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Emberlei Baratheon (emberlei) wrote in awod,
@ 2010-07-23 16:32:00

Entry tags:

alyana baratheon, chapter 2, dayne baratheon, emberlei baratheon, eva baratheon

ravens arrive
who: Emberlei, Eva, ?
where: Kings Landing, Emberlei's room
when: afternoon, Aug 20
rating: PG
status: OPEN

The seamstresses from Mistress Mephrande's shop had arrived and were laying out their tools to measure her sister for the dress that Ember had surprised her with. She'd already had her own measurements taken but they were going to double check hers for fit as well- probably a good thing since she'd drank all that wine at the shop and she probably hadn't been standing too still... Being ill just murdered one's ability to drink. She'd die if she had to go to one of Princess Elia's parties now...

Emberlei watched her sister standing in the middle of the place with the women fussing over her with a bored detatchment, while she herself flipped through sheaves of sample material. She'd already chosen the one for Eva and her own dress but it was fun to look anyway. Surprisingly it wasn't so bad having just Eva around the last couple days. It was better than Dayne anyway, but he hadn't been there much at all. Ember wondered what was occupying his time and hoped it wasn't The Water Dancer, the wild inn where the merchants from the Free Cities gathered and often clashed with the lordlings and knights of the court. Though it would be better than the Golden Hand, where the sellswords were always found... or the pillow houses. But mother would surely stop that.

The quiet moments were interrupted by the door crashing open and pretty Septa Clarel ran in with her face flushed, and her white robes fluttering as she all but trembled with excitement. "Oh Ladies! Oh, my ladies! Such dreadful news. The maesters are running through the halls, oh my darlings! The news! Such dark tidings." She swept over to Emberlei to take her hands, while Ember stared at her in amazement and growing frustration.

"What news?!"

"Princess Elia, the king's betrothed! The princess from--"

"Dorne, yes I know! What's wrong?"

"She's dead! Died in the forest at Summerhall! They're whispering she was murdered!"

Ember's eyes went wide and she felt the world tilt strangely. "Eva...?" Ember whispered weakly as she collapsed back onto her sofa. "Eva did you hear?"

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	heirofstorm 2010-07-23 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	Practically on the heels of the Septa, Dayne brushed past the seamstresses and looked briefly around the room. "She's not here either?' he asked Ember brusquely. Barely waiting one heartbeat for a reply, he asked again, impatiently, to anyone who might oblige him with an answer, "Mother's not here? Do you know where she is?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

emberlei
2010-07-23 11:57 pm UTC (link)

Ember looked up at her brother with a petulant scowl. "You shouldn't burst into a lady's rooms! What if Eva were undressed? And no, she's not here. Why should she be?"

She slumped back on the couch and looked at Septa Clarel again. "Princess Elia, you're sure? They're sure? Princess Elia? But she can't be dead, she's almost the queen! She's... she is the queen! Of Love and Beauty! The king gave her the jeweled rose crown and declared she was forever! They even wrote songs about it already!"

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littlehart
2010-07-24 01:15 am UTC (link)

Eva had been busy loosening the measuring tape around her shift every time one of Mistress Mephrande's women looked away when Septa Clarel burst in the news. "Gods be good," she whispered. Princess Elia Martell... How was it even possible? Her sister looked to be in shock. Eva pushed away the women clustered around her and hurried over to the sofa. "There, yes, sit down," she murmured, kneeling beside her. Ember might have been close to Elia, after all her time at court--she'd feel this news hardest of all.

She shot her brother a worried glance. "I don't know, Dayne. I haven't seen Mother since breakfast. Why, is everything all right?" Eva was glad he was here; his presence always made her feel safer. But he had the manner of something gone wrong.

Beside them, Septa Clarel was still on the verge of hysteria. "Oh, my sweet Lady Ember...I heard the tragedy from Maester Blount himself!" Eva wanted to slap her to stop the fluttering and send her away; couldn't she see she wasn't helping? "Hush, Ember." Eva bit her lip. "Elia will live in the songs, then...she's only gone to them early. It will be all right." But it did not feel like it at all.

