Old Friends (Hallie)

[adelaidebaratheon]

Adelaide was tired and her nerves were raw after the meeting with Stannis and Tyrell and she needed a few moments to herself.
To do so she'd gone back to her chambers, thrown up in the chamber pot cried and then decided it was best to make her presence known about the castle keep.

The little Baratheon woman had almost forgotten how big Dragonstone was, she knew in her mind that Storms End was larger, but simply knowing your way around a place made it seem smaller.
Dragonstone was almost completely foreign after it being so many years since Adelaide had last visited.

As of now she was walking along the outer gardens, they over looked the oceans and the scent of salt water filled Adelaide's senses making her home sick.
Only when she was back in Duncan's arms again would she feel safe and with a war brewing who knew how long that could last.
So for a long time Adelaide just stood watching the silver crested waves break on the rocks, the grey morning dawning.

[Halaevia Baratheon]

Halaevia gazed out over the ocean, listening to the crashing waves. This part of the garden had always been her favourite, the part overlooking the expanse of water that led to Driftmark. Once, long ago, she had stood here and looked longingly over the water. Now, the place was merely a familiar spot for quiet walks and contemplation. The children had walked out with her this morning, but they had stayed with their nurse to play games in the longer grass in one of the gardens closer to the castle. She could still hear Kirilen's voice faintly over the wind, as the little girl shouted out in delight.

Turning away from the ocean itself, she began to walk along the path that circled the outer edge of the gardens. A morning walk always did her good; it cleared her mind and prepared her for the day ahead. There was a slight chill in the air this morning, but Halaevia was warm in her grey woollen gown. It was plain and sober, as much of her everyday wear was, save for the sash of brilliant red that she had tied about her waist, an eye-catching splash of color.

As she made her way along the path, she caught sight of a figure in the distance, and as she drew near enough to make out the woman's features and recognize her, a small but genuine smile crossed her face. 'Lady Adelaide!' she exclaimed. 'Why, it has been such a long time. I had heard you were paying us a visit, and I did hope our paths would cross. Tell me, how have you been?'

[adelaidebaratheon]

When Adelaide heard the voice call to her she flenched at first thinking it was maybe a Septa or one of Stannis' new clerical friends, the red woman her self unnerved Adelaide she couldn't imagine what her followers might be like.
Then the voice registered.

"Cousin Halaevia." The dark haired lady of Storms End replied, her features finally breaking into a smile. "You are right it has been far to long."
Adelaide closed the distance between her and opened her arms in an embrace for the wife of her late cousin.
Halaevia hadn't always been a friend, when she'd first come to Dragons Stone Adelaide had avoided her at all cost simply for not knowing where the girl stood in regard to her brothers but those pretenses soon fell as the two girls got to know one another.

"I have been as well as any could expect." Adelaide informed, surly Halaevia would have heard news of the death of Adelaide's infant daughter some years ago so it was not of any consequence to bring it up in conversation. "And how have you been, are the children about?"

[Halaevia Baratheon]

Halaevia embraced Adelaide warmly, still wearing that smile that spoke of true emotion and not mere courtesy. She liked the woman, although she could not have said when it was that she began to like her. When she had first met her, the few years between them had seemed too great to bridge: Hallie had been a married woman, and Adelaide still a child, and the sister of a man she despised. They had had no time for one another. Time, however, could play strange games with one person's estimation of another, and now Adelaide was a valued friend, albeit one that she seldom had the opportunity to see.

She nodded in response to Adelaide's answer, and decided to pass no further comment. It didn't do to pry into other people's troubles unless one or the other of you had something to gain by it. Instead, she turned her attention to the enquiry Adelaide had made in return. 'We have been well, for the most part,' she said. The years since their last meeting had contained their fair allotment of joys and sorrows, but now was not the time for too much elaboration. 'The children - they are growing so quickly! Kirilen is a great girl of four now, would you believe? She must have been still a babe in arms when last you saw her. And my Eliedt...' Hallie's voice softened a little, only too aware of the hurt this might cause, but needing to tell it all the same. 'I almost lost him, some time ago. You know how he struggled to thrive...and to look at him now! He is strong and hale in away I had never dared to hope for. I tell you it is nothing short of a miracle.'

Halaevia's eyes shone when she told the story, as they always did when they told this story. Oh, Eliedt still had spells of ill-health, but never so severe as before. She didn't fear for him any longer.

'They are both,' she told Adelaide then, 'over in the garden with their nurse.' She gestured back in the general direction of the garden she meant. 'You will have to meet them before you go, I am certain they will be delighted to see you.'

