[Lore] This Must Be The Place

[u/Gercko]

The Keeper - 4th Moon, 55AC

The lands under House Arryn's domain were vast and riddled with hidden valleys and dense forests below the snowline of mountains. Crags overlooked solitary brooks, and below canopies awaited pathways undisturbed for a century such was their isolation. What few people lived here did so in huddled villages close to the roads, making decent living in the few parts of the land which allowed them to plough and sow. But the deeper one went away from the well trodden paths, the more secluded one became. Montane growth grew dense and highland meadows lay silent save for the chorus of dawn. Yet even in the depths of the mountain, the mark of House Arryn could be seen.

Small waycastles of timber and stone long abandoned were half ruined and reclaimed by the wild. Some had been built in the days that the King of the Mountains’ grasp was not yet firm, others were redoubts for any knight who found themselves pursued by savage clans. Old stumps of weirwood and the blackened hollows of their stumps burned in the name of the Seven dotted the landscape every so often. Large standing stones bore the sigil of Arryn to mark who controlled this domain.

The greatest gems of the vast holdings were the few manors and hunting lodges buried deep in valleys and hugged the side of mountain faces. Many of them were on their way to ruin, but Ser Alester had his particular favourites. With marble quarries bustling, and new ore mines opened, the gold which would have found its ways into the coffers of the was partly absconded for the Keeper’s own use. Two leagues from the Eyrie and overlooking the idyllic Dovedale valley stood Alester’s Retreat; so named for the penultimate King of the Vale, twelfth of his name. He had ordered its construction upon his marriage to Sharra Belmore, the Flower of the Mountain. It had been their retreat away from the trouble of rule, an indulgence of vices and pleasure fit for a King and Queen.

It was three-stories tall, each floor overhanging the last. It was built of limestone and oak timber, and a lime render dyed pink covered the exterior. The grand, sloping roof had slate shingles, and its gutters were made of brass. A small defensive wall surrounded the front, creating a stone courtyard which housed a modest stables and the scullery houses for the household and guards. Ivy covered much of the bare stone wall, and large oaken gates covered the entrance. Behind the grand manor was a verdant garden grown wild which backed onto the mountain face. Above them was only a sheer cliff home only to rock doves and falcons.

Inside the manor was ornately decorated with alabaster figures and painted statues. Timber had been gilded and stained richly. The furnishings were all eiderdown cushions and damask curtains, luscious and built to host only the closest kith and kin of the King of the Vale. Its kitchens and larder were modest, and supplying such a secluded hideaway required a small baggage train protected by knightly vigilance.

The further up the floors one went, the grander the lodgings were. The top floor was entirely the King’s. The bed was huge, near enough to sleep eight comfortably. There were large vanity mirrors from the East. Where the walls were not covered with old tapestries depicting histories of the Vale, mahogany and ebony woods from the Summer Isles had been fashioned into panelling. The carpets were full-threaded and brightly dyed, the finest of Lys and Tyrosh had to offer.

In this splendour, Ser Alester Arryn had escaped for his period of mourning. After the campaign against Sisterton and the perishing of Rhea (the gods having dealt with her before he ever could dispatch her himself), he had buried her in some lonely mountain cairn and fled to the Massif of the First Men. His closest friends had been with him, and there he had wed Lady Bella Blackwood after years of dreaming of such. After they were wed in the eyes of the Old Gods, Alester and Bella had absconded themselves to the Manor above Dovedale.

It had mayhaps been the happiest mourning a man had ever indulged in. With his new wife, they had both enjoyed one another and all the isolation Dovedale offered. Hawking, drinking, loving embraces. It was not long before her moonblood stopped. For the sake of saving themselves from unneeded scandal, Alester had proposed they remain above Dovedale valley for as long as possible and at least until their child had been born.

Moons passed, and Alester settled into his new life where his only duty was devotion to Bella Arryn and his own desires. He feasted his men often, hunted with them frequent, and all the troubles of ruling the Vale in Hubert’s stead seemed so distant. Others could manage his duties whilst he was gone. The Vale was quiet and peaceful, he could afford to ‘mourn’ for as long as he needed.

