text || un: IAMNEDSTARK

[learned_to_die]

IT APPEARS THAT THIS IS SOME VERSION OF COMMUNICATION, AKIN TO MESSAGES RECEIVED VIA RAVEN. I CANNOT YET UNDERSTAND HOW SUCH THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, NOR CAN I UNDERSTAND HOW I AM EXPECTED TO SO ACCURATELY PRESS MY FINGERS TO SUCH PAINFULLY SMALL LETTERS ON THIS THING CALLED A "KEY BOARD."

[Ned is part of the Old Dads club; he has accidentally turned on his caps lock and has absolutely no idea how to turn it off, nor does he have any social precedent for understanding how hostile this makes him look.]

I AM TOLD THAT I AM IN A CITY CALLED WYVER, A NAME AS FOREIGN TO ME AS THE REST OF THIS IS. THE LOCALS HERE ARE NOT INCREDIBLY FORTHCOMING WITH ASSISTANCE OR INFORMATION, AND AS SUCH, ANYTHING THAT YOU MIGHT OFFER WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

THANK YOU FOR WHATEVER YOU MIGHT PROVIDE.

-- EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

Comments

[bruxisms]

YOUR DEATH HAS ALREADY PROVEN TO HAVE DONE US ALL LITTLE GOOD ONCE, LORD STARK. I WOULD IMAGINE THE SECOND TIME WOULD BRING ABOUT JUST AS MANY PROBLEMS.

[ blunt? perhaps. but Stannis was not one to soften his words. ]

HARDLY. OTHER THAN PERHAPS DAENERYS TARGARYEN, ALL THE OTHER DRAGONS OF OUR REALM SLEEP. THESE ONES ARE NATIVE TO WYVER, THOUGH THEY SEEM SIMILAR TO THOSE THAT I HAVE READ ABOUT IN OUR HISTORIES. THEY ARE SPECTACULAR CREATURES.

[ he is a quarter Targaryen, after all. you'll have to forgive him for his enthusiasm on dragons. ]

[learned_to_die]

I WOULD VENTURE TO BE SO BOLD AS TO SAY THAT THERE ARE MANY WHO WOULD DISAGREE WITH YOU, BUT THE SENTIMENT IS NOTED ALL THE SAME.

[So the Targaryen girl is here. The last he'd heard of her, she'd been pregnant with Khal Drogo's unborn child and Robert had wanted her dead.]

ARE THEY BEASTS TO BE FEARED?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

IF I HAD MY WAY, YOU WOULD HAVE NOT BEEN THERE TO BEGIN WITH. WHILE WE ARE NOT FRIENDS, WESTEROS WAS MADE LESSER WITH YOUR DEATH.

[ as to his next question... ]

JUST AS ANY MANNER OF DRAGON IS. THEY ARE NOT CREATURES FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.

[learned_to_die]

[Lot of good Stannis did, then, sitting at Dragonstone, while Ned was accused of treason and thrown into the dungeons.]

YOU WERE NOT THE BARATHEON I'D EXPECT TO MOURN MY DEATH, REGARDLESS OF THE MANNER OF IT.

ARE THE LEGENDS WE WERE TOLD TRUE? ARE THEY TO BE FEARED?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

IT WAS UNJUST. DID YOU UNCOVER THE TRUTH OF THE LANNISTER WOMAN'S TREACHERY? AND WAS SHE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR ROBERT'S DEATH?

[ he must have. it only made sense, after all. ]

AYE, THOUGH THEY ARE SMALLER THAN BALERION. OLYMPIA DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE THEM, WHICH IS WHY I HAVE REMAINED IN WYVER, FOR THE TIME BEING.

[learned_to_die]

YOU KNEW THE INFORMATION ALREADY, YET DID NOTHING TO WARN OR ASSIST ME.

I DOUBT YOU NEED ME TO CONFIRM THE VERACITY OF EITHER OF YOUR QUESTIONS.

ARE THEY WILD CREATURES OR HAS THE TARGARYEN GIRL MANAGED TO TAME THEM, AS THEIR NAME SUGGESTS?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

[ as much as Stannis is loathe to admit it, he perhaps does have something of a point. but still... ]

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE HAD ME DO? REMAIN IN KING'S LANDING, AND TRY TO REVEAL THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER TO YOU? WOULD YOU HAVE BELIEVED THE MAN WHO SEEMINGLY HAD THE MOST TO GAIN FROM SUCH A REVELATION? AND THAT IS ONLY IF I SURVIVED THAT LONG, WITH LITTLEFINGER AND THE LANNISTER WOMAN'S SCHEMING. OR WOULD YOU HAVE HAD ME SAIL TO KING'S LANDING WHILE YOU WERE IMPRISONED, COMPLETELY UNPREPARED?

AND OTHERS HAVE TAMED THE DRAGONS.

[ and yes, perhaps he had been bitter he hadn't been made Robert's Hand. but still... ]

I HAD FEW OPTIONS, LORD STARK. I DID WHAT I BELIEVED WAS BEST.

[learned_to_die]

AND WHAT YOU BELIEVED WAS BEST WAS TO LET AN INNOCENT MAN DIE, FORCING HIM TO CLAIM TREASON DESPITE ALL THAT STOOD TO SUPPORT HIS CLAIMS.

I WOULD HAVE BELIEVED YOU, ONCE I HAD COME TO THE SAME CONCLUSION WITH THE PROOF I'D FOUND. WE'D HAVE UNITED OUR HOUSES AND BANNERMEN. THERE WAS NO LOYALTY TO BE HAD ONCE YOUR BROTHER WAS KILLED. WE'D HAVE BEEN RID OF THE LANNISTERS FOR GOOD.

