Seventeenth House of Westeros ♛ Dictated ♛ Of Losses

[songsandstories]

[She's been quiet for days now, contemplating what she knows and what she's been through here.]

I know what this place has taken from me, but for a short time, it took something else. I am almost envious of those that the castle has taken memories from. To forget, to have never experienced horrors, love, family even.

I know I should not be. I am lucky to have those I have here, but still for those days, it was like a weight was off my shoulders.

Comments

[heloise]

Is family such a burden?

[songsandstories]

My father is not here. [She is holding onto the lie so strongly it must be truth.]

[heloise]

Would you wish him here?

[songsandstories]

I miss him, though I would not have him here. [With Catelyn and Arya here, it wouldn't be safe for Petyr.]

[heloise]

[ While Lucrezia is thinking more of Cat's husband whose head she held at one point, in a dream or not ]

Would he dislike the castle so?

[ino]

[oh, it's that girl she talked to before ...]

Sometimes memories can be a tough burden to bear. But what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

[songsandstories]

I already know what I can live through. I have the memories well enough.

[ino]

Would you really rather forget your family, though?

[songsandstories]

I did not forget him. [Baelish, but the Starks? They are all dead back home, and while she does hold Winterfell dear in her heart, the memory of them hurts her more than she can even say.]

[ino]

Well, you said you envied people who had ...

[3nterprising]

It must have been nice to have a clean slate for a while.

[songsandstories]

There is no such thing as clean. Simply there was less blood upon it.

[3nterprising]

But if you don't remember, it's almost like it never happened.

Right?

[songsandstories]

I remembered some of it. [Just not the worst of it.]

[3nterprising]

Then that's the only part that matters.

[lordoflhant]

The castle took something from you, Alayne? I understand if you don't want to tell me, but, can I ask what it took?

[songsandstories]

It takes something from everyone. [She however was on a loss at the time she met him.]

[lordoflhant]

It...does? Huh. I don't feel different or anything.

[ he still has no idea she was on a loss. ]

[songsandstories]

How would you if it took something you cannot remember?

[lordoflhant]

Huh. I guess that's a good point...

[ he'll have to talk to Sophie about this. ]

But...it gave you something back this time, right?

[ladywinter]

[This...hurts. Much more than the loss itself had. It was one thing to be forced to forget. It was beyond her control. But to wish to?

The only way the family would live on was through memory. If those who remained had no desire to remember what would become of them? Winterfell empty, banners abandoned, the Stark name forgotten. Her family forgotten. Everything she had spent her life building torn down. Gone.]

Does family mean so little to you?

[songsandstories]

Family, Duty, Honor. Words spoken from your House, my Lady. [She falls quiet for a moment. She doesn't wish to isolate her mother or sister, but everything she does simply makes it worse.]

Tell me. If you could never feel loss or sorrow again, would you? It was the first time in some years that I forgot what it was like to not feel grief or loneliness. Even here.

[She isn't blaming anyone for it. Simply that she knows she's separated from Arya and Catelyn emotionally. It doesn't mean it hurts any less.]

[ladywinter]

They are good words. [For anyone, not just for Tullys.]


At what cost? There has not been a day of life in the past year that I have not grieved. I am grown bitter and sour. But I would not forget my family- my children, my lord husband [Your father.]. I will remember. I owe them that much.

[songsandstories]

Would you have others feel that same grief knowing what you know? [She's not entirely sure what she feels she owes. The dead are dead. She mourns them, but she's talking with a dead woman now.]

[ladywinter]

I would have them honor the dead and care for the living.