Bridge Crossing |
Summary: | Senna and Loree yuck it up at the Rockcliff. Avinashi visits! |
Date: | 31 August 2011 |
Related Logs: | Opportunity Cost? |
Players: |
Rockcliff Main Room |
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Beer. Wenches. Benches. |
In a time long, long ago… |
The evening is just getting going at the Rockcliff. Several of the sworn and guards from the Roost have filled in, the regulars having taken up their regular places and ordered their regular meals and drink. Though some are beginning to mutter about the quality of food and its improvement. Loree has spent part of the day talking to some of the whores and laying down the law on a few matters. A few of them are gossiping about her at the rear in their normal perch but the innkeeper pays them no mind. Loree has taken up her post behind the bar at the quiet corner, the woman sipping at a goblet of wine and watching over the goings-on with something like a student receiving a lesson.
Senna steps into the tower with her man trailing behind her, slipping her hood back and glancing around the common room with a faint smile. Her business for the day completed, she makes her way toward the bar as her man starts to head upstairs. A long day for both of them, apparently. "Mistress Brooke," Senna greets as she approaches the bar, offering an easy smile. "I hope the evening finds you well?"
Loree flits her eyes to the door with the recent arrival and a short, muted smile creeps across her face as Senna sits. "Miss Delacourt. Bright as ever, even in a cloak as you are." The innkeeper reaches to the barback and takes up a pitcher of wine, waggling it in offering. "Care for a glass? Or three?" That smirk spreads. "Always interested in speaking more. My day has been well. What have you filled yours with?"
"Acquiring components," Senna declares with some satisfaction, shrugging out of her cloak and folding it over the stool before she moves to sit as well. "It's been a productive day for me. And I would be glad to join you for drinks," she adds, smile flashing. "I had an interesting conversation with one of the Banefort knights last night. A Ser Coyn. Do you happen to keep a cyvasse board anywhere in the inn?" she asks curiously.
"You make a weary woman smile, Miss Delacourt," Loree prims with a quick smile to screw it all up at the end. She lifts a goblet as well and pours a glass for both Senna and her man. They are slid over and her own is taken up again. "Regrettably I do not have a board but I could order one from Seagard with my next rider. He leaves tomorrow afternoon. I can probably have one in.. maybe a week? Unless the Terricks have one I might borrow." She shrugs, sipping at the wine. "So what sort of components are you collecting?"
"Ah, well. It was a thought," Senna lifts one shoulder in a slight shrug, taking the glass with murmured thanks. "Some day I will have enough coin set by to get a travel set for myself. That would be nice." She sips at the final question, waving a hand vaguely. "Various healing sorts. There's a bigger market here than the last few places I've stopped, and many of the things you use in healing get dried anyhow, so it's good to stock up when I can."
"I'll have Ser Karl pick up a full set. Something nice. Perhaps carved and polished wood. I am interested in improving some of the decor and the overall feeling. Something like that may help. Thank you for bringing it to my attention." Loree lifts the glass a touch in a gentle cheers. "What do you currently do for money other than heal? I could always arrange for you to wait tables here for extra cash if you desired. It would comp your room to be under employ, though if I ee you taking coin for men.. I'll be quite disappointed." She winks. "Though there are a few who might be worth paying for. Mmmm." Her low voice is a bit sultry as she eyes a table of knights. Oyez.
"And here I was hoping you wouldn't begrudge me if I was giving away free drinks when you're selling here," Senna laughs, a low, surprisingly rich sound that draws a look or two from the male customers. "So as long as there's no coin changing hands, no hard feelings?" she asks with a teasing arch of her brow, lifting her glass for a sip and waving her hand in answer to the question. "I do this and that. Carry letters every now and then, serve a lady when the opportunity presents itself."
"Oh everything costs. Though I'll grant you a goblet or two for the game suggestion. Nothing free for now." Loree smirks despite the joking manner. "But please, take all the men you want. Though if the whores complain, well, then you might have something to reconsider." She laughs, her own sound full of mirth. "So, letters and such? Anyone of note you've helped recently?"
"Not that I should confess to here." Which can only mean one thing in Terrick's Roost, at the Rockcliff, right now. But Senna smiles faintly, looking down into her glass. "And I try to make a habit of not mentioning who I carry messages for, or what they are, for that matter. It's…professional. And it keeps business coming. Nobody trusts you when you bear tales, after all."
