Alaric Varmont

ok but just ~picturing these two interacting (which they probs have to do fairly regularly given they neighbors and court insiders together etc!!) is making me giggle like lajsdfjdsjfsdf what a pairrrr alksjdfljksdf

so idk that he had to even tell her to do this bc it sounds like she woulda done it on her own, but aurelian is sooooooo glad that @forgottenmarian took alaric under her wing and, frankly, woulda told her to do so if she hadn't done that on her own! since alaric is pr team arthur and seems pr ride or die for marian, aurelian considers him more or less generally an ally, but isn't so foolish as to ~assume that that is ~always so, but he is glad to have him abroad the ss arthur even if he's not team solemont hahahaha

it v much does noT suit aurelian that roderick should ~ever wed again (and he's already pr peeved abt amira's pregnancy -- due to be born like...any moment now) so like???? this whole eilia situation is one he wants to nip in the bud. i think his idea is that arthur (or potentially sebastian) should secretly marry her (both arthur and eilia: im sorry whaT) and weather that storm when it inevitably breaks bc the good that comes from that outweighs the bad -- like you got astaira, the largest nation in the empire, de facto behind you and certainly behind ur kids w her, AND you stopped roderick from taking another bride and having more babies and just...good stuff!! i do think he believes that, w alaric and tristan being her primary ~guards, and alaric being someone who arthur looks up to and trusts sm, and tristan being de facto team edmund, he believes that he could use alaric's help is critical to realizing this scheme

if he had any inkling tho that alaric, himself, fancied her, he's getting to the point that he'd almost be inclined to be like 'yo ~you should wed her' if its between alaric or roderick so laksdjflkjdsf much to discuss laksdjfalkjsdfj

but yeah he's well aware that this must be approached w care since alaric is obv a v loyal person and loyal to his brother etc but i think -- whether or not he knows how alaric feels abt eilia -- he ~has clocked that alaric's increasingly unhappy over the years w all the post-elaine weddings and yeahh that's smth at least laskjdfkljsdfk

he's always taken his relationship with marian seriously and honestly, I can even see where he may have promised aurelian that he would always be looking out for Marian's best interests & the best interests of her children!!! not in a way that would totally overstep roderick but like, roderick has three whole ass families to look out for, not to mention a new country like every year, so he has a lot on his plate and basically alaric is here to make sure that marian and her fam don't get ignored!!!

alaric also does not want to think about what he would do if it ever came down to marian v roderick, but lowkey I think he already knows what side he is on, but that's not something he would actually want to let on to anybody!!!!! still, as much as he also doesn't really want Eilia to marry his brother, he's not sure he wants her to marry Arthur, either so I don't think he would condone that plan at all (unless he found out that they were both madly in love with each other!) and while I feel like there is part of him that would certainly be tempted by the idea that HE should just marry Eilia, his loyalty to Roderick would definitely win out in the end on that one!! However, I don't think that that is something that Aurelian would necessarily pick up on, unless he is looking for it?? Especially since Alaric hasn't even told Marian about it and is trying to court Eabha instead, just now (which I'm sure either through Marian or just from keeping an eye on him, that Aurelian knows?? basically, I feel like that might be enough to throw him off from the Alaric/Eilia thing, especially given how close to the chest Alaric likes to play things?)

I'm not sure how obvious Eabha is that she's interested in Alaric, but honestly this just might be something he'd consider tbh??

I do think that Alaric feels like he needs to take a wife and I think w/ all of the complicated feelings he has towards Astaira, that maybe taking an Astairan wife would be good to help promote good Varmont/Astaira relationships/??

While he enjoys flirting w/ Sonya, I feel like he honestly doesn't think having to deal w/ her mom is worth it plus, idk if Roderick really is interested in her or not?? But if he was, Alaric would also back off (he doesn't need to be into 2 girls that Roderick is trying to marry!!!)

I also think he believes that Eabha would be a good fit because she grew up expecting to run her own estate and he is looking for a woman who could effectively be his steward, since he knows that he likely will nEVER be settled and always pulled away on the next conquest his brother decides they shall go on and he wants to know that his home/children/etc are in good hands!

but honestly i do think that, if marriage were ever to go ahead between them, or whatever, she'd legit do her best to be a good wife to him/mother to his children, etc!!!! obv she'd ~also do her best to be a good lady to farrington AND to the ppl of hanthom and that lil slip of land in the north, and the general land of astaira etc, and im sure those things would conflict from time to time, but it wouldn't stop her from trying!!!! laksdjfkljsdkjfsf that awk moment when ur biggest struggle in ur relationship is whether to support your beloved nephew in his quest to become ruler of the known world...or to liberate ur wife and her bestie/ur crush's homeland and thus thwart said nephew???? *oof*

ok but in terms of eabha's behavior, i do think...like...i feel like she's clear about it, but also not bc, like, she treats other ppl similarly???? ksldjafkjdsf what do i mean by this...ok so i think eabha's honestly a pr warm and open person and, not to quote lizzie bennet, but 'she dearly loves to laugh,' so like i def think she flirts but also like...idk that she's the best ~at it all the time so i think she probs inadverntely leaves him in that 'wait was she flirting or just being funny/friendly???' sorta headspace sometimes bc idk that she's as clear as ~she thinks she is bc like she'll do smth romantic but then undercut it w teasing/laughter and so its like 'wait was that a joke or not?'

i do think she's in her head abt like...a loT of this, frankly, and she feels weird hunting somebody down basically, etc, so if it becomes obv to her that he's interested, i think she'll ease into things a lil morebc she'll feel less like a snake...she's never tried to catch a dude for his money/status/etc before, never thought she would, never thought well of those who did, etc, and lbr its just not her natural state so like...idk that she's that good at it, but im thinking she's maybe got some ambassadorial bg in her repertoire (incoming thought -- maybe they've met before? tho if so they were probs rivals in that scenario bc she was tryna convince ppl to join eilia against roderick klasdjfkjdsf but anyway!!) so like she falls back on some of ~those lessons but lbr presenting the case of why you ought to ally w eilia against roderick isn't esp sexy so yeah??? i think she's tryna feel her way through this and i def think she stumbles just as often as she doesn't frankly hahahaha

HE DOESN'T NEED 2 GIRLS RODERICK TRYNA MARRY ALKJSFKLJSDF ;klefjkasldjf ok so real talk: i don't think roderick will notice sonya until arthur does, and she's thus presented in roderick's mind as a future potential empress!!! which means she must be ~his!!!! ladies that catch edmund or arthur's eye re: marriage will, yikes-ishly enough, also in so doing catch roderick's eye, if the boys are ~srs abt marrying them (SOBS) fortunately for sonya, arthur's riding that aria train and so far he aint lookin back/looking for a wife sooooo she's def safe from him at least as far ahead as i can see atm? who knows what might happen but yeah, for the foreseeable future i think its safe to say that unless ~edmund starts thinking abt marrying sonya, she's gonna be ok and roderick barely knows who she is asdklfjklsdfj

that makes a ton of sense and, honestly, looking at it that way, eabha ~would be a great fit bc she'd frankly be a better duchess of farrington than ~mrs varmont~ hahahah i mean she'd defff try, and her actions in both cases would come out of the same idealistic vision for a better future etc, but like the whole varmont ideology is so abhorrent foreign to her that she'd def be on his case a lot abt the things roderick's doing that alaric should be tryna talk him out of etc bc as nobles its their duty to safeguard the ppl etc etc etc she's astairan through and through!! but yeah i ~do think she's good at being a lady and running a place smoothly and negotiating trade deals etc etc but yeah she'd def give him a hard time too alkjdsfkljsdjf just ask finn ;D

ok so, obv this is different if farrington is ~in astaira, but just for the purposes of answering the question...imma assume for the moment that its ~not

Alaric: being in agony over a complicated unrequited love situation isn't fun, but having to interact those people is my ~actual~ hell

I was gonna say jk but ... I'm not?? And neither is Alaric! Which is why I think he is actually gonna start to take this more seriously!!

Ooooh, I honestly love the idea that they have met before and it was under those circumstances where they were literally rivals and things were probably pretty tense between them because it could literally mean life or death trying to gain allies before an impending war/conquest!!! And yeah, I feel like Alaric probably won out on that one which ... tbf he probably feels a little bad about even at the time because she's a name and a face and he knows that he's likely sending people she loves to death by securing this alliance for himself, but at the same time he knows that a) it could mean that his own family is killed and b) if they do win, at least he's saving this third country from roderick ... at least for now lmao

Also, if this is the case, I think it would have given him an additional reasons to try to talk to her and basically tell her that he's sorry for how things happened, for what it is worth??? And I can also see where he would feel like maybe marrying Eabha also would help make up for how things came about??? Not that he can make things better or that he thinks being his wife is some ~amazing~ thing, but he likes to think that he would give Eabha a good life/he has enough wealth and influence to help her family out, too, if they ever needed it.

But yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think that Farrington probs is in the og varmont nation??? But I can also see where Alaric might ask his bro for some astairan lands if he marries eabha so they have a place there, too. (maybe the supposed deserted snail/frog lands if alaric can convince roderick that it would be a good idea to live there lmao)

ALSJFSALFJD omg though I feel like they both have strong loyalties to so many different (and opposing!) things that it would make this complicated when things start getting hairy!! Alaric would definitely support her loyalties to her own family/to hanthom and honestly even to eilia but then he has his own to the varmont nation/fam/his brother and then ultimately arthur if roderick dies and that would definitely cause some tension if/when they have to pick sides!!!

honestly!! ok so there're sort of...two different outcomes to their ambassadorial rivalry thing, but in both cases i do think she's still thinking he's a good matrimonial candidate but she has v different feelings ~abt all that

if she had the chance to meet him in a way that allowed them to talk/he explained his motives were to save his loved ones, etc, or basically she knows he was primarily thinking of saving lives of his own ppl?? if that's the case then she doesn't really blame him for trying his hardest and winning -- sure she was legit hoping he would lose and was devestated he won etc but she saw it more as ~her failure~ than anything and like?? he was literally out there for the same reasons she was and sure enough her dad died and his family made it through and who knows how things might've gone if ~she'd won. i ~do think this makes her feel like she failed her father ~to his death~ but as long as she knows his goals were protective, just like hers were, she doesn't really blame ~him or, like, think he did anything wrong bc they were both just doing their duty etc

in ~this scenario she's proceeding w a touch more trust in him but also a lot more guilty ~abt him? so what i mean abt that is that she's already seen ok this guy has goals and priorities that i respect and he's not some horrible monster maybe we can build a life as partners if we marry, etc! however, she also feels like scum tryna seduce a man for his money/titles esp knowing that like...he's a decent person???? she thinks that's a bad thing to do, period, but its even worse to do to someone who might just be a good person esp when ur hoping to build a foundation of trust for a life spent side by side like!!!! she's like 'the toxic person here is me' but also she can't turn her back on her ppl and this s the only way roderick's left her to help them so like...she loses either way

HOWEVER, if she ~doesn't know his rationale, if they never got a chance to discuss their motives or whatever, things are ~much murkier bc, while she does still view it more as her failure to help astaira which led to its defeat and her father's death, she still thinks this varmont jackass was out there sabotaging her so he could get rich?? or smth?? by killing innocents in an unprovoked war! basically, its the same as the above, but she thinks he's like his brother (roderick: 'he wishes!' jk jk) so like!! pulling a fast one on him and tryna seduce him for money/power, while it still makes her feel shallow and like a shitty person, she doesn't feel guilty towards ~him bc that's a v varmont thing to do (amira: or calainon ;D)! so really she's just doing to him what he's done to countless civilizations, and she wears a mask but thinks he's horrible underneath that basically lkajsdfjksdf which does ~slightly exonerate her even if she's still sinking lower than she should to do it

alsdkjfkjdsf so yeah!! im down w either! either way tho if he was like 'i gotta approach her' after bc of this bg, she was def at least surface level receptive to it. in case 1, it was a must more genuine discussion of everything that had happened; in case 2, it was an opportunity to hook a big fish laksdjfkljsdf but in both cases i think it did leave her a lil emo bc in the first like...how do you react when someone tries to apologize to you for beating you when the price was your country like its sweet of him but like she doesn't know what to say but it does kinda reinforce what she prev thought abt him that he remembered and tried to do smth. in the second case, i think it really threw her????? bc this was NOT what she expected him to say like at all???? HE's apologizing and SHE's being vaguely predatory and that makes her feel really bad honestly but also??? her dad is dead like???? an apology...is this a mind game maybe???? and she's kinda going back and forth w what just happened there

poor alaric!! tryna help right wrongs by marrying her and giving her a position etc that way!!