[adelaidebaratheon]

Adelaide smiled as Halaevia spoke of her children. "The last I saw of Kirilen she was but a babe." It was hard to imagine seeing the girl now, Adelaide hadn't been able to see or take part in the festivities of the girls birth it being so soon after Aislynn's deaths. She had heard second hand about Eliedt and prayed many hours in the Sept for the boys health.

"I am glad for Eliedt's health. He is a good boy and I would love to see them both again." The dark haired woman said as she watched the grey sky light a little more with the sun.
It was always good to see her friend again even it stung a little that she was so lucky in child rearing and bearing.

[Halaevia Baratheon]

It didn't escape Halaevia's notice that Adelaide's eyes didn't meet her own as she spoke of the children, and she felt a tinge of regret. If only she had gone to Storm's End to offer what support she could after Adelaide had lost her own little daughter. It had been impossible, of course; she had been heavily pregnant, and still battling her own grief for Alyon. Comforting another had been beyond her means then, especially for Halaevia who had lost a child of her own. Besides, there was no changing what lay behind them, only what lay ahead.

And Adelaide looked to the sunrise, to the triumph of the light over the darkness writ large in the heavens. A grey dawn was not the most beautiful spectacle, perhaps, but the symbolism remained the same, and it didn't escape Halaevia. She too watched the sky for a long moment before she spoke again.

'Then you will see them - I shall fetch them from their play in just a moment.' That would be simplest, and this early in the morning she could be sure that Eliedt hadn't run off to hide from his nurse, and Kirilen hadn't had opportunity to tear her gown. Children always looked their best in the mornings. 'But first,' she went on, a little more solemnity in her tone, 'tell me, how fares Storm's End?' She hoped to indicate in her phrasing that this was a political enquiry to follow up the personal one. Adelaide was not visiting after all these years without reason, and while Halaevia knew some of what lay behind it, it would have been a terrible assumption on her part to believe that meant she knew all of it.

[adelaidebaratheon]

Watching the surf a little longer Adadelaide listened carefully as Halaevia asked of storms end, these questions were always motivated by political alignment these days.
She heard it a lot at Robert's funeral in Storms End.
At the time she honestly felt like Joffrey was the right boy for the job, but as things came to light, and Joffrey proved himself more and more cruel each day Adelaide knew Stannis would be the rightful king.

"All fares well in Storms End, every one fears the end of this long summer but one can not simply stop the turning of seasons and more they can the tides." That was the long and short of every Castle and Keep right now, but she knew was Halaevia was asking.
"For now though your young men amass in secret, I am to bow the knee to Joffrey Baratheon but my true fealty lies with my brother, with Stannis."

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ears Adelaide turned to her friend, and her face was solemn at best, boarding on grim despair.
"War is coming to Westeros, Halaevia, and I don't see this ending with out a long and bloody rebellion."

[Halaevia Baratheon]

'Aye, the northerners have the right of it,' replied Halaevia at the mention of the season's change. 'There's no holding back the winter.' Having accepted that, she had long ago decided that the best way forward was to be prepared, to ensure that the gifts of summer were not squandered by those without sufficient foresight. Her brother at Driftmark was stockpiling what he could, and as for the rest - well, winters ended too, as surely as summers did. It would not last forever.

When Adelaide turned to her and spoke of war, though, Hallie's eyes softened, and she reached out to take her friend's hand. 'There will be war.' She couldn't do other than concur with that assessment, but then she stood silent for a moment, deliberating her words. She wasn't one to offer false comfort, and Adelaide knew her well enough to likely see through it in an instant if she had made the attempt.

'It is no easy road to walk,' she said at last, 'to pledge to one king while remaining loyal to another. Yet I see why you must do it, and perhaps it is the best thing for you.' Halaevia herself had no such concerns. Her lot was thrown in with Stannis already, for good or for ill, and she was not such a prominent figure as Adelaide. She couldn't imagine that Joffrey cared in the slightest for what she as an individual said about him. 'As for the war,' she went on, 'it is the only course of action left to us. Your brother must claim his birthright - and he will triumph. I have no doubt of that.' Halaevia spoke quietly, but there was weight behind her words. This was no mere partisan drivel spouted to affirm her allegiance. On the contrary, she was utterly convinced that the war, when it came, could not end any other way than with Stannis' victory.

'Do not fear for him,' she went on. 'He knows what he is doing, better than any of us, but then you know that.' The barest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. 'You know your brother. Adelaide, cousin, you have only to look to safeguarding your own wellbeing. Yours, and Duncan's. Until such time as that pretender of a boy-king is dead and what conflict there must be is at an end.'

