[color= #e60000]
Avicea and the mystery sender[/color]
Collaboration between
@Kitti and
@Jorick
The man with a red length of cloth wound around his neck, like a scarf that was too short to properly do the job, spotted Avicea only a moment after she saw him. He raised a hand and beckoned her over, gesturing to the seat across the table from himself. His appearance was nothing impressive: black hair and blue eyes, and his cheeks had a slightly gaunt cast to them that looked all the more sunken compared to his strong jawline. His clothing, aside from the red cloth, was drab and brown and well-worn just like most everyone else in the room. The tavern was bustling, but with so many on the move and others standing crowding around a table in one corner of the room gambling with dice there were plenty of open seats. The man's table was near the center of the room, halfway between the entry and the back wall but closer to the plain and stained wall to the left than the bar that took up the right end of the large room.
He did not stare or call out to Avicea after waving her over. Instead he casually returned his attention to his tankard, taking a long swig of something that made him grimace as he set it down again, and surveyed the room without taking any apparent interest in its occupants. He looked perfectly at ease and content to sit there for hours yet, and if not for the brief acknowledgement it would have been easy to think he hadn't noticed Avicea's presence at all.
In contrast to the man's demeanour, which was so self-assured the he seemed entirely at home amidst the noise and carousing, Avicea had to fight back a swell of uncertainty. Appearing too nervous, however, would only draw more attention to herself, this she knew. With that in mind, she kept her chin level, despite the desire to tilt it upward in defiance of her own uncertainty while at the same time swaying her posture a little backward.
Before walking over to him, she paused a moment to give the surroundings another look, one less harried and taken with greater measure. Of the three men who accompanied her inside, she waved one away to nurse a drink at the bar. Taking a deep breath, Avicea let a smile like warm honey pull the corners of her mouth and wound through the room. Before reaching the table, however, she detoured to the bar and fished a few coins from the layers of her dress in exchange for a tankard herself.
Filled with determination, the hum of excitement was hard to ignore, even knowing full well the danger she was dancing alongside. The letter could be her undoing and yet she felt more alive than she had in days, cooped up inside the inn with her brothers.
With an ale for herself at last in hand, she slid down across from the man at the table, elbows propped on either side of her drink.
[color= #e60000]"Waiting for someone?"[/color]
The man smiled, broad and accompanied by a twinkle of merriment in his eyes. "Indeed, I was. Do you often approach strange men in taverns so brazenly? Be careful, else people might start spreading nasty rumors." The good humor on his face was echoed in the light and joking tone of his voice. His eyes flicked away from hers, toward one of her guards that were hovering nearby and then over to the other, before returning. "Do you trust your friends? I wouldn't want to speak plainly of things you prefer kept in the shadows."
The man's reply brought Avicea back down from her cloud of intrigue and she bit her lip, realising almost as though waking from a dream that this was perhaps over her head. Thoughts of scurrying back like a mouse retreating into a hole steeled her resolve about what she was doing, however, almost in immediate reply to her thoughts and she smiled again.
[color= #e60000]"Only the handsome ones, and only when they send such nice letters with my chamber ladies,"[/color] she took a drink from her tankard, considering the man's caution. While it was true that they would have an interesting tale or two to tell if they chose to at this point, though she had brought the selected men purposefully because she felt them most likely to hold their tongues, it was no crime to enjoy rubbing elbows with drunken bakers and boathands. More sensitive information, though...
She turned her head, eyes flicking from one face to the next and the fingers of her right hand now fussing and smoothing the folds of her skirts. She lifted it to wave them back a pace before returning it to fret with the coarse fabric. Her expression, though, didn't waver now that she had made up her mind to stay the course.
[color= #e60000]"Secrets are better between two, anyway."[/color]
"They most certainly are." The man took another long drink from his tankard, then leaned forward with his chin resting on his fist, elbow propped up on the table. "Before we get to the secrets, though, I realize I have you at a something of a disadvantage. I know quite a lot about you, but you know nothing about me. As much as I enjoy the mystique, it's certainly the wrong way to start a professional relationship."
