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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2014 13:16:23 GMT -5
Vira was deeply relieved to find herself in a tower cell. She knew the King had no choice in the matter, not if he wanted to be perceived favorably by his new vassals, but he had done his utmost to ensure her comfort. Her cell was on an upper level with high, barred narrow windows. Through the bars, she could see the Blackwater Rush beyond the red walls of the city.
Inside, the tower cell was a different world from the grime and horror of the black cells. Large and airy, King Maekar had seen to it that the room did not lack for comforts. The bare stone floor had been thickly carpeted in soft wool rugs, both to contain the heat in the room and to pad Vira's feet as she walked. There was a mahogany workstand bearing Vira's potions and jars of herbs and other ingredients from her garden, alongside a table that bore all the necessary equipment such as scales, knives, a mortar and pestle, measuring flasks, and other such devices.
There was a shelf of books for her to practice her reading and next to it a gleaming oak desk with rolls of unusually white calfskin parchment, a pumice stone to smoothen the parchment, an inkwell, goose feather quills and a small knife to sharpen the quill nibs.
The room also contained a soft feather bed, with heavy woolen quilts edged with fur. Inside an oak chest were all of Vira's clothes, and on her small square dining table there was a decanter of hippocras, a covered jug of sweetened lemon water, and a freshly prepared meal of buttered beets, kid roasted with lemon and honey and a warm loaf of bread.
Vira had been discreetly allowed access to her servants. The first thing she had done was take a hot bath to scrub herself ferociously until she was clean, and then a second bath to soothe herself in steaming water soaked with sage, peppermint, rosemary and lavender, while giving instructions to her servants on important matters she wanted them to see to.
After she had bathed and dressed in a gown of blue lambswool over a linen shift and silken smallclothes, Vira ate her meal, had herself checked by a maester to ensure that both she and the baby within her were healthy, and then promptly collapsed on the feather bed and fell asleep.
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Post by Vhagar on May 10, 2014 19:31:48 GMT -5
When Vira next awoke, she was informed that Lady Dondarrion wanted to see her.
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2014 20:47:10 GMT -5
Vira told her handmaid, Yara, that she would see Lady Dondarrion. Vira was curious. She had not spent time with Lady Adara properly in ages, though she remembered the lady warmly for the friendship Adara had shown her by bringing her to court.
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Maekar
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Post by Maekar on May 10, 2014 20:53:46 GMT -5
There are four guardsmen present inside the room's antechamber, two of them dicing and the other two on duty outside Vira's door. These men answer directly to the King, and are some combination of guardians and jailers, making sure that no harm comes to Vira but also making sure that she does not leave the tower chambers.
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Post by Vhagar on May 10, 2014 21:02:05 GMT -5
One of the guards looked at Vira and sneered. "Like you got a choice who sees you. Just wanted to make sure you was decent before she comes. Not that it matters to her" he leered at her "But it might matter to you."
Adara was shown in wearing a low cut gown of pale green silk. She ran to Vira and enfolded her in my arms. "Oh, my dear, I could scarce believe it! I don't think you did anything horrid or wrong, at all!"
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Post by Maekar on May 11, 2014 9:01:37 GMT -5
The other three guards looked up sharply at their comrade. They had all been explicitly ordered to treat Vira with every courtesy, as befit her rank which was miles above any of theirs.
"You're dismissed, lad, return to the barracks and send up a replacement," the senior most guard said. "And perhaps if you are lucky the lady will not relate your words to the King," he added with a grimace at the thought of whatever unpleasant duty King Maekar would reassign the young guard to.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 9:11:38 GMT -5
Vira had every intention of telling the King, but she did not deign to say another word to the insolent guardsman, ignoring him as the other guards dismissed him. He had not seemed to understand that Vira was a prisoner in name only. It was a mummer's act for the sake of appearances, and she had as much control over how she was addressed and which visitors she received as a lady in her own home.
