The youngest Arryn child had clung to the outside of the celebrations- of course, only after giving her respects to her king. She had been seated near other ladies of the Vale, but their coos and wondrous conversations about who was betrothed to who, and who they may be betrothed to only bored her. Alysa had made it thirty minutes before she left the table and walked further and further away from people.
She had traveled down a hall and out of a heavy oaken door, wandering into what she assumed was the courtyard. As she stepped further away from the loud celebratory sounds, her ears started to ring. Alysa took in a deep breath, feeling as if she couldn’t even hear her own thoughts. She forced herself to focus on the sound of her dress dragging against the snow, and the sound of the snow crunching beneath her shoes. Once the ringing was gone, she exhaled, happy to hear nothing but silence. Alysa’s grey eyes watched as she blew into the air, letting out a restrained giggle as she her own breath travel through the air before dissipating. She took some time to look at the stars above her, noting how distant up in the sky they seemed to be, in comparison to back home at the Eyrie.
Minutes passed before feelings of uncertainty of her surroundings crept into her mind- she didn’t like being without a guard for very long. As the auburn haired Arryn girl turned to leave the court yard, she poured her wine into the snow. The sound of snow crunching behind her made her turn around, a relaxed expression on her face. “What?” She asked, staring at the person. Alysa assumed they were probably wondering why she had dumped the wine out. “It dulls the senses.” She said with a void tone of voice and aloof shrug.
viserra kept herself to a shadow near the doors, enjoying the distant noise of laughter and music, muffled and distorted by all the stone. she had escaped the feast under the pretense of needing fresh air, and gotten talking to a young guard stationed at the door. he bore arms from the riverlands, as unfamiliar with the place as she was, and the conversation was a welcome escape from inside, where all she did was carefully sip wine and refuse offers to dance. they had shared her cup of wine, but when time came for his replacement, none came --- the guard left to track down his likely drunk brother in arms, and viserra was left alone.
yet the brief, thrilling moment of isolation was broken by a figure approaching --- much too small to be a guard, brushing right past viserra’s hiding spot to sigh at the sky. as much as she could empathize, it seemed the romantic spell of drifting to the quiet edge of the festivities had been broken, now that it was shared. it was a relief when the lady turned around once more to leave, but viserra moved too soon ; the woman turned, pouring her wine onto the snow with a nonchalance that did not break as realized she was being observed.
“ it’s a little wasteful, don’t you think ? ” viserra suggested, brows furrowed in a show of polite confusion. “ and the senses needn’t always be so sharp. it isn’t as though we’re in danger here, are we ? ” though the courtyard was for the moment unguarded, it hardly seemed ominous.