One of the serving wenches came by the table and the man smiled and thanked her as she swapped his empty tankard out for a full one, brimming with a golden-brown liquid. Once she was gone, he returned his attention to Avicea. "My name is Sam. Sam Storm, once a lowly bastard of the Stormlands risen to the inimitable heights of arranging meetings in Flea Bottom taverns." His teeth showed briefly as he accompanied the sarcasm with a quick grin.
"I've been in the business of secrets for many years now, and the fact that you've likely never heard of me before should be taken as a sign of my talents in this field. Before I get to that, though, I have a question. What do you seek to accomplish with your life?" He held a faint smile on his face, eyebrows raised in silent expectation, but neither his tone nor his eyes gave any sign of this being anything but a serious question.
Though Avicea was taking drinks from her tankard, they were on the small side and it seemed as much to give her something to do as to enjoy - though it was something on an acquired taste that she had not yet acquired, another reason for the small sips.
Almost taken aback by the forthrightness of the man, she was pleasantly surprised by his decision to begin by putting them on more equal footing. She racked her brain trying to scan it for any possible mention of a Sam Storm but the name could have been that of any number of the myriad Stormlands bastards and she had to concede that she had not heard anything of great enough note to set him apart.
The unexpected quip in his introduction earned him a chortle but it was short-lived. While she didn't know what he knew about her exactly, his question seemed to cut right to her core, a part of her that she kept hidden behind ladylike demurity and poise. The standard sort of answer, the one that came readily forth when posed similar questions by other stiff nobles, felt hollow to give when he had extended a hand, so to speak.
[color= #e60000]"I don't expect that you'd believe me if I told you the usual about how I want to marry a noble knight and spend all the rest of my days producing someone's heirs?" [/color] She smiled, taking a drink and managing to only grimace a little.
[color= #e60000]"I'd be interested to know more about you, but whatever rapport we build must go both ways." [/color] She paused to think, reminding herself of the answer. [color= #e60000]"I want to hunt those things that wait in the shadows outside the door. I can only do so much to protect what I care about in this world and I'm afraid The Seven didn't make this body for swinging swords." [/color]
"I see." Sam drummed the fingers on his free hand on the table for a few seconds, silently looking at Avicea without his expression changing at all from when he'd asked the question. "I must admit I'm surprised. I would have laughed at the nonsense about the knight, but I expected something... less mundane than protecting loved ones. We might not be able to work together after all."
He leaned back in his chair and took another swig of his drink. Where before his voice had been light and amused, now his voice turned serious. "But perhaps you'll surprise me again. You want to know more about me? Try this, then. What I seek to accomplish with my life is a radical change to the way society operates. I wish to see a man's skills and character count for more than his name and his blood. The fact that a monster can hold the throne and its attendant power by right of blood alone repulses me, and so I wish to see the world in which the noble monsters are held accountable to the common man."
One side of Sam's mouth lifted in a slow smirk, and the playfulness returned to his voice. "If that idea detests you, I suggest you finish your drink and be on your way. If, however, you see the merit in my lofty goals, then I would be happy to answer a question of yours in turn. I like to play fair with my friends." His smile widened just enough to show a hint of teeth, but it was quickly obscured by his tankard.
Having come expecting someone less frank and fully prepared to encounter a snake in the grass who knew neither friend nor foe, only ambition, Avicea couldn't have said that she was any less surprised than her new drinking partner by the turns that the conversation had taken. It was a far cry from how she had envisioned this evening going, but strangely the better for it.
She regarded him with a long look, unabashedly taking his measure now, playfulness absent from her expression. She had been ready to deal with someone above her skill who sought wealth, perhaps, or power but a man who sought to remake the world... that was something infinitely more interesting.
She leaned forward toward him, gaze sharp. The only question running through her mind was the one that she gave voice to, not wholly incredulous but hardly daring to believe that she he had said such a thing, made a statement that resonated somewhere deep within her.
[color= #e60000]"Is what you say true?" [/color]
She was looking at him as though seeing him for the first time and her superficial interest from before had now given way to a genuine curiosity. The question might as well have been rhetorical, she didn't wait for his reply.
[color= #e60000]"I have spent my life living in chains shaped by men who forged them so long ago that their names have been lost to memory. Children are merely pawns to be used from before they make their first cry. And the queen who sits atop it all plays the pieces, discarding them as they displease her." [/color] It was hard to keep the tremble from her voice as memories flashed alongside her words, thoughts of laying bleeding on a floor blended together like paint running in rain with images of tears in her mother's eyes.