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heirofstorm
2010-07-24 03:14 am UTC (link)

Dayne looked at the Septa with disdain. The woman was flapping about like a wounded goose. "Get out!" he commanded in a tone that clearly was meant to be taken quite seriously. "Go on, out!" He shooed the extraneous women out of his sister's room, closing the door firmly behind them.

Turning to Eva, he said, "Well, I would consider the death of the king's betrothed to be very not 'all right', wouldn't you?" Seriously, sometimes Eva couldn't see past her own nose. "And I want to know if Mother knows yet. She might find the news to be quite . . . " Dayne halted in mid-sentence, looking at Ember doing dramatics on the couch. It was more from caution than concern for her sensibilities that he finished with, " . . . upsetting, as I'm sure we all do." There was little doubt in his mind that their mother had been one of the first to know about this . . . . interesting bit of news. What he really wanted to do was discuss it with her. That's why he was trying to track her down.

Shaking his head in frustration, he plopped on the couch on the far side of Ember. Finally noticing Eva's garb, he said, "Have you just now gotten out of bed, Eva? Throw a robe on for the seven's sake."

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emberlei
2010-07-24 03:41 am UTC (link)

Ember put a hand through her hair while her thoughts were spinning. "The king is going to be so angry! He might go mad with grief!" She grabbed Eva's hand. "Oh, this is dreadful. We'll be wearing mourning clothes for absolutely ever!"

Her head whipped around to her brother. "Upsetting? The king is going to be furious! He's never going to let us out of mourning and you want to talk to mother? And we were getting new dresses, when you so rudely interrupted. I'm going to have to beg Mistress Mephrande to let her ladies come back and now we'll need everything done in black. Poor Queen Aeria, she just got out of mourning!"

Ember flopped back against the arm of the couch, draping herself over it in abject desolation. "I hate black!"

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littlehart
2010-07-24 05:11 am UTC (link)

Dayne's words were rather wounding. Eva bit back her protest. No, Dayne, it's not all right at all, but are you helping calm Ember down by pointing that out? "Dayne, please! Ember's only a few days out of bed." Her sister took her hand, and Eva squeezed it comfortingly. Everyone was talking at once and it was giving her a headache. "Mourning--? Ember, that's hardly the most important consequence of the princess's death! How can you speak like that at a time like this?" It had come out more sharply than she'd intended and she regretted it almost immediately. "Though if you're so worried about it, I suppose...black would permit more daring necklines," she managed after a moment, in a more conciliatory tone.

She blushed angrily at Dayne's rebuke. "Those women you just threw out were taking my measurements for a new gown. It's hardly my fault I'm only in a shift, Dayne," she said, as she hurried over to Ember's wardrobe and wrapped herself in a bedrobe. "Ember's right, next time you should knock." That came out too harsh also. She attempted a smile. "...Thank you for getting rid of all those hysterical women, though."

There was a quieter moment and she sat down on the couch between her siblings, hands in her lap. "You wanted to talk about it with Mother, Dayne? I suppose you'll get to soon enough... And I'm sure she's known at least for as long as we have. I can't see why you have to go stomping around all the time like a younger version of Robert the King, though." She looked at the unhappy people on either side of her. She hardly ever scolded Dayne as she did Ember and Dom, but somehow Eva couldn't seem to stop herself. "Please, Dayne, we are all siblings. Ember and I are on your side, you don't have to be so rude about things always. There's nothing to prove. And Mother isn't always the only one worth talking to in the family," she finished, giving him a hard look. "Have you even visited Ember once since she's been better?"

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heirofstorm
2010-07-25 03:56 pm UTC (link)

Dayne simmered. Princess Elia was dead – murdered – and all Ember could think about was how it would impact her fashion choices. Perhaps dragging her along to Summerhall wasn’t such a good idea. He knew she wasn’t interested in the game he so badly wanted to be playing. She had her own more entertaining ones, no doubt. But, honestly! Giving a crap about her wardrobe when such a potentially strategic gift was being thrown into their laps!

