unapparent | INBOX

Perhaps. I have no qualms with the name being shared between you two, though I do not trust all who will meet before the vote.

[ sorry quentin. ]

It isn’t a worthy case, I know it, but we may yet lose more lives, and I cannot bear the thought of it.

It might not be nothing. But we'll need more than "someone told Daemon" - I don't know that he's seen by the guests at large as very trustworthy.

[ Tim wouldn't buy it. ]

I now have word from the seer myself.

Though not all who see can be right, it seems.

[ referring to usopp and louis, with their contradictory visions. there is so much else she wishes to say after that round. please don’t entertain my son’s affections; he cannot bear to love what is not his to have or i beg you to save alina and not your hawk, for all our sakes. ]

Thank you for choosing to protect me, even if you were not correct. It is a rare thing, for a queen’s life to be valued. It is a rarer thing, for my life to be of import to anyone not sworn to my service.

[ she has mattered little and less to viserys, to the court, to her sons. they would sacrifice her to a greyjoy brute — to aemond — before shielding her. ]

You’re welcome. I think...I know, after all of that, there are bigger targets than you. But if I’m wrong again, I’ll never forgive myself.

[ Will he ever forgive himself for Baela, or for choosing wrong in the first round, even with nothing to go on? Maybe. Maybe not. It feels now like no matter what he does, it’ll be wrong. Alicent will be vulnerable, Hawk is exposed, Alina doesn’t have Paul to protect her, Pierce seems uninvested but still clearly willing and able to raise the dead. He can’t be everywhere at once.

He needs to do the right thing, the one that keeps the most people safe, but if someone comes for Hawk and he’s not there, Tim might as well be the one sinking the knife in himself. It’s selfish, or as selfish as exposing himself as an even bigger target to protect the man he loves can be. He keeps thinking of the worst outcome, the worst of his own instincts, the shred of self-preservation he has left that asks if anyone would have saved him, if Hawk were gone? ]

I’ll figure it out. Maybe the other doctors can be rallied. Are you sure Alina would bring back Hawk if he were hurt?

None but the gods know when the Stranger will come. You must not disparage yourself for your humanity.

[ they know so little, in the end. ]

I’m told Strickland mislikes being instructed or swayed.

Alina, however, is a lady of the court, whether she likes it or no, and we are unfailingly amenable to bargains that advance our own.

She cannot protect her beloved or hunt her attackers, if she dies. Your services ensure that she may do both. It is the deal I would broker, in your position, for how it will benefit the innocents and your House.

He still has a power that needs protecting.

I'll talk to her, and Hawk, and Bella.

I left Shanks to Koby, but I don't know if that'll work.

my House?

[ she does not say what she thinks about pierce, which is that if he cannot be swayed, he is as useless as any of them. ]

How quickly I slip into my old ways.

You and Hawk are as one again, are you not? United, as if you were a House all your own.

Yes. I think so. He fought for me me last night, almost too much.

We've argued before, a lot, about how he always leaves when things get hard. But they're harder than ever and he's here, supporting me more than he ever has. I'm happy for it, but it's confusing. It shouldn't have taken me almost getting killed, but a wake up call is a wake up call all the same, isn't it?

I trust him with my life. My heart, I don't know yet. I can't think about that until this is over, I need to stay focused.

As do we all.
But you should enjoy your closeness. We do not know what the morrow will bring.

[ He could know. If he makes the choice to protect his heart first, he could know. Not everything, but he could have the comfort of one important certainty. ]

We will. Thank you.

And I'll talk to Alina.

Thank you, Tim.

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