[color= #e60000]"You must have thought that I could serve this cause in some way, to bring me here and reveal your grand plans. What were you hoping to find in me?" [/color]
"Every word of it is true." Sam leaned forward again, this time with his fingers interlaced and his hands resting on the table. "I see I underestimated you and your protective desires. My apologies. I should have guessed that it was indeed more than simply wishing to cling to your gold and power."
Sam looked down into his tankard and swirled the contents around, but he didn't take another drink. "Truth be told, I had low hopes for this meeting. I thought that it would have to end in a... less than amicable manner. All the people in the world can be split into two camps in my eyes: allies and enemies." His eyes lifted to meet her gaze again, and he was all seriousness once more. He reached up to grab the red cloth wound around his neck and pulled it loose, then tossed it on the floor and pointedly looked off to the side at a nearby table. A moment later, a group of half a dozen burly men sitting at that very table abruptly stood and headed for the door, leaving their drinks unfinished and two plates of food only half eaten.
"It is so rare to find potential allies, especially of your background. One can never be too cautious when revealing dangerous secrets. I trust you understand the implication, and I hope you will not hold it against me." Sam's voice turned jovial once more as he continued. "My hope for this meeting was very simple: that you would prove amenable to my vision for the world, and that we could come to a reciprocal arrangement regarding your interesting hobby that caught my attention. You provide me with information, and I give you whatever your heart desires. A more than fair trade, no?"
Though she had pressed forward the conversation, Avicea still wavered a little about whether that was what she truly wanted - to convince this Sam Storm that she was an ally worth having.
It was, she reasoned, too late to consider taking it back as she watched the men who had been lying in wait file out as Sam gave what was evidently their cue. They looked rough, just the sort of men to win fights in dirty taverns in Flea Bottom, and she was glad that it had not come to blows. She trusted that the men brought along would have fought faithfully but they would have been outnumbered and even if that were not the case, likely more than one would have suffered for her account.
She watched Sam with mixed emotion, curiosity and concern blended into one with hints of so much else. A dangerous man, and one not above eliminating anyone who chose not to work alongside his cause and yet... also the first person who had given voice to thoughts she lay alone with in bed at night. She felt like a fly at that moment, drawn into a spider's web. She had so little control at this moment and she knew it but at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder how unwilling she was to be a part of these machinations.
[color= #e60000]"If this tower of excess comes tumbling down, what will happen to those caught below? You interest me more than you should know, Sam Storm, but I think you knew that already. I only fear for those who were only being used themselves and what may happen to them." [/color]
This proposal held a wildly unspecific reward on the line for things much more tangible that crossed her thoughts. However, if her suspicions were correct, this was a man who had a great many spiders whispering into his ear already from across the Seven Kingdoms already and she couldn't help but wonder how much he was expecting to receive in return.
"Ideally it shall be only those who reside atop the tower who come to any harm. But I admit, even my idealism only stretches so far." Sam swirled his drink in his tankard once more and watched the liquid for a moment before continuing. "Some who fight alongside me will fall in this battle of shadows and words. I may fall, but others will pick up the banner and keep going. Know this, though: I speak of far more than a simple change of masters. If you know your history of Westeros and beyond, you've no doubt heard of times in which a coup was followed by the new ruler culling allies they no longer needed, and that would indeed be worth worrying about if I sought to follow in their footsteps. What I hope to build is a world with no absolute rulers, in which allies are forever required and the common people are the ones who hold the lion's share of the power. I cannot make any promises for what might happen afterward."
He finally took another small drink of his ale, then fixed Avicea with a stare and a genial smile. "I was not speaking figuratively about giving you whatever your heart desires, just in case that was not clear. Name your desire, be it material goods or a service performed, and I will see it done. I hope this could have passed unsaid, but nothing said here will pass my lips to another's ear, and you can take comfort in knowing that I've told you more than enough to allow you to get me sent to the headsman's block within a fortnight. A tenuous bond of trust, to be sure, but I seek to strengthen it. I would not be so foolish as to ask for your service with only promise of payment. Name your desire and I can show you the worth of becoming my ally."
