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House Lothston
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It was supposed to be a simple thing, to find candles for the dinner. As to why she was to find candles rather than a servant who would know where the candles were was a rather apparent answer. Summerhall was filled to the brim with people and there were hardly enough to send one for the necessary items when they had numerous other lords and ladies and Princes and Princesses to tend to. Thus Aelora had asked that she, Elayne Lothston, look for candles. Which raised the more pressing question of why her precisely? Perhaps the Princess was not aware of the fact she had gotten lost ducking around the corner to avoid her cousin’s bloody words of glee about battles. Perhaps she thought thrusting Elayne into a turbulent castle would be most amusing, which Elayne could hardly place that cruelty upon the Princess.

Corridors that twisted and turned and stairs that led up and down. She dodged around servants, politely excused herself past parties that fill the hall in chatter or argument, and turned quickly around when she came across the scandal of a man and woman engaged in some enjoyment in a less than private stairwell. The sound of a startled scream and shouts of outrage from others also stumbling across the two had followed. Beating a flushed face, she paused in a window and took a minute to fan herself in the cool air. Her cheeks flushed from the press of people and her more recent embarrassment. Leaning against the stone, she wondered exactly where a storeroom was. Elayne figured she could go and summon one of her own servants to fetch candles but that would mean Danelle would tear strips from her hide and not allow her back which ultimately fail in the Princess’s request. That would not do at all!

Snapping open her fan, she sighed and took the slight quiet as respite. Summerhall was a grand castle, a place for lazy days to pass and watch as the years turned. Gentle compared to its infamous lord. Thinking of lords with tempers, led her down the trail of Targaryens and to Aelor. Her cheeks heated as she glowered at the silken fan as she recalled the predicament he had put her in! Well-meaning of course, Elayne could not fault him for that. A very lost young woman in a sea of tents, his help had been required. But to bring her here! Here in the middle of the tournament itself! Of course, that was going to drive her father to foam at the mouth in outrage, Danelle would be plotting how best to secure her in a marriage that would benefit the ends of the Heir of Harrenhal. Despite the Prince’s assurance that no one would speak on his honor, things were hardly so simple. She had tried to warn him and his sister. For what? Because for some reason they had shown her kindness and favor by their actions. Could she do any less than try to stem the fury her father would bring over the actions? No, she could not. It was simply the right thing to do. Just as she was doing the right thing by trying to find candles.

What was not the right thing to do was to find herself sitting practically in the lap of the Prince on a horse that moved slower than a butterfly! She fluttered her fan to banish the flush that rose to her cheeks. That had been far too bold even for one of his standings and Elayne had just accepted it! The woman knew she probably looked like a fluffed cat considering if she needed to repay some offense and smoothed her dress. And he had dared to handle her casually!

Well, she would give him what for! That was exactly what she would do, if he wasn’t the son of the Prince of Dragonston and future king in his own right. Perhaps he did have some rough edges as his sister had mentioned, but what man did not? Prince Aelor, at least, in some small way had a kindness about her that she had not seen among men. Not that she knew many men. Looking about the dark corridor, Elayne realized she had wandered in her thoughts and become hopelessly lost once more. Though it was remarkably not as cool as the shadows would suggest it would be, there was even the smell of cooking and that meant one thing.

There was a kitchen!

Slipping around the large door that was part of a servant’s corridor, Lady Elayne hesitated off to the side and snapped her fan closed, stowing it in her small pouch. Here servants bustled with trays, pots, pans, and whole spits of beasts. Rabbits, deer, hogs, and board to name a few she had seen. Having seen Harrenhal’s kitchen when her cousins visited she waited patiently at the side until a large man with a stout belly noticed the obvious noble. “Can I help you, M’Lady?” His voice was a battlefield roar over the din as he drew near. His tunic and apron were stained with sauces and flour. Elayne noted she had never seen a clean chef in her life. Gesturing the man to draw a bit nearer lest her voice not carry in the din, Elayne spoke in a firm, if apologetic tone.

“I need candles, for Princess Aelora. I doubt you could spare anyone with so many to feed to show me back to her quarters, but I would be much pleased for the candles, Chef…?” She offered no names and offered no more work than what could possibly be easily obtained. There was hardly any sense in disrupting his kitchen more than it was.

The big-bellied man nodded, seemingly thinking more to himself than as to why Princess Aelora would send a Lady. “Nir!” He snagged a small boy who was rushing about with a stack of rags and smell of someone used to fetching things. “Take this Lady to the store rooms and show her back to Princess Aelora’s chamber in the…” She lost the rest of his words in the din as a pile of plates clattered from two bickering maids. His orders delivered the man whirled on them with insults and snarls that made Elayne’s eyes widen. 

Slipping out of the door as Nir skittered before her, she offered no conversation as the youth hardly explained where they were going other than pointing, leading her to the store room and then the rooms of the Princess. Pausing, she dug a groat from her pouch and clasped the boy’s hand about it with a cheery smile. “Thank you, Nir.” She whispered in her willowy voice. The boy only hesitated to give her a bow that nearly landed him on his face. His speech was a stuttering mess, explaining his silence, as he tried to get out his thanks as he scurried back off to the kitchen like his toes were held over the coals. They might well be if he was not back soon, she noted as she gave both guards a small thankful smile before slipping into the room. Perhaps she should have taken one of them, but it hadn’t seemed necessary.

