| A Little Nothing |
| Summary: | Lord Jacsen and Miss Avinashi Ruhi enjoy a moment of shared company in which there is no pressing news to impart. |
| Date: | 19/09/288 |
| Related Logs: | None, directly |
| Players: |
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| Arbor — Terrick's Roost |
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| Lots of trees, shade and sunshine, and a lovely view of Four Eagles Tower |
| 19 September 288 |
Well within sight of the tower proper, but beneath the shade provided by the arbor not far from it, Jacsen reclines with his back to a tree and a thoughtful expression on his face. It's enough to make one think he might have come out here to escape the heat of the summer's sun, given how he works at a piece of parchment sported upon his drawn up knee with a quill, an ink pot sitting on the grass to his side. The instrument is cast aside at the moment, laid near the pot in favor of a small skin that the Lord lifts to his mouth. He lets out a small sigh and looks back to the writing in his lap, and sets down the wine skin for the quill once more as a thought strikes him.
The faint jingling will announce her, even before the dark blue and silver of her silk gown does, and sandaled feet carry Avinashi over to stand beside the lord she serves. With a faint smile, she gracefully folds her legs to sink down beside him, offering little concern for grass and leaves and what they may do to her skirts. "Your expression does not look," she muses, "as if you write for pleasure. Therefor, I must assume it is duty that has you putting ink to parchment, my lord."
He crosses a word out with the decisive line from his quill, and sets the tip back into the inkwell, chewing his bottom lip at the left corner. "I have so little time to write for pleasure anymore," Jacsen admits, glancing over at the sitting Avinashi, "Though I suppose I never spent much time doing it when the chance was mine." His smile is for her, not for the work he does, and it is warm. "I think it is that way for many things, that we learn only the value of our opportunity after it has passed. We consider things so small, unimportant, until we've lost the chance to decide on it for ourselves."
Avinashi hums her agreement, settling her back up against the knobbly bark of the tree. "It is a wisdom we think we should gain at some point, the ability to appreciate what is without its loss, and yet so few of us ever do. At least we have the skill to appreciate that which we gain in reflection of what life had been before it."
Jacsen grins a touch at that, setting the parchment down with his quill and ink pot, his attention clearly for the woman whom sits at his side rather than the matter he put to such parchment. "You wax almost poetic, Ashi," he remarks warmly, his hands settling atop his favored knee. He glances about the arbor a moment before he looks to the bell-wearing woman. "Were you looking for me, or is this merely a matter of happy coincidence?"
She chuckles softly, shaking her head. "Hush," Avinashi chides for her poetical waxings. As for the answer to Jacsen's question, her head tilts one way, then the other, as she considers. "Perhaps both. I had no particular news to impart, but it has been a few passing days since we had a moment to speak. I thought, perhaps, it was time to remedy that."
"There is nothing so wrong with the waxing. It's rather pleasant to hear your mind and voice wind some path that does not lead us down into some pressing matter or another," Jacsen observes, in mild protest. His expression sobers, just a touch, when he points out, "Too many passing days, I think. I'm glad you found me, and not for something pressing." He reaches for the wine skin, and offers it towards the Dornish woman. "I hear tell Josse has set aside some space at the Sept for you?"
"Yes, a whole room," Avinashi agrees, the delight in such decadence evident in her voice. She accepts the wineskin, taking a swallow that has more to do with simply enjoying the drink than testing it for poisons. "I am much more at ease with my collection of herbs staying in the Sept, rather than at the foot of my bed. The septon is very kind," she chuckles softly, "and bottomless in his curiosity." She offers the skin back to Jacsen.
He chuckles lightly at that. "Septon Josse has always been quite the inquisitive sort, it's always served him well," Jacsen remarks, offering a hand out to take the wine skin for a swallow of his own. "I had a feeling the two of you would bounce well off of one another, for lack of a better term. You're similar of bent, at least in your desire to understand as much of the world as there is to understand." Jacsen rests his head back against the bark of the tree, and turns his face in Avinashi's direction. "May I come and visit you there, sometime?"
"Bounce off of one another," Avinashi repeats. "Such a way with words, you have, but I do, indeed, find him good company." For his question, her smile grows a little as her head dips into a gentle nod. "Yes, of course, my lord. If you should care to see my little room, you would be welcome there."
Jacsen chuckles quietly, and lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "If I do, it is only for the fact that I have such enduring friends that are willing to listen to me speak at such length, and often times longer than is considered kind," he remarks to the woman. "I will come and visit, sometime soon. I should like to see what you have done with the place." His eyes drop to the wine skin in thought, and then lift to her features again. "How have you been, Ashi? Besides busy putting together a new room at the Sept, I mean."
"Your friends must find their amusement where they are able, my lord. You are very generous to provide a bit of it, now and again," the Dornish girl teases. "I have been well, though, thank you. The Roost suits me, I find. And you, my lord? How do your days find you since last we spoke?"
