Page 580: Another Lovely Day
Another Lovely Day
Summary: The title speaks for itself
Date: 23/Feb/2013
Related Logs: Related RP logs from the Cape
Players:
Arabella Firth Keenan Nedra 
Coastline ~ Terrick's Roost
The Cape of Eagles looms out over Ironman's Bay, a vast, blue ocean inlet, that spreads its watery depths out beyond the horizon. The path that leads down to this coast winds down behind the towers for several hundred meters before arriving at the rocky water's edge. Rather than sand, the coast is covered with innumerable smooth and rounded stones about palm-sized. They stretch up and down the coast in all directions with the battered remnants of driftwood scattered about. Above the beach, one every mile or two, are towers with a large bell and mallet atop them which are to be beaten to warn of an incoming invasion. A small dock is being constructed of thick northern timbers, with mooring space for two large ships, or perhaps a half dozen smaller craft.
Sat Feb 23, 290

Bella has come to the coastline, the new day is about midway through and promises to be a gorgeous one other than the wind that whips off the waves, tossing about the skirts of the noblelady and her handmaiden as they stand at the shore. The Fenster has removed her shoes and her feet make little starbursts on the packed and wet sand at the edge of the sea, the wind whips a few loose tendrils of hair across her face, one of her hands lift the hem of her dress away from the waves washing ashore, showing what promises to be shapely legs beneath. On her face is a slightly puckered frown, something she very seldom wears, it brings her brows together just slightly.

Serah, the maid has remained back a short distance holding the slippers of her lady and the guard, Talbot is standing near a large log hollowed out and bleached white by the sun, his boots sandy, his expression stoic.

Of those enjoying the weather at the coastline, Nedra had been gathering shells just a bit away, further along the shore really, and is making her way back toward the green with a pouch of shells held in one hand, the other curled in the edge of her skirt as she walks. Accompanied by her own maid and one of her guards, the wind continues to tug at her hair despite the braid that it's bound back in, the long end draped over one shoulder. Her maid, Shalla, is holding a small basket with the remains of a lunch shared between the three of them.

Keenan when he was docked with the Crimson Keel in the bay not a couple of months ago had a crew of thirty or more men at his disposal - outnumbering the town guard by ten. Today he has noone but a little ways along the shore one can see him in the middle of the process of fixing that situation. Two fierce nautical looking types - one with a foreign bent and cast to his features walk side by side conversing with the Terrick Lord seemingly as equals. They part ways discussing something out of earshot as soon as Keenan spots Arabella - nedra for the moment being ignored perhaps unintentionally. "My Lady - come to enjoy the shore?" he asks as he nears Bella.

Looking out at the powerful waves as they roll in from the sea, Bella had not really been paying attention to any other direction herself. It is her maid who spots them both and clears her throat, alerting her lady to the presence of others. Serah dips into a curtsy at the approach of the Terrick Lord even as Bella is turning to face him, her frown clearing immediately to be replaced by a warm smile. "My Lord!" The pleasure in her voice is unmistakable as she too dips into a proper curtsy. Seeing her maid look the other direction, she glances over and that is when she notices the Mallister, soon to be Terrick. There is a friendly smile and wave, though she does not raise her voice in greeting as of yet. Looking back to Keenan, her cheeks pinken, but that could be attributed to the wind. "Oh yes, I love the water. So volatile."

The sight of Bella Fenster draws Nedra's attention as well, exchanging a wave along with a smile as she continues to make her way along the rock strewn shore. She aims the same smile and cordial nod at Lord Keenan as she continues to walk closer, though from several yards away she isn't shouting out or calling greeting just yet, no reason to converse from afar as though she had the manners of a cattle barker!

Keenan apparently appreciates bella's enthusiasm as he greets it with a warm smile. Something unintelligible is uttered by one of the retreating ruffians that he was speaking with. Keenan levels a salute at the man. "Alright Malagan…" he says in a low but barely audible tone, "I'll consider it." Turning to Bella once more, "Yes I understand - I was always averse to danger till I negotiated a full storm at sea. A shame my ship is not here - I would take you out on the bay in it. It is a marvelous little vessel - none faster. She does not look pretty but she makes up for it in speed and strength." Turning and finally noticing Lady Nedra - Keenan manages another more subdued smile, "The future Young Lady of the Roost - Come to see our humble yet to be constructed port?"