farrington being in the ovn makes a ton of sense!! and i do think roderick would ~happily give him some land!!!! the fens are a ~great location in his mind, v strategic, dEF needs some rebuilding since he kinda burnt it all to hell etc alksjdflkjsdfjksdf kate also suggested [ here ] that marian might try to see hanthom turned over to alaric as a wedding present, and i talked a bit (a lot) abt potential reactions and ramifications i foresaw potentially coming rom ~that should things go that way! i def think if alaric was down for either, roderick'd be like FENS ALL THE WAY YOU GET THE FENS bc i do think he foresees trouble taking lands from one allied magnate to give to another adklsjfksdjf

but anyway i do know eabha would be ~overjoyed to stay in astaira!!!!! and also get straight to work rebuilding there!!

yessssssss honestly sooooo many potential issues to navigate here ngl!!!!!! i ~do think eabha is of the mindset that, yknow, the conquest has taken place, astaira has fallen! the varmonts aren't going ~anywhere, so she's just tryna do her best to ensure that astaira retains as much of its rights ~w/in the varmont empire as it possibly can, and i think marrying alaric potentially is a goal she sees as integral ~to that!! buT i think as a result she's also firmly team guinevere bc that at least safeguards ~some women's rights at least!! but even ~that loyalty is??? bc there's also the whole will they wont they w eilia and then she'd have to choice her friend or her principals yknow? but either way she's not team arthur alsdjfasjdkf i don't think she's saying ~any of that and more or less just repeating the roderick likne that women dont have political opinions anymore if pressed

his support of her family/hanthom/calleary would def mean a lot!! but honestly she's not sure she can ~entirely do the same for him since his family is ~roderick, and she just cant get on board w that, tho she def would support his loyalty to ~his ppl and their needs etc!! and yeah her loyalty to astaira def trumps loyalty to farrington/ovn even if they do marry and yeah!! i def feel like there're soooo many potential issues ahead of them here if things move forward that way alsjdkfkjsdf but honestly i don't think eabha, anyway, is going in completely blind to that? in case 1, even, but esp in case 2, i think she's well aware they have opposing priorities in a lot of things!

but yes!! either way she is looking to hopefully move forward w courtship, and i do feel like this recent matter of her favor was perhaps the most ~concrete move forward on that venture, so far, at least on her part, since she offered hers to him rather than him asking for hers, yknow?

3/25 EDIT

me: *literally 5 days before it has been 1 year* I'm ready!!! *facepalm*

anyway! okay, so I love all of this and I'm not sure which option would be better??!? Also, thinking more about Alaric I can see where he would WANT to tell her these things aka that he's sorry about how things turned out / actually have a heart-to-heart w/ her, but my boy isn't always the best with words, especially with people he doesn't know super well, so I can see where he WANTED to, but hasn't .... and also where he THINKS he got the point across, but absolutely did not!!!

And, I can also see, especially since they knew each other beforehand, that maybe he WAS actually competent in talking to her ...

I can also see where maybe he starts to court her and she feels like she's just using him and it's not THAT bad b/c he's an asshole like his brother, and THEN he actually gets around to having this conversation and then she starts to feel bad that she's been using him, only to find out that he's a halfway decent guy, and THEN feel like it's either too late to back out or feel like she has to continue for the sake of her family, but it isn't as easy as it once was, since he's proving to be a better person than she thought???

They'd been boys together. And, somehow as Alaric marched out of his military tend after the second to last day of the games, it was the child Godfrey saw briefly in his face, again.

Alaric had been a mere five years of age, and Godfrey a wizened seven, when they'd first met all those years ago. After the amicable surrender of Kolchis, and the grand welcome the people who had overthrown the god-king had given the emperor -- Amira, herself, presenting the dead monarch's severed head to Roderick on one of the god-king's own silver platters -- Roderick had seen fit to bring the Calainons to his court. Amira -- though she claimed to be four years older -- was a mere thirteen years of age at the time, Godfrey seven, and little Tristan only two. Godfrey's sister had made a fine show of toting around her baby brother with one arm, her other hand clutching Godfrey's: last vestiges of an ancient, storied royal House, and full of healthy sons to contrast Roderick's own childlessness. All he had to show for his marriage was a buried child. The first expression Godfrey had ever seen on Empress Elaine's face had been a false smile; the second -- a scowl. Amira had been beaming, and Roderick...Roderick hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her. Godfrey's own glance had shifted to the others at the table.

He could still remember the first moment he'd clapped eyes on Alaric, close at the Emperor's side. How big his eyes had appeared in his face at that age, wide and watchful, and Godfrey had smiled. He'd broken free of Amira's hold, and hurried up to the child, remembering to bow, before telling him that he thought they had very serious business, indeed, to conduct: Alaric simply had to show him all the very best spots to play hide and seek. It had been a bit of a game-within-a-game. Amira had made it clear that she expected her brother to befriend Roderick's, but it hadn't proven a difficult or odious task -- it had, in fact, proven great fun, and within only a few minutes he'd forgotten that he'd first approached him out of a sense of duty moreso than one of entertainment.

Yet, it had proven the trajectory of their entire lives, really, that strange conflict of duty and affection. And, upon the morrow, such was to be made manifest by the games, themselves. They'd drawn their names some time ago, and Godfrey and Alaric were to go toe-to-toe. That Roderick would undoubtedly prevail -- Godfrey, for one, did not mean to beat him even if he could -- in the group melee was a matter beyond question, but the conflict between Alaric's team and Godfrey's would doubtless prove real enough, and each of the two men had been named captain of his own group.

"Lords Stafford and Malconaire," began Godfrey, grinning, as he clapped Alaric on the back. "And who can say what your mystery knight might offer with all those antlers...I do not envy your task upon the morrow."

Godfrey's own Astairan contingent was not much more promising (and perhaps, in truth, worse), featuring the smallest, skinniest boy he had ever seen outside of starving beggars, his apparently invulnerable horse (that was something, at least, if a touch unnerving in its own way), and a man who looked like he had possibly never bathed but who did, decidedly, give his all, having once bitten Arthur to get the upperhand, on a previous day. Still, to even out his odds, Godfrey could boast Tristan and Sebastian, both young and redoubtable knights in their own right. Alaric, on the other hand, filled out his ranks with Bartholomew who, though undeniably a doughty warrior in his day, was also the oldest man to have entered in the tournament that year.

"Still, to an accomplished general such as yourself, doubtless these obstacles will prove as nothing." He winked, with an encouraging grin, hoping to wring the hint of a smile from his ever-serious friend. Such expressions he always viewed as little triumphs, greatly to be prized -- more so than any trophy he might garner tomorrow...particularly given that such might prove to complicate matters regarding a certain act of thievery tomorrow.

He paused, mischief glittering in his eyes. "Do you imagine a single night will prove sufficient to teach my Astairans to speardance?"

Kolchis was known for its so-called Speardancers, legions trained with specialized weapons made from a particular wood that grew only in Kolchis, which enabled their spears to be used as such, as well as enabling them to be used as quarterstaffs and javelins and everything of the kind, when needed -- even famously utilized for pole vaulting in a particular battle, a century ago. It was said that the method of fighting looked much like a dance, when performed skillfully (and thus swiftly and flexibly), with fighters whirling and bounding, which was the origin of the name. It was a weapon, and a method of fighting, that had once led the god-kings' legions to conquering near as much as Roderick now had, centuries later, and it was a martial art known to take a lifetime to achieve. Godfrey was an accomplished Speardancer, and Tristan could creditably perform the basics (though he had chosen, largely, to focus his training more in standard Varmont knightly practices), but they were alone on their team proficient in this art.

He glanced toward the practice field where the last of the torchlight flickered over abandoned lances and churned mud. “My uncle may once have been a terror on the field,” Alaric went on, “but these days he is far more dangerous in negotiations than on the battlefield. As for Lord Stafford and Lord Malconaire…” He lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Let us say they have not distinguished themselves. It is a grim state of affairs when a lone mystery knight with antlers may be my greatest hope for success.”

A ghost of amusement tugged at his mouth. “I'm sorry, my friend, I doubt one night will suffice to turn any of them into speardancers. Whatever skills your brother already possess shall be the most you can hope for." He had seen Godfrey fight many times and he knew that his particular skills required both agility and speed. Alaric knew that, he himself, could never hope to master it. “You are lucky to have your brother on your team. You and he will make a formidable pairing. I have seen you work together since we were boys. You move like men who already know the other’s mind.”

He folded his arms loosely, thoughtful now. “That Rith fellow… there is something in him. Hunger. Men like that do not break easily. He will be an advantage for you. And Sebastian --” Alaric paused, choosing his words with more care. “He is no warrior. Certainly not like his elder brother, but he is steady. Reliable. I would trust him to help hold a line. In truth, I would sooner take him at my side than Cassimir Malconaire.” The Lord of Malconaire had not impressed Alaric as he tried to demonstrated his skills upon the field.

Godfrey’s mention of the horse drew a nod from him. “On that point, we are in complete agreement. The beast has more sense than half the men in this tournament. During the horseback melee it was plainly the animal, and not the rider, who carried them forward. If it could grip a spear, I might consider offering it a command.”

"I know that, of course, His Lordship of Malconaire," Cormac continued, (not yet having paused long enough for Alaric to get much of a word in edgewise,) half-intoning as he mentioned Cassimir. "Must be correct, but...the Lady Brigit," he added, lowering his voice. "Not to do either the lady nor her most esteemed House and brother any injury, but she is a most...willful person."

Here, he at last paused in his long tirade of information, his gaze sliding towards Alaric meaningfully as his teeth set, ivory upon ivory, in a kind of fearful grimace. "A most fitting feature in a man, of course," he then added, quickly, clearing his throat slightly. "But more...off-putting in a woman, I think."

The look Cormac gave was conspiratorial, eyes glittering as if to say We gentlemen understand this, of course, before he rocked forward slightly on his toes, and back again, a terse shake of the head serving as punctuation.

"What would you do, Highness," he added -- taking a slightly more intimate approach to Alaric's title, something he thought himself due as an imaginary relative. "Were you in such a position as I? Naturally, as you can no doubt imagine, I wish to begrudge our dear Lord of Malconaire nothing! But the situation is clearly perplexing. You know well the sort of woman I have always pictured for my bride," he added, having shared, without need of invitation, such information in the past. "A woman who is warm and soft and inviting, but the lady is little of the kind, I fear. She's--" Terrifying, he thought. "Wilful," he said.

His brother had invited the extended Varmont family for a private dinner, and this now included the Callearies. Alaric was quiet and reserved enough, even when he was around those with whom he was familiar, but tonight -- with the added guests -- he found himself even more prone to withdrawing.

He had been seated next to Lord Cormac Calleary at dinner and it was then that Alaric found himself in the middle of a conversation with hime before he even knew when it had begun. In fact, at first, he was convinced that he was speaking to someone else -- for he quickly launched into his woes over who he should marry, as though he and Alaric had not only just been acquainted, but were old friends.

But then he noted Cormac's eager expression as he waited for an answer and Alaric found that he was expecting him to respond. A wiser man would have left Alaric alone, having witnessed the serious expression upon his face, but Cormac Calleary was not a wise man.

