Page 034: Makings of a Camden Court
Page 034: Makings of a Camden Court?
Summary: Yet another guest from Tall Oaks arrives at the Roost, as well as a knight. The Roost is the place to be!
Date: 15 Aug 2011
Related Logs: None
Players:
Damara Dafydd Alyse Bruce Liliana 
Courtyard, Four Eagles Tower
The Courtyard of Four Eagles Tower is floored with a fine grey stone that match the color and tone of the interior structure of the castle's yard. Plants have been potted and placed around the entrances to add some color, the greenery accompanied by several trellises of flowers that climb the support columns. The most prominent structure in the area is the set of large slab steps that lead up to the great oak doors of the Great Hall. Several hallways and accesses lead off into different sections of Four Eagles which makes this the hub of noble activity when court is not being held.
Mon Aug 15, 288

Settling into the host's schedule is relatively easy once one gets a handle on such things. Just look to see what, if anything, of import occurs and repeats, and adjust accordingly. As a result, Lord Dafydd Camden has managed to actually attend a practice sparring session. And why not? The sun is shining, it's past breakfast (well past), and it's an opportunity to practice with those against whom he's never raised a sword.

Now slightly past lunch, how time flies!, Dafydd has to wash up, change, and be ready for whatever may lie ahead, be it meetings, debates, or a journey into town to visit different places of business. (Tavern…)

Before that, however, the path is taken towards the stables; why get clean when one will be dirty soon after? So, looking.. less than kempt (sweat stains on a simple tunic, dirt upon the face), he begins the cross of the courtyard towards where the Camden's coursers are stabled.

The Mistress is leaving such a place, wiping her hands clean on a towel hooked to her belt. The mass of scars along her hands, wrists and arms can be seen as her sleeves are tied up and away to her shoulders. She sighs faintly and rolls her neck to one side, bringing her gaze to fix on the approaching form of the Captain of the Guard. Nothing truly changes in the set of her countenance but a faint twitch of her brow. The rag is let loose to settle to her thigh and free her hands as she dips her head. "My Lord." She intones, with as much respect as she gives any of the Camdens. "I trust you slept well.."

She notes the stains and state of his clothing but quickly lifts her gaze back to him.

Slowing his pace as Damara comes in from the direction he's traveling, Dafydd greets pleasantly enough. "Mistress Damara. Well enough. I'll be glad enough when we depart, regardless of our destination." He is, still, a product of the woods. "But the meal last night, and the jaunt outside did a great deal."

Gesturing towards the exit, where the stables lie beyond, his brows rise in the beginnings of a question. "Gein is still with us, I assume?" Of course, he probably should inquire after her own health too, and it's put it soon after. "And I trust you were able to find rest."

The sun is shining, just after lunch. The Tall Oak's Captain of the Guard looks as if he's had some exercise, sweat in homespun tunic, and the Mistress of the Hawks looks a little more kempt, departing the area of the stables— which is the direction Dafydd is headed.

"I probably missed lunch, though I'm sure I might be able to find some fruit when I return."

Damara smiles frankly and lifts a hand to begin unrolling and untying her sleeves now that she had seen to her horse for the day. The scars begin to disappear beneath a wash of fabric and she dips her head, "I am well, it is odd to smell the sea and to hear it distantly while staying here. It is unsettling. I much prefer the whisper of the trees at night and the smell of pine." She, as well, is a product of the woods. Fingers smooth the wrinkled fabric before she steps to the side to allow Dafydd entrance to the stables.

It is his questiont hough of Gein that remains unanswered and perhaps that is what eventually steals the smile that is already weak enough. "Gein shall remain here while we carry on." Simple response, but it is testament enough in meaning. "I did not touch much of my food, you are welcome to it…they are in my chambers." Chambers. An odd thing to find for a retrainer, but she has a room within the Towers. "Thank you as well for returning my bow to my room, I had rightly forgotten it till I saw it within." She gives a nod of her head before she begins to work on the other sleeve.

