[D1, Mid Evening]A chance encounter (Closed)

[Daveth Coldbrook]

Having finished eating dinner, Daveth decided he had just enough energy left in him to visit the godswood. It had been ... a tumultuous day, and little helped him centre and calm himself better than being there.

Taking one of the house's personal guard as his bodyguard, a solid, reliable sort, whose life Daveth had once saved with his medical knowledge, named Edwin, he headed off.

Arriving at the godswood, he entered, eager to see if it was as grand as most other things he'd seen that day. He wasn't disappointed. The fading light gave it a regal majesty. Daveth slowly stepped through the garden.

Yes. This is what I need. I almost lost control a few times today. I need to be calmer. More rational. Maybe I should come here first thing each day? Or maybe midday?

While musing and soaking in the atmosphere, something Daveth was not doing was looking behind him, so the first warning he got was Edwin's armoured hand tapping his shoulder with enough force to demand immediate attention. Turning, Daveth saw what it was that had alerted his bodyguard.

[Dunstan Tullison]

"
Did I not tell you a walk in these woods will do you good Sam? Only times you get to see trees like these is when you are on horseback, but than we all know how sick you get on horseback, you probably don't pay too much attention to nature. Look, we even have friends!"
Dunstan spoke to his guard, Green Sam, who kept silent, only stroking his long braided beard occasionally. Paul, the other guardsman, let out a hissing chuckle - a rare thing for a weasel like man who is usually dead serious.

Hendry, the young page, frowned as he always does and walked behind them obviously not matching Dunstan's enthusiasm to visit every single corner of Riverrun while they are here. Young Roland on the other hand stood vigil near Dunstan, squinting his near sighted eyes trying to see the other people in the woods.

"
Greetings!"
the young Lord said to the other party. The entourage flocked near him, ready to react at any sign of trouble.

He is around my age. Surrounded by guards too. Probably some sort of highborn as well, ugh. Dunstan thought.

[Daveth Coldbrook]

Daveth heard the greeting as his eyes took in what was clearly a young lord and his entourage. For a moment, he wasn't sure why Edwin had been so emphatic, beyond the possibility of being rude, which generally wasn't his highest concern. Daveth began to cautiously raise his hand in greeting, and then, when his arm blocked the dying embers of the sun, he saw it.

Red mountains on a blue field.

Their heraldry, carried on the guards' hauberks, and the lord's tunic. Daveth felt the impact in his chest like a stake dotted with spikes made of red mountains had just impaled it.

Eyes bulging wide, he gasps roughly for a breath like it was his first after nearly drowning. From instinct, he staggers three steps to the nearest tree and slams his back against it, Edwin moving with him, and looks back at the lord.

Who was no longer the lord, but Joren, in the armour he died in, head lolling unnaturally, eyes accusatory.

Daveth felt his dinner rising as their eyes locked. His heartbeat echoed in his ears like the first thunder of summer, and a tinny rattling, like that of a small dinner bell echoed around. Instinctive curiosity made him look down for the source of it, seeing a stranger's arm reaching from his shoulder across his body, and holding his knife, still in its sheath. The hand was shaking so badly that the knife was rattling against the lip of its sheath.

Suddenly, clear as day, a memory blossomed in his head. His father, Lord Coldbrook, taking some time to personally direct his son's development.
"
If you are to die, try at least to not die craven. All your wounds should be to the front, and your blade should have blood on it."
pause "
No, yours doesn't count. That way, you can at least die with honour and dignity, even if you lived without it."


The pain of the memory cut through the panic in Daveth's brain for a moment. I am not a craven! That is not Joran! And if I am to die right now, I will die a Coldbrook!

By force of will, he slows his breathing to a more reasonable tempo, forces his dinner to remain down, and looks back up. The lord had returned. The rattling slows and stops, though he doesn't remove his hand from the hilt. Nor does Edwin, he notices, though likewise, his guard had yet to draw. Feeling threatened, but unwilling to escalate.

Daveth spends a second to see if he could see other men closing in from around him, tightening the noose. I wonder what they'll blame it on? An unusually skilled cutpurse, maybe? Too bad, so sad. Must have been the curse. He saw no-one, though didn't dare believe that they weren't present.

Well, time to get this over with.

"
G-G-G"
Godsdamnit, can I at least try to not sound craven? Focus, Daveth! Gods may be watching.

Daveth concentrates a moment, and very slowly and carefully speaks. "
Greetings. Lord Dunstan Tullison, I presume?"

[Dunstan Tullison]

"
Aye, I am Dunstan my Lord. Coldbrook ha, I met your valiant knight Ser Jorah earlier in the Sept. You must be trying to gain favor from all the gods for the toruney!"
Dunstan says, trying to make a joke out of the fact that each time he met a Coldbrook, it was in a different place of worship.

Why is he nervous? Did I interrupt them in some ill-doings?

Dunstan was suspicious when the young noble started gasping for air upon seeing him.

"
And you are?"

[Daveth Coldbrook]

Daveth keeps careful control of his breathing, his tones measured.

Be careful, Daveth. This may be coincidence, or he may just be seeking confirmation before striking. Even if it is innocent, one wrong word, and you could end up challenged to an honour duel. Let's avoid that if possible.

I could pretend to be a visiting scholar or something. Avoid giving confirmation.

"
Lord Tullison, I am the elder brother of the boy your uncle killed last year. At the Twins, if he killed more than one. Daveth Coldbrook. Now the youngest of my name."


My name is Daveth Coldbrook, and I am not alone.

[Dunstan Tullison]

Dunstan's ever present smile vanished immediately from his face upon hearing his words. It got replaced with a furious scowl.

"
My uncle? A killer?!! I do not know who you are or what have you been drinking, but those words must not be said in my presence! My uncle is the knight of the Seven, a valiant and honorable one!"


Dunstan lunges himself at the young noble but the two guards hold him off.

"
Not now my Lord. Remember where we are. Let us leave."
Sam tells him in a calming fashion.

"
You are right Sam."
Dunstan tells his guard - "
But this is far from over!"
he yells back at the Coldbrooks.

Roland seems scared, Hendry amused, with a vicious smile on his face.

Dunstan and his guards and pages hastily leave the Godswood.

[Daveth Coldbrook]

Daveth simply watches as Lord Tullyson leaves. Does he truly not know? I didn't claim baseless murder, or brutal slaughter, merely a killing. Which should be a matter of record.

Finally, a penny drops.

Except that Joren signed on as a mystery knight. And it wouldn't be obvious that he was dead to the audience. And no-one would care enough about some unknown probable hedge-knight to ask. And our house isn't significant enough for many people to notice. I expected rumours to spread the news, out of ghoulish fascination if nothing else. But a lord would be insulated from such.

By the gods. The possibility that my brother's killing hadn't even been noticed hadn't even occurred to me.

Daveth slowly pushes himself off the tree, and looks around. "
Edwin? I think we'll leave now. When we get back, please pass on my request for a doubling of my personal guard from now on, and the suggestion that my family follows suit. At least until we figure out how much of Lord Tullyson is bluster, and how much is steel."


Edwin nods, and the two of them carefully make their way back to the Coldbrook camp via a rather circuitous route.

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