Alaric had no patience for any of this and nearly said as much -- and likely would have -- if he had not recently settled upon Lady Eabha Calleary as a potential wife for himself. While he did not foresee any him ever becoming friends with Cormac Calleary, there might be one day when he would call him his brother, and it was that thought that reminded Alaric to be civil.

Still, he could not manage to hide the frustration in his voice. "Why is it you feel you must concede to Lord Malconaire's choice of a wife for you? Are you not a lord in your own right, Lord Calleary?" A pause, "And if it is that you wish to align yourself with House Malconaire, does not Lord Malconaire have five sisters from which to chose? Why must it be Lady Brigit, if she ... offends you?"

Puffing out his chest with a feeling of renewed importance, Cormac assumed what he imagined to be a noble mien, but more closely resembled someone squinting towards the ceiling (a not unusual expression for him). Cormac smiled at his would-be uncle. "Of course I'm a lord, you silly goose!" he laughed warmly. "Who else would rule Hanthom? Eabha?!" Throwing his head back, Cormac rorared laughter...having forgotten for the time being that, in fact, the person who was ruling Hanthom was neither himself nor his sister but, actually, Alaric's dear friend and brother-in-law.

Recovering from the hilarity of the suggestion of a certainty with which he'd grown up, Cormac wiped at his eyes. "You do amuse me, but I see the affectionate aim which guides your thoughts, and it does us both credit. Still, I do not think it would do to forego Lord Malconaire's wishes entirely. Who could prove wiser than he? Why, in truth, I cannot think of a soul! He's never yet erred in anything of which I am aware, and his friendship is so very dear to me -- as mine is, I know, to him. No, I could not do our friendship the discredit of ignoring his words! I just wish he supported Aoife for my bride. Its difficult, isn't it, to...disagree with friends? But he seems nearly loathe to part with her. And I can understand why: she is such a comfort to his lady mother, you know. But both Lady Brigit and Lady Roisin are such...raucous creatures. I daresay either would happily fill my chamber with swans if my sister were to tell them of it -- Swans!" he exclaimed, shuddering, their thunderous shrieks hissing loud in his head.

"Offends!" he cried, noting with approbation how, no sooner had he spoken the word, than Alaric glanced towards Eabha. She, too, offended Cormac as well. But Brigit? "Why, no, not...offends, she's not one of my dreadful sisters, thank the god! No, she...she...I do not think His Imperial Majesty would approve of such a personage for the bride of one so closely connected with himself, however," he added, quickly, not wishing to relate that he was, in fact, quite afraid of the woman. It seemed to him a good reason to dismiss a woman.

"The ladies of Malconaire are truly each execellent examples of their sex," he said, truthfully. "But Lady Aoife is, next to her elder sister, the best of them. And I know she feels about me as I do about her -- though, in truth...they all do. They each simply express their emotions in different ways, you see. When we were children, there was talk of a Calleary and Malconaire marriage, you see, and I remember marking to Lady Brigit that I did not think it likely I would be set to wed her. She then told me that she did not think she would ever marry, just two years later! Only two years!"

The conversations had been unrelated...and just how far Brigit had been joking was not best judged by Cormac, but this was not the case in Cormac's head, who had connected the two incidents in his mind as a serious declaration that, should she prove unable to have Cormac, she would have no one.

"In truth, my initial preference was for the Lady Sonya, yet her mother has hinted that, well," he tapped his nose, looking knowingly towards Roderick, who stood grouped with his three heirs. "Her future lies in another direction. Which was just as well, for the Lady Eithne is widely regarded as the most beautiful woman in all Astaira -- doubtlessly excepting the ladies of your own family, of course --" he added quickly, more out of a feeling of precaution than any genuine feeling. He wasn't sure where general opinion lay in any of that but, though he'd largely tuned out most of Eabha's lecturing during the ride over, he had absorbed her continuous stress upon being charitable towards the Varmonts or...something. "But she has found boundless joy in--" his eyes widened as he realized he'd been about to blithely unload the greatest secret of his life without even realizing it. "Choosing not to marry me," he added, hastily.

"So I imagined Aoife, as the third, would be my bride, do you see? It was my foolishness to make such assumptions, I suppose. Perhaps I ought to have the girls decide? Sit the three of them down and calmly explain that I shall wed wihchever of the three of them they choose? But I do so fear they should risk sisterly love in such competition, for I know it would be fierce in the extreme, given the tender feelings they each nurture for me. And I might add up with one of those swan maidens," he said, eyes growing large at the thought. "They're half Lorcan, you know. Doubtless they'd have even less trouble bringing swans into the house than my horrible sister has!"

“You will forgive me, Lord Calleary,” he said at last, voice level but edged, “but there has not been much said in your friend, Lord Malconaire’s credit.” He took a slow breath through his nose, as if to keep his temper from rising. “It is said he was absent from the Battle of Malconaire -- preferring to hide behind his mother’s skirts -- and it is plain to anyone with eyes that the estate has done little prospering since.” His gaze sharpened. “I can think of many words for Cassimir of Malconaire. Wise is not among them. If you are determined to keep friends, I advise you to seek them out elsewhere.”

He set his glass down with care, the small clink louder than it ought to have been. “And as for the Malconaire ladies… I have observed them,” Alaric went on, “And as each of them has her share of sense, whatever you have managed to convince yourself of regarding their affections cannot be true.” His expression tightened, irritation bleeding through his restraint. “They are not the sort of sisters who would destroy one another for the privilege of marrying a man who mistakes any scrap of attention for devotion.”

Cormac’s continued insistence upon Aoife made something in Alaric’s posture go subtly rigid. He had seen enough to suspect that Sebastian had feelings for her and while he knew nothing could come of it, he would not allow her future to be to wed Cormac Calleary. “I feel you are especially mistaken where Lady Aoife’s affections are concerned,” he warned, and the tone came out more threatening than he’d meant it to. He corrected, slightly, but not enough to soften it. “And I believe it is in the best interest of all parties involved that you seek a bride outside of Malconaire.”

He lifted his drink again, taking a measured sip as though it might wash the absurdity from the air. “In truth,” he added, quieter now, “severing your romantic ambitions from that family would be a mercy. For them. For you. For anyone forced to listen to it.”

His eyes narrowed faintly as Cormac’s thoughts leapt toward offering up Aine like a token to be traded. “No. You will not speak of passing Lady Aine to me.” Alaric’s refusal was clean and immediate. “She is all you say she is, but she is married still, in everyone’s eyes… including her own.”

The riots had ended hours ago, but there would be restricted comings and goings from the palace until Roderick deemed it safe.

Alaric had seen the angry mobs -- had witnessed the fury with which they threw themselves upon the gates. There was such desperation: they all likely knew they were going to their deaths that day and hardly cared as long as they had a single chance to bring Roderick Varmont to his knees.

Alaric might have been more sympathetic to their cause if his thoughts had not been so wholely occupied in making certain the the occupants of the castle remained unharmed. They were his family and he would lay down his life for them, just as quickly as the Astairans meant to lay down their lives for their queen and country.

For the night, the Imperial Family had been moved to a more secure part of the palace which was still rather luxurious, but certainly not as spacious or extensive as their normal quarters. Alaric, himself, had been helping to man the posts as they increased the amount of guards stationed at every door.

When he found he could spare a moment, he made his way to the part of the castle where Marian and her children's temporary quarters were. He had not seen her since the riots started and he wondered how much, if anything, she had heard.

"Are you alright?" He asked, when he was admitted.

Marian, for her part, was happy that her sons had not been down in the fray with the other soldiers, despite the fact Arthur had seemed adamant that he should be with the other men. Princes didn't fight in battles against unruly townspeople, Marian had told him, though that hadn't seem to be enough to change his mind.

Where both Arthur and Sebastian were now, Mairan couldn't say. She knew Cassandra was shut up in her room, pouting about their confinement-- that was enough to put her mind at ease. Sitting in front of the fire, Marian glanced up from her book when Alaric was announced.

"Oh, I'm fine of course," Marian smiled at Alaric, holding out her hand to him as he crossed the room to where she sat. She took his hand in her own, giving it an affectionate squeeze before gesturing for him to sit in the chair opposite her's.

"I should be asking how you are... out there amongst all of that, all of those people. There should be no reason you need to be sent out for that. Such a fuss and for... what?" she huffed, before turning to the servant lingering near the door.

"Have tea brought up for myself and the Duke. Are you hungry?" she turned of Alaric to ask the question, but gave him no time to answer.

"And some supper for the Duke as well. He has been working so diligently to keep us all safe and well," she added to the servant, who bowed and exited the room.

And Alaric believed that to be true. While, perhaps, Roderick did not love his wives -- or even his children -- in the traditional sense, Alaric knew that he did care for them, in his way, and he would not permit any harm to befall any of them. Besides, an attack upon any one of them was an attack upon the crown. And that would never stand.

"And I can glad to do what I can to ensure my brother and his family sleep soundly," He added, taking a seat by the fire. "Even if my niece feels we are being unfair." Alaric couldn't help but smile. Had Cassandra been anyone else, Alaric would likely not have any patience for her but, as it was, he was to be held partially responsible for both her being both spoiled and naive.

Given the state of the world, just now, he wouldn't lift a finger to change that either.

"I am sorry she is upset but ... it is for her own good. Unfortunately, I don't think that the restrictions on travel will lift soon enough for her liking."

Although it was likely a few more days, at least, he doubted Cassandra would be satisfied unless someone told it is should be lifted that very moment.

"Thank you," He replied, attempting not to show just how weary he felt once he was off his feet. He was hungry -- ravenous, actually -- now that the promise of food had been made.

Marian herself would be as inconsolable as if something were to befall him-- Alaric was a grown man now, of course, but she often remembered the young boy standing next to her husband when she and her father came to the castle in the days leading up to her wedding.

"Cassandra will be fine," Marian smiled at the thought of her daughter. "I'm sure even now she's daydreaming of some scenario where a dashing young man scales the side of the castle to visit her during her confinement."

No young man would ever make it that close to her daughter's room, lockdown or not, but there was nothing wrong with letting her daughter get lost in her romantic daydreams.

"I'm not sure exact why Arthur would be avoiding me, but he has seemed rather out of sorts since Guinevere's ball-- do you not agree? It seemed, when I saw him there, he was having quite a pleasant time. I will not ask you if he has divulged anything to you, of course, but I do hope everything is alright..."

"Speaking of Guin's ball... You also seemed to be enjoying yourself, from what I saw. Who was that young lady I saw you with?" Marian grinned at her brother in law.

Marian had been hoping for years now that Alaric might find a woman Roderick would consider an appropriate bride for his younger brother. She thought it might do Alaric good to have a wife, to start a family. Marian herself, somewhat selfishly, thought it would be nice to have another woman about the castle. Amira was not one she found herself eager to seek out as a companion.

There was a small knock on the door and the servant returned with the tea, Marian waving them away to head back to the kitchens and await the Duke's food, setting about pouring tea for the pair herself.

Alaric had heard of Eithne Malconaire's engagement - although not from Arthur directly. He kept his ear to the ground surrounding the Malconaires since it seemed all of his nieces and nephews seemed drawn to both the place and those who lived there. He knew that Arthur had developed a friendship (and perhaps more?) with the lady of Malconaire. He suspected that this had been the cause of Arthur's shift in behavior, but he had no wish to divulge anything he had been told in confidence to his mother.

"I shouldn't worry over Arthur, either," He began, "He does not tell me everything either, although I suspect he may have had his heart broken. However, given the .... circumstances, I think it is ultimately for the best. Arthur needs to marry well: a princess in her own right if it can be arranged ... " With his brother conquering, murdering, and bastardizing princesses as he went, this was becoming a rarity in itself. "... but certainly a woman of great wealth and political influence."

Eithne Malconaire, as lovely as she was, was neither of those things.

While Alaric was not one to divulge any private information about himself to most people, Marian happened to be one of the few exceptions and, as such, he was not opposed to discussing this with her. In fact, he found that he was rather eager to do so: both for her own opinions on the subject and to distract her from the situation with Arthur.

