4 Meeting a Lord
Garen was sitting on a stone near the bonfire that was now illuminating the ruined courtyard of Oldsotnes, surrounding the main fire smaller ones had been erected for the other kights and smallfolk that followed Lord Hoster Tully's party.
He had learned that the lord of the Riverlands was returning to Riverun from Seagard by the sea before leaving for the Turney at Harrenhall. Lord Tully had a host of 40 warriors of whom 12 were knights, some were sons of noble houses from the Riverlands, others were veterans of the war of ninepenny kings, and the rest were simple men at arms.
Lord Hoster's party has seen the smoke from the Campfire that Garen has made and sent a few men to check who was responsible for it, the lord had stayed with his main force protecting his Daughters Caitlin and Lysa and his ward Petir Baelish.
(flashback)
Lord hoster and his party rode into the ruined courtyard to find Ser Allen and his squire on the floor, both of them injured, the hunter boy was bent over the knee of a mystery knight being spanked like a child while the knight kept scolding the young man who was squirming and trying to escape the grasp of the giant in armor.
"STOP THIS MADNESS RIGHT NOW!" Lord Hoster bellowed as he approached the scene. Ser Allen was getting up from the ground with a grunt of pain while the squire was still laying on his back with a bloodied nose but breathing. "what is the meaning of this!?" he demanded as he and his most trusted knights approached still on their mounts.
"Just teaching some discipline to the young My Lord," the knight in black armor said as he released the youth and rose. he must have been at least 7 and a half feet tall, of broad shoulders and with an ornated black and golden armor.
"What is your name stranger, and who are you to discipline my men?" The Lord of the Riverlands demanded in a stoic tone that demanded respect.
"My name is…"
the knight in black and gold armor introduced himself and explained the whole situation. it was confirmed by Ser Allan who dragged his squire away to get his nose treated.
(Flashback end)
Garen was chatting with some knights while he ate his roasted meat, he had pretended to take a bottle of ale from his saddle but in fact, he took it from his inventory.
the Tully sisters and Peter had gone to explore the ruins of Old Stones and night was falling, if Garen was correct the sisters will get lost in the ruins while playing some game with Baelish and he will go and find them or some crap like that.
Lord Hoster has ordered them to return before nightfall but night has come and they were nowhere to be found. As lord hoster was riling up some men to go and look for his two daughters and his ward Garen joined them, grabbing a torch to go look in the vast ruins of the long forgotten castle.
"I will join the search, they must not have wandered far. but to ease up your mind I will make sure to find your daughters safe and sound, on my honor as a High Thane of Skyrim" Garen said to Lord hoster as he turned around
"I thank you, Lord Garen, I pray to the seven for their safe return, foolish children" the last part he said under his breath, if Garen was not a Werewolf he would never have heard it with the noise of the camp.
Garen was one of the first to enter the ruins in the search of the lost Tully Younglings and the dead boy walking that Baelish was. If Garen found baelish alone he would have to refrain from snapping the youth's neck.
When he was out of the vision of any of his fellow members of the search party he used Claryvoyance with the intent to find Lysa. he knew that Baelish would search for Catelin, not only because he favored her and was in love with her but also because in the story he remembers he found her, he did not remember a mention of Lysa.
"Lady Lysa, Lady Catelin, Lord Baelish!" Garen called to the ruins while he followed the trail of Clairvoyance. he kept on calling listening to anyone calling back.
While on his wild goose chase he pondered at how he introduced himself to Lord Hoster. he was, at least his character back in Skyrim, a High thane and Dovakin, he explained that it was a position similar to one held by the hand of the King and that it was a hereditary position, he made up some hocus pocus about him traveling from the continent of Nirn and his ship being raided by Ironborn when on a voyage east from the continent of Nirn, which he also introduced as the Land of Sunset, named like that by a northern party of explorers, a Stark King and Explorer, he had claimed that they have been at sea for more than 2 months before being raided by the ironborn.
Overall his tale was just that a Tale, but Lord Hoster Tully seemed to buy it since he used "queer words" and had an accent, everyone seemed to have some kind of English accent while his one was American (America. fuck yea!)
After searching with Clairvoyance for some time he finally managed to hear someone calling back.
"Sir!, here!" It was a female calling for him from his right, after a few corridors and passing a collapsed wall he entered what used to be some kind of kitchen due to the ruined burning ovens that he barely was able to discern in between the rubble.
It was almost pitch black and there were clouds covering the moon and stars so visibility was almost null for the teenage girl.
"My lady, you are safe, your father has sent people to search for you, your sister, and friend," Garen said with a warm smile while offering her a hand. under the torchlight, he could see Lysa's face which had a tint of red that matched her hair.
"Thank you for coming to my rescue, Lord Garen" lost Damsel in distress in old creepy ruins, an alone teenage Fair Maiden that is rescued by the dashing and handsome knight. he was sure that somewhere in Westeros there was a song about it already.
"Are you hurt My Lady?" Garen said as he knelt in front of her examining the girl, never touching. who fidgeted and blushed even harder under his gaze.
"n-no!" she squeaked while she took a handful of her blue dress due to her nerves.
"then let's not make your Lord Father wait, shall we?" He said with a genuine smile, this girl was innocent, far from the mad woman that she would become after spending 15 years in a loveless marriage with a man older than her father after having multiple miscarriages while trying to conceive a child, all of course after being fooled into having a forced abortion. damm. if you don't lose it after all that...
she took the offered hand probably blushing even more if she was capable of it as he lead her back through the ruined castle.
