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Post by sleepingdragon on Mar 23, 2009 22:59:56 GMT
Robert showing interest in something he can't drink? Courtnay said nothing. He didn't like his brother and avoided him as much as he could, but he had no desire to cause him pain.
The girl was crying now. Courtnay looked at her and could see that Irma was right - her hair and eyes did mark her as a Valyrian. What is a Valyrian doing here? He didn't like it. The Valyrians and their magic made them untrustworthy, and potentially deadly adversaries, and the Stranger alone knew that they had enough enemies without adding the most powerful empire in the world to the list. The girl's clothes, though torn and waterlogged, were quite finely made, indicating she was of some high family. Ransom? Maybe.
"Was there any sign of any others near where she washed up? Any broken timbers or torn sails that could indicate shipwreck?" Courtnay asked Irma. He paused, and without waiting for an answer instead turned to the child.
"Was your ship wrecked?" he asked her. She couldn't speak their language, so Courtnay picked up a loose stone and carved the outline of a ship into a patch of grass. He pointed at the crudely drawn ship. "Did you come in a ship?"
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sapphire
Junior Member
Lord of Linguistic Destruction
Alysneri
Posts: 98
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Post by sapphire on Mar 24, 2009 1:12:54 GMT
Feeling slightly better but still for worse, she gave the crudely drawn ship a glance through her tearful eyes, Alysneri pointed with her finger and nodded, saying her word for ship.
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Post by Cosmichorror on Mar 24, 2009 14:45:28 GMT
Irma shook her head. "Just green sea and whitecaps as far as you could see." She watched the drawing. "Without anyone able to speak her language, we won't be able to find out what really happened." She paused a moment before continuing, "She's also swallowed a lot of water, and I don't know how long she had been on the shore for in those wet clothes. We should take her someplace warm, at least until she stops shivering."
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Post by sleepingdragon on Mar 24, 2009 20:06:50 GMT
Courtnay stood in thought for a moment, then nodded. "Do that. I'm going to take the Harpy out near where you found her and have a look. Might find something." Truthfully, Courtnay was pleased just to be able to get away from the Nest, if only for a while. Without further word, he went off to fetch his crew.
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Post by aagon on Mar 25, 2009 8:01:37 GMT
Dray Calderron came rushing down the stairs. Some fools had neglected to mention to him the return of his sister's eagle. He could hardly blame them; he had after all only recently returned. But I am the heir now and they must learn. Dray shook his head. A problem for another time. In truth, he had felt a sense of foreboding earlier that morning when with his father, but he had dismissed it. Men and women moved out of his way as he pushed forward, but one of them assured him his sister was alright. Dray paused and considered the man, but could not recall his name. He nodded in acknowledgment before continuing.
As he stepped into the light, Silver Eye cawed. Dray looked up and his eagle blotted out the sun for a moment as it soared down to land on his arm.
Dray saw the cluster of people in the courtyard and strode toward them. His gaze drifted over the group.He paused over his Uncle Courtnay and his mouth tightened slightly. He walked forward in time to hear his sister and his nuncle's response. Yes, some excuse he needs to visit his ship. After he left, Dray stepped forward.
"Robert, can you take her into the fire? I'll have Abe send up some warm stew and Laurel track down some clothes." Dray looked at Irma. "Father will want you to tell him what happened."
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Post by Cosmichorror on Mar 25, 2009 20:28:54 GMT
Irma watched the back of her retreating uncle for a moment before turning back to Dray. "I was going to see our lord father after making sure she was alright." She looked back to the girl, as if to make sure she was still there, then back to her twin. She opened her mouth as though she were going to say something, then closed it and nodded to Dray. "I'll go see him." She said simply.
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Post by Edivad on Mar 25, 2009 23:27:18 GMT
Erik Calderron had been practing his swordplay - something he did quite often - thrusting, slashing and lunging as he held his sword in a firm grip facing his shadow, trying out new combat forms and techniques.
He was very focused - too focused perhaps, because he had not seemed to pay any attention the growing noises coming from the Courtyard of the Harpy's Nest. He stopped his practice for a moment, and as he cleaned the sweat from his brow with a rag, started to wonder about the sounds.
What is it? A visitor, perhaps? A guest? It wouldn't hurt to check." he thought as, putting his sword in his scabbard - it would be unproper to greet a guest so armed - he moved for the door.
Leaving his room, he paused for a moment, glancing the small crowd gathered in the courtyard. Recognizing his cousins Irma and Drey, he approached them, perhaps intending to ask if they knew what was happening.
It was then that he saw the the small silver-haired girl, such an unusual sight making him pause for a moment
"A Valyrian among us? How?" he muttered to himself, loud enough for those close to hear. He sounded worried and for a moment, frowned - perhaps slightly suspicious. But what harm could she do, after all?