He watched absent-mindedly as Eva rose and wrapped a gown about herself. How the hell was he supposed to know when his sisters were having yet more dresses made? He should probably just assume that it was a constant thing – the seamstresses should just move in here with them. Eva, too, had certainly failed to inherit any bit of their mother’s political astuteness or interest.

His sister’s words bounced off an uninterested hide, although he did wrap an arm around her shoulder when she sat beside him.

“I’m not always rude. Only to you.” He teased. “And I wasn’t stomping. Mother just seems to disappear at the most inconvenient times.”

He sat forward a bit, glancing at Ember who was striking a pose, for her own benefit primarily as neither he nor Eva took too much notice of her frequent displays. Sitting back, he said, “She seems fine to me. And yes, I have spoken to her since her brilliant recovery, my dear sister. Haven’t I Ember?” He wasn’t sure exactly when he had last dropped by her room. He’d been a bit preoccupied, by one thing or another. But he was fairly certain he had seen her . . . hadn’t he?

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emberlei
2010-07-25 06:50 pm UTC (link)

Daring necklines? Now that was an idea. "Oh, Eva, I love you! You're brilliant!" She glared at Dayne. "You, however, are the worst brother ever. And no, you haven't visited, but I forgive you," she said magnanimously, with a grand gesture. "It's not your fault you're rude. It's the way the gods made you."

She hated it when it was the three of them. Where was Domenic? The terrible two were just going to talk about things she didn't care about until they were blue in the face anyway.

Ember turned so she was resting against the arm of the couch, her legs curled up in front of her, feet definitely on the cushion. "I haven't seen mother today. She usually stops by at some point- there must be something big going on with this news though. The king's betrothed! He'll have to take someone else to wife now! Oh, Eva, it could be you!"

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littlehart
2010-07-25 10:23 pm UTC (link)

She gave her brother a disapproving look, though Eva couldn't say she wasn't surprised he hadn't visited Ember. True, Dayne hadn't been much of an older brother to anyone but herself--and her only because she'd chased him around when they were younger and given him no peace. Just now he'd smiled and put his arm around her, though, and it was hard to stay mad. She sighed. "I'm glad it cheers you. Just don't go too far with that style, Ember," she said, fondly and a little wearily. Thank goodness I'm here, or Dayne and Ember would've been past speaking by now. She laughed at Ember's assessment of their brother's personality. It was perhaps a little true. She couldn't blame him for being self-centered, but she doubted it would serve him at court.

She blushed at Ember's exclamation. "Oh, don't be silly, Ember," she said quickly. She could remember a summer long ago when she'd had a painful crush on Jaehaerys. Then that common boy had teased her, and Dayne had beat him up...and that was the end of playing with the dragons. Nowadays they were more like to fight the dragons than marry them, if she'd understood right. "And if somehow any of us were to be queen, it would be far more likely you than me." A queen would need to have a court, and manage it. Just the thought of that many people made Eva wince.

She turned to Dayne. "Mother will come in her own time. She has a great many more things to take care of than any of us do," said Eva reasonably. "You may as well wait here, I suppose." She paused. "I don't know if you've heard, Dayne, but Father won't let us go to Summerhall by ourselves. Especially now that Ember's nearly well enough to come with us." It was disappointing, but she smiled for Ember's sake. "I don't know how long the King intends to stay there, either. There's a chance we'll miss Summerhall entirely," she said wistfully, thinking of the soaring aqueducts and marvelous gardens with regret. And a new library to explore, too. It really was too bad, though it would be nice to have Ember along whenever they did leave. She'd go down to dinner tonight and try again, with Ember too this time, but...

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heirofstorm
2010-07-27 01:23 pm UTC (link)

“Perhaps we’ll toss you to the dragons.” Dayne replied to his younger sister with a smirk. She’d be gobbled up in one bite, undoubtedly, but she’d give them indigestion for sure on the way down. “Your crown would be all that was left once they’d finished with you.”

At Eva’s words though, Dayne’s momentary smile turned back into a glower. “What?” he exclaimed, withdrawing his arm from Eva’s shoulders so he could look at her. “When did Father decide this?”