There is no fanfare or fuss that accompanies a rider dressed in simple clothes as he enters the courtyard of Four Eagles Tower. Indeed, he may simply be a retainer, but to who isn't apparent - the yellow sigil sewn on his tunic, a man crouched behind his shield with a sword raised over, would likely be hard to identify unless one had spent much time at Riverrun. Slowly, Bruce dismounts from his uassuming chestnut horse and leads it towards the stables.

Dafydd nods in understanding. "Perhaps when you bring him home, he will recover." It's the best he can do in the circumstances.

"Regardless of my feelings on the matter, a bow of such quality that the Roost lacks shouldn't be left to chance." The Captain of the Guard is also rather possessive of what little edge he may have against other Lands. "If you like, I can add it to our armory until the trip home. Just so you don't mislay it."

At the entrance of a rider into the courtyard, blue eyes rise and look at the man, studying him. The threat assessment is quickly resolved, and his voice lowers. "Do you recognize the heraldry?" He doesn't.

"I usually do not forget such a thing, but considering the ..circumstances, it was not foremost on my mind." Damara looks to her sleeve a moment, "Gein, will not return with us. He shall remain here." It is stated again. "And I shall have a close eye on my bow, my Lord. Do not think I will not." She offers a strained smile and smooths the fabric of her sleeve with her hand before she looks up to follow his gaze to the arrived Bruce. Her eyes look over him, curiously so as she takes note of the patch on his breast. "That looks familiar…stange to these parts."

Damara and Dafydd stand together near the entrance to the stables. Bruce is approaching from the entrance leading his horse while the two observe.

"Something to do with Riverrun and the Tullys…." Her green gaze briefly flits up to look upon Dafydd. "Are you familiar with the sigil?"

Dafydd gives the Hawk Mistress a long, considering look at her words regarding her hawk and says nothing more on the subject. Ultimately it doesn't concern him.

Wiping his brow with an already dirty workshirt, he drops his arm and nods as he listens to her words. He ignores her assurances of not misplacing her bow in favour of identifying the man before them. Bearing of a soldier, and training, if not breeding, will always out.

"The Tullys?" The Captain shakes his head once again, a tight, unamused smile on his face. "A subject in which I was inattentive. I preferred being at the pells, or at the hammer."

The sounds of horses at full gallop can be heard approaching from way down the path to the keep.

Dashing through the portcullis comes a beautiful chestnut mare with black mane and tail flying, saddled by a blur of forest greens and golds. Immediately following is a handsome grey stallion topped by an escort in maile. "LADY ALYSE." The exasperation in the escort's voice is hard to miss. Immediately, the chestnut draws up so short that it almost sits down, and a slight woman with windblown hair leaps down and glowers up at the escort with her hands on her hips.

Without a word, she turns back to her steed and sees about guiding the animal towards the stables.

If anything, Bruce is either used to the puzzled looks he's getting or he does not notice them. He's out of the stables within a few minutes, his horse taken care of, with a satchel slung over his tunic. He runs a hand through his short brown hair, stepping off to the side at the sound of galloping horses. His eyes narrow, following Alyse for a moment, but they're soon roaming around the courtyard as if he's trying to make sense of this place.

Puzzled? Damara is not puzzled, rather the Mistress is drawing on what she remembers of Tully sworn. Drawing a slow breath, she knows Bruce is at least associated insofar as that. But it is the rushed arrival of the Lady Alyse that has a brow lofting on the woman's face, her lips parting a bit. There is a faint chuckle and a hand lifts to cover her smile as she sends a testing looking to Dafydd for his reaction.

"Headstrong as ever.." She comments lightly and then sighs, looking towards Bruce's return to the open air, the woman begins to make her way towards him. "Ser.." She says faintly, trying to garner his attention.

The reappearance of the soldier is taken note, but the commotion of the arrival of—

Every curse that could be thought of finds its way up and out in muttered accents at the surprise appearance. Stepping forward quickly, the Captain of the Guard barks his displeasure in no uncertain terms of his lack of knowing that this trip was to be undertaken. "What is the meaning of this? By whose word—".