Sam Storm did not even attempt conceal that he could not assure her that harm would not befall those simply caught in the wreckage of an old system as it was torn down. For some, this might have been intimidating but the candour won him additional favour from Avicea, though the prospect was still of great concern to her. It would have been idealistic and naïve to think that there could be some definitive moral delineation between those who would suffer and those who would not but she had resigned herself to the fact that absolute morality was one of many lies about the world that were taught to children. Instead of remarking further on this point, she sighed into her drink and took another mouthful with an accompanying quirk of her lips as she fought back a grimace.
With the tip of her index finger, Avicea traced the rim of her mug as Sam repeated the deal in detail and spoke of their fledgling trust. Perhaps it was the intoxicating mixture of adrenaline and alcohol humming through her thoughts but she was thus far more inclined to believe in this man than she could have ever imagined when she set out earlier in the evening. She considered this, and him. If he was who she now thought, it was not so far-fetched to believe that this was exactly his intention.
Whether it was by purpose or not that she felt inclined to give him her trust for the time being, it didn't change the fact that this was a precipice from which she had already stepped. The decision that faced her was now how to handle the fall and, with any luck, survive the experience.
The question that he posed, however, was a difficult one and she had been toying it around her thoughts all the while as she thought, rather morbidly, about falling from cliffs. What was it that her heart truly desired? Close to the truth as it may be, it would be a fool who entered into a dangerous enterprise as this with
no need to reward me, the cause is reward enough even though the cause itself was one dear to her.
[color= #e60000]"I will trust in you both that I will not run afoul of a group of men mysteriously loitering in an alley in Flea Bottom, nor be whisked away never to return by the Master of Laws for this conversation and you have my own word that if you end up without your head by tomorrow it won't be from my lips." [/color] The words were serious, but her tone was teasing once more.
[color= #e60000]"My heart's desire... you might think it absurd but I had never really considered what I might want enough to call it my heart's desire. If it's the same to you, I might get back to you on that on some less eventful day. For now, my greatest request of you is, if at all possible, to shield my brothers. It would be better to have a mysterious accident than have them turned out and branded as traitors on my behalf." [/color]
She finished the last of her drink, glancing around the room again, eyes flicking briefly over each of her guards. The meeting had been informative and she would have discussed details for hours but the longer they sat talking, the more chances there were for something, anything to happen.
"Well then, I suggest you take time to think and decide what you would like. You'll receive a parcel soon with instructions on how to contact me." Sam took a large swig from his tankard and leaned back in his chair after he set it down. "I can assure you that you'll come to no harm by me or my associates. I have all the reason in the world to hope the Master of Laws never learns of this conversation, so he shall not hear of it from me either. I've no interest in harming your brothers, and I'll do what I can to see both them and yourself protected should any other nefarious lurkers in the shadows set their eyes on your house. As callous as I may seem, I do look out for my allies and their best interests when I can."
Sam fished some coins out of his pocket and laid them on the table near his tankard, then waved to get the attention of one of the women serving tables. Before she arrived, he glanced at Avicea and gave her a brief smile. "It was a pleasure meeting you, even in such tense circumstances. You should get back before your brothers miss you and wonder where you've gone."
Though trusting too much was folly, Avicea at least did not have to suspend her disbelief to believe that Sam Storm was telling the truth about not wanting the Master of Laws peeking into these affairs any more than she did. His reassurance regarding looking out for her safety, and that of her brothers, was warming. For the time, it did not seem as though it would be unappealing for her to do the same in return and keep her ear to the ground for his sake as well.
Having paid already, Avicea nodded agreement took to her feet. The men who had accompanied her in were at once alert, ready to move.
[color= #e60000]"This meeting has been more interesting than I could have imagined. I'll take my leave and may the rain wash away your footsteps in the meantime." [/color]
Close to the door, Avicea held up her hand to a man seated just inside it, a smile on her face. His posture eased and he hastily tucked a bottle deep into his pockets, its curious white contents visible for a brief moment in the dim light.
[color= #e60000]"Sometimes I worry about what your help will do to me if I ever need it, Rabbit,"[/color] Avicea murmured to him and he laughed before slipping outside ahead of her into the dark.
The rows of tents sound enough like the aftermath of a battle for Valravn to recognise, yet there is something missing that makes him frown.
