In search of knowledge and a new friend

Ereth finds himself walking among the guests at his party greeting as many as he can and exchanging pleasantries. He was looking for someone in particular that had good healing hands and if what I have heard about him he is quite smart and cunning Perhaps he should have been maester. His new knight seemed good at jousting at least in small tourneys. Yet I can't find my self to call her Ser, perhaps another word more suited for the first woman knight? Interesting debate I could have with him at least. after finally settling that the best way to start a conversation is with a greeting before anything else, and see where things go after that.

Finally his turn to shake hands with lord Daveth "
Lord Daveth, thank you for coming to my wedding, you honor me with your presence by coming from the North"

Daveth shakes the lord's hand amiably. "
Lord Ereth. House Coldbrook is honoured that the Scourge of the Stepstones would invite us to celebrate this day with you. May the bonds you make here today strengthen both you and your new wife."

"
Yes, indeed lord Daveth"
Ereth smiles back "
I'm afraid I'm following my lord cousin to much in the choice of wife if you know what I mean"
looking at the celebration area "
I hope you find things to your liking, I know it's not much, but I'm glad my wedding was blessed with prominent figures at least, and your new knight"
wondering if he minded having a debate over it to see if he was a smart and cunning as it was rumored, after all if he was going to ask a favor of the man, he would make sure it was going to be the right man "
You know it was a rather interesting thing, she sure has the strength of arms to earn her spurs, but I still think "
Ser"
is more appropriate for men"
pausing for a moment 'Don't get me wrong she deserves the "
Ser"
but perhaps women knight should have a different title, might as well make it unique as she is?"

Hopefully not too much like Lord Frey, should the rumours be true. "
Well, that's hardly something I'm in a position to criticise others over, what with my betrothal to Lady Alysane Blackwood."
he replies with a smile.

When Lord Ereth raises the subject of titles, a small spark of interest enters Daveth's eyes. "
Ah, yes. It's an interesting conundrum. I considered pushing for various alternatives, such as, for example, 'Dame'. As you say, the association of 'Ser' with men is deeply embedded in the consciousness of our society. But I decided against doing so for a few reasons. For one thing, it would leave her open to accusations that 'Dame's aren't 'real' knights, that's why they have their own title' or the like. Secondly, it could be seen as backing away from the action. And I feel that if you're going to do something that outrageous, that scandalous, you should own it. To do otherwise would be like .... ohh, having sex with another man's wife in front of dozen of witnesses, then trying to claim it doesn't really matter because you pulled out;
pardon my crudity. By keeping her title as 'Ser', there is no backing down. She is making the claim that she is entirely equal with her male peers, storming the battlements of a castle previously reserved for men, and attempting to redefine what both the rank and title mean to society as a whole.

"
However, the biggest reason is much simpler. I stuck with 'Ser' because that is what Lord Eoric wanted. And if you're willing to make yourself a figure of loathing for near enough half the kingdom for pretty much no benefit to yourself, then at the very least, you should have the right to name it whatever you please without having some jumped-up heir who's not even a knight himself attempting to change it."

Ereth smiles "
Ah, see I beg to question some things about that. While she is a knight, as no one can change what Eoric has done, that automatically makes her Ser Loreia and her rightful title as knight for her, but she is now a knight, just not some men at arms or important retainer of your household, so the title of "
Dame"
would be more proper to her. Not because you want to diminish her or change something that you cannot change."
Ereth points to himself "
I'm a Lord Redwain, but before I was a Ser, so either way both titles are correct and I gained them both, what is to stop you of giving her the title of "
Dame"
when introducing her, and let her be Ser Loreia when it matters to be a Ser"


Ereth looks away for a moment "
I do miss being called Ser Ereth, but once you are lord, the other title fades away, yet it doesn't mean I never earned my spurs as knight or makes my accomplishments any smaller. Same thing happens when you start as squire and then become a knight. She earned her spurs like any knight I honored her by placing her shield up, I know some repercussion might come from that so I decided to open it with the Lannister champion to lessen the blow."

