[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]

(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.