Weighing Pledges
Twenty Second Day of the First Month 294 AC
You consider the matter a long moment. Almost you are tempted to tell him he can continue his feud with those Houses that are aligned against you as long as he leaves the Longwaters be, but that would be poor precedent, not to mention a waste of those who would better serve the cause of sanity fighting the horrors of the depths rather than their fellow man, to judge from what you had seen in the tavern.
"I am not blind to my father's acts in his later years and their effects both upon my own House and others," you reply, drawing a look of growing surprise from the lord. "Sooner would I place them in my proper context to aid me, to rule justly and with wisdom, than lash out blindly against those who chose to rebel against him, or bend the knee to said rebels. There will be a reckoning, but it shall be no simple tally of sins I would have made as a boy."
"That is a fine thought, Your Grace, fine indeed, but I fear the craven bastards won't thank you fotha , save to bite the hands that feeds them," he replies, trying to get back on firmer footing.
"Perhaps that is so, perhaps not. The First Men had a saying which the Skagosi still recall," You tilt your head towards Danar. "Even Greenseers cannot witness all ends. It seems wise not to anticipate the choices of others in ill." You pause a long moment. "I am saddened, my lord, to hear of the strife between your House house and those of your neighbors. Such disunity serves men poorly at the best of times, and these are hardly the best of times. "
You speak then of the danger to the north, of that which lingers in the depths of the sea, of devils and other fiends, and at last of the Court of Stars which would make all the world a stage and mortals the poor mummers upon it.
Although the Lord of Horse Hill grows paler with each telling, not all the tidings new to him, but never recounted in such a manner, you suspect. As soon as you mention the Court of Stars his cheeks grow flushed once more. "Wait just a moment here, Your Grace. I think you place in poor company the Court and its Queen who have done much to protect us from those who would make bowls of our skulls to drink our living brains. I would myself be dead or worse than dead at the hands of some eye-gouging horror if one of their knights had not only found me just in time, but also slain the beasts. They traded with me fairly for armor to guard me against sorcery and gave fair counsel on where to find a sword the Leygoods of old bore."
"And for that you don't mind dancing to their tune?" Alyssa asked increduliously. "Better than death and slavery of the foulest sort, but hardly better than living your life as men were intended to, growing and changing."
"This too would be growth of a sort, at least," the lord returns. "More magic and strange ways, but the world would not be worse for knights keeping to their oaths more closely or men knowing when evil reaches towards the edges of their settlements." He turns to you with a sigh. "You bring change even as the Star-Crowned did, promising a better, safer future, but they came first and they dealt fairly with me. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth to think of breaking my pact with them honestly made because I might like your offer better."
What do you reply?
[] Point out that the change the fey bring is illusory and behind it is stasis that would bind him away from the best abilities of mortal minds, their creativity.
[] To be bound by the narrative of the Court of Stars is to trust their Queen far more than what a lord may ask his bannermen, it is compulsion of the mind and spirit however subtle.
[] Write in
OOC: Not quite as smooth riding here as with Lord Costayne, this guy actually likes the Court of Stars, because they have been very helpful both to him personally and his fief. Not yet edited.