[right][sub]Collab with [@Ruby][/sub][/right]

[center][b]Lord Tytos Lannister || Lady Celena Lannister[/b][/center]

[hr]

Tytos had moved from his central tent to one of the smaller extensions, the curtains drawn open and tied in place. The interior of this extension was more intimate. There was a table of nightwood, decorated with floral carvings and dark as the midnight sky. Three leatherbound chairs of similarly dark wood sat beside it - two on one side, the third opposite and facing the entrance. Two lit braziers flanked the third chair, their low flames creating a soft glow. Heavy rugs of crimson were laid across the floor, depicting lions and floral arrangements. Where his central tent was intended for receiving groups, this was clearly a section for more private, delicate discussion.

Within, Tytos stood behind the lone chair, tightly gripping it, between both braziers. His slim form was illuminated by the light, and he had not changed from the earlier clothing. A simple jacket of black leather, crimson neck scarf beneath, and the golden brooch of a roaring lion on the left of his chest. The aging grays and silvers of his golden hair were more accentuated, perhaps, by the light on either side.

“You are sure of it?”, he asked to the more finely clad of the two, standing opposite - his trusted adviser, Raynald.

“This source has yet to lead me astray.”, Raynald answered confidently. He had spent decades cultivating a network of informants and trusted contacts within the Westerlands, since before even he had found himself in the court of the Rock. It was, in part, how he had secured this position as Tytos’ most able and trusted servant. And he was, for the most part, a servant. He held no great ambitions to rule - but this would not mean he did not enjoy the privileges of his post. He did. The fine clothes he wore were but one such example. The women waiting in his tent, another.

Tytos huffed in consideration, lifting his grip from the chair and straightening his posture. his hands now folded behind his back. “Then I will visit with their new lord.”

“Tarbeck Hall is but a shadow of itself.”, Raynald offered. “They will not be difficult to persuade from this course. Josmyn is a second son who stands to inherit nothing, and this is a desperate attempt for attention. He is clinging to any crumb of influence he can find.”, he paused to allow for a quiet sigh. “Like most friends of Blackfyre.”

Before the conversation could continue, Ser Benedict Vikary entered the tent and made his way to the pair, bowing his head toward Tytos quickly. “Forgive the intrusion, my lord, but we’ve found her. She’s outside.”

This grabbed Tytos’ attention. “Leave us, and send her in.” Vikary gave a curt nod at this, turning to enact the order while Raynald remained in place, but not for long. Silently understanding the glare shot his way, he followed after Vikary to leave Tytos alone, awaiting the Lioness.

The walk was long, the gray doeskin slippers were newly made by an artisan and held up much more beautifully than she did. The two armored men were full on sweating by the time they arrived at the Lannister camp, while three months traveling Westeros had left her in far better shape than she was in when she left Braavos. Thankfully, she escaped the walk across almost the entire width of the small valley, or near enough, with barely an issue save for the thin gloss of shine from sweat on her neck and chest.

When she arrived at the camp it seemed like nearly immediately Lady Lorelai had appeared at her side, casually dismissing the two men-at-arms who had gone to some lengths to retreat Celena, before leaning in so the two of them could exchange rapid whispered words. It was Lady Lorelai who saw Celena to the Lannister main tent, where they met Ser Benedict and the two women said their goodbyes for now.

Celena never was good at stopping the little voice in the back of her head that always whispered in her ear, [i]”Careful. Danger.”[/i] Her eyes sank in details with a single glance around as she was escorted to an off-shoot section of the main tent, thoughts lingering to what exactly the meeting might be about.

One of the Bannerman of the Rock that were in debt to the Iron Bank, using the bank as an alternative to loans from their Lord and Warden. She thought perhaps, but it didn’t explain sending men to find her and bring her, as if she were little more than a servant girl caught stealing.

