<div align="center">***</div><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/AlleriaPiper_zps9a3b4a8a.jpg)</div>Lady Alleria looked at the four youngsters practicing archery on the training grounds from her stone balcony. She grit her teeth, looking angrily at them. They were doing it all again. She had told them not to wake her up with their cheers of ‘who will win today’s archery contest’. She had had enough of those insolent whelps. Her cold blue eyes pierced the sole woman among the four like sharp daggers made of ice. The young woman was truly beautiful, even clad in leathery padded armour that they used when practicing. With wavy blond hair and mesmerizing eyes of purple, she could well be every man’s dream. Lady Alleria knew that well. She used to be that woman, once. It was her every knight knelt before and begged to be given her token of affection. It was her face they wanted to look at every waking moment of their lives. But things changed, and now she was the maiden no longer. She was the mother and soon to be the crone of the family as well. She looked at her reflection in the silver mirror in her left hand. Although many would still see a dazzling beauty, she saw wrinkles and imperfections, her skin never recovering properly from her pregnancies. Her body didn’t either. She used to thin and lean, but now she felt heavy like a bison, having gained few pounds of weight while being with child and never managing to lose them. She knew it was their fault. It was her “beloved” children’s fault. If it hadn’t been for them…<br/><br/>“Alleria?” she heard her husband’s strong voice. It was a pleasant sound, even after all their years together. Lady Tullison lover her lord husband with all her heart. He knew how to deal with her, how to compliment her, how to please her even. He would always tell her how beautiful she was. She used to believe him, but that seemed so long ago to her. The things she would do to relive those moments… They were long gone however. Taken away by Alyssin and Edric, and the bastard boy too.<br/><br/>Everyone would point out how beautiful her children were. She thought so once too, but they were like dark sorcerers from the tales – draining her beauty and success to fuel their own. They stripped her away of what was rightfully hers, vigour and youthful beauty.<br/><br/>They managed to take away her husband even. He would spend days and nights with them, playing, talking, teaching. He even encouraged both of them to take up archery, so that all three of them could spend time together honing their skills with bow and arrows. Instead of taking care of his lady wife, he would spend all his time with his daughter and his son. And lady Alleria hated that more than anything else in the world.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/AeronTullison_zps1db113b6.jpg)</div>“Love?” Aeron stepped forward and realizing Alleria was standing on the balcony, he quickly joined his wife there. “Ah, our children are getting older, aren’t they? The servants are all preparing for a great feast and the grand ceremony. I heard your brother had sent some of his finest roses to decorate the sept for Alyssin’s wedding.”<br/><br/>Alyssin this. Alyssin that. Alyssin was constantly on everyone’s mind and mouths. Even her own brother fell under that purple-eyed girl’s charm. Going back in her eye’s mind, Alleria recalled the sweet scents of their fine Piper roses – the innocent white roses, the pink roses, sweet as a sin, the tea-coloured roses like a setting sun, and the mysterious purple ones, with petals of red-violet. Piper gardens used to be hers to play in. Her brother would always give her the most beautiful ones… and now he had betrayed her trust, sending what was rightfully hers to her ungrateful daughter. The firstborn child of House Tullison, the first and only daughter of lord Tullison was getting married to a wild Northerner. Alleria sincerely hoped that he was wild like those wildlings from beyond the Wall. She hoped to never see her daughter ever again after this ceremony.<br/><br/>“Is it so?” she replied coldly, “I suppose he had forgotten about yet another promise he had made.”<br/><br/>“Alleria, love, don’t think too much on it. Let’s…” Aeron was interrupted by appearance of a servant.<br/><br/>“M’lord, m’lady,” he bowed in reverence, “Few guests have already arrived. They bear a bison on their banner.”<br/><br/>“Ah, that must be the Wisents arriving early… to talk, I assume.”<br/><br/>“To talk about the possibilities, you mean.”<br/><br/>“Yes, we should go and meet our guests, my love.” Lord Aeron touched his wife’s hand and took it in his, as she looked back to the yard where her children practiced archery. She quickly turned back to the servant, “Go and tell them to go and clean themselves, I will not have my children seen like that by House Wisent.”<br/><br/>“Of course, m’lady, at once.” The servant disappeared into the dark chambers of Riverred Castle, soon followed by lord and lady Tullison.<br/><br/><div align="center">***</div><br/><strong>Where:</strong>Riverred, training grounds<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Alyssin<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/EdricTullison_zpse4041ffd.jpg)</div>“It’s your turn, sweet sister,” said Edric, handing a quiver full of arrows to the blond-haired girl. “Better make it a good one as you might not be able to do it anymore.”<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/HowellRivers_zps8fa2f4ba.jpg)</div>“I wonder if Northerners are as wild as they say,” mused the bastard boy, with no parents, only his name to tell everyone of their shame. “Maybe if they do take after wildlings, they will allow a lady a bow, you know,” he said and shrugged his shoulders.