[Phase 1, Mushroom] Repealing sentiments [Closed]

[Loreia]

The hall is now abuzz over the spats fueled by the royal fool and his plus one, and new rumors were beginning to weave in the capital's delicate web of words. They each went their own way; the Shieldmaiden first, after considering a point made by one of the Frey bannerlords. While she cooled off, she caught sight of a familiar finery, flowing between the warriors, ladies, and well-wishers gathered, some whom she recognized as being on one side or the other of the dissension over the royal succession. Time and a little bread and salt smothered the fire she had fanned while in her cup. To go and speak candidly with one sworn to the bannerhouse of a lord she'd hurled insults at not more than an hour earlier strikes her as an odd thing to be considering; however, what has gone unsaid between Theomore and herself begs for saying.

When he is looking for someone else to speak to, she meets his eyes with her grim gaze and tries to hold it as she walks to him.

"Hello again, Theomore." It's all she can muster for a greeting. "Saying farewells? Or are you in fact joining us with your liege lord in the war down south?" The barb she looses to slay the queer pause is blunted, and unlike with real bees, there is no sweetness here to defend nor reach past the intended recipient. A weak attack made with far less bane than with reservation, in more than one sense of the word.

[Theomore Tullison]

"A knight must serve his liege as best he can, Shieldmaiden" Theomore's response is practiced, in a way rehearsed, along with the other phrases prepared and ready for use should a quick response be required. "In my case, it has been deemed that I can do more through diplomacy, wars are won on the battlefield, this much is true, but the number of men and supplies each side can bring tends to be a major factor when determining the odds."

[Loreia]

"So you're a much better talker than a doer? Unsurprising."

Waving it away with a sigh, "I shouldn't throw stones. Half of me wants to stay, but my duty is to make sure a certain lady love gets to return safe and sound. Although the other half of me is thankful for the excuse."

Just don't spread that around," she adds. "She's not supposed to know."

[Theomore Tullison]

Theomore appears to be unfazed by her outburst. "Given your rather unique station, Shieldmaiden, I should hope you now appreciate what a man skilled with words can do. Just observe how one little dwarf with an absurd codpiece made quite a stir among high lords and ladies on a lark." She had to hear it, and she did approach him. "I can only commend my liege lord for his deft handling of what followed, I fear that left to the likes of Lords Drakeson and Redwain, the consequences of your reply to the insult thrust at Ser Eoric would be undesirable. Words are wind, but gale can bring swift passage as well as terrible storms, and without any there can be no sailing at all."

[Loreia]

"I guess I should thank him for delaying the challenge so that we can save our strength for Dorne." He had a point. As with Lord Ereth, she can't expect him to just ignore every barb flicked his way, not when she gives them out like sweets. "But for Ser Eoric's sake, I will not back out."

[Theomore Tullison]

"To back out would show weakness on your part, Shieldmaiden" Theomore agrees. "Your enemies would be overjoyed at how their image of a real knight would contrast to it, but I think your friends would find it preferable if you had recused yourself from the argument between Lord Frey and Ser Eoric."

[Loreia]

"I think the Greens would just as eagerly lap up my silence. But, in living up to the image of a real knight, mayhaps my friends will overlook their preference in spite of it?"

"On that note, I owe you an apology. When you came to my aid after the Velaryons fled from the King's judgment, my gratitude didn't come with the sincerity your action deserved. I've been judging you unfairly, and I see now that you aren't quite the rogue I imagined you to be."

[Theomore Tullison]

"I think, Shieldmaiden, that if you had made no remark about the late Ser Benjen, the idea of you being present in the first place would quite simply be drowned by the cacophony of voices." Theomore shrugs. "In the end, my liege lord took advantage of the opportunity to react to your words in the way that any knight should when another knight insults his honor. Your enemies will take your words as proof that Ser Eoric's gift of spurs was ill done, but they cannot deny that your friends treats you any differently than they would a man given those spurs."

"I shall not claim to be uncontroversial, Shieldmaiden, I make mistakes like everyone else, and as I have chosen a life where the consequences of my actions are of a greater magnitude than those of most other men, my mistakes leaves their mark. As much as I like to be judged on what I strive to do and how I deal with the consequences, I do not expect to be."

[Loreia]

She nods along to his assessment of the "scandal". "Ill-granted or no, I'll just have to live up to them."

"I shall not claim to be uncontroversial, Shieldmaiden, I make mistakes like everyone else, and as I have chosen a life where the consequences of my actions are of a greater magnitude than those of most other men, my mistakes leaves their mark. As much as I like to be judged on what I strive to do and how I deal with the consequences, I do not expect to be."

"Yes, I've seen that," she frowns. Heard that. While she was not there for them, the verdicts of the trials, for both who stood accused of wrongdoing, were on the lips of every keen lord in the Riverlands, including a handful above the Neck. "But if we aren't judged, how do we make up for those mistakes, and lessen the mark we make when we stumble again?"

[Theomore Tullison]

"Depends on the manner of judgement, Shieldmaiden" Theomore needs a second to offer a reply, and then another to compose his thoughts. "A lord's justice is not the same as what others think of you. A man that is despised need not have broken any of the king's laws, and a man that is loved may very well have committed acts that by royal decree condemns him to the headsman."

[Loreia]

"True... We care most about the views of a handful of people. People who are closest to us, the gods we pray to, some of our peers. It's a different form of judgment." She shakes her head. "Does it even matter what I think? Do you even care to know?"

[Theomore Tullison]

"I value all opinions shared with me, Shieldmaiden" Theomore had been a diplomat for far too long, his words had himself almost convinced, though he would like to know.

[Loreia]

"I hope so." She pauses to find her words.

"I think part of you wanted to ignore me in that alley. Wounded worse than I was, I would have rushed into another fight that would have seen my end, but you prevented that when you rode in and had my back."

"I do despise you, but you're not half as bad as some, and I know. I've met a few. Find a foothold, and you won't have to slide down to their level."

[Theomore Tullison]

"Why would I?" Theomore seems surprised at that notion. "I do not claim to be of particularly high virtue, Shieldmaiden, but I do not abandon allies to an uncertain fate when I am able to ensure victory instead, does not matter how temporary that alliance might turn out to be."

[Loreia]

"Oh... of course." Just how wrong about him am I? No, not *that* wrong, surely. "What I mean is it wouldn't have shocked me if you had, or chose to hold off. The tale told through my eyes has not been kind when you were the one in focus."

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