decided that someone young and pliable but still of sufficient social status would make the most suitable match. Azeline's younger brother Faryk Ivy, a promising young knight, might be just the right companion for the Widow Beesbury, and Odette agreed to send word for him as soon as Azeline confirmed he was not yet betrothed.

Our last stop before our true destination was at House Hunt of Horn Hill, where word had spread that they hoped to have a big tourney there before the arrival of winter, with the money of course coming from Gardener pockets. In other times, it would be nothing much, but with winter coming and our thoughts turning towards war, extra events held at banner houses are not in our priorities. At our feast that night, though, I heard Rivenka talking excitedly with Lord Malyn Hunt about the prospect of holding a tournament there. Although I groaned inwardly, I saw that it was actually beginning to work to our advantage, as Rivenka's enthusiasm over all of the things that would need to happen in Horn Hill to accommodate everyone began to seem cumbersome to Malyn. The conversation shifted rather abruptly to our request for archers to train new conscripts in Silver Hill, an idea that Malyn seemed to take to better now that he realized how much work a tourney would really prove.

At last, then, we were on our way to Longtable, or so I thought, when we had to stop short of our goal due to Slaange. We needed him at his best, but the riding had apparently been too much for him, and he needed to rest. While I was sitting outside that afternoon, Azeline came up to me with worry in her eyes.

After some hesitation and a few false starts, Azeline said she was worried about the mushrooms that I'd had Slaange get. “It's just that I'm not sure you know how bad those mushrooms are,” she said, batting those big eyes at me. “They're really bad, and I wouldn't want something to happen to you if... if what happens to horses when they eat those mushrooms happens to someone at Longtable while we're under their hospitality.”

Now there was certainly an important thought. If it was obvious that we were breaking hospitality, it would be as bad as if we had just gone in and slaughtered them. I thanked her for her concern, and said the mushrooms were Slaange's, and I was sure he would take the utmost care with them. Then I kissed her on the top of the head, and when I was certain her mind was off of it – I imagine she was thinking of the possibilities I might someday kiss more than her hair – I went to see Odette and the others.

Hospitality is a tricky thing. I know it's important, and I wouldn't break it without thinking very hard on the matter first, but I know enough about what my grandmother Florie said about making your own miracles and burdening yourself with your own curses to think that perhaps it's... well, a little dramatic to say that anyone breaking hospitality is going to be cursed. But the fact remained that if we came and the Baratheon lordling and his new wife fell ill immediately, even the best-hidden poisons would point directly to us. We wondered if there was something else that we could to – to feign an illness that would seem to strike without prejudice. We decided it might be best to talk to our poisoner once more.

I visited Slaange, taking him a bowl of soup and helping him upright to eat it as I explained our dilemma. He pondered, and at last said, “The best way to fake an illness is with an illness.” He told me that another mushroom would cause stomach upset, like the poison we were using, but would not do any lasting damage. It would have to be widespread, so that some of us and some of their people were sick too, which meant poisoning the feast. It wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts, but I spoke to the others and we readily agreed that it was our best course of action.

Rula

§

I heard Slaange telling Azeline that he needed a different and less harmful mushroom, to help make Long Table seem cursed, since someone seemed to be spreading those rumors about. Azeline blinked, then nodded and something cloudy lifted from her features as she agreed to help him find it. She brought back a whole bagful of deceptively-named Butterdrops, and he began his work. I saw what he was doing though. You poison everyone a little so that it's not obvious when you've poisoned one or two folk a lot. Azeline, I gathered, weren't supposed to know that there was still a plan to geld the Baratheon man and twine the child from his wife. Girl like that is like to be fragile in a few ways, and I gather this was one of 'em. Grim work is nothing new to me or to my twin, and and so I just kept her talking and away from Slaange's work whenever she strayed close.

