To: everyone (a few days after all arrivals)

[northerndragon]

[Jon writes in a very fine hand, but to many, it will seem archaic.]

I would like to speak on duty, if you will.

What does duty mean to you, if it means anything at all?
How do you know what your duty is?
How do you know when you have done it, or failed to do it?

If it doesn't matter to you, why doesn't it matter?
If it does, why then?

I seek to learn from my fellows.

— Jon Snow, of Thorne

Comments

[ziryla]

( snow is a bastard’s name. it is not a thought that passes in particular judgement, as much as simple note alone.

but she can’t assume such a thing, not without knowing what realm he may be from. after all, such worlds of possibilities is now open to them.

the questions strike a sour note, however. )

I’ve had the disadvantage of being told my duty all my life. There were times I wished to be free of it, before I came to understand that I had come into my right of earning it.

If I were within my own world, I would answer you so: my duty is to my realm, as it has been for all those before me. Failure is not an option I care to consider.

What exactly is it that you seek to learn, Jon Snow?

— Rhaenyra Targaryen

( perhaps it’s overbold, name revealed. but she is just like everyone else here, and she tests the waters now, throwing out an anchor to see if it catches on something familiar. )

1/2

[northerndragon]

[Oh, seven hells.]

2/2

[northerndragon]

[The mages have fetched up the princess and the queen, both at once, from so long ago. He wonders if someone is playing a game with him. But he has seen a flash of silver hair once or twice in the last few days, and... who in this place would think to play such a game? No one else but the Hightower woman is from Westeros at all -- no one he knows of. And there are nearer names to take than that of Rhaenyra Targaryen.]

I like your words, Princess.

I ask because people are different, according to the places they come from, and according to their needs and the needs of those around them. I do not expect that the answers are easy. Even those who care little for duty must have their reasons.

[ziryla]

( there is a man impulse to bristle, and she has half a mind to correct him then and there — Queen — but what strikes her firstly is that he calls her anything at all. )

You know me enough to address me by a title. You’re from Westeros, then? Of the North, if I were to guess by your name alone.

Not all will care for duty. Not all will care for honor or loyalty, either. Within our own realm, or many others.

( not at all a charged statement.

she is still on her guard, the choice of words precise, and if tone cane come through the writing before him, in comes in sharply. she does not know who he swore to, if any at all. he called her princess, which means he either hasn’t heard or…or what? time works strangely here, too. too many unknowns and rhaenyra is too tired to be anything but on the defensive; a targaryen alone in a new world. )

[northerndragon]

Aye, I am a Northman. Lord Stark was my father. I was raised at Winterfell, but many years after your time. Cregan Stark was my great-grandsire's great-grandsire, or thereabouts.

[He really isn't sure: only that it was long, long ago, when there were still dragons. When the war he faces might have been easier, though it would never really have been easy for anyone.]

Of the ones who don't care for duty, how many of them know their duty? Do you think they might care if they did? Some men are evil, I do not dispute that, but others have had little chance in life.

If I have mistaken your proper title, I am very sorry for it.

[He has little and less concern for his own, except where he must. Does she think she must here and now? It wouldn't surprise him.]

[ziryla]

( the initial defensiveness - that incessant need of armor, given the tension and the turmoil she was pulled from, where she had to scramble for allies - ebbs away into confusion, and surprise, by what he says.

princess had pointed to him knowing something, but not enough for her to tell. he’s - from the future? the possibilities make her heart leap to her throat. the answer comes in longer pause, and more to the point: )

No, do not apologize. Whatever my title might have been before I was taken here means little to anyone now. I am not so proud as to be blind to it.

House Stark has always been known for its honor, and duty. Your questions make more sense now.

— Might we meet?