inappropriately timed force bond moments (both nsfw and humor approaches)
dream-sharing
emotional bleed/transference (from rey, involving other parties)
inappropriate force bond voyeurism on rey/poe or rey/finn
mid-conversation force bond interruption
The Rise of Skywalker- Cross-galaxy chase of the Resistance
anything related to ben solo, but especially:
snoke confessionals with family or friends of family
returning to the light
smuggler life style
jedi knight ben
resistance-fighter ben
The Rise of Skywalker- Force Ghost communications w/ Rey
anything related to supreme leader kylo ren, but especially:
fall via coup
resistance fighter reconditioning (gen or nsfw)
force ghost visits from anakin/luke/rey/leia/snoke
defeat by the resistance, and subsequent aftermath
The Rise of Skywalker- Mole Discovery w/ Hux
canto bight:
shady weapons deals
picking up prisoners
recruitment
obligatory dinner party
general casino shenanigans
beach party
basically any reason you can think of to use canto bight as a setting piece
A note on romance: I will ship all of the new trilogy characters with Kylo Ren (except Snoke/Family). But I have no interest in exploring domestic-style takes on them. Thank you for understanding.
[ She shoveled the last spoonful of food into her mouth, then dropped the bowl into the dust. In too many ways being unshackled left her uneasy — like a guest and not a prisoner in their camp. Bound only by her own self preservation. To that end, her eyes scanned the trees as well. ]
Pity.
[ Maybe her life wouldn't have been better, had he lost. Maybe another would have just been in his place. Maybe even someone worse. Acknowledging there could be worse made her uncomfortable, though, because it left her in that odd position to acknowledge the ways in which he had been less than a monster. Not always. Just often enough to perplex her. ]
And the opponent? I'll be sure and name my next toast for him.
[That much, he was sure of. The opponent hadn't meant all that much to him, not like his father, but that didn't mean he wanted to talk about the affair. It felt a bit like a show horse being put on display, and it was a feeling he was looking forward to never experiencing again.
So he changes the subject:]
Speaking of that, I find your accent rather curious. You must not have spent many years in the south.
[He keeps his book open in his lap, though he had considered closing it for a moment. He isn't sure about being invited into conversation.]
[ The subject of her past drew an uneasy silence around them. She deserved it, she supposed., for the question she had asked. Strangely, it was the first time she felt like she had an advantage over him. If she wanted, there were many others in the world who could likely tell her the real story of how he'd gained that scar, and who he'd killed that gave it to him. Lord Commander Ren's life was a matter of public record because of the status he possessed.
If he were to try to find out the answer to why a Dornish girl had such a strange accent, a mixture of higher and lower class Riverlands layered over something oddly Dornish, only a handful could answer it, and no path between him and that information but her. ]
I live in the Saltpans. [ She offered it easily nonetheless. Hers is an unremarkable tale of unremarkable people. ] I'm working for Lord Plutt. When I've earned enough, I'll be able to return to Dorne.
[ And find her parents. The mother who had no doubt been heartbroken to lose her, and then maybe information about who her father had been. The way she said it was odd, though, in that it presumed when she was done here she would return to the Saltpans and her contract with Plutt. It was not that it had not occurred to her to solicit Ren for that return to Dorne after he had what he wanted from her — rather, she fully intended still to kill him before he got it. ]
[Ren raises an eyebrow. If she'd gone from Dorne to the Riverlands at a young age, it was impossible for him to imagine that she'd done so of her own accord. No, she was most definitely sold. He decides not to offer up that bit of insight.
Instead:]
Is that your aim? To return to Dorne?
[Now he closes his book and sets it aside in favor of folding his hands in his lap.]
[ The moment he said aside his book, Rey knew she'd made a mistake sharing even that much. She didn't want attention to fix on this point. Some part of her knew to be sparing in her examination of it, her mind warning her away from something painful. Returning to Dorne had always been a distant thing, a light on the horizon. Never a reality.
Getting too close to it is like getting too close to the sun, and it shines a light on something she doesn't really want to see. ]
Is it common practice for you to negotiate with your prisoners? [ Throwing it back on him would remedy the situation, she hoped. He'd be reminded that he didn't need to offer her anything, and they would both forget this conversation ever happened. ]
It is not a negotiation. It is an offer, which you may take or leave. You will be assisting us when we get to Essos. What you do after that, I can offer assistance with -- if you choose.
