(1866-10-08) l'Saigner Siblings
l'Saigner Siblings
Summary: Alina, Lucas, and Corvin chat about Pacitta, plans for the future, and their latest addition to the family.
Date: 1866-10-08
Related: Related Logs (If there aren't any, use None. Don't this entry leave blank. If there is a log, use full URLs, like logname)
Players:
Alina  Lucas  Corvin  

Family Tower - Highwater Castle - Lonnaire - Couviere
The small dining and sitting area in the family tower of Highwater Castle is quite well-furnished. The mid-sized room on the second floor hosts a carved oaken table that can seat eight comfortably, twelve if pushed; a pair of butler tables to hold whatever has come up from the kitchens on, and a large carved hutch that matches the table and chairs elegantly that holds a variety of dishes to make serving and eating food a quicker process when needed, on the half of the room nearest the heavy doubled doors.
The back half of the room held a large stone fireplace with a large stone mantle, a set of fainting couches, three comfortable chairs, and a smattering of small side tables for ease of setting a wineglass down. A small table with a well-worn chess board is flanked by two chairs like the ones at the dining table, the chessboard set for a new game, one side's pieces lapis lazuli with gold and silver sunbursts, the other side onyx with golden wyverns.
Outside the main sitting area, there are stairs leading up to the family suites and bedrooms.
Octobre 8th, 1866

A roasted hock of ham and a rack of lamb sits on a pair of platters on the side bar. Roasted potatoes and squash are heaped in a bowl to one side, on the other is a bowl of mashed turnips and parsnips with garlic and herbs. A basket with three loaves of freshly baked bread wait beside it, along with a chilled metal ewer of skimmed milk and another of chilled water.

Alina has made her way into the rather informal dining area for the family, her face lighting up at the fresh dinner very recently left by a couple of servingmen from the kitchens. She grabs a plate and helps it fairly full, then tkes a seat at the table, beginning to eat. She hadn't had anything all day until eveningtime (thanks to her early pregnancy, again— it seems she and Gabriel were working on their family quite enthusiastically).

"Sister," Lucas greets as he glides into the room drawn by the scent of fresh bread and roast meats. He secures a plate and begins to help himself. "One's mercy I am famished," he remarks as he fills his plate. It had been a long day out in the yard, but a good one, and so that and the food ensured his mood was high. Though, noting his sister's plate, his lips curl into something of a wry smile "As were you," he remarks to Alina.

"She probably hasn't eaten all day, knowing her." Corvin concludes as he steps into the room, hanging a weapons belt that contains a rapier and a long dagger on a rack by the doorway before moving towards the table, though not before pausing to lean over and give Alina a peck on the cheek, "You're looking radiant despite starving yourself though. A pleasant trip to Pacitta then? Or just that relieved to be so far away from that unctious little pig Mancini?" He settles into a chair, grinning and leaning back, almost giving the impression that he's about to put his feet up on the table, but all present know he wouldn't dare. James doesn't much go for poor manners, Mina even less.

"Unctious," Alina agrees, taking a healthy swallow of milk before continuing, "is the right word. The man simply spoils my appetite." Another bite of the mashed turnips. "So did you miss me while we was off having fun at the tournament?" she asks Corvin, giving Lucas a grin.

"You should have seen the uproar when Mancini tried fixing the brackets," Lucas adds to Alina's remarks. "Damn fool almost caused a riot." He shakes his head and sits with his food. He returns Alina's grin with one of his own before he glances back to Corvin,"Yes, anything interesting happen?"

"Terribly. Truth be told I almost wish I had been able to go. Aside from routine business and a bit of thoroughly unorganized banditry that was easily dealt with, it was rather quiet here." Corvin replies, tearing off a hunk of bread and buttering it as he speaks, "But I suppose for most a bit of peace and quiet isn't so terrible." For him? Boooo-ring. Though it's well-known by now that he seems to have found at least one other diversion to keep him entertained of late. Which may be the reason for the "almost" that precedes his wish.

Alina nods, tearing off her own hunk of bread. "Gabriel is glad to be back here I think. He has some thoughts on how to be useful to the family— beyond keeping me in one piece and with child."

