| Truncated Rides |
| Summary: | Tiaryn's attempted flight to the ruins of Tall Oaks runs into snags by the names of Jacsen and Lucienne. |
| Date: | 30/January/2012 |
| Related Logs: | Fall of the Tall Oaks |
| Players: |
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| Stables of Four Eagles Tower |
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| It's a stables. |
| 30-01-289 |
The horse is a wide thing, but he's all Tia's. A feisty gelding who used to belong to Dafydd and who will do anything for his rider. Especially a rider he's fond of, like Tiaryn. "We're just going for a ride," Tia says to the maid and guard who won't leave her. She figures she can't get rid of them so they have to come at least until she can lose them in the woods. "Surely you can't complain about that. You're always telling me I need to get more exercise." She is busily saddling her own horse, not waiting on anyone to do it for her. It's perhaps midmorning, enough time to get to Tall Oaks and back again, by the back route. If one knows the back route, that is.
The stables is not an unusual place to find Lucienne, so it can't be surprising when the little lady of Terrick strolls in, a few of her retinue with her. "Ah," she says, spying the familiar Flint and changing her course to approach. "My Lady Tiaryn, the days blessings upon you. Going for a ride?"
Not that Jacsen is precisely part of her retinue, but he walks with his sister all the same, leaning heavily on his cane as he crosses the stables floor. While eyes such as Tiaryn will not notice it, Lucienne cannot fail to se that her brother's stride is not these past days what it was. "Ah, my lady," Jacsen calls as he, too, spots Tiaryn, "Seven's blessings on you." But not your house, that would just be cruel.
Tiaryn pauses a moment. She has her bow and arrows with her, and there is a pack that she hefts from the ground to attach to the saddle - saddlebag. Yes. She does appear to be planning a long ride, no matter what she's telling Adara (the maid) and the poor guard in Flint colours. She turns a little too swiftly at the sound of her name, blinking in surprise. "Lady Lucienne," she starts with, and then realizes that Jacsen is there too, and she curtseys. "M'Lord Jacsen, may they bless you as well." A rote answer that, coming automatically through a suddenly tight feeling throat and chest. She swallows and then looks back over at Luci. "I was intending to go for a ride, yes." The disapproving look on Adara's face is swiftly wiped clear, as she is doing her best to be loyal to her relatively new Lady.
Luci reaches out a hand to plant on her brother's arm, her own pace slowed as usual for him. "The countryside here is particularly lovely," she says to Tiaryn with a polite smile, ignoring for courtesy's sake the flash of disapproval come from Adara. "Are you well, my lady? I found some old sheet music in my father's study just yesterday, I was hoping you might find time to harp with me this afternoon."
"Indeed, it's been too long since I heard music fill the Tower," Jacsen remarks, looking between his sister and the Camden woman readying her horse. Though his eyes seem a touch sharper than the rest of his expression, his manner is rather casual. As much as it could be in such circumstance. "I should like to listen, if the two of you are to play together."
"We had said it would be fun to do that," Tia agrees, recalling that meeting with Lucienne from back before. She takes a breath and then she tries, "I'd be more than willing to play once I return from my ride, though I have only a borrowed harp that the Lady Isolde was kind enough to lend me for a time." She pauses, considering it. "It's adequate though, quite a nice instrument." Not as good as her own used to be, alas. She leans against Gethin, who whickers at her contentedly. The horse is a little restive, needing exercise, but it is really Tia who is quite determined to go for a ride.
Lucienne latches onto Jacsen's arm a little more tightly, curling her hand about him. "That would be wonderful," she tells Tiaryn, "I'm sure the Lady Isolde's instrument is a fine piece. Where had you thought to ride, my lady? Might you care for some company?" The Terrick girl tries out a tentative smile, tilting her head in gentle inquiry.
Jacsen's gratitude for the sake of Lucienne's support is subtle, but there for any that might be interested enough to examine, his hand tightening upon the cap of his cane. "Where shall you ride on such a fine afternoon?" he wonders, brow rising just so.
It's a question that, isn't it? From both Jacsen and Luci, which has Tia wonder just how bad she is at dissembling. Very bad, indeed, it seems. She takes a breath and then says, "I thought maybe I should ride towards the woods." A little airily as she tries hard to make it sound routine and perfectly normal. "See if I can regain my former racing through woods on horseback title." Adara takes a breath and speaks up, since she can see that Tia is trying to not tell them. "I think m'lady is intending to head for trouble," she says, sincere worry now on her face. "With as insistent as she is, but she's not - quite telling." Tia looks sharply at the maid, and says, "Adara!" which too late brings quiet to the woman.
Lucienne shoots a worried look at her brother upon that announcement from Tia. The woods? She's about to open her mouth when Adara speaks out of turn, prompting a horrified stare. "Goodness," says she, more troubled by the handmaid's behaviour than what the girl is saying. She does, however, look back to the lady Flint with dark eyes. "My lady," she begins, then looks to Jacsen for support.
"The woods? I shouldn't think I'd need to point out how dangerous that is, my lady," Jacsen begins, taking a step forward but schooling much from his voice. "If you've a thought to approach the Oaks, I must dissuade you. There is nothing to indicate that the Ironborn have left the area about the place, and even if they had…" He shakes his head slightly, and looks back at Lucienne, thinking she might reinforce what he's already said.
