[D8,During Gauntlet]Preparing for the future (Closed)

[OOC: The mechanics here have been agreed on with Reader]
While all eyes were on Lord Haig's tournament, Daveth was making use of the relative privacy offered to start some research he didn't exactly want to advertise. He spent time in the Blackwood's library collecting books he wanted, and a few he didn't, to disguise his interest to any who might be observing. His caution was almost certainly unwarranted, but was simply habitual by now.

[url=Research in Library (+1D from extra time)][/url]: 5d6 17 TN9, so 2 DoS

His books gathered, Daveth begins to read, learning everything he can about the one military threat House Coldbrook is not at all prepared for.

Dragons.

[OOC: Handled via PM.

And what's this? :?

[url=Secret narrator stuff][/url]: 6d6k4 20]

Reader wrote:[And what's this? :?

[url=Secret narrator stuff][/url]: 6d6k4 20]

Panic! at the library.

Gwyneth opened the library door and stepped in, closing it behind her. She didn't notice Daveth immediately, quiet as he was, reading in the corner. Times like this always made her feel a little guilty...she felt she ought to be at the events, cheering her favorites on. But such events tended to be bloody, and it would be far worse form to be there for that than to not be there at all. And she was tired of being cooped up in the Drakeson tents. She had an escort waiting outside in the hall, and this wasn't some bandit-strewn stretch of road for pity's sake.

Browsing breezily through a few shelves, she spotted Daveth as she rounded a corner.

"
Oh. I didn't realize..."
Gwyn abruptly chuckled. "
I should have guessed you'd be here instead of at the stands."

Daveth starts when Lady Gwyneth speaks, having been totally engrossed in reading, and for a moment gives her a wide-eyed look of shock before his brain catches up with his body, and properly identifies her, allowing him to relax. "
L-"
he quickly casts eyes around to confirm they're alone. "
Gwyneth."
he informally nods in greeting. "
Yes. As even the rumour mill knows by now, I am no fan of violence. I thought you'd be there, though, or is Baelon not participating?"

[OOC: Once more with feeling: [url=Secret narrator stuff][/url]: 6d6k4 22]

"
He knows my heart is with him,"
she replies. In truth, while she'd advised him not to participate in the gauntlet, he hadn't quite decided yet at the time they'd parted.

Daveth's reaction was a bit interesting though. Would she spy naked girl paintings in that book he was looking through?

Gwyn steps forward, and goes on her toes a bit to try to glimpse the contents of the book as she goes on, "
I'm not often glimpsed at jousts and melees either. They're not to my liking. Too many people hurt, for so little gain."


"
Is everything all right? You looked a bit...spooked. Anyone else and I'd suspect you'd been hearing ghostly noises."
She smiles at that.

Daveth snorts. "
Don't you start. I hear enough of ghosts back home. No, I was just ... engrossed. This book"
he gestures to the one he's reading "
is nigh incomprehensible. I'm not entirely certain the whole thing's not in some kind of code, but if it is, I can't figure it out."
he sighs, "
Meaning, I should probably focus my time on other books."
he closes the book, and pushes it away, revealing to Gwyneth that it was 'Hitherby Dragons' by Maester Borgstrom.

"
So, what brings you *here*, specifically? Everything alright?"


[OOC: the book is a 4th-wall breaking reference, that IC reveals Daveth's intent here, but isn't otherwise significant. Don't read too much into it having a name &
author, I just couldn't resist.]

"
Everything's...all right,"
Gwyn answers after a moment of reflection. She shrugs and admits, "
I can't pretend to be happy about the direction things have taken over the course of the last week. But we've been dealing with the challenges for the moment. They'll be yet more things to juggle when we return home, but things have settled down there enough that it should be doable."


She sighs. "
I suppose I had higher hopes, but perhaps unrealistic ones."


"
As for why I came here...I was passing curious about a few historical matters. I thought I'd drop by and see if there was anything here on the subject. Nothing important, really. Mostly I just wanted to get out a bit."


Her eyes fall on the book again. "
Written in code, hm? That sounds interesting. What would be so dreadful a secret that someone would bother to encode it?"