Vira rose and kissed Adara lightly on the cheek. "It is good to see you again, my lady," she said with a warm smile. "And thank you. I was most unjustly accused by those white knights. It was always my suspicion that they were the real murderers, but I have faith in the gods that the truth will come to light. How do you fare? I heard you and Princess Daenya had some unfortunate adventure in the Summer Isles some months ago. Where is the princess?" Nobody had seen Maegor's youngest daughter since her nameday celebrations.
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 9:21:54 GMT -5
The guard who had spoken was younger than some of the others and relatively new to his post. He had very little understanding of the political climate and understood only that Vira was a bastard of dubious reputation who had been accused of killing the king. And, like many people raised to follow the Faith, he thought all bastards were prone to all manner of sexual licence and depravity. But he went willingly enough, despite a lingering look at Adara.
Adara shrugged. "Oh, the Summer Isles were very pleasant, but ever so hot! I could hardly wear any clothes at all, even when I went out! I spent most of my time abed," she giggled. "Some of the men were very skilled, Vira, you wouldn't believe it. Daenya liked it too. She's in Dorne, you know. But I didn't like flying on Vandaras, so I came home by ship instead. I don't really know why she wanted to go, but she wouldn't listen. You know what she's like. She would go to Dorne, whether I liked it or not, and I could hardly stop her, when she had Vandaras. She wanted to make friends with the princess, I think. But I was always told the Princess of Dorne was a horrid, suspicious creature."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 9:27:29 GMT -5
"Daenya flew to Dorne?" Vira had barely listened to the rest, wondering how anyone could think of past trysts with men at such a dangerous and uncertain time in all their lives. She poured Adara a glass of hippocras, however, and lemon water for herself. "You were wise to take a ship straight for King's Landing, my dear. Why did she choose to go to Dorne? Did the Dornish princess contact her while she was in the Summer Isles?"
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 9:38:05 GMT -5
Adara took the glass gladly. "Oh, no! Not at all. We never had any letters from anywhere. Daenya decided to go just like that. She got bored of the Summer Isles all of a sudden and said she was going to Dorne. I don't understand it at all. Dorne hates the Targaryens, always has. It's not safe for her there. So I don't know why she went."
She sipped her drink, thinking. "I thought about staying in the Summer Isles, but I'd miss my friends here. But I'm sad I came back with all this horrid stuff happening. Oh, Vira, when are they going to let you go free?"
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 9:45:30 GMT -5
"They'll free me when they find the truth," Vira sighed. "I told the King the circumstances in which I found his father's body, and my suspicion that Ser Symon Buckler and Ser Moryn Stokeworth are the real murderers. He is hunting for them, and if they are found, we shall see if they confess."
Vira took Adara's hand. "If Daenya has been in Dorne all these months, why have we heard nothing of it? Did she fly across the Narrow Sea to join Aegon?" Vira had not yet learned that Aegon and his followers had arrived on Dragonstone.
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 9:55:39 GMT -5
"I don't know. We never talked about what Aegon was doing, truly. Daenya said she was going to Dorne and that was it. She never said anything about the Narrow Sea. But we didn't know the King was dead when she left for Dorne, so why would she want to go to Aegon?" Adara sighed and took a long gulp of her drink. "I never did understand Daenya, anyway."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 10:19:18 GMT -5
Vira absorbed this quietly for a moment, trying to calculate the time that had passed and when Daenya had apparently flown for Dorne. But had she ever really gone to Dorne? Adara had been the last person to see the young princess, and there was no telling where Daenya had flown to, really. Especially with her...odd ailment, the other personality inside her that was probably at least partially responsible for Princess Daenya's odd and inexplicable decisions.
For all they knew, Daenya had never gone to Dorne. It seemed unlikely, since Vira felt sure that there would have been an uproar in Sunspear if a dragon the size of Vandaras showed up, an uproar that would reverberate all the way back to King's Landing. Daenya could be the pirate dragonrider on the Stepstones that everyone had been hearing about lately, or perhaps she had found her uncle Baelon Waters and gone off with him, or perhaps she had learned of Maegor's death somewhere and sought out her trueborn brother. It was a total mystery to Vira, but a mystery that troubled her.
