A Peace Ill Fated
Twenty Third Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
In the end you decide upon House Bracken for your first visit. Better to have both sides of the tale before making any judgements, other than the fact that it is a dreadful tangle, but there isn't anything young Catelyn Bracken can tell you that would change that opinion besides perhaps 'father and lord Blackwood spontaneously reconciled', and in that case you would have to check both lords for enchantment.
So it is that you, Ser Richard, your mother, and Rina come within sight of Stone Hedge, once more riding unseen upon spectral steeds while Dany lies coiled around your shoulders in her familiar hatchling form. The keep is old and strong, though more sprawling than tall as it stretches out over three low hills with a maze of walls, gates, and courtyards watched over by towers and keeps enough to make even the most determined assault pay in blood for every step. From its battlements flies the red rampant stallion of House Bracken watching over the herds of flesh and blood horses that graze on the surrounding hills.
History tells that the Brackens have always been great horse breeders, though how far that history goes or how it began depends on which side of the great feud one happens to bend one's ear to. Still, former sellswords or ancient lords, the past matters little to you in this instance, it is the present you are concerned with, and the key to a full understanding in this instance is not lord Jonos but his third-born daughter.
Dany spirals down from to the window you know to belong to the girl, a tower apart from the rest and from what you can glimpse of the furnishings quite spartan.
Had Lord Braken also learned of the secret assignations?
It does not take long until you can ask for yourself, for Dany soon invites you to speak to the girl along with any others that might wish to interview her. Rina follows, but to your surprise your mother choose to remain aloft. Then you catch sight of Ser Richard's relieved expression and realize she had given him an excuse to stay out of the conversation he wanted no part of.
"Your Grace, an honor to meet you," the girl's voice is firm enough, but she cannot quite meet your eyes as she curtsies and you do not think it is only the shyness of youth or the unexpected nature of the meeting. Ominously, she holds a letter in hand that bears all the marks of something written in haste. The last thing you fancy yourself is a courier to the ill fated idyll.
"My lady," you greet her politely nonetheless. "Has my sister explained why we are here?"
"Yes, Her Highness has been most kind it's..." the facade of sophistication and calm cracks. "I couldn't really believe it wasn't a dream at first. I'm sorry I was so much trouble. I... we just wanted to make it all right and..."
"Catelyn,
breathe," Dany interjects, taking the girl's hand in hers.
Blushing Catelyn falls silent for a moment, but when she speaks she is once again composed. "You have to understand we were not just trusting in portents and signs like the old witch said, nor just in love, though yes, Hoster and I are in love." She finally lifts her gaze almost defiantly. "By the time Lord Blackwood found the letters I had already spoken to Barbara, she's my eldest sister and father's heir, about ending this mad quarrel. Do you know we still argue after whose
tits the hills were named for? Like it matters one whit who Aegon..."
"Who Aegon the Unworthy bedded, yes," you finish. "The moniker and the deeds that earned it are a matter of historical record. So you convinced your sister to..."
"To reconcile with the Blackwoods when she is Lady of Stone Hedge and Hoster was working on doing the same with his eldest brother Ser Brynden before things came apart. Father made Barbara
swear on the Seven Pointed Star that she would uphold 'our ancient claims and honor'," Catelyn continued, the frustration of several months of stewing finally boiling over. "Which honor that would be I know not. The honor that allowed Harren the Black to take over the Riverlands and kill Seven only know how many raising that monstrosity of a castle? The honor that killed countless sons and daughters of both our houses and their smallfolk, each death adding one more reason to push others into the Stranger's arms? They say the Old Gods do not forgive, I would not know, for I am no theologian, but the Seven surely do, and we Brackens have been remiss in that for time out of mind."
You had expected a love-struck girl, and love-struck Lady Catelyn is indeed, but not as thoughtless as you had assumed she would be. On the other hand, you can well imagine why Jonos Bracken made his daughter swear to uphold the grudge between the houses and not just from sheer hardheadedness. It would be difficult enough for a woman to succeed without also leading the House she had just taken lordship of out of an age-old conflict. If memory serves, Lord Jonos has both a bastard who is knighted and a warrior tested, and a nephew not much younger.
"How did your father discover that you and Lord Hoster were conversing?" you ask as delicately as you are able.
"Lord Blackwood sent a letter, I only know a little of what is in it," she replies tight-lipped. "He called me a whore." And that was the part her own father had chosen to read out to her.
Poor girl.
Still, sympathy cannot be what guides you here, at least not sympathy to two alone. The fate of tens of thousands of smallfolk hangs in the balance of the age old feud.
What do you do next?
[] Speak to Lord Braken
-[] Write in
[] Speak to Barbara to see if she was sincere in recanting her promise to her sister
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: And here we are, not quite as silly a plan as first appeared, but still with holes you could fly Balerion through. Not yet edited. 
