Closed starter for @ofsacredseas Setting: Riverrun, the Riverlands. Set before the departure to the Reach for the Verdant Concord.
The light through Riverrun’s arched windows was soft in the late afternoon, a golden light catching on the river’s slow ripple beyond. Queen Iona stood by the carved stone balustrade, her hands lightly clasped before her. She wore a gown of deep slate blue, modest in cut but threaded with elegant, subtle patterns. When Lady Ayca Mallister was shown in, Iona turned to greet her with a gentle smile. Not the practiced, diplomatic gesture of a monarch but something gentler, more personal.
“Lady Mallister,” she said, a light bow of her head accompanying her words. “Thank you for coming. I hope the journey from Seagard was not too tiresome”. She gestured toward a nearby table set near the hearth, where tea had already been poured, the air touched with the scent of clove and river mint. “I’ve asked for quiet today. No formality. for I only a wish to speak with you as one daughter of the Riverlands to another”. There was no sharpness to the words, no command cloaked in courtesy, only the calm steadiness of a woman reaching out, not downward.
As she took her seat, Iona studied Ayca not as a queen would assess a vassal, but as one eldest daughter regarding another. Iona herself had not been born the eldest, but Emilee's absence had made the title her inheritance nonetheless. “We both know what it means to carry a house's good name on our shoulders,” she said, her voice low, but clear. “And what it means to lose someone, and yet not be allowed to fall apart”. There was clear admiration and respect in Iona's voice, and her whole demeanor showed that she saw the women before her as someone deserving more regard than she was often given. “I’ve long admired the grace with which you’ve kept Seagard steady while your brother's duties take him from place to place”. A Master of Ship's duties brought him to Riverrun often, and many other times took him to other places too. “It is for that reason I wished to ask you something,” the queen added, offering a small, sincere smile. “Would you consider taking a place among my household as one of my ladies?”.