Chapter 4: Welcome Feast
The Great Hall was well lit by three well stocked three hearths, and brackets freshly stocked with new torches. On the walls hung great tapestries, showing ancient victories of House Lychester over many rivals, from the First Men and their fae allies, to Ironborn under Greyiron rule, and some few with heraldry that might well be Blackwood, Bracken, Vance, or Darry. Some others showed more fanciful events; parlays with giants, hunts for unicorns, riddles with stunted witch-women. All were faded, some repaired more than once.
Amidst the returning hunters, Ser Jasper’s wide entourage of wards, stormlander courtiers and foreign guests were added, creating a sense of novelty and cheer. This grew even more so as barrels of fine wine were tapped, and candied meats and soft bread were laid out upon the tables [Ser Berion’s prize being reserved for the wedding feast].
At the high table, Lord Lyman sat amidst his most high ranking guests, flanked by Father Matheus, ranking clergyman of Fairmarket, in star-studded robes of rich white cloth, and Lord Raylon Ravensong, Lord of Wendish Town. The red-haired and bearded Ser Jasper Wylde, the King’s High Reeve, sat only slightly to Raylon’s right and beside him, in a place of high honour, his ward and the bride-to be, Lady Sylvia Connington sat beside Lady Iris Lychester, who was impeccably dressed in silks of her family colours, trimmed in ermine. Beside Father Mattheus, Ser Adham was engaging the Most Devout in polite conversation, while Ser Naton boasted of his many victories to a rather bored looking Dunstan Tullison, and to their left, a raven-haired courtier.
Below the high table, two long tables ran perpendicular down the hall toward the low table where the Lychesters feted the smallfolk lucky enough to earn their lord’s favour, the hedge knights who had earned the good graces of Lord Lyman in their wolf slaying earlier in the day, in addition to some late arrived travellers Lord Lyman had decided not to leave prey to the wolves.
Many of House Blackfin sat at varying places along the middle tables, with Ser Berion and Lady Gwendolyn seated within the immediate eyeline of the high table. With them sat Lady Moiraine Tullison and Ser Lyonel Darry and his wife, the Lady Aliana as well as the High Reeve’s wards, Saerai Page and Bryn Blackfin, and the Reachman Ser Marq Durwell.
Ser Thoren sat a little farther down beside Ser Konrad Storm, a dour looking, young stormlander knight from Fairmarket, and Brother Wilber, a man of the cloth whose nose was already reddening from the free-flowing wine. Immediately across from them sat Jenny Goodbrother, the Lady Yve, and Eilene Wylde. A few chairs down, just within a comfortable speaking distance, Alyssa Knollwood sat with Valen Vance, Darvil Blackfin, Ser Gareth, Daveth Darry, and the Reachman, Ser Ronnel Beesbury.
Gerhart Blackfin was relegated to the very end of the middle tables, a bare notch above the hedge knights and smallfolk. Beside him sat a smattering of minor squires, but he seemed more inclined to lend his ear to the hedge knights, the Wandering Septon Father Brooks, and the bare handful of Poor Brothers who had accompanied the faithful as guards. With these poorest guests sat latecomers in the dress of a Septa, the simple tunic of a Warrior’s Son, and between them, a young lady in a slightly faded dress in the colours of House Mooten.
Abruptly the conversation died down, and Lord Lyman welcomed his guests, his manner seeming perhaps a little forced; strained, as he shouldered his formal responsibilities. When he finished, Father Matheus stood, a man hook nosed with short cropped hair and greying temples, and every ear bent forward to hear his voice, for this was the gods’ chosen servant in Fairmarket. He uttered a sincere and formal prayer, his neck bent reverently forward, though his voice carried easily to the back of the great hall, and when he had finished, there was a moment’s quiet reflection before festive conversation resumed.
[OOC- At this early stage of the scene, propriety dictates character eat and converse as seating dictates, though this will become less of an expectation later.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:38, Tue 23 Nov 2021.