Loree's brow lofts but she takes the hint. "Ah, I understand. Well consider that subject closed for now." She dips her head, holding her smile. "But that is a good business ethos. The Brooke family is likewise not in the habit of either entertaining nor spreading gossip. It has done us well. As has staying out of the noble's political lives. Seven Hells, I never quite understood how people could possibly expect to do both at once. Making money sometimes means having to work against friends. Could you imagine that sort of behavior with a business and being noble? My heart quits at the thought. Augh." She shivers away the idea.
"Mmm. That's why nobles pay people like us to take care of business," Senna chuckles softly once more, taking another sip of her wine. "And then they can always say that whatever was done was done without their approval, and they are safe, and we are cut loose to find some other place to support ourselves." She looks to Loree, then back at the room. "It's a kind offer, Mistress Brooke. The waiting tables. But I'm afraid I'm looking for just a little more."
"And they do pay well." Loree grins behind her goblet, the brim hovering near her lips. "But yes, it does provide them plausible deniability. However one must insulate themselves. My family has found that it is best to keep large trade interests away from conflicting interests with the family you reside under. When we feel it is necessary we will grow to work as an investment and trade house for the nobility, but that is rarely the case. That sort of theory also applies well to even small scales. Allowing yourself to serve many masters, as the saying goes, can be dangerous to the point of deadly. Especially if the contents of your traffic is inflammitory." To the offer, Loree waves her hand softly. "Think nothing of it. Just extra coin should you desire or fall on hard times. I'll take care of you should the need be required. I've had some pay me that favor many times here in this very tavern in years passed. I will pay the favor forward as I can."
"Thank you, Mistress Brooke," Senna dips her chin in a grateful nod. "It's a kind offer. And one I'll remember, should I find myself fallen on hard times again. Though I hope you'll forgive me if I say that I hope not to need to call on it," she admits with a brief, crooked smile. "No matter how handsome your clientele."
"Oh, indeed. I hope it is not required, either." Loree leans a hip into the bar. It looks as if it is a familiar perch for her. "Just remember that should I pay you that favor I hope in your heart you can remember to provide shelter and help to someone who may need it but has done nothing for you. The Terrick family is often contagious for that sort of action. If you've not met them, converse should you have the opportunity. They are people that mean and perform at their best. Most have a good understanding that nobility stands to serve the smallfolk as much as the smallfolk to them. It is a duality I am fond of for it can be rare in the Lords and Ladies I have met."
"In Lords and Ladies in general," Senna agrees quietly, running a finger along the rim of her glass. "I think I'd like to meet the Terricks, if I've a chance. Though I can hardly go marching up to the castle saying how I'd like to sit down and chat with them, no matter how well they regard their smallfolk, I think."
Loree shakes her head. "That is not a wise action, no. I have gone up to the gate to humbly request an audience with the younger Terrick generation twice. Once was rather fruitless, as it turns out. The second time was much more. I suspect that I will have no need to return there." She sips at the goblet, the tradeswoman slipping the wine from her lips with her tounge afterwards. "They are supposedly in here somewhat frequently though I suspect less so since that Nayland man was murdered upstairs."
"Mmm," Senna muses, looking up to Loree with a curious expression at the last. "I'd heard something about that. Though I'm afraid I haven't heard much in the way of details. You weren't managing the place then, were you?" she asks, reaching for the stem of her glass once more, then pauses. "It's not /my/ room, is it?" she asks, smile quirking briefly.
"I was not the owner, no. We had just struck the agreement on cost, but I was still in Seagard getting ready to leave. Word arrived two days before I left. I'm afraid I know little of it. I classify that under 'politics'." Loree shrugs. "People dying are not my concern. I cannot sell things to dead people. As for which room?" She chuckles. "The room has been cleaned as needed. I will not say which it was."
"Mmm. I'll simply have to make certain I lock my door," Senna muses, glancing over her shoulder toward a table of guardsman as a slow smile curves her lips. "Or maybe I'll just have to bring my own protection with me." Sipping at her drink, she lets out a slow breath, giving her shoulders a roll to stretch them. "This is a lovely town, I must admit."
