[voice/video] I put my trust in you, a stranger (un: whitewolf)

[northerndragon]

1. Voice

[A man's deep voice, colored with some urgency.]

My name is Jon Snow. I need the aid of two or three strong fighters, outside the city -- now. One of the Beastmaster's creatures is on me. He isn't alone.

2. Video

[Later, it's a young man, looking hesitant and unsure of where to begin. A curl of his dark hair is falling into his bearded face, and there are fine vertical scars above and below his eyes, as if someone once tried to claw them out. He has just been shown to his rooms after a long, hard journey, and he looks like it.

When he speaks, it's with the same deep voice from earlier in the day, now earnest and weary. The more he speaks, the more sure of himself he sounds, until in the end, it may become clear that he's used to addressing groups of people.]

I am sorry for my hasty messages earlier. The creatures are dead -- they won't trouble you or any of the people of this city.

I'm Jon Snow. I come from the Merchant -- I've been riding in and out of these canyons for most of a fortnight. Never seen anything like Taravast, but it is good to be in numbers again.

I don't expect that it will mean anything to any of you, but I am from the North. One of the Seven Kingdoms, it was.

I need to meet with Wrath and Wen Qing, as soon as either of you can. I am in the Palace of the Doxe.

For the rest -- tell me what I can do here in the city. Tell me what I can do to help our cause.

Comments

[northerndragon]

[That is complicated for him. He does not mourn an aunt he never knew, one who was seldom spoken of when he was a boy. At the same time, it’s hard to appreciate the comparison to the man who had stolen her away. His face settles into a slight frown again.]

I don’t fear it for myself. I fear it for my people, the southrons, the people of Essos. You, your people. Everyone. I fear the world becoming a graveyard. But there would be no graves, only people forced to march — not to feel, not to rest, not to sleep. Nothing they’d do if they had a choice. Just march and kill until there’s nothing left.

[song_of_fire]

[It's quite the tapestry he weaves, but she well sees the image. She was not be familiar with the Others and the stories that Jon might have grown up knowing, so the threat was less real to her. What he spoke of was a world away, but suddenly it was grounded in a threat she knew and understood. A threat that was painful and real.

She knew death and she knew slavery. They seemed to go hand in hand with these Others.]

That would be worse than death.

[She felt aged, facing another war with no real respite in sight.]

The gods made kings to protect those who cannot protect themselves. If this threat is real and we meet back in Westeros, we can discuss this more at length.

cw child death

[northerndragon]

It would be. I’ve seen it. Children who had been playing moments earlier killed and turned to fight their friends.

[His gaze is still direct and troubled and serious, and finally, he purses his lips and nods.]

This is all I am king for. It might be all I am alive for.

[song_of_fire]

[She could only look at him in utter bafflement as she slightly bristled.]

You're king because your people follow you, trust you and believe in you. This threat sounds dire, but you are the only source of justice and hope the smallfolk have. What happens to them if you die? After all they suffered in these wars, they need a king that thinks of them, not simply a war.

I grant you, it will protect them if you defeat this enemy, but what about after? You are their father, their guardian.

You are alive for them. That's why you live.

[northerndragon]

[A long look and a slow nod. It’s strange that a woman he just met — almost still a girl, really — should have such faith in him.]

I am alive for them, but the rest — only if I live. Only if I live.

[His survival is not a sure thing. No one’s is. It may be that the war is won, but not for him. And that would be all right.

He makes a dismissive little gesture before he continues.]

If that’s really how you feel, you’d have my aid in taking the throne from Cersei. My aid, the North’s aid. We don’t have much, but what we could offer, we would.

[song_of_fire]

You have no cause to trust me or join my war. I can't say the state of my armies or dragons will fare well against these dead of yours.

[He offered her the North's aid, but not the North. Six Kingdoms, not seven. What Torrhen Stark gave, Jon Snow took back.

Didn't I just tell him to live for his people? Do I expect him to hand over what I told him to cherish?]

These are things to discuss when I'm in Westeros and in such a position as you describe. At the moment, I have another war left unfinished and a different kingdom to set right.

If I can.

[northerndragon]

No, but you looked for an offer, and we have more than one common enemy. If it’s the way of things when the time comes, it’s an offer I’ll be able to make.

[If not, it doesn’t matter, because the North and everyone else will be fucked, and Cersei will be no one’s concern.]

Your kingdom — so what will you do to set it right?

[song_of_fire]

[God's but that question drained her. So many different attempts all ended in failure. Marriage hadn't helped, concessions made no difference. She had no stomach for more bloodshed and suffering, not if it could be avoided.

Fire and Blood. She had that...though a part of her trembled at the thought.]

I don't know. [She returned to the bed, sitting with her feet tucked under her as she often did after court.] What would you do?

I have slavers assaulting my harbor, refugees at my gate spreading the Gray Mare, and Harpies killing my freedman and soldiers inside. I tried negotiations, concessions to the masters and marriage. There are no options left to me, but so many will die that way.

If I was a better queen, I'd have the answer.

[northerndragon]

[It sounds complex. No problem is easy, he’s found, not when it involves people and borders and enemies and innocents. Without knowing everything, knowing the land, he hardly knows where to begin.]

When there are no good options, try to choose the one among the bad that causes the least harm.

Who are the Harpies? Enemies within? Seems I’d start with them or the harbor… but I don’t know the place. I don’t know your city, or your people.

[song_of_fire]

It's a battle on three front with three different enemies, though two share cause. The Harpies are likely the noble families of Meereen, the former slavers. They have been murdering large numbers and I have no idea who is behind them.