<br/><br/>“Arwel, your mother was a Greystark. You’d know.” The Tullison heir smiled, showing his white teeth, and nudged the brown-haired young man.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/ArwelTullison_zps41489e51.jpg)</div>“I was seven when my parents died. Do you think I’d remember?” Arwel, cousin to Alyssin and Edric, son to Arwyn and Aeric, both killed in Robert’s Rebellion, shook his head and raised his hands in a theatric gesture, “Why yes, I do,” he grinned, “I remember father sparring with mother once, but it was more… brawling than fighting. In private.”<br/><br/>“Ah, I see…” Edric blushed, realizing what Arwel had just said.<br/><br/>“You dirty scoundrel,” Howell Rivers, the bastard, laughed aloud. So loud, in fact, that none of the four youngsters had heard the steps of their boy servant, Travis.<br/><br/>“M’lady, m’lords,” his voice was shaking, “your lady mother says you should best get ready ‘fore they arrive. House…” he stopped as he couldn’t remember the name, “the… the…bison-bearers, I mean, bison on their banner…”<br/><br/>“Thank you, Travis,” said Edric before turning to his sister, “Come on, last arrow before you’re all pretty again,” he smiled at her. “We don’t want to make mother mad again, after all.”<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Mechanics</div><div class="spoiler_body">Alyssin should make a roll of 8d6, keeping 5 highest rolls and adding them together. The DC to hit is a mere 9, so I imagine she'll shoot brilliantly!<br/></div></div><br/><div align="center">***</div><br/><strong>Where:</strong>Riverred Castle hall<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Alyssin, Wylla<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/RandallWisent_zps77689e05.jpg)</div>Lord Randall was quieter than usual as he had not said more than a handful of words since they left Wisent Keep. They were travelling for good few days before they even got to the Trident, where the road turned east to Riverred. Lord Wisent was very strict as to who would go and who wouldn’t.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/DaeronWisent_zps0d619be1.jpg)</div><div class="floatleft">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/DaliaWisent_zpsc8fd1ab0.jpg)</div>In the end, he allowed only four of his children this privilege. His secondborn daughter, the red-haired and well-mannered Wylla, the brown-haired twins, Daeron and Dalia, and his heir, Davyn. His heir, but not his first son, as he would always lament. Not that he didn’t care for Davyn – Davyn meant the world to him, but it didn’t change the fact that he was not his firstborn Wyl. Randall had lost his firstborn son during Robert’s Rebellion, in one of his house’s skirmishes against the Greystarks. Wyl was barely a child back then and so was his opponent.<div class="floatright">(http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k388/eryrwyn/DavynWisent_zps230fe84f.jpg)</div><br/><br/>The younger brother of the current lord Greystark. Tybolt Greystark. He remembered the name very well. Every night he would pray to gods, both Old and New, for the man’s severed head and the chance to wield a sword against him, to pierce his heart and rip it out of his chest. But he couldn’t get him. He could get any other member of House Greystark, but not Tybolt, because Tybolt was gone. Disappeared right after the rebellion finished, deriving Randall of his vengeance.<br/><br/>He had tried to forgive the rest of the Greystarks though. He had made his move, he had offered his secondborn daughter, Wylla, to wed the Greystark heir. Lewys wouldn’t hear of it however. He said he had already promised to unite his house and the house of his late wife, Tullisons. He should thank lord Lewys for putting a brilliant idea into his head with this information. He smiled, looking at his youngest daughter Dalia, then turning his eyes so that they rested on Wylla’s red hair. He did get what he wanted in the end. He wasn’t accustomed to being said “no” and wouldn’t take it for an answer. He pressed and pressed, until House Greystark and Wisent arrived at a consensus that Wisent was content with. They would bury the hatchet soon.<br/><br/>They had arrived in the Tullison castle soon. They sent out a couple of riders ahead to tell of their arrival. By the time they reached the gates, they were let in and greeted by the Tullisons servants who directed them to the castle hall where every member of the family waited. Lord Aeron in his red and blue clothes, beautifully adorned with flames and waves. Lady Alleria, looking particularly striking in her blue-red gown with a similar motif to the one on her husband’s tunic. Their heir and only son, boy of seventeen named Edric; and the beautiful purple-eyed bride whose wedding they had come to attend.<br/><br/>“Welcome to Riverred!” said lord Aeron as he approached lord Randall and smiled. “How has the road been?”<br/><br/>“I’m sure it’s been less hospitable than we are going to be,” chimed in the young Tullison heir, what got a laugh from lord Randall and his sons.<br/><br/>“Right you are, lad!” he smiled and greeted everyone in turn, stopping by Alyssin and kneeling before her to kiss her hand, “Isn’t that our beautiful bride?”<br/><br/>Soon, they were all seated with a wealth of different meals being served. Most of them included fish of some kind, which was only logical considering the trout in Tullison’s coat-of-arms. The children were seated next to one another, leaving lords to talk about politics and business, while the progeny got a chance to get to know one another. The Wisent boys were soon laughing out loud after Arwel, Alyssin’s cousin, had told them a bawdy joke. The eighteen years old Dalia smiled at Alyssin and whispered, “You’re so beautiful. I wish I had your eyes.”