Setting the candles carefully with the dwindled stock, she had enough for the night she thought. Sitting she poured a cup of the sweet cider and sipped at the drink. The kitchen had been sweltering compared to up here and Elayne let slip a forlorn sigh. Was she forever doomed to be sequestered in rooms and gardens? She had no real quarrel with it. The world was dark and full of terror if one listened to Danelle. Yet, from what she had seen there was beauty and wonder as well. Pulling the ribbon from her hair, she let the red-blonde locks tumble free down her back and shoulder without restraint to pool in her lap. Running her slim fingers through the locks, she hummed and picked up one of the books. Thankfully in the Westrosi language and not the other scribble that must be from Essos. She was not prying she reminded herself, it had been the twins in their Targaryen madness that had shuffled her off to this room.

Not that she had protested it. Dragging her fingers through her curls again, Elayne peered at the pages and hummed softly to herself. She should have brought her own books along to the tournament but Danelle had promised to burn one if she dared. [i]”You are here to look pretty and be seen. Listen to what is said. Learn who is who and seduce those who are acceptable.”[/i] Elayne cringed at the remembrance of the word. Seduce. How to move and allure a man, Jeyne had told her how and she must have some success still for men still watched when their Aunt walked by.

Seduce a man. Elayne took another sip of the cider and sighed as she basked in the sunlight that filled the room and set about reading. How could she seduce men when a particular man and his twin had secluded her and he had seduced her. Her lips twisted into a small sad smile. A fool she was. Elayne knew herself for true. She was a fool and while she might look favorably upon Prince Aelor. He was meant for another, a Princess or Higher Lady than she. It was best she found enjoyment in this small favor the twins had graced upon her before it ended and she was once again a pawn in the greater game. :Best to privately nurse the small care she felt for the Prince than allow her thoughts to wander into what could never be. How often had she dreamed as one of her cousins had come by Harrenhal? For nothing, it had been no real love then but a private hope that one of them might agree to a cousin for wife. Something which would be acceptable to both Manfryd and Danelle. ”Take the happiness as it comes and try to see some benefit to the sorrow.” She remarked more to herself than anyone else. Firming setting her mind to rights she sipped at cider and delved into the book as a leg tucked up underneath her.

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The conversation had gone fairly well, though no direct aid could have been accepted. Certainly nine had been offered. Danelle felt her temper become irked at that thought, but she could not afford to show it as she stepped into the sun's rays as they came through the smokey trails of campfires. What had been calmness had turned into a frantic scramble of men, noble and guards alike. The two from Harrenhal looking as though their Graves might be met while the massive Bennifer had a thoughtful look.

A giant bear just as his father had been, Danelle thought absently before her attention snapped to the two men. Two men, and no sweet sister to be shepherd about. "Where is Elayne?" Her voice surely turned the summer to winter in those three simple words. A simple question, a simpler answer. The latrine, ducked into a tent to take a break from the sun, somewhere where the fragile girl might rest.

"Gone, M'lady." One man, the older, answered stiffly. "She left the circle of tents."

Bennifer Blackwood gave an apologetic look to his cousin. "She was feeling faint, and in the camp, cousin. I went to find her a drink and upon returning she was no where in sight." He shrugged, so unconcerned! Danelle felt her teeth grind as she bristled. "Be at ease, the Tourney is safe."

"Safe." She spat the word and gestured for the guards to follow her. "Safe!" She hissed and stalked like a hunting wolf through the streets of the city of tents. Her eyes flashing as she listened to word and chatter, for any sign of an unthinking chit who would wander about alone!

"It's true! Saw them meself!" She pause as she noticed a young lad, excitedly dancing on his toes. "A girl all in silk and purple! Hair like red gold!" She sized the young boy's arm and spun him from his playmates, his terror rising in peasant brown eyes.

"The girl, was she to my shoulder. Thin. Hair in curls with blue eyes." The questions came out in sharp statements, and the boy nodded in terror. "Where? Stranger take you boy, where?" She shook him like the rat he was.

His voice was high and reedy as he stammered out the reply. "In the Prince's lap! Goin' towards Summerhall proper, Milady!"  Finding himself suddenly free the urchin turned and ran, his livery flapping with the smell of piss.

Elayne had been taken by a Targaryen Prince? The Prince, the boy had said. She considered summoning him back by force and then dismissed the idea. There were plenty of Princes, but she had gotten the lad's head nodding on the description. It was Elayne. Snarling, she considered walking up to tear apart the Hall itself. To find the Prince and drive him at sword point from her fool sister!

Her plans were not ruined, not yet. There had to be a way to salvage the girl, to get her to wed a more proper fellow rather than following Jeyne into becoming a Targaryen whore. Turning back towards her own tents, she figured as to find Manfryd. Her fury making the guards sweat and march in sync behind her. The one good thing, this might kill the man. Then she would bring all of Harrenhal to get Elayne back and marry her at sword point to some husband. "Worthless wench, I'll make sure she never walks again." She whispered, promising to see the girl bound in a room. How the hell had this happened?!


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Elayne gets lost again and comtemplates the twins and her life. Danelle learns of Elayne's predictament.
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