"Indeed." Loree's eyes flit to the men. "I'm afforded no breathing room in Seagard to enjoy myself. My husband is nearly six years passed and I seek my own relaxation. Being here has reminded me that I am still alive." She gives a knowing grin to Senna. "I believe it may be time to swindle and launder time for myself. And a fine example of Terrick sworn." That low laugh under her breath says it all. Her eyes look back over the men, her own thoughts hidden to them despite their being the intense subject of them. "I'm almost surprised a woman of your natural beauty has not found a husband among her travels," she says a few moments later, looking back. "Is there a reason, Senna? Or do you simply wish the freedom of being without husband?"
"Ah, husbands," Senna sighs, setting her glass back down. "A few reasons, I suppose," she shrugs, tapping her nails at the edge of the bar. "They are demanding, for one. They tie you down. Settle you into one place. And I suppose my standards are high." She glances up with a flicker of a smile, confidential. "I expect him to be a warrior of my father's calibre, only wiser. Amusing. Clever." She pauses. "Ambitious. And then, with no family to arrange a wedding, it grows more complicated."
"Mmm. All good reasons. I'll not deny that. Our place is at their side. It is our duty and one I did with pride." Loree nods deeply. "But yes, your demands would likely be high. I suppose I should have expected that. But families can be more problem than they are worth. Honestly, I believe that if it works, it works. What matters should be 'being happy'. Tragically, my ideals are at odds with reality as my own children have had no such luck with me, as I had no quarter given with my husband's. There is quite the advantage to be had." She sips at her goblet, watching Senna. "Do you believe your father would be proud of the woman you have become?"
"That…is a difficult question, Mistress Brooke." Senna's gaze falls to the bar then, one fingertip tracing the grain of the wood there. "I don't know. I think he would be proud to see that I've survived along in the world. I suspect, though, that this is not what he wished for me. He'd likely be prouder if I were married, with my own household and a pack of children. But…/I/ am comfortable with the woman I have become, and I suspect that is more important."
"Interesting." Loree nods a few times, watching the woman before her. She sips at her goblet again before continuing. "It is a difficult position to weigh, of my opinion. On one hand we owe it to our fathers and particularly our mothers to do as we have been tought. To become an adult and carry on with our duty. But you are not so dissimilar from I. We are both independent of men, for the most part, however we still rely on them in our own ways." She glances to the man with Senna and back. "But we must weigh our freedom with the chances and risks we take. It is not our lot in life to be as educated as men. Nor as cruel. Though I somehow suspect we have both learned to be as such in our own ways." There's something of a knowing smile on Loree's face.
"You think women are less cruel than men?" Senna asks, arching a brow with a small, weary smile of her own. "I have my doubts. A different sort of cruelty, yes. But women can be far colder and far sharper than men." Reaching up to tuck a piece of silky dark hair behind her ear, she glances over the tavern once more. "And more subtle. You see when a man is cruel. But a woman is like a sharp knife. You don't even know you've been cut until you see the blood."
"I think we are both correct. In your position I believe that I would hold similar beliefs. You have been on your own and seen and experienced things I will never do. You have probably had experiences that would kill me in a heartbeat. Likewise you would probably be destroyed and ruined at some of the things I have survived. We're very different in that particular regard. However the one thing that I believe sets us apart the most is family. It changes, shapes, and molds the heart into something different. If you have never lived or been willing to die for anything, children will most certainly change that. You begin to understand that those fundamental differences you speak of are more innate to experience.. particularly as you see your children grow and interact. Especially having raised four daughters." Loree laughs with the last.
"Destroyed and ruined," Senna echoes, humored doubt in her voice. "My," she murmurs. "It must have been something." She sips at her wine again, humming a nameless tune under her breath. "I do begin to wonder, sometimes. How long I can keep at this sort of life. When generous business women start to make offers, I suddenly find myself /considering/ them, no less," she adds with a sidelong glance and wry smile toward Loree.
"Men do not generally take well to negotiating with women. Especially baseborn who were lucky enough to marry up. They tend to get aggressive. In many different ways." Its spoken drily. Loree shakes her head. "Fortunately it means they are emotional about it and not thinking clearly. It usually provides me an opportunity to take advantage of the situation." A smile flickers, but her eyes settle back on Senna with the remark and she shrugs. "It all depends on what you seek in life. If travel is your speed, there are opportunities. Even for a woman. If you would like to settle down, that is exceedingly easy. There is employment to be had in both regards. However, much of your success is in direct proportion to how much hard work you put into it. My father and I award and respect those who work harder than most. It also helps us to weed out those who wish to take advantage as it affords us the opportunity to test individuals on their own merit. Everyone must start somewhere, though. My eldest daughter told me early she wanted to be like me. I told her to start out as a chambermaiden at twelve. She could serve drink at fourteen if she proved herself. Krysten is now 'Mistress Krysten Hunter nee Brooke', is married to one of the Mallister sworn, and is the innkeeper of arguably the most successful taverns in Seagard. Her children will never wnt for anything and that is her own doing."