Some part of Celena bristled at the disrespect shown, but it was a part of her that was deeply hidden away. Her green eyes all but actually glowed as she thanked Ser Benedict and gave a happy quick hello to Lord Garner as he left, and she was motioned to enter. She was well aware of Garner, but he seemed less aware of her and her people.

That was the way she preferred it.

Her smile was big, her demeanor friendly and warm and sweet as she bowed her head gently to the man on the other end of the table she suddenly found herself standing at. “Lord Tytos, it’s so good to finally meet you, I’ve heard the Warden of the West was a capable and intelligent man,” her lips pressed as her smile thinned and twisted at the corners of her mouth into a little grin, her voice lowering as if she were letting Tytos in on a secret, “you know, they don’t say that about every Great Lord of Westeros.”

It was true, too. There were concerns about the North, even concerns about the Reach with so many influential Houses so seemingly fractured. Was it just the cycle of things? Was it the Blackfyres? Her voice had a depth of tone that could give the sound of her a husky, exposed quality at times. Giving the impression there was always something more; to her, to what she had to say, secrets buried atop secrets, some hers and some belonging to the world around.

It was with that sound that her golden head tilted just to the side, the silk gown tight with the long walk before to her still cooling skin just below, her eyes focusing on the Lord before her in a way that was more focused than before. Like she was searching…and then a few moments later, she retreated to a gentle, warm, smile. She thought she might have it now.

“…you’re curious where I’ve been? What happened to me after that early morning murder of my parents?”

Pale green eyes studied her form silently as she spoke. She was gorgeous, and held the look of a perfect Lannister, there was no denying. His eyes locked with hers for but a moment as she searched his expression - and he, hers. Two lions, each getting the measure of the other. Lesser men may have easily succumbed to her natural charm, and beauty. They may have followed meagrely as she sought the initiative of their conversation, putting a question to Tytos. 

He wasn’t willing to grant her that control of their dance. Not yet. A hand was brought from behind his back to gesture at one of the chairs beside her, his other hand moving to a golden jug on the table. It was water he poured into two goblets, not wine. “I remember your parents well.”, he began. Her earlier compliment was heard, but not acknowledged. “We supp’d together, when you were but yea high.” A flat palm was held beside his waist to illustrate her height, before he moved to sit in the chair opposite her. 

“What befell them was unconscionable. But I cannot help but wonder… what is it you remember of them - your mother and father?”, he asked in a not-so subtle test of her identity. 

"Everything. I remember you. I remember the Rock. The Bank of Lannisport. The brass studded leather chairs in the big office on the second floor of the bank in that dark crimson color. I was a baby when I learned what power felt like…it felt like sitting in those chairs. One for my father. One for you. One for the old man with the crown of white hair and the big belly that ran the Bank…a Lannett, as I recall."

His remark about a murder he didn't understand was heard but not acknowledged, as she slipped into the seat as she smoothed the dress and her straight blonde hair that looked as shiny soft as the silk gown, tucking it behind her right shoulder with her right hand, delicately, settling into the chair to the great relief of her feet. 

"I can show you to South Shore and the path among the rocks between our centuries old fortified manse of a home and the secret beach below. More importantly," she said, her smile again the kind of shine that was usually reserved for steel, "you are the second to this line of questioning, my Lord. My cousins were the first four years ago when I first returned home. I wanted to see that manse. I wanted to walk those streets. I wanted to feel that chair, even if just one more time…and I wanted to offer help to them if they needed it. I never expected to return. My fellow Keyholders of the Iron Bank thought I could represent their interests in Westeros better than anyone else; so at their gracious invitation I arrived three months ago. The only part of Westeros I haven't been to since my arrival is…the Westerlands."

Tytos reached for the goblet of water closest to him, taking a drink as she recounted the memories and, surprisingly for him, the fact that she had been to Westeros before. At Lannisport even, four winters past. So close to the Rock, and yet he had heard nothing. His thoughts raced to find conclusions that were still out of his reach - but he wagered the silence of her past visit meant that it was kept secret and that she, at the very least, was no stranger to travelling unseen. But to what purpose, why keep her return secret till now? Frustratingly, he didn’t know. 

