(121-04-11) Baby Sunset
Baby Sunset
Summary: Arrick brings Mariya a gift as an apology for the day before. And then says things that will require another apology tomorrow.
Date: 4/11/2014
Related: Little Cockatrice, Little Princess
Players:
Arrick..Mariya..

White Stone Manse - Starry Street

It is a summer day. The weather is cool and overcast.

This grand manse faces the prestigious Starry Street. The first story is protected by narrow high windows that stop people from seeing inside, but the big windows on the back wall and the four upper stories make the manse bright and airy over all.

The first floor's main hall is brightly lit with lamps to make up for the shortcomings of the street-facing windows. The white walls and polished white marble floors add to the effect, making it seem airy and bright. There's a grand dining room separated from the entry hall by broad doorway. The house is richly decorated and well-appointed, with luxurious furnishings.

Like almost all of the houses in Oldtown, it shares two walls with its neighbors on either side, but the servants quarters, kitchens, and servant's stairs buffer the house proper from any noise that could possibly leak through the thick stone walls. The grand staircase that allows residents and their guests access to the upper stories is of white marble veined with a pleasing yellow-tinged pink.

There's a pleasant walled garden in the back, viewed from the windows in the back wall and accessed through a glass-paneled door.


With the morning air seeping through some of the opened windows of the white stone manse, the clink and clang of armor can be heard at the stables as horses are returned to their stalls for grooming and feed. Through the open air a few insults and good-natured taunts are heard as the large contingent of Dornish knights return from an early morning sparring session outside the city..

"You've obviously been tainted by this Reach air! You couldn't hit a damn thing!"

"Your ass got fat during the ride on the ship, that's no place for a Dornishman!"

"Hey Gargalen, you never said what you were doing with that flower??"

Entering into the main hall with a shoulder into the door the lone Gargalen knight, that made the trek to Oldtown, calls back to some of the rowdy types at the back stable with deflecting words, "Don't worry about this flower, it's not for your sister Fowler!" The knight backpedals into the manse with a grin and lets one of the servants close the door as he turns his attention to an immediate search, he asks one of the nearby servants, "Direct me to Princess Mariya please, the guardsmen at the gate informed me she was still about the manse."

The called upon servant directs Arrick toward the dining room. There, Mariya has spread out quite a few sheets of parchment as well as a map. While this is normally the sort of thing best left to a study, none of those tables are quite large enough to fit everything she requires. Upon closer study, the map looks to be of the border towns of Dorne. Currently standing and leaning over the map, a few of the chairs have been pushed to the side so that she can lean against the edge of that table unencumbered. It seems as if she is scribbling out a list of names of towns. She's clearly focused on her work, eyebrows slightly furrowed in thought.

With a nod to the servant the young Gargalen plods through the manse with the loud clinks and clanks originally heard outside. Entering into the dining room the knight offers while placing a hand behind his back, "Ahh, a Princess teaching herself something important??" Arrick moves forth to the opposite side of the table and spies the Red Mountains rather prevalant and says, "Even better, trying to find the quickest way home??" Arrick smiles at that and then mentions his reason for coming inside in the first place, "I brought you something from outside the city."

The entrance of Arrick is met with a glance upward before Mariya's mouth sets into a thin line. It would seem she has still not forgiven him for the day before. Then, resolutely, she returns to the map and her list. "If you must know, I am making a list of towns I will send ravens in hopes of finding word of Lady Yael Blackmont - the woman gone missing from Wickham's Nest. Should there be some word of her, perhaps the Trial might not even need to take place." She adds on, "So, no, I am not plotting a course home. If I were, it would most likely involve a ship and not a trek through the mountains." As for him bringing something from outside the city, she is finally curious - yet still skeptical. It warrants a raised eyebrow as she straightens. "If it is a handful of mud, I'll call the guards." He once overturned a bowl of sand over her head when they were children - she can imagine him thinking giving her mud would be a good jest.

Arrick laughs at the jest and says, "You have a very good memory Princess but no, it's not mud, not this time anyways." Arrick winks at that last little bit and then brings the bright orange flower from behind his back and gently places it upon the map, spread right across the Red Mountains, pointed towards Sunspear. "This is a baby sunset. The story goes, many years ago, a Dornish knight buried his fiery want of knighthood in the dirt outside Oldtown. He was off to the citadal to become a maester and this what became of him burying his knightly vows." Arrick points to the flower and adds, "I thought it beautiful and wanted to bring you something from outside the city."

"I had sand in my hair for days!" While Arrick perhaps only had to deal with it for a moment, Mariya dealt with the consequences for days afterward. It was quite memorable at the time. When the bright flower is brought forth, her quips are gone. Her eyes widen and she watches him place it on the map in front of her. Immediately, she picks it up to study it. "It's beautiful," she intones sincerely. Eyes move from flower to Arrick, some of the annoyance and displeasure at his presence gone from her face. "I didn't know that story." And she knows many, many stories. It takes her a moment, but she finally adds, "Thank you. That is…it's very kind of you."