The return warm smile does not go unnoticed and Bella rises from her curtsy, her eyes reflecting the same warmth. When he speaks to one of the ruffians, the Fenster falls silent, watching the exchange quietly until they conclude their business. Bella is standing at the shore, it is around midday, her feet are bare the hem of her dress is lifted slightly to keep out of the surf as it reaches the shore. Beside her is Keenan and Nedra is just approaching. Keenan has just spoken too one of his men from the work they have been doing and now the man is walking away so the young Fenster looks back at the Terrick Lord. "It is a shame, I think it would be lovely. I heard there are different places that rent boats out for a day, it would be nice to be able to actually go out on the water sometime." As the Mallister approaches, she is given a curtsy and a friendly greeting, "My lady, how lovely to see you, please allow me to offer my best wishes on your pending wedding." Were the words delivered a touch wistfully?

Nedra smooths her hands against her skirt once she's close enough to be within polite conversation range and gives a polite curtsy to both Lady Arabella and Lord Keenan, "Good day to you both," she says as she straightens. "It's a work in progress, Lord Keenan," she says with a glance past him at the timber and tar structure in question, "it's considerably closer than it was six months ago, I quite agree, but it's not quite done, and I do hope that changes in the near future." Her attention lifts back to Keenan as she gives her head a small shake of her head, seeing the subdued smile and turning toward Arabella as she steps forward to offer a quick hug to the young Fenster noblewoman. "Thank you, but may I say how happy I am to see you here at Terrick's Roost? I think I just missed you at the Masque, or only saw you briefly, but it's wonderful to have you here all the same."

Keenan looks out at the bay as he addresses Arabella, "Ah but a grand cog on the high seas my lady - if you have yet to be on one it is an experience - like commanding your own mobile island. The ship itself is a town with its own officers and specialists. And the whole crew is your standing army - you know every soldier - and sometimes even their families. there is nothing quite like it…" Keenan is distant and misty as he speaks of it. "But I know the best fishing vessels around here - if you care for aturn around the bay you need only ask. I would accompany you at your pleasure of course," Keenan says to bella with a wink.

"Moving too slowly my lady I would venture - I would speed it if I had your intendeds ear but too often I am excluded from the functional side of my families endeavor."

Breaking from that point, "Do you see that inked dark skinned muscular man over there?" He says pointing to the retreating ruffian he was talking to.

Sand is not an easy thing to travel on when you are Firth Frey, but somehow she does it. With her are two guards. One she holds on to his arm and the other walks next to them. They are dressed in the colors of the Frey and she herself is wearing a light weight hunter green linen gown that is heavily embroidered with forest scene. Her long auburn hair has been pulled back into a gold hair net that is studded with pale jade beads. In her other hand is her cane. They are moving at the pace of a snail.

"Lady I am not certain if this is a good idea for you my dear."

She pauses as she looks at him. "Tired from the walk?" Her lips twitch into a smile. The other guard raises his hand as he sees the others on the beech. "Hello, who goes there?" He calls out in greeting.

When the mention of the structure is brought to her attention, Bella looks over as well, having seen it now in varying stages of being built. "It is coming along nicely," she adds as well though she looks back to Nedra and blushes as she is given a hug. Returning the brief gesture, her smile warms by several degrees. "Thank you, I am rather happy about being here, spending time with friends and enjoying the inn. Hopefully my brother will come visit soon as well." Though when Keenan speaks, she looks back at him, her attention rapt at the mention of going out on the bay. "Oh would you?" The question holds hope and she clasps her hands together, forgetting to lift her dress to keep it out of the waves, luckily they have died down some. "I would love to be able to see the keep from the water, as well as the coast line. I imagine it would be so lovely." When he mentions the ruffian he was speaking of, she nods, having noticed him.

Accompanying the Fenster is her handmaid and guard as well and when the Frey approach, they offer a curtsy and bow, respectively. Seeing the approach herself now, Bella watches the progress nearer. "My lady," she greets in a quietly polite voice.