Daveth shrugs. "
His mother's recipe for scones, maybe. Or maybe the whole thing was a drunken wager between a group of maesters as to who could write the most obfuscatory text without it being noticed."
he snorts. "
I can picture it now: trying to get as many maesters as possible to praise the book for its insight, with each of them doing so only because they don't want to be the only one to not 'get' it."


A wry smile as he looks across at Gwyneth. "
Beware smart people with too much time on their hands. Who knows what they'll get up to."


He considers a moment, then stands, moves to the other side of the table, and pulls a chair out for Gwyneth to sit on. "
If you don't have something important here, then join me. I have a question for you that's not really possible to ask with many ears around."


[The following assumes Gwyneth actually accepts the chair and sits down, for the sake of flow. If not, I'll edit.]

After Gwyneth's sat down, he moves back to his chair. "
You know me. You know I'm not really a 'natural' leader, and you know I've not been heir for long. Put simply, I'm aware my leadership experience is lacking. And House Coldbrook has you as our banner house, and having any banner house is a balancing act between being supportive and respecting your independence. During this time, I've largely decided to err on the side of letting you handle matters your own way.

"
If you're willing, I'd like to know, in your opinion, if I've been handling my rights and responsibilities with regards to you and your house correctly.

"
I appreciate that's a difficult question to answer, but I'm largely working off historical records for how to handle these things. Without hearing your opinion, I fear that if I'm doing things wrong, I will continue to do so indefinitely."

Gwyneth takes the offered seat and smiles at Daveth, wider and wider as his confession goes on. Her smile had little mockery, but she did seem to find some mirth in what he was saying. He really was kind of adorable.

"
Oh Daveth,"
she said when he was done, "
Believe me...if you were doing something wrong, you'd hear about it. Baelon and I are not the Kriegars, to suffer in silence until we're so stifled that breaking our oaths is the only recourse we feel we have. I've no complaints of our treatment. If I were to take a step back and look for criticism..."
Gwyn trailed off thoughtfully, then said, "
...I would say that it's fairly clear even now that you're not quite sure what to do with us. It hasn't been an issue so far, because both we and you have been concentrating on creating a solid economy to work off of. That's important work, and we're doing it well, so it makes sense to let that happen."


"
But on a larger stage, I feel as if you haven't been making a plan beyond simply strengthening your House...which of course means that a resource like my House is hard to do much with. House Drakeson isn't likely to to much to bolster Coldbrook's formidable armies after all. And we're somewhat remote to be contributing to your fortunes directly. You did express interest in our diplomatic skills, and of course we have been contributing on that front...but that again is simply trying to strengthen ourselves. It's not a plan."


She shrugs. "
I may be completely wrong, of course. My attention has been occupied nearly everywhere BUT House Coldbrook. So then let this be my criticism. I don't know what your goals are, beyond simply increasing the strength, wealth, and influence of your House. That makes it a bit tricky to think of ways to support those goals."

Daveth listens carefully to her words, and considers them for a few seconds before slowly nodding. "
I am perhaps too used to keeping my own council on these matters. For a long time, it was simply my mother and I who handled these things, then when ... she stepped back, I simply stopped conferring with others, and just started doing what needed to be done.

"
You are right that I don't have a particular goal for your house - as you say, I chose you for your skills more than anything else, and they have proven invaluable this occasion. House Coldbrook wouldn't have accomplished anywhere near what we did without your support.

"
However, I can share with you my goals, such as they are.

"
Part of my deal with my brother to ensure the issue of heir was settled easily was to support him becoming master of arms. Not immediately. After Ser Jorah, my intention is to push for Captain Orell to take over the reins. But after him, my brother. I am keeping my eyes open for opportunities for him to develop, both as a leader, and as a person, before that happens.

"
Secondly, my mother is ... broken by grief. I hope to fix her. I believe that finding a good marriage for me will help, there. I'm currently looking into the possibility of Lady Alysane, though that's still early days. Your cousin is helping me there, actually. I expect to hear back from her if the idea is a non-starter later today. Ser Theomore receiving his comeuppance would also likely be a soothing balm for her soul, but as agreed, I'm letting that happen or not naturally.