Her present reason for being in Westeros made sense enough, but then again, perhaps that was the point? 

“Then Lady Celena”, an acceptance of her identity, “I am glad to see you again. It had always felt, to me, that we failed Jasen and Kyra by not finding you - and the fact that their murderers have also gone unpunished…”, he trailed off to let that point linger. In the aftermath of that morning, the red cloaks had hanged common criminals they proclaimed “guilty men”, but it did not take much insight to know that they were not responsible.

His posture straightened in the chair, “You were right, though. I am curious - curious of what happened to you, and your insight of what happened to them both… unless you have never wondered?”

Her face illuminated with the joy of knowing a secret he did not as he spoke of her parents murder, and their murderers, her pink lips spreading wide and bright in a smile so earnest she couldn’t seem to contain it, her honeyed tone taking on that slight hint of husk and mystery that was nearly lost in the glow of the woman, “Their murderers didn’t go unpunished.”
[i]They just couldn’t tell me anything useful.[/i]

Sudden and surprising as a crack of thunder over a barely cloudy sky, her face changed: gone was the radiant smile, stolen was any semblance of satisfaction or joy. The light had gone out, as her green eyes hardened before his very eyes, her tone was that of a woman…there was no more or no less. As close to maintaining the connective tissue of reality of what happened without leaving enough to make her feel.

“The two men leading the wheelhouse stopped the horses, got off, opened the door, and then burst in with daggers, stabbing. My father tried to use his body to shield us, but he was so bloody, his face so white he was effortlessly snatched from the wheelhouse by one of them, the other ripping my mother from me, one hand using her hair to wretch her, the other stabbing his dagger into her side to force her compliance. One of them started towards me, the other grabbed him and told him no. The first said it wasn’t the plan, the other said it was worth the change of plan in their weight in gold to the slavers.”

Celena’s green eyes briefly moved to the goblet near her, found water as well, and simply returned her eyes to the Lord across from her. [i]A pity.[/i] “I was taken to a ship waiting at the Lannisport docks. A merchant from Myr,” a ghost of her earlier smile came to haunt her golden and green features, fainter still. “But few Myrish captains would refuse the kind of reward such a slave could represent to the right buyer. And in Myr, there’s always someone who knows the right buyer. The right buyer was…strict, demanding, extreme in his views and thinking. Some brilliance to the madness, no doubt, but I’m not sure what became of him.”

The lie used to come so easy. Now? She found herself risking water, as she reached for the nearby goblet and took the kind of sip that came with a dry throat. The goblet was set down exactly where it had been before without so much as a half-moment’s glance, “I was freed by pirates. Their captain wouldn’t see me harmed further than I wished, as he put it…so I ended up on a pirate vessel for years. That captain died during a long voyage to the East. We returned to Braavos to complete the contract for the Iron Bank. I…had an interesting time. The wealth created from that voyage, treasures found and returned, allowed me to return to my roots of Lannister gold lending. Various investments…various adventures and mis-adventures,” she said, playfully shrugging, that glow slowly returning as if color was slowly returning to the woman before his very eyes.  

Tytos studied her every expression as she wove the tale, subconsciously stroking at the greying beard on his chin, something he was wont to do when focusing. Her account of the morning was brutal, and a small part of him regretted that he asked her to recount it. The rest was interesting, remarkable even, and for the most part he was inclined to believe it. But there was one thing that stuck at the front of his mind while she spoke, something he asked as soon as she had finished. “[i]Didn’t[/i] go unpunished?”

“More than nostalgia brought me back to Lannisport years ago,” she allowed in answer to this question. “There are still questions. My cousin, Lady Lorelei, would like to speak to me regarding the matter and potential new information. For years I wasn’t sure who was behind it. I’m still not, the conspiracy seems hidden deep in the shadowy corners of the city, but I’ve come to eliminate the Lannisters of Casterly Rock from suspicion. Your family is insulated by the Rock and your greater power across the West. I believe those responsible focused on Lannisport, itself, and immediately adjacent lands.”

