Home and Hearth
Seventeenth Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
The halls of Castamere were fair but they were silent and still, for every one of the servants of the former lord and lady of the Golden Shields had been called away by the Inquisition. Jeyne Weaver shivered, though there was no wind, her hand going to the hilt of her dagger without meaning to. Part of her was afraid to be in a place where so many folk 'of interest to the Inquisition' had been, for fear that there was some lingering threat in the empty halls, and part of her mind was wondering what fate they would truly have. She was not so young nor so unused to the true shape of the realm's enforcers as to think all the conversations used only words. "It is a wonderful keep, Roger. I'm happier for you than I can rightly say..."
"But?" the knight interjected. He knew her too well. Jeyne was rather glad she had never felt even a hint of romantic attraction towards the older knight. She imagined having to lay your head down at night next to a head that understood you more than you did yourself would grow very tiresome indeed, and quickly.
"It's... lonely," she replied. "I will be glad to be back to the Deep where there are more folk and fewer dark echoes in the stone."
Once drowned twice hollowed out by war. What would be next?
"I thought you might wish to stay, there are more guest rooms than I know what do do with, and..." he sighed. "The stone is not the only thing that is lonely. I would be glad for the company of a friend and for a smile that does not come with a tremble in the lip, as though I mean to feed them all to dragons, or that air of condescension as though they had all been born knowing the tasks of lordship and could not imagine actually learning them at my age..." He snorted. "My
age, they make it sound like I am of an age with old Colonel Flowers before before he took a new body, and of course all my neighbors are all too willing to help, in such a way as helps them more. I should be glad to know at least one person in this keep has no more nefarious purpose than filching all the cherry pies."
"Does that mean there are pies in the deal for me?" Jeyne trailed off conspiratorially. "Ser knight, you must know that bribery is frowned upon in our fair realm." She paused a moment, looking out the window where the cherry trees from which those pies must have ultimately come swayed in the breeze from the sea. "Are you sure you want a witch in your company, and one of a sort even other witches shun for the strangeness of her power?" She motioned to one of the song birds that sang mournfully outside the window. The little thing vanished in a surge of silver light only to reappear confused as one might expect moments later, still mid trill.
"There used to be wizards by the score down in the town day and night. I am sure the folk here would miss the lack of magic and wonder in their dreary lives," the knight laughed. "They don't need you in the Deep now that they have the tame Squid and his magic..."
"Don't call him
that." Jayne shivered far harder at the thought of disrespecting Wisdom Qyburn than at that of the ghosts and vanished folk of Castamere, though in her heard she knew the flesh-smith would care less for the opinion of the Baron of Castamere than he would for the buzzing of a gnat. "Do you think..."
"Yes?" the knight asked, peering at her closely beneath bushy eyebrows.
"Do you think I could bring some of my kin here as well?" She asked at least. "They are all smallfolk, well
Weaver, you knew that. It would be nice to do something for the folk back home in Lannisport, to have familiar folk and familiar ways about me. The Deep is great and it is wondrous as only the mighty works of the age can be, but sometimes..."
"Sometimes you wish for that which is close to the heart," the knight said. "For the home you left behind, even if you are the one to change it. Well, there is plenty of room and plenty of jobs left vacant for any who might wish to move to Castamere."
OOC: Now that we are going to be focusing less on minor heroes I figured I would give Jeyne her own little wrap up to go with all the micro adventures.