"You are a good mother, Mistress Brooke," Senna dips her chin to the other woman, raising her glass in a quiet salute. "I've no doubt that your daughters have your confidence to thank when it comes to their success in the world. My father…" She trails off a moment, pensive. "Well. As I said, my mother died when I was young. My father never found the time to remarry, and so I think I took care of him as much as he took care of me."
Loree dips her head to Senna, almost bowing. "You honor me, Young Delacourt." Honors rendered to the family for the compliment, the commoner lifts her head to smile at Senna. "My daughters have my husband and I both. He is as much responsible for the person I am today as I am. Possibly more. He was demanding, hard, and one of the warmest hearts I've ever met." She nearly preens at the memory, her pride in her husband obvious. But her expression softens towards sympathy. "Which I am sure made your mother very proud. I lost my parents at ten so I somewhat understand. But I would say your father has instilled his own gift of confidence. Lacking the guidance of a mother must have been difficult, though. Especially at ten years past and on. I remember that being the hardest." She smiles faintly. "Do you wish one day for a family?"
Senna's brows rise at the question, as though she's considering it for the first time. "I know the proper answer," she finally says, though the curve of her lips suggests she doesn't quite agree with it. "All young women should hope for a family one day, shouldn't they? But I can't say I've ever felt the lack fiercely enough to submit to everything they come with. And there's the matter of choosing the man as well," she adds with a vague wave of her hand. "Perhaps I'll simply grow into an old, lonely herbswoman."
Loree listens with a patient smile, nodding throughout. "Aye. The question is not meant as a test, m'dear. I hope it did not seem as such." The smile warms a touch more. "As for the answer, well, that is fine as well. You are in a position to choose so. Especially as our discussion of a man earlier. Some would caution that you may certainly regret it later in life as it grows more dangerous for us as we age. However, we all make choices we must live with. Family is without a doubt a joy that nobody should miss out upon. However you have noted the important considerations." It seems a more theoretical discussion for her, almost as if the answer was just her seeking a genuine opinion. "I will more than likely grow old alone and pine for visits from my children, their children, and even hope and pray to meet those of them." There's a twinkle in her eye at that. Loree is probably a big ol softie.
"The world is full of children who could use a home," Senna smiles crookedly to Loree. "If I find myself with an overwhelming urge to have one and lacking in the ability to do so, I have no doubt that I can find a suitable one." She takes a drink, then blinks innocently at Loree. "They are interchangeable, aren't they?"
"Indeed. That would be a favor paid forward. However I know of some that have tried that with mixed success." Loree dips her head. She is standing behind the bar, her hip cocked into it in a lean. Senna is sitting just on the other side, the two women enjoying a quiet drink of wine while the rest of the tavern moves on with its evening and the several people getting drunk. The innkeeper lifts the pitcher of wine and pours another glass for the both, laughing. "They are not interchangable. Unfortunate, is it not? I would like to have traded in all of mine at one point or another." She grins, but the expression fades. "A ferrel child will likely treat you as an outsider and not let you in after some time. Indeed, they may run. If you think life for a woman on her own might prove difficult at times, children are the prey of everything. Including nature. Many will simply run from you and see you as their captor. It is a cold thing to say, but it is my belief that it is easier to start from a blank slate. However your unique experience with your father may prove to be a bonding point. Anything is possible. Remember what I said about wanting things and the work required."
"I believe, Mistress Brooke," Senna laughs softly, raising her glass in salute to the woman, "That I will cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I shall simply do my best to focus on the road in front of me. Whatever it holds." She sips then, turning a speculative eye toward the gathering of young men at one table. "They really do provide endless entertainment, though, don't they?" she chuckles in a low tone.
"Indeed. Here's hoping for the best, Senna." Loree lifts her goblet as well and smiles. "Just remember my offers. Should you need them, they are there. I'll not leave a struggling mother to fall into dispair. I suspect this town feels similarly." She winks and then looks to the gathering of men at one table and chuckles. "Boys, all of them. They do not grow out of being twelve. They certainly get larger, but so many would have done everything they do now at twelve had they the knowledge." She grins behind her goblet. "I cannot help myself, though. There is too much enjoyment to be had at that table. The worst part is being discreet. It would not do well for one of them to tell their friends what the innkeeper's bedhair looks like."