He reached again for the goblet of water nearest him, taking a contented drink. That explained the secrecy of her past return, something that had been clawing at the back of his mind since she revealed it. He set the goblet down with a soft exhale, considering the idea of a conspiracy. “It was something that had crossed my mind, years ago. A conspiracy of foes to Jasen, united by some cause. I appointed a…”, his words trailed off as he paused to recall. “Ser Darian… I think, to pursue an investigation even after the red cloaks had hanged their guilty men.” He sucked at his teeth in frustration, “Nothing came from it, and that was the end of it. You think you can find these answers, where I could not?” It wasn’t a challenge or doubt, but more an invitation. If such a group existed, then the Shield of Lannisport would be glad to hear of their end.

Celena settled into her warm expression with a gentle sigh, and tired eyes, "I think I'm going to talk with my cousin and meet some Westerland Lords regarding Bank business, and then Gods willing I get a boat and go home." After a pause, a dark brown perked, "Should more happen, I assure you I will let you know it."

“Good”, he remarked plainly. “… and, now you mention the Bank, there is one more thing.” Pale green eyes looked to her, his expression falling steely and tone cold.

“Under the misrule of our late King Aegon, the crown accrued a significant debt to my house.  A debt he did not intend to repay. Now, I can only imagine that if the King turned to me, he also turned to the Iron Bank.”, he then raised a palm, “But I know you are not wont to discuss the details of that with me… However, since our new King - Gods be thanked - has ascended the throne, the crown has been faithful in repaying these debts. Again, a situation that I might wager is replicated with your Bank.”

He brought his arms forward now, to rest on the table they shared, his hands clasped together. “It stands to reason that the Iron Bank would not finance anything that could… upset the present circumstance, does it not?” His reference to the Blackfyres, and any possible supporters, was plain. House Lannister had spent decades investing in the Westerlands after the raids of the Red Kraken, and in this process, had found many vassal houses owing them debt from their generous loans. Tytos liked this. It was good to have his vassals reliant on his house. Oaths were too easily broken. That some of his vassals had Bank business he was not aware of, was already of mild concern.

“Stability is good for business, conflict provides opportunity,” She nearly shrugged again, instead choosing to take another sip. Not an answer he was looking for, but Celena respected the majority of her fellow Keyholders, and the rest mostly scared her. “Given how ledgers balanced after the Dance of Dragons, it may surprise you just how neutral the impact was for the accounts at that time. The storm gathering certainly hasn’t the scale of that one, at least in my opinion, though any prolonged period of uncertainty will inevitably see mitigation of risk by wise investors.”

She could see his pale green eyes narrow in either a losing of focus or interest, pivoting to a more direct approach to ease him, rather than the more Essos-based careful and roundabout way of addressing such a high-capacity concern, “Just so, the Targaryen dynasty, outside the recent Aegon, has generally acted in good faith with the Bank. Slavery is punished by death and seen as the abomination it is, open trade is encouraged. These are ideal conditions for the Bank, making major investments in potentially disturbing this unlikely, to say nothing of discussions I had at the Red Keep before journeying to this tournament to see Lady Lorelei.”

His thin lips curled into a faint, forced smile. [i]The storm gathering[/i]. He knew well what the mitigation of risk meant. The Iron Bank will have it’s due, after all. “All storms pass, and this will be no exception.” 

[hider=TL;DR]Tytos Lannister discusses Josmyn Tarbeck [@Jackdaw] after word reaches him that he intends to have Daemon knight his sons. He resolves to visit the Lord Addam. Celena Lannister then arrives at his tent. The two discuss her past, and reason for being in Westeros. Celena reveals more details around the murder of her parents. Tytos asks about the position of the Iron Bank with the Blackfyres.[/hider]