ataraxion | ► 002.

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► 002.

[the video coming on is a complete accident. the hallway she's in is cast mostly in gloom, and only slightly more than her outline is visible. nill is clutching the comm in her hand, the camera aimed at her crooked. she's wearing one of her dresses from the most recent jump. her face is just out of the frame, but her wings aren't. they're standing straight out from her back, quivering. and from just that small movement, a feather falls.

and then nill darts from her hiding spot into the lit hall, and her wings are in full view. they look scraggly, a few thin patches visible. the sudden movement makes another feather come out, and then the video darkens again as she finds shelter in the next dark hallway. the feed cuts.]

think i am sick
heine where are you

[ooc; molting molting molting yeah]

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[He smiles at her eagerness, pleased to have thought of something that makes her brighten so, even if only for a few moments. She will need a distraction while she is waiting, and what better distraction than a tale?]

What sort do you like? I know ones meant to scare, and ones of knights and jousts, or knights and battle--and princes and war--and some of princesses, too, but only the ones that aren't boring.

[she can't fight down the smile that bubbles up. he seemed so eager, and it was infectious. as much as she wants to hear about the princesses, she figured that bran would be more into something about knights. she didn't exactly know what those were, but she had a vague idea. so she holds up two fingers to indicate the second option. knights and jousts, yes. that would be a good place to start.]

Knights and jousts? I used to like those best.

[He thinks, but only for a moment, because there is a very good one that he knows that comes nearly immediately to mind.] I will tell you of the Dragonknight--that one has a beautiful queen in it, too, so beautiful that the Dragonknight wept when she was married. Are you ready?

[her eyes widen a bit at the name--dragonknight. she had never seen a dragon, didn't really know what they were. but the queen caught her attention. a woman so beautiful she'd made a man cry? she couldn't even imagine it. but nill nods, settles her back against the wall, and tilts her head upwards a bit as she waits.]

[He takes a little breath when she nods.]

The Dragonknight was Prince Aemon Targaryen. House Targaryen was the house of the kings and queens of Westeros, once. They were all very noble and beautiful, with silver hair and violet eyes.

Prince Aemon was the second son of King Viserys Targaryen, and entered the Kingsguard when he was seventeen. He was not the youngest to join the Kingsguard, but he was the bravest, noblest knight that ever lived. He won many tourneys and battles with his sword, Dark Sister. There are hundreds and hundreds of tales of him, because he was so noble--but even his success on the field could not make him happy, for he loved his brother's queen--his own sister, Naerys Targaryen.

[she's leaning forward, intent. she likes the way these targaryens sound. they'd have hair like heine, she thought, and eyes like naoto. it seemed like a nice combination.

brave and noble. those were good words, ones she liked hearing. she imagined aemon being tall and having a kind face, one creased with lines from smiling. it wasn't a frightening face, one she wouldn't have been scared of at all. she tilts her head slightly--his own sister?--but looks just as engaged as when he'd started. she didn't have any siblings, didn't have any ideas about their relationships. she's simply eager to hear more about this aemon and naerys.]

[Once he confirms that she's listening--well, his own pause first makes him think of Old Nan, and a flash of sadness passes through him at that. But now is not a time for sad thoughts: now is a time for knights, and so he pushes that feeling down.]

Targaryens always wed brother to sister--they were of Valyria, so they kept that custom even after they conquered Westeros and took up rule there. Aemon loved Naerys, but theirs was a doomed love. [Love stories are good when it's doomed love, and Bran takes a moment to enjoy that.] Aemon was only the second son, so it was his elder brother, Aegon, that married Naerys.

Aegon was unjust and unfeeling, and there was no honor in him. And Naerys was very beautiful, and had no love for Aegon--but Aemon served his brother nobly, and did not interfere with the marriage--though he must have wanted to. He wept at their wedding, but he never spoke against his brother and defended him well.

With Naerys as queen, he could defend her, too--and he did. When the knight Ser Morgil called her unfaithful and slandered her name, Aemon rode to defend his sister's honor. It was foolish of Ser Morgil to meet him on the field, for there was no blade in all of the Seven Kingdoms that could have stood against Dark Sister. [Another pause, and he adds, thoughtfully:] Perhaps Ice could have stood against Dark Sister.

[this story is so unlike any she's heard before. it's impossible for her not to become engrossed. while it did make her sad, at the same time it was so exciting. love stories weren't something she was used to, and that just made her want to hear it all the more. she doesn't know anything about knights and ladies and love, but it's so appealing to her for some reason. she'd like a knight of her own, her own aemon, she thought, though she didn't really know what it might entail.

but yes, aemon definitely seemed like a hero, the sort of person she wouldn't have minded meeting. kind and just, a protector. nill has completely forgotten about her wings, about waiting alone in the hallway for heine, about everything but the words coming out of bran's mouth.]