By the time we got to Longtable, I could see why the Gardeners wanted so badly to keep the place. It was gorgeous, all rolling hills and pretty forests and fields of growing things. The Merriweathers were clearly still celebrating, the buildings still decorated with banners and ribbons. Shame we were going to destroy that happiness, but that's the price for playing games of power, I suppose. We were greeted with music, and these colorful drinks made of fruit and spirits, and Lilyas Baratheon was lovely and just glowing, and kept putting a hand to her belly. So she was indeed with child, it seemed. A Baratheon child. Despite all of this, I could see Kai looking at her like he thought he might try his charms on her, child and poisons and all. That man. At least he seems to generally keep control of himself.

cocktail. Methias Baratheon is not nearly as good-looking as his
wife. Lilyas is quite the golden beauty. Kai totally wants to tap
that. We get hospitality like crazy. That night there is a big feast
in Gardener's honor. Slaange's job is to poison the food and has to
handle the red caps with particular care. He sneaks the Butterdrops
into the food in the kitchen. Quaynlis performs to distract everyone
from the food they're being served. Rule takes out the plates and
serves the right food to the right people. Florie serves moon tea to
Lilyas after she has some spicy appetizer. Odette coordinates the
whole thing.
- We have caused a miscarriage and an impotence. Most everyone at the
party gets sickened, including us. Since EVERYONE is sick the warm
castle is hell. Half the people there are sick for a week and all of
Long Table laments Lilyas's soon miscarriage.
- We move on from Long Table to Bitterbridge. One day out of Long
Table we are riding through a narrow tract. Azeline sees a falcon
returning to a nest to feed its chicks and then it knocks one out as
it flies away. Azeline takes the chick and is gonna raise herself one
awesome falcon!

MRAR!

Ch. 6 - Autumn Rains

Rula

§

Azeline’s little bird was not doing well as we traveled towards Bitter Bridge. Even with all her talents, it was growing weaker. Didn’t make her much fun to be around either, so when it started to rain, she weren’t much help. Normally we would make camp but now she just plodded grimly on looking for I don’t know what. She tried to feed it bits of meat, but it wouldn’t take them, and she grew more despondent as the rain poured down. I started to feel like there was nothing else in the world but cold and rain and gray.

Luckily Kai had been along that way before and he was familiar with an inn along the way and directed us towards it. The Spreading Oak Inn was a tremendous sprawling building built around a huge oak tree on one side, with the building flowing out from the oak in all directions. It looked nice, and prosperous, and I heard Kai muttering to Azeline about acting in a way that befit her status as we all walked in. A man who looked like an innkeeper out of a ballad, round and balding and rosy-cheeked, greeted us with a smile. The smile faded a bit when Arun shook himself, spattering Quaynlis, who was closest to the big dog, in enough water that he felt the need to take his shirt off and wring it out. Hard not to stare at that man when he does things like that.

The innkeeper’s smile returned immediately when he heard the Gardener name, and it weren’t too long before the lot of us were being shuffled further in. I rather expected to be out in the stables with the guards, but the lords and ladies seemed to think they wanted us kept close, and that’s not a thing I’ll argue with. We all settled down with soup and a cask of Arbor Red. Leastways, that’s what they called it, but soon as she sipped it, Lady Florie wrinkled up her pretty nose and said it was not an Arbor Red, it was an Old Town. The nobs started in on talking whether the innkeeper had been taken in by someone else or if he was a dishonest man, but it tasted like plenty good wine to me.

There were to be three rooms – one for the men, one for the noble ladies, and one for the… less than noble ladies, or rather lady, or rather, me. I saw Slaange and Quaynlis giving each other a significant sort of look, but I didn’t know what it was about, since they’d have to share a room with his lordship. Azeline kept running off, and I learned halfway through the night that she had determined her bird needed food what was already digested, so she was seeing to that. Seems like Kai’s reminders about ladylike behavior weren’t being taken to heart, but nobody was paying enough attention to tell her otherwise.

Turned out that the man sitting by the fire with a big leather sack was a harpist, and soon as he took his harp out to check it, folk were clamoring for a song. He began to play a song that started off sounding bawdy, then went all hauntingly tragic partway in. Kai started saying it was a new song – not one of the standard ballads, and that got Quaynlis’s attention something fierce. When

it was done, he went to talk to the man and soon they were playing and drinking together. Quaynlis made a little money off it, and learned the harpist’s song, I gather so he can steal it for himself.

As the evening wore on, Rivenka went to talk to some of the hedge knights, apparently fascinated by their profession, and Odette went up to bed as the songs Quaynlis and the harpist were playing got filthier, and I saw Kai take Florie’s arm and lead her off, saying something about a tour around the Oak. I just sat with my drink and watched.

Kai

§

I showed Florie some of the winding paths through the buildings of the inn, and ended us right near the trunk of the big tree in a little sitting room where we were likely to go undisturbed. I was enchanted by the look of her, and couldn’t help but take her into my arms and kiss her. She kissed me back, although there was hesitance. But I’m used to hesitance. And I’m also used to brushing it away. I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I could get lost in your eyes,” I murmured, and kissed her. “And drunk on the taste of your lips. And I cannot resist you.” And then I kissed her harder, and drew her closer against me.