In the name of the Seven! It was more than a little mind-boggling to try to understand his parents. Why have a son, an heir, if you intended to keep him cooped up in a deserted castle with a bunch of women, while other men were out doing what they could to forward the interests of their Houses, their families – themselves?

He clasped his hands together and let them dangle between his knees as he slumped forward. Fuck, this was so irritating!

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hersisthefury
2010-07-28 06:23 pm UTC (link)

"Just the other day," said a voice from the doorway. Alyana stood there, using a fan to keep a breeze on her face. The day was a bit too humid for her tastes, but in her mind that was the only thing wrong with it.

"Just as well, as even leaving now we will miss Summerhall entirely. However, we will be where the court is next, this I promise. And Dayne, please, no joking about feeding your sister to the dragons. I'll have no such statements between any of you," Alyana said simply.

"Now, what exactly has all of you so excited?" Not that she didn't know. Days ago, in fact.

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emberlei
2010-07-31 08:06 pm UTC (link)

Ember was distracted by the idea of being queen. Wouldn't that be mad? Oh, she'd be so much better at it than Eva would be too, and she could have the kingsguard throw Dayne out of the throne room any time he was insufferable...

That pleasant moment was banished as her mother's figure appeared in the doorway. Ember smiled warmly, but part of her sighed. Now it was Dayne and mother. "No Summerhall?" she asked in shock. "But no! Oh, this is agony!" She collapsed back across the arm of the couch. "Where's the court going next?" she asked, moving from tragedy to curiosity in the space of a blink.

"Haven't you heard, Mother? Princess Elia's dead, and now the king has announced we're all in mourning and wherever we join the court we'll be in nothing but black for weeks, and oh gods, can you even imagine? Princess Elia! The court's going to be so boring now, and the king's going to go mad."

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littlehart
2010-08-01 06:34 am UTC (link)

Everybody was mad at everybody! Eva wished fervently that she'd not stayed to wait with Ember and Dayne for their mother to arrive. She should have known that this would happen. At first she was just relieved that her mother had finally come. But her sister's next words gave Eva no time to lament the loss of Summerhall, or even really process what her mother was saying. "Of course Mother knows," she said quickly. And then, "Oh, Ember, you must not--!" How Ember could be so good with people, and yet so utterly lack self-preservation around their mother? "She just means--how life at court will likely be rather darker than before, with these new developments, Mother...She's just been here alone in her room for so long, and...all the--the dynamics--of court will be all shifted around...it will be so much harder to get back to where she was before, to hear things, and..." Eva trailed off; it all sounded hollow even to her own ears. She felt very near tears and prayed it didn't show. "Of course she wouldn't say any of that except we're all family here," she added in one last desperate try to save the situation.

"But what do you think of it all, Mother, Dayne is dying to know," she managed finally, remembering at last. Never try to explain, just change the subject, she'd been cautioned before--but Eva doubted Alyana meant it to be this transparent, or abrupt. She straightened her shoulders--as if that could bolden her!--and shifted to the back of the couch, trying her level best not to cringe behind Dayne.

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heirofstorm
2010-08-04 01:55 pm UTC (link)

Dayne looked at his mother. He had known that she had known, well before the raven had arrived today. But obviously it wasn't anything she'd entrust him with. Alyanna wasn't about to share her carefully hoarded knowledge.That was as much why he had been looking for her, as to discuss what the implications of the princess's murder would hold for their House. The last thing he wanted was to discuss any of it in front of his sisters, though. Knowing that she would in all probability feel the same, he said, "Yes, mother, please tell us your thoughts - if you've had time to formulate any, that is. I'm sure this news has you as much in shock as the rest of us."

At least there seemed to be some movement on the getting-the-hell-out-of-King's-Landing front. And that couldn't come too soon for his tastes.

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	hersisthefury 2010-08-04 06:16 pm UTC (link)
	"Dayne, I will not trouble your sisters at this disturbing time," Alyana said smoothly, "Why don't you follow me and we will discuss it. That way the girls can finish their fitting." (Reply to this) (Parent)