[adelaidebaratheon]

Adelaide smiled softly as Halaevia spoke so proudly of Stannis.
It was good to see her brothers supporters were so bound to him by victory.
"I know Stannis will be strong, and I know he won't falter, but I still worry so." She felt a nervous laugh escape her lips as she finished speaking.
"Duncan and I will protect Storms End, I only wish it were more open though that our preservation of the Keep was for Stannis."

It was a wish that would not see the light of day for some time. Possibly until they were on the battlefield.
What terror would the Lannister Army feel if the banner men of the Stormlands turned on them mid battle.
The confusion alone would offset their favor entirely.
Adelaide felt the strategy was cunning but required so much secrecy on the part of so many. Any loose tongue could bring the whole ordeal crashing down on their heads.

"But tell me, Cousin, what is this I hear of Stannis burning the idols of the seven on the beach?" Adelaide turned full body to her friend now and her eyes were soft and quizzical.
It wasn't uncommon for Kings to take up new religions to win a war, but completely tossing out the Seven was so unlike Stannis who was usually so practical. Adelaide had always felt her brother never really to heart to any one faith.

[Halaevia Baratheon]

Halaevia was not overly concerned by the notion that her friend had to feign loyalty to Joffrey until the opportune time to reveal the truth presented itself. Another positing such a plan she might have mistrusted, might have seen as refusing to take one side or the other. Adelaide, however, she trusted, and so she had no cause to doubt her words. She stood by Stannis, as surely as Halaevia herself did. She was about to reassure that so long as Storm's End was protected, it didn't matter in whose name the realm thought she guarded it, when Adelaide turned to her and spoke again.

The burning...yes, Hallie had witnessed it, had gazed into the flames and dreamed of victory along with all the others. How much of it would Adelaide understand? She didn't know how much Stannis had shared with his sister, and so she began cautiously. 'It was done, yes,' she told her. 'It had to be done, as a sign that Dragonstone stands in the light of the true god.' Her tone was plain and matter-of-fact, as if the act were of little consequence.

'I do not know what Stannis has told you,' she went on, 'but it is the Lord of Light who grants him power, who will grant him victory. I did not accept the prospect lightly, and I know how this must seem to you, but I have seen the truth of it for myself. I know that R'hllor is the true god as surely as I know that fire gives warmth.' Halaevia shook her head. She had been a skeptic, once, baffled by the queen's devotion, and perhaps she sounded just as incomprehensible to Adelaide now as Selyse and her ladies had once seemed to her. To say only that she was convinced would not be enough.

Hallie looked away for a moment, back up to the sky where the clouds were beginning to thin as the morning brightened. 'I will tell you...' she said slowly, deliberately, as if a secret were about to be revealed. 'Have you met Lady Melisandre? She is...altogether a remarkable woman. She...saved the life of my Eliedt, Adelaide. Would you believe it? I had lost all hope for him, and Selyse heard me weeping and asked if she might pray for him. I was past caring to which god she prayed, and so I let her. I let her go to Melisandre with my sorrows, and I know not what took place by their nightfire, but within a sevenday it was as if my boy had never been ill.' The story was recounted calmly, but there was a gleam of something in Halaevia's eyes that spoke of the emotion that lay beneath it. There was something in her that needed Adelaide to understand.

[adelaidebaratheon]

Listening carefully Adelaide wasn't sure what to say. Hallie and Selye seemed truly to have converted to this Lord of Light in truly evangelistic way, she couldn't say Stannis had even mentioned this new god to her. "I have not yet met Lady Melisandre, but if she is all that you say I'm sure it is the fate of your god that is on Stannis side." She reached over and touched her friend's hand, gently and carefully. "Perhaps some time soon I could meet her, I would very much like to thank her for blessing my brother Stannis, and for healing your son."

[Halaevia Baratheon]

Hallie couldn't determine just what Adelaide made of the things she had just told her. Was she withholding judgement? Hallie might have, in her place. As she had said, she knew how it sounded. She hadn't believed it herself until the truth was revealed to her in a way that was impossible to ignore. At least she didn't sound disapproving. People who went on about blasphemy against the Seven when Halaevia told them about the true god were very dull, so she was glad Adelaide wasn't one of them. In her opinion it wasn't exactly possible to blaspheme against gods you didn't believe in, anyway.

