Meeting Again in the Vale (A Rock Opera)
There were just twelve of them, hardened yet broken men, that the Elder Brother found in the cesspool known as King’s Landing. Unlike the charlatans who promised everlasting salvation, a million virgins, a million dollars, Elder Bro simply said that he brought them to the Quiet Isle so that they could find some peace.
Literally. They did not speak, except at their bi-weekly one-on-one sessions with Elder Bro.
At first, Sandor lashed out, trying to rile up Elder Bro, cursing at him, even pushing and then striking him when nothing seemed to wipe that smile from his face. But the still imposing man refused to fight back. Elder Bro merely stepped aside or deflected his blows.
After Sandor tired himself out, Old Bro would smile and say “The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.”
To stop Elder Bro from spouting off more new age mumbo jumbo shit, Sandor eventually broke and told him, not everything, but enough.
When I was a child,
I saw a fleeting glimpse, out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look, but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now. The child is grown, the dream is gone.
Old Bro heard snippets - mainly stuff about his older brother, the people he hurt and some he killed in cold blood, and his short stint with her runty wolf bitch sister. And finally about the Little Bird, who sang and flew, hopefully far, far away.
While his silent brothers spent their time hiking, tending to the small vegetable garden, and/or observing the wildlife for the few visiting scientists, Sandor isolated himself and chose to do the hardest and most grueling labor, countless hours alone clearing brushes away from the conservatory field station and digging ditches for the refuse. He worked at the crack of dawn and returned when the sky turned inky black.
Elder Bro admonished him many times that the he and the other brothers could take turns with him, that he was not here to serve penance, that he did not have to punish himself for the things he done nor for the things he did not do.
“Would your Little Bird want you to suffer?”
He wanted to protest - she was not his, not even in his dreams, never was and never will be.
Yet Elder Bro was not wrong either - nay, the gentle little bird would not want him to suffer.
There were moments when she forgot herself.
It was easy when she was laughing with Randa and Myra as they went hiking. She felt so bright and light, seemingly without a care in the world.
The girls were yodeling back and forth, each trying to outdo the other and laughing at all their attempts. Randa could yodel the longest without taking a breath. Mya sniggered that it was due to her large bosoms. Maybe Mya was right that Randa’s lungs, like her huge heart, were as big as her boobs, Alayne mused, but she had to also agree with Randa that Mya’s loud yodeling eerily sounded like the brayings of her mules. Seeing a blue bird flying, Alayne mimicked its song in her yodel, brightly trilling the high notes.
Both of her friends quickly exclaimed how she sounded exactly like a bird.
“You win again, little bird I am going to call you going forward,” Mya laughed.
And suddenly she remembered. She remembered a large rough man who called her a pretty little bird, who made her sing for him, who protected her, who told her the hard truths. If he were still alive, he would have told her what she should know and should not forget, that she was not free. Sansa was still in a cage, albeit a filled cage.
Right now I feel like a bird
caged without a key
Ev'ryone comes to stare at me
with so much joy and reverie
They don't know how I feel inside
Through my smile I cry.
Recovering quickly, she giggled and hugged Mya and Randa, and they returned back to the Eyrie.
That night when Petyr interrogated her on her whereabouts, telling her how much her poor sick cousin Sweetrobin missed her so much that he became almost hysterical, she knew that his interrogation was a test, a test to see whether she was lying to him. He had his men stationed pretty much everywhere and where he did not have men, he probably had cameras and drones following her every move.
At first, it made no sense to him.
He understood that it was all about the Benjamins- that the fruits and vegetables harvested from the garden was far from being to enough to feed him and his brothers. The wild animals on the island were mostly endangered. Every now and then Elder Bro would leave with one of the brothers and came back with larger coolers of meat and a lot of weed.
Cash in!
Cash in now honey
Cash in now
Cash in now
Cash in now honey
Cash in Miss Smith
Cash in now!
Why did Elder Bro choose to take him, of all the brothers, away from the Quiet Isle to this mansion with such a hokey name at the foot of the mountain? Any of the other brothers could have easily carried the rather light bushel of Meyer lemons and seedless Bearrs limes (sweeter and juicier than key limes). Although in the past, he had provided security for manses like this, with names just ostentatious, Casterly Rock and Red Keep, Sandor didn’t fit in with this type of crowd - he did not hobnob, just could not do small talk with the bejeweled society women. And his ugly scarred mug would not bring in large donations from Elder Bro’s wealthy patrons, but instead would scare them away.
