♔ trois || fool unmade

[ensorceler]

[Elizabeth Tudor]

Elizabeth, you are no child, and so I will not treat you as such. You have married a King of England, and if this is true, I will meet him at once.

[/Elizabeth Tudor]

[ She's already had her shrieking fit off camera, so by now she's become more composed and willing to socialize again. Sort of. She dictates the following with tight-lipped composure; ]

I find it difficult to grasp the notion that none noticed by absence. Truly, I am horrified still at what transgressed, having had to depend on a strange but noble woman for escort, only to return and find none the wiser.

This must cease. This... This mockery of a castle is nothing more than a small child dressing itself up in empty purpose. Any fey who might try such nonsense on me again will rue it. Think you that I am the weaker for not having my lord husband at my side? That is a dangerous mistake to make.

If none other will hold court here, then I will take up that role as Regent, and breathe purpose into the very walls. Any who have or would swear fealty to England, I would have a renewal of your vows. If you do not already know the name Anne Boleyn, you will know it soon, and know it well.

Comments

[ladywinter]

I think this place would be quick to thwart any sort of change we attempt.

And, if I may speak frankly, your grace, there are others here with as much a claim to rule as you have. [Or she assumes she has. These people always think they have a claim, anyway.] When I last left my home, there were no fewer than five would-be kings at each other's throats. I would prefer not to see something similar here.

[ensorceler]

I've made note of other royalty, but have yet to witness any claim to any throne. No others have stepped up, and I've no interest in wasting any time on the matter. If anything, I claim it for my husband should he arrive, not for mine own grace.

Just because it has not been accomplished does not mean it cannot be. Sitting around and praying for the castle to grant us mercy accomplishes little more than degrading our morale further.

[ladywinter]

It is one thing to make no claim and live as we have been and another to make no claim and live under another. [She's just...skeptical.]

I hope you are right, your grace. I pray to the Seven that you are right and that we can control this place and do so peacefully. But I hope you will forgive me my doubts; I have grown old and sour before my time and hope is not easy to come by.

[ensorceler]

I would not call your sour, my lady, only wise and wary. [ Empty court flattery, don't you just love it... ] I suppose it would be presumptuous of me to assume claim over those who might never have even heard of me and mine.

Where do you hail from? What of these Seven you speak?

[ladywinter]

A kinder assessment than most have given me. [Then again, most who know the state of her family would find it hard to dispute her bitterness. There are some advantages to being relatively unknown here; she'll take empty flattery over pity.]

I am Lady Catelyn Stark of Winterfell, your grace. Until recently I might have said Winterfell is within the Seven Kingdoms, but the North will bow no more and so I will say simply that it is in the North of Westeros. The Seven are what many call the New Gods; it is my faith.

[ensorceler]

[ Anne listens quietly at first, though it's a good thing that one can't see the other person through these journals. Her gaze is nearly burning holes through the pages, amazed and at the same time outraged at what she hears.

It isn't fair, to be put in charge of obvious heathens. It's hard enough to convert a Catholic. But what of this completely alien faith? How is she supposed to guide these people away from such heathenism, without getting trampled herself?

So, as diplomatically as she can, Anne shifts the subject to one of small note, picking up on the constant use of 'your grace'. ]

During my husband's reign, he has deigned that the King and Queen be addressed as 'Majesty'. 'Your Grace' is reserved for the lords who serve. I would bid you follow this simple courtesy, even if this is not truly England. We have many differences between our realms, Lady Catelyn, but I am certain there are enough similarities to allow us to bond, do you not think? Women of high birth must not abandon one another to the cruelties of a foreign realm.

[ladywinter]

Of course. Had I known that was your custom, I would have done so from the start. [She's not stupid enough to go around irritating powerful people for no reason, after all.]