Dafydd spins around, searching the courtyard again, fully expecting his brother may appear, turning mayhem into something a little more understandable. Not immediately seeing the familiar form, he wheels back around, blue eyes flashing; he's ultimately responsible for every Camden that is here.. and why wasn't he sent word? "Who sent for her?" Then, "Who sent for you?"

Immediately after considering the trip, that he was ignorant of, now there's the issue of what to tell their hosts.. that there's another, and it's a young Lady that is barely controllable? "Come here."

The reactions are just as she predicted and Damara casts a look back from her stride towards Bruce. "Let the Lady be, she was not unattended to." She eyes Hywel, Alyse's sworn before offering her gaze back towards Bruce.

Alyse looks at Dafydd, quietly and calmly. "I cannot speak to you when you are like this, Lord Uncle," she says airily. "Come and find me when you have calmed yourself." She looks at Damara. "Do not speak to him." She indicates her guard. "He is impudent."

And with that, she leads her horse to stable.

Bruce can't help but chuckle, finally, at the behaviour of the young noblelady, shaking his head. His attention, though, is finally sprung when Damara motions him over. He strides towards her, smirking, and comes to a stop in front. "How'd ya know? Most take me for a retainer. I like to keep it like that. Puts people on their toes."

The responses bring forth a sputtered, "What?", first to the Lady, and then Damara. Dafydd's hard stare speaks volumes of his mood as he begins, "Don't overstep, Mistress. I have every right, and it is my duty."

Stepping forward at the approach of Bruce, the Camden's Captain addresses the man. "Ser.." He heard Damara's address and happens to agree. Retainers don't have the carriage. "Most, then, have no ability to see."

Introductions, then, seem to be necessary. "Lord Dafydd Camden, Captain of the Lord of Tall Oaks, my brother. The lady that created havoc in her wake is Lady Camden, my brother's daughter, my niece. This is Mistress Damara Kells, Mistress of the Hawks for the Oaks."

Stick in the mud. Damara nearly says it but keeps her tongue stilled as she eyes Dafydd quite openly as she is forced to look away from Bruce to do so. "My Lord.." She intones in way of a quick bland apology. She presses her lips to a thin line and watches Alyse walk off before Dafydd inserts himself into the gathering mix about Bruce. "Well…you carry a crest…and have the right of your horse and your walk. If one is not so daft they can see what you are." The Mistress admits before she is run over by Dafydd's words.

She settles back, giving that sigil a long hard look and then it dawns on her a moment and she says nothing at first.

Not so quiet, the courtyard, either with the arrival of the, seemingly, truant Camden Lady, nor the encroachment of the guards from positions within the courtyard and without. There has simply been too much afoot near the tower, for such an arrival to go uncommented, even if only by the increasing presence of Terrick sworn, stepping in as current events dictate, by look and demeanour seeming intent on defending, not only the householders of Terrick, but the guests come lately, and in large number.

The strength of arms, however, is not the only newly arrived presence, as Liliana makes her way out of the tower at a quick pace, lacking the tall, rather decidedly menacing looking Master Stone, her usual sworn in her wake, but coming, instead with a rather nondescript Terrick sworn just behind her. "All is well, the Lady Camden and her sworn are welcome. Return to your duties." Crisp words, spoken with thr air of a woman well schooled in the mnagement of daily affairs. Thankfully, it seems, someone saw fit to pass the word down from watchtower to the Camden Lady in Lord Ser Jerold's keeping. And as thankfully, the guards begin to return to their postings.

Bruce can't help but let out another laugh at the talk of the way he carries himself. "Ah, I suppose you're both right. I've been a knight for a bit too long. Better start stoopin' some more, if'n I wanna blend. Pleasure to meet you, m'lord, Mistress Kells." He offers a very slight bow to Dafydd, and a nod at Damara. "Ser Bruce Longbough. Was of Riverrun 'till recently. Got leave of m'lord Hoster to come out here and give a friend a hand." He glances about at the new commotion, eyebrows quirking upward, but his green eyes flit back to the pair he's talking to quick enough. "Was searching for someone here, in all actuality."