"It was very likely Lady Eabha Calleary," He had spent more time with her than anyone else and it had been very intentional. Alaric noticed the look in Marian's eye as he spoke of Eabha and he knew she was eager to know just how serious he was about her. "I will not be evasive," He promised, "I am thinking of courting her."

Alaric held up a hand, "There is some rather unfortunate business surrounding her father, however." He confessed. "Lord Calleary refused to bend the knee to Roderick and was publicly executed for his defiance." Alaric remembered that day well. He had been there when it had happened.

"Her brother, however, proved to be more reasonable." In this particular instance, he thought, if in no other. "... which, in turn, has returned their family to good standing. But the union may still be something to which Roderick should object, if I decide to move forward."

At the end of the day, they both knew that it was Roderick's choice. Alaric's position as Roderick's brother meant that he could be used to form a powerful alliance, if he so wished. And Alaric knew that an alliance with House Calleary would do little good. Lord Cormac Calleary had already shown how loyal he was to the crown.

"Hmm..." Marian hummed as Alaric explained his suspicions regarding Arthur. "The dark haired Malconaire daughter I saw him dancing with at the ball, I assume?" Marian took a small drink of tea. These ladies at the lord of Malconaire's manor seem to be coming up in conversation quite often lately.

"I have been speaking with your brother of that exact subject," Marian informed Alaric when he spoke of Arthur's marriage. "I do not wish to speak indelicately but I know that there are... activities... young men may partake in, but I do think it would be very good for him to have a wife and, the One God willing, children of his own. I think it will give him... focus. Something to distract him from pretty faces. We both know my eldest son is loyal... noble... he would be exceptionally devoted to a wife."

"I have written to my father about the subject as well as you are right... a princess in her own right would be the ideal bride. But who? And from where?" Marian sighed. "I have asked my father is he thinks there might be any daughters of some of the most prominent lords back home who might be potential brides as well... I can understand the desire to negotiate a marriage for political alliances.... but he is potentially going to be the Emperor one day. A woman who is going to potentially be an Empress, and be able to handle the position well, and be able to care for Arthur's heirs, will be exceptionally difficult to find."

When the subject turned from her own son's potential marriage to Alaric's, Marian found a warm smile growing on her face as her brother in law spoke. Marian had long wished for Alaric to find a wife and it seems that if, at long last, he may be doing just that.

"Lady Eabha Calleary? One of Ciara's cousins?" Marian inquired. That was an interesting thought, indeed! While Alaric was correct that the last Lord Calleary had refused to bend the knee to her husband, that did not necessarily mean his children were as bold and unwise as their father had been.

"It does seem that the new Lord Calleary's allegiance is firmly in our Emperor's court," Marian agreed. Even if he was a bit of a fool, Cormac Calleary did not seem that he would ever take up arms against her husband, as many of these Astairans seemed so ready to do!

"Say no more; I should be most delighted to meet her! As soon as restrictions are lifted, I will send a message to House Lorcan inviting her to tea, here."

Marian would be sure to make it clear in the message that only Eabha was invited to tea, as she did not wish for her brother to come along as well... not if Marian were to converse with Alaric's potential future wife properly.

"Tell me, do you think I should invite Ciara as well? I would hate for the poor girl to feel as if I am interrogating her and make her feel uncomfortable," Marian was not Amira, afterall! "Or should she fare better in a more private meeting-- what is your opinion?"

Marian was delighted at the prospect of Alaric finally finding a wife. For so long he had done so much for the Emperor, she knew having a family would be good for him. He had always been so good with her own children when they were younger, she knew Alaric would be a wonderful father.

He nodded when Marian spoke of the difficulty of finding Arthur’s match. “You are right to be particular,” Alaric said, “A foreign princess would be ideal, in the old way of things… but the world is narrower now than it was. If bloodlines and borders are fewer to bargain with, then character must weigh more.” He looked up, steady. “She must be noble, yes ... but more than that, she must be reliable. A woman he can trust to hold her footing when court shifts under her. A woman who will support him ... a woman he can trust, even if he does not love,” He hesitated, then asked, “Has Arthur said anything at all to you? Any preference? Any suitable lady that ever truly turned his head?"

When Marian agreed to invite Eabha Calleary to tea, there was the smallest change in him; not quite a smile, but something that softened around the eyes. “I would like you to invite her to tea, but I do not want her made uneasy by the attention of it, nor do I wish her to be or suspicious of the reasons behind it. If you extend the invitation to Ciara as well, it will feel natural. Perhaps her sisters, too, if you think it suits. I would rather Eabha not feel singled out.” His voice lowered slightly. “When my intentions become known, I would prefer she discover them from me first.”

"This is just as unpleasant for me as it is for you, isn't it?"

Aria hated the days when she wasn't able to bypass the Varmont guards and wander the grounds of the castle by herself. She wasn't sure what Varmont thought would happen if she went out alone-- was he worried she might scale the castle walls and escape unnoticed? That thought was utterly absurd.

She had stopped, turning around and looking back to look at Alaric who was trailing behind her as she zig zagged around the gardens, hoping he might give up and let her be alone. She knew this way not to be-- especially after the events that had transpired in the city days before.

"You've probably studied for years to be a big, strong knight and here you are, following around a disgraced former princess your brother insists on keeping hostage in her own home."

Aria set her mouth in a firm line, determined not to speak too freely with the brother of the emperor. She realized she'd toed the line at times with a few of the Varmonts but now that Roderick had declared her a bastard (which in turned caused the Astairan faithful to riot), she'd realized she needed to make a better attempt to exercise restraint-- if not for her sake, than for Eilia's.

"I imagine after years of being a celebrated knight, following me about the gardens would seem like a poor use of your skills. Plus," she added, pulling her cloak back up farther on to her shoulders. "It is simply freezing."

"If I lead us back to the warmth of the castle, perhaps you might conveniently allow me to walk alone tomorrow? I find it hard to be alone with my thoughts with you as my shadow," Aria asked as if this was something she might be permitted to bargain about.

The truth was that Alaric had begun to volunteer for this position, himself. Since the ball, he'd witnessed some of the castle guards treating both of the Stafford ladies with a general lack of respect. He knew why his brother had announced to all the world that he suspected them to be baseborn, but he wondered if Roderick had taken into consideration that they might suddenly be treated as such?

Alaric was there today to help keep the others away, but he had no intention of letting Aria Stafford know this.

He replied to her statement about his overqualifications with a grunt.

"I have my orders, my lady," Alaric replied, sternly, "And you know very well that that is a direct violation." But he found himself not saying "no" to it. Part of him was already considering how he might let her go on her walk alone, tomorrow, especially if she insisted on going round and round in circles in the freezing cold. Perhaps if she stayed to the courtyard gardens, where he could observe her from somewhere a bit warmer.

"Insufferable nephew?" Alaric raised an eyebrow. "Which of my nephews has been giving you so so much trouble that you find him insufferable?"

He knew, already, exactly who she meant, but he just wanted to hear her say it. Alaric had always kept an eye out for Arthur and he'd started keeping a second one out for Aria -- and even he could tell that there was something there. It was clear in the way that Arthur spoke of her -- and in the way he didn't.

"You know exactly to which insufferable nephew I'm referring," she replied coolly. For that, she'd make another round about the courtyard before they could head inside.

"And since it is imperative I be escorted everywhere I go, it makes it nearly impossible to evade that insufferable nephew should I wish for a moment's peace outside my own chambers," Aria continued, brow furrowed. One might point out that it was Aria herself who, at times, was seeking out Alaric's eldest nephew but that point Aria would vehemently deny.

"I have a question for you," Aria announced, moving the subject away from insufferable nephews before Alaric asked her something she wished not to answer. "... and perhaps you might be able to find the answer for me should you not know yourself?"

"My mother-- the former Queen," Aria emphasized harshly hoping to make it very clear that any accusations put up against her mother and father were, without a doubt, completely untrue, "was not born in Astaira. She hails from a small country that lies dotted across the coastline in a series of small islands. She loved the sea," Aria smiled as she turned her face to look at the ground in front of her, watching her footsteps pacing over the tracks she'd already made in the snow.

"And she loved my father, so she came here and lived in this castle miles away from the beaches and waves and water. And because my father loved her as well, he had set about having a cottage built by the seaside for her which he presented to her on their first anniversary."

Cottage was, perhaps, not exactly the right term for the home along the sea. It boasted numerous rooms beyond the family apartments and could house an entire staff for attend to the royal family. But things at the seaside house had never been as formal as they had been in the castle.

"We would go there as soon as the season turned warm and stay until the leaves began to change," Aria turned her gaze now to Alaric. From what she knew of the Varmont family history, he most likely did not have warm, happy memories of his mother and father. She could not imagine the Imperial family running barefoot through the sands as she and her sisters had once.

"Which brings me, finally, to my question. Does it still stand?" Aria stopped her meanderings, turning to face Alaric.

Aria, in fact, had not been to the cottage for many years even before the arrival of Varmont on their shores. Their mother had taken her last breath there and since that day there had been no more trips to the cottage by the sea. At one time, Aria and Eilia had thought perhaps Siobhan might have made it there to hide, but it seemed unlikely that she would be able to go about unnoticed in a former royal home.

"I doubt he'd find it agreeable to know that you've found his company so ... disruptive."

Alaric's own thoughts were quickly turned from his nephew and Aria's relationship when she mentioned her mother's seaside residence. As it had been a known royal residence, it was one of the first places Roderick inspected upon taking Astaira for himself. He remembered, clearly, his brother walking through the abandoned home and found it so simplistic to his own tastes he had no interest in making it his own.

It wasn't even grand enough for him to consider gifting it to his wives and daughters as a seaside retreat -- a place for them to go when their female sensibilities overwhelmed them. But he had deemed it unfit even for this particular use and it had been left abandoned ever since.

At the time, Alaric did not pay it any special attention, but as he began to warm to Staffords, he became more interested in its future. He did not know the totality of its significance, but when he had heard that Roderick was considering tearing it all to the ground, he was able to convince his brother to wait until. Roderick had determined that the only true value in the property was the views of the ocean, itself, and that if a grander palace was built upon the spot that it would better suit an Emperor. Alaric countered that it might make a wedding gift to Eilionora and that idea, at least, had halted things for now.

"It stands." Alaric replied.

He'd been transfixed for a moment, listening to her describe it. There was a peacefulness and tranquility about the memories that Alaric felt he couldn't quite reach and he found that he liked to imagine what it must have been liked. "And your sister? She cares for it?" He found himself asking the question before he realized it had been said aloud. He had long suspected as such -- hence the suggestion of the wedding gift -- but he did not for certain.

Even though the question could have been asked for his brother only, Alaric found himself adding, "It is clear to hear you speak of it, what it means to you."

He turned his gaze away from her and considered the falling snow, instead. He had said more than he had meant. "Any reference to your own gods have been removed," That had been the first thing to go. In fact, Roderick's servants had made sure that such things were cleared out before he ever stepped foot inside, "but I imagine that otherwise it remains as it was before -- besides what damage time has withered upon it."

She took a few steps before turning her head towards Alaric so that he might see she was simply teasing him in regards to which nephew she referred to in that moment, a very faint smile on her face.

To be perfectly frank, Aria wasn't sure how she felt about her time spent with Arthur Varmont. Unlike Sebastian, he was actually quite vexing, yet she still found herself not refusing his offers to go wandering the paths through the glasshouse with him.

Aria inwardly felt a sense of relief knowing their mother's house still stood. She worried that Alaric might relay the story of the house she'd so foolishly divulged to him to the emperor and he would see the place razed in retaliation for Eilia's refusal of his marriage proposals.

Even if she knew she'd never see the place again, there was a comfort knowing it was there, knowing the tiled floors that her mother's feet had tread were still there as some testament to her memory.

"Do you know if your brother has any plans for it? I assume he finds the place... lacking," Aria frowned at the thought of Roderick wrapping the place in metal and jewels as he seemed to have done in their castle as a display of their wealth, as if it could be denied by anyone.

