[D2 EA] Making Connections

[Kaliya Redding]

Kaliya had missed the Lord Heir that morning, by mere moments apparently, a fact she found herself a little sorry for when she heard. She had no good pretence to call on him, so when she spied Kevan crossing the compound as she was returning to her pavilion, she took the opportunity to flag him down. "Lorrd Dunn? arre you busy?"

[Kevan Dunn]

"No, not particularly, Lady Redding. Good to see you." He greeted her with due courtesy and not even his smile betrayed any record of the prior morning. The eyes, however, did, spying her features under what covered them just barely. "Does anything require my attention?" He certainly had ideas what that something could be.

[Kaliya Redding]

"Not prressingly," though if he kept look at her that way, she believed that would change, quickly. "I thought I might take a moment, have a cup of wine, beforre continuing my day. Would you join me?"

[Kevan Dunn]

"I'd like to, under one condition." He chuckled, lifting one brow. "Don't enhance the wine." His gaze didn't lose much of its sultriness though, it was more a joke than a rebuke. "I have a joust later this afternoon, and I don't want anything to impede me in the saddle."

He then gestured forth. "After you."

[Kaliya Redding]

She chuckled, "do not worry, the only lance you shall need concerrn yourrself with in the joust is the one they give you for the tilt." She felt entirely no guilt over her actions of the previous morning, not even for her deception. Quite the opposite, as she led the way into her pavilion and found the wine bottle, she was imagining the sheer possibilities, had keeping the lusty young man all night been an option.

She presented a pair of cups, unadulterated apart from the addition of just a little water, it was too early in the day for strong wine and, as he said, Kevan had a joust later.

[Kevan Dunn]

"What you pledge sounds a lot like preemption." He contributed to her ideas with a mental imagery of her taking due care of putting his other spear to exhausted rest. He pulled the flap down once he stepped in.

"But then, I think we should talk beforehand more than we did yesterday." He took the glass from her fingers and sipped gently. He still felt the thumping from yesterday's heavy drinking at the back of his head.

"Quite the fashion statement." He regarded her shamelessly once more.

[Kaliya Redding]

"Prresumptous? Why, Lorrd Dunn, I am but yourr humble serrvant. The only trrouble you will have frrom me is the trrouble you ask forr." Kaliya sips her wine with a cattish smile and cocks an eyebrow towards him, "then you shall have all you can bearr," she promised.

She twirls for Kevan to give him a better view of her dress, the fabric floating, light and breezy, and probably a little chill this early in Spring. The only thing keeping the skirt from being entirely see through is the sheer number of gathers about the waist, growing more and more transparent as the skirt cascaded, the folds spreading into the fullness of the skirt. Just as lightly, she drops into one of the chairs and indicates for him to make himself comfortable.

"How arre you feeling about the joust?"

[Kevan Dunn]

He clicked his tongue as she whirled, particularly enjoying the moment when the fabric fell back onto her curves, hugging them close. "Am I the only one with this privilege? I feel many others may have troubling thoughts they haven't asked for because of this dress and how you look in it. You certainly invite spring with open arms." He smirked, taking the opposite seat.

"The Joust? You mean my joust, for the squires? I am not going to be indignant. Father's absence gives me bigger concerns, so this even looks more like an opportunity to ensure visibility of my family than anything else. That said, I fight on foot better, but I should be fine. Why the concern, Lady Redding?"

[Kaliya Redding]

"You make me to be quite the rruffian, Lorrd. I cannot help what men think, if you would send me frrom yourr sight, I would go, but I will not be rresponible forr men who arre too afrraid of theirr own cocks to help themselves."

As the conversation shifted to the joust, she frowned curiously, "please, Lorrd, I would prreferr you call me Kaliya. But," she continued on, "arre you so seasoned a veterran, you no longerr feel any nerrves? I cerrtainly would envy such confidence."

[Kevan Dunn]

"I'd say I am cocksure by nature, Kaliya." Kevan laughed, tracing a circle along the rim of the glass with his finger as he rocked back in the chair for a moment, not losing balance. "You're only a ruffian if you get caught. And that's what I am a little concerned about. I'd be grateful if you managed to avoid acquiring a reputation. We're already in a difficult position legitimacy-wise without my father here. I would hate to have you sent away." A glint of a serious look targeted her. "In fact, if you could do the opposite, spreading a good tale about the condition of House Dunn through sweet whispers, I would be very appreciative."

[Kaliya Redding]

Kaliya narrowed her eyes slightly. Anyone apart from this one man, heir to the Burrow, would have been summarily ejected to allow her to fume in peace at his audacity. But she was as sweet and composed as ever, teasing, "why, Lorrd Dunn, who arre you planning to tell?"

She considered the request a moment, turning the possibilities, before nodding. "Yes, I believe I there arre some things I can do to that end."

[Kevan Dunn]

He noticed that and kept his open, gazing straight at her. Not challengingly or sultrily, but with a measure of worried seriousness. But his lips formed an apologetic smile and he rubbed the side of his neck.

"No-one, Kaliya. From my perspective you may become a prospective spouse of someone worthy I'd like to count among my allies. I'd like to keep that prospect intact. Is it a bad wish to have?" He nodded to the second statement. "Thank you. With his absence my father forces my hand to try to manage family affairs here."

