ataraxion | 006 ♕ video

[ For once, Alayne Stone — Sansa Stark to some already — does not greet the Tranquility with her usual politesse and poise. Where usually she would arrange herself carefully, hands folded and not a hair out of place, she sits in the frame of the picture lopsidedly and sideways, the whole of it shaking as the dull sound of a fist flat upon metal rings in the background. ]

Lady! Lady—! [ Alayne calls and the answer is a muffled howl, coupled with another bang and the indistinct sound of another voice. ] —Petyr, I—

—I will call for aid, just please— [ Another howl, more dire this time. ] —look to keep her calm.

[ Only now does the image right itself, Alayne's expression pinched with worry though she does her best to smooth her hair back (and with it, some of her fluster). Still, Alayne's speech is quick and worried. ] My dear Tranquility, I beg the question: is there no way to unlock the doors? No matter of mechantry or— or magic that may give us passage back to our rooms?

I was not mindful of the warnings made by others and— only thought to bring warm clothing to those unaccustomed to such bitter climes. But in doing so, I have made my room a cage for my guardian and my animals. [ Again, a howl pierces the air and Alayne flinches visibly. ] Lady howls to be so bereft of me. I am fearful she will harm him or the birds in frustration if salvation does not come quick. So please, I beg you: send aid, if there is any aid to send.

[ Off-screen that muted voice calls out, though it is unclear if it is meant as a response to Alayne's words. She turns when she hears it, reaching for the door, before the video cuts out again. ]

—

[ ooc note; Alayne is locked outside her room at 003 » 005. Other people on the same floor are welcome to note/comment/investigate the sound of a very upset direwolf howling in one of the rooms. It probably sounds pretty disturbing since Lady almost never howls and she sounds equal parts sad and angry.

Action threads welcome, though Isaac Lahey has first dibs to take Alayne away to join her family. ]

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[She doesn't say anything at first; she told Bran that she would not see him, and now she's considering letting Jon and Alayne come to her. Unseen, she catches her lip between her teeth, and chews.]

Where's Bran?

[ Without so much as a glimmer of hesitation: ] He will join us with time, as will Robb. No doubt they gather they things for our reunion.

A girl is in the gardens. [She falls silent, looking for the right words, but she finds it hard to singe like a mockingbird - so she uses blunt words, and hopes they're enough.]

Lady will be all right. And so will a woman.

We shall all be in the gardens soon enough. [ 'We' meaning the King in the North and his kin, but 'we' also meaning the ship entire. Word has reached Alayne of the gathering there and more concerns blossom with the news. ] Gods be good, Lady and Petyr shall be among us.

[ A pause. ] A girl should not wander far, fearing the crowds.

[She's noticed the talk, and she doesn't much care for the encroachers; Nymeria likes it even less.]

A girl fears nothing. [But that is a lie now, and an obvious one, and it makes her bite her lip again.] She keeps a direwolf away from them.

[ Alayne inhales at such an obvious lie and she wonders whether that obviousness is on purpose or if the faceless girl truly has no such gilt to her tongue. ]

Nymeria should be with her siblings.

[ As should you. The words hang in the silence that follows but Alayne does not say them. ]

[When she concentrates, when her chest doesn't feel heavy from seeing things she never wanted to, there is gilt enough; not to sing like Alayne does, and maybe not enough to make others love her. But now, with the press of fog still wandering through her nightmares, it's difficult.]

A girl won't separate them.

[For once, just for now, maybe, she won't object.]

[ The girl's answer is both a gift and a burden, one that brings joy and worry to Alayne's heart in roiling, tossing turns. To relent was a step forward but also back, back towards a past that had betrayed each of them and left them bleeding. Their names, their family, their hair — all taken in the night by the thief of war, but this place, this Tranquility, held some hope for return.

For Alayne, that time is already upon her, the name of Sansa Stark on so many lips. But what for Arya, the girl who was no one? It worries her deeply, far more than she shows. ]

And a girl shall wear shoes.

[ Though her voice does not dip up at the end, it is a question nevertheless. ]

[Names are tricky things, and identities trickier. Sansa has her brothers, and Petyr, and the girl is painfully reluctant to accept any help. Jon has called her Arya, made her say the name herself - but the words are loaded, and she doesn't know which she is meant to believe.

But her nose wrinkles, just a little, before she forces it smooth again.]

A girl brought none.

[ It is not a no; Alayne is wary of those. A no is a shut door, a turning away; a closing off like curtains drawn against the sun. But a maybe, a yes, or nothing at all — these still were opportunities that Alayne could negotiate. Like garden gates left slightly ajar, she could slip through them — a thief in the knight — and steal the secret places of the girl's heart, so as to keep them safe. Was that not the sisterly thing to do? ]

And a woman brought plenty. Gloves as well.

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