[Lord Ren spreads his hands, gesturing to show that he has nothing to hide. After all, he had quite an advantage over the situation. Whether or not she complied didn't actually matter -- he knew that he had to go to Essos somewhere. It would take longer, but he had a lead.
Why offer it at all, then? [ This was the suspicion of an orphan, of course. No lord had ever given her handouts. If he knew he'd get what he wanted from her either way, he had no reason to offer her anything. ] I haven't asked you for charity.
[ But she didn't understand why he told her that he would in the first place. For a long stretch of silence, Rey stared at him like she was studying someone truly alien. He might as well be a white-walker for how foreign and eldritch he is to her. He didn't navigate the world like other people did. And it wasn't because he was from a noble house, either. It was something else.
That he looked towards those tents to where his men took their rest only showed he knew it as well. He did not want them to hear this offer he made. Then why make it? She couldn't make sense of it.
It shouldn't have mattered — she would never take him up on it because he would be dead and she would find Skywalker and help him instead. And then House Organa would, in their gratitude, help her find her parents in Dorne, and she would not need anything from Kylo Ren. ]
You don't make sense.
[ She pointed out his contradictions rather than accept or decline. ]
You forsake some oaths and remember others, seemingly at random. You treat me like an animal, but offer me payment for being forced into helping you. You threatened to throw me to your men only to stop them from taking me.
[He digests the look that she gives him, but finds that it makes him uncomfortable and is forced to look back down at the fire. He stays quiet while he unpacks everything. When she lays it all out like that, he is forced to agree with her, though privately -- he doesn't make any sense.
But it was everything his instincts had told him to do. So he did it.]
Are you declining, then?
[Its a deflection in part, but equally honest as everything else he's offered in the past ten minutes. His eyes come up from the fire to rest back upon on her's, seeking more information.]
[ His offer was the closest she'd been to her parents since she'd arrived in the Saltpans. As much as she wanted to hold onto hope for Skywalker, she couldn't bring herself to close the door on her own family either.
For whatever it was worth, she came out of that decision disappointed with herself. Staring at her hands and debating a retraction. The words never made it past her lips, though. She couldn't form them. The right thing to do would be to refuse him and forget this had ever happened and to continue resenting him, but she couldn't deny herself that. ]
I'll keep it in mind.
[ And somehow, he had managed to evade giving her anything. Again. She realized it then. Still no idea why they hadn't gone to King's Landing. No idea why he was offering her help. No idea why he was the way he was at all, not even a clear picture of how he'd gotten that bloody scar.
She pressed her tongue to the inside of her cheek, trying to bite down on comment, but ... well, he knew by now that she was bad at that. ]
Your men will reach King's Landing before morning. [ This she offered only because he had stopped them the night before, and for no other reason. Civility in turn for civility. ] Whatever you are hoping to avoid there will soon hear word of where we're heading.
It will not matter, so long as we are on a boat before the ravens fly.
[And if his tone is anything to judge by, that is what he is counting on. She isn't really owed that information, but he offers it anyway. If this journey is going to get any easier, he'll need to try and eek some cooperation out of her, even if she clearly does not want to give it to him.
He squints, looking deeper into her eyes to decipher why she had sought to advise him on the matter of their safety -- but he already knows the answer. Its not because of him, or any of his men, it is because her life depends on them earning safe passage.]
Puzzle after puzzle, with him. Rey surveyed him with greater interest now, searching his expression for some hint as to why the Lord Commander of the Redcloaks would be afraid to enter the capitol. If she could figure that out, she would gain something to bargain with. Some kind of power to leverage.
He had offered her this much, more than any time before. Maybe she was gaining, after all. Making headway. Or maybe she had simply chosen the right moment, in his exhaustion, when his men were gone. ]
Will we ride again tomorrow?
[ She already knew the answer, really, but she dreaded it. ]
[He nods easily, realizing that he might have given her a bit too much information. Really, there was nothing she could do with it -- her word against his own. But that doesn't mean he is thrilled that she has it.]
You should get some rest.