"There have been other pressing concerns, Lord Keenan, chiefly making sure there is sufficient food to see to everyone in Terrick's Roost, their children, the livestock, etcetera, thanks to the deal that was hard won but brilliantly negotiated under the good offices of Lady Anais," Lady Nedra replies as she glances - once more - toward the port still under re-construction and back to Keenan. "A deal, I will remind, that was made and enacted, that continues to provide food and much needed resources to the people of Terrick's Roost. A deal, without which, you found find your meals sorely lacking of adequate sustenance. Now," and she takes another measured breath, "I believe that your brother is often busy, from what I have observed thus far, but as to the rest, I can't speak to familial endeavors." This said she turns, following his gesture, and spots the slow approach of Lady Firth to whom she gives another warm smile of greeting, another wave as she turns slightly back to Bella. "He and Lady Ilaria would be most welcome, as well, though I believe Lady Aeliana and Lord Kerrigan were thinking to visit soon, but I hear there was trouble on the road."

Keenan observes Frith's passage with a small bow in her retinues direction he smiles at her. "Lady Firth Frey - unmistakable. The combination of limp and beauty with the emphasis on beauty. Welcome to the Roost my Lady." Being the black sheep himself Keenan has a natural warmth for Firth but has his pick of the women for the next couple of hours. So attention turns back to Arabella - youth and beauty count - "Absolutely one of the ships I was on the other day could clear the cove in half the time I had estimated breaking waves with bear a bump on the ride. And I mean that - it is not a seafarers perspective. You would think you were standing on a stone floor on dry land riding on this craft." keenan exposes his passion for all this nautical.

"Hmm Lady Anais - Lady Nedra - an indispensible property in the Roost and yet she will leave if you replace her. Any notion or ideas as to how we might keep her?" An open and untactful reality check for the Terricks rammed like a seige engine down poor Nedra's throat. But in keenan's world that was fair.

"Good day to you all, Lord and Ladies!" Firth's tone is polite and she can make her own carry. Her guards keeps a hold of her arm. She continues to walk at that painfully slow pace. "They say I am tried, personally they are the ones that are tired."

The guard who has salt and pepper hair smiles at her. "You are your father daughter you know."

Her laughter is warm but is drowned out by the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. "Ser, indeed I am." She then looks to the lord. "Lord, it would be wise never to point out my lack of walking ability; I know I am lame as I have a constant reminder of my conditions. I do not need to be reminded nor do others." She gets closer. "You two do me an honor, but two of you are from a lessor house." She reminds them in surly fashion. "Lady Mallister I pray you are well." She brightens again. Then she looks to Keenan as she can hear the conversation. "The Lady Anais by law is the property of the Roost and will remain so. They can marry her off to another Terrick or they will have to return her and her Dowry to the house of her Birth."

Then food supplies were still an issue here.. Bella had wondered and her features show her concern, the conversation from earlier in the day replaying itself in her mind somewhat briefly. "Of course they will probably wait a little while, though my brother is usually on his own time for everything."

Hearing the way he speaks to the Frey, Bella looks between them, hearing the talk about the boat. "How could that be? I have seen the boats on the water and they bob to and fro so much, I have seen sailors hanging heads over the side from the constant motions.. The boat you speak of, that is the one I would like to have a journey on."

Soon enough though, Firth is greeting them and the Fenster nods at her in return. She does offer a curtsy now that the lady is near enough, straightening after. Oh good, another reminder of how small her house is compared to.. everyone. Instead of responding about Anais, she falls silent. It was not her fight this time.

Nedra levels a long look at Lord Keenan as Lady Firth joins and has her own words to add to this line of conversation. "The arrangement between your House and mine, Lord Keenan, was none of my doing nor - for that matter - the work of your brother. If you, and anyone else, would like to wage a formal protest against this arrangement, by all means, feel free to speak with Lord Bolland. Once you're done, feel free to send word to request audience with Lord Mallister, I'm sure he'd find time in his schedule to explain to you - and anyone else - the reason why this match was made. For that matter, while you're sending letters around, why don't you send someone to calculate just how much it'll cost to finish repairing this port, then factor in how much it's going to cost to hire the labor and ferry the timber and everything else. You're the one who asked me to see what could be done about seeing that your ship and crew had a better chance of work at Seagard, perhaps you'd like to put that request in with the other remark about how displeased you are about this contract," she says in a quiet but clear voice.

