On Apping to eachdraidh...

[rangerandking]

A new journey suits me, Lady. The decisions you have to make are imperative to my placement within this "fairy realm". Judge my attributes fairly and I shall gladly lend my sword to the most worthy cause.

{He smiles and bows his head, touching the hilt of the sword sheathed at his side.}

Comments

[kingsdaughter]

[Westron for now, since she really has no idea where he comes from or if he speaks the tongue of the northmen of Dale. She's never seen a man so weathered, and she has known all kinds. Woodsmen, Lake-men, Southrons and Easterlings, many far-traveled and sun-beaten, but this man is different. It's sort of like what they say about bowmen, that to train a good one you have to start with his grandfather. To get a traveler that looks like Aragorn, you have to start with his grandfather, too.

She presses her lips together briefly.]

Soon as someone with power points at someone and says they're your enemy, you've got trouble. And once you've got trouble, people start doing awful things and having real reasons to go to war and then you have no need to do anything but sit back and watch everyone do exactly what you wanted. You never have to lift another finger.

[Not that this is a trick that the Master has used or anything.]

[rangerandking]

You have experience with this. {And that saddens him. She is only a child - and certainly not one that has had a taste of the wilderness. He wishes he could be surprised, but he knows better. Even the most innocent of Men experience the horrors of war thanks to the One Ring and Mordor.} I will lend you what aid I can to forge a safer world.

{He has never considered glory for himself. His eyes are always set on others.}

Surely Orcs are harsher foes when compared to Fairies?

[kingsdaughter]

[That, the safer world, that's what she wants, however she can get it. She's been a mother to her siblings since she was six. She doesn't know what else to do.]

They are. But orcs are evil. When it's regular folk fighting regular folk, it's a lot worse.

[And she's seen orcs. But she also saw Fili fling himself bodily at an orc to protect her with no weapon to hand.]

Maybe it's...if your enemy is evil, then you fight him because you're good. But if your enemy is just like you, what does that make us all?

[She's not naive. She's not really even being philosophical. She's scared. She's scared that humanity could be so much worse than she already thought it was.]

[rangerandking]

Human. {It's a simple answer, but it's the truth. Men wage battles for good reasons and ill ones. Peace can only be achieved if everyone seeks it. Otherwise...} I have fought many battles - and not only against Orcs. Those in power are charged with protecting their people and seeing that no harm comes to them. When war is waged, lives will inevitably be lost.

Good Kings seek peace; not war. {The line between good and evil should never be blurred.} Where did you call home, child?

[kingsdaughter]

Lake-town. [More of an internationally known name than Esgaroth, most of the time. More of a description than a name, even, which is why it's easier to remember. Nobody local even knows what the word Esgaroth means.] Isn't the point of war that you are seeking peace? Just...a better peace than the one you had.

[If it sounds like a quote, it's because she's been reading books on foreign relations and diplomacy since she found out she's being sent on a diplomatic mission and she's paraphrasing something she read.]

[rangerandking]

Middle Earth? {He leans against a wall and sets about lighting a pipe.} War brings peace at a terrible price. It isn't a choice a King would - or should - make without seeking other possibilities.

{Death in battle isn't valorous. Aragorn has had to leave many friends behind, knowing that he will never get the chance to properly bury them.}

[kingsdaughter]

It sounds like you could be Seelie. [She has less and less cause to draw lines there; it's almost more of a summary of someone's system of values than anything else. But Aragorn being Seelie would make him easier to get to, so.]

And Lake-town in Middle-earth. I never had to be specific like that before.

[rangerandking]

Perhaps. {He inhales and blows out a smoke ring.} We are from the same world, then.

{It explains the familiarity.}

I am Aragorn.

[kingsdaughter]

[Something seems familiar about the name, or a part of the name, but Sigrid is one of the northmen, not one of the descendants of Númenor, and all she has heard have been whispers of rumors of mighty kings of old and the empty throne in the South.]

I'm Sigrid.

[rangerandking]

Well met, Sigrid. {He has become more comfortable with his lineage, but it isn't important that she knows.} Are there Kings or Queens in this Fairy realm?

[kingsdaughter]

Far too many. [A fleeting smile.] But the ones we're supposed to follow are Solais and Ridire if we're Seelie, and Morla and...oh, wossname of the Unseelie. But the Elvenking was there for a while, and the Lady of the Golden Wood is still here with her daughter. And lots of other kings and people who say they're kings. I think we've got half-a-dozen who claim to be King of Westeros all at the same time.

[By half a dozen, she means two. There are two simultaneous claimants to the throne of Westeros right now. And then there's her, a future princess according to a number from her own world. So meaningful.]

[rangerandking]

The Elvenking? King Thranduil? And Lady Galadriel? {The news is...pleasing. At least where Galadriel is concerned. He isn't so sure Thranduil will greet him so warmly.} I was unaware that Westeros even existed until this moment. Perhaps it needs many Kings, though I pray they are fond of one another.

[kingsdaughter]

Thranduil isn't here anymore, but his son is. Westeros...

[How do you speak delicately of Westeros? Some of the things people say about it make Lake-town sound, oh, not less bad, but at least commonly bad. But it has people like Sansa and Gendry and Lord Stark and Jon Snow, so there's only so bad it can be.]

There's supposed to be just the one king, I guess. One of them is cruel and petty and monstrous, the other...means well. He's just very vain, I think, but he is good. I don't really want to follow either of them.

[rangerandking]

Legolas? {His smile couldn't possibly be brighter. Yes, he is very fond of that Elf.} Then you should follow your own leadership. A King should serve his people and if said Kings are neglecting their duty, what power do they have to hold your allegiance?

[kingsdaughter]

Duty. And safety, and sometimes love. Connections are important. It's why I'm sworn to Lord Stark of Winterfell, and he's from Westeros. But he said neither of them is the rightful king, so I've no reason to follow them, just him.