"Speaking of that…" she grins brightly, then taps her abdomen with the hand that isn't holding bread. "I suspect the twins will have a little sister… or brother, it might be another son," and that she sounds less enthused by, but only slightly, "before their first birthday."

Lucas perks up slightly at the news of bandits, but then turns back to his dinner when it sounds like it was dealt with. "Well, we could have used you in the archery, a huntress took it this time, but otherwise, besides the near-riot it was pretty standard fare." He takes a bite of his dinner looking up when it's mentioned that Gabriel had ideas on how to help the family. That was a hopeful sign about the Unmasking. "Good to hear," he says before he stops short at the next bit of news. "Again?" he says with a smile. "One above, tell the man to let you get a chance to rest," he teases with a shake of his head.

"Ha! Well done." Corvin replies with a grin between bites of bread, "I'd make a quip about Sir Gabriel being quite dutiful, but I think if it were only duty, Alina wouldn't already be with child again, hmm?" Corvin teases, glancing briefly to Alina and waggling his brows, before looking back towards Lucas and chuckling, "Oh, uneventful was it? I heard a passing rumor that you and some Southern Lord nearly beat each other to death in the bareknuckle contest."

"No, he was upset at first— and I think he still holds reservations about our methods— but he and I have come to terms with the Unmasking for the most part." Even if it took a screaming match to do it. Alina nibbles at some of the lamb, wrinkling her nose and putting it aside. She takes another swallow of milk, and chuckles at Corvin's words. "Oh, dear, yes. Lucas and Gabriel were both quite the showmen at the bareknuckle contest. I almost fainted," she exaggerates playfully, "when Lucas and that… well, he's a Rivanan lordling now, but he's a Giraldi. Apparently the Rose Queen is digging through the Pacittan canals for refuse to make into lords." She wrinkles her nose again. "Thankfully we've no worry of someone like Mancini thinking they'd take the open spaces in Couviere."

Lucas laughs when Corvin brings up the match with the Giraldi knight. "It was fun," he says and means it. "We just about killed each other, twice, I still feel bad about the last shot, but Abyss was I tired, I dropped my hands and he came in over my guard and dropped me like a sack of wheat. I got him back, but oddly I don't remember that hit as well as the one that got me." Lucas breaks off a bit of bread and pops it into his mouth. "Spent the next day our so on Neversleep." He shrugs, before he looks over at Alina, "I don't know, he clearly had some skill, no matter what people say of him," he says of his opponent. "Or of his mother." Since the fight he'd been told all about Miranda Giraldi, the woman who seduced Bryar Haldis. "Speaking of empty lands, what's being done with the t'Myrin lands? It's been more than a year now since the fire."

"Well, judging from how many they've killed of their countrymen, I'd imagine elevating commoners is near the only option they have left." Corvin adds, "And we're hardly one to throw stones when it comes to elevating commoners…" He smirks a bit at that, given how both their County-holders started out. "But no, I can't imagine Mancini would be the type that father would see ennobled." At Lucas' question, Corvin shrugs, "Not really my area of interest, but I do know that the land is still being worked and a new keep is being built a short distance from the old." He laughs, "It'll almost be a mirror of Highwater and Alain's Rest in miniature…you'll be able to see the ruins from the new Keep." He adds, finishing off his hunk of bread, "But I suppose as long as the land's being worked and the taxes are being paid, Father could keep it vacant as long as he wishes or needs."

<FS3> Alina rolls Deception: Great Success. (6 7 1 4 3 4 4 2 7 6 3 7 7)

"Father has plans for that fief," Alina replies coolly. "Decent ones at that, but he'll share them when he chooses. For now, things are going as they usually do: to father's well constructed plans."

It wasn't much of Lucas' area of interest either. Though he does nod at the news the old keep and the new keep would be close by. A reminder to remain loyal. "Well the new lords can't do much worse than the last ones," he says. "So, is there anything that needs to be done? I don't see much on the horizon for me until the wedding."