Tia pauses for a moment. So much for being subtle there. Sigh. "There's nothing to say they're still there either, is there?" she asks, giving up on pretense for the moment. "And if I can go see, at least then we'll know for sure. I don't mean to walk up to them, but to stick to the woods, and keep my eyes open. It's not that far - if they are still there, aren't we still in danger here?" she asks, and yes, her own eyes have darkened, worry thick in her words and on her face. The horse reacts to it, pawing the ground and whickering again. She glares at Adara though, and that maid does look a little chagrined, but at the same time she's glad that someone is going to make Tia see sense. Or so says the nod of her head. Worth the punishment it is, since she didn't know who to go talk to and all.
"My lord is right," adds Lucienne gently after Jacsen, stepping forward as he does. "My sweet lady, I mean no disrespect to you or your guard, but please - this is folly. One man and the cover of trees is no guarantee, and your niece needs you." She reaches out a hand, not to Tia, but for Gethin. "Even your mount senses your worry, my lady. Another day. Perhaps we might ride near the town, today, and to your home another day? When it is safe?"
Lucienne's delicate manner seems to win over even her brother, whom lets her suggestion stand in lieu of saying much more. Jacsen's expression is one of gentle urging, though his eyes do cut towards the woman's guard, making note of the man whom had not enough sense to put a stop to this himself.
Poor Guard. He's new, and truthfully hadn't realized what Tia was planning, cause she didn't tell him. She was after all planning to ditch him in the woods, but alas, like as not Anders will never hear that part of the story. Tia can't help but think that Liliana would be better off without her in some ways, but she shakes that off, taking a moment to reach out and hug Gethin. "This horse - Gethin - he was Dafydd's. Dafydd raised him from a wee colt, taught him - trained him, and somehow I've ended up with him." It's still enough to break her heart, all things considered. She knows well enough that Dafydd had given Gethin to Kathryna, so she's sure enough that the fact she caught Gethin up during that chaotic escape run means that Kathryna as there and that she did not survive. Another death, and yet somehow Tia has survived. "How will we ever know if it's safe?" she asks, the tears burning behind her eyes, bringing a glaze to them, a sheen, but not falling. "When they leave those woods and come back down here, where then is safety?"
Luci pulls back from the poor, traumatised horse, allowing Tiaryn her space to hug him. "How fitting," she says gently, as the lady nee Camden explains. "We'll send scouts," she promises, soft but firm. "Let them come, my lady. Our tower witheld one siege, and our men will defeat them again. And again. Until the end of time if needs be, my lady, the Terrick men will fend them off - you will be safe within our walls. Come, my lady, if nothing else, please humor a worried girl?" Said worried girl sends a look to her brother, seeking reassurance.
"My Lady speaks true, I beg you heed her words," Jacsen encourages her, nodding with Lucienne's words. "These walls are a bulwark, and have stood for long centuries against any threat that would come to them. And so they will remain if any fool reavers think to test their broken resolve against us. Leave this business of discovering their movements to those trained and prepared for such."
Oh, easy for them to say. Tia's expression goes mutinous for a moment, her blue eyes giving Jacsen a look that says she's not quite so easily bent as that. Though then she closes ehr eyes, turning to hug the horse again, quiet for a long moment. "You promise that you will send scouts and tell me what they find - whatever it is?" she asks, still not giving up her mad scheme, but willing to be reasonable. "I think - I need to know, one way or another. I would - " a pause and then, - "I would prefer not to put myself in danger, but if it is the only way, then I will do what I must."
Lucienne ventures a step away from Jacsen at his encouragement, offering her hand to Tiaryn. "I promise, my lady," she says solemnly. "We will do everything in our power to honor your wishes, to find your answers. And when the time is right, we will find a suitable escort for you, that you might return to look upon your home. You have my word, my lady Tiaryn, but… today is not that day. Come, please, let us find something to calm you, my lady? Some tea, perhaps."
Whether it is his sister's presence, or a disinclination to rise to that look in Tiaryn's eyes, Jacsen permits Lucienne to step beyond him and offer what assurances she would like to the Camden woman. He replaces the arm that'd hooked with his sister's to rest upon his cane just like the other, leaning upon it for balance. Whatever happens here, one thing is certain; any departure from the Keep by the woman, especially on horseback, will not go unnoticed.
Tia takes a breath, not happy about it, but she hasn't been happy in days now, so this is not anything new. She gives in gracefully, as much as she can, realizing that there is no way she's going to get past the Terricks who have caught her red-handed so to speak. "How about a short ride, just to the paddocks, now that I have saddled up Gethin," she says after a moment. "And then I can come join you for tea, and we can play harp?" Because by now she needs very much to be outside for at least a bit, even if she can't go racing through the woods at breakneck speeds. "I promise I will not go near the woods or try to go anwhere near Tall Oaks today."
Lucienne gives the lady a curious look, but after a moment relents. "Just a short ride, then," she agrees on the basis of that promise, shooting a look over her shoulder for Jacsen's permission. "And then tea, and harp."
He most certainly will not be joining any such ride this afternoon, but he waves his hand in assent. "As you like," Jacsen remarks. "I simply wish to hear the sound of music in the Tower again." He manages to smile a small smile at the last.
"That sounds like it will work, but I will not forget," Tia says. She reaches to finish getting Gethin ready, and then gets his reins to lead him out of the stables where she can mount. The Flint sworn even helps her onto the horse politely, his own mount ready and waiting. At least he's got that figured out. The maid, well, she's got a bit of a problem, unless Anders sent her a horse and I don't know about it. She finds a seat in the paddock where she can watch, and Tia takes the horse out for a spin, enjoying the outside air, and the chance to ride, in a mostly safe and benign environment. Which once done, she obediently head back into the stables and the Roost, as if she'd never had any other idea.