"
Thirdly, personal defence. And this one is going to get messy. Things will only get more dangerous, and I don't want to compromise the Company of the Morningstar by loaning myself so many men for my protection that they enter battle already weakened. I seek a group of dedicated bodyguards."
he sighs. "
The place where it gets messy is I want someone I can trust unreservedly leading the group. Which, frankly, means Loreia."
he pauses a second to let that sink in, before nodding. "
Yes, there'll be a diplomatic cost for that one, but it's a price worth paying for my security, in my eyes. In consultation with Captain Orell, I'm currently thinking of looking for bodyguards through holding a tournament. It won't happen immediately, as I have a higher-priority objective for my funds, but I'm hoping, with luck, to have it within a year or so.

"
And finally, house defence. Previously, I saw our two biggest threats as being Houses Darry and Tullison, should Ser Theomore whisper overmuch poison in his nephew's ear. I think that with the healing of his mother, the latter threat is effectively neutralised, and I've been spending effort attempting to reconcile with House Darry. I think I've made reasonable progress on that front. While I doubt they'd ever be our friends, the more reasonable wing of their family is seeming to be warming up to us, seeing the benefits in cooperation. I think, with those efforts, it would be hard for a new enemy to muster enough forces to seriously threaten us."


He pauses. "
Using conventional forces, anyway."
and he places his arm over the book in such a way that his sleeve covers all bar the word 'Dragons' in the title. He looks up to make sure she understands, before removing his arm. "
So, I am focusing my attention on how best to defend against any unconventional forces that may be deployed at some point in the future.

"
There are other, smaller, goals, but those are the main ones."
A small, slightly sad smile. "
Saying it like that, I think perhaps your husband was right when he said I was not a man of ambition. I have no grand, sweeping plans. I simply want to protect my family, above all other concerns. And do my duty to the realm, protecting those who rely on me for such."
a slightly bigger smile for a moment. "
Garret would have bold plans. Grand plans. I primarily seek to dig deep, solid foundations for our house, so that we may weather any storm to come."

"
Black Aly,"
says Gwyn with a grin. "
And Loreia as a bodyguard. Am I detecting a pattern in the women you associate with?"


She leans back a little in her chair and idly runs a fingertip along a few random book spines as she mulls over what Daveth's said...and what he hasn't said.

"
She's a good choice though, Loreia. And the cost may not be as bad you think. She's been earning something of a name for herself. It will be seen as a political statement, of course...but not one that should surprise anyone. The Kingdoms are rapidly becoming a place where there are two diplomacies at work. Choosing a side early has advantages, if done with an eye for the risks."


Gwyn let her head turn lazily back to Daveth then, canted over to rest on her shoulder. "
As for the defense of your House, you may want to talk to Baelon sometime. He's been talking about defending the harbor. Siege weapons and traps and so on. It's all over MY head, of course, but it sounds fairly unconventional to me. You might be interested."


It might have been the first time she'd ever admitted in Daveth's hearing that something was over her head...and her fixed, somewhat steely-eyed expression didn't match the vapidity of what she was saying.

Then she looked away again and said, "
Garrett may surprise you, you know. Sometimes people have to have responsibility before they can grow into it."

Gwyneth Drakeson wrote:"
Black Aly,"
says Gwyn with a grin. "
And Loreia as a bodyguard. Am I detecting a pattern in the women you associate with?"

A slight smile. "
Mayhap, though the relationships are rather different."

Gwyneth Drakeson wrote:"
She's a good choice though, Loreia. And the cost may not be as bad you think. She's been earning something of a name for herself. It will be seen as a political statement, of course...but not one that should surprise anyone. The Kingdoms are rapidly becoming a place where there are two diplomacies at work. Choosing a side early has advantages, if done with an eye for the risks."

"
Between our close association with House Marsten, and, moreso, my offering of the banner house to your husband, I suspect that choice was actually made a while ago."

