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.
[ 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. ]
[As it turns out, her prayers are answered. He turns his horse just enough so that he can watch her run along after them, releasing the reins so that he step down in order to assist her off the horse. He's a little more hands on this time thanks to his urgency, wrapping one hand around her waist once she has exited the stirrups so that she has an easy landing.
And then once she sees her way back to his men, he is back atop the mare and riding back toward the castle.
The meeting with Lord Hux is tenuous. Hux doesn't care much for the Redcloaks, though he understands the need for them. To Ren's surprise, he does not ask much after their needs for a boat to Essos -- hoping he would drown in the sea, perhaps. He does, however, make a big affair of its expense it will cost him, requiring Ren to pay double what he should have been paying.
On the bright side, they had beaten the ravens for now. The downside was that he was being made to proselytize to a lesser man to make certain that he would not be troubled on his way out of port.
So, when he comes back from the castle to meet Rey and his men, it is with a rolled up piece of parchment and a foul mood.]
[ She would have bolted then and there, had it not been for the fact that his men were in sight and he stayed there watching like a hawk until she reached them. One of his men dismounted, ready to offer her his horse, and she shook her head a little too forcefully. ]
Please don't make me get on that thing.
[ They laughed at her, and the other dismounted as well. They would walk the rest of the way. They seemed more comfortable without Ren there, looser in the shoulders, though it was obvious that neither of them knew what to do with her. She learned their names: Ser LeHuse and Ser Versio both came from the Reach, though they belonged to lower houses that pledged their banners early to the King's family. One of them was a firstborn whose house had been dishonored by Snoke, and he was paying the price; the other was third in line for his father's inheritance and knew he had no hope. It was either the Citadel or the Kingsguard, thus — ]
You probably would have picked the Citadel if you'd known you'd be serving under Ren.
[ Neither of them laughed at that, even with him gone. They didn't quite knew what to do with her interest in these things, it seemed. They were not used to actual conversation with the common people, but neither were they used to moving around the circles that Ren did. They were in the middle somewhere, awkward and fumbling.
His men brought her to an inn where they could put up their horses. The innkeeper gave her a piteous look, even after they asked that two rooms be provided. The innkeeper set her up with a hot meal, at least, and offered to wash her clothes for her. It was with great reluctance that Rey admitted these were the only clothes she had, and she'd have to keep them. Still, she was grateful for the woman's charity.
It didn't mean that if she tried to run the woman would cover for her, but it reminded her that not everyone was like these Redcloaks.
She gathered around a table with his men to ask the question. ]
Why does Lord Ren want so badly to avoid King's Landing? [ She searched them. ] We'd already be out to sea if we'd gone out through the Blackwater. Did he break some girl's heart?
[ They offered mumbled assurances that Lord Ren made the decisions he knew he needed to make. But Rey pushed. ]
Sure, but you don't wish he'd at least tell you why?
[ Versio warned her to keep her mouth shut to that end unless she wanted to see Ren's temper again. And then he ordered his second warm mug of mead.
Rey slipped the knife from her silverware into her sling while he was at the bar and LeHuse had turned to watch as the door opened, welcoming Ren's dark shadow inside. She'd cut it close, and his men had proven too loyal, but at least she got something out of this short period beyond his scrutiny.
'Don't move,' LeHuse told her as he went to greet Ren at the door and offer him a key. Rey glanced around, impatient and nervous, and saw that two of the innkeeper's girls had gotten their arms around Versio. ]
[Ren was clearly attempting to reign in his temper, soaked down to the bone to the point that his cloak dragged a puddle inside with him. He untucks the parchment, which is already starting to curl from the moisture in the air and tucks passed the doorway to accept the key he is offered. He is almost surprised to see that Rey is sitting at a table with Versio and the innkeeper's daughters. One of them quickly rose from his lap, only to be tugged down to her surprise. Trust me, you don't wanna go there, he said, loud enough for the Lord Commander to hear.
He casts a glance between the four of them before deciding that he doesn't care about the company, nor about his subordinate's display of disrespect -- in truth, he was doing him a favor (if not rudely).]
We leave at dawn once the seas have calmed. The storm is already passing, but the captain is already on his third bottle for the evening.
[He says this with some obvious irritation -- he isn't about to leave his life and the lives of his men in the hands of a drunk.]
Girl -- [All eyes went to Rey.] -- you will stay with me for the evening.
[Not exactly new information, but given the ultimatum offered by Versio, he felt the need to reestablish some dominance.]
[ She'd assumed, of course. They'd all assumed. But to hear him say it still made her uneasy. It would be her first night in a long while in a real bed — all the rooms had two in them, in an inn like this. She'd heard the innkeeper saying so. But it'd also be with him, and her chance to rid herself of him.