"Being so close to Hanthom I wondered if it might not be a summer home for the Queen Amira to visit with her brother. I have heard he and the Lady Ciara are to be the new Lord and Lady Hanthom since the Callearys have..." she paused for a moment. "... relocated."

There weren't many people who could elicit such a reaction from him -- especially when he was on official business -- and he took it away as quickly as it had been given, but it had been there. And he knew that Aria had seen it. He hoped that she did not take this as a sign that she had any sort of sway over him or his decisions in regards to her care. Even if, he found himself admitting to himself, that it might be true. Regardless, he certainly hoped that she did not know it.

"I hope you are not in the habit of making jests at my nephew's expense," He warned, his voice missing any of the same lightness of his smile, "You will do well to remember, my lady, that they are the sons of our Emperor and as such, they deserve your respect."

Alaric knew well enough that Aria was in the habit of making jokes at his nephew's expense -- at least when it came to Arthur -- and he truly meant to do nothing about that, but he felt that some sort of reminder of her place was needed.

"Perhaps," He mused, although he hoped that nothing of the sort would happen to it. He cared little for his brother's second wife and certainly didn't wish her to inhabit the place where the Staffords had once shared so many happy memories.

"I do believe he found it ... lacking, for any sort of Imperial residence, but perhaps he would find it suitable for Queen Amira, should she have the inclination or ... " A pause, "Perhaps he may gift it to your sister, if accepts him."

Alaric did not like to imagine Eilia as Roderick's wife, but he found the alternative even less pleasing -- he did not like to think what Roderick might do if she did refuse him for good. None of the other royals had survived his invasions and while he did know that keeping Eilia alive had helped keep rebellion at bay, Alaric was sure that Roderick would find some way of getting rid of her, if she did not do as he asked.

"What if the jest towards your nephew are done with the utmost respect?" Aria inquired, clasping her hands behind her back as she turned abruptly intending to make her way back inside, finally feeling the cold enough that she was ready to return to the warmth of the castle. "If I were to promise to ad dress him with all of his formal titles, might those be allowed?"

She knew she was toeing the line now so she quickly changed the subject.

"You are quite close with Queen Marian and her children, I gather?" Aria inquired. Two years she'd been observing the Varmonts and found Alaric was most often in their company. She'd begun to gather than there might factions within the family itself, divided between who each member believed should be named Roderick's heir.

"The Queen seems very devoted to her children. It reminds me of my own mother at times."

Aria let out a bit of a laugh when Alaric mentioned Roderick found the seaside cottage lacking. "You needn't mince words now after all the time we have spent together. Perhaps... rustic? Primitive? I should think that might be an appropriate description for my Mother's cottage."

She nearly asked if the Queen Amira might catch ablaze exposed to that much sun along the seaside, but kept her mouth shut. Aria did not think Amira would take a second home where she might be away from the inner workings of the court. Aria could not figure out what Amira's intentions were, but she didn't even need to have the Guardian's whispering in her ear to know whatever it was, it was not good.

"Ah," Aria replied in response to Alaric's comment regarding gifting the house to Eilia as a wedding gift. "A fine present indeed to be gifted a house that was one once previously owned. Why take gold or jewels when that is one the table?"

She knew she perhaps had stepped too far in that moment but couldn't stop herself from her next question.

But they could also be her downfall.

Alaric would mention none of this to anyone, but if she said such things to someone else, she might not be as lucky.

When Aria shifted the conversation, slightly, to Alaric's own relationship with Queen Marian, he was relieved. While it did demand him to say more than he would otherwise, it was far better to discuss his own connections, than to allow to her go on about his nephews. You never did know just who was listening, after all.

He nodded, "Her marriage to my brother made her a sister to me, and I shall always be grateful for that." Alaric spoke as though this meant that he naturally had had such relationships with all of his brother's wives, but he could claim no friendship between himself and Amira and he was still very young when Roderick married his first wife. As a result, he doted more upon Marian's children than the rest, and Arthur had become his favorite of these.

But he would not let on quite this much to her.

"She loves her children more than anything," Alaric assured her. "And she would do anything to protect them. The Queen Marian may seem a far less formidable foe than perhaps Queen Amira, but do not take that for weakness. She does not take kindly to any affront against her own."

He had been trying to be kind in his description of the place they had once so loved, but she had seen through it. Roderick Varmont had no love for the simple Astairan aesthetic that even the royal residences boasted. What's more, he could not understand it. "Yes," He agreed, "The Emperor's tastes seem to be far grander than you and your sister's. Perhaps if you had seen as much of the world and the wonders as he has, you should feel the same." Even as he said it, Alaric did not believe this. He felt that they should appreciate other cultures and ways of life, but however grand and exotic they were, he felt that the Staffords could never love anything more than the Astairan way of life.

And although it was not at all the life he was used it, he could understand this. A part of him even craved it ...

"It is not your sister's any longer," He corrected, "Everything in Astaira belongs now to my brother and it should still be considered a gift, if he should be so kind as to extend it her. She should be grateful that he was so considerate." Alaric did not feel the need to say that it had been his idea, not his brother's, to return it to Eilia as a wedding present if she accepted his hand ...

"That will be for the emperor to decide," Alaric said, gravely. "But know that he does not take well to being refused or rejected. Perhaps he should be merciful and you shall both remain prisoners ... or perhaps it may be a fate even worse." He hoped she remembered the things that his brother had done upon other countries he had claimed as his own. While he might seem cruel, the fact that they were both still alive surprised Alaric. And he did not know how much longer his brother should continue to take "no" for an answer.

"I do promise, Your Grace," Aria paused, meeting his eye. If he wanted formal titles, then so be it! "Despite the revelation of my lowly origins, I was trained in the ways of the court. I shall never mistitle any of the Imperial Princes."

Aria noted that Alaric spoke highly of the Queen Marian.... and not at all of Queen Amira. Though Aria had only asked of Marian, to be fair, she still detected something in the way he spoke of her that confirmed Aria's thoughts that Alaric was particularly close with Marian and her children.

"It is quite clear the Queen Marian is devoted to her children. My mother was the same before her death. I think anyone who underestimates a devoted mother does so at their own peril," Aria replied. She paused for a moment before continuing.

"Does the Queen Marian ever bestow her patronage upon... institutions? Charities?" Aria inquired. That had been a primary part of her mother's life as Queen of Astaira and Aria had always assumed that was a duty for anyone in such a position. Now that it was clear there would be no more secret trips out to the orphanage, she wondered if perhaps she might find someone within the Varmont court to take on the cause... better a Varmont patron than none at all.

As Alaric spoke of his brothers travels and experiences and taste in architecture, it was hard for her not to roll her eyes at it all. "You know it may not look exceptionally grand, things here in Astaira... but the craftsmanship found here is unmatched. The time it takes to lay each stone to keep a building standing for generations, to plaster the walls to perfection.... those things are what we consider grand. But... to each their own, of course, my lord."

Aria stared at Alaric after he spoke about his brother potentially being merciful... or potentially not. Aria was not naive enough to think that Roderick was going to let she and Eilia live an existence like the one they'd been living these past two years without something finally breaking.

Aria had thought about what might happen to she and her sister, had made piece in her own mind that one day Roderick might call for her life to finally end. But she found herself wondering in that moment as she observed the Duke silently, what the reaction might be from other members of the Varmont household. Would they-- or, more specifically, would a certain prince-- mourn her? Or would he find someone else to occupy his time?

While this was true all true, Marian had always been most sympathetic to her homeland, while the newly conquered countries did not receive the same amount of attention. She was, however, very much in tune with the causes that were run by powerful men who would make her children excellent allies and those, too, became her priority. But this Alaric did not say aloud. He could never find fault with Marian for making her own children's futures her priorities, but he feared Aria might and he would not allow an unkind word to be spoken against Marian and would give Aria no more fuel to say anything now, or later, that would paint her in a negative light.

“And you?” he asked, the question coming quieter than the last. “When your family ruled… were there charities or institutions you were patroness over?” Even as he asked, something sank in him -- a dull, unwelcome certainty that whatever Aria named had likely been neglected these last years, starved of funds and attention the way conquered places so often were. His brother was not a man who gave unless there was a reason that pleased him. Alaric hated that this thought came so readily now; hated that Astaira had taught him to think it.

Then Aria spoke of her own execution as if it were a jest, and the air went sharp around them. Alaric did not smile. His gaze fixed somewhere past her shoulder as if he could see, in the stone corridor ahead, the shape of a rope that was not there. In his nightmares it was always there: two women in plain gowns, hands bound, the murmuring of a crowd that did not dare to protest. And in those dreams he stood exactly where he was meant to stand, unmoving, obedient, while something irreversible happened. He wondered, now, he if he would have the strength to fight it: to oppose his brother. And, what's more, if he accepted that Roderick's actions here would be wrong, what other crimes had be blindly committed in his brother's name?

He could not contemplate that here and now, where Aria might begin to read the doubt in his features. Pushing those thoughts from his mind, his voice came out at her a touch too hard when he looked back at her. “No,” he said, “I would have no cause to miss anything, if my brother ordered your death.” The lie did not sit well with him, and he knew it. Worse, he knew she might hear the strain beneath it. Anger flared in him -- not at her, but at himself for being shaken and at the imagined situation for forcing him to imagine choices he had never before been asked to make.

Alaric Varmont had been leading a squadron of men on a search party for the missing prisoners. They had been scouring the countryside for any sign of them and while their searches had been close to the Lorcan lands, as time went they found themselves extended to Malconaire. When the sun had set and the rain started to fall, Alaric Varmont and Rian Stafford called upon the hospitality of House Malconaire to give them food and shelter until the storm passed and they could resume.

Alaric was not blind to the fact that, his nephews absent from the table, that Valentina Malconaire had been much more attentive towards him and did not waste an opportunity to comment upon some quality that her own daughter possessed -- nor that she given Alaric a seat which placed him between mother and daughter.

He was more than willing to enter into a private conversation with Sonya -- to spare them both from her mother's incessant meddling. But when Sonya turned and started a conversation with her step-sister, Lady Eithne, Alaric found that he had no other option that to give Valentina Malconaire his attentions.

But first, his gaze lingered upon Eithne. Alaric knew that his nephew and Lady Eithne Malconaire would never be -- for a multitude of reasons to include both the matter of his rank -- and her lack of it -- and a certain princess who Arthur swore he "never thought of". Still, Alaric felt that not only Lady Eithne's company, but also her situation had been good for Arthur.

He'd seen Arthur, once, amongst the trees at Malconaire and he saw in him something he rarely saw in his nephew ... and that was peace. Malconaire was far away enough from the palace and the court and his father that he could be, if only for a few hours, just Arthur.

And for giving him that, Alaric wished Eithne Malconaire every happiness in her future, even if it would not be with his nephew. He would have hoped something better for her than marrying Cassimir, but he suspected that she had her reasons -- and he hoped that, despite everything, she would be happy.

The only true positive to the entire arrangement, was that it had slashed whatever lofty hopes that Valentina Malconaire had had for her son. Even Alaric had noted how she tried to push him towards his nieces and while Alaric knew that that union, too, would never be, it did satisfy him to know that now Valentina knew it, too.

And while Valentina had started going on again about Sonya, now that her daughter's attentions had been diverted, Alaric's gaze met her own and he interrupted her with --

Alaric spoke, suddenly, a flurry of congratulations. Valentina had been gifted with long, lean brows that arched high even in repose, but now, chin turning upwards and brows arcing, she looked the very picture of absolute derision, fingers curling clawline round her untouched fork lying upon the table. Her gaze shifted quickly to Eithne, next to Cassimir, and she remembered instantly to smile, feigning the impression of a doting mother as her glance fell once upon the Duke of Farrington, were it not for the first flinch and the coldness that never quite left her eyes.

