Concerns of High Estate
Thirtieth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC
Lord Bryce Caron of Nightsong and Lord Guyard Morrigen were men cut of much the same cloth, which is to say young, quick-witted, and just as quick to anger when they felt their privileges had been infringed upon, but neither man was actually a fool nor a zealot. And so the sight of silver ships casting a shadow over their keeps was more likely to engender within them a somber consideration of mortality than a desire to charge the foul sorcerer. For one neither possessed a flying steed, for another nether fancied their chances of carving through the Duskrunner with castle-forged steel.
What was truly remarkable about both men was not their willingness to bend the knee, but the content of their discourse about the future or their hopes for it at least.
Sepet had never had to ward off a marriage proposal from people he had just woken up with death threats in the dead of night before, and he did not enjoy having to do so. It was not that the concept was alien to the Qartheen tribes of the Red Wastes, far from it. Herds and water rights as much as land could be sealed with weddings, but in that case you would at least have to ensure that the proposed man and wife could stand each other so that there would be no stabbings in the tent when the winds howled outside for days.
This... this was... Did they think he owned the ship?
Fortunately he was not entirely without experts on the Westerosi aboard ship. His second-in-command was a cheerful Reacher called Loric Flowers, though he happened to know for a fact that he was no lord's bastard, but instead the son of a bankrupt Oldtown merchant out to make his own way in the world. Still, a decade of trying to sneak his way past the edges of nobility had taught him a thing or five. "They think you must be high in the Imperator's favor to be given command of this ship mightier than a dragon..."
Sepet sighed. He could understand now, but that did not make him anymore sympathetic. "What part of me looks like a bloody Companion?"
"Well..." The sly Reachman trailed off. "You are wearing more magic on you than either of them are likely to have ever seen."
Sometimes there was only one answer to give. "Fuck you, Loric."
And fuck me too if the next one is of the same sort.
The next one was not of the same sort as it so happened, though by the time he had heard from the Herald sent out onto the battlements of Poddingfield he might almost have hoped for another marriage proposal. Lord Robin Peasebury refused to surrender his keep without explicit word from Storm's End since he 'did not trust thugs and sellswords around the scullery wenches much less his sisters.'
"This is the same Lord Stannis Barateheon that asked him to raise the dragon banner before we showed up and he refused?" Sepet asked, to no one in particular, perhaps the uncaring gods.
"Yes," Loric replied, for once wearing a sympathetic look in the place of his usual grin. "We don't actually have a letter from him because we did not think there would be much point, but we could send a whisper-message back to the Deep to get one..."
"Or we could tell him to surrender or deal with the whiff of hot steam in the morning," the captain replied.
"Er... pardon, captain," Lord Bryce Caron interjected. The bastard could understand Low Valyrian and he had just been hiding. "I could vouchsafe for the ladies' safety and the keep. Lord Peasebury would not dare impugn my honor lightly, and you could be on your way without having to... disturb Prince Baratheon."
"It's Duke now," Sepet corrected, though without any heat. The man was being helpful for once.
What does Sepet choose?
[] Send a message to the Deep to get a letter signed by Stannis Baratheon that the Legion will act honorably and its officers should be accorded all due diffidence
[] Accept Bryce Caron's offer to intercede with his fellow lord so that he will be less intransigent
[] Give that warning shot to show that the lord is in no position to be making any demands
[] Write in
OOC: The only Marcher Lord left is Dondarrion, and he is supposed to be approached by PCs or Darkenbeasts since he is not in anyone's path.
