Who: Kaelyn, ? When: Day 63, late morning Where: The Great Sept Rating: PG Status: Open
Kaelyn had taken a moment from her duties and her ladies to seek the solitude not of the godswood but of the Sept. Though she felt the power of the Old Gods more strongly, felt the connection and the belief, there was still the lingering desire for the rituals of the Seven. She didn’t hear the voices of the new gods, but still she found herself before the altar of the mother. Perhaps any port in a storm, any chance that any god might hear and grant some ease to the ceaseless pull of emotions. She was with child again, she knew It now. And yet she could not speak the words, dared not think on it too much. Rest the maester had always counseled but where was there rest to be had in this place? What solace in gaining a child if she could not keep the three she had?
Unbidden came a memory, a glimpsed scene in the yard: Genna running to some man-at-arms. Worse the way she’d begun parroting the various ladies of the court- Hester, Toria, Southron ladies, even the Dornish. Had it been only days ago she’d thought that sending Genna to foster would be the best? What gods would grant another child to such a mother?
It had been months even since she’d heard the word from Genna’s lips. Gwyn still said it, still called William father, but from Genna there were only practiced titles, empty names. The younger twin had stopped running to her with skinned knees years since, but Kaelyn frowned as she remembered the last few times the family had been together. Had Genna even embraced William, run to him as she had to the man-at-arms? She had taken up a tendency to tug on the Lord Commander’s tunic to get his attention, she was terrorizing and amusing half the servants by turns but… when had she last said ‘I love you’ to any of her family? Genna was all emotion, she’d never reserved her feelings…
Kaelyn was lost in her thoughts when the arrival of an excited Septa broke into her reverie. She did not turn but found herself involuntarily listening to the breathless report the woman was giving two other ladies. “Martells… Flea Bottom… dragons… thousands…” She nearly choked. Two thousand gold dragons, she would know that amount by heart. A fortune that the crown given to the Martells over Lyanora’s foolishness… Kaelyn’s jaw clenched. She turned and walked from the Sept with carefully measured footsteps, but not quickly enough. A flash of movement and a cleared throat stopped her as she turned to greet the person before her.