[Epilogue] Lord Tullison stands vigil

"
Not too far from Mountain's Reach, lord Baelon?"
Theomore had thought Grenward to be further north than so, but he had never cared much for where it was in the first place. "
Then I must insist that you two come visit when circumstances permit, I do fear I might not be overly welcome the other way around."


On the subject of lands outside of Mountain's Reach, Theomore does need to ponder. "
I cannot deny that this would be the logical way to advance my own fortunes, along with those of my children, though I must also be rather frank. My lord nephew has a good heart, he is strong and I believe he will become a fine leader of men. "


"
However, he needs advisers around him, men or women that understands that the wheels of the realms are predominantly something else than wicked deeds or acts of heroism. The health of my sister in law is failing, and my niece is rather young, and we cannot expect her to be at Mountain's Reach forever. I can sacrifice my own ambitions if need be, and I rather like traveling, truth be told."

"
Well, I wouldn't exactly call us neighbors, but Mountain's Reach is on the way to Hartshorn, so perhaps a visit on the way would be possible."


Baelon nods in response to Theomore's mention of Dunstan needing advisers.
"
Truly, even the wisest of lords listen to good advice. Even the King has his small council. Still, that need not be you;
surely you have a trustworthy maester, and other advisers can be found as well."

Dunstan certainly does need strong willed and world-wise advisers, but Theomore probably isn't the ideal candidate - someone a bit closer to the 'acts of heroism' end than the 'wicked deeds' would be better.

"
As for traveling, that is what a castellan is for, no?"


[OOC: Looking at the campaign guide map again, Mountain's Reach is a bit further south than I had thought - though not by much. Our lands are pretty much due north of Mountain's Reach, on the shore of the Bite.]

"
We just recently got ourselves a new maester, as it happens, Lord Baelon. Some of them knows little beyond what they've read in a book, others are considerably more capable, I do hope that Colton will prove himself to be the latter. Then of course, if the hand of a lady with a good head for politics could be secured, or the ailments of lady Moraine might be cured, the need for myself would be much lessened."
Theomore offers a smile on his own expense. "
Nothing would be better than for me to become superfluous at Mountain's Reach, whatever rains on my nephew does have the habit of dripping on myself, so him being showered by glory and fortune due to the advise of those wiser than I would only reduce my ego."


"
And I suspect that is too big for my own good, so it does sound like a win-win. Then I might see about ambitions of a more personal nature."

Gwyneth nods."
It's a wise thing to make sure your own House's affairs are in order before you set out to make a new one,"
she agrees.

She studied him for a moment, then nodded. "
I hope you will come to call on us sometime. You were...decent to me, while I stayed at Mountain's Reach. I expect there was some pressure on you, but I never felt as if you wished I would leave. Curious about why I was there perhaps. Well, at any rate it may seem like a bit of thin praise, but it means something to me. Thank you."

"
My lady, there was no pressure at all, aside from that of being a host."
Theomore smiles warmly, he rather enjoyed their talks, unlike those with his niece about whatever game she was playing...though they were interesting enough, but pleasant? No. "
After all, a guest of Mountain's Reach should feel welcome enough that they'd rather stay a while longer."

"
A fine ideal. The reality is of course often more complex."
Gwyn smiled. "
But I have no regrets. Each person in the whole drama acted, in each moment, for what they thought was the best to the extent of what they knew at the time. I can ask no more of anyone, including myself.

"
I do greatly look forward to the moment when you feel that House Tullison is ready to sail on the course she's set on, with or without you. I am very interested to see what you'll do when it comes."

"
As am I, my lady!"
Theomore chuckles, not haven given the matter some thought...not before the tourney at any rate. He was only free to follow his leisure in one brief moment after another, even though Dunstan was about to be knighted, and lady Yve was on the cusp of womanhood, old habits died hard, and he had been the only adult Tullison in good health for a very long time now, duties that came before whatever else he could have sought for himself, and Theomore never was one to dwell on that which could not be. Would that hold true for Ayleth? Time will tell.

Theomore's moment of thoughtfulness is not lost on Gwyn, but the moment isn't right to pry, she feels. Instead she simply says, "
Well, we shouldn't keep you from your nephew any longer then. I'm sure you two knights have lots to talk about."


Gwyn starts to pull away then, but pauses. "
I expect we won't see each other again before all the camps break and everyone leaves for their homes again, so...farewell, Ser Theomore. I do hope you find what you're looking for, whatever that might be."

"
Thank you my lady, though you should know better than to think you are imposing upon my time."
Theomore smiles, if thoughtful still. "
There is one worry of mine concerning the Coldbrooks though, you remember the accident at the twins, yes?"
He pauses a bit, to gather the words. "
It does not seem as if they have allowed themselves to let go of the matter, Loreia was rather direct and Ser Jorah hinted as much that she may well be representative for others in her opinion. It is understandable, of course. But what I fear more is that master Daveth thinks it was more sinister than unfortunate circumstance that killed his brother."


"
It would appear that he has been busy setting up a net of informants trying to figure out my misdeeds, in and of itself that does not bother me, I expect that I am watched, me being the former squire of the prince, and with a decade of experience in the courts. Had I been doing such misdeeds he thinks me capable of, others I would be much more concerned about learning of it would find out long before his agents caught wind of it."


"
The more troublesome part is that the men he hired seems most eager to feed him false news in the hope for additional coin, that has given House Tullison one headache that I managed to shrug off, mostly. The damage done to us is not worth reacting to, the deed is done, the repairs were made, but should it happen again, I might need to have a word with some friends of mine about the new Coldbrook heir engaging in what appears to be a campaign of revenge for something he swore an oath before his gods that he would not."
Having to spend extra effort trying to convince the riverlords that he could be trusted ought to strain his resources enough to stop pestering Theomore, no? "
I do so prefer to speak of happier things in the company of friends."


[There's stuff yet to be posted elsewhere, but brought to conclusion via pm's, hopefully can post a wrapup those places also, Theo's bringing some citadel expertise to the cat and mouse game kinda went as predicted, so it's clarified what IC knowledge he has.]

Gwyn frowned slightly as she tried to remember what Theomore was talking about. Accident at the Twins, killing a brother... There had been something about a young contestant dying in a joust hadn't there been? Ah yes, and that HAD been Theomore riding against him!

"
So..."
she says slowly, making sure she has it straight, "
...you accidentally killed Daveth's brother at a joust, and he believes you did it on purpose so now he's looking for ways to make trouble for you?"
Gwyn rubbed her temple. It was all patently absurd of course. The incident at the Twins had only made Theomore look bad, why would he have done it on purpose?

But then again, when she thought of how angry she'd been, how afraid, for her sister at times... Had Dyana fallen, would she have taken 'it's an accident' for an answer?

Perhaps, Gwyn decided. But she'd had some experience with senseless deaths of family members. Daveth perhaps had not.

"
It's a somewhat delicate situation, given that he's now to be my liege lord,"
she said, "
But perhaps it is the duty of a good bannerman to gently inform their lord when he's making a mistake."


She sighed and gave Theomore a tired smile.

"
Thank you for bringing the matter to my attention, and for treating the matter as tolerantly as you have. Anger and grief can do much to cloud men's eyes."