Daveth nods. "
I noticed you did that. I thought it was a clever move, striking a good balance. No-one wants politics to spoil their wedding day.

"
I see where you're coming from in your argument, but you earned your title of 'lord' entirely separately from earning your title of 'ser'. Ser Loreia has earned her knighthood, but no more."
yet "
To give her another title would be rank favouritism. An indication that we considered her somehow worthy of more honours than a man on achieving her knighthood."
he shakes his head. "
Regardless of if they like her or not, people cannot deny that she has earned her knighthood through her deeds. If we name her 'Dame', that dilutes that surety. Every title she earns she will do so through earning it many times over until the world cannot simply abide its lack any further, not simply through my waving a hand and declaring it to be so."

"
In that you are correct, she will have to prove her worth many times over to earn the same as other knights with less effort. That is society, but at least give her some mild court knowledge and training"
Which brings your question and proper time to ask "
I know this might be sudden, but I believe you to be the most capable man and would like to ask a favor of you"

Daveth gives an emphatic nod. "
I've already begun the process, actually. Not that the lessons have begun yet, but I've been looking into the best ways of teaching, and it's surprisingly complex. The deeper I dig into the subject, it seems the less can be taken for granted. While I'm sure the right book will be helpful, to actually be a good teacher requires a good understanding of how the person thinks, and a high degree of preparation to try and teach the right things in the right order. It doesn't seem to be something where 'one rule fits all'."
he gives a determined smile. "
Still, we'll get there."


He shakes himself a bit. "
Anyway, yes, your favour. I can't promise anything without having heard it, but I'm certainly willing to give it a fair hearing. What do you need?"

"
I need to improve my"
thinking a way to say it but it comes in a flat tone "
The way I can manage my House, I know I do a good job, but I'm not knowledgeable or cunning enough, not to mention I need to write a little better also. So I wouldn't mind if you showed me how you help your father manage your House, or at least how to be more smart about how to acquire knowledge. My maester is a great help, but his focus is more on blacksmithing and magic. I had to be given an odd one, but he just might discover what he is looking for. I doubt I have the resources right now to build a library and a master smithy for him"
Ereth smiles "
Would you mind helping me then?"
pausing for a moment 'Of course favors are never free I'm taking your time and effort, what would you like in return?"

Daveth carefully avoids any reaction to the mention of him helping is father run the house. Of course, technically, he's correct. I am helping him. By doing damn near everything.

"
An ... interesting request. I've heard it said that being aware of what you know is knowledge, but being aware of what you don't know is wisdom. So, that you would both be aware of the need to ask for help, and have the courage to ask outside your house is a very positive sign."


Daveth continues speaking as if he's thinking through the matter as he goes. "
The difficulties are, of course, that I do not know you that well, and that I imagine neither of us can really spare the time for an extended stay away. So, much of the teaching would have to be done through correspondence, with occasional brief visits from one of us to the other."


He nods, mostly to himself. "
It sounds like an interesting challenge. Cunning is certainly possible to do that way - a lot of that is simply picking up on small details, questioning your own assumptions, and avoiding lazy thinking. Knowledge? Well, there's only really one way to increase that - read more books. But I can definitely pass on a few tricks to help memorise that knowledge so it actually sticks, without having to re-read each book five times. Plus, I can recommend a few good books I've come across that would give you a good grounding in a number of useful subjects. Writing is something that can only really be addressed in person, but I can spend some time making you use good habits, then confirm that you're sticking with them each time we meet. I guarantee that you won't be the first few times - we're taught as children, then get into all sorts of bad habits as we grow older, which are really very difficult to get out of."


He nods again, this time more towards Lord Ereth. "
I will help you. The results won't be immediate, and will require significant effort from your end. But if you're willing to put in the effort to learn, then I'm willing to put in the effort to teach you."