"Oh," she laughed, drumming her index finger once, twice, upon the fork before dropping her hands once again into her lap. "Your Grace is most gracious," another tinkled laugh. "But you have young nephews: you know well the impetuosity of youthful love, I am quite sure. What a whirlwind!" A chuckle intended to be shared by two adults...over two people who were more or less of an age with the younger of the two adults in question.

Appearances were everything, and Valentina would not blacken the good name of her own House by inferring Eithne's nefarious whiles, nor tempt scandal -- or the fallout that may shadow Sonya's prospects -- by hinting at any familial infighting. But her laugh was enough to showcase some degree of embarrassment which even Valentina's fiercest self-control could not entirely stifle.

How could it be otherwise? What mother wished for her son to grow up and marry his sister, even in the best circumstances? But still worse when that daughter -- fed and watered under Valentina's own roof! -- proved a wretched snake, a coiling viperess plunging poison into the very hand that fed her. Valentina's eyes were coals that raked Eithne's face once again, and her smile turned half to sulfur before she looked once again to Alaric, sweetening her looks with a touch of saccharine.

"I don't suppose our poor, sweet Imperial Prince," she meant, of course, Arthur. "Intends to call again any time soon?" That little serpent had poisoned him as well: a last sting to Valentina before plunging the dagger into her chest that was dinting all her most precious hopes for her sweet boy: all she'd ever bent her joys and hopes over.

But Valentina meant to make the most of what was left.

"But it little matters," she said, smiling maternalistically upon the Duke. "For we have the best of everything just here with us, don't we, my darling?"

Valentina paused, hoping Sonya would chime in, but it seemed she had not heard, still ensnared by Eithne's charms like all the rest. Only Valentina could see the scheming girl for what she truly was. Two suitors present, and foolish Sonya wasn't speaking to a single one, too distracted by her own sister! No doubt yet another intended wounded planned by Eithne to slight her stepmother. This was how it was to be, was it? Valentina smiled softly, then, warmed by thoughts of how she might turn the tables.

Privately, Alaric thought Valentina far more unsettled than she wished to appear. Whatever ambitions she had once harbored for her son (imperial or otherwise) had been narrowed suddenly and irrevocably. Cassimir’s engagement was not merely a match; it was a closing door. And Valentina, who had spent her life trying to force doors open, had clearly not taken kindly to their being shut without her consent.

“If it is indeed a private matter still,” Alaric continued, inclining his head with polite deference, “then you have my apologies for speaking too soon. I only wished to extend my congratulations in person.” He smiled faintly, “It is no small thing, to secure the future of one’s house. I am sure, my lady, you are relieved to have no more worries on that score?”

His gaze was on his plate: the comment made as though he expected no controversy from it, but he could feel her tense at the comment, all the same.

Alaric's thoughts returned, unbidden, to Arthur. To the boy he had watched soften beneath Malconaire’s trees, to the peace he had glimpsed there. This engagement would take that away, perhaps permanently. Alaric did not begrudge Eithne her choice. (Indeed, he respected it) but he regretted the necessity of it all the same.

“And as for my nephew,” Alaric added at last, “He will always be where duty next requires him. These are still unsettled times, and my brother has many plans for him. He has less time for himself, now, than he once did.” His eyes met Valentina’s again. Regardless of Arthur's feelings, whatever they may or may not be for Eithne, Alaric knew that Arthur would never do anything to tarnish her reputation. She was engaged, now, and he trusted that Arthur would stay away.

“Still, I am certain Malconaire will remain as lively and welcoming as ever. He is sure to miss it."

He did not know what Valentina meant to do, if anything, about the engagement. He hoped that she would respect her son's choice and with it, the new lady of Malconaire. And even though he knew that Arthur's visits here would not be so frequent as they once had been, he hoped she knew that the Varmonts still would take an interest and would notice if she were to cause trouble for the Malconaires.

as I was saying to kate aa, I do think that Alaric is #teamarthur when it comes to the whole who-shall-succeede-roderick thing! I do think it stems from 1) alaric having always assumed that it would be arthur for many years and 2) ngl he probs thinks the empire would be better in the hands of a man over a woman, if a male heir is available.

Alaric has always been a very firm supporter of his brother and while his faith has been wavering some lately, he's never said anything to anyone about it/nor do I think Guin would guess at it at this point -- so he's probably known her a bit more as the distant/subdued Guin, tbh?

I also think it's kinda of obvious that if Alaric had to choose a branch of the family, it would be Marian's? He was just a kid when Marian married Roderick and she kinda half adopted him/she's basically the closest thing to a mom he's really had! Also, he felt very overlooked growing up, and so he's def become v loyal to her since she never made him feel that way?

That being said, I can also see where he might have made some attempt to build a relationship with Guin because he could see where that might happen to her? Like, there's definitely been a lot of division within the Varmont family, as Amira & Marian fight for control, but unlike both of their branches, Guin doesn't have anyone else in her's? Since her mom is dead/she has no siblings/no aunts or uncles looking out for her, I can see where Alaric would feel a lot of empathy for her situation and would try to be in her corner sometimes? I can also see where he wouldn't have really considered this until she was older though, too, and I can see where it might not have worked out as well as he would have liked? Plus, I can also see where, if he was ever put in a position where he had to choose between her best interest and Arthur's -- he may have chosen Arthur's??? Which probably would have felt like an even bigger betrayal to Guin if he had tried to be there for her, but then wasn't always there to fight for her/made it obvious that Arthur/Arthur's siblings will also come first? IDK what the circumstances would have been surrounding this, but as I think about them more, I can see where they may have a strained relationship && w/ Alaric at a loss at how he can repair it!!

so, i feel like alistair has probs been a presence alaric's whole life? i mean, not necessarily super close but like...that one poor uncle that you see when he's not away at war ig lakjdfjdsf until you yourself grow up and go to war ofc, then you probs see ~lots of him laksdjfkjsdf oops

ok so, ~backstory time!~ (why is this the place for this? kldsfjaklsdf idk but! it is! lkasdjfkljsdf) so flashback to the reign of alaric's grandfather, right? building off alistair's bio, i was thinking that house grey is maybe an all-but extinct house, but like...a reallllly old one which has this huge, storied past and this huge rambling estate but honestly its kinda giving harrenhal bc they are noT as rich and powerful as they once were, although they do still own vast swathes of land in the ovn, but basically they're kinda house/land poor and its a wholeeee thing buT if you happen to be rich, urself, and you can seize that inheritance, well, you can do ~*~quite a lot~*~ w that given its position and the sheer amount of land etc...unfortunately, house grey does noT have any ready cash so they're basically just getting worse and worse off, plus, they're down to precious few heirs and yeah! this is the world into which alistair is born

he's the first son to an only son, and his mom dies two weeks later. his dad tris to remarry multiple times but things just keep falling through, and the house is v sickly and damp bc they really can't afford to keep it up, and eventually his dad ends up falling ill and dying

that leaves this lil seven year old alone in the world w a house that's eating his family alive and precious few hopes. so im thinking that, bartholomew's dad, who im only just now comprehending is the king and not, in fact, the king's brother lakjsdfljksdf but anyway!! ~he's got enough money to really make smth out of all of this if he can just get this kid under his thumb, which he easily does by making him his ward, giving him basically unilateral control over these lands, smth he hopes to maintain by marrying him in future to a younger lady of his clan but, as we know, the closest thing ended up being alaric's half-sister who married to advance a foreign alliance, instead, so basically once alistair hits his majority, house varmont ends up losing control of his lands

this isn't ~necessarily the best thing for alistair tho bc he's now in this same untenable position his dad was in, but he ~does have smth his dad didn't which is royal favor, having grown up in the royal household alongside the much-older guy who is ~now king and bartholomew. i think he cruises around doing his utmost to network etc -- he ~is pr good at strategy so i think he does abt as well in this as he can which is really just -- hitting pause on ~further decline, certainly not making things any better lkajsdfkljdsf that's gonna take a much bigger expedition than he can put into motion w ~his resources. anyway, this is probs roughly the time alaric comes into the world, bc alistair would've been 18/19 when that happened and yeah!!

anyway, he's out there just treading water like that for years until, soon after roderick comes to the throne, war breaks out and bbasically the conquest begins. i think this is part of why he was so gungho there bc honestly this was the opportunity to dig himself out of his ancestor's hole yknow? if he can earn enough winnings (spoiler alert! he will!) he can make things happen and his inheritance can become the advantage it was always supposed to be and not a noose around his neck! so yeah!!

i also think roderick, who as we know is all abt 1) ovn nationalism and 2) important family names was like omg we can reinvigorate our home w big names of the past like grey this is so so so great!! plus obv he knew him personally, knew he'd be good at what he was abt to undertake and yeah!! got on his council and the rest, as they say, is history!!

Okay, so given all of that, I do think that Alaric ~is~ basically extended family to Alaric??? I feel like Alistair was someone else who Alaric looked up to honestly? We also know Alaric has been heavy in drinking the "Roderick is awesome" koolaid and Alistair is yet (another!) example of why Roderick is such a great guy/someone you should totally follow in everything he says!!! Alaric definitely believes in helping to strengthen their nation, too, and it was really a great thing for him to see someone like Alistair rise through the ranks and help to restore his house, all from being promoted by his bro! And Alistair also proving his worth also seems to prove to Alaric that even though Alistair is their friend, that Roderick can also be objective and pick the right guy for the job/Alistair didn't just get this position because of his connections, alone, y'know?

TL;DR Alistair's success story just goes to prove how great of a guy Roderick is! (Also, ngl, Roderick having the unwavering support of so many genuinely good people, also helps hide what a terrible person he is to those around him? I also love that they all have such different reasons for being loyal to him!)

ANYWAY, Alaric would honestly love Alistair! He's someone he can't remember nOT being around and I also feel like he's learned a lot at his side -- especially in terms of warfare and strategy! But I also feel like they are friends? Given their age difference, I feel like it is kind of an uncle/nephew relationship type deal?

These guys definitely know each other, since their siblings are married to each other! Plus Godfrey & Alaric are pretty good friends.

I feel like Alaric & Tristan might be friends? They definitely know each other, given that their siblings are married & Alaric and Godfrey are friends!

I do feel like their relationship might be a little complicated, because Alaric does NOT trust Amira at all and even though he and Godfrey have gotten to be friends, he doesn't fully even trust Godfrey, either. (He knows that there may eventually be a line drawn in the sand and Alaric knows that he and Godfrey will be on different sides of the Edmund vs Arthur war)

But despite his friendship with Tristan's brother, I think that Alaric might actually trust Tristan the most out of the Calainons? He seems more straightforward/honorable/honest/genuine that either of his siblings and from what Alaric has gathered from their past, this makes sense that Tristan was spared a lot of the hardships/trauma the other two went through and he isn't as ~hard~ as either of them. Plus, I do think that Alaric knows that Tristan takes his vow as captain of the kingsguard v seriously!

