Mother Knows Best (Marstens only)

Corrine waited in the council chamber, pacing behind her high-backed chair like a caged shadowcat, arms folded, expression resolute. She had summoned Lady Isobel and Markton, but was eager enough to have words with them that the time spent waiting felt intolerably long. They had misled her, and that was unacceptable. Each time she heard footsteps by the door, she stopped and stood still, eyes fixed upon the entryway, though many times she began pacing again once it became clear it was merely guards passing by.

Lady Isobel entered, followed in short order by Markton, the latter displaying his unusual confidence with the nobility, while carefully avoiding over-stepping his bounds and appearing to toady for favour.

Isobel made do with a simple curtsy and a slight smile towards her daughter.

"Thank you for coming. Please sit."

She gestured for them to sit, but did not do so herself. They were about to get a telling off, so she wanted to loom somewhat.

"And, once you are sitting comfortably, you can take turns to explain to me why you both fed me humiliating misinformation about my husband," she finished, tersely, her arms folded tight with anger, her whole body like a coiled spring, or a fully drawn bow. Ready to strike.

Isobel sat, familiar the power-play but more used to delivering it, rather than being on the receiving end. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her head.

Markton bowed his head respectfully, but looked to Isobel and moved to speak first at a subtle nod from Lady Isobel. Interesting.

"I..."

He swallows, a man caught in ambition's snare. Does he seek a way out, a new master, or absolution?

"I must throw myself on my lady's mercy. Envy grasped me with Samurel's death and I saw an opportunity."

[OOC: Awareness (empathy) TN ??]

Awareness (Empathy): 4d6k3 14

Detecting that Markton was only being honest in as much as he wanted to maintain his position or be useful to Isobel, Corrine scowled at him with contempt.

"Envy? Of what? What opportunity did you seek?"

She pointed at her mother, still glaring at Markton.

"Did she put you up to this?"

"No m'lady. I acted on my own initiative, seeking to make myself useful, tell people things."

Better to have seen a chance and failed than never to have taken the chance and live a life of regret, a coward's life. Man has to do what he can to get ahead. Corrine was disgusted to be able to read the man's thoughts like a book - a dishonourable man, but an ambitious one for a commoner. Would she even want a spymaster so easily read? In King's Landing she may have thought this some surface deception, put on by a master courtier, but Markton seemed to lack the finesse for such, according to her reading of the man.

"Samurel had everything, 'cos he'd had a start in life. I needed to make and take my own opportunities to be useful to a great house."

"Well, you picked the wrong House member to curry favour with," Corrine replied, tersely. "Clearly Samurel did not impress upon you properly that I am head of this House, not my mother, despite her stubborn belief to the contrary."

She glared at Isobel for a moment, before fixing Markton once again in her piercing gaze. However, her voice was a little less harsh, though still had the air of an irritated parent scolding an errant child.

"However, I am not without mercy, especially for one who is eager to serve and to better himself. Therefore, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. I want to know who took Samurel, and why. You will go East and try to pick up his trail. You will keep me updated of your progress, and me alone. Is that understood?"

"Yes m'lady. I'll no fail you. I'll return with this knowledge, or not return at all, so I will," he attempts a strange, seated bow. The ungainly display is unlikely to become the fashion in the Reach, although the intent is clear.

"Good. You may go. Prepare for your journey and say any necessary goodbyes," Corrine replied, a little more gently, though not losing her cold edge.

She would impress upon him the consequences if he tried to communicate with her mother later. For now, she was done with him, and had a far more difficult chastisement to dish out.

Once Markton was gone, she turned her icy gaze upon Isobel.

"So, mother. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"That I am sorry."

She sighed.

"Sorry for seeing things that were not present, sorry for wanting to protect my daughter."

"Sorry for expecting to find the sins and appetites of others in an good man."

[OOC: TN 14 Awareness (Empathy) to note that she's a little bitter at her late husband's dalliances while on campaign, even if she regards them as beneath her and wants to keep such things from Corrine, preserving her daughter's image of her father.]

"And sorry for wanting to believe the worst of others, to make a dried out husk of a woman more useful."

Suddenly the years and losses seem to fall heavy on Isobel.

Awareness - Empathy: 4d6k3 9

Corrine's expression softens as she sees her mother's shoulders slump sadly.

"I see... well... look, I know you want to protect the House, but I feel like you are working against me at times. I thought you had learmed to have faith in Ben. It has wounded him deeply that I doubted him, but I only did so because of your certainty that he had wronged me. You know more than most how powerful and dangerous words and gossip are. Is there a problem you have with Ben or with me that you want addressed? Because I don't want this sort of thing to happen again."