"They've been… challenging, some of them," Jacsen admits, his eyes clouding with some internal thought, though it is not one he lets linger over his gaze. "Filled with the important work of politics, such as it is, and small conversations here and there like this." His blue eyes consider Avinashi a moment, head still resting against the tree, and he smiles. "I'm glad it suits you, Ashi. I knew that Seaguard was varied and wide enough to suit most any temperament, but the Roost… it is much smaller."
"Well, then my strange ways will be known that much more quickly, and that has never been a great worry to me," Avinashi replies, watching Jacsen and the way he leans. She frowns a little for his seeming exhaustion. "If you have any wish to unburden your thoughts, my lord, I hope you know I am always happy to hear them."
"You are kind, Ashi, and I do know that with you I can share most every burden. You have never been one to shy away from that, nor complain for it." He smiles as he says such, an reaches out the distance between them to find her hand, which he offers a gentle squeeze. "I only wish to for once speak of you, than to speak of myself, and all the thoughts that stir in my mind." Jacsen does not hold onto her hand for long, his small gesture of affection followed by his hand settling down on the grass. "I want to hear of what you find pleasure in, here. What vision unfurls before you when you think of life a year, five years even, from now."
Her fingers lace with his and return the small squeeze before his touch retreats. "Well," Avinashi considers softly, putting her mind to the task of imagining the future, "I should like to be at the wedding of your brother and the Lady Anais in a month's time. It will be a happy occasion, and it strikes me that the Roost is in need of some such happiness. I should like to watch you dance, because I do not think you will be permitted to decline, entirely, and I should like to see Lord Jaremy smiling and Ser Jarod drunk and rowdy, as I expect he will be on such a night, and the Lady Lucienne dressed to show off her beauty. And in a year, I should like to be respected by your father and family as an asset to you as the Terricks become wiser and stronger. And in five, I should like to tell tales of Dorne to very little Terricks that run through the halls and make them sweet teas to drink before they sleep."
He chuckles quietly at that, his shoulders shaking a bit with the motion. "Those are all fine images, Ashi, I think I would be pleased to see them all. Well, there is the one about dancing I am not so sure about, as I think that is a fine way to make an ass of myself," Jacsen remarks, well and humored, "And it will be a brave lady indeed who might think to ask me to dance at the celebration." His hands settle together over his stomach, a small sigh first lifting and then letting his shoulders sag again. "I am working hard that it might be so, you know. The Terrick name restored to its natural prominence here, happy, fat Terrick babes running about the place…" He considers his faithful Dornish retainer a moment, before he asks, "And what of you? Do you ever entertain such for yourself, Ashi?"
"Well, one never knows, my lord. There may yet be women brave enough to ask, if they've enough wine in them, first," Avinashi muses with a fond smile, though her slender brows arch upwards at that last question. "Do I imagine fat babes chasing after my skirts, do you mean, my lord? Am I one such who strikes you as inclined to be some man's wife, some son's mother?"
"Neither comes precisely to mind, no," Jacsen concedes with a small nod, his lips quirking with some humor at her answer. "But then, I have learned not to let myself be fooled into thinking you are only what you seem. After all, who would have expected that you would be such as you are now, when first we crossed paths?" He doesn't go into detail about who she was then, nor does he need to, but the implication is there all the same. "Besides. It's not always just the likely whom want such things."
"Perhaps, in this case, it is. I would be content to see things remain as they are for me, my lord. I have no desire to wed."
He replies with a slow nod, his smile present but less wide as he relaxes against the tree. "Well, you certainly will not hear me complain for the long and consistent presence of Avinashi Ruhi at my side," Jacsen informs her, reaching out to claim her hand again, and offer it another small squeeze.
She chuckles softly, giving him her hand again, lips lifting upwards. "And for that, truly, I am thankful, my lord."
"Well, then." Jacsen's lips turn upward, and he reaches for the wine skin with his free hand, taking a small pull from it. "Anything else of interest I should know about?" He glances back at the Dornish woman, his hand still lightly about hers unless she does pull it away.
And there his hand remains as she chuckles softly. "Nothing I can think of, my lord," Avinashi answers. "Anything more you wish me to know?"
He shakes his head a fraction. "Not as we speak, I think," Jacsen remarks, leaning over enough to offer the wine skin back to Avinashi. "There are thoughts yet that plague my mind and remain unspoken, but I think I shall leave them as such for a time. Like as not, you'll hear of them eventually. I desire to keep very few things from you, in the end."
"As it please you, then," Avinashi answers calmly, holding her free hand out for the wineskin so she can enjoy another small swallow before offering it back to Jacsen. "I will be ready to listen, when you find yourself ready to speak. And for now, perhaps we might simply enjoy a quiet moment more in one another's company."
That gives him cause to smile. "That sounds like a most fine idea, Ashi," Jacsen confirms, agreeing with a small nod. "Few better to share such with, if you ask me." His mouth turns up at one corner when he notes as much, drawing her hand towards him so that he might put a kiss to her knuckle. He lowers their joined hands to the grass and tilts his head back, closing his eyes to enjoy that promised peace in warm company.