"Watch your step My Lady, there is rubble everywhere and if you sprain your ankle I will have to carry you, your Lord Father will probably demand my head if anything happens to you" He felt how her hand gripped his tighter as they walked back.
be it because of the flickering light of the torch or because Lysa was clumsy as hell or even perhaps on purpose she tripped, thanks to his improved werewolf reflexes i caught her by the waist,
"Careful, my lady," I said in a warm tone. he hated himself because she was way too young and impressionable. and I felt as if I was grooming her in a fuckd up way way.
they arrived at the open of the ruined courtyard and lord hoster met with his younger daughter.
"thank you Lord Garen," he said as he looked down at his daughter in disappointment, "I told you to be here before sundown, now we had to bother Lord Garen and the other knights with searching for you lot" he sighed
"it was no bother Lord Hoster, she has been quite a delightful company, it is easy to get lost in these ruins," Garen said with a smile making the young girl blush and smile back.
They all sat back around the campfire and started to eat and drink, the bard was playing a tune and sang a few songs, he was mediocre at best, Lysa and Catelin were talking in hushed tones and giggling like the teenage girls they were while Petyr was shooting glares at Garen here and there after being scolded by Lord Hoster for getting his daughters lost and making a foreign lord go look for them.
"how about a song? if you would consider it fit for this halls" he remembered how he used to be in the church choirs and how good he was with his voice. Of course, Lord Hoster Tully would have a bard in his retinue that had a lute with him.
He went at it. perhaps his new voice of dovakin was a few octaves deeper but he was still able to pull a decent pitch.
He cleared his throat and sang a few notes to get in tune. before singing a song he remembered from the show that he had listened to many many times since it was on his playlist.
~~~~
High in the halls of the kings who are gone
Jenny would dance with her ghosts
The ones she had lost and the ones she had found
And the ones who had loved her the most
~~~~
Most servants and the warriors of House Tully had stopped what they were doing and now there was only the sound of the crackling fire, the Bard started to play a few notes to accompany his singing. Garen as he was finishing with the first set of the lyrics has gotten up and offered a hand to Lysa for her to join him in dancing. she glanced at her father for just a second before she took his hand and rose up. he took both her hands and started to dance with the young girl. if he was more daring and far more shameless he would have grabbed her by the waist but for now, he just held her hands at a respectable distance.
~~~~
The ones who'd been gone for so very long
She couldn't remember their names
They spun her around on the damp old stones
Spun away all her sorrow and pain
~~~~
When he sang the words he spun lady Lysa and she followed, the little girl was getting flustered more and more the longer they danced around the main campfire.
~~~~
And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
~~~~
The basic walts that they were doing by him leading was of wide stride and he decided to slow it down but deepen their strides for the next parts of the song.
~~~~
They danced through the day
And into the night through the snow
That swept through the hall
From winter to summer, then winter again
Til the walls did crumble and fall
And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave
~~~~
Slowing down to almost a crawl he decided to finish the song by pulling Lysa a bit closer, close enough for a hug, while she looked up at him with admiration, the young Knight in fancy armor finished the song.
~~~~
High in the halls of the kings who are gone
Jenny would dance with her ghosts
The ones she had lost and the ones she had found
And the ones who had loved her the most
~~~~
When he finished dancing with Lady Lysa he took a step back said "My Lady" and took a deep bow before returning to his seat. Catlein was clapping like a madwoman and the young lady Lysa was flustered and had a smile coming up to her lips. she went back to whispering and giggling with her sister. Petyr was glaring and probably stabbing daggers at him in his mind at his point. probably thinking "how dare he try to get one of his play things" he almost scoffed at the idiot little lord's tantrum. perhaps Little Baelish would Perish when going to take a leak during the night.
he killed the thought, it would be too suspicious, a strange knight with a "demon" horse and little lordling dies that same night under strange circumstances it would only put him in the spotlight. he was sure that he would have other much more forgiving circumstances for him to perish. mayhaps when going back to the fingers. mayhaps killed by someone later on. time was his ally. and right now petyr's roots were weak, he could end him as a threat at any point in time in the future.
at the end of the night, he decided to finish it with a rendering of the misty mountains cold song, borrowing the Lute the bard was using it reminded him of a guitar, and somehow he knew how to play, must be one of the mods he has installed. damn if you do, damned if you don't.
he was hoping that the bugs do not translate into planetos. otherwise, he might be screwed.
the only problem is that right now he would have to reveal his magick, and once that happens Varys will be all over my ass. whispering into a mad king's ear. unless, unless he made himself irreplaceable, perhaps the summon dragon shout should still work, only from the the fuck will the dragon come? Valeria? perhaps YiTi with their winged sneks that will put the biggest target on my back. if the mad kings think I mean him any harm I would be resting in pices before I can summon anything.
on the other hand Im Dragonborn, and being able to summon storms with some shuts. now how can one influence a fire-obsessed king, he already has the alchemists committing war crimes. those fuckers will have to go,
and here comes the main problem Rheagar and Lyana might have single-handedly started a war. but Brandon is the real genius. "let's ride into the capital demanding the crown prince's head. What could go wrong?" the whole thing is a clusterfuck.
and don't get me started on Bobby B. who ruined the kingdom and somehow managed to not only piss away all the money the Targaryens had but also put it in more debt. he has yet to choose and he already is feeling the headache coming.
