who: @yxuna where: the halls of the eyrie, the vale of arryn
Witch Isle had been an independent sovereignty as had the majority of the ancient and noble houses of the Vale, remaining separate to the Andal conquered kingdom even after the Battle of the Seven Stars had been fought and, his own ancestor had been defeated. Even when the Royces had bent the knee to the Falcon King, even when so many of those followers retreated into the Mountains of the Moon to become the clans that now plagued their lands, the Upcliffs remained beyond the stretch of the Andals until it was brought into the fold by the marriage of Lady Arwen Upcliff to King Alester II.
“Lady Upcliff.” The Royce of Runestone addressed the entrance of the Lady whom he had seen in passing over the years, as though she danced in the shadows; of a shadow that grew only larger and larger. The King Consort’s audience chambers were a floor below the ones of the Queen, with a hearth already roaring and the curtains drawn against the chill. “Please be seated.” The guards remained positioned outside of the doors she had walked through, those of Arryn and Royce alike.
It was a history he knew was taught upon Witch Isle as much as the people of Runestone sing folk songs suggesting that the rightful king Robar Royce did not perish during that final battle, but was sent over the Narrow Sea to safety; how pride remained something that both bound and separated the Houses of the Vale, time and time again. The corridors of the Eyrie remained the very same as they always had, beautiful marble of white with stained glass windows that offered glimpses of the clouds and mountains beyond; and yet, so much had changed.
“Your brother is due to receive a royal summons within the fortnight.” The Upcliffs were a family that benefited from the change in the head that wore the crown.
There was no longer a Falcon King to sit upon the Mountain Throne, but a Falcon Queen; and with the wedding between himself and that very Queen he had silently taken as his wife within the wild landscape of the Bronze valleys finally binding Houses Royce and Arryn, there now was a Royce King in history. With that, came great changes; changes in regards to the line of succession most obviously and how it needed to be filled urgently, but also changes for those who were linked to new King and Queen of the Vale.
“In the mean time, be seated.” The chair was empty, though he remained stood by the hearth, slipping his sword from around his hip atop a wooden surface, his hair slightly wet from training with the Knights of the Vale within one of the Eyrie’s courtyards.
Lady Yuna Upcliff, for example, had found herself rising from the Lady of a Princess who refused to involve herself in the open politics of the realm, to the Lady and trusted confident of the Ruling Queen. There would be many who would wish to seek out her position, and undermine her by any chance necessarily; including the sinsister reputation for witchcraft and heresy the Upcliffs seemed to wear as armour. He knew what he needed to speak to her about, and was never one for dancing around a subject. “Your change in position - how are you coming to terms with it?”