[Well, this is very OOC-awkward, but IC, Daveth would ask for this, so I am.]

"
In exchange?"
he purses his lips in thought, then shrugs. "
Tell you what, call it a favour scaling with how useful you find my lessons."
he pauses a moment before continuing. "
Although, I'm not sure how close you are or will be with your new goodbrother, but there's a situation I fear to be ongoing between Lord Yoren, who I consider a friend, and Lord Baelon, my banner lord. If Lord Yoren discusses enacting any action that would significantly harm House Drakeson, well, that would hurt House Coldbrook, regardless of if we were directly involved, so if you could talk him out of it, that would repay the favour for certain."

"
I can only guarantee that I can try and make him see things from a different perspective and avoid conflict, but I'm not Lord Yoren so I cannot promise or guarantee success, after all the loss of someone can drive people mad in many ways"
Ereth looks at Alya and smiles at her for a moment before returning to look at Lord Daveth "
I do believe it is in my hand to at least manage most of the problem or at the very least have him restrain himself from such action that might hurt House Longshore in the future. Then again his lands are rather far from yours, even if he would sail the fork to get closer, it would take a long time and won't go unnoticed, so I doubt you will ever have that problem."

Daveth smiles. "
That is all I can and do ask."
Daveth's eyes go distant. "
I know from personal experience that when you feel ... like the world is false, like ... time stopped, and all that you experience is a macabre mockery of the world, then a supportive friend can make all the difference between the Dark Anchor dragging you down forever, and finally breaking free."


His eyes refocus on Lord Ereth, though his voice remains quiet. "
I think you're right that the chances are slim that Lord Yoren would do anything so reckless, but I know that state of mind too well to say it's impossible. And if that did happen, and we came to blows ... I would never forgive myself if I hadn't done everything I could to prevent it.

"
But even aside from that ..."
he carefully reaches out, and briefly pats Lord Ereth's shoulder. "
Save him, if you can, please."
He pauses, snorts slightly, and shakes his head. "
And there I go again, bringing melancholy to what should be a happy day."
a wryly melancholic smile. "
I'm such a Northerner."


He straightens, and his voice firms. "
Regarding your education, yes, I can help you. And regarding what you were discussing about your maester, if what he is looking for is in my house's interests, we can potentially help you there as well. We already have a weaponsmith of no small skill, and within the next year or two, I intend to start work on a library. I had the design of our castle's upgrade changed to make room for a disproportionately large one. When it is complete, you would have to travel a long way to find its equal."

"
I wouldn't have expect any less but some straight to the point words and some kind of melancholic words from a northener"
trying to alleviate it with a joke.

"
I will do my best to make my new brother focus his anger elsewhere at the least"
Ereth smiles "
For now distance is what will be the main deterrant and that my House is on his way, which is also on the way of Lord Mallister"
a small pause realizing that war could break out among the Longshores and Mallister at any time again "
That worries me more than Yoren trying to find a way to reach Drakeson lands"
now there was not much time, it would have to be next year when he tries to create peace between Mallisters and Longshores.

"
On the subject of my new brother in-law, I believe also having a good match for him could help him in several ways"
Ereth ponders the idea and pitches it to lord Daveth in case he thought of it as a solution.

Coming back to the original subject in question "
I think you might find my writing not so great, but legible which will improve more the more letters we exchange hopefully"
Ereth sighs "
So many things to improve, now let us hope I can pass for a good student lord Daveth"
.

Daveth simply nods in silent agreement until Lord Ereth mentions marriage. "
I've put a bit of thought into that very issue, actually. But things seem to be getting more and more ... complicated recently, and the Coldbrook information-gathering system is not the best, either. Still, I'll keep an ear and a mind open on the matter.

"
In my view, the primary qualities of a good student are not wit and intelligence, but attentiveness and dedication. Give me those, Lord Ereth, and I'll do my best for you in return."


[OOC: And aside from small-talk and goodbyes, I think that's it from my side of the conversation.]