"If you'd like to wade further into this, I'd bid you to remember that you've been here for a handful of months, and Lady Anais and the rest of us have been here for a good bit longer. Lady Anais is a remarkable woman, what she decides to do - or not - is partly her decision and partly, and this is no small reminder, the decision of Lord Bolland. So before you decide to blame me for something that I haven't done, please bear these things in mind."

There is the dischord some talk about when they are certain no one who really matters is around, but to hear those who certainly do matter in the grand scheme of things speaking about it so openly, Bella just offers the three another curtsy, excuses herself rather quietly and leaves them to their.. discussion. Serah and Talbot follow behind, both with something akin to relief plastered all over their face.

Keenan waves his finger at Firth after her diatribe about her leg. "Your disability my lady is that you have a mind that is better than the people who go vern you and would prospectively marry you. And that is the worst condition for anyone." Mimickery infused in the discourse Keenan whallops poor Firth with what he thinks as the horrible truth, "What a picture of lovliness - gosh she makes better decisions than me - what is that she has? A limp?"

"Forgive me my lady - I am simply pointing out what the intelligent would see as obvious to your lack of condition. You are simply smarter than any you might marry." Finger rotating in Firth's direction arrogantly, "And then you go and prove my point by explaining the reasoning behind Lady Nedra nad Lord Ozric's reunion."

To Nedra Keenan cants his head in mock annoyance, "I'd never advance the notion of even a pretext of blaming you for anything my Lady - and that is not poetic noble caught in a corner bluster. I am very directly confronting you with a problem I cannot solve - that is beyond my abilities. The best Castellan the Roost has ever had is about to take everything she brought with her. I cannot stop her from doing this - and even Lady Firth's argument concerning Terrick 'property' over the lady rings rather hollow under the circumstances. So before she takes advantage of her house's links to the Lannister's I simply ask what the hell are you going to do about her?" Shrugging, "Because I do not have the answers."

"Lady Mallister, would you mind if I speak freely and yes I am being polite." Firth says to her. Then she looks to Arabella. "Thank you for the proper greeting, I am bit old fashioned. That I get from my mother. Now my dear child, do you read and write? If so how long will you be in the Roost and are you thinking of traveling?" She asks her before she heads off.

She then looks back to Keenan. "You are not the head of the house yet, unless you are start practicing patricide and fratricide. It does you no good to bitch groan about a contract you have no say in. This is a shitty situation all around. I would not want to be Lady Anais or Lady Nedra at this moment. My suggestion to you would be to make the lives of both of them easier by being a little kinder."

"If she can get the Lannisters to give two figs about what is going to happen to her then I will be impressed, honestly she is not Lady Nedra's issue, she is your father's issue. If the Lannister's take steps to move against a Tully Bannerman and yes the Frey's and Mallister's are bannerman of the Tully, then it will not go well. If game of politics is played correctly and if Anais knows and actually understands the kings laws and uses them to her advantage then she can still make herself a decent marriage. But, as it stands and from what I am hearing everyone is just reacting and not thinking, if anything the Terricks can say that she did not fulfill her side of the contract because she did not produce an heir. Also it would depend on how that marriage contract was written. I will remind you both that we do not marry for love." She points out to the two of them. "She is the property of the Roost until it can be determined otherwise and it does not ring hollow."

Holding her silence after Lord Keenan makes his remarks, and then even further while Lady Firth wades into the fray (all pun's intended, some assembly required), Nedra aims a small smile at Lady Firth once the ambassador is done speaking, grateful for the time to gather her own thoughts before she replies.

"I find it mildly ironic, Lord Keenan, that you say - first - that you are not blaming me, yet in the last breath you ask what the hell I'm going to do about her, and bring up her familial links to the Lannister's. I find it equally ironic, my lord, that you imagine - poetically or no - that I have any say, at all, in her future, any more than I had in mine or yours, for that matter. I am my Father's daughter and, by this familial tie, a cousin - several steps removed - from Lord Mallister who has, and I am going to repeat this as many times as it need be said - made a agreement with Lord Bolland. Lord Bolland who is, if I recall, the head of your house, not mine. perhaps you'd like to venture this particular line of inquiry in his direction at some point, instead of asking of someone - this, by the way, being myself - who has absolutely no say. And I'll thank you to remember that," she adds.