Damara's apology is noted, and it does go some distance to cool the heat that still shows upon the Captain's face, in his eyes. Her words are actually caught, and there's nothing to disagree with there, either.

Inclining his head, "Well met, Ser Longbough.. and if being underestimated is your goal, a little more stoop might do, indeed." And lose the horse. And the self-assuredness.

A calm, even woman's tones, familiar to the Camden, serves to sooth the guards that were alarmed by the cacophony in the square, and looking up and in the direction, a ghost of a smile appears. Now this is a Lady to be proud of coming from Tall Oaks. "Lady Liliana.."

Dafydd returns his attention to Bruce, his brows rising in inquiry, "If you're looking for a particular person, the chances are good that he is under this roof. I think most everyone is here, or can be found in their town.."

Riverrun is stated and it affirms Damara's thoughts, though that Sigil gets another long look before she too hears the voice of Liliana. A look is offered the Lady and a dip of her head before the Mistress is taking a side step as if to see to something. "Ser Longbough, should you find the time amongst your hunt, I would speak to you of some things. And as for finding who you are looking for, there have been quite a few that have come and gone, I do hope it is not in vain." Offers the woman and then shifts, dipping her head to Dafydd. "At your leave, my Lord. I need to attend to a few things yet and check over my bow." To see if he did anything to it.

Alyse re-emerges from the stable, having seen to her horse's care, and her sworn is right behind her. "Now." The hazel-eyed young Lady stops and turns to her uncle. "Have you calmed yourself?" She indicates that Damara should stay still for a moment.

With the potential for uproar averted, for the Terrick's part, Liliana begins to make her way towards her newly arrived cousin. For all that the two youngest women of Camden seem as opposite as night and day in obvious demeanour, yet still, there is something matched in one and the other, "Cousin, Lord Uncle, Damara. We were not expecting you so…is the rest of your party behind you? Surely you did not race the entire day down." It is, after all, a full day's ride from the Tall Oaks keep to this one.

"Well, since I'm looking for the Captain of the Guard, one… Ser Jarod Rivers, I, eh, expect him to be around. Hopefully, crossin' my fingers, m'lord." Bruce quirks a single brow this time at Damara's request. "Eh, sure. Mind if I ask what it's about then, Mistress Kells?" As Liliana approaches, the simply dressed knight offers her a bow and a polite, "M'lady."

Mistress Damara's wishes to speak with the knight earns the woman a questioning look. "Certainly," is given slowly, "you should find your arrows by the wardrobe."

Dafydd ignores his reappeared niece for the moment in preference to the knight, and the younger, better behaved niece. Watching the greetings between the Ladies, he's free to attend and potentially aid in the business of Ser Bruce. "I've actually crossed his path once or twice. If he's not to be found in the corridors, or in the training fields, then he may be hiding for a quick moment of quiet in the armory." Inclining his head, the tight smile remains, "If I see him before you do, I will be sure I mention your presence and your desire to speak with him."

Something in Dafydd's behaviour causes Alyse's eyes to twinkle. And perhaps she is baiting the lion, but she leans in and gives the man a kiss to his cheek. "There there, Uncle," she says in a concilliatory manner. "I shan't shame the family while I am here. I give you my word." With that, she leaves the grumpy redhead and circles around to embrace Liliana and Damara in turn. Damara's greeting is swift, giving her a chance to escape with the Ser, but Liliana's is more girly and excitable. "My dearest cousin," she exclaims laughing. "So -this- is where you have been hiding these long years!"

"Fear not, Ser Longbough…I merely wished to learn of the affairs in Riverrun as of late…I have some distant cousins there." Damara admits and most likely the only ones yet remaining considering the loss of the others. The Mistress offers a worn smile, one affected easily and shows in the wrinkles already setting to her skin. To Dafydd she gives a nod and a 'Thank you, my Lord'. But she has halted at the request of the Lady Alyse yet the hug is something that she returns, "My Lady.." She affords the younger woman after a scarred hand touches Alyse's shoulder. Her gaze tracks her passing to Liliana and she half smiles, meaning to take a step back and leave the nobles and the newly arrived Ser to blanket themselves in greetings and official business. She turns on foot, rubbing a hand to the stained towel on her waist.