My husband promised to arrange 90 days of peace. In exchange, I married him, hoping to stop the killing. Ser Barristan thinks he's behind the Harpies. Mayhap he's right.

Meanwhile the armies from Slaver's Bay threaten us and more are like to join them Qarth, perhaps Volantis. They want their trade back.

I can't extract one from the other.

[northerndragon]

[It sounds like a great disaster in the making. The North has its own difficulties, but it’s nothing like this. She has neither loyalty from the inside nor, from how it sounds…]

No allies of your own?

Why did you take the city?

[It’s a curious question, not an accusatory one.]

[OOC — also I am sorry to anyone following this thread if I’m repeating myself and some of this stuff was established early on.]

tw: child death

[song_of_fire]

Because no one should be forced to endure the brutality and degradation a slave must endure. These are people. Men, women, children.

When I marched from Yunkaii to Meereen, the masters meant to send me a warning. 163 warnings.

Each mile, they had left a child crucified, pointing the way to the city. How could I not take the city?

[northerndragon]

[His frown deepens — disgust that anyone would do such a thing. An obvious provocation, but what do you do in the face of it? Even if you try to pass by, they mean to attack from the rear. More of a warning about the kind of people you’re dealing with instead of a warning to stay away.]

You shouldn’t expect much different in King’s Landing. She won’t crucify people, but nothing I’ve seen or heard makes me think she has much care for the smallfolk. I met her once, but she was only the king’s wife then. Gracious enough, but —

[song_of_fire]

I would hope not to see her massacring her people, but I know nothing about Cersei Lannister. [She still doubts the woman is holding the throne, as she has no claim, but she won't question Jon on it now.] I know her father was considered calculating and cruel.

How has she managed to pacify the nobles into accepting her rule?

[northerndragon]

[A shrug.]

Fear. The Lannister army is still strong, but enough of the kingdoms are in rebellion against her anyway. The North will not kneel, and we have the Vale. [And their knights, he means.] If the Lannisters lose the Riverlands, they will also join us, because Lord Tully is my sister’s uncle. I don’t see a Tully kneeling to me, though. Cersei doesn’t have the Reach and she doesn’t have Dorne or the Iron Islands. That’s the lay of things before I left Winterfell.

[Maybe he’s a fool to say all of this to someone who could turn out to be an enemy. But he doesn’t see much of calculation in her so far — more youth and curiosity, and that great resentment at injustice that he also understands. And he isn’t telling her anything that everyone in Westeros doesn’t know at the time he found himself in this strange new world. They might as well be in Asshai.]

[song_of_fire]

She has nothing then. [Unless the Faith was somehow behind her, but that seemed unlikely. None of the Seven Kingdoms at her side, that left her alone in the wilderness. It didn't matter how powerful the Lannister army was, if enough of the kingdoms rose against her, she'd be overthrown quickly.] I suppose that would explain how she ca even name herself queen.

With no support, you could name a fence post as king.

[But all of this is pointless to know. She can't act on it yet, she can't abandon the people she still has yet to protect.]

You mentioned a sister? Is she well?

[northerndragon]

[He makes a slight ambivalent gesture.]

Crueler than a fence post. My sister cautions me not to underestimate her. It doesn’t matter, though, if we’re all already dead.

But aye, my sister is well, to my knowledge. She prefers home these days. Misses our father, misses our brothers, as I do. But we are both happy to have those stones all around us, when we can.

I wonder if the two cousins here feel the same about their city.

[song_of_fire]

Your sister knew Cersei Lannister?

[She's curious about the girl, but there's a great deal about Jon Snow that's she's curious about.]

Two cousins?

[northerndragon]

My sister Sansa was taken to court when she was not yet a woman grown, as Joffrey’s betrothed. A hostage for some time after. She knew Cersei well. Knew Margaery Tyrell. All of them. They married her to Lord Tyrion, in the end, before she escaped the city.

[That’s it, in brief.]

As to the rest, the cousins, I mean the ones who might succeed don Bonaccorso.

[song_of_fire]

Ah, so Tyrion Lannister is your brother now?

[She enjoys every chance to tease this dour man.]

Ah. Them. To be honest, I don't think of them.

[northerndragon]

[He hardly knows her, and he still gives her a mildly-put upon reproachful look: very funny.]

But you’ve been here longer than I have. I only mean that it’s their home. I hope they have a care for it, and the people in it.

[song_of_fire]

[She flashes him a pleased smile. Endure it, Jon.]

I can't say I have seen them interact with the people. I only recently arrived myself and my experience was being sold into Lady Vannozza's household. It hasn't left the best impression for me.

I spend more time out in the city with the people and many of them feel forgotten and neglected. There are so many homes in need of repairs, so many shops left in disarray. It seems that the recent attack has only raised troubles that were beneath the surface.

[northerndragon]

[He lowers his voice.]

This isn’t a poor city. Any place will have people who have less than others, but the Doxe… shouldn’t he be trying to help them?

[A moot question, because even so early in this acquaintance, he thinks each knows what the other would say.]

[song_of_fire]

That would be his duty, but not all prefer that responsibility. Many with money prefer to acquire more and hoard it. People suffer in the meantime.

It might be better for you not to look to them for help. The people and the merchants are growing louder and they need attention. Kindness is always remembered.

[northerndragon]

[A stiff nod.]

I’m not speaking of what he’d prefer, I’m speaking of what he should be doing. I’ve known poor men from Flea Bottom and poor men from little farms, and poor people who have never seen a tower with a second floor. It may not be what men like him do, but it’s right to give what you can, when you can give it.

I’ve only been here a few hours. I don’t know what I can give them. Not yet.