Journey to the East

Yeah, where were they now? Dalton honestly did not have a clue. Last he knew they were in Braavos or some place like that in Essos. Not that he visited them often anyway. Their ways just met sometimes and some time was spent together, but they had not been in the Isles for quite some time. For all he knew they might already be dead. He did not believe any such things though. Not because it was something that he just did not want to believe, no. They were just not the kind of people to get themselves killed easily.

“I don’t really know, actually. Doubt that they will even become important to any of this. They tend to stay out of the family business since it bores them I think. But I don’t think you will have to worry too much about meeting them. Father does not call often for them, even when he flirts with starting a war.” Well, at least he thought so. Until a few days ago, he would not have believed that father would slay Tullies in the streets of King’s Landing. Rationality was becoming relative fairly swiftly.

Though hopefully, some things would stay the same. For the time being, he decided to only worry about one member of this family potentially trying to catch and enslave the lady in front of him, instead of three. Dalton gave that one a curious look, but also a soft smile. “I would try to keep both of you away from my family if at all possible. Who knows what kind of bad blood they are building up with the same kind of hearsay everyone else works with.”

He simply shrugged. It would have been a lie to say that he had not thought about this multiple times before and come to the same conclusion. Ruling was not what he wanted to do. It was not what father had truly wanted to do, in Dalton’s opinion, and that might have contributed to him becoming such a loathsome creature. If ‘doing away with his house’ would not be coupled with untold misery, he would not have terribly minded it. He, his sisters, his father, none of them were made to rule fools on a rock. Yet, Dalton know in his heart that he would rather rule himself if it meant that someone worse did not. It was part of the reason as to why he was here, instead of having just run away.

Though he would appreciate it if his family did not constantly create problems for him to solve, if that was at all possible. Even if, admittedly, he was not exactly going for the easy routes himself. After having given a knowing shrug to the ruling comment, the topic of Sera naturally drew him back in. “I don’t plan to lead her anywhere, really. She did ask me to allow her to find herself, though, so I will simply be supportive of that. After all, we roped her into it. A small personal epiphany does not seem like a bad thing to get out of that.” This time, he smiled. Judging from progress so far, the young stag had already learned a lot about herself. Hopefully, she would find her true path here before she found an untimely death. Hopefully, they all would.
“Not everyone can be as set for life as you, after all.”

Swaying ladies to action. Yes, head definitely done tha.t Oh, he had most certainly done that. But for now, the lady Tully did not need to know such things. Eventually, she would realize what was going on and would simply have to accept it. That was how it had been for him too, after all. He had tried his best to be reasonable and to explain, but there was a limit as to what a mere man could do. Especially with a pretty redhead wanting him, of course.

“You know me, I try to be responsible. I made everything very clear to her and told her she would not have any obligations towards me. She will be fine. However…” He allowed a small pause to pass as he leaned back and up at the stars. There were quite a few up at the moment, making navigation easier for them. “…You can only get an epiphany from things in front of you. Her being thrust into the world like this is exactly what will help her form herself, out of the shadows of others. Granted, we are still here too, but that can’t be helped.”
A shrug followed.
“Getting caught up in the atmosphere is not a bad thing. As long as the latter is not designed to take advantage of you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that I get nothing out of it. After all, watching others grow always has an effect on oneself as well,” he replied, reciprocating the smile. Well that and the lady giving him affection of course, but he did not feel that reiterating that would be a good thing to do. Besides, it was true as well. Given that he had only really spent a lot of time around one woman who had ended up cutting ties with him in a rather decisive way, some more experience was welcome. Especially with someone whom he did not bodily desire, such as the lady right beside him.

It was pretty odd. Usually, that only happened with his sisters. Still though, he had answered that question against her wishes, of sorts, so he decided to give her the space she wanted. “I will leave you to your thoughts then. Do not stay outside for too long though. You might not feel like it, but it is rather cool here. Nights at sea can be treacherous. Make sure to not fall sick – or overboard. That would be a bit of a problem.” Laughing, he would start to walk away with that bit of gallows humour. A hand was lifted in a gesture of farewell. “Good night, lady Tully. We will talk more in the morrow. Most likely with the lady Baratheon as well.”