[He thinks a moment on Ice, his father's sword--lost, now, to King's Landing--but that is a different sword, and something sadder than a story--and he has an audience to remember, so he does not dwell long on that thought.]

Ser Morgil had a modest holding south of King's Landing, and Aemon met him there to settle Naerys' honor. Ser Morgil was very foolish and met Aemon in combat with his sword. Their duel did not last a full hour, so strong was Aemon's arm and blade and conviction. His Dark Sister knew how to find the chinks in Morgil's great black plate--it was a huge sword, but Aemon wielded it as if it were a blade of Bravos--and he had Morgil winded from turning to try to keep him in view.

And in the end--some say that Morgil was very foolish--and some say he saw that he realized he was wrong, that the gods were with Aemon becasue Naerys' honor was pure--and some say he was only tired, and wished for a glorious end, or perhaps he was a coward--but he tried to rush Aemon, and Dark Sister bit right through his plate and mail and surcoat and speared him straight through, like a pig on a spit.

[DISGUSTING. He smiles, pleased at that flourish.]

So Morgil was defeated, and Aemon gave his body to his family to be buried properly, because he was very honorable, even if Morgil wasn't. He could have had his head off and mounted it as a warning, but he didn't. Instead he rode back to the Red Keep, and his sister gave him a kiss and a favor of a new set of armor, fashioned of smoked black steel.

But that's not the armor that he wore when he fought in the tourney that same season--because he was disguised that time, so he could joust without being discovered. Do they have jousts, where you are from?

[fighting for a lady's honor. nill had never really been exposed to romance, but she thought that this kind of thing must be par for the course--at least, where bran came from. and at that moment, all she wanted in the world was to be from his world, to have someone like aemon to protect her. she thought she might like it to be heine, but she... didn't love him that way. he would fight for her, yes, but not because someone was "slandering her name" or anything like that. only if they tried to physically hurt her, come after her, take her away. but not for honor. there were a lot of words she might use to describe heine, but "honor" wouldn't really be one of them.

and yeah bran, that is pretty disgusting. her eyes widen a fraction, and she's glad when the stabbing and head-spiking is over and done with.

she lets out a slow exhale, having been holding her breath for the last bit of the story. she shakes her head; no, she didn't really even know what a joust was. but they sounded pretty heroic.]

[He sits up a little taller, pleased to be able to inform her of this part of the story.]

Jousts are performed with lances, on horseback. Lances are like very long poles, that come to a blunt point. A knight sits astride his horse and couches the lance in his arm-- [He demonstrates in the air for her, with an invisible lance.] And there is a second knight that does the same, across the field from him, and then they ride toward one another and use their lances to try to knock the other from his horse. If they break a lance on the other knight, that counts as well, but it counts more to unseat him.

When a tourney is held, knights come to compete. Sometimes there is only jousting, and sometimes they have other competitions too--but the jousts are always the best part. Winterfell was too far north to have many very great jousts. My father's bannermen might come, and our household--but they were never like the jousts of King's Landing. Knights of great houses can compete, and even hedge knights can ride in the lists--and each joust ends when the winning knight crowns the Queen of Love and Beauty, and then there is a feast.

[nill has never seen a horse, so she can only imagine something like a very big dog. if it had to be big enough to hold a man, then it had to be quite large. it's a little daunting to consider, but she had certainly seen stranger things than an oversized canine.

it sounds exciting, and she immediately wants to watch one of these jousts. they sounded so exciting! whatever these knights were, and where-ever this king's landing was, she thought they must be amazing to see. and, of course, being crowned as the queen of love and beauty would be so wonderful. not that she considered herself particularly lovely or beautiful, but it would still be nice. she can't stop smiling by the time his explanation is finished, and she's already imagining what kind of feast it would be (lots of noodles and sauces, bread and cheese, fruits everywhere).]

[He smiles back, pleased by her enthusiasm. A good storyteller can make others feel things--even if it's only hunger at the thought of so great a feast that would follow after a joust.]

It sounds wonderful, but it's even more wonderful to attend a joust. And that year, King Aegon threw a great tourney, one of the greatest that the kingdom had seen. It was for his name-day, which was selfish of him, but there was little that he cared about. Queen Naerys attended the tourney, but Aegon had his mistress attend the tourney as well, which was a great slight to Naerys. The queen bore the insult well, but the tourney could talk of nothing but Aegon's choice to dishonor his lady wife.

[And here he takes a little dramatic pause, just for effect, before he adds:] They could talk of nothing else--until the mystery knight entered the lists.