"Mmm, very true," Senna agrees. "It rather erodes the authority, doesn't it? Though I will say, the knight from last night seemed a very…prudent sort, if you happen to run into him." She sips again, smile quirking. "Ser Coyn Jorileon. He didn't seem the sort to run and tell tales. Nor was he too foolish."
Orly? Loree quirks a brow. "Is that so?" Her smile grows a bit mischievious. "Well hopefully he is something I've on the mind. I think the young ones are pretty but I like my men rugged. Scar them up, trim the beard, deepen the voice, and give me those icy eyes.." She shivers. "Seven Hells, that'd be the far side of lovely." Loree lifts the cup more, muttering her words behind it before sipping, "I'd do him things that would make a man like that weep for joy." She gives a sulty sort of laugh under her breath and sips at the wine, eying the men as if a cat stalking its prey. "I'll have to keep my eyes out for this Ser Coyn, though. Definitely. I can settle for a good ravishing by a young man heading my direction of taste."
Senna arches a brow at Loree's description, a slow smile spreading across her features into a laugh. "I'm not sure he'd qualify as all that scarred up and rugged," she admits. "But I'm sure you can judge for yourself when you see him." Suddenly, she giggles, a decidedly uncharacteristic sound. "A good ravishing. I do like you, Mistress Brooke," she grins.
"Pity," Loree says simply, eyes still hovering over the men. "I still might invite him in for tea and Loree. We shall have to see about that, yes we will." The woman's smile holds, little slivers of desire hangign at the edges. But the laugh catches her and she does so with Senna. Her eyes shift to the young woman and the wine is swirled. "Oh. My dearest, Senna. Ohhhh Seven. One thing that is often overlooked about marriage is the regular supply of bed time. Especially if you love and trust the man you are with. Randall and I used to fight just so we could make up. I will spare you the details but being taken in such ways? Being tossed about? Grabbing fistfulls of hair on my head? Ser Randall had no concerns about me wandering with my eyes. I had mine right. On. Him. All day and night. The best part, though, was knowing that I pleased him because I was in no shortage of happiness." Indeed.
Senna laughs again, though it's that lower sound once more, throaty and rich. "Ah, the fighting to make up," she murmurs. "Or to help him forget what you were fighting about at all?" she arches a brow, teasing. "I am a bit envious, I will admit. It seems you found a rare sort of man."
Loree waggles her brow. "Well of course. I start the fight by making some obsurd comment which had no bearing in reality. I argue the point into the ground. We both get riled because he would insult me. Then one of us would just make the move and poof." Just.. 'poof'. "Some time later we're huffing and I'm happily apologizing. And so is he. Or I'm telling him to nevermind the issue. We have our motivations and ways." Loree winks to Senna. "Randall was a rare sort, very much so. He was very much a Terrick, too, though he only squired under them. But that was our private life. In public?" She shakes her head, closing her eyes. "No. Absolutely not." eyes open to look upon Senna gain. "My first several years before I was entrusted with much, I was to play the good wife. I was not educated enough to run in their social groups so I was either told to stay at home or to simply sit and look pretty and pregnant. Nothing else except servants work for him. But behind closed doors it was far easier. He trained me. I trained him. Such work and effort? No, i wanted to be compensated. Though I spent a lot of time pregnant due to that," she snorts.
Avinashi has arrived.
"You don't seem to be too disappointed in the fruits of that labor," Senna smiles crookedly, glancing around the tavern as though to try and locate any girls with Loree's look about them. "Though I think you've more patience than I." She and Loree are sitting at the bar, watchign the evening activity of the tavern and speaking quietly. "Perhaps if the man was the rare sort to make it worthwhile…" she allows, twisting her hand from side to side. "But again, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
There's the faint sound of bells to announce an unusual arrival, and then a woman wearing a gown of pale green, gauzy silk, embroidered with slender gold patterns, steps in. Her wrists and ankles have bangles, some with bells, that give a reason to the faint chiming sounds, and she wears a matching scarf draped lightly over her head and falling down to her shoulder. The clip at her middle of her hairline matches the rest of her gown and is styled like a golden vine with little bits of cut green glass to serve as leaves. A small cloth bag hangs from one arm, a little weighted with whatever it carries within. She glances calmly about the room as she steps properly into the Rockcliff, drifting towards where Loree and her conversational companion sit.