[The journey wasn't much farther, but that didn't mean it would be easy. She would need all of her strength. If the ravens beat them to Storm's End, there was a decent chance they'd all be arrested before they could even blink or react.]
[ He shouldn't have been telling her what to do like that, like her wellbeing mattered. But to him, at least for now, she supposed it did. That would be his weakness in the long run. It made sense then, finally, why he had offered it. If he could make her more amenable to him, if he offered something that she wanted, perhaps that would put them on equal footing.
After a long silence, Rey looked away from him. She moved in the direction of his tent, but stopped outside of it, making herself as comfortable as she could get just out front of it, as he had forced her to the night before. There were bruises in her throat from where he'd held her, and with a strained shoulder, she could hardly fight back if he decided to get in a temper about something inane that she had done wrong.
If a merciful king dragged them back to King's Landing, he might have let Rey live for being a prisoner, in exchange for her testimony of whatever Ren had planned to do. Whatever information she had to damn him with. She did not think Snoke was that kind of king. Sleep did not come easily, and when it finally came, it left tears on her cheeks for the unpleasant dreams that haunted her. ]
[The night went by without a hitch. At some point, Ren had disappeared into his tent to trade night's watch with one of his men. He wakes like clockwork to humidity in the air, and he can't help but wrinkle his nose slightly. Rain was the last thing they needed, especially if they were expecting to sail today.
But then, he supposed that was why they called it "Storm's End".
Ren's mare is pacing impatiently when he finally goes to retrieve her. They couldn't spare a moment. While his men pack up, he leads his mare over to wherever Rey has parked herself.]
[ Rey woke up in pain. Her legs and hips were stiff and sore from the day's ride before, as she had expected, and all the muscle fatigue left her especially groggy and slow to move. Still, she got herself up shortly after the men had already started moving, and when she did, she reluctantly moved to help one of them get the campsite packed up.
The muggy, thick quality to the air made the dirt caked on Rey feel heavier. Slows her down. And it makes her breath thick too, like she can't quite pull enough oxygen in. ]
No.
[ For a moment she looked at him like maybe she suspected he was fucking with her by even asking. Surely he knew that bastards didn't tour the bloody Seven Kingdoms. But, no, he could have easily been that deluded. ]
The caravan I rode with were heading this way. [ She had no love for slavers, but now it felt grotesque to be riding instead with the men who had slaughtered them like animals. Maybe she was bound to set on this course eventually.
She turned to look up at his mare like it was a mountain and rubbed at the back of her hip in consideration of her wounds. The worst part, though, was that she'd have to ask for help getting up because of the sling on her arm. She looked back at him then, uneasy and trying to avoid the admission while still … communicating that she's not going to be able to get up there herself. If he forced her to walk again, she'd almost prefer it. Her legs weren't going to get any less sore. ]
[Right. Slavers, gone to turn their cargo over to Slaver's Bay, perhaps. Something flickers in his expression, like he doesn't quite to do with this new information. Really, he hadn't thought much of the band they'd captured -- he was only there for one thing.]
I see.
[Ren nods away his discomfort in a display of understanding, refraining from comment for once. Unfortunately, he is not knowledgeable enough to know that walking would likely be less strenuous on her tired muscles and bones. So, silently, he offers her a hand with the intention of helping her up to the mare's back.]
[ The others observed this interaction passively. Rey stared at his hand, simultaneously dreading and trying to figure out the best way to make use of his assistance. Finally she accepted that she had to get her foot in the stirrup. She used her hand to first facilitate the painful stretch of her hips in getting the toe of her worn boot into it. Then she moved her hand into his glove and pulled herself up straighter. She leaned on her strained arm on the saddle in order to pull herself over it.
The whole affair turned out painful and embarrassing, telling of her inexperience, and she was still wincing as she settled at the front of the saddle and pulled her foot back out of the stirrup to make room for him behind her.
She looked over at the other men, a scowl tugged across her expression. She didn't like being seen complicit in her own confinement, but … she was. Over and over again, she had been. Maybe that was for the best, though. Maybe that would get her the freedom she needed to kill him and get away when the time came.
Which she still planned to do. No matter what he had promised her. ]
Does it matter? We're not going to see it now either, are we? Just move straight through.