"Now," and she pauses, making this pause clear to delineate the points of conversation, "if you're inquiring of me as to my personal opinion? I believe that Lady Anais is a good hearted, kind, extraordinary woman who not only possesses a keen measure of intellect and wisdom, but patience as well as determination that has served these people and this land to the best of her not inconsiderable abilities these long months. Further, I think that if you're going to be casting about to discern who to cast blame upon, such tossing of stones would not fall far from the very feet of the Terrick family themselves. She is a good Lady, lord Keenan, one worthy of respect and frank admiration, and she deserved more than for this to be casually dropped in her lap without a moments warning. On that note, you'll also be reminded that the banns were read with the same amount of advance warning for everyone," which goes without saying that SHE didn't know about it either until it was fact.

Keenan waves his hand's about in dissemblage, "Truly I am being misunderstood even still. I do not cast stones beyond my house - but I believe that after my tenure in my house I can at least query what others are bringing to this bolocaust." Keenan is both deliberate and subtle in his choice of neologism. "I have done endless things to displace the ignominy surrounding simply strategic decisions in relation to my house. All I ask and it is an unfair question I admit is what you Lady Nedra brings to the situation that is new. And how you might solve a problem that weighs heavily upon me - differently - I hope - better."

Continuing, "The Roost is about to lose it's best Castellan and perhaps even it's Sheriff quite soon. And I stand with the usurpers I will not pretend - how can you make that even bearable Lady Nedra? I cannot - and noone I can see will. Can you?"

"I'd like to counter with a single question on that point," Nedra wonders in the same quiet voice, "what is it that you think that I've done to cause Lord Justin to depart or consider departing? I find that your estimation of my scope of persuasion is quite remarkable, Lord Keenan. Followed by a manner of astonishment that you believe that a daughter of the Mallister house is lacking, utterly, in the training that every noblewoman should - or ought to - have by the age that myself and the Lady Anais have reached. But please," she waves one hand lightly, "by all means consider me utterly incapable of being able to draw a line of sums or anything else. By all means, I am finding this measure of your estimation of my education to be a fascinating example of public opinion. Are you saying, then, that you are confident that I lack the skills entirely to do the tasks that Lady Anais has managed all this time. Pray, do continue."

"Lady Mallister please." Firth says to her and then she looks to Keenan. "My dear boy I do not think that you are listening to what she is saying and there are few points that she is not listening to. Mostly you are not hearing her words." Firth is now leaning on her guard. "There is no way that she can make this bearable. The only thing you can do is give her a chance to run the Roost. Now as for her making it bearable there is little that she can do. By law she is bound to this contract. We do not choose who we marry. If I had a choice I would have never married my first husband. What you are asking is almost cruel. Talk to your father and talk to Orzic. I think would be less frustrated. Sparring words such as these and asking if she had a hand causing Justin Terrick to want to leave is rather laughable. In all honestly the lands should be his. How you were able to undermine those of your own shows that your house is unstable at best. The Mallister by offering one of their daughters to your branch of the Terrick house solidifies your claim. You are usurpers, not her but you and yours. Talk to them."

Keenan somewhat selfishly continues looking to Nedra, "I would never argue your responsability in any respect in relation to the Terrick's misfortune or otherwise. You are inheriting things you do not want and do not own. But I have been meditating on the same for a decade and a half and I feel the right to demand from a new Young Lady more than a promise to do her best under the circumstnces. If her ascenscion is unjust what is her panacea? Don't ask my father. He tends to focus on - well his name being able to dispel the fact that to everyone who is not afraid he is being rude."

To Firth, "I am aware that Lady Nedra is bound to the 'banns' or whatever the hell they are calling them. I raise no objection. But I do not apologise for my ambush. I raise blind spots in the Terricks strategems that everyone already knows but does not acknowledge openly."