"I think you just made a pregnancy joke. Yes. Yes, you did." Loree shakes a finger at Senna, laughing. "For shame. Even if you're very correct!" There are none of the woman's daughters around, though. "Well it was an experience that tought patience as much as required it. I was very lonely. I did a lot of reading and educated my eldest while I kept having kids. My options were to either be impatient and prove society right about me, or prove them wrong and be every bit the prim bitch that they and their women could be. Should you find such a man that makes you do things like this, marry him. Because when you are willing to do them for him, you've already found him whether or not you know it yet." She sips at the goblet. "But, as you noted, it may never happen for you. Such is life. You know, though.. I wonder if he is still single! I know a young man about your age. He's a knight-" And she stops. There are bangles and silken robes in the Rockcliff. Even loree knows something is up when people quiet a touch and watch. The owner comes off her lean on the bar and faces the approaching woman a little more. "Hello. Is.. there something I can help you with?"
"Oh?" Senna laughs as Loree starts suggesting young men, though she too twists at those unusual sounds at the door. One dark brow wings upward in surprise at the woman entering, recognition of her garb if not of the woman herself. "Now that's interesting," she murmurs into her glass, silencing herself with a sip as Loree takes care of greetings.
The woman in silk offers Loree a warm smile as she's addressed. "Yes, thank you, Mistress," she says in a dulcet voice coated in a warm accent. "A glass of chilled wine, if you might have any for the drinking." She steps up to the bar properly now, standing near Senna though she doesn't yet seat herself. "But I must beg your pardon, I have interrupted a lively conversation, I think."
Loree nods with the words from Senna. "Indeed," she murmers. When the foreign figure approaches the bar and gives Loree's title, the innkeeper lofts a brow in some mild surprise. Huh. She signals to whore, new to the Rockcliff with Loree, and the woman disappears back into the kitchen. Likely to the cellar. "This young lady and I were just discussing the virtues of marriage and taking a man." A knowing look is flashed with a wink to Senna before settling back on Avinashi with a more proper form. "Do not concern yourself with the interruption. I will settle the notion that it was going places not for public consumption." She pauses. "Apaologies, but you are unfamiliar to me, though apparently you know of me…" Its leading towards an introduction. Hopefully.
"No apologies necessary," Senna assures Avinashi, slipping down from her stool and taking the last sip of her wine. "I was actually about to ask Mistress Brooke to excuse me," she adds with a small smile. "It's been a very long day, and I should be in bed. Mistress Brooke, thank you once again for the conversation. It was enlightening, as always." She steps back then, offering another brief smile toward Avinashi. "Miss."
"Then a pleasant evening to you, Miss," Avinashi offers as Senna stands. She ducks her head down courteously before returning her attention to Loree. "You are Mistress Brooke, then," she says with another soft smile. "I had presumed, when you addressed me, but how lovely that I found myself correct. I am Avinashi Ruhi, a retainer belonging to Lord Jacsen Terrick. I have heard your name in Four Eagles, of course, there has been some mention of the woman who now owns the Rockcliff."
Loree dips her head to Senna. "Of course, Miss Delacourt. Please enjoy your night. Call on us should you require anything." She sips at her goblet of wine and the whore reappears with a chilled pitcher, pouring a goblet for the stranger. Its settled and the whore disappears while Loree turns her attentions back to Avin. "Yes. You would be correct. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Ruhi." But hearing who she is provides her with a lofted brow. "Lord Jacsen Terrick? He is home?" That almost seems to surprise her. "I was unawares he had left Seagard. But I do hope my name has been mentioned in a positive light and that I did not offend by coming to the gates as I have." She's playing host but the words are sincere. Or at least faked magnificently.
Senna has left.
Avinashi accepts her glass graciously with a murmured thanks for the woman who pours it before she vanishes off again. The Dornish girl lifts the goblet to her lips and has a small swallow as she listens. "Indeed, yes. Lord Jacsen has been home some several weeks. His family is quite pleased to have him close again, for a time, as one might imagine." She has another small sip of wine, using her other hand to settle her little bag more comfortably on her lap. "I do not recall any words about you spoken in anger, merely in curiosity. I know of the Rockcliff only what I have heard, and finding myself in town for other reasons, it seemed a worthwhile thing, to stop and take a rest, here, before returning back to the tower."