Before they walked up to the guarded gate house, Elder Bro stopped and said, “Go ahead and ask.”
The older man smirked, “You will see.”
After being granted access by the guard, the next person they met was a buxom woman who opened the door and blatantly ogled him and Elder Bro.
“My, my, what big arms you both have.”
‘Fuck!’ Did Elder Bro meant to pimp him out for some kinky three-some? Was this some sick joke? He never asked the other brothers what they did when they left the Quiet Isle with Elder Bro. Mainly because of the silence thing, but frankly he knew how the world worked, even for someone like Elder Bro, who was savvy enough to know how to work the system. He could sell ice to the polar bears!
Then Sandor heard a light slapping sound and her voice.
‘It was her, the Little Bird.’
Even with her red hair dyed brown, he would recognize her eyes anywhere.
Sandor noticed her eyes widen slightly in recognition. But then she acted as if she never met him before and smiled welcomingly at them both, graciously ushering them in and introducing Myranda, who lived in this mansion with her father Nestor Royce, and herself as Alayne, one of Myranda’s guests for the summer.
After they deposited the produce in the kitchen (Randa did a rather loud stage whisper that the kitchen staff was going to bake the largest lemoncake for her best friend who had such a sweet tooth), Elder Bro brought out the bundled sage sticks from his bag and started the sage smudging process. At the corner of his eyes, he saw her looking at him in concern as chanting Elder Bro burnt the sage sticks in two large abalone shells (he was no longer deathly afraid of such small flames). Carrying the smaller bowl, he walked dazed behind Elder Bro, who, in turn, followed the two striking women as they weaved their way from room to room, each room had one or more armed guards.
The older man blessed each of the rooms with burning sage, but for one of the large guest bedroom suites. Alayne, she was called that, stopped Elder Bro from crossing the threshold of that room, the only room that was vacant.
“If any room needs to be smudged, it would Petyr’s room!” exclaimed Myranda.
“Father does not like anyone in his room when he is not there.”
‘Petyr! Of course, it had to be him who stole her away!’ He remembered the way that man stared at her.
Sandor stumbled and almost dropped his shell full of smoldering sage. But in his attempt to hold onto the shell, he inadvertently brought the shell towards his face and deeply inhaled the smoke. He could not see, could not breathe and could not stop coughing. There was so much smoke.
The smoking shell was quickly taken from him, and he was gently lead away. He found himself alone with her in Petyr’s bathroom. She was wiping his face with a cool wet cloth, as if she did this a million times before. Sandor could breathe again, could smell her light citrus scent.
He tried to still her hand by grabbing it.
“Little Bird,” he hoarsely whispered.
Sansa stopped wiping his face but did not respond. She acted as if she did not hear him but slightly tilted her head towards the bathroom vent as she proceeded to fill a small glass with water. A small camera!
“Sir, Miranda called an ambulance.”
He was no Sir! She knew that!
“I’m fine... There is no need.”
She efficiently handed him the glass. Nothing tasted as sweet as the cool water she gave him. And she did not even waver when she blocked the camera with her body and quickly slipped silver wedding bands on his ring finger and her ring finger.
It took all of his will to not yell at her, shake her hard, trying to stop whatever mad scheme she was planning. They were all in danger. He knew that - she knew that. Sandor has a feeling that Elder Bro and her friend knew as well as he could see them both huddled at one corner of Petyr’s room. Myranda looked agitated while Elder Bro looked quite concerned. They were two men and two women with sage sticks against many heavily armed men!
“You almost fainted after you inhaled the smoke - it is just a precaution. Smoke inhalation can cause serious respiratory damage. They need to make sure that you are all right.”
Sandor thought they would be surely stopped but the guards just stepped back when he was wheeled into the ambulance as she held his large hand in her tiny hand. Holding his hand, she kept on saying that everything would be fine as she got into the ambulance as his wife, as they drove to the hospital, as he got admitted, as they were reunited by very relieved Myranda and Elder Bro.
And she was right! Everything was fine at the double wedding of Randa and Elder Bro and of him and his little but formidable bird.
Hey little sister, what have you done?
Hey little sister, who's the only one?
I've been away for so long
I've been away for so long
I let you go for so long
It's a nice day to start again
Come on it's a nice day for a white wedding
It's a nice day to start again!