"Actually it is her you need to apologize, and no you have not right to question her as you have." Firth tells him in a pointed manner. "As for her skills you need to give her a chance to allow her to show you, but how can she show you what she is capable of when you speak to her such as this. To me it sounds like you have made up your mind. But you are not heir and you are not the one to make the choice. Nedra knows what is expected of her and she rise to meet it and do more than the former Lady Terrick did, because she is not jaded."

Nedra feels a look form upon her face that resembles a smile but isn't, quite, and once more stands quietly while Lady Firth speaks, her own blue-grey eyes resting upon Lord Keenan for another measure of silence. "He doesn't have the right, Lady Firth, but he is a nobleman, and as a representative of his house and I'm sure a sterling example of such on this fine day, I'm sure that he speaks for not just himself but anyone else in his particular corner of poetic waxings and wonderings. But, as he is not the Heir, and as Lord Ozric has made it clear that he would greatly prefer that I remain, and your father, my father, Lord Patrek and anyone else who is actually making decisions, I believe I will continue to remain. And perhaps if you'd like to continue to remain as well, comfortably ensconced, or crowded as the case may or may not be, you'll do me the kindness of - and to put it bluntly - getting off of my back."

"Reassurance," she says, the word spoken in a much harder-edged voice than the previous remarks, "there are children still eating only two meals a day. There are not enough herd animals to plow all the fields. There are not enough livestock to re-populate the herds, there's not enough healthy and hale man-power available to do same. Buildings are still in need of repair, to say the least of the port. And you want reassurance? I point, now, to the efforts of my brother and cousin who have spent countless man hours helping repair buildings, homes, shops, they've moved rubble, building blocks, timber, all on a voluntary basis. Because, Lord Keenan, that's what good neighbors do. Perhaps you and your men could pitch in and see what other bits of aid could be rendered instead of bemoaning the lack of a completely repaired port. And, while you at it, consider the state of the orphans that my goodsister, Lady Saffron, along with Lady Anais, have been struggling to clothe and feed. Blind spots? There are days, Lord Keenan, where I wonder just who is blind and who is grasping at straws and casting stones." This said she turns to Lady Firth, "Madam Ambassador, would you do me the honor of taking tea with me? I believe I've had enough … fresh air for the moment," offering her arm to Firth in invitation.

Keenan surveys the women with folded arms over the discourse, "No no no this is dissemblage. I talk of the problems of the region as ardently as Lady Nedra here does. But what I want I am not getting. I only see a 'poetical' attempt to do the same as others have done before - arguments without answers. I can tell you what is not working - ennumerate the ideas of what is not happening but should. And if you had a solution I would bank on I would grasp it with both hands and more money than a commonly named Terrick might muster - but what do I hear?"

Letting go of her guards arm Firth does something rare, she takes Nedra's offered arm. Her guards remain very close to them both and the guard who's arm she held, walks beside her but opposite of Nedra. She looks over at Keenan. "You are welcome to follow but we are leaving the beach and for right now the conversation is at an end. It can be picked up at a later date." She tells him in a frank and firm manner.

"I wonder, Lord Keenan, what Lady Anais replied when you asked these questions. Or, for that matter, Lord Bolland. In fact, that would open a door to a long list of inquiries, I should make a list, in fact, I believe I'll do so. You're asking what i will do, I who have been betrothed to your brother for a handful of days, to allocate or amend the disposition of resources or the money that the Terrick family does not have at this current point in time. I find it equally fascinating just how you would grasp any such solutions, with both hands and more money than any other named Terrick might muster, when this precise thing is one commodity that the Terrick family badly needs. But, by all means, continue to discuss the problems of the region, demand answers that I who have no measure of persuasion or authority to respond adequately to, with myself and anyone else that you come across. I'll remember to bring this to Lord Ozric's attention when we speak next, I'm sure he'll be just as fascinated as I am with this line of discourse and perhaps even amused by the sudden shift of power and authority to my shoulders in advance of the wedding that will not take place for three months hence. You fascinate me, Lord Keenan, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or merely a abstract sort of measure. This conversation is concluded however," and to Firth, arm in arm now, "and have I mentioned, Lady Firth, how glad I am of your company?"