Did she really have the nerve to kill the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard? To kill someone who had promised her a way to her parents? She pushed down the questions. There would be no room for doubting herself from here out.
By his announcement, she could guess that their revels were at an end. Too bad. The others were nearly tolerable, without Ren around. She got to her feet. The innkeeper's girls looked at Versio as though they expected him to say something — if Ren was so bad, surely he would. Rey was a little thing, scrawny and dirty and injured.
But Versio kept his mouth shut. The storyteller at the other table has found a pause in his tale, distracted by the tension that Ren draws in with him. It's like the storm has come inside at its worst. ]
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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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And then once she sees her way back to his men, he is back atop the mare and riding back toward the castle.
The meeting with Lord Hux is tenuous. Hux doesn't care much for the Redcloaks, though he understands the need for them. To Ren's surprise, he does not ask much after their needs for a boat to Essos -- hoping he would drown in the sea, perhaps. He does, however, make a big affair of its expense it will cost him, requiring Ren to pay double what he should have been paying.
On the bright side, they had beaten the ravens for now. The downside was that he was being made to proselytize to a lesser man to make certain that he would not be troubled on his way out of port.
So, when he comes back from the castle to meet Rey and his men, it is with a rolled up piece of parchment and a foul mood.]
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Please don't make me get on that thing.
[ They laughed at her, and the other dismounted as well. They would walk the rest of the way. They seemed more comfortable without Ren there, looser in the shoulders, though it was obvious that neither of them knew what to do with her. She learned their names: Ser LeHuse and Ser Versio both came from the Reach, though they belonged to lower houses that pledged their banners early to the King's family. One of them was a firstborn whose house had been dishonored by Snoke, and he was paying the price; the other was third in line for his father's inheritance and knew he had no hope. It was either the Citadel or the Kingsguard, thus — ]
You probably would have picked the Citadel if you'd known you'd be serving under Ren.
[ Neither of them laughed at that, even with him gone. They didn't quite knew what to do with her interest in these things, it seemed. They were not used to actual conversation with the common people, but neither were they used to moving around the circles that Ren did. They were in the middle somewhere, awkward and fumbling.
His men brought her to an inn where they could put up their horses. The innkeeper gave her a piteous look, even after they asked that two rooms be provided. The innkeeper set her up with a hot meal, at least, and offered to wash her clothes for her. It was with great reluctance that Rey admitted these were the only clothes she had, and she'd have to keep them. Still, she was grateful for the woman's charity.
It didn't mean that if she tried to run the woman would cover for her, but it reminded her that not everyone was like these Redcloaks.
She gathered around a table with his men to ask the question. ]
Why does Lord Ren want so badly to avoid King's Landing? [ She searched them. ] We'd already be out to sea if we'd gone out through the Blackwater. Did he break some girl's heart?
[ They offered mumbled assurances that Lord Ren made the decisions he knew he needed to make. But Rey pushed. ]
Sure, but you don't wish he'd at least tell you why?
[ Versio warned her to keep her mouth shut to that end unless she wanted to see Ren's temper again. And then he ordered his second warm mug of mead.
Rey slipped the knife from her silverware into her sling while he was at the bar and LeHuse had turned to watch as the door opened, welcoming Ren's dark shadow inside. She'd cut it close, and his men had proven too loyal, but at least she got something out of this short period beyond his scrutiny.
'Don't move,' LeHuse told her as he went to greet Ren at the door and offer him a key. Rey glanced around, impatient and nervous, and saw that two of the innkeeper's girls had gotten their arms around Versio. ]
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He casts a glance between the four of them before deciding that he doesn't care about the company, nor about his subordinate's display of disrespect -- in truth, he was doing him a favor (if not rudely).]
We leave at dawn once the seas have calmed. The storm is already passing, but the captain is already on his third bottle for the evening.
[He says this with some obvious irritation -- he isn't about to leave his life and the lives of his men in the hands of a drunk.]
Girl -- [All eyes went to Rey.] -- you will stay with me for the evening.
[Not exactly new information, but given the ultimatum offered by Versio, he felt the need to reestablish some dominance.]
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Did she really have the nerve to kill the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard? To kill someone who had promised her a way to her parents? She pushed down the questions. There would be no room for doubting herself from here out.
By his announcement, she could guess that their revels were at an end. Too bad. The others were nearly tolerable, without Ren around. She got to her feet. The innkeeper's girls looked at Versio as though they expected him to say something — if Ren was so bad, surely he would. Rey was a little thing, scrawny and dirty and injured.
But Versio kept his mouth shut. The storyteller at the other table has found a pause in his tale, distracted by the tension that Ren draws in with him. It's like the storm has come inside at its worst. ]
Now, m'lord?
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