Returned from weeks abroad in Snowbourn, Edoras, and the roads between, Dytha finds her father in the tavern at Fréasburg.
Thorvall |The Oathlord stood at the stone-lined edge of the firepit. One of the town guards, his watch finished, strummed on an unadorned lute while his companion spooned some of the stew that bubbled into his mouth before taking his own turn upon the palisade. Thorval however, had no haste about him this day. His eyes were lost in the dancing flames, the clay cup stationary as it hovered halfway between his side and his lips.
Dytha |The Rider's boots beat the ground without regard for the rhythm of the music. She tugged off her gloves and tossed them on a stool, only then looking up to find the Oathlord nearby, quiet, as he seemed too often these days. She quickly asked for a cup and then joined him, one arm folded over the other as she sought what in the flames held him so entranced. "I hope some peace is to blame for your mood, at least," she gently teased, beckoning him from reverie.
Thorvall blinked, as if startled. "Daughter." He smiled warmly. "Old age is all, the mind wanders..." He swapped the smile for a toothy grin. "I needed a place to think, and a tavern is more peaceful that that hall upon the hill." He jerked his head then in the rough direction of the meadhall. "How was your ride from Snowbourn?"
Dytha smiled and leaned against his shoulder for an armless hug, turning her head to kiss his mantle before she stood up again. "Busy, but otherwise calm. For every cart there's a caravan, and for every caravan guards. They made way wide enough for Barst and me, though."
Thorvall |If she were to look at him there, a single brow arched a little at the mention of the giant. "Your mother has returned, she is with your brother and sister at the house, you see her." He hesitated. "After we've shared a cup, of course."
Dytha 's gaze hooked on the brow. She raised her own. "...Of course."
Thorvall drew breath in through clamped teeth, his grin holding. "There's enough to tell you." He raised a hand as he spoke, and the innkeeper was there moments later, presenting the younger Thane with a cup of ale. Nodding his thanks to the man, Thorvall went on. "There was a killing in town, a gristly bastard of one too." Lowering his voice, he gave her a long look. "The sort you grew up on the tales of."
Dytha turned to face him fully, her eyes wide and gleaming as river stones. "Who do you think it is?" Her suddenly rushing heart quickened her words.
Thorvall |Finally, that smile turned to the grimace that seemed as at home on that scarred face as a felling axe in a stump. "We don't know, Dytha." His eyes cast toward the flames, as if they might hold the answer they sought. "But the nature of it shows us it's more than just an argument over a tangled love, or the moving of some boundary stones."
Dytha 's tone crawled lower. "What...is the nature of it?"
Thorvall hesitated, as if despite fighting alongside his daughter from the Brown Lands to the Corsair haunted shores of Gondor, he wished to protect her from such things. "Your mother found a body, his tongue removed..." His voice was hardly above a whisper. "It was nailed to the door, gold-gilted, a message." His face hardened. "We've no idea who for, but undoubtedly a message."
Dytha nearly held her breath, staring unblinking as he told her. She, too, hesitated, a little longer as she posed, "It wasn't meant for her..." If she didn't truly ask, then maybe he couldn't truly answer, maybe she'd buy a little time from hearing him say someone was after their huntress.
Thorvall shook his head quickly. "I very much doubt it was meant for her, no one knew she'd be going there." He spoke the words as much to reassure himself as the young Rohir before him. "But nonetheless, we are caught in the weave of it now, and it's our job to find the knot and cut it." Drinking deeply of his cup, his brow arched once more. "Your Barst, is he close by?"
Dytha relaxed the death-grip on her ale, the relief flooding into her eyes. "He was, last I saw him."
Thorvall nodded once, a wry look about him. "Good, keep close to him, and also..." He drained his ale down, smacking his lips before going on. "Tell him I want to speak to him, it's about time I did."
Dytha eyed him warily, but she knew without asking what the matter was about. "Is that necessary?" A delay tactic.
Thorvall suppressed the grin he felt tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I'd say so, anyway..." He grinned, patting her on the shoulder. "I've also got a job for him, don't worry too much eh?"
Dytha |Her white-gold brow arced, but she lifted her chin. "If you must speak with him, at least know what about. Barst and I have...affection for one another. That is the extent of it." She allowed her face to soften, just a little. "Please, don't ask him for a...promise, or anything like that. I already know there is no future there."
Thorvall looked genuinely surprised for a moment, then offered a short bark of a laugh. "Are, because a wanderer of low birth could never make a life with one of the nobility of the Eorlingas, eh?" Giving her a broad wink, he shook his head. "Don't write anything off, and don't worry I simply wish to know him more, it's my duty you know."
Dytha |All blood at once flushed across her face, painting her salmon from crown to collar. "That's not what I meant," she muttered, then shoved her face into her mug as if it would open up and inhale her.
Thorvall laughed again, taking a little amusement at her discomfort. Once more he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I know what you meant, and you know what my mind is in this." Stifling a yawn, he added. "Besides, as I said I also need him for another matter too."
Dytha |"Alright," she sighed, as if her blessing mattered. "At least let me know how it goes?"
Thorvall |The warmth returned to his smile to match that of the crackling ash and birch. "I will!" Stepping forward to embrace her, he sighed. "Welcome home, now see your mother before the night is through."
Dytha folded her arms under his and closed her eyes a moment. When she stepped back her grin had grown back. "I will, and so should you."
Chat Log: 08/17