“You say such pretty things,” she whispered when our lips parted at last. “Do you mean them every time? I’ve heard you say them to others.”

I was expecting something like this. Unlike many of my ladies, Florie has always been smarter, more observant. It makes her all the more compelling too, more delightful to be with. “Have you ever seen me stay by anyone else’s side the way I’ve stayed by yours?” I asked, and this time, didn’t let her speak again before I captured her lips and slid my hands down her waist. It wasn’t until I had begun to push her skirt up that she gasped a little and pulled away again.

Her cheeks were flushed, but there was something odd in her eyes. “I suppose…” she said at last, a strange tremor in her voice, “It’s all the same… now.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. It didn’t make any sense. I just stared at her, trying to understand.

“Until the wedding,” she said. “Auntie Odette must have told you.” I was so stunned, I nearly drew away entirely, but instead I gathered her close, and murmured something about how it was a happy surprise to me. I had thought I had time. Surely Tyrys would have to be betrothed again before my marriage. Wouldn’t he? This wasn’t what I had planned, and though I should have been happy, my mind was racing. Of course I needed a wife. It made sense. But now, all I could

think was that this had not been my choice. But I am a gentleman, and I know how I ought to behave. So I smiled, and kissed her, talked of the happiness we would share.

Rula

§

Quaynlis was looking at my brother the way a wolf looks at a baby rabbit. “Have you ever been in love, Slaanginus?” He drawled. Nicknames, I thought. Someone save me now. My brother stammered that he hadn’t really, and Quaynlis responded that he was always falling in love. Then, thankfully, Azeline was back from spooning vomit into her bird, and the conversation turned towards how Quaynlis had known his cousin Rivenka when they were both children, so he didn’t see himself falling in love with her. He talked about how he had seen her put sap in her hair. Because he told her that it would make her more beautiful.

Azeline’s eyes widened. “Does it?”

“I was lying, Azeline,” he told her gently. “Because I wanted to see her put sap in her hair.”

She laughed, but then scooted in closer to him. “You said you’re always in love. Are you in love with someone right now?”

“Maybe,” Quaynlis said, and his eyes darted to Slaange as a secret sort of smile touched the corners of his lips. “It may be getting there. It’s usually love.”

I sighed, not really liking this whole conversation, and perhaps a little bitter on the subject of love myself. That’s why I wasn’t thinking and when Azeline tried to flirt with the gangly innkeeper’s son, who had taken over when it got late, I accidentally called attention to her status. He got flustered and left, and she glared at me, and I started thinking I should just go up to bed before I damaged anyone else’s fun.

Then Kai and Florie came in, and announced their betrothal. Florie was radiant, and Kai… well, if you ask me, he looked a little ill. They ordered a new round of drinks, and as they toasted, Azeline gulped her drink and quickly excused herself to bed. I saw the tears in her eyes and I followed her straightaway, letting her into my room so Odette wouldn’t wake. Rivenka wasn’t long after me, and sat and stroked Azeline’s hair, and told her she just needed more practice talking to men, and then she would meet someone else. I wanted to say it was probably just as well not to be around Kai, as I gather that charm of his doesn’t go unused around a number of ladies. But I didn’t think it would help, so I held my tongue and murmured soothing things to the crying girl.

Kai

§

Florie at last went up to bed, looking so happy. And I felt so… doomed. I saw Slaange and Quaynlis draw away, and when they went up to bed, something about the way they did it made me hesitate to follow any time soon. I gambled a bit with the harper, who was still awake, and lost a bit, and found myself a little drunker than I intended. So when he started talking about all the beautiful women here who were not Florie Martell, so help me, I listened. He said a farmer had come in earlier with three daughters, two of them very pretty, and he knew where they were staying.

I agreed to sneak in with him. I thought that if I could spirit one away for a while, I might feel better about life, and surely she would see that I wouldn’t harm her, and we could have a pleasant night. These were my thoughts as I followed him up to a room. He opened the door like a thief, and I nearly turned back when I saw that the farmer had laid himself across the bed at his daughters’ feet. But it didn’t seem to disturb the harper, so I followed him in. It was then that I saw he meant to get his work done right there, to have already compromised the girl before she woke so that she would know better than to scream.

That seemed inelegant to me. I do have standards, after all, so I went to the far edge of the bed to gently pick the other lovely girl up. Unfortunately, her foot caught on her father’s arm, and soon both were awake and screaming. The farmer demanded to know who I was, and as I fetched a dragon from my purse to pay him for his silence, I told him I was Dynzyl Baratheon. Surely a little extra tarnish to their name couldn’t hurt, and Dynzyl is tall and fair like I am. Then I left in a hurry. The harper was long gone already.

Quaynlis met me half naked at the door, making it clear that my suspicions about what he got up to with Slaange were correct. I heard crying from somewhere nearby, but I was too exhausted to wonder at it. I fell into bed and slept fitfully.

I awoke to a splitting headache, and didn’t go down for breakfast. There was a hesitant knock at my door a little later, and Florie was there, wondering if I was all right. I opened my mouth to speak when Odette came thundering down the hallway, looking ready to kill. “I hear you announced your engagement?” She said, her eyes settling icily onto Florie.

I wasn’t going to let my cousin take all the blame for this, not when she was staring at me so imploringly. So I said “It was me. I was… overcome, and I proposed to her.”

“And that,” Odette said, looking at me with the dark glare that told me she wasn’t remotely fooled, “Is exactly what you will keep telling everyone. I had better send a raven to your father.” She left, and there was silence between us for a few moments. There was a little tremor in Florie’s hands, a little wetness in her eyes that made me certain she had seen my hesitance.

I did the only thing I could think that would make me look like a young lord should. “I suppose I should do it right,” I said, and took her hands, waiting for her to lift her face. “Florie Martell, would you be my bride?”

“Oh yes,” she said, her face suffused with happiness. “Yes.” She threw her arms around me and I held her close.

Ch. 4 - Seven, Damn the Starks.

Kai

§

I'm starting to feel slightly uneasy when it comes to making plans with the girls, not because I feel outmatched, but because it so frequently ends up being me talking to my brother, who is frankly not so hard to convince, and the girls endearing themselves to my father and making him feel like their ideas are his own. The uneasiness comes from a sense that although we are all working towards remarkably similar purposes, I don't know for sure what it is that both girls want. That, and their cleverness, does not necessarily bode well.

I wasn't going to be able to go hunting until the next day, because it would look awfully strange to desert the harvest festival so soon, and because we had groundwork to lay with Father and Tyrys. I went to my brother and, after once again promising to get him into the good graces of another girl, I mentioned that although we were not looking to start a war at this moment, being prepared would certainly be a good thing. Armies would need to be gathered and drilled, a task most suited to Tyrys's abilities, and one he would readily agree to. That done, I spent my day enjoying the festival, and the pretty girls there.

Meanwhile, I gathered that Florie went to my father first, to tempt him towards making more social plays to strengthen the Gardener position amongst the neighbors who have remained friendly to us. Then Ravenka went to him and told him a pretty story about how she noticed at the festival the ways in which his bannermen were being seduced away from him, but that she thought it was like in Bravos, when the merchant princes would team up with other merchants to offer special deals to avoid losing customers. Surely, bolstering support with powerful families would help keep the allegiance of his bannermen stronger. It worked, they reported to me later, and my father had several important things to think about.

I caught Odette looking at me like I was suddenly interesting, a far cry from her usual glower. The sense of unease came creeping back. We all had the same goals, didn't we? And yet I was certain there was something that I wasn't being told. I went back to the festival to find myself some female companionship for the evening and to get away from Odette's strange examination.

Rula

§

We had one more day of the harvest festival before our noble patron took us hunting, so we all went off to do what we did best, which was having a good time. We watched Quaynlis sing in a bardic competition, and win. He got a sack of dragons big enough that I wondered why Mother didn't send us to some poncey performance school. Azeline had enlisted herself in an archery competition, in a way that wouldn't draw too much attention to her, since if anyone knew who she was, she'd be forced back into the company of more reputable people.

Her plan of not getting noticed would've worked a bit better if she hadn't gone and tried to give her winnings away to the saddest, poorest looking person there. Her opponent in the final match rounded on her furiously, demanding to know what she was doing – whether if she didn't need the money, she was just competing to humiliate him. Azeline looked astonished. “I was shooting,” she said in wounded tones. “It's not my fault if you were humiliated!” 'Course, that was exactly the wrong sort of thing to say to the gentleman, and I thought it might come to me and the others stepping in, but Arun came to Azeline's side and lowered his head, giving a low, menacing growl. The young man looked a little paler then and turned on his heel to go away.

We had a right good time of it with the festival, and Slaange and I decided to round it off with a good old-fashioned drinking competition. We can both hold our own, and he has a little potion he calls Meadthistle, which he says allows him to take his liquor more if he's not too picky about how he feels in the morning. Everything was going well and I was having a damn good time right up until the moment when there were three of us left. Leastways, I think it was three, though sometimes I could have sworn it was six. About that time at any rate, I could feel the beer churning in my gut along with what was in retrospect a regrettable arrangement of festival foods. I reeled away from the table, sick, and left my brother to outdrink the giant man who had been our opponent. They toppled at nearly the same time, making it a draw, but I wasn't there to see it. I think we owe Quaynlis for getting us back to our encampment, but I wasn't in proper form to thank him in the morning. Everything felt awful and I didn't know what had possessed me to drink like I had. Slaange was in even worse shape, and could barely manage to drape himself over his horse.

Kai joined us, and I tried to look a little better for him, but I don't imagine it worked much. We got out a ways into the forest and Azeline set up one of her beautiful campsites and left me and Slaange in a tent with Quaynlis standing guard while she took Kai out hunting. Really, I think she took Kai out to watch her hunt, because he doesn't strike me as a woodsy sort of gentleman. I was feeling well enough to sit out by the fire pit when they came back with a deer draped over Arun's back, both of 'em looking pleased as they could be and the lordling looking a little green.

Next morning, we set off towards the first cave Azeline had picked out for us to explore, and Kai was having a bit of trouble with his horse. Now see, that's me being kind, on account of his nobility, because if he wasn't noble, I'd say he rode like he didn't even know which horse was the front end. Azeline took pity on him and said perhaps he could ride with her, behind her on her horse. I believe she meant the offer in earnest, though from the flush of her cheeks I could also tell that any excuse to be close to Kai was good for her. We had no luck with the first cave, and we agreed to press on another day to get to another cave Azeline knew about, even if it would make this a longer-than-average hunting trip.

With the luck we've had out in the wilderness so far, I was really just waiting for some horrible creature to attack us.

Kai

§

Quaynlis went ahead of me into the cave. “Stay behind me, M'lord,” he said. “Wouldn't want something untoward happening to you.” I couldn't tell with his little grin if he was making fun of me or not, so I didn't say anything. This wasn't as spacious a cave as the last had been, and the twisting passageways through it allowed us mostly to only travel one at a time between larger rooms. We went down until the passage opened up on a larger chamber, but even before we got there, a foul smell assaulted our noses. There were holes in the floor of the chamber, and they were all... well, they were all clearly latrines. Someone had been using this cave for a long time, although there was no other evidence of any inhabitance. I almost wanted to turn back, but we had to find the mushrooms.

The others began making their way carefully along the edges of the holes, but Quaynlis put out a hand to halt my progress, and said that perhaps it was best if we hung back. We watched Rula's torch bobbing along after Azeline, who bounded through the room as if nothing bothered her. Slaange was picking his way along more carefully with his own torch. I saw them both get up onto a ledge and vanish into a tiny tunnel, the light fading away.

Then, Azeline screamed.

Rula

§

When Azeline slid down the tunnel in front of me, I managed to hold back enough to control my own descent and not end up splashing into the murky cave water on the other end. Poor Az weren't so lucky, though, and when I lifted my torch, I saw her picking herself up out of the water covered in little white cave leeches. She screamed fit to wake the dead at that, and I went about getting them off of her, but it was a slow process, and she went paler and paler as I worked.

By the time I was done, my brother was gallantly coming to our rescue by tumbling down into the water himself, though he managed to pick up a few less leeches. Quaynlis was up at the mouth of the tunnel though with a rope, and he fed it down and tied it so we could all use it to help get us up. Azeline couldn't budge though, just stood there like she was frozen, shivering with something more than cold. Once Slaange was up, we tied the rope to Azeline and pulled her up gently as we could, though she screamed again like we was trying to kill her.

We resolved to leave the cave, which was starting to seem oppressive, and I led the way out, which meant I was right in front as we stepped out into the cave mouth where someone was waiting with bow and arrows. I felt a sudden, sharp pain, and yelled, stumbling back into the others with an arrow in my thigh above the knee. I couldn't bother taking the time to get it out proper, but I couldn't have it just sticking there, so I broke the arrow off as we backed up. We got to where we could spread out, and I caught my breath while Quaynlis and I took up positions on either side of the passage. A big man came charging out, and Quaynlis immediately slammed his maul into the man's chest, caving it in. The next to come out was going so fast, he didn't realize he'd met me sword until we was face to face and his belly pressed against the pommel. After this, they didn't send anyone charging in, and we thought maybe we had a bit of time to account for the number of 'em.

Slaange slid forward, moving like a cat into the darkness, and came back with a report that there were five men near, and 16 of them out in the big cave room near the entrance. Those were bad fighting odds, and we knew it, and they had the advantage. These kind of men would probably, Slaange pointed out, use the materials at their disposal (or shit, if his lordship Kai were out of earshot) to drive us out with noxious gas.

“You must have something better than they do,” Kai said to Slaange, and I think I caught a note of panic in his voice.

“We can do it first,” Slaange said at last. “And worse.” What he was intending was that we set fires in their latrines, where the toxic nature of the smoke would be even worse. But that meant we had to go hide in the leech pit, which nearly had Azeline screaming again. My brother calmly put a little green vial to her lips and made her drink, and after that, Azeline wasn't much with us, but at least we could guide her along. Slaange did mysterious chemical things to the latrine pits as we passed, and we all went down our rope to the leech pit to wait. My brother helped get the rest of the arrow out of my leg and get it bandaged, and then went about collecting leeches for his kit. Kai cradled Azeline close, though whether out of real affection or hope of some kind repayment, I couldn't say.

Then, all we could do was wait until it was safe to go out again.

Kai

§

When we made our way out of that pit of a cave at last, I slid on the damnable rope we had to scramble up and gashed open my leg from knee to ankle. The wound bubbled and burned, and I hardly noticed the handful of bodies of fallen bandits as we went through the main room, limping and in pain as I was. I don't think I'll go into another cave as long as I live. The other bandits had fled, but they had fled with our supplies and our horses. We settled Azeline down to sleep off whatever Slaange had given her, though she didn't want to rest without knowing if Arun was safe. Soon enough though, sleep overpowered her anyway.

I sat down on the ground and let the poisoner look at my wound, which shows how desperate I was, and he said it would heal all right, and he gave me something to drink to ease the pain. Dejected at the thought of a wasted trip, I dozed. After a while, Arun crept out of the woods, having had the good sense not to try fighting a horde of bandits, and snuggled in beside Azeline. She awoke to him licking her face, and then her eyes went big and round and adorable, and she said she'd had the strangest dream. In her dream, she had been walking through a verdant forest with a leather glove on her left hand. A falcon came screaming out of the sky and landed on it, and she saw that although he had been hunting, had had not caught anything. She lifted her hand so he could launch himself into the air again, and he landed moments later with an enormous snow-white raven in his talons. Azeline walked over to pick it up, mesmerized by the red speckles of blood on its white feathers, and as she knelt, she found herself in two feet of snow. She picked up the raven, and woke.

It was a troublesome dream. I don't like to consider myself overly suspicious, but a white raven and signs of winter are never taken lightly, even in dreams. I remember snow, from when I was a boy. It wasn't a hard winter, and our stores had been full even at the end, so I remember it fondly. Still, I know enough now to know that winter's arrival always heralds hardships. Chilled by this, I didn't even realize that Quaynlis and Slaange had vanished into the cave again.

They came out laden with armfuls of things, saying they had found another big room where the bandits had kept their loot, and in a hole under one of the bedrolls, they had found the carcass of a fox, with little red mushrooms growing from it. Success, after all. Quaynlis harvested the mushrooms and they both loaded their packs with anything else of value they could find.

It took us three long days to walk back to Highgarden. When we arrived, we found everyone frantic and thinking we were dead because one of the bandits had tried to sell our horses, and the horses had been recognized. Father was furious. He called the trip a fool's errand and worse, and I let him give me most of the blame. I didn't think Azeline deserved it, and I wanted to make sure that Slaange didn't get too much notice. My father said that clearly I needed to learn how to better protect myself (never mind that even Tyrys would have had trouble against so many men), and ordered me to complete more practice with my brother.

Six days we were gone, and five of those we were considered missing, and I learned that Florie had spent those days crying in the sept. When Father dismissed us, she came running to throw her arms around me for a very pleasant – very close – hug.

The day after we returned, I was sitting and lunching with Father when our master of ravens brought an enormous white raven into the hall. Everything went silent. “Seven,” Father murmured at last, growing grim. “Damn the Starks.”