005 -- video;

[northerner]

[ ah, robb returns to video posts. there's a marked difference in the set of his face. he looks older, more solmen if such a thing were possible, more like his father, than he did in those very first few times he'd addressed the ship. grey wind is at his elbows, eyes gleaming as his great jaws part in a disinterested yawn. the display of teeth though, that sure is something to see. robb sinks a hand into the fur at the scruff of grey wind's neck, and the action is almost a boy reaching for something familiar, something to anchor himself to. ]

I wish to request a favor of this ship.

[ kings don't make requests, they give orders. that is what robb learned from his namesake but in his time spent aboard this ship he's also learned that a displaced king gets himself more by requesting rather than trying to command. ( like the beggar king, and if his stomach turns at that he ignores it. ) ]

My youngest brother Rickon has come aboard this vessel. I don't seek to curb his curiosity, but only to ask that discretion is used when answering his questions and granting him knowledge.

[ there's a pause. grey wind huffs a breath, impatient, and robb's hand twists in the fur. ]

And perhaps not encourage his fondness for knives.

Comments

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[She's keeping Alayne's advice, commands, in mind: be reasonable, and so will Robb.]

A girl learned with wooden swords, too. Sometimes faster learning is necessary. A girl thinks he has reason to learn quick, and understand the gravity still.

[northerner]

Is it necessary, with all his brothers here to protect him from harm?

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Has he grown, since a king saw him last?

[northerner]

You have all grown.

[ and robb is proud that he manages to keep the bitterness from his voice. ]

encrupted 20%

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

We have.

[It's a big allowance, for her, and she is hoping he will see that. Her courtesies were always terrible, but she knows how to serve.]

Did a king wish for the protection of others, when he was young? Did he wish to protect himself?

permathat

[northerner]

[ he does see that, a moment's pause and a sharp inhalation of breath the only markers of that observation. he doesn't dare be hopeful, but it lurks there, beneath the surface. ]

I did. All boys do. But Ser Roderick and our lord father guided me. I must do the same for Rickon, as best I can.

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[She wants to say, he is not my lord father, but that will not help. She keeps silent, tells herself she is no one, and that he will lie to himself.]

Will he mind his brother?

[northerner]

No. Not when I ask.

[ he admits this because he won't lie, and because anyone can see the truth of the matter by simply looking at rickon. ]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Perhaps he will mind a girl.

[It isn't in her to say sister, not yet.]

[northerner]

Do you wish to try with him?

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

He is wild. A girl was wild, once.

[ A beat, and she remembers how mockingbirds are supposed to sing. ]

I want to try.

[northerner]

[ and robb believes it, because it is a tune that is pleasing to his ears and he so badly wants to see his family knit back together. ]

Then you have my blessing.

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[ I didn't need your blessing, she might have said. But she has it, and having it pushes other thoughts aside. ]

Thank you.