Realizing that he'd only scare the girl even more by glancing at her like she was some sort of weird animal, he turned to his cousin "What happened to this poor little thing, Irma?" he asked, not unkindly
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Post by Cosmichorror on Mar 27, 2009 6:13:46 GMT
"I found her on the coast on the far side of the wood, nearly drowned." Irma explained. "I need see my lord father about her now, could you watch over her with uncle Robert for me until I return?" She turned to Dray. "Is father in his solar?"
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Post by aagon on Mar 27, 2009 6:38:09 GMT
"I believe he is. I'll walk with you." Dray glanced around at the crowd still gathered around the girl, staring curiously. He nodded at Erik, then walked off with Irma. When they had left behind he looked at her and spoke. "Riding off to the cliffs again were you?" He smiled vaguely as he remembered the long rides they had used to take together.
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Post by Cosmichorror on Mar 27, 2009 6:55:55 GMT
Irma nodded, and allowed herself a smile. She hadn't been sure if Dray's fostering would change her twin beyond recognition. Though he seemed to be acting more of a lord since he got back, Irma figured that was due to him being thrust into the position of heir after their older brother fell.
"I always go there after a storm, you know that." In fact, she had been going there nearly every day there wasn't a storm, ever since she heard a rumour from Laurel that her lord father was considering a marrage proposal for her, though her maid didn't know to whom. "I'm suprised you havn't been out there since you've gotten back."
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Post by aagon on Mar 27, 2009 7:12:07 GMT
"And more often these days from what I've heard." For a moment Dray looked at her closely, then looked away. He knew that the recent months had been rough on her and even though he had returned, he was half a stranger. "I would be honored to accompany you, milady, if you would have me along," he said half bowing and smiling.
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Post by Cosmichorror on Mar 27, 2009 7:53:56 GMT
Irma looked at Dray for a moment, trying to find out if he was making fun or not. Deciding he was, she laughed. "It would be an honour my lord, to accompany you on a ride through the forest." Though she did her best to imitate a "lady's" form of speach, she had little experiance and laughed again. "Just as soon as we finish with father."
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Post by aagon on Mar 27, 2009 8:09:30 GMT
"As you will my lady. Though perhaps we should wait until we find out more about our new arrival." He continued on with her to the solar.
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Post by skyman on Mar 27, 2009 23:22:21 GMT
Courtnay's men, always the most disciplined among the sailors of the Rock, were quick to get the Hammer offshore. The wind was favorable, and soon they were skirting around the bluffs and beaches to the eastern side of the island.
They did not immediately discover anything much near Harpy Rock itself, though there were a few broken timbers that might have been from the girl's raft, washed up quite a distance from where Irma said she'd landed. As they moved farther out to sea, however, they began to discover more traces on the small secondary islands. First it was more timbers, and a few stray bits of cloth. And then, as the day wore on and evening began its approach, sharp-eyed Jasper spotted something within the trees of a tiny nameless island, which had always been to small to even bother logging.
Courtnay, Jasper, and another sailor took out a raft while Red Ryon held the deck. Approaching the tree line, it soon became clear that it was a boot sticking out from between the trees. "A body..." said Jasper, stating the obvious.
The body had the curious combination of waterlogging and dehydration that only those cast about at sea for some time attain. He had been a stocky man, dark as a Dornishman. He had dark hair instead of the girl's silver, but he wore similarly strange-cut clothes, just as tattered if not as fine.
Jasper searched him. He found a long knife, clearly designed for a sailor, and four strange coins in his pocket which bore symbols of dragons, mountains, swords, and long-haired men. Then, stuck in his boot, a parchment. Jasper unfurled it for Courtnay. The letters were strange and badly run together; they could not read it.
"What shall we do with him, ser?" asked Jasper.
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Post by skyman on Mar 28, 2009 0:40:57 GMT
Dray gave a knock at the door of their father's solar.
"Enter." Lord Adam's always spoke in quick, clipped syllables, his voice suffused with steel.
They brother and sister entered, and saw that their father was reading by the window, a thick tome purporting to reveal the true history behind ancient heroes. It had been one of Ranulf's favorites.
"Who is it you found?" he asked. His window looked out over the courtyard.
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Erik picked up the Valyrian girl, and carried her to the infirmary where Septa Elia would look after her as best she could. Robert walked beside him silently
They deposited Alysneri silently on a bed in the empty room, and told a servant to fetch the septa. When she had arrived, Robert went along with Erik to the training yard, a place where the lord's brother spent little time anymore. "It seems strange," he said as he walked, "that a survivor would be delivered to us from across the sea, even as so many of our own will not return to our island."
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Alysneri had fallen asleep once more after her exhausting ordeal. She awoke to find herself clean and dry, tucked into a straw bed that was not as fine as the feather ones her family had, but much better than the one on the ship. Her body ached and her lungs still felt tingly and burnt, but it was a quiet and peaceful place.
A smiling woman of perhaps thirty years said something in her strange tongue, and handed Alysneri a cup of water.
The woman pointed to herself. "Septa Elia," she said.
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