Of Echoes Far and Near
Seventeenth Day of the First Month 294 AC
"On the manner of the queen, if such you wish to call her," Bloodraven's lips twist into a grimace as he takes a sip of the Sorcerer's Purple you had brought to share for the meeting. "I suppose I should thank the fates and kindly powers that she seems to have finally learned how to be discrete in fucking her brother, though that may have something to do wit the fact that they do so rather less than they once did. The sheets have grown cooler since the Kingslayer has shown himself less inclined to bend to her whims."
"In what way?" you ask curiously. Your feelings towards Jaime Lannister are ambivalent at the best of times. You applaud the deed that ended your father's realm before he could make all of King's Landing his pyre, but curse the idiocy that drove him to not only cuckold his next king, but see children of that union brought into the world.
Too-honorable fool, you would name him where you pressed to put a name to the man.
"He has been spending more time with his children, with the eldest Joffrey in particular under the guise of teaching him to fight. The queen is either worried that will reveal their secret or is jealous of sharing the children's company. One can never quite tell with her." Bloodraven sounds more weary than angry now, having perhaps considered using Cersei Lannister in some plot and given it up entirely due to her impulsive temperament.
"The guise of teaching Prince Joffrey to fight?" you prompt.
"I suspect he is trying to teach the boy when
not to fight, particularly when not to fight like his supposed father, heedless of the odds against him," comes the reply in a note of what might be faint approval.
One more reason to appreciate the Kingslayer then, you tally silently, not that you intended to harm the children. "So what has the queen been doing now that she is spending less time trying to commit adultery and treason?"
"She is deep in correspondence with several Westerlander Houses, hoping to put forward the notion of her youngest son Tommen to be proclaimed her father's heir in place of her dwarf brother, and she is working against Lord Velaryon, having finally deduced what became of both the girl Valaena and the egg that had been meant to seal her son's claim to the throne."
Brynden pauses to draw a small crystalline tuning fork out of his pocket, the air vibrating with a faint near-melody as it is unveiled. "It is thanks to her carelessness that I was able to discover
these, instruments similar in purpose to the braziers of ever-whispering sand, somewhat easier to make though only able to function within a limited span of time each day." Handing you the arcane instrument he adds: "You can take this to study if you wish. I assure you the Golden Shields will not miss it. It's former bearer was devoured whole by a daemonic best in the old sewer tunnels."
Gained Far-Speaking Fork
"I suppose it would be too much to hope that something had been done about the city's sewers?" you sigh.
"Kevan Lannister has put forth a proposal to improve and expand the system, but given that not even the fools who make up the rest of Baratheon's Small Council could mistake the imminence of war, most of the treasury is going into securing magical weapons and armor for the defense of King's Landing as well as arcane mechanisms partly assembled in Casterly Rock. Varys was not invited to see these engines, but the king seemed content that he was getting good worth for his coin. It was rather tedious to listen through the tale of how even the Dornish were able to strike down Meraxes with a common scorpion, as though the Dornish where somehow lesser foes."
A thoughtful silence falls over the room as Bloodraven considers his next words, or perhaps his consciousness flies momentarily to some other place, some other time. "All things told I would say this more than anything encapsulates the mood of the court, even with all the at times frantic preparations. They are all still far too quick to dismiss the prowess of their foes in the interest of their peace of mind."
What do you ask about next?
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OOC: Funnily enough the Lannisters had managed to keep their communication system secret for almost half a year before Cersei was trusted with one, and she promptly spilled the beans to 'Varys' and he recovered one from a dead field agent. 