"Thank you, m'lord." Bruce answers Dafydd, inclining his head again. The man is slightly amused by the antics of the two young nobleladies, but he makes a point to ignore them, mostly. His green eyes flash to Damara. "Well, if you've a few moments now, I'm unoccupied before I go and search for the Captain."

Liliana comes to a halt a polite distance from the small group now gathered so close to the stables, an unconscious flick of her wrists setting her skirts to rights, before she offers a greeting to the newly arrived knight, though she knows him not, "Welcome to Four Eagles, and welcome you are as well to what hospitality we can offer you." Alyse recieves a flash of a smile, and a return of the hug offered, "I think you will find that there was good enough reason to hide away here. Welcome, Alyse, though I wish we had had some knowledge of your coming. But rooms will be prepared for you."

Dafydd stands stock still, catching Alyse's movement from the corner of his eye. The kiss is greeted with an involuntary twitch, and taking a deep breath, he clears his lungs. "Let us hope so."

Stepping back now, it seems that the ladies are going to be settling in easily, catching up on .. whatever it is that young Ladies discuss. And with the offer of discussion presented to the Mistress, Dafydd is left to excuse himself politely. The horses still need tending, and while his hosts take good care of them, he likes the quiet moments it offers.

"Well then.." He looks to those involved, "I am free to continue on my way, then. Welcome again, Ser Longbough, and well met. Perhaps we'll have time to speak at dinner tonight."

Alyse wrinkles her nose a little. "Everyone was gone," she says quietly. "And Seryl is busy with Uncle Mikah learning how to be a good Lord…" She frowns faintly. "And I wanted to make sure that Papa doesn't marry me off while he's here." She eyes the courtyard a little darkly, but she clings to her cousin's hand. A keen observer would note the sense of overwhelm lurking beneath the woman's challenging gaze.

"You have no need to worry on that account. Your Lord Father has been too busy trying to negotiate a peace between our House and this one to have considered such a thing. Though…." her voice trails off, marking the ready humour in her voice, "Perhaps a wedding to you would move things along more easily." She makes the departure of her youngest Lord Uncle and the still unknown man(Bruce) with a gentle farewell, and one to Damara as well. "But do not worry yourself about those sorts of things now. You have road long, and the road is hard in the summer day. We should get you some refreshment. Would you like to take your ease outside here, or within the hall?" Liliana does not, however, release Alyse's hand, remaining as likely ever she was, in their youth, the steady rock rooted in the fast rushing stream of Lord Sarojyn's daughter's life.

Alyse takes a deep breath and then looks at Liliana. "Are there plants?" she asks softly at length. "It is very strange without the Cover." She glances up at the sky and frowns more. "The sky is too big." She is purposefully ignoring any mention of marriage.

Liliana's voice softens, laughter coming just before the words, "Oh yes, there are ever so many, though you must ride a bit to escape beneath the true trees. But there is a godswood here, though it is ornamental only." There is no weirwood within the towers of the Terricks. "Come and sit there with me for a few moments, and I will have some refreshments brought for you. And after, I will be happy to show you around this place where I have been hiding."

Alyse swats at her clothes, and puffs of dust come off the dark silks. "Soon, Cos," she promises. "But I promises Seryl that I wouldn't linger in the doorway like a silk-clad tramp." She frowns faintly. "I suppose I -am- a little dirty. Could you direct a servant to show me to a room and bath?"

"It may well be that what dear Seryl does not know will not hurt him," humour there, but a gentle thing, "But I know how important that is to you." Dear Seryl…likely the only one, whether by dint of his general mein, or by way of making good use of the good relationship he has with his twin sister, is usually the only person besides their Lord Father who can truly manage the girl. "Come, we will find a place to settle you." with that, the two Camden Ladies depart the courtyard for the cover of the Tower.