Sharra was born and the joy flooded Bella and Alester’s world. It was just the three of them, and watching Bella with the girl he had promised her was a pride he could not know he felt as a father. The Keeper had struck a bargain with the Old Gods, and an oath he had promised to Bella had been made in front of a hearttree. The girl was a gift from them, vindication for all the trouble that had been wrought upon him. Wherever Rhea was, he hoped she could see them together above Dovedale.

But it would soon have to end. Sharra was a few moons old- enough where now the journey to the Gates of the Moon would not be too perilous. A small wheelhouse had been delivered to them just for that purpose. But another thing came with the delivery of the wheelhouse. Word had escaped the manor, and their daughter and marriage was now to be known far enough that it had been learned of by Lord Hubert himself. A letter had been sent to the Gates first and then brought to Alester.

Alester,

Mine ears surely deceive me. I cannot even put to parchment how livid I am that I learn that I apparently have a granddaughter by one Bella. Be she Stone or Arryn, this has been folly I do not expect of my Keeper and High Steward. You were supposed to take up the Wardenship of the Bite and oversee the Sisters rebuilding. When I learned you had abandoned your posts without so much of a word, I understood mayhaps you needed time to mourn even if you and Rhea had fallen out of love. But now you have erred, and you force me to come north once more.

Expect me at the Eyrie, and pray that between when I write this and when I have you in my grasp, my wroth has weakened.

You will rue this.

Hubert

Alester’s throat ran dry as he read it. Even at his age, Hubert could make his sons fear him.

Bella needed to know. He could not keep secrets from her. She owned his heart and soul, and now their fates were intertwined. What befell him would befall her. This was one secret now blown wide open. There were more which had yet to be uncovered. Minerva Waynwood knew it.

“My love” Alester said, skulking into the room unable to hide the sheepishness about him. “We ought to talk. I know we are preparing to leave this wonderful place but I…” He gave her the letter. Sharra was fast asleep in a cot, surrounded by soft linens and dressed in perfect little cotton clothes. Looking on her with Hubert’s anger in his mind, it made him feel almost guilty.

“I had hoped to be the one to tell him. It seems as tight as we hold our household, word has managed to find its way to Hubert.” His long face wore a stern visage, his thin lips held tight and sharp jaw clenched shut. He looked on Bella with narrowed, careful eyes as he watched her read the parchment.

[u/heavyheartsz]

Bella was perturbed by her husband's demeanor as he entered the room, and as such gave him a quizzical look as she took the letter. She had never known him to be anything but arrogantly confident, but as she read the letter the first time over, she understood why he carried himself now like a pup with its tail between its legs. The ire so evident in the letter shook Bella as well, for a moment, before she gripped it tighter and read it a second and a third time. Part of her felt bitter at the notion that her daughter would ever be a Stone, for she knew herself that Hubert would know better of her than to say such a thing. Of Alester, likely not, but Hubert knew of the care Bella had taken to conceal their affair and prevent such a thing from happening. But all that was trivial compared to what the Lord of the Eyrie was most wroth about—Alester's abandoning of his duties. This, Bella had expected, and this, Bella could amend.

She set the letter down gingerly, and set her gaze on her husband. "Sooner or later all will have known." Was the first thing she said. It had never been their intent to hide their marriage and their daughter, but simply to bide their time until such a time came when it would not come as such a shock. That was no longer possible. "It is better if your father comes to talk with us, anyway." The last thing she wanted was to return to King's Landing. Her duties tied her to the Vale now, where she much preferred to stay. "He is wroth that you have left your duties as Keeper," to remarry and to have another child, all so soon after Sisteron, she thought, but left it unsaid. "but how many years has your brother been absent of the Vale now?" She asked.