Arrick shrugs at the thank you and says, "Little Princess, we said prayers outside town and when it came to the mother I felt that I had maybe wronged you and wanted to change that. I bet that this would." Arrick puts his hand through his matted, rather sweaty hair and says, "Besides, it's not wise to go into battle with a Princess cursing your name, even if she's little." Arrick taps the centerpiece of his armor and continues, "This cockatrice isn't so terrible, even if I tend to throw a little mud and sand from time to time…"

This apology - though not actually saying the words 'forgive' - is more kindly received by Mariya. Holding on to the flower, she breathes in its perfume and gives Arrick the first smile directed at him since his arrival. "You would be far less terrible if you never threw mud or sand." At the mention of the forthcoming battle, the smile fades, but more due to the seriousness of the situation. "I would not curse your name during battle. Before it, certainly, and after it perhaps, but I don't wish you harm. If I did, I would have thrown much more than grapes at you."

Arrick recalls the grapes and smiles at the events of yesterday saying, "Grapes are the least of my worries Princess, if anything, getting a few grapes tossed my way is a welcome change, considering what tomorrow may bring." Arrick teeters back on to the heel of his boots and then comes forward, letting off a loud clank that echoes through the room. "You know Princess, I don't think, even if I was the most terrible cockatrice or knight you had ever met, that you could wish any sort of harm. You just seem much too" Arrick slowly makes his way around the map and peers down at the edge of Dorne, avoiding the inevitable look that'll be shot his way if he finishes that sentence, "Then again, you are from the fiery side of these mountains." Arrick points down at the Red Mountains and then slowly traces where the rose was placed, all the way to Sunspear, "And a Dornish Princess tends to know when to use her curses."

Tomorrow will bring much to worry about. "Perhaps, but I should not have thrown them at you." It's her own form of an apology. "You are not the most terrible knight I have ever met." That is no contest. However, as Arrick makes his way around the map, Mariya watches, still giving him a leery look when he does not finish his sentence. "I am much too…what?" It seems that he is under fire whether he does or does not decide to describe her. "You are also from the same side," she reminds. "I do like to keep my curses for the proper occasion. I do not think I would waste one of them on hurting you during the Trial." She pauses, looking down at the flower, frowning.

Arrick peers through the other pieces of the map and tries to finish his unfinished sentence as politely as he can, considering the fire that'll come regardless. With an eye still looking over the Stormlands and up into the Crownlands he says finally, almost wincing as the words come to his lips, "You're a lot like the smell of that flower, but maybe too much if that makes sense." Arrick stands up straight with that and says, "But what do I know? I'm just a silly knight from Salt Shore!" Arrick withdraws from Mariya's side of the table and makes his way back around, almost retreating in his scaled armor, longsword at his side.

Mariya's eyebrows both raise at his answer, not quite sure she heard him right. "You're calling me cloying, then." Unfortunately, she has no grapes to toss his way today. Though she just apologized for it, she would gladly do so again. "You are just a silly knight from Salt Shore! And a frustrating one at that, as well!" As he retreats, she takes one step of an advance on him before keeping her place. All she has to wield against his plate and his longsword is a baby sunset. Those are not good odds for a princess that does not know much in the way of fighting - not that she would actually attempt to attack him.

The silly knight retreats a step further and then raises his hand in a defensive manner and says, "It's funny how time turns things about. Ten namedays past, I would have been chasing you with sand for your hair and dead scorpions down your silken robe and today you chase me with a gifted flower." Arrick keeps his hands up and then offers, "I just imagine your good nature being taken advantage of, a Princess of Dorne ought to arm herself with more than flowers and fear of mud and sand." Arrick hears one of his knightly brothers entering the house and he offers as he steps towards the main hall in the unknown knight's direction, "I do hope to see you before the trial. Maybe I will have another gift to go along with another apology?"

"At least a flower is a much kinder weapon than a dead scorpion," Mariya tells him. "I don't fear mud and sand. And I have more than just flowers. But, what is wrong with having a good nature? What is the alternative? To be dour and expecting treachery around every corner? That does not seem to be a good way to live." Attention caught by the other knights entering, she focuses over his shoulder before returning her gaze to his. "Perhaps it would be better to act in a way that would not require such apologies every other day." Then, shortly after, she nods. "Yes, I hope I see you as well. I would hope to wish you luck before the Trial. For old time's sake." Even if he is a terrible cockatrice.

Arrick thinks on that a moment and then as he slowly makes his way towards the entrance hall he leans back and says, "It's not so much your nature, being like a flower is fine, but maybe take advantage of your house sigil and the way of the Dornish people… More fire, sand and less wonderful sweet smell." Arrick makes for the exit and then leans back in and adds before disappearing into entrance hall, "My little princess…"

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