| Home to Roost |
| Summary: | Lady Lucienne and Ser Jarod return to Terrick's Roost, still haunted by the events in Riverrun and Stonebridge. |
| Date: | 25/11/2011 |
| Related Logs: | Regarding Stonebridge; The Boys of House Terrick |
| Players: |
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| Entrance Hall — Four Eagles Tower |
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| The Entrance Hall is more than two dozen feet high with ornate columns hefting the fresco ceiling above all. Plush seating is arranged around one side for visiting nobility while the other has less comfortable slab stone or wood benches for the peasantry. Alcoves dot the walls for more private discussions and sworn Guards patrol this hall at all times and especially during court. Several hallways and doorways lead off to different areas of the castle with a spiral staircase carved neatly into one corner that winds its way up. |
| Fri Nov 25, 288 |
Ser Jarod Rivers took his leave of Stonebridge only that morning, when word reached him that the entourage from Riverrun was due home any hour. And so, he got himself home as well. It's into the afternoon and he's only a few hours out of the saddle, still in his travel clothes, probably just out of some conversation or other with Lord Jerold. He's standing by one of the alcoves, talking with a guardsman in Terrick livery. There's a tired, worn look about him. It makes him seem older than he was when he took his leave of Riverrun. Or, at least, that bouncy boyish air he generally romps around with is notable in its absence.
Perhaps it's something about the road that adds years to their complexions; Lucienne descends the stairs, freshly scrubbed and brushed and scented, her hair set no different to any other day, and yet… there's something solemn about her, too, that speaks to a wiseness beyond her years. Her handmaiden is new; a dark-haired, dark-eyed slip of a girl, quieter and meeker than her usual Hattie.
Jarod's peripheral vision catches someone coming down the stairs, and he turns to spot Lucienne proper. The sight of her does make him smile. And, if it's not a particularly merry smile, it's at least reflected in his soberer-than-usual green eyes. "Little Luci!" That's the abrupt note on which he leaves his conversation with the guardsman, and he runs to meet her. And hug her, if she's up for forceful hugging.
"Watch," Lucienne instructs her new handmaid, the girl responding with an obedient nod and taking a step back at Jarod's swift approach to her lady. Little Luci bridges a few steps toward her half-brother, splaying her arms ready to embrace him just as fiercely as they collide. "Buttons," she murmurs into his shoulder, pressing her smiling cheek there ever-so-tightly. "Gracious, it's good to be home."
Jarod picks Lucienne up and twirls her around once, before just hugging her very tight in return. "Riverrun is an awful place, Luci. Let's never go there again, aye?" It's a joke and yet it's not. He doesn't quite have it in him to laugh at it even himself.
"Yes," she agrees easily, the word spoken with great gusto. "Yes, yes, yes," repeats Lucienne for emphasis. Her poor new handmaid is quite taken aback by the display, dark eyes darting uncomfortably to her feet. "How is he?" There can be only one 'he' that the Terrick girl speaks of, given the grimness wearing at the edges of her voice.
"Jaremy's…" Jarod of course knows precisely who she means. But he stumbles over the answer, his words seeming to catch in his throat. "Seven help him, Luci. Anything you've heard? About what he did? It's likely true and then some. I've been to Stonebridge and talked to the folk there and I see no reason to think the Naylands liars. He admits it. He admits it and I don't think he's…he still sees himself as the hero in a goddamned storybook, no matter how broken it makes everybody else." His voice contains an anger and bitterness that he isn't quite able to tap down.
Lucienne keeps her arms twined tight about Jarod, her liquid brown eyes locked on his green. She isn't sure how to word a response for a long moment, her expression a rolling sea of emotion: sad, angry, hurt, disappointed. Her brow twitches, and so does her mouth, almost betraying her attempt at stoic. "Have you heard the news?" A change of subject. "Lord Tully will write to the king on Ser Gedeon's behalf. We're to send a…"
"Lord Tully'll…what?" Jarod blinks. He plainly hadn't heard. "So…Ser Gedeon did it? He got Tully's support? And another step toward his legitimacy…?" From his tone, he's not sure quite how to take that. He just absorbs the idea.
Lucienne's grip on her brother loosens, her arms drawing back to her sides as she lets him go. She smiles gently, hesitantly, and sketches out a series of short little nods, repeating the words. "He's sending a formal request to the King that Gedeon be named Tordane, Lord Geoffrey's primary heir."
"Got everything he wanted out of Riverrun, didn't he?" Jarod mutters, more to himself than Lucienne. And still rather bitterly. He clears his throat, looking back down at his sister. "Good for us, though. I mean, good for our future in Stonebridge. That's good. That's just…real, real good." He stops himself from talking before he describes Gedeon's fortune as 'good' a dozen times. "How're you, Luci? How's Jace? Father, he's…there seems to be no hope for Jaremy with the Naylands holding against sending him to the Wall. He's devastated."
Picking up on that bitter undercurrent, Lucienne stretches a hand back up to soothe at Jarod's shoulder, running gently down his arm, her smile all but gone. "It is good," she says, perhaps just to put him at ease with the repetition. "I've been better," she admits in a low voice, nodding again. "I'm sure I'll be worse in the coming weeks, though. How're you?"
Jarod eases a little when Lucienne puts her hand on his shoulder. Physical affection is a thing he both gives and understand very easily. He reaches out his other hand to idly play with her hair, giving one strand a tug. "I'm all…" The 'all right' dies on his lips. "I don't know how I am to tell you the truth, Luci. My brother, I once put before all others in my heart, is not the man I thought he was. Never was, I don't think. But he is still my brother. And he is dying. And I love him still, despite it all. I just…I don't know what to do with all of that, you know?"
Her smile hints at showing again as Jarod tugs on her hair, but there are tears welling in Lucienne's eyes. She curls her fingers around his bicep, meant to steel her brother and herself. "Get rotten drunk," she suggests with a hollow laugh, swallowing it down after only a beat. "I know, Jarod. It's awful. It's truly, honestly just awful."
Jarod gives a laugh in return for that, bordering on genuine. "Why Little Luci! Where did you learn such talk?" From listening to him, probably. "I…" But, in lieu of words, he just hugs her again. "Aye. It's awful. We'll get through it, though. I promise we will."
Something impish flashes in Lucienne's eyes at Jarod's first response, though it's gone as soon as it began. Back to prim and proper. "Jace says the same," she murmurs mid-embrace, her arms winding back around Jarod's waist comfortably. "I hope so. These next weeks will be hard."
"It'll get easier with time, Little Luci. All does, I suppose." Though Jarod sounds like he doesn't quite believe that right now. "You should visit him. Jaremy, that is. I'm going back, soon as I can. Our last conversation was a bit…well. It was what it was." He shrugs. "I'd like us to part on better terms, though. Once I've settled a few things in my mind. Anyhow. I should get cleaned up. I'll see you later, aye?"
Lucienne just bobs her head again at the thought of visiting her captive brother. She sends a guilty look over her shoulder that is caught by her handmaid. "Oh," she says, as her brother all but takes his leave. "Sure. At dinner, if not before." She tiptoes up to plant a kiss on Jarod's cheek before calling to Celine, beckoning for the new girl to follow her toward the kitchens.