[She doesn't have the power to hold back his assistance, so once she is in the stirrup, he reaches for her waist and lifts her so that she doesn't cause further injury to herself. Ren follows in short order, lifting himself up on the mare's back and reaching around her for the reins.]
That is the idea.
[They would move through and sail to Essos in short order with the amount of coin they were going to give the boatswain, but that didn't mean that he wasn't interested to hear of the sort of perils a bastard girl from Dorne got up to.
Essos would be more her speed, perhaps. They find out in a few hours.
He nudges the mare forward. His men follow close behind.]
[ Rey grunted with the first cantering steps of the horse, jostled by the rough reminder of all the muscles she had fatigued yesterday in much the same position. She was no good at being an invalid, and worse at being entirely unskilled at a thing that she had no control over.
By the sound of it, he was likely hoping that Lord Hux never heard that he was in Storm's End at all. That they could get off the ship before he learned of their presence, and before the ravens arrived from King's Landing to announce the consequences of it.
Yes. He was definitely the king of fools.
The sky grew darker as they marched, and as they emerged from the wood, a warm rain drizzled down over the rolling field they emerged into. The inclement weather seemed to lift Rey's spirits and though she didn't smile, she sat up a little straighter, looking around at the scenery in earnest — at least, until one of his men pointed out the trouble with rain and sailing; 'Bad weather for men at sea, Lord Commander.' He knew better to offer more than that.
Rey had never been on a ship, of course. A ship couldn't get you from Dorne to the Saltpans. A ship could not keep Lord Plutt off her back. A ship would not find her parents. ]
[Ren only offers a severe glance backward when the redcloak makes his observation out loud, as if he didn’t have eyes. When he glances back toward the road, he can’t help but notice Rey’s change in expression (though he refrains from commenting on it). He was beginning to think the girl was incapable of feeling joy toward anything at all — a trait to which he could relate.
By the time they come up on their destination, Ren can feel the water weighing down his cloak and causing his pauldrons to dig into his shoulders, and thunder was rumbling overhead. He shifts uncomfortably on the back of his mare, and stares out over the approahing sea. Of course, in this weather, there was no missing the bright red cloaks approaching. But the good news was that it was unlikely the ravens would roost in a thunderstorm, which meant they could be afforded some time in port while waiting for the clouds to pass.
It was not his preferred outcome, but Lord Hux would have little cause to react to their presence without prompting.]
I will arrange for passage for tomorrow morning. The rest of you should head to town.
[Suicidal as he might have been, Ren was not prepared to brave lightning.]
[ The other two broke away from their Lord Commander to ride for what Rey could only conclude must be Storm's End. There was a song she'd heard once about a year-long siege, and staring at the curtain wall that wound around it, including one that dropped steeply off into the harbor, Rey could easily guess that the song might have been the truth.
It was an ugly thing, made uglier by the contrast against the rocky grasslands that led up to it. A singular, squat drum tower sat in the middle of that curtained wall, a stag riding high on its peak. But then, Rey had never seen another castle. Perhaps they were all equally hideous. ]
Is Lord Hux loyal to the King?
[ Rey asked, as though such a treasonous question in Hux's own realm were subject for casual conversation. There was no point in avoiding it anymore that she could see, now that his men had separated from them. What little energy she had for pretense had been drained by the chill that cut her bones now that her damp clothes hung off her body, soaked through. At the very least, they were cold enough now to soothe (or at least numb) the ache in her legs. ]
[The way Rey just lets loose with that question as they go makes something ugly crawl up his spine. He was no friend of Lord Hux, but he also knew better than to voice such opinions out in the open in his own territory.
So when he answers, its in a low bass meant only for her.]
He is loyal to the King's power.
[Which was not to say that he was more loyal to the idea of a one-true-king -- just that he would serve so long as he was promised what was owed to him. Ren could not offer what the King could, and so for an intents and purposes: yes. He was loyal to the King. But if he gave him enough coin, it should have been enough to keep him from asking too many questions.
Abruptly, the mare stops trotting as Ren yanks the reins back. It suddenly occurs to him that bringing a Dornish loudmouth bastard with him to Lord Hux's estate was perhaps a terrible idea.]