"Depends on if you want to stay close to home or if you want to wander afield a bit. I'd spare you going back to Pacitta too soon, though." Corvin replies, having nodded to Alina's comment but not shown much further interest. If father needs him to know, he'll tell him, as she says. "We received an interesting request from Duke Cesare l'Corren about possibly helping to train at least one group of scouts up North, so they can hopefully do a better job the next time the Tirians come sniffing…or help chase them down now that they've gone to ground. I think father is amenable but is still deciding just what he wants to send and just what he'll allow them to teach." He adds, "Or there are the usual patrols. Things have been quiet but Father mentioned something about increased Brodlund activity, but nothing yet on the scale of last year. Still, he did increase the coastal patrols on land and sea."

Alina shrugs, eating the last of her roasted potatoes. "Or, if you're interested in something else, I am sure your new brother might not mind company on his new grand adventure." She furrows her brow. "Something about recruiting knights to serve the house directly. I spoke with father, and if it will go some long way to giving Gabriel something to do and feel useful to the house, he's agreed to bring on three household knights as a trial. For… I don't know, guards or something. Gabriel prefers the idea of knights to mercenaries, and for now I see no way of changing his views. So. Household knights it is."

She looks to both her brothers. "I doubt they'll hold much importance in the larger picture, of course. But if naught else they would be partners to spar with. And support for our other troops as well. If these three integrate well— and Gabriel thinks he will be able to manage— then father may agree to a full ten."

Lucas' brows raise at both the knights and the training of scouts. "I wouldn't mind sticking close to home for a bit, but I'll speak to Gabriel and see what father has in mind for the scouts," he says, after all Lucas had worked with the northerners before. "Though, ten knights, is that going to be enough. If we're going to do it, why not more?" It wasn't like they lacked the coin.

"Ten? Well, I suppose they'd be imposing standing near gates and doors in the castle, or escorting the two of you around. And the t'Maren probably wouldn't mind having them about, but not much to field when it comes to open battle. Besides, the Black Foxes have hedge knights among them. Not terribly many more than that, but even so…" Corvin shrugs a shoulder, "I suppose if it keeps him happy, and by extension you, there's nothing wrong with it. As long as he doesn't start trying to poach Wraiths for the job or try to tell us that we're no longer needed…and no, I don't have any belief that he would." He adds to assure Alina he's not assuming the worst of her husband.

At Lucas' question, Corvin replies, "We don't have good terrain for massed cavalry in Lonnaire proper. And it would be encroaching on the niche the t'Maren enjoy among our vassals. Build too many and they will think us displeased with their service, and we'd have to make some concession to them to soothe their worries." He may not be a knight, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand their tactics and uses, nor it seems, at least some of the politics of the l'Saigner lands.

"Because whatever my husband may desire," Alina replies simply, "We are not a knightly house. It may prove difficult to find knights who are both trustworthy as knights and trustworthy to guard and work for this family, after all. Gabriel has given himself a rather difficult project, though he may not be completely understanding of how difficult." She pushes her plate away and finishes her milk. "Ten is a good number, large enough to be of use in battle under Gabriel's command, even if split in half. A solid number for an elite guard for me and my children if needed. I would prefer a mixture of knights and Wraiths myself…" and she looks to Corvin. "I'd be dead now if Gabriel had been a Wraith-like fighter, and that's the truth. He saved me in Pacitta last year, recall?" She sighs. "But yes, mostly its as Corvin pointed out. We arent made for knights. And One knows we don't need problems with the t'Maren. So, Gabriel will have something to ease him into his role as duke in the future."

"I see it now," Lucas says as the problems with finding more knights are laid out for him. "Well, I wish him luck," he says and turns his attention back to his dinner.

"You won't hear me claiming they're without use or value, Alina." Corvin notes of her meaningful glance and defense of Gabriel's er…defense. "They're just not our usuall manner of warfare. It'll be an adjustment, but it's hardly insurmountable. Not very different from working with the t'Maren or the Black Fox Cavalry." Corvin shrugs, slicing off a hunk of lamb and turning his own attention to his meal for the time being, "I'm sure father will have all the angles covered by the time it comes to fruition."

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