That being said, Alaric isn't 100% sure where Tristan would land if war ever broke out amongst the family (although he suspects it would be w/ Edmund for obvious reasons). Still, Alaric doesn't think that Tristan would ever be involved in anything underhanded??? Like, Alaric is certain that he will always know exactly where he stands with Tristan, even if they happen to be on opposite sides???

so like!! i can def see him being like DAMN THAT MUCH OLDER DUDE IS SOOOOO COOL (meanwhile that much older dude is probs like 9 or smth -- i haven't looked up the timelines so im not sure exactly on ages but you feel me hahaha -- but anyway ;DDDD) and iirc they would've been brothers-in-law from childhood which i would guess would probs see them behaving effectively like cousins for lack of a better comparison hahaha esp w a mutual nephew coming along when they're 9-15ish (again no math was done for this comment i do apologize hahah its too early in the morning for that aldjsfakljdsf) to really bind them inextricably together as family but ANYWAY!! my point here is that i feel like lil tristan probs thought alaric was the coolest thing since sliced bread and probs tries to follow him around/imitate him/play w him a lot esp bc the closest person to his own age he'd had before was ~godfrey whose even older than alaric yknow? i do feel like, as a result of like...the only ppl around him were sm older, tristan was always a really mature lil kid but yeah!! it was probs just really fun to have another lil guy to run around with!

i also feel like they also had a pr similar upbringing in that it was, in both cases, them w basically just their big brother against the world. in tristan's case, he also had a sister and gm, but they were much less involved yknow? but they also were destitute whereas alaric and roderick were in a palace, so like at once similar but VERY different as well, w the general sense that like...the world is dangerous. tbh idk if that'd necessarily ~endear them to e/o bc instead its this moment of watching before you dare attach urself to someone, but it would at least give a similar pov ig????? or at least one that the other could each recognize and understand

so yeah!!! basically i totally agree!!! and i do think tristan's main thing is that...he thinks its in EVERYONES best interest to try to avoid a war and, while it is def roderick's duty and responsibility, i think he's starting to see that that's never gonna come from him, so i do think tristan's starting to look around at the heirs, themselves, and their factions and be like 'heyy, soo do we think we can find a way to figure this out for ourselves' basically arthur and amira: 'ridiculous' laksdjfkjlsdfjk but anyway i do think tristan is also ~very conflicted abt what he'd do were war to break out bc he's kingsguard and there're three competing kings yknow and his vows say he needs to protect them each but how can he protect them all from e/o? plus then there's his own heart like???? edmund he loves like his own!! but he does ~also care for the others too (tho ngl not nearly as much...sorry, guys! lkjasdklfjjskf) like ideally no one is getting hurt plus, lets say ~that weren't an issue, yknow, what would it do to edmund to kill his own brother like??????? that is objectively horrible!!! tristan wouldn't want his worst enemy to have to go through that, little less someone he loves! and that doesn't even ~touch on the human cost to the ~entire empire~ and thus thousandsa dn thousand of ppl given how a civil war would DECIMATE the common ppl of the realm like...this is a literal DISASTER waiting in the wings...not that tristan knows abt godfrey's apocalypse goals but if he did he'd be like 'why craft a new one? this coming war is sure to prove one in its own wretched way' basically

i do also think that, like...guin seems destined for a jane grey situation, where she's forced by power hungry ppl into basically being their sacrificial lamb on the altar of their own self-aggrandizement, and we've talked a lot abt edmund and arthur's ~whole situation~ and i think tristan sees this all coming for all of them and he's desperately tryna fight a losing battle here to protect them all but no one kingsguard can protect them from a threat this massive and insideous and yeah!!!!! but he's def trying!!!! we can put aside these seeds of discord now!!!! we can create a better world before the worst one ever comes for us!!!!1 (meanwhile ~both his siblings working against him whoops)

i think ive mentioned this before, but i do think tristan was pancake number one for godfrey in terms of crafting his ~perfect prince~ to take power after godfrey destroyed all the evil in the world (in godfrey's head yknow) but i think from the start godfrey was a lil frustrated w how tristan was turning out like...he just doesn't see him as ~that guy~ the one who can make the tough choices to navigate the new world to its ideal position after all that's terrible has been wiped away yknow plus it was always gonna be an insane uphill battle to get tristan to power anyway (but i think godfrey believes it ~has to be someone of calainon blood) but still tristan he felt was his only choice (bc lbr he ~was clear that it was noT gonna be amira hahahaha) but then there was edmund, in both a better position AND of a better disposition to do the job godfrey had ordained for him.

but as a result i feel like godfrey had this super intense connection w and focus on tristan, yknow, he was his whole hope for the future of mankind right??? and then just...zero warning, nothing, he just...drops him like a hot potato, and tristan never knew what he was planning or anything he just knew that he went from having this deep connection and then...nothing at all and like!!!!! that left tristan feeling v lost and adrift so i feel like he went and attached himself to the first thing he could that felt like it meant smth...and that was, unfortunately, roderick and i think that he was still caught up in all those ideals yknow!!! when he swore himself to the kingsguard before he really got a peak under the curtain and saw what roderick ~truly was, esp as roderick has grown worse and worse and worse overtime and yeah!!!!! bc roderick has this machine purpose-built to scoop up lost young men and feed them into his military and yeah!!! the machine clearly works, he's used it to run roughshod over most of the world yknow, and tristan was one of those lost young men who got caught and now he's trapped, i feel like

so yeah!!! i know this does ~not answer your question but that's simply bc tristan does not have an answer for you!! rn he's just tryna forestall a war that he frankly can never stop, but he'll never be able to look edmund in the eye again if he doesn't try his v best for him!!!!! and he truly believes that tryna his best for edmund is tryna stop this from happening!!!

but yesssss!!!! i def think there's respect and, on tristan's side anyway, even admiration here bc i do think tristan can clearly see that alaric is not his brother! (tristan ~does know smth abt ~not being like ur siblings after all hahaha) and i think tristan, further, hopes that he can count on alaric as an ally to try and help him forestall all of this!!! but yeah even tristan does know this fight is largely hopeless, he just can't give up is all!

So Amira and Roderick were married 27 years ago, which means Alaric was 8 and Tristan was only 5, so yeah they were v little!!! And I do feel like, by 8, Alaric was trying to be seen "as an adult" (he wasn't) and was probably a little serious for his age -- but since Tristan was mature for his age and now ~family~ I can see where Alaric would have taken him under his wing a little???

And I'm also crying b/c i feel like Tristan actually helped give Alaric a childhood b/c I can see Alaric "playing ~with Tristan" and doing it "for" Tristan, but it was actually for the both of them and Alaric had more fun than he'd admit.

Also, poor Tristan!!! Having his older brother so invested in him and his future and then ~nothing!!! (Also Tristan was only 9 when Edmund was born, so like idk if Godfrey shifted immediately since Edmund was just in a better position or waited until Edmund got a little older and showed more promise?/ but either way, I feel like Tristan was still pretty young when that happened too!!)

It also makes sense that Tristan would then latch onto Roderick and, especially when they were young men, Alaric had really nothing bad to say about Roderick and probably helped with whatever perceptions Tristan ~did~ have about this being the right thing??

I feel like Alaric also believed Roderick's thing about him basically ~protecting~ and ~looking out~ for people and he did that by conquering their lands so that they could be under his care alsdjflasdfj (but also yeah Tristan and his siblings are all in a much better position for it, so it seems to be tracking as far as Alaric and Tristan can tell, too!)

omg sophisticated 8yo taking artless 5yo under his sage wing!!!! ok but that's so cute honestly <3

LIL TRISTAN!

ok so thinking abt this all a bit more, i also feel like 5yo tristan was a really weird mix of things given his upbringing so far!

he believed in witchcraft, could do a lil palm reading and casting stones etc, he knew a lil abt healing, he could pickpocket and sleight of hand w the best of them and had def fed himself a good bit via these abilities, already (why am i now like "is there an au where adult!tristan in his angry young man(tm) era once pulled the *heath ledger voice* 'do you wanna see a magic trick? im gonna make this pencil disappear' bit lakjflkjdsfkjdsf if he'd grown up entirely in kolchis and remained under godfrey's tutelage" WAY more sarcastic re: delivery etc and not the clown makeup or any of ~that stuff but just yeah pointing at his witchy past w misdirection when ppl try to use it to undercut him etc aljdskflkjsd ANYWAY!!)

but he was ~also already a v advanced reader and had been taught philosophy and kolchean legends and astronomy and history and all that stuff from before he could talk bc godfrey had high hopes for him at first (and still did atp!) so he probs came off, in roderick's eyes, as half-savage, half-sage, and def bizarre given his age ngl, but ~bc of that age, he also probs wrote it off as his unsophisticated kolchean ways which could be polished away, and all largely a joke ngl lakjsfkljdslkjf

RODERICK ON TRISTAN/XENOPHOBIA

bc of this, roderick probs ~did tell alaric that they had to give tristan a good example to help him wash away his barbaric ways etc, but being family was worthy of this saving grace they could provide etc instead of just being instantly despised like roderick'd usually do aldjkflkjdsfkj that being said i don't think he would've expected alaric to hang out w him, unless he wanted to, or anything like that...just to model good, upstanding varmont behavior for him when they ~were together, sort of thing!

i do think tristan caught on pr quick that he was v different from everyone else here and that roderick was def experiencing some xenophobia (not that he knew what ~that was, but just that he saw him as weird/off-putting/even a lil unnerving at times, etc) and, w godfrey's help, tried his best to sort of play along and suppress his ~otherness in order to appear (and ultimately ~become bc again he's so young atp!) more and more varmont over the years, but i def think that was a ~journey over the course of years, helped along by having a varmont education, being surrounded by varmonts, godfrey ultimately dropping him, etc!

TRISTAN & ALARIC GIVING E/O A CHILDHOOD! (and more xenophic fun!)

omg tristan giving alaric a childhood!!!! and honestly vice versa!!! the thing abt tristan is that he really does/did buy into the whole varmont thing bc that mission statement of finding ppl in bad conditions and giving them a chance at a better life???? they actually DID that for him!!!!! for the first time in his life, he was safe (since he's been lovingly microdosed on poison his whole life lkajdfskjasdljfsdf #thankssis kaljsfkljsdf), he wasn't hungry, there was someone there for him to play with, he was probs actually taught things more suitable to his age hahahaha he didn't have to steal and then run from the cops just to eat, he was consistently warm and dry like!!!! and not just that!! he was now living in the grandest palaces in the world, and ultimately even offered the chance to help do for others what had been done for him!!!!!1 like!!!!! this is wonderful!!!!!

and sure he's probs mistrusted etc to this day by lotsa varmont troops bc his sister and grandmother are both reputed to be witches, and im sure he has to deal w that on the daily, but ~that prejudice is a lot easier than some of the other stuff he's had to deal w, and most won't dare say it outright since roderick'd have their tongues for it given that's his son's and wife's ancestors etc they're impugning!!!! and therefore a reflection upon the crown, and roderick, himself!!!! but im sure there's still hella passive-aggressive stuff he's gotta shrug off etc.

but anyway!!!! my point is that tristan has spent most of his life genuinely hugely grateful to the varmonts!!!1 and legit believing they're the good guys!!!! the only problem is that most of the ppl roderick conquereed don't end up becoming the 5yo sibling to one of his queens, and even if they do, they weren't generally plucked from the slums to do it, and just...generally are NOT having a great time of it!!!! his experience is more the exception than the rule he truly believed it to be for so long (smth he only started to learn too late)!!!

DEVELOPING FRIENDSHIP

ANYWAY ANYWAY my point is that, if you still think, given all that, that alaric would still take tristan under his wing, i knowwwww he was sooo grateful for it!!!!! and honestly thought alaric was all that and a bag of chips!!! even just going into it, little less after he got to know him and discovered he's ~also a genuinely good person too!!!! and actually has a weird amount in common w him -- coming from a family, to borrow a phrase, burdened w glorious purpose, raised by a much older sibling w greater powers at their throat till the conquests/roderick's reign began! and esp if alaric was ~also reinforcing this tristan was like 'its so cool that i get to know this guy! w o w!! i bet other ppl would envy us getting to interact w the actual emperor!' lakjdsfklsjdf other ppl: 'yes but only bc direct contact makes assassination easier to pull off!'

TRISTAN EDMUND IS THE ONE

so re: tristan vs edmund! i feel like it was a gradual thing at first, bc i think the instant amira was pregnant he was like '...wait' hahaha so i do think he was a big more distracted from that time on, but yeah once edmund got a lil older and was showing actual aptitude he was just like 'lol byeee!' to tristan but i do feel like this was still when edmund was super young like...basically i think it was his personality really showing itself that did it for godfrey so that's when edmund's what? like...3-6 basically???

certainly by the time edmund was 7, godfrey was done cold turkey w tristan as his ~chosen one~ which actually does make tristan a lil ~older than i was og ~thinking now that im doing the actual math hahaha but still works! and possibly even better, bc 12-16 isn't a great time to be abandoned, either! but it ~is a great time to hurl yourself into roderick's varmont youth program (SCREAM) when you find you don't have a purpose in life suddenly! alkjdfjsflkasfj sooo yeah! but yeah i do think it was pr abrupt once godfrey made the decision ngl!

