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[vermax]

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[vermax]

It is true. I stand amongst you and breathe again. ( a pause, ) But at a cost.

I am gladdened you are safe, Lady Sansa.

[homebird]

As I am glad to hear your voice. But I mourn for the loss of Lady Baela's. She was so driven to avenge you.

I am sorry that you must return, only to find her gone.

[vermax]

And I will do the same for her. ( he wishes she was still with them, that Baela did not pay the price for her strength and her sharp mind. she would not want him to mourn, she would want justice as she had sought. ) Those who did this to her will pay for what they have done when I find them.

[homebird]

It may be that she is not lost to you entirely. You and your mother returned. That means there is hope.

[ aka let's not fly off the handle in a targaryen rage please. ]

But I must ask, how do you fare? You have been through something no man should. Do you feel hale, and whole?

[ he is not the first resurrected man she has met, after all. jon had dearly struggled with his return. sansa had seen it, had fought to get him to have purpose again. ]

[vermax]

If Lady Alina or the man who revived my mother can be brought to our cause once again, there is hope. ( he does not know Pierce, but does not doubt that Alina will use her gifts to bring back Paul if she is able to perform a second miracle. )

I find myself growing tired faster than I would like, winded easier. I suppose that is the price when one dies as I did only to rise and walk again. ( if there is a quiver in his voice, he aims to hide it. weakness cannot be afforded to any of them now, with another of their own targeted. ) But otherwise I feel no different. Whatever magic was used to bring me back has not cursed my mind as I thought such a thing should.

( he keeps the blackening of his fingertips to himself for now. )

[homebird]

[ had jon known such a price?

she does not think so. but he had struggled, she knows that. he had not understood what it meant, if it meant anything at all, and how he was supposed to feel about it. ]

I am glad you are still yourself. Perhaps the rest will come, in time.

As for the Lady Alina, I worry for her state of mind. It was our vote that sent Lady Alia behind bars, and now Lord Paul is lost. Beyond that, she was attacked again herself.

Do you remember any of your own attack? I spoke with Lady Alia, and she claims not to recall it.

[vermax]

I believe she is coping as one can when they have lost the one they care for. ( so he can relate to her pain, though he worries what she may do to others with it. )

I remember it clearer than I’d like. There was no attack. I was given orders and thus followed them. But when I looked upon Lady Alia’s face, I saw none of the girl I met in the days prior.

[homebird]

[ a brief, careful nod. it's what she'd expected; it tallies with what alia herself had said. ]

I spoke with her. She remembers none of it, and holds that she would not have harmed you. Nor taken your life in the manner it was taken, were she in her right mind.

[ sansa had believed her. alia's mind had not been her own. if that is the case for all the wolves, how much harder will it be to find them all? ]

It seems to me some other force has taken them, some power or magic that we cannot understand. Something in the House, perhaps. The Balfours seem as upset as any one of us.

[vermax]

I believe her. I am not the one you must convince, Lady Sansa. ( he says with a soft smile on his face, tone tinged with sadness for he believes that many will not be so trusting. )

Do you believe it could be the House itself that acts? Not our hosts?

[homebird]

[ for a man just murdered, he's ready to be kind towards his murderer. most would not be so.

it makes her like him. ]

If our hosts are to blame, they are very good actors. Portia has been beside herself. They could be lying, of course, to avoid conflict.

[ she shakes her head. ]

But it doesn't seem that way. They seem helpless, not manipulative.

[vermax]

Or this is something they knew would happen and are only partially absolved. The house is capable of much, I am told.

( and he has little pity for their hosts at present. )

[homebird]

It is possible.

Would you take revenge upon them, then?

[vermax]

No. Not now, at least. Not unless doing so would serve a greater purpose that benefits us. ( retribution through bloodshed is more his uncle and stepfather’s domain. )

[homebird]

[ that is a relief. ]

I'm glad for it. I don't think that more killing is going to get us anywhere. But we must put a stop to all of this, as quickly as we can.

[vermax]

We are in agreement, Lady Sansa. We must find the reason for all this and stop the game before more are slain. ( in a week's time, he'll once again be amongst the dead but for now he is determined. )