"Mm." Its a noncommital comment to the Terricks being glad to have Jacsen home. She watches the young woman for a long moment, taking in her dress before lifting ot her eyes. "Yes, I would imagine anyone would long to see their brother and son again. I'm quite pleased to hear he has returned as well." She shifts her weight to one foot, cocking her hip out slightly. "I can only speculate on the curious comments made about me. I am here on purely trade and business interests in representation of the Brooke family — specifically Ser Emerson Brooke. So what have you heard of this curiosity and the Rockcliff? You have my interest piqued."
"Did you know Lord Jacsen at Seagard?" Avinashi inquires calmly, leaving the wine for now so that she can rest her hands lightly on the beg in her lap. Pale gold eyes study Loree Brooke with a sort of calm interest. "Oh, I would not say the talk is any such great mystery. As I understand it, this is a favored place for merry evenings, especially among the young men of the Terrick household. New management always comes with changes, they muse as to what those changes may be. I should be pleased to carry back any news on that front, should there be any you deem worthy of sharing."
Loree shakes her head slowly. "Sadly, no. I was aware, loosely, that there was a Terrick in residence there. I had not seen or met him, though. I have strong ties to the Roost that go back to long before you were born, I suspect, so I always take interest when some of them are about. Lord Jacsen is about the same interest as my son so it was natural for me to be curious as well." The woman shrugs, the goblet held up next to her face. She carries a very social and relaxed calm, but her attitude and inflection is proper. The woman is very obviously calm and in her element here at the Rockcliff. "Your understandings are correct, Miss Ruhi. It is a place that has traditions going back to Lord Jerold's grandfather that I am keenly aware of. It may in fact be older, but I do not deal in rumor or legend. As for changes?" She takes a breath. "I have updated the menu and began cooking meals myself until we can find someone I deem suitable. I may import one from Seagard before the tournament. Other changes? I have begun reorganizing the whores here. Some have unhealthy habits and at least one is addicted to an herb. I will be cleaning up that mess in short order, again before the tournament. Other changes I have planned but.." She stops and sighs. "Well, like everything else, I discussed them with another Lord but apparently the message has not gotten through. I had humbly requested a member of the Terrick House to speak to me about proposed changes."
"Ah, I see," Miss Ruhi says as Loree explains her own curiosity. "Well, perhaps word has traveled on after all. I am a humble retainer, not always privy to the thoughts and the discussions of the nobility I serve. If you have given a message for particular ears, I do not doubt but that it should reach them in short order."
"No, it was several important points passed along to a certain heir when I first arrived in town to introduce myself. I thought it proper to come by. The greeting was pleasant and cheerful but I suspect ultimately ignored. But, such is life. That you are here now tells me that perhaps Lady Lucienne has pased along word. That was most lovely of her." Loree smiles a touch. "I am fascinated by where you might possibly be from, though. Sandstone? Sunspear? I have seen many people come through my taverns. Especially in Lord Jason Mallister's Seagard. But you bid me ask to your origins with your dress. It looks quite beautiful."
Avinashi glances down at her clothing as if she may have briefly forgotten what she was wearig, but her gaze lifts again after a moment. "My thanks, you are very kind. I come from no city in particular. My people travel along the river Greenblood, so I have seen Sunspear and other towns along the path of the river at the sea, but I cannot say I ever made my home, there."
"Interesting. I have met several people that have traveled that area. I'd love to hear what you have to say-" A raukous laugh from a whore, barely sixteen, rises from the other side of the tavern. Loree slowly sets her goblet down. "Excuse me. I need to deal with one of my now-former whores and throw her out. Enjoy your wine." The girl stumbles from one table to another and is quite loud about where she would like something to take place on her body. The innkeeper frowns, turns, and strides over. The older whore is already on the way, too. Each one of the older woman grab the young girl by the arms and drag her off and upstairs. Without her intended target. A few men grumble. Many more sigh in relief, muttering about the 'problem girl'.
The girl in silk is silent, observing as Loree excuses herself and drags one of the girls off. Her gaze follows until she disappears behind a door, and Avinashi's own opinions about that are behind an expression that's as equally closed. She has another swallow of wine, fishing out a copper star and a were extra of the smaller copper coins to leave behind in payment for her drink. Then she slides off the barstool to slip back out onto the street.