@DragonParadox, edited edits of the following update.
Red Woman's Counsel
Twenty-Sixth Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC
"I have my suspicions, but I would rather not act in haste, not when this enemy has shown themselves adept in weaving shifting veils of deception," you reply deliberately. It would be easy to blame Ymeri, but then it had been almost as easy to blame the Hooded Lord for never having approached you. "I would like to call an... ally." Almost you had said 'friend'. Lady Melisandre had now fought not just at your request, but by your side, calling on shadow and hallowed flame both against the Efreeti. Even apart from the use her skill may have in this matter, you strongly suspect she would wish to be help in untangling their web of lies that had touched the temple of the Lord of Light.
"What manner of ally?" Haldon asks with some trepidation.
"A priestess high in the favor of the Lord of Light, also skilled in the arts of Asshai," Thoros answers before you can, a little too firmly, perhaps afraid his mentor would be named a heretic.
The Flame Keeper only sighs in relief, however, a weary smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Who or what had he thought you were about to call upon, you cannot help but wonder. Mayhap it would not hurt to scatter some copies of the Imperial Times over your own realm also.
***
You find the priestess reading among the ebony shelves of Lya's library, garbed all in crimson as is her custom, like a living flame against the shadows of the tower. Lya sits beside her, glancing between the flame-written script of the Light of Creation and notes in a thin looping script that the shadowbinder must have provided. Her expression is open and relaxed as she turns to ask a question before she notices you. "Trouble in Lys?"
"Yes, but it's not an otherworldly invasion, so I think we can manage it," you jest, drawing a small laugh before she turns back to her studies.
Melisandre looks up from her own tome in askance, though whether at the jest or Lya's reaction you cannot say. Although her expression barely seems to shift as you recount the happenings in Lys, you see the anger held ruthlessly in the tightening of her jaw, in the almost imperceptible motion of her fingers that marks a mage reaching for their most fearsome weapon. Her voice when she replies is utterly calm, thoughtful. "I will do the seeing as you requested, but first I have some advice if you would listen to it."
"I always listen, my lady," you reply without the emphasis you may once have given to the words. The implication that you will act as you judge fit is obvious between you.
"You are a king who does not wish to be treated as a god, though you would not have to struggle overmuch to play the part as most understand it, and for that you have my gratitude." Though the compliment is sincere by every indication, you know enough of rhetoric to suspect it is a prelude to some less complimentary note. Her next words still surprise you. "For all that you are too quick to expect the God to act as a king, to set things in order in person or by royal proclamation. Perhaps He means for this false relic to be a test of faith, or even more so a test of reason, to teach restraint and caution in an age when magic so easily blooms. Perhaps He meant for you and yours to set things aright, or perhaps it is some purpose that I cannot even guess at for I do not sit upon the Throne of Eternity, looking upon a world under the empire of time."
"Yet I have seen gods move their hand in the world and heard their voices," you counter plainly. "For all I am no stranger to slow and careful plans, I can see how acting directly could have been simpler and less painful."
"You do not trust the Lord of Light. I will not say that you
should, for that is not something to be done at urging from without, I merely ask that you consider that He might act in subtle ways as well as bold," the woman in red replies, looking almost wistful, as for a moment she seems to look through you to some memory long past, in a way that calls to mind the mannerisms of Menel or Grazdan. Not for the first time you wonder how old is Melisandre of Asshai, though you are not of course so gauche as to ask.
"What seeings do you wish me to perform?" she asks in a matter-of-fact way, drawing you from your thoughts.
[] Write in
OOC: I hope the above does not come off as preachy. Mel is not trying to convert Viserys here, just offering her perspective on the relationship between the mortal and the divine. I felt that conversation is important enough to understanding her character to warrant an update. About the vote, she is fine with any divination you might like including burning XP on Commune.
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