Careful Steps (Torin)

[Halaevia Baratheon]

((This thread is set the day before the wedding))

It wasn't the first time Halaevia had been to Casterly Rock. The view of the castle was a familiar one; Alyon had taken her with him on more than one occasion when there were business plans to be discussed that involved the Lannisters. Lannister gold made for good capital, and much of the time they had been just as willing to lend to the king's cousin as to the King itself.

The difference being, she thought disparagingly as she stood in the outer garden looking up, that Alyon and Hallie, indeed more like the proverbial Lannisters themselves than the old Crown, had repaid every bit of their borrowings, and usually made more than a little profit on the ventures too. It had been said to her that it didn't seem quite right for a Baratheon of Dragonstone to go about acting like a common merchant, trading in goods from across the seas, but Halaevia had always thought that attitude narrow-minded. They had the ships, didn't they? Why not put them to good use and finance such undertakings?

This time, however, she was not here to discuss finances. Halaevia was at Casterly Rock, for the first time in many years, for a wedding. That of Lena Arryn, and Torin. Ser Torin Lannister, whom she had known once, long ago when he had only been a squire. It was about time that he married, she had thought when she heard. Jaime couldn't, and Tyrion - she couldn't see many men of good standing willing to wed their daughters to Tyrion. No, Torin was the one who should wed, and why not into House Arryn? It gave them the strength of the Vale. It was a clever move.

Halaevia's life might have been considerably easier if the Lannisters were a little less clever. She was here because she ought to be, and she held no particular grudge against Torin, but she couldn't ignore the fact that it was his family standing in the way of the rightful king. She would have to tread so carefully here! Stannis she was not to mention, nor the triumph of the Lord of Light, nor anything else that was the business of Dragonstone. She was here as a wellwisher, and then she would go back, to Dragonstone, to Eliedt and Kirilen, with whatever scraps of knowledge the event had given her.

The wedding itself was not until the morrow. Hallie and the few attendants she had brought had been greeted, shown to the rooms they were to have use of, and then left alone. This didn't surprise her; there were very many important guests arriving and no doubt everyone in the castle, down to the lowest kitchen maid, had far more preparations to make than was reasonable.

It suited Halaevia. She had decided to take an early evening walk, and had found herself in a quiet garden, perfect for a few moments alone even if it didn't quite compare to her gardens at home. She couldn't hear the sea, the soft sound of distant waves that had been her near-constant companion, but this garden was pretty enough, and so there she stayed. Shestood there a long while before turning back, intending to go back inside and hope she could remember her way through the halls and passages.

[Torin Lannister]

Lena had been at Casterly Rock for six days now, tomorrow was the day when they would be wed. All week thus far had been spent planning and preparing not for the wedding but for when a Lannister army would march on the Vale. Ravens were being sent to various Lords and bannermen loyal to Lena, it would be a smooth transition. His soon to be wife, while satisfied to plan her rise to rule of the Vale had been timid in his presence since he had deprived her of robe and mounted her like a hound mounts a bitch. It was not his most graceful deed but it ensured her honesty in their agreement. It would have been very easy for Lena Arryn to get the Vale and close the Bloody Gate to rule away from her husband forever more. Now that would never be the case.

Guests had been arriving since yesterday, everyone one of them went out of their way to find Ser Torin to wish him congratulations, how many of them hoped he'd remember their face for positive association later on was anyone's guess. But it didn't matter to him. Not now. The Lion-Knight moved into the gardens of Casterly Rock. The sun was shining and bounced off the leathers he was wearing. They were very nice leathers. The chest had a large smooth chest piece and at the sides a great number of leather straps neatly folded across each other and criss-crossed to form something of a design. Gold threads were woven into the red leather and the sun bounced off that all the more brilliantly. He wore a highly ornate dagger on his belt, it was purely a ceremonial thing but still sharp enough to cut cheese as well as skin should the need arise, but it was a poor replacement for the great blade that usually rested at his hip. He was almost uncomfortable without its familiar weight.

As confident steps took him through the gardens his eyes fell upon one of the guests, one he had known when he was a squire. Back before Stannis had made his claim for the throne. Halaevia Baratheon. The most lovely of the Baratheon's in his opinion. "Halaevia? Halaevia Baratheon?" he announced his presence to the woman, his tone suggested he was trying to pin down her identity. He of course knew perfectly well.

[Halaevia Baratheon]

Halaevia didn't see him approach, but she turned at the sound of his voice, and knew him once. Who else could it have been, tall and golden-haired, arrayed all in fine red leathers? So completely, unmistakably a Lannister. She wouldn't have to seek him out to wish him well, after all, here he was, just as she had been thinking of him. A more fanciful woman might have read into that coincidence, but she dismissed it without another thought. It was his home, after all, and so not an unexpected place to encounter him.

Taking a step closer to him, she smiled. 'Ser Torin,' she greeted him. 'I am glad to know I am not so very much changed since the last time we met.' She was, of course. The last time she had seen him she had been sixteen, with her infant son in her arms, poor little Setaeron who would have been nearly grown to manhood now if he had lived. More years and more distance than she cared to think of, but in a way neither she nor Torin were very much changed at all.

As she regarded Torin with a not altogether uncritical eye, Halaevia smoothed down her skirts with both hands. She had chosen one of her best gowns today, fine blue linen edged in white, but the wide belt that accentuated her waist was as red as Torin's own garb. Suddenly she found that she didn't know what to say to him. Perhaps he looked still like the young man who had squired for Stannis back at Dragonstone, but he was not that man. He was Joffrey's man now, and she would do well to remember it.

Deciding to take refuge in the expected pleasantries, she went on: 'I must say, it's good that you are to be married at last. I hear that Lena Arryn is a good woman, and if I may say it, married life may suit you. Many men find it to be so.' Not all for the same reasons, but that was besides the point.