[ As the horse abruptly stopped, Rey thudded back against his chest. She twisted to look up at him, studying his face as though it would tell her his rationale. It seemed too good to be true. Would he send her alone to catch them? She could sway them, given time alone. Tell them that Ren was betraying the king, avoiding him, sow discord. They wouldn't help her slit his throat, surely, but they would know enough to be suspicious and hinder him surely.
Some part of her second-guessed this now, given his sudden preference for the idea. Maybe the two he had kept were loyal enough to him to withstand his mercurial moods and his betrayal to the king. Maybe they would put her back in chains and tell Ren what she had done.
Then was Hux her better choice? It would be her word against his, and even if Hux took Ren's head, she'd still be left in Hux's custody, forced to give the information that she had to the king. Ren's custody would be easier to slip than a cell, surely. ]
Great. Let me off here; I'll run right along after them. [ Her remarks were too dry, maybe. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ She shoveled the last spoonful of food into her mouth, then dropped the bowl into the dust. In too many ways being unshackled left her uneasy — like a guest and not a prisoner in their camp. Bound only by her own self preservation. To that end, her eyes scanned the trees as well. ]
Pity.
[ Maybe her life wouldn't have been better, had he lost. Maybe another would have just been in his place. Maybe even someone worse. Acknowledging there could be worse made her uncomfortable, though, because it left her in that odd position to acknowledge the ways in which he had been less than a monster. Not always. Just often enough to perplex her. ]
And the opponent? I'll be sure and name my next toast for him.
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[That much, he was sure of. The opponent hadn't meant all that much to him, not like his father, but that didn't mean he wanted to talk about the affair. It felt a bit like a show horse being put on display, and it was a feeling he was looking forward to never experiencing again.
So he changes the subject:]
Speaking of that, I find your accent rather curious. You must not have spent many years in the south.
[He keeps his book open in his lap, though he had considered closing it for a moment. He isn't sure about being invited into conversation.]
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If he were to try to find out the answer to why a Dornish girl had such a strange accent, a mixture of higher and lower class Riverlands layered over something oddly Dornish, only a handful could answer it, and no path between him and that information but her. ]
I live in the Saltpans. [ She offered it easily nonetheless. Hers is an unremarkable tale of unremarkable people. ] I'm working for Lord Plutt. When I've earned enough, I'll be able to return to Dorne.
[ And find her parents. The mother who had no doubt been heartbroken to lose her, and then maybe information about who her father had been. The way she said it was odd, though, in that it presumed when she was done here she would return to the Saltpans and her contract with Plutt. It was not that it had not occurred to her to solicit Ren for that return to Dorne after he had what he wanted from her — rather, she fully intended still to kill him before he got it. ]
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Instead:]
Is that your aim? To return to Dorne?
[Now he closes his book and sets it aside in favor of folding his hands in his lap.]
You do not need Lord Plutt for such things.
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Getting too close to it is like getting too close to the sun, and it shines a light on something she doesn't really want to see. ]
Is it common practice for you to negotiate with your prisoners? [ Throwing it back on him would remedy the situation, she hoped. He'd be reminded that he didn't need to offer her anything, and they would both forget this conversation ever happened. ]
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[Lord Ren spreads his hands, gesturing to show that he has nothing to hide. After all, he had quite an advantage over the situation. Whether or not she complied didn't actually matter -- he knew that he had to go to Essos somewhere. It would take longer, but he had a lead.
And that was all he needed.]
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[Ren's expression doesn't change, though he does glance toward the tents that hold his men.]
It is not charity. It is keeping my word.
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That he looked towards those tents to where his men took their rest only showed he knew it as well. He did not want them to hear this offer he made. Then why make it? She couldn't make sense of it.
It shouldn't have mattered — she would never take him up on it because he would be dead and she would find Skywalker and help him instead. And then House Organa would, in their gratitude, help her find her parents in Dorne, and she would not need anything from Kylo Ren. ]
You don't make sense.
[ She pointed out his contradictions rather than accept or decline. ]
You forsake some oaths and remember others, seemingly at random. You treat me like an animal, but offer me payment for being forced into helping you. You threatened to throw me to your men only to stop them from taking me.
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But it was everything his instincts had told him to do. So he did it.]
Are you declining, then?
[Its a deflection in part, but equally honest as everything else he's offered in the past ten minutes. His eyes come up from the fire to rest back upon on her's, seeking more information.]
