Relena could not wait for this dinner to be over, she was almost certain that one would be able to cut the tension in the room with a blade. For most of the meal the young queen remained silent, mostly just nodding politely at what other people had to say to her, for she herself was uncertain what she was ought to say to begin a conversation with the people that were surrounding her. Stannis had never been the most talkative, his wife wasn’t too fond of her and Lady Shireen, the only person she had anything in common with, was busy talking to the youngest Stark daughter.
When there was mention of the winter ending soon, Relena’s head lifted quickly, turning towards the silver haired man that had spoke. “That would be the first time Maester Pycelle was right with something.”, she mumbled, before Lord Stark could say anything, as she led the golden goblet towards her lips once more. The queen wasn’t too fond of the idea of winter ending soon, on the one hand a short winter meant that the country could go back to normal soon and the stocks would easily last that long, which was certainly positive but on the other hand she had said that they would marry once summer returned.
“And the last summer was quite long, reason enough to expect that winter will last longer than just one more month.”, Relena pointed out, while her goblet found its way back onto the table. “… though I am sure farmers would be quite pleased if that was the truth, which would be a delight.”, she added quickly, not wanting to sound too negative.
“It would be, yes. Which is why I am still skeptical but, the idea is nice” He told Relena before a frown passed over his face. He knew she didn’t want winter to end, if she could have her way he figured she would just have an eternal winter but it couldn’t last forever. “Very true but for the farmers and other common folk whose lively hood depends on these things that summer provides…”
He trailed off not wanting to really cause any kind of debate, especially now with Stannis here. Stannis, Viserys had noted seemed to make him more on edge than Cersei did and he held on to Relena’s words and his older more blind thinking to get him through Stannis’s glower. He was a dragon. He wouldn’t be put in his place by an old Stag nor cower in fear from one. If Stannis was iron breaking before ever thinking about bending. Viserys decided he would be diamond. Unbreakable.
Luckily for Viserys, Eddard took his attempt at trying to talk to Stannis and Arya and Sansa had taken this distraction as a way to bicker, Arya starting it almost as soon as Eddard addressed Stannis, leaving Shireen free and one hand slyly gestured Relena to her cousin, knowing they hadn’t gotten much chance to speak together. Viserys though gave the Stark girls a thoughtful look and shook his head, half wondering if he’d had more of a normal childhood if he’d have had that with either of his own siblings or his neice and nephews. As the cooks brought out the last meal, dessert, the Stark girls seemed to quiet down and Viserys slowly took a bite of his cake. Savoring the sweet taste, leaving any political talk to Relena if it needed to occur.
Dua Sobek, who brings the rain, who makes the herbage green! Praise to you, Sobek, Lord of the Waters! Hail to you, Lord of the Inundation! May you bring life to all the earth!
With Set, it feels like he’s many layers of tough skin, and deep under it all, there’s this big, gooey heart. Big enough to love everyone who cares to hear his voice. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that there’s so much more to him. So much more. It applies to all of our Gods, not just the Netjeru. What they are, and what they choose to show us…
When they meet us, when their presence fills our lives, are we seeing only what they can safely show us? Are we glimpsing the tip of the tip of the iceberg here? They are amazing beings, they are powerful and perfect in ways we simply cannot grasp. One of our fellow Pagans once referred to this about Thor. How the Thunderer wielded storms, but not just the storms on earth, but the electrical storms that occurred all over the universe. I suppose that magnitude helps to put into perspective just how… How grand our Gods truly are.
Yet they show us what we can handle, we are truly blessed by their presence in our lives, their love, wisdom and guidance. It is a wonderful thing, to know that there is an eternity to be with them.
This is why I take issue with those who consider the Gods their “equal” or “worth working with”. They have been before we were, they are with us now, and they will remain long after our race has gone from the corporeal world. Respect something greater than yourself.
Set once told me that, if I was the size of a grain of rice, he would span a galaxy in size. An astronomical difference in size. but he loves me all the same…
And you said it yourself, that gods show us only what we can handle.
And, sure, maybe it shows wisdom to show respect and care in worshiping them– but also not everyone has that capacity and ability.
The thing is, to have that wonder, that awe in the gods like that requires a level of vulnerability and trust that not everyone can access starting off… We’ve had hurts and learned to limit ourselves to avoid them, and we’ve learned to dissociate away our pain and our own majesty, for we, too, in human form are only a fraction of our actual spiritual “size…”
So as the gods allow us to see them in our mask of invulnerability, our dissociation, our pain, our limitation, it shows me not the ugliness of irreverence, but the beauty and care and the extent of love the gods have for me and others when we are at our worst, most hurting, most blocked, most limited, most desiring of love we are afraid that we have lost.
If you look at a fractal of a deity reaching down to touch the face of a being who is making dirty jokes with them, or seeing the deities’ aspects of majesty reflected in their limited and fragile forms, you are witnessing a communion nonetheless. It is no different from seeking to access a wider or different part of that fractal of divinity. The stages could be different, but the process is the same, and it takes the same humility and the same access of their vulnerable heart at the capacity that they can have trust.
I believe the gods allow us to see what we can see as a gift and that sometimes what we need to see is ourselves exactly as we are, and the gods, interacting with us as we are, and having love for us at the complexity of our lives, our choices, our struggles, our freedom, our faults.
I don’t see irreverence in loving the gods – as long as it is love – as a waste or an insult or a stain on the gods’ name. I see it as a blessing that they are able to love the facets of the being that I love as they are opening up to their own soul and journey in many forms– as many forms as there are human beings.
I see it as a beautiful thing to love, because love saves us from isolation, love saves us from grief, love saves us from pain. And love opens our hearts to the wonders of the universe and to the woders of our deities, however much of them we are allowed to see at once, it is always beautiful.
Green eyes narrowed slightly, while Relena looked at her fiancé. “Good, because a brave man would be capable to make his peace with my mother, because you cannot possibly expect me to become your wife while you are still having a feud with a member of my family.”, she pointed out.
“I am sure you would expect the same if I were to hide each time your sister crosses my path.”
Relena had to spot short of letting her head fall into her hand, when Viserys suggested they all could dine together with her family at some point. Stannis clearly disliked her siblings and mother, the young queen wasn’t quite sure why, but Lord Stark seemed to have noticed it was well, sometimes she even wondered if her Hand knew what had caused his hostility towards them, but the raven haired woman had never dared asking, for she dreaded what the answer might be.
As she watched the Targaryen man try to talk to her family members, Relena reached for her goblet. She wasn’t usually one to drink, but at the moment it felt as if wine was the only thing that could make this dinner at least a bit bearable. “Renly has told me that there are quite a few interesting books in the library of Storm’s End, perhaps you should visit it some time when you get the chance.”, the queen was addressing the Lady Shireen, but she could not help but glance at the Lord Baratheon, hoping that the prospect of finally receiving his families ancestral home would light up a bit.
Stannis did not seem pleased that he had to sit and dine with the Targayren whelp but it had to be done and he was less than pleased at the idea of dinning with the rest of his niece’s family and maintained his stern composition. “Yes, I think that would be a lovely idea.” He stated as he took his eyes from Viserys to Relena. “Storm’s End will be a lovely place, Shireen.” He added as he stabbed his food before eating it. His wife sipped on her drink in front of her and least Shireen seemed happy enough, giggling at Arya Stark’s antics that were borderline about to get her in trouble.
Viserys ate, enjoying the small amounts of silence when they came and spoke as casually as one could with Lