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Maester Cyril could hear Florie arguing with her mother about staying for Axel Florent's visit. He couldn't hear more than the gist of it-- that Florie was trying to say without saying that she knew there were secrets and that she should be a part of them. He just quietly administered the much diminished doses of his energy potion to both Vallya and Jonys, and then at the young lord's request, accompanied him to the archery competition. Jonys wasn't so clearly aggressive as before, but he was proving to be a handful. He demanded sugared plums, and sent Cyril to fetch them, and had dozed off by the time the maester returned. Cyril woke him, and Jonys demanded more of the potion, upset that he was not feeling as well as he thought he should. Reluctantly, the maester agreed to give him another dose. The moment Cyril had it out, he grabbed it and downed most of the bottle.
Zel Flowers joined them, and Jonys's behavior became even more erratic as time passed. He was agitated, complaining of the lack of excitement in the archery, saying loudly that he thought they should be shooting at one another, or at least something more interesting than straw targets. Zel stayed, but uneasily, and Cyril did his best to soothe Jonys when he got too excited. But then, on the tail end of another rant, Jonys surged off, saying he wanted spiced meat. Cyril, in some desperation, asked Flowers to run after Jonys, while he followed at a slower pace, encumbered by his robes. He caught up to find Jonys in line for skewers of meat, and Zel behind him, looking put-upon. Zel stopped paying the lord any attention when a man rode by on a very fine horse, and Cyril let his mind wander, only to hear a shout, and to find Jonys setting upon a young boy,yelling that he was a thief. Before either Cyril or Zel could react, he had his hands around the child's throat, and was knocking his head against the ground. They wrestled Jonys off of him, and Zel crouched with Jonys while Cyril saw to the injured boy. There was a swelling at the back of the boy's head, and Cyril knew he had limited time to cut into the child's skull to relieve the pressure. He had to trust that what he knew in theory would work, and he quickly made the cut, sending a gout of pent-up blood over the dirt. He then worked to stop the bleeding, noticing with alarm that Jonys seemed to be getting far too friendly with the highwayman.
Cyril picked up the child and Zel helped maneuver Jonys back towards the tent. They met Toby on the way there, and the knight helped them get back without incident. Cyril explained to Florie what had happened, and she gave the word to dose both Jonys and Vallya with milk of poppy to make them sleep the rest of the day. He did so, and was plenty relieved to see them resting and quiet. He knelt to care for the boy, who looked to be only eight or nine, and a commoner besides. It was a guilty relief. Those who had seen would not care so much for the boy, and it was like as not that there would be few, if any, to miss him if he did not survive.
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Ser Toby’s morning had been busy. He had been up at dawn to train with Ser Orvus, then begged leave for lunch, but instead of eating, he went to the encampment to ask Florie if she knew who might stand beside him in the melee. He would need two other sworn knights. She reminded him of the knight they had stood up for the day before, and Toby went to find him, happy to have some glimmer of hope that he would not have to forfeit. However, he didn’t get far before he ran into Cyril, and helped him get the wounded boy back to the tent before reluctantly returning to Ser Orvus, to beg a little more time to search. Ser Orvus, learning of Toby’s problem, said that he had made a dangerous enemy in Ilyn Payne, who was known to other fighters as the Stranger’s Tollman. Nevertheless, even not knowing who stood with Payne, he agreed to fight beside Ser Toby, and let him have time to search for his third.
He found the knight watching a puppet show, and explained his situation. The knight introduced himself as Ser Carter Clay agreed to come with him to at least meet Ser Orvus, and hear that he vouched for Toby. Ser Orvus told the story of his battle with Toby on top of Tynker Tower, somewhat embellished, and at the end, Ser Carter agreed to fight in the melees with them. A little heartened by this, Toby finished out his training and returned anxiously to the tents. The injured boy still wasn't awake, but he was alive, which was better than Toby had hoped. Florie was in her part of the pavilion with the curtains drawn, and would not come out. Toby tried a couple of times to get her to talk at least, but then Jonys awoke and immediately started to make noise about the things he wanted. He also seemed to be a little more than friendly towards Zel, who didn't seem to know quite what to do. Jonys seemed caught somewhere between remorse and stubborn anger over what had happened with the child, and he tried to excuse his actions by pointing out that the boy had, after all, been a thief.
When Toby didn't accept that this was a reasonable excuse, Jonys snapped, "Your tone is curt. It does not become you."
"Your hands are spattered with a child's blood. It also does not become you," Toby snarled back.
Jonys stared at him a moment, and then directed his attention towards barking for Zel to go look for the boy's parents. Toby tried to go too, but Jonys ordered him to stay. Florie emerged to plead Toby's case, but Jonys pointed out coldly that right now, he was Lord Felsward. Even so, he calmed after a time, and allowed Toby leave to go run errands, so he left to search as well. So many commoners had children missing, though, and there were so many people gathered outside of Highgarden, the search was not likely to yield anything. He was nearly ready to give up and head back when somewhere in the distance, he heard someone shouting the Felsward name. Toby loosed his sword and took off at a run.
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Zel looked for the boy for a time, but as evening stretched on, she found herself less than attentive to the search for a boy and more attentive to the gambling games going on around campfires. She watched a dice game for a bit, and as she did, she realized that one of the men playing was Njall Waynwright, no less than the man who was in charge of all highwaymen on this branch of the King's Road. He saw her, and offered to buy a drink. Zel knew she shouldn't refuse, so she sat to down for one drink, and then another. And another. By the fourth drink, Zel knew she should have found an excuse, because the world was swimmy and she was plenty drunk. To make matters worse, she needed, badly, to relieve herself, which posed an extra danger. She gasped out her excuse and ran to the ditches, sitting at the privy most in the dark. Before she could stand, though, Njall came to the ditches as well, and started to make conversation. She didn't like the look in his eye as he talked to her, and she started working out how to best get her pants up without showing anything she oughtn't. She thought she managed, and bolted off with a muttered excuse, but then she realized he was behind her. Zel ran.
She hadn't gotten far, though, when she tripped and fell into the mud, and then Njall was upon her, yanking down her pants and making clear that he knew what she was. His first words were that if she would only give in to him, he would make certain that she kept her secret and her position. Zel struggled, though. She had run away from a life where her body would be currency. She couldn't bargain herself away now. She wasn't as strong as the man on top of her though, and he shoved her face into the ground and put a hand between her legs. Spitting out dirt, she got her head turned, and shouted the Felsward name as loudly as she could. Maybe, if one of them or one of their allies was nearby, they would come.
After she had screamed several times, she could hear pounding footsteps, coming closer. Njall didn't have time to do more than straighten up in surprise to look for his attacker before Ser Toby was on him, castle-forged steel striking him on the crown of his head and cutting down, and through. This must have been the same berserk rage that had killed Greyfell, Zel thought numbly, and then something seemed to rattle loose inside of her, and she found herself laughing. Ser Toby stared at her, realization dawning in his features as he saw what her clothes no longer concealed. Zel didn't care, though. She had been saved, and her attacker was dead. She giggled more, staring down at the ground. "You made pieces!" She managed in a high voice, and Toby came to cover her with a cloak, his face a little ashen now.
"That was..." He looked at the mark of station stitched onto the man's clothing, and he paled even more. "We have to get rid of the body." Zel had presence of mind enough to help him wrap the pieces that had once been a man in the remains of his clothing, and as they did, they started to talk about a horrible idea. Pigs would eat anything. They skirted along the encampments until they found a sty, and let the animals do their work.
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At last, both Vallya and Jonys were in bed for the night and Florie could sit and think. Everyone had been coming and going all day, but she had not left their pavilion. At first, she was loathe to go when she knew Axel Florent would be coming. When Cyril put her mother to sleep, she knew that she would be able to talk to him. And she had, and now the gravity of her situation seemed to have increased manifold. Florent had been unhappy, at first, that Vallya was so indisposed she could not speak, but Florie had begun to play her games with words, to slowly indicate that she was aware of her mother's secrets. Her mother had, she said, recieved puzzling letters. No, she didn't know of any message passed on by Colin after his tragic death, but after some work, and because as a child she'd loved puzzles, she said, she had discovered the key on her own.
Florent's eyes lit a little bit at that. "You must have been quite good at puzzles, Florie... Gardener."
Hearing someone else call her by the name sent a shock through Florie. Part of it was guilt, and part of it was fierce pride too, and it scared her. But as she talked in veiled terms with Florent, she realized that in talking to him, she had already mapped her course of action. He would expose her family on his own if they did not take the name themselves. And there was no guarantee that if she refused right now, she would ever make it out of this alive. With the Tyrells so close, it would be too dangerous for Florent. So, heart in her throat, she agreed that when the time came, she would be a Gardener. Florent smiled, and said he had a gift to seal their bond, and he handed her a dagger of the sort Florie had only heard about. With a dragonbone handle and metal of swimming ebony, this was Valyrian steel. Axel said that he would not fail to create opportunity. And with that he was gone, and Florie was left wondering what she had done.
Still, she pulled herself together enough to speak with Maester Cyril and to assure that he was destroying the tonic that caused such aberrant behavior in her mother and brother. As they talked quietly, Toby and Zel stumbled in, both of them looking strange and wild-eyed. Florie saw that Toby had blood on his cheek, but he wouldn't talk to her about what had happened. However, Zel, seeming rather hysterical, said Toby attacked the man who had tried to rape her because he found out she was a girl. There was a bit of stunned silence, and then Florie ushered Zel off to get her into some of Jonys's nightclothes, and to assure that no matter what had happened, Zel had a place with them. No sooner had she settled Zel when Corwin burst in, saying that the Tyrells were headed their way.
Shortly, Luthor and Olenna Tyrell came forward at the head of a large procession, saying that they had business with Lady Felsward. Once again, Florie had to give apologies for her mother, and take her place. She saw quickly enough that what they wanted to know was how she felt about her traitor of a brother. Florie had been practicing, and didn't so much as stumble on any of the words as she denounced her brother. Then, a thought occurred to her and she said that as far as she was concerned, Argent was not of Felsward blood. The Tyrells seemed pleased by this, and said that was all their business, that they had just wished to reassure themselves of Felsward steadfastness to their lords. Florie bid them a polite goodbye, her heart in her throat.
Once that was done, she realized that she would have to talk to the others about the choice she had made. Zel was sleeping fitfully now, but she sat with Toby and Cyril and quietly explained what had happened with Florent. Toby didn't hesitate or question, just reaffirmed his loyalty to her. Cyril was more carefully worded, but Florie saw that he too, was willing to gamble for opportunity rather than wait for their hand to be forced. Relieved, Florie could finally settle in to get some sleep.
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