VARMONT CIVIL WAR

i think it'll be really interesting for these two, too, if/when alaric and tristan end up on opp sides!!! esp bc, outside of eoin ofc <3 i think if you asked tristan abt his bffs, if we do go w this backstory, i think its super likely that alaric is right in there w him as bestie material in tristan's eyes!! and like he would, i think, take that all a lil harder bc like...edmund is just as much alaric's nephew as arthur is! (more so...as it turns out ;DDDD no but obv no one knows that! hahaha) but i do think he'll get that its more abt marian and the bond he has w him and arthur and arthur being an older son etc!! and tristan, himself, struggled to take a side bc he didn't want this to happen, but still! he loves his nephew and, for all their many flaws, he loves his siblings too, and yeah!

esp bc, while godfrey has hanthom and that's def a v lucrative/seaworthy hahaha feif, ive no doubt that roderick has alaric set up w theeeee biggest duchy, as his own brother, that isn't going directly to one of roderick's kids, so alaric throwing in somewhere is def gonna be a blow to the other factions!

lbr alaric has a better chance to persuading roderick to choose an heir than anyone else in the world...but sadly it still won't happen tbqh lakjdsfkljdsjf

RODERICK'S PRIORITIES

in fact, @forgottenroderick @forgottenmarian ive been meaning to put this down somewhere but like...its coming up organically here, so here it shall be! (but don't worry i plan to copy & paste this and make a new thing on roderick's site, so we can really dig into all this if we like!)

ok so roderick is def gonna make sure that ~roderick has the best of everything like!!!! this is def a given lakjdsfkljdf but he also knows that rewarding his most faithful servants is a good idea, so that's def a thing, but he ~also knows he doesn't ever wanna invite anyone getting too big for their britches and tryna grab smth out from under him/his fam, and (atm anyway!) even ~he knows he can't hold the whole world by himself wo v powerful allies to back him up. he also believes that family is the thing he can trust most, w those related most closely being worthy of more trust than those ~less related etc!

this must also be balanced w due respect etc towards the crown and such!!

so! when roderick's handing out goodies to the playable characters, what's the priority? ive got some kinda ~tiers, and within these tiers, he tries to keep things pr even, but in a longterm kind of scale/w a sense of ~earning things getting you more etc. so, if you really exert yourself for roderick you'll get rewarded for it!

for example: uncles of heirs is a tier and, if godfrey really acquits himself well and gets smth big out of it, roderick will then put an uncle of arthur's or guin's in a position where he can really acquit himself and thus potentially earn as much as godfrey did! if he doesn't, that's on him, bc roderick gave him equal opportunity! that kind of thing ;D

RODERICK'S TIERS

empress -- now...the empress is dead! buT she just can't stop winning! and dead or alive, she's still the richest woman in the varmont empire! one of the big things roderick likes to do, right, is play his wives off against e/o by making ~them compete to be his next empress like he does w his heir, its unlikely this award will ever be given, but he's ensured this pot is pr large so the prize is def worth having! and boy is it! the empress, alone, is free to rule over her own holdings like any male lord might! i know, jaw-dropper! now, atm, these holdings are in trust and probs stewarded by either alaric or bart (or perhaps even working together bc it is...a lot and they're both busy, as is!), w that regent splitting the revenues w roderick and w guin, as heirs to the late empress, but all to be reworked, should a new empress ever be named. the empress, as part of roderick's winnings, is always awarded a new holding in every single nation. roderick feels it would be a slight against his own glory, were his empress not to be the second most powerful person in the world and the .richest woman alive!....and she is! well, rich..not...alive... ;D anyway ngl this is also a way of helping assuage his guilt over her death, so that's fun too!

alaric -- sorry to roderick's many (living) wives and children, alaric's in a league of his own!! he's the man who has believed in roderick longest, had his back throughout it all, his most trusted compatriot and warrior and bff! after roderick himself, alaric gets the best of everything! roderick knows alaric can and will hold it, and enrich himself and the empire w whatever he gets bc he's proved it! AND he knows that alaric will do all that w roderick's best interests at heart, too! alaric, alone, out of all the tiers can count on getting a new holding in every single country, regardless of how he acquits himself atp! his loyalty is proven!

ot3: succession -- those heirs out here to scooooore!!! they're gonna get the next best stuff!!!! this is their training-to-rule opportunity, really, so use it wisely bc duly pleasing roderick is as close to that as youre ever gonna get!! nd roderick really ~does actually want them to have a holding in every single country but they're now at the age where they have to earn it!! he will be embarrassed if they fail to do this and they will have to suffer the consequences! now, the boys are most likely gonna earn this through conquest: guin will have to do it by negotiating extraordinary trade deals and diplomatic affairs and strategic marriages and such, both within the empire and outside of it. t he boys can do this as well but they MUST do the other as well and guin CANNOT.

queens: that's right, ladies! sleeping w roderick has its privileges, and you get to hold land in ur own name! obv you don't get to do much ~w that or abt it w/o permissions etc, but you get the revenues from it and that prestige too! also a lot of their households will probs be ppl'd by ppl from their various holdings (aka implied allies) etc!! and they can do more or less as they like, so long as they meet w their council of (male!) advisors before doing anything too big, the heads of which are their respective firstborn sons. alaric, bart, and eoin, and any other extraneous male varmont relations there may be also sit each council, and the respective queen's own male relatives may do as well, (as appointed by the presiding son in question,) all presided over by edmund or arthur, respectively, which is honestly probs another big opportunity for them each to learn abt such things so that's smth! in marian's case, sebastian would also be part of this council. before edmund and arthur were born, arthur or bart or perhaps even roderick, himself, was probs the presiding member.

sebastian: same as ot3: scs, but w less pressure and less opulent potential winnings, bc roderick doesn't mind as much if he doesn't have a holding in every country, etc! he also doesn't have access to affairs ~outside the empire, but may negotiate to his heart's content ~within it as long as he doesn't in any way embarrass roderick ofc!

cassandra: so this one's a lil uhhh weird...she can't do anything to earn anything except by pleasaing/displeasing her father or her mother or full bros doing the same! she also doesn't even get to attend the sessions where her lands etc are dealt with! the deal here is basically that these holdings are effectively her dowry. whoever marries her automatically becomes one of THE most powerful men in the world, becoming archduke and count and lord and everything else w a holding in each of roderick's many domains bc, after guin and roderick's wives, cassandra is the wealthiest and most powerful. (powerless) woman in the world via everything she's got. now, its not nearly as nice as what sebastian's got, bc roderick is here to make sure that his own blood is still more powerful than whoever just ~marries in~ etc, but!!! this is an insane level of wealth and power notwithstanding!!! rn, tho, this one's largely seen to by arthur w sebastian's help, since they both got a lot of holdings of their own to attend to. (also arthur defff checks in w his mom abt what she wants done here but that's just out of love/respect and isn't official bc marian is, ofc, a woman alksdjfkljdsf ironically tho i doubt it occurs to him much to check in w cassandra re: what ~she might want even tho these are literally ~her holdings lakjsdfkljsdf)

the church: yeah his one god getting a temple in every single land! and its gonna be bigg and granddd and flashyyyy, and this guy don't have to earn it! its not on the ~choicest pc of land but its still rad af and lotsa ppl would kill for it but they won't get the chance! the god gets his piece no matter what <3 i would guess that royce is running these, largely, but this lowkey falls under the jurisdiction of the entire privy council to deal w should anything come up and roderick is actively involved w designing each temple etc too

so the immediate imperial family now taken care of, roderick starts to think of satellite family. their tiers are still extravagant, but all ~the best has already been divvied up in the above tiers! now, best can mean amany things, and it incorporates both wealth/power AND strategic significance. so yeah! these guys are less trusted and can't rebel as easily, is basically the thought here!

bartholomew: once roderick's immediate family is all taken care, the very next guy roderick's thinking of is his uncle! he loves this guy, and trusts him as much as he trusts anyone, and before there were kids and multiple wives, bart got WAY choicer pieces!!!! so in the early conquests he realllly made out, still!!! he will still be more wealthy/powerful, id imagine, than cassandra's husband, id wager, but he's now much lower on the pecking order than he used to be, as each successive wife and child pops him into a lower bracket than he was, early on. bartholomew, like everyone else, has to earn these but it seems like he's extremely competent so ive no doubt that happens!

eoin/any other extraneous male varmonts: he's only a nephew, sure, but this dude's still a varmont! his ~sons will be varmonts! and that means smth!! so eoin, on his own, probs less wealthy than cassandra's future hubby, since he wasn't alive and accumulating wealth ~that long before roderick started having kids etc, but once he inherits from his dad and unites everything they both have, well, that varmont name still looking pr great!

brothers-in-laws: w all roderick's blood relatives taken care of, its time to start looking in on those in-laws! they def gotta earn this stuff, and a lot of this will depend on politics re: the related queen/heir etc bc if roderick's mad at amira, well, tristan's (look i brought it around to him again in his own post! ;D but...just as an example bahahah) not being put in a position to earn another holding! ~marian's brother is! and so forth lakjdsfalkjsdf this will ultimately also encompass families who intermarry w roderick's kids, etc. (bc in roderick's mind this is def happening someday! too bad only roderick stands in the way... ;D alkjsdflkjdsf) fathers of wives get better pieces than her brothers, older brothers get better pieces than younger ones, etc. cassandra's husband's family would get lesser pieces than the families of the queens, or of the princes' wives, since his social standing would be lesser. guin's hsuabdn's family would get more than sebastian's and it'd be a whole thing abt whether he gets more than arthur or edmund's bride's families but probs he would?

council members: here's where your alistair greys and your alexander royces come in! they too have to earn it -- in war, yes, but largely w good politicking! roderick likes that thing you did? you get a holding! you get a holding! you displeased him? no holding for you! etc

other loyal lords: earned by extraordinary deeds and pleasing roderick! roderick keeps lands to himself in this strata and a lesser one so he can hand them out as rewards to those who earn them.

As a result, I don't think that they would have hit it off instantly and Alaric would have been like .... wtf??? about a lot of the things Tristan said and did and would have likely been put off from him completely if Tristan wasn't family now, y'know? And like most people Alaric is sure he's gonna dislike forever, all it really took was just spending time with Tristan and eventually he realized just how much he actually liked him <3

Honestly, I feel like Tristan is also shaping up to be Alaric's bff, too, and I think in some ways Tristan is probably even better friends with Alaric than Godfrey is, given that Alaric sorta views Tristan like the little bro he never had (Alaric: I practically raised him!! ;DDD jk jk but ngl he probably feels like that a little!) Also, nooooo Tristan feeling hurt that Alaric sides with Arthur who is just as much of a nephew to him as Edmund </3 Like everyone assumes Tristan will side with Edmund b/c he's family but Alaric out here blatantly choosing favorites of his nieces/nephews o.O

(Also I lOVE Roderick's tiered reward system going on here laksjdfljsdlfjdf!!! I laughed at him not bothering to ask Cassandra what SHE wants done, but to be fair she really would not care at all hahah or have much idea of what he's even talking about!! Not Cassandra out here helping to prove to the Varmont boys that "she's just a girl" and therefore knows nothing ;D)

I was also thinking about Alaric/Eilia and I don't think he'd EVER mention his feelings about her to anyone (not even Tristan!!!) but I feel like Tristan can probably tell that there's something weird w/ Alaric re: her??? Like idk that he'd jump right to ~romantic~ feelings but I think Alaric is weird enough about her that Tristan might be able to pick up that there's something going on with him??

I feel like, in the past, when he likes a girl he does find a way to bring her up alots because he wants to talk about her but he can't let anyone know he likes her, so he just complains about her ... but I don't think he does this with Eilia since she's his brother's potential next wife, but I do think he brings her up a lot but then just doesn't say much b/c he can't say anything too nice or too mean asldkfjalsdfjlfj (he's a mess)