She smiled softly at her friend's words. 'You might say that to her,' she replied, 'but I don't know that she would accept it. She told me afterwards that it was not her doing at all, but the power of the Lord of Light, channelled through her.' Shaking her head, Hallie's smile widened. 'I thanked her anyway. She was right about my son, and so I thought - why wouldn't she also be right about your brother?' She would leave it at that, she decided, and let Adelaide think on it. No good would come of belabouring the point; she would reach the same conclusions Halaevia herself had, or she would not.

'I shall try to give the two of you opportunity to meet each other, while you are here,' she assured Adelaide, and then, turning away from the subject, 'I have heard that Lord Tyrell is visiting Dragonstone also?' A hint of an unspoken question. She knew Mace Tyrell was there, but precious little else, beyond the obvious guesswork.

[adelaidebaratheon]

At first Adelaide wanted to ask more questions about the Red Woman who was supporting her brother. It made her a bit uncomfortable that he'd keep a woman's council so close when he had already taken a wife long before. But she wouldn't think badly of her brother, he took oaths and vows and was an honorable man.

"Yes, Lord Tyrell is also visiting, Stannis thinks it is beneficial that he rides with us, the Baratheon Bannermen and the knights of the Rose all riding together as a unified south. As well they have ships..." The dark haired woman pulled her cloak tighter about her as she looked out to the sea once more, the sun was now in it's usual morning position.
"But to tell you the truth, Hallie, I am not so sure if we can trust Mace Tyrell, I remember the hunger and the thirst and how we all thought we would die... the rose has filled my nightmares for years upon years now and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive them for the injustice we suffered."

Adelaide wished that Duncan had come with her now, she wanted to cling to his arms and let him be her strength. Instead she'd had to stand on her own two feet, and in doing so had promised her unborn children to the Tyrell's the very same folk who had nearly taken her own childhood from her.

[Halaevia Baratheon]

'That war, Adelaide, it was such a long time ago.' She spoke softly, as if to assuage her friend's worries, but there was more to it than that. Halaevia remembered too. 'There was injustice - injustice on both sides. That is the way of war.' She hardly ever thought on it now, her terror when she had learnt that the siege had been broken, that they were marching on Dragonstone, coming for the pregnant queen and little Prince Viserys. She had already known what had become of the rest of the royal family. Everyone had known.

Dragonstone had been all they wanted, despite her fears they hadn't sailed as far as Driftmark. Then her father had bent the knee to the Usurper, for what else was there to do? And Hallie had been handed over to the Baratheons like some spoil of war, and hadn't she learnt something important from that? Something that it seemed Adelaide had yet to grasp.

'You don't have to forgive Lord Tyrell,' she told her plainly. 'Or like him. You may hate him 'til the end of his days for what he did to you at Storm's End if that is what seems right, but it is in our interest to ally with him now, and there is too much at stake to place personal feelings above political interest.' Halaevia had never stopped hating Robert, after all. But Stannis she had forgiven, and Alyon - Alyon she had never been able to hate, nor hold responsible for what the rest of his family had done. That had made everything so much easier.

She turned then, her gaze following Adelaide's so that she too watched the waves crashing below them. 'We need those ships,' she said. 'Better Tyrell side with us than with the Lannisters. Mace is no fool and I cannot see him remaining neutral in this.' She was silent a moment, her brow creasing in thought, and when she next spoke her voice was gentler again. 'He is not a bad man, Adelaide. He has given you little reason to trust him, I know, but I see nothing of cruelty or viciousness in him. I do believe that if he gives his word he will keep to it. He is ambitious, yes, perhaps overly so, but that is a motive that Stannis - and you - can use to your advantage in your talks with him, is it not?'

[adelaidebaratheon]

She knew her friend was right, but Adelaide still had a hard time swallowing that she had to let these injustices go.
"I know Halaevie, but still he demands so much now that I often feel like he will ask to much when the throne is upon Stannis brow." Adelaide looked back to her friend.
"Like the Lannisters, they helped Robert win the crown only to become his undoing."

Adelaide knew there were times in both she and Halie's they loved men who were the enemies of one another. Robert and his rebels for Aledaide and Rhaegar and his loyalists for Halaevia.
In the end they had come together despite this and rarely did they ever speak of the times when their houses were enemies.
It made it easier just to forget some times, but as war began stirring once more all of the old wounds began to open up and bleed.

"If I were to have a son he want's his daughter to marry her... I accepted this to save Stannis if he were to sire a boy." Adelaide looked back to Halie who had two beautiful children on her own. SHe had to understand wanting them to be able to choose their own paths to happiness.
"I fear he'll put pressure on Duncan and I to produce this fabled son, and I can't bear to put Duncan pain of loosing another child."