(121-04-11) A Refreshing Breeze
A Refreshing Breeze
Summary: In which Aevander and Elionys make amends.
Date: April 11, 2014
Related: Poor Instructions
Players:
Elionys..Aevander..

It is yet another hot summer day, made humid by the clouds that cover the city, with the threat of rain, but that threat doesn't stop Elionys from having every window in her suite thrown open to try and catch what breeze there is, if only to alleviate some of the stickiness of the afternoon. At present she can be found in smaller of the two sitting rooms, half-curled up in a chair that she's moved so that it faces one of the open windows, watching the world below from her high perch. She wears another of those breezy affairs, loose and flowing material in a pale, dove gray today, showing off the yellowing bruises on the back of her arm, and the small bit of upper back that can be seen beneath the edge of the dress A tray of lunch sits untouched on a nearby table.

Targaryens may not might heat, but there is no escape from humidity of lack of airflow. So Aevander, too, is looking a little wilted (curls can droop. Who knew?) when he raps on the door to Elionys's room. It's more of a warning, really, than a request, as the door is nudged open a moment after and Aevander steps inside. He smiles a little at all the open windows, though that smile fades as he gets a better look at Elionys. "Oh," he sighs softly, "poor girl. Just look at you."

Elionys doesn't get up when she hears the knock, but she does turn to look at the open doorway when Aevander steps through. "It is only bruises, they will fade," she assures him, unfurling from her perch and getting to her bare feet, distance between them crossed so that she can bestow a soft kiss to his cheek. "You are looking tired, Cousin. I'm sorry to have added to the things that troubled you."

"Ah, well, it's of no matter," Aevander replies, leaning in to accept that kiss and smile faintly for it. "I'm sorry for Visenya's words towards you. She can have claws like a cat at times, but unlike a cat, she sometimes has difficulty retracting them."

"She can," Elionys agrees as she draws back a step to put some distance between them again. "But I am not entirely without claws of my own, so we both came out of it with scratches. You are well otherwise, I hope?"

"Well enough," Aevander agrees. "Daevon and I met the Targaryen sent from King's Landing, earlier. It was Rhaenys, astride her Red Queen, no less."

Elionys reaches out to take his hand in hers, giving it a gentle tug so that she can lead him to one of the couches. "Rhaenys? Truly?" Her eyes go wide and she grins. "And on Red Queen? Was it amazing? I've never spoken to her before, was she as impressive as she seems from a distance?"

"Truth be told, I barely spoke to her as well, but age has certainly not dulled her wit or her ability," Aevander says as Elionys leads him over to the seat, where he obligingly sits. "The Red Queen was a sight, and Princess Rhaenys will be staying in the Hightower until the duel concludes. You should visit her. I think she would like to see all her her family here in town."

"I will," Elionys settles on the couch beside him, releasing his hand once she does. "You should have told me she was coming, I would have ridden out to see her arrive," she scolds, not truly sounding the slightest bit cross him. "How cross do you suppose the rest of the family will be to hear that Maelys is going to fight for the Dornish in the trial?"

"I didn't know it would be her, or I should have told you," Aevander replies, "but I am sure the Red Queen will make a few further appearances to remind Oldtown who their masters truly are." His brows lift for the news and he sighs softly. "Is he? Well, I am unsurprised."

"That can be forgiven," Elionys assures him at once, smiling, though at his sigh, it fades. "Yes, he is. Given his hatred for the Tyrell family, I can't say as I'm surprised either. I just don't know how cross King' Landing will be with him for it, or if they will at all. They probably expect this sort of thing from him at this point."

"Well, perhaps he'll be killed and save us all the bother," Aevander muses wryly. "Or perhaps Rhaenys will simply feed him to her dragon."

"Do you suppose we should tell her of it ahead of time?" asks Elionys, sounding unsure. "If she doesn't feed him to Red Queen, but he's forced out of the trial somehow, I wouldn't want him knowing that we were responsible."

"If he is humiliated in front of the town, it will be nobody's fault save his own," Aevander replies with a shake of his head, "for once again putting his own urges above his name and his duty."

"His doing that is something we can count on," Elionys remarks, smiling. "If only we could find some way to make that work to our advantage without him realizing it"

Aevander considers, brows lifting. "Well, the question is, would it be more useful to have him in town or far, far away?"

"That depends on our needs," Elionys remarks as her shoulders — bruised shoulders, too — roll in a faint shrug. "If we need someone to do something less than, ah, kind, can you think of anyone better equipped to do it? If we need peace and kindness only, having him gone is better."

"I am not sure we would ever need peace and kindness, only," Aevander replies, "but we need discretion as well. A feral dog is of little use if you can't manage to keep it leashed."

"So we try to find a way to have him leashed, without him realizing it," Elionys suggests, but it's clearly without any idea of just how they would accomplish that particular suggestion. "There must be some way to do it, because rabid dogs are of use from time to time."

"Mmm," Aevander agrees, though he sounds no less inspired. "If the Dornish should win, tomorrow, and he fights among them, I suppose we could use it to say that the seven have forgiven his transgressions and he should officially be freed from exile. But I'm not sure that does anything to give us much of a leash."

"I don't know that the King would see it that way," Elionys remarks, nose crinkling faintly. "Maelys has done an awful lot of awful things and this is only over the matters pertaining to Dorne."