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[ His offer was the closest she'd been to her parents since she'd arrived in the Saltpans. As much as she wanted to hold onto hope for Skywalker, she couldn't bring herself to close the door on her own family either.
For whatever it was worth, she came out of that decision disappointed with herself. Staring at her hands and debating a retraction. The words never made it past her lips, though. She couldn't form them. The right thing to do would be to refuse him and forget this had ever happened and to continue resenting him, but she couldn't deny herself that. ]
I'll keep it in mind.
[ And somehow, he had managed to evade giving her anything. Again. She realized it then. Still no idea why they hadn't gone to King's Landing. No idea why he was offering her help. No idea why he was the way he was at all, not even a clear picture of how he'd gotten that bloody scar.
She pressed her tongue to the inside of her cheek, trying to bite down on comment, but ... well, he knew by now that she was bad at that. ]
Your men will reach King's Landing before morning. [ This she offered only because he had stopped them the night before, and for no other reason. Civility in turn for civility. ] Whatever you are hoping to avoid there will soon hear word of where we're heading.
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[And if his tone is anything to judge by, that is what he is counting on. She isn't really owed that information, but he offers it anyway. If this journey is going to get any easier, he'll need to try and eek some cooperation out of her, even if she clearly does not want to give it to him.
He squints, looking deeper into her eyes to decipher why she had sought to advise him on the matter of their safety -- but he already knows the answer. Its not because of him, or any of his men, it is because her life depends on them earning safe passage.]
It is not much further to Storm's End.
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Puzzle after puzzle, with him. Rey surveyed him with greater interest now, searching his expression for some hint as to why the Lord Commander of the Redcloaks would be afraid to enter the capitol. If she could figure that out, she would gain something to bargain with. Some kind of power to leverage.
He had offered her this much, more than any time before. Maybe she was gaining, after all. Making headway. Or maybe she had simply chosen the right moment, in his exhaustion, when his men were gone. ]
Will we ride again tomorrow?
[ She already knew the answer, really, but she dreaded it. ]
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You should get some rest.
[The journey wasn't much farther, but that didn't mean it would be easy. She would need all of her strength. If the ravens beat them to Storm's End, there was a decent chance they'd all be arrested before they could even blink or react.]
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After a long silence, Rey looked away from him. She moved in the direction of his tent, but stopped outside of it, making herself as comfortable as she could get just out front of it, as he had forced her to the night before. There were bruises in her throat from where he'd held her, and with a strained shoulder, she could hardly fight back if he decided to get in a temper about something inane that she had done wrong.
If a merciful king dragged them back to King's Landing, he might have let Rey live for being a prisoner, in exchange for her testimony of whatever Ren had planned to do. Whatever information she had to damn him with. She did not think Snoke was that kind of king. Sleep did not come easily, and when it finally came, it left tears on her cheeks for the unpleasant dreams that haunted her. ]
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But then, he supposed that was why they called it "Storm's End".
Ren's mare is pacing impatiently when he finally goes to retrieve her. They couldn't spare a moment. While his men pack up, he leads his mare over to wherever Rey has parked herself.]
Have you been through Storm's End before?
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The muggy, thick quality to the air made the dirt caked on Rey feel heavier. Slows her down. And it makes her breath thick too, like she can't quite pull enough oxygen in. ]
No.
[ For a moment she looked at him like maybe she suspected he was fucking with her by even asking. Surely he knew that bastards didn't tour the bloody Seven Kingdoms. But, no, he could have easily been that deluded. ]
The caravan I rode with were heading this way. [ She had no love for slavers, but now it felt grotesque to be riding instead with the men who had slaughtered them like animals. Maybe she was bound to set on this course eventually.
She turned to look up at his mare like it was a mountain and rubbed at the back of her hip in consideration of her wounds. The worst part, though, was that she'd have to ask for help getting up because of the sling on her arm. She looked back at him then, uneasy and trying to avoid the admission while still … communicating that she's not going to be able to get up there herself. If he forced her to walk again, she'd almost prefer it. Her legs weren't going to get any less sore. ]
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I see.
