A Simple Price
Seventh Day of the First Month 294 AC
A harsh light to see oneself in.
Was it an echo of the horror they had both endured in death, you wonder,
or something more mundane, seeing the sorrow of those who will never be reunited with kith and kin, knowing that others they had toasted and drank with were now enslaved utterly to the darkest of powers. "Fighting is unavoidable in this world, so is dying." you point out simply to the woman so very different from the Alyssa Grafton who was kidnapped by clansmen years ago yet still with her own brittle certainties. "Shall we then let it be that all who die are perceived as failures and all others who stood before either injustice or horror as having never taken the risk themselves?"
"Not a pretty thought to be rewarded that others might do better, like handing apples to the best goats in the herd," Danar scoffs with a trace of his old good cheer.
"A goat is a fitting enough beast to compare yourself to I'll grant," you answer with a smile of your own and a faintly exasperated snort. More seriously you add. "You stood in defense of Thenn when I could not, when you have a child, a life together, and have already done enough to have stymied the works of the Enemy and also those who would put Westeros in jeopardy with their ignorance or duplicity. No one could blame you for putting up your bow and setting aside your spear to raise your daughter in peace, not with all the champions I have rallied to my banner."
"Would we have peace? Would she?" Alyssa asks softly. "Not even you Your Grace could say that with surety. It's for our daughter's sake we fight. We'd give her the world, but to do that it has to still be here when she's all grown up."
"Are you sure you aren't the bard, love?" her husband asks lightly. "Those were some mighty fine kennings."
"I've been picking up bad habits I have, drinking in a wildling meadhall no less, my father would be beside himself if the knew," Alyssa replies in jest, then stops herself, gaze darkening with guilt and memories.
"I do not think the fallen would begrudge you the moment's levity," you point out before the silence can drag on uncomfortably. "Even fighting for your daughter as much or more than oaths, it was no small measure of courage you showed. I told you I would be heading into the threshold of Their power and rather than turn me away you came aboard to help guard the folk of that distant land and died in their defense."
"Not so distant from Skagos as my lovely wife reminds me when she isn't comparing me to a bear," the skald interjects, ending on a faintly challenging note, presumably because Alyssa né Grafton is not someone who one would ordinarily think would compare her husband to a bear.
"Don't you like Mormonts then?" she asks sweetly. "I thought it a fair enough comparsion all things told."
You shake your head at the byplay before continuing. "The Thenns I cannot reward for by the very act of spending resources and settling them comfortably in my own lands they would have no more pride to hold onto if I did further. My Companions I cannot reward for a fight most were not there for, and they would not accept it, for I had suggested to all our course of action, to focus on denying the enemy their prize."
"'Twas a fair enough choice to keep going through the barrows and old places instead of letting Them stake a claim when men were gone from the vale," Alyssa says after a moment. "Though I wish the First Men had more sense than to bury away all manner of treasures to molder in the dark."
Danar nods firmly. "You bury roots and carrots for winter, not treasures none but the dead know of."
"Well then, you will be glad to know I am not planning any barrows or tombs filled with treasure," you pick up the thread of conversation smoothly. "On the matter of practicality I have to reward someone for this skirmish. You are right of course, a reward for Captain Moonsong and her crew, to give humble heroes for the realm to rally around, is definitely one of my intentions. Lady Melisandre too, I still owe much and plan on honoring her just as soon as I figure out a reward worthy of her service. And Yss' Champion, even bound by his oaths as they are to serve my cause, I would also favor with at least goodwill if not more material rewards."
"Good that they are all getting their due, mayhap a song or poem will do well in the telling..." Alyssa glances at her husband.
"I don't think that will hang on me alone to tell. The good captain is many things, but not shy about beating her own drum," Dananr replies lightly, though you suspect composing a song of what happened in Thennhold might cut too deep too soon.
"It stands to reason then that I have rewarded all of my vassals, clients and friends, for the assistance they have provided me with, as is just, for their continued and loyal service... yet very little at all for either of you beyond the bare minimum necessary to allow you to forge lives of your own, which you turned toward stalwart defense of my people.. What reward for standing in the defense of Thenn would you bear to accept?" you ask at last simply and without artifice.
The pair share another look heavy with meaning, though far less grim in manner. After a long moment it is Danar who replies: "If both of us should perish beyond the power of any sorcery to return to life we would like for Jeyne or any other children of blood or name we might have that day be counted personal wards of the Crown."
"We have enough coin to see to see to it that she could be raised by the servants, seen off to school properly and all the rest," Alyssa continues. "But a child needs more than that and I'd sleep better knowing her fate doesn't hang just on those being paid to the task."
Remembering the fate you and Dany suffered in Braavos after Ser Willem's death you nod in understanding. Nothing like that would happen to any child of Danar and Alyssa in your realm under the watch of your laws of that you are certain, but still you can understand the concern and it is not as if another ward would be a hardship to you. "I will care for any children of yours should the day come that you cannot," you swear without a moment's hesitation.
Who do you speak to next?
[] Moonsong
-[] Write in
[] Melisandre
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: I would have liked to continue this but it's already pretty long and this is a natural break point. 