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

[ as much as he loathes to admit it, there is truth in what he says. still, he cannot help but feeling old resentments pooling to the surface. ]

THERE ARE WORDS AND WORDS, LORD STARK. BE THAT AS IT MAY, I TOOK NO JOY IN YOUR DEATH, AND EVEN LESS IN THE DEATH OF MY BROTHER. BUT I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ROBERT'S HAND.

BE THAT AS IT MAY, IT MATTERS LITTLE NOW. WESTEROS IS GONE, THOUGH THANKFULLY ITS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SPARED.

BUT THERE ARE OTHER THINGS YOU MUST KNOW AS WELL.

[ this whole situation is... disconcerting. ]

[learned_to_die]

YOU'D HAVE NEVER HAD AN ARGUMENT FROM ME ABOUT YOUR WANTING TO BE HAND. I'D TOLD ROBERT AS MUCH, BUT YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I THAT THERE WAS NO REASONING WITH HIM ONCE HE'D SET HIS MIND ON SOMETHING.

SUCH AS?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

[ that's... surprising. ]

YOU COULD NOT CONVINCE ROBERT OF SOMETHING? THE WAY HE OFTTIMES SPOKE OF YOU, IT WAS AS THOUGH YOU COULD DO NO WRONG.

[ how many times had he heard his elder brother sing Lord Eddard Stark's praises? ]

FIRST OF ALL, IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THERE MAY VERY WELL BE TWO SEPARATE WESTEROSES.

[ westerosi? ]

[learned_to_die]

YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I THAT ONCE ROBERT HAD SET HIS MIND ON SOMETHING, THERE WAS NO SPEAKING AGAINST OR ATTEMPTING TO SWAY HIM. HE PUT ME ON FAR TOO HIGH A PEDESTAL. IT IS A PLACE FOR STATUES AND THE REVERED, NOT FOR MORTAL MEN.

PARDON?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS OF WESTEROS, IT WOULD SEEM, WHERE EVENTS PLAYED OUT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. TELL ME, LORD STARK,
DO YOU RECALL VICTARION GREYJOY?

[ that seemed to be one of the largest deviations between the Westeros Jon Snow recalled and the one that he did. ]

[learned_to_die]

I'D HEARD OF HIM, HIS GARGANTUAN SIZE. I'D NOT RECOGNIZED HIM WHEN I MET HIM IN THE CHAMBER, HOWEVER, SHORTLY AFTER I AWOKE.

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

THERE IS A A WESTEROS WHERE HE DOES NOT EXIST. THERE ARE OTHER CHANGES, ONES THAT ARE MORE UNSETTLING. IN THAT WESTEROS, IT WOULD SEEM THAT I AM BOTH A KINSLAYER, AND THE SORT OF MAN WHO WOULD MARCH MY LADY WIFE AND DAUGHTER INTO BATTLE. YOUR SON, JON SNOW,
REMEMBERS THAT WESTEROS. I HOPE YOU WOULD KNOW ME NOT TO BE SUCH A FOOL.

[ the latter being a particular sticking point. ]

[learned_to_die]

I'D NOT HAVE DREAMT YOU AS SUCH, STANNIS. YOU ARE THE MAN I'D SUPPORTED AND FOR WHOM I'D CLAIMED THE IRON THRONE FOLLOWING ROBERT'S DEATH, UNLESS YOU'VE FORGOTTEN.

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

AND FOR THAT I THANK YOU.

THERE ARE MANY OTHER STRANGE THINGS AFOOT HERE, LORD STARK,
AND THIS WAS JUST ONE OF THEM. AFTER YOUR DEATH, THINGS DID NOT GO PARTICULARLY WELL. THOUGH YOU MAY WISH TO HEAR SOME OF THE DETAILS FROM YOUR OWN CHILDREN.

[learned_to_die]

SUCH THINGS HAVE BEEN ALLUDED TO, THOUGH NONE ARE ALL THAT FORTHCOMING WITH INFORMATION; IT HAS ALLOWED MY MIND TO RUN TO THE WILDEST EXPANSES OF WHAT IT CAN CONJURE.

MIGHT YOU SHARE SOME OF IT TO QUELL THAT STORM?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

I MAY. ASK, AND YOU SHALL HAVE ONLY THE TRUTH FROM ME.

[learned_to_die]

WHAT FATE BEFELL MY FAMILY?

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[You got this, Stannis, right?]

[bruxisms]

[ well. Stannis is not one to soften his words. ever. ]

I WILL TELL YOU, THOUGH IT MAY BE SOMETHING YOU WISH TO HEAR IN PERSON.

JON SNOW WILL HAVE ANOTHER VERSION. I CAN TELL YOU WHAT HE TOLD ME, AND HE CAN SAY THE REST OF IT.

[learned_to_die]

YOUR WORDS HAVE DONE LITTLE TO BRING PEACE OF MIND, STANNIS. YOU MAKE ME FEAR THE WORST.

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

THERE IS NO PEACE OF MIND TO BE HAD LORD STARK.

BUT KNOW THIS. THE STORM SEEMS TO HAVE WASHED AWAY ALL THAT WAS DONE. YOU ARE PROOF THAT THE DEAD LIVE YET AGAIN HERE.

WOULD YOU RATHER I TYPE IT NOW, OR WOULD YOU RATHER MEET FACE-TO-FACE?

[learned_to_die]

IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH AN IN-PERSON MEETING MIGHT BE BEST, GIVEN THE GRAVITY OF WHAT YOU IMPLY.

IF SUCH A THING SUITS YOU.

-- LORD EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

[bruxisms]

IT SUITS ME JUST FINE.

MEET ME ABOARD THE THESA STATION, NEAR THE STASIS PODS.

[ though others might be disturbed by them, a part of Stannis found it comforting. a reminder that not all was lost. ]