[Video]

[vocarrah]

So, ah.

Would anyone care to come visit? I can offer a much more...ah, intimate way to get warm. I'm sure you'd know I'm a most gracious host.

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[stonebird]

Of course. (She doesn't like the idea of killing and skinning, but it has to be done.) I would appreciate your skills. Hunting isn't something I favor.

[vocarrah]

I'm not particularly skilled, but...thankfully we seem to have a wide spread of abilities here in Hadriel. And if it's a matter of survival, one can't be choosy, I imagine.

[He's a prince but he's not a fop.]

[stonebird]

No, you're right. No matter our upbringing, we must be prepared to do hard labor if it is necessary. (She has taken to learning the sword and the bow for that reason.) Forgive me for asking, but were you perhaps a noble in your world?

[vocarrah]

[He looks a little surprised at that, then breaks into a gentle smile. It's been a theory of his, that nobility can sense nobility, for better or for worse.]
Ah, I suppose I was. [A bit of an understatement, but enough for Ianchus.]

...And yourself?

[stonebird]

(Revealing details of the lives they lived in the past can be daunting, she knows, but there are little clues here and there.)

Yes. I would have been a princess if my family still ruled the North.

[vocarrah]

Truly?

[There seems to be more to it. He hesitates, his eyes lowering and dropping to the side, Ianchus momentarily considering his words--rare for him, who is usually so quick to speak.

They've only just met, he thinks, and Ianchus himself has never been one to bring up his lineage. But there's something serious and honest about Sansa. So...]

Mine hailed from an archipelago. The Cephea. [Cephea, Cepheos. Caedra's already made that connection.] Our last location was a little cold, but it reminded me a bit of home.

[stonebird]

(Sansa chooses to be honest. Others may rely on lies, but she has never been good at the..."art". Besides, that is a poor way to make allies and friends. Eventually the lie will be unveiled and then there will be nothing but distrust and ill feelings.)

My mother's family was raised by a large river. I liked being close to the water too and I've only minded the cold once.

(When she was trying to escape Bolton. That had been thoroughly miserable.)

The Cephea must be beautiful.

[vocarrah]

It is. I, ah...a friend of mine drew it, if you'd like to see sometime.

[Ianchus' neck is somewhat red under his hair; ah, he doesn't embarrass easily, but his home has always been a thing somewhat intimate to him. He'll talk about the landscape easily enough, but this is somewhat...different. He feels exposed.

He changes the subject quickly, lacing his fingers and leaning into the camera, his sweet, confident smile reasserting itself.]

There's something comforting about being by bodies of water, ah? I agree. Although I must say, I envy how comfortable you are with the cold. I'm left shaking out of my bones like a naked babe, desperate for my mother's warm arms and teat. Frozen as it is, our lake is a terrifying, foreign entity to me.

[stonebird]

I would be honored. (She feels like such an item would be precious to him, so she won't push to see the drawing. If she could find all the right materials - and they weren't needed for other projects - she would be making her own reminders of home. A doll in particular.)

I am a wolf at heart - like my father and my siblings. We only lack natural fur, but that can be remedied with the right amount of layers. (There is an art to dressing for this weather.) I think it's best to consider any part of Hadriel foreign. Be wary - it might keep you alive.

[vocarrah]

[It certainly is precious--precious especially because Yusuke had loved his home city enough to draw it, to make sketches of all the little things he loved. But ah, for Ianchus, it's all the more reason to share it. He's not the kind that keeps beloved things a secret. Ah, most beloved things.]

I appreciate your advice. And your expertise. [Especially from a noble.]
I wonder what my family would be, ah. Trees, perhaps. Laurels, or oaks. Deep-rooted, casting a long shadow, seeds flowing to the ocean to spread through the seas. [He likes that.]

[stonebird]

(Beloved things (and people) can be held against a person. Sansa learned that from the Lannisters and so she began hiding even her emotions. But she has been opening up, bit by bit, for several years now. It's a healing process - not that she could ever forget what was done to her and her family - yet she can be stronger for it; not merely wounded by it.)

There is an grove of weirwoods where my family has prayed for generations. We call it the godswood for that reason. Maybe you are a bit like them? They can last through harsh weather and for years beyond counting.

[vocarrah]

[It's true, up until a short time ago, Ianchus' home was relatively peaceful--any enemy would (and did) end up coming from inside. He's a peacetime noble.

He smiles at the story of the trees.] Perhaps nothing quite so holy. But, a bit, I think.

[stonebird]

(She had grown up only knowing peace and she had been spoiled terribly by it. She almost doesn't feel like the same person anymore and while she misses her dreams and her optimism, she does her best to keep herself grounded in reality.)

They cannot help being chosen by the Old Gods. I loved the shade of their leaves; they are a curious shade of dark red.

[vocarrah]

Dark red? And in the snow? Interesting. I've been to places where the leaves turn red in the autumn, but the trees in the Cephea were green year-round.
[How fascinating.]

[stonebird]

The seasons in Westeros can last for years at a time. We only recognize Summer and Winter. I was born in the midst of Summer, for example, and it has only now turned Winter.