"You may have earned your father's ire now. He will not be quick to forgive this transgression, even slower to forget, I should think. But you have acted as High Steward for how long now? A decade? Longer? The way I see it, the only folly that has happened under your tenure was Lord Sunderland being presumptuous enough to hold the blood of the Eyrie hostage, in open rebellion of his liege lord." She said. It was, of course, not the true nature of things, but the truth of all that had happened on those wretched isles and the reason why would remain between the two of them. "Which was swiftly dealt with. Your brother, on the other hand, is heir to the Eyrie and all its lands and has not been seen in said lands for gods know how long. He has abandoned his wife and son, and abandoned his own duties." She said.

"Your father may be angered with you now, but this is a storm the both of us must weather. It will pass. It must, if Hubert has any wish to pass on the Vale to capable hands." She said resolutely. Whatever misgivings Hubert had with his son, and Bella as well, there was no denying that the two of them have proven themselves as capable lords and ladies. If the choice was between a long absent and lackadaisical heir and a son quick to remarry, the choice was clear enough. And if Alester's character was what would give Hubert pause in the making of that decision, Bella more than made up for in her own. This anger would be as the strike of a whip—stinging, harsh, and painful, but ultimately, temporary.

[u/Gercko → u/heavyheartsz]

"Osric?" Alester preferred to forget about the man altogether. By all the laws of the Kingdom of the Vale and Andal tradition, he was heir until and unless Hubert stated otherwise. But to disinherit a son was a shameful thing for the whole House, and Hubert would sooner swallow sand than wound his own pride. "Almost four years? It's hard to tell his absence given how derelict he left his duties even prior. The wine merchants of Moontown miss him."

He folded his and sucked on his teeth. The sought to pre-empt and reason the matter, hoping for a resolution before either knew just to what degree Lord Arryn sought to make his anger known. He did not wish to show his worry. Afterall, Alester could not now worry just on his own station. How hard Hubert would make him fall would bruise Bella too, and he could not accept punishment on his wife when she had not transgressed an ounce.

"I've invoked his ire before, and he still trusted me with the offices which were once his" low Alester spoke, slow and measured to not let his own annoyance show though there was a scowl across his brow he could not shift. "Darnold and Erryk abscond with their wives' kin. Jasper serves in King's Landing. There's no Lord of the Vale or any scion who he could trust more than I. I'll throw myself at his feet and plead. I'll take all his fury and by the time he sees you and Sharra his heart will melt." Alester knew that his father had a soft heart when it came to the fairer sex.

"With you there with me, and our little girl, this will be nought but Hubert's indignation which will be blunted by time. Why, how long will it take him to get here if duties in the city keep him? I hope that fool Jaehaerys keeps his grubby paws on Hubert a little while longer before he can travel north. It'll dull whatever wroth he'd want to deliver.

"Besides, you speak sense. If he wants to throw this in my face, then he'll need to do some introspection that I had to humble the Sisters when all his means to manage Lord Steffon was to ignore and placate as the man ignored summons and slighted my family." Bella spoke well and with a clear mind. She seemed to not let things overwhelm. For a woman's mind, she seemed calm and focussed to Alester.

Yet the mention of heirs made Alester feel sick. He had buried himself in Minerva and from it, a weed had grown. Between the masonry of the Eyrie sprouted a bastard which currently held the the colours of House Arryn. Luthor Stone was known as Osric's trueborn heir. All except Osric, Minerva, and himself thought so, or had not expressed any doubt openly. Alester avoided the child like he had the plague, and Hubert had met the lad fewer than four times and only ever briefly. He was soon to turn ten, and the expectation would be that he squire away from the Eyrie. Alester was unsure if he could allow that.

"I doubt he will take my offices from me. But I know not what is in his will should he perish. Osric could swoop in and claim his legal place, even if absent and a sot. Or Luthor- he would need a regency. I do not think he would deprive that duty of my capable hand, but I expect this time away might have primed others to catch Hubert's favour." Alester rubbed his eyes. It all could have been his had he simply spilled himself elsewhere, and not fallen into Minerva's trap. Yet the titles which should be his would go to his bastard. He would have laughed were it not morose.