"Perhaps she will get bored of her travels and fly home," Vira said, dismissing the matter of Princess Daenya for the present. "It must have been a shock to you to return to find Maegor dead, and all of this going on. Have you sworn your fealty to the King, Adara?"
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 10:30:54 GMT -5
Adara shrugged. "Nobody cares what I do. I've no lands of my own, and no dragon either. Blackhaven is ruled by a castellan, anyway."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 10:41:24 GMT -5
"Your son is sworn to Storm's End, which has knelt for the Black Dragon," Vira replied, surprised that Adara could be so indifferent to the circumstances, and to the importance of fealty. "But that means House Dondarrion's troops will answer to Lord Borros and, in that way, to King Maekar. Your son's future is entwined with King Maekar's now, and so is yours."
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 10:49:25 GMT -5
"I'm sure Lord Borros knows what he's about," Adara said, dismissively. "It's nothing to do with me, truly. My sons are too young for anyone to worry about. Maekar or Aegon, it makes no difference to me. I only want to stay at court."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 10:58:02 GMT -5
"You only want to stay at court?" Vira repeated incredulously. "Which court? Do you not see that you must swear fealty to a king in order to be his courtier, and that you must swear on behalf of your young son?" Anyone would think that Adara was the peasant and Vira the noble-born, from Adara's understanding of how life worked. Did the woman truly do nothing but sleep around?
"And besides, it will mean a new marriage for you," Vira said with a smile. "You are too pretty to remain unwed."
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 11:11:05 GMT -5
Adara genuinely didn't care who sat on the Iron Throne so long as her own pleasures were not interrupted. "I had a husband. He preferred men. I don't want another," she said. "It's so much more fun to be a widow and have any man I want. Besides, who wants to go off and live at some lord's castle when they can stay here? Vira, I am not allowed to rule Blackhaven for Selwyn, even if I wanted to. It makes no difference if I swear or not. Selwyn might just as well do it himself, and he's only nine. I could say the words, I suppose, but it doesn't mean anything. It's just words. Owen and I said vows too, and he still slept with Ronnet instead of me."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 11:16:15 GMT -5
Vira was momentarily at a loss for words as she listened to this, but made herself smile. "Of course, dear," she said soothingly. "I understand."
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 11:27:00 GMT -5
Adara seemed doubtful. "I don't want anything to do with wars and things. It was horrid before, when Owen declared for Aenar. I was so frightened. I'd rather just stay with you. I couldn't not come to see you. None of the other ladies understand me at all."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 11:39:53 GMT -5
Vira was not sure she understood Adara either. "I thought Princess Daenya had a great deal in common with you," she replied. "And Princess Rhaena?"
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 13:18:54 GMT -5
"I never talk to Princess Rhaena," Adara admitted. "We have nothing in common. Daenya likes men the way I do, but she gets much angrier than me. But I like you better than either of them."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 16:29:36 GMT -5
"That's sweet of you," Vira said, with a smile. "I have not spent as much time with you as I should have, so I admit I am surprised."
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Post by Vhagar on May 11, 2014 16:35:35 GMT -5
"My cousins are boring," Adara said. "You are the only one who was a friend to me. I don't have any other female friends, unless you count Mistress Bella. I get on far better with men, anyway. Men are more likely to do what I want. I don't want you to get lonely here."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 17:01:08 GMT -5
Vira enjoyed men as much as any other woman, but she had long ago learned to be distrustful of any woman who claimed that she had no female friends and that only men got along with her.
"Well, that is very kind of you," Vira said with a smile, squeezing Adara's hand. "I could always use a friend, I know, and maybe you could use a female friend too."
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all alone and also really bored 
Hopefully going to kickstart the festival too