[oh, a mistress. bishop had always said that women like that were very bad. one hand goes to her mouth to cover it, as if to keep in a gasp. how awful of aegon. she didn't think naerys had done anything to deserve seeing the other woman who had shared her husband's bed (or whatever else it was mistresses did). how cold he must have been, to do that to her. he couldn't have loved her like his brother did.

she leans in again at the pause. whatever was coming next would be good, she was sure of it. and bran didn't disappoint: a mystery knight. it was so exciting. she nods, urging him to go on. she was pretty sure that the mystery knight was aemon, but she wanted to make sure she was right.]

The mystery knight wore a helm that covered all of his face, so no one could see anything of him. His armor gleamed like no other's, and for his standard he bore a white banner, stitched with blue teardrops. He gave his name as the Knight of Tears, but it was his opponents who wept when he took the field.

There was no one that could stand against his lance. One by one they all fell to him, until the field was his and his opponent's--Ser Daemas Velaryon, a great knight of the Kingsguard. Ser Velaryon swore to dedicate their final joust to the king's mistress, and all knew that he meant to name her the Queen of Love and Beauty to win favor with King Aegon.

But the Knight of Tears dipped his lance first to Aegon, and then to Queen Naerys. He would win the joust, he swore, for her. And he spurred his great mount forward and rode to meet Ser Velaryon.

[nill is rooting for the "mystery knight." she has a feeling that he's going to win anyway, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. she can picture him in his armor, riding the oversized doglike creature into battle. she hates this daemas person a little bit for being so mean to the queen, but she knew that the knight of tears would make things right. she nods to bran, urging him to continue, actually breathless.]

[He takes a little breath, to keep the tension, and then goes on.]

Ser Velaryon was a great knight, renown in the lists and on the field--but the Knight of Tears proved better--much better. His horse was twice as fast as Ser Velaryon's, so he could break his lance upon the knight's plate and avoid his lance entirely. He was not even struck once--it was as if the Gods moved his horse's feet and his lance to exactly the right places--once he struck Ser Velaryon, and then twice, and then, finally, the third time--and this third blow struck hard, just under Ser Velaryon shoulder, and lifted him clean from his horse and into the mud of the field.

The crowd's cheers were now only for the Knight of Tears. They threw flowers in his path as he rode to Queen Naerys, and gave her a crown of blood-red roses to wear in her silver hair. She put it on over her true crown, and the smallfolk cheered for her, too.

And then the Knight of Tears removed his helm, and everyone saw that it was the Dragonknight, Prince Aemon--and the feast that night was in his honor, and in Queen Naerys' honor, and they danced together in the great hall, with red roses beneath their feet.

[nill stays just as intrigued until the very last moment before he reveals that it's aemon (she knew, of course she had, but it was nice to have confirmation), and then her entire body seems to relax a bit, even if her smile is just as bright as ever. when he tells her how aemon and naerys got to dance, she actually claps her hands together once to show her happiness at that fact. yes, good, that was how the story should have ended, and she was immensely glad for it.]

[He smiles at her reaction, pleased that she has liked his story so well, and relaxes as well--pleased, too, at his own telling of it.]

It's a good story, isn't it? It's too romantic sometimes, but the Dragonknight is so brave that he is worth telling of. There are many stories of him--some of them sadder. But I like the stories of his battles and jousts best of all.

[she nods, agreeing. while she didn't mind sad stories, she definitely preferred once like the one he'd just told. to be honest, she hadn't thought it was too romantic, but it wasn't as if she could recognize such a thing if she heard it. the jousting had seemed cool though, and she only wished she could have seen one.

she can't stop smiling, and eventually types out:]

thank you

[His smile widens when he reads what she has written, and he nods.]

You're welcome. I know a great many stories, so I can tell you one any time that you like. [It isn't the same as being a knight like the Dragonknight, and riding to save her. Even with his new legs, he is no knight, and a story is not as good as a sword, and a smile is not as good as a rescue. But it is something.] I'll even tell you the ones my sister liked, if I can remember them well enough.

[her face lights up even more at that, and she nods with clear enthusiasm. yes, excellent, she would like to hear all of bran's stories. whether they were ones he liked or his sister did--as long as they had knights and queens and horses and all sorts of whimsical things that she'd never even imagined.]

Then later, you must tell me when you can receive visitors, and Summer and I will come and sit beside you. [If she is ill, then she will be glad for the company.] I will tell you some of my stories then.

[she nods a bit. yes, she would like that. she could stroke summer's fur and hold bran's hand, and he could tell her all sorts of stories. she didn't know what they would be like, but there was no doubt in her mind that she'd have to do a lot of imagining to keep up.]

good friend bran

[His face flushes happily when he reads those words, and he smiles at her. If he were there right now, it would be better, but this will have to do for now.]

Thank you. I think you are a good friend too, Nill, and--I am very glad to have met you.

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culver - 2012-08-31 23:16 (UTC) - Expand

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