[Ren nods away his discomfort in a display of understanding, refraining from comment for once. Unfortunately, he is not knowledgeable enough to know that walking would likely be less strenuous on her tired muscles and bones. So, silently, he offers her a hand with the intention of helping her up to the mare's back.]
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The whole affair turned out painful and embarrassing, telling of her inexperience, and she was still wincing as she settled at the front of the saddle and pulled her foot back out of the stirrup to make room for him behind her.
She looked over at the other men, a scowl tugged across her expression. She didn't like being seen complicit in her own confinement, but … she was. Over and over again, she had been. Maybe that was for the best, though. Maybe that would get her the freedom she needed to kill him and get away when the time came.
Which she still planned to do. No matter what he had promised her. ]
Does it matter? We're not going to see it now either, are we? Just move straight through.
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That is the idea.
[They would move through and sail to Essos in short order with the amount of coin they were going to give the boatswain, but that didn't mean that he wasn't interested to hear of the sort of perils a bastard girl from Dorne got up to.
Essos would be more her speed, perhaps. They find out in a few hours.
He nudges the mare forward. His men follow close behind.]
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By the sound of it, he was likely hoping that Lord Hux never heard that he was in Storm's End at all. That they could get off the ship before he learned of their presence, and before the ravens arrived from King's Landing to announce the consequences of it.
Yes. He was definitely the king of fools.
The sky grew darker as they marched, and as they emerged from the wood, a warm rain drizzled down over the rolling field they emerged into. The inclement weather seemed to lift Rey's spirits and though she didn't smile, she sat up a little straighter, looking around at the scenery in earnest — at least, until one of his men pointed out the trouble with rain and sailing; 'Bad weather for men at sea, Lord Commander.' He knew better to offer more than that.
Rey had never been on a ship, of course. A ship couldn't get you from Dorne to the Saltpans. A ship could not keep Lord Plutt off her back. A ship would not find her parents. ]
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By the time they come up on their destination, Ren can feel the water weighing down his cloak and causing his pauldrons to dig into his shoulders, and thunder was rumbling overhead. He shifts uncomfortably on the back of his mare, and stares out over the approahing sea. Of course, in this weather, there was no missing the bright red cloaks approaching. But the good news was that it was unlikely the ravens would roost in a thunderstorm, which meant they could be afforded some time in port while waiting for the clouds to pass.
It was not his preferred outcome, but Lord Hux would have little cause to react to their presence without prompting.]
I will arrange for passage for tomorrow morning. The rest of you should head to town.
[Suicidal as he might have been, Ren was not prepared to brave lightning.]
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It was an ugly thing, made uglier by the contrast against the rocky grasslands that led up to it. A singular, squat drum tower sat in the middle of that curtained wall, a stag riding high on its peak. But then, Rey had never seen another castle. Perhaps they were all equally hideous. ]
Is Lord Hux loyal to the King?
[ Rey asked, as though such a treasonous question in Hux's own realm were subject for casual conversation. There was no point in avoiding it anymore that she could see, now that his men had separated from them. What little energy she had for pretense had been drained by the chill that cut her bones now that her damp clothes hung off her body, soaked through. At the very least, they were cold enough now to soothe (or at least numb) the ache in her legs. ]
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So when he answers, its in a low bass meant only for her.]
He is loyal to the King's power.
[Which was not to say that he was more loyal to the idea of a one-true-king -- just that he would serve so long as he was promised what was owed to him. Ren could not offer what the King could, and so for an intents and purposes: yes. He was loyal to the King. But if he gave him enough coin, it should have been enough to keep him from asking too many questions.
Abruptly, the mare stops trotting as Ren yanks the reins back. It suddenly occurs to him that bringing a Dornish loudmouth bastard with him to Lord Hux's estate was perhaps a terrible idea.]
You should be with the men.
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Some part of her second-guessed this now, given his sudden preference for the idea. Maybe the two he had kept were loyal enough to him to withstand his mercurial moods and his betrayal to the king. Maybe they would put her back in chains and tell Ren what she had done.
Then was Hux her better choice? It would be her word against his, and even if Hux took Ren's head, she'd still be left in Hux's custody, forced to give the information that she had to the king. Ren's custody would be easier to slip than a cell, surely. ]
Great. Let me off here; I'll run right along after them. [ Her remarks were too dry, maybe. ]
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