"No, he may not, but Rhaenys strikes me as pragmatic. If we want to lift the noose from his neck, she may agree that this is an opportune time to do so," Aevander replies. "On the other hand," his brows lift, "perhaps it would be better if we tightened it. Came to some arrangement that put him in service to us, if he means to ignore the edict that he remain exiled."

"Do you suppose the bait of having the exile lifted would tempt him?" asks Elionys, looking over at Aevander thoughtfully. "I could ask him and see how he answers, I doubt he would think of it as anything more than a childish question coming from me."

"He might, if he means to remain in Westeros. If nothing else, it would make things simpler for him," Aevander supposes. "Do ask. I wonder what he'd say."

"I will, though likely I won't have a chance to do so before the trial," Elionys admits, shaking her head slightly. "With it coming tomorrow, I'm sure he is too busy for to indulge me and my questions. Maybe after though, unless the trial ends with his death, in which case we need not worry about it anymore anyway."

"The trial is not until evening, and even a man in training needs lunch and pleasant company. See if you cannot visit him then," Aevander suggests, "to wish him well. of course."

"I will try," Elionys promises, reaching for his hand again, this time to give his fingers a squeeze. "See if I can get past his army of former slaves."

"Do they know they've been freed?" Aevander queries with an arch of his brows. "That might be something else to tackle."

"I don't know," Elionys admits with a faint grimace. "Most of them don't appear to speak our language, which makes it hard for us to ask them."

Aevander sighs softly and shakes his head. "I wish he had stayed here. I'd've had a much better grip on what he was about, by now."

"I do too," Elionys murmurs quietly, brows furrowing. "I wonder if we can talk him into coming back? Or if one of us can go and stay there from time to time, just to see if we can get a better feel on him."

Aevander considers, a finger tapping on one knee. "You know," he muses, "considering the hostility between you and Visenya, cousin, it might not seem amiss of you begged a sanctuary away from the Dragon Manse for a time. If you don't feel he would take too much liberty with you while you were there."

"I have never felt as though he were going to," Elionys remarks after some thought. "He knew me when I was young though, so it may be that he still sees me in that way, which could work to our advantage. I had planned on going over to speak with him, I will add that to the list of things to discuss with him. See if I can get him to offer it, rather than asking, which may make him less guarded."

Aevander smiles softly and nods. "Have I mentioned how truly glad I am to have you here in Oldtown, cousin?"

"You have, but it does me good to hear it again just now," Elionys tells him, leaning close to gently — oh so very gently — bump her shoulder against his. "I'm grateful to have you here as well. I don't think I would survive here were it not for your presence."

Aevander holds still for that bump, respectful of Elionys's many bruises. "You are fast becoming one of the singular balms to my sanity, here." Looking over her arms, though, he has to ask, "What happened with that dragon, anyhow?"

Elionys leans in again, not to bump this time, but to lean against him and rest her head on his shoulder. "Oh, well," she laughs a little, quietly. "I foolishly assumed that Aegon would be told how it all worked, where to go, how close to get, all of it. I should have asked, but I wanted out of the manse very much when he told me he was going to do this for Daevon, and I just… went." She draws a deep breath. "When we got there, it was not at all clear where the dragon was, but obviously we did eventually find it. When we did, there was no obvious way to get the sheep to the dragon, or any spot on which to tie it, so Aegon let them go, thinking the dragon would go after them. It didn't at first, it came to us instead, at first angry, I think, because we'd invaded it's territory, but then— I'm not sure. It stood there as though it planned on eating us, but then it just seemed to change, it's mood, you know? I think it tried to play with us, and I got knocked down on accident, hit the ground rather hard. After that it took off and got one of the sheep, and dropped some of the meat on the ground right beside me. Had I not been hurt as I was, I'd have remained, but the ride was long enough that I thought it best to get back before I wasn't able to make it back."

Aevander lifts an arm and curls it around Elionys. "Perhaps we should all be making more frequent visits to this beast. See if we can't urge it to become more biddable."

"I was thinking the same thing," Elionys replies, giving a little nod that is as much felt as it is seen. "It may be wise for us to also invest in some land not too far from there, so we don't need to bring all of the sheep the whole way. We could keep them, have them tended closer and bring them by wagon the rest of the way. It would also be good if they were not the only ones involvd, because I think people fear what happens if they control a dragon. People— ah, they don't have very nice things to say about Visenya. If that fear is not placated somehow, it may be that they become afraid enough to rise up and try to slay the thing, and I would hate to see that."

"They being Daevon and Visenya?" Aevander asks. "Perhaps so, though she is rather protective over the fact that this beast is her dragon. But I will see what I can do to talk her around to letting us help. You idea of purchasing some land is a good one. Perhaps we can send a few of Maelys's slaves to live out there and reduce his number of them."

"I don't believe it is up to her," Elionys argues, sounding a bit huffy on the matter. "Finding a dragon does not mean ownership, nothing truly means ownership of a dragon. Though I see the point in us working with her, but if she argues, I may do it anyway. You can lay that blame at my feet though, it will make life easier for you."

"Whether it is or no, Visenya feels ownership of the thing, and I would rather do this in a way that reduces warfare under this roof," Aevander argues gently. "So let us at least try it the kindly way, first." He smiles before asking, "Do you feel up to a walk, cos? I thought I might travel to Battle Island and see how our relative is settling in, there."

And they do.

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