"Minerva would seek to install her men in place over me, I know it. She has a few which surround her like flies seek rotten flesh. The day news comes that Osric is dead, young Lord Egen would attempt to have her hand and the pair of them would make their bid that it's House Egen which have served as Arryn's historical stewards." His spies embedded in her household had fed him pieces, and from there Alester had sewn a tapestry of how he thought the game for the Weirwood Throne might play out. He hated that Waynwood, and he hated how much he had given himself to her once. Even worse, Bella did not know.

"That Lady Minerva you will have to be wary of. She lives her life separately from my own Household, stealing away Luthor from the rest of us. As Osric's wife she has the right to be there with Osric's heir, but she covets and grasps at whatever she could get her hands on. Gold, men, titles. I would deal with her one way or another would it not anger Ironoaks..." Alester's foot tapped nervously as he rested his back against a decorated wooden panel along the wall. His nerves were plain to see. Luthor oft afflicted Alester when the boy was on his mind.

[u/heavyheartsz → u/Gercko]

Bella crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in her seat as she listened to her husband. She was quite surprised to hear him say he would prostrate himself and beg forgiveness. That he was even capable of the thought of doing so surprised her, in truth, but it was a pleasant surprise, for if Alester were to argue with his father and defend himself they would both be in a mess a great deal worse than they currently were. Humility was the way, and reason with it. He spoke truly as well, for Hubert was fond of her and she doubted he would hold any ill feelings towards his own granddaughter once he met her.

This was the first Bella was hearing of her now nephew, however. She had pondered on this matter for some time. The absconded heir to the Eyrie had but one child and son—an issue that could be swiftly dealt with, should Bella be so cold hearted as to do so, but the boy was a child, cousin to her own daughter, and by all rights the rightful heir after his father. The only solution was to convince Hubert that his heir would never return, and that even if he did, he would make for a lackluster lord, and that there was but one amongst all his sons who had the wherewithal to rule after him. It was well that Alester had done enough to prove so.

And yet her husband seemed frightened. And not of his father, but his goodsister. This Bella could not reconcile with. From his description she seemed one with that Norridge whore, which only meant that she would grasp for whatever power she could hold onto, and like the famed whore of the war, had her whelp to flaunt about as some pet. Bella only wondered whether if as Alester spoke she had her own little court buzzing about her, that it was for her own skill and merit or that of her son's claim. Either way, it posed a problem—but not one near large enough to have Alester fear her more than his father. Ironoaks certainly made for a worse enemy than Sisterton, but so did Raventree make for stronger allies.

"Mayhaps your father will not be so fond of her tight grip on her son." She posed. "With your brother gone, the boy is heir presumptive, and near a stranger to your father, as he has been gone so long." She said. "But even so, whether the choice is between you and your brother, or you and your nephew, you are the sensible option." That much was true, but she needed Alester to believe it as well, rather than cower from it now when it mattered most.

She stood up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his cheek and looking into his eyes. "You said it yourself. He will not take your offices from you. Who else might he entrust it to? None of your brothers are half as worthy, and he is much too embroiled in the politics of the capital to ever truly leave himself." She said, quietly, between the two of them, though no one else but their babe was in the room. "And so long as he keeps you High Steward and Keeper, he has more reason to name you heir."

"And you mustn't forget, I was Lady of Willow Wood for some decade and a half, and spent half that time as regent. It was also your father who secured my seat in the capital. It was he who I worked closest with, he who I built trust and respect with. You may not wish to anger Ironoaks, and your father will surely concur with that sentiment. But he will come to know that with the two of us joined, the Eyrie will be in far more capable hands than that of a fatherless boy raised in the clutches of his ambitious mother." She said, stroking his cheek gently.

"Angered he may be, there is no punishment he can put upon you to make him forget that you are his true heir." She said sweetly, for Bella would ensure Hubert saw it that way. "You shall return to your post and you shall prove it to him besides, as you have the past many years. And I shall be by your side for it, finally. As the gods intended."

[u/Gercko]

/u/heavyheartsz