winterfellglory:
@leffords
He’d sent a runner early that morning, to catch Markas before anything else, even his breakfast. The message had been simple, summoning Lord Lefford in the friendliest terms for an audience with his king. Edrik hadn’t really known what to write. Markas was a friend and summoning him like his father had summoned lords felt strange. Especially since his crown was so very new.
After eating, for he rose early, he’d set up at his desk, reading the letters he had received before the fire had ruined the rookery tower. Most of them were still addressed to his father, but Edrik had to read and reply to them none the less. Writing letters was not his favourite passtime, but it was required of him, and so there he sat. Quill in hand, writing long-winded replies to even more long-winded letters. Calls for arbitrage, questions about land, permissions for marriages. They all needed his word and stamp.
When the door opened, he was glad for the break. His hand had cramped up multiple times now and the letters were starting to blurr together on the paper as he wrote them out. “Thank the gods yer here. I’ve been writing since daybreak.”
the ground betwixt the king in the north and the lord lefford was more unsteady now than it had been in years. the lawful bond of brotherhood had been severed when joanna , that beautiful light of the west had been taken from them. he remembered in clear detail her inanimate , pale when he had traveled north to see her in her final days.
the last trip he had ventured north had lost him the use of his arm , his swordsmandship , his confidence. though neither thing could be attributed entirely to the king , the north was unkind to markas, still, edrik had always been a loyal friend to markas , and markas had always been a loyal supporter of the crown.
he responded to edrik’s summons immediately , and offered as comforting a smile as he could manage. he bowed his head to the new king , moving towards the desk. at his words , markas could only manage a laugh. “ if you intend me to write for you , i’m afraid you’re months too late.”