[Kaliya Redding]

Softening, "that you would speak so highly of me is a surrprrise, but not an unwelcome one. Should therre be someone you desirre that I meet, I would be most honourred." There is an earnestness about her, that certainly seems genuine.

"With all due rrespect, might I suggest you not 'trry' manage the family affairrs here? The Burrow will be yourrs one day, and you alrready arre managing things herre. Continue as you have, and worry less about what yourr fatherr has orr has not done."

[Kevan Dunn]

"I am definitely using my own judgement here. That includes you, Kaliya, of course, even though I realise that you have an advantage over me you don't over my conversely biased father." He smirked drinking some wine. "And I am happy we can see eye to eye on some issues. I'll be on the lookout for you. If I am to marry a Northerner like father wants, I'd like to forge some ties a bit closer to home in other ways."

[Kaliya Redding]

"Of courrse. When all is said and done, I am, afterr all, in yourr serrvice," she sounded quite serious as she said this, almost sullen. She sipped her wine, but it seemed to have soured on her tongue, the rreminderr you arre chattel will do that. So she swirled the cup, not drinking, not speaking, but studying the heir to Burrow with the aquamarine eyes that will make his future bride feel quite giddy.

[Kevan Dunn]

He took a moment to read her emotions, and he thought he got it.

"I'd expect your opinion and suggestions of course. Even if I was just deeply cynical I couldn't count on your continued dedication if you were bound in marriage that would make you unhappy. So if someone catches your eye, do tell me please, and then we can discuss if it makes sense and what can be done about it."

He hoped that could improve her mood. His guts were telling him to make a beautiful woman sullen was a crime punishable by sex deprivation.

[Kaliya Redding]

She recognises his attempt at mollification, and she respects him for it. It was just part of The Great Game, and she understood that what you told the pieces when you needed them to move was often as important as the moves themselves. After all, as he said, a hidden dagger can quickly become a knife in the back if you aren't careful.

Too bad no one carred about my loyalty when I was fourrteen, she thinks, bitterly.

Finally, she stands with a soft sound of disappointment, or perhaps it is disgust. She walks to the door flap and tosses the remainder of her wine out. For a few moments she is silhouetted against the bright sunlight outside, her golden yellow dress all but disappearing from sight. She lets the door flap settle closed once more.

"Is therre anything I need to know beforre I send out my little birrds with theirr sweet lies?"

[Kevan Dunn]

"That I may grow to value your advice. Years of my father's upbringing are not easily unmade but in my heart I am a different man than him. To have ideas that could compete with his I need to hone them. You are a Dornish that is now a Reachwoman. You occupy a unique position and perspective that may help me find a way forward from where the Dunns are now." He didn't know what the demonstration really meant but he finished his wine. "I realise this conversation may not be too your liking, too businesslike. But I want to be honest with you, and fair, even at the expense of the undeniable pleasure that would be more on your mind had I just shut up and played the yesterday's game. But I need to think about well-being of my house first. If Lord Ashford take offence because of my father's absence, Lord Tyrell takes offence. And then we're all fucked in no good sense of this word." He sighed. "Please consider this for a moment."

[Kaliya Redding]

"Do not apologise, my Lorrd. If I seem sourr, then the fault lies with me." Indeed, if any blame could be laid at Kevan's feet, it was a small apportion. Much of her day had exposed undercurrents as dark of her dusky skin beneath her brightly coloured dress. She couldn't know that, by its end, she'd have tasted worse yet.

"I do not envy you yourr rresponsibilities. I know that whateverr futurre I find in yourr serrvice, you have trreated me morre kindly than I could have hoped frrom yourr fatherr. Forr that I am eterrnally grrateful," she says somewhat stiffly.

[Kevan Dunn]

"They are what they are. I was born to a fate and I will play it through rather than try to run away from it." He felt silent for a moment, then rose and approached her bringing his fingers to her cheek, tenderly. "I would be happy if you promised me one thing. That if we end up coupling again, it won't be for any other reason on your part than you being excited about having my cock inside you."

[Kaliya Redding]

The thrill that his words sent through her were very nearly enough to have her lead him to bed that instant. "Would you like to check underr my pillows forr a daggerr, just in case?" she teased him gently.

[Kevan Dunn]

"Aren't your fingernails enough to leave a mark?" He teased back, taking her jaw in his hand before slipping his fingers underneath the canopy of her hair, followed by a gentle massage of her nape.

[Kaliya Redding]

Kaliya sighed in pleasure at his touch, perhaps things would end on a better note than she was anticipating, his wife will be the most satisfied woman in the kingdom, orr at least the most exhausted, she mused. "You shall just have to find out. I think we have time forr a little jousting prractice beforre you'rre expected on the tourrney grrounds, if you think yourr lance is up to the task."

[Kevan Dunn]

"It's easier for you than me to check." He said as he gripped her nape to rotate her toward him, with her shapely rear ending up pressed against his loins. His other hand held her in place by a grip over her lower stomach. "But are the lists ready?" He whispered as his lips nibbled on the side of her ea they had found across the darkness of her hair.

[Kaliya Redding]

Kaliya moaned hotly, "Lorrd, the lists arre posted and you have yourr lance prreparred, all that rremains is forr you to mount up and rride."