Gwyneth Drakeson wrote:Gwyn let her head turn lazily back to Daveth then, canted over to rest on her shoulder. "
As for the defense of your House, you may want to talk to Baelon sometime. He's been talking about defending the harbor. Siege weapons and traps and so on. It's all over MY head, of course, but it sounds fairly unconventional to me. You might be interested."


It might have been the first time she'd ever admitted in Daveth's hearing that something was over her head...and her fixed, somewhat steely-eyed expression didn't match the vapidity of what she was saying.

Daveth gave a small, slow nod. Message received and understood. "
Given my primary responsibility to your house is protection, it is probably beholden on me to at least be aware of your plans there. Kindly tell your husband that I would like to visit, to see the harbour for myself, and discuss those plans, at a time of your convenience."

Gwyneth Drakeson wrote:Then she looked away again and said, "
Garrett may surprise you, you know. Sometimes people have to have responsibility before they can grow into it."

Daveth nods. "
I don't want to seem like I have no faith in my brother. I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't have made the deal in the first place. I'm just hoping to ease him into the responsibilities gradually, and let him grow as they do."

"
You have faith in him eventually being up to the task,"
Gwyn posits. "
It's not quite the same thing as having faith in him. But I suppose I'm doing that annoying thing where I talk about things I don't know much about, as if I did."
She smiles. "
My apologies. He is your brother. I'm sure you know how best to handle him."


"
Hm, not to change the subject, but have you given any thought to the disposition of the Market Town? Or this treasure hunt of Lord Bartheld's?"

"
The first step would be for him to actually *want* responsibility, rather than doing everything in his power to avoid it."
he waves a hand dismissively. "
But as you say, that's personal business, with a lot of history behind it.

"
With regards to Market town, not a thought. To the best of my knowledge, House Coldbrook doesn't have any kind of claim, and we don't have the political clout to make it stick if we did. Lord Davain's treasure hunt I was asked about, but by the time he'd gotten around to asking us, they had sufficient interest that I deemed the potential reward insufficient to risk the lives of my men in pursuit of nothing but profit. He said you were considering the matter."

Gwyn chuckles at that. "
He dangled some notion of it 'benefiting our shipping routes' in front of us, and a share of the treasure. But it all seems rather suspect to me. For one, Even assuming there is such a treasure there in the first place, with so many Houses assisting each one's share may be rather modest. I am a bit intrigued by this 'artifact' he claims to be after though. He's going through an extraordinary amount of work for just this single thing. It makes me wonder what single thing could possibly be worth it to him."


She shrugs. "
At any rate, I'd love to see the map, but after some discussion Baelon and I agreed it was probably unwise to walk unarmed into a tent with Yoren and a band of viridian hooligans like that Dulver fellow. Probably safe enough, as the Barthelds have given us no sign they're hostile...but why take the chance over something as frankly trivial as this?"


A little smile curved her lips. "
After all, we've a map of our own to follow."

Daveth gives a small nod. "
Much the same thoughts as mine, then. Although I would note that Lord Bartheld has always seemed to me to be an honourable man."


He frowns slightly in thought. "
Still, what is this map of yours you refer to? Or are you talking metaphorically?"

She grins wider. "
A bit of both, I suppose. We DO have a metaphorical map to follow...but I've come into possession of a more literal one as well."


Gwyn glanced theatrically around, as if they were surrounded by interested ears, then leaned closer and in a low voice asked, "
Do you want to see it? Maester Leopold and I have spent a few hours going over it, and we're fairly sure of its significance now. It's not terribly useful to our House directly...but I can think of a few people who would be very interested in it indeed."

Daveth locks eyes with her, and gives a slow, significant nod. "
You may consider my curiosity thoroughly piqued."

Gwyn nods and stands up, then beckons to Daveth.

"
It'd be much easier to show you than tell you. And if you're still around when Baelon's back, you can talk with him about that harbor thing as well."


She seems ready to lead him off to the Drakeson camp and show off her shiny new toy!

Possibly a map as well.

Daveth nods and stands. "
Give me a few minutes. I want to put these back before leaving."
he gestures towards the books he was reading.

He swiftly covered his tracks so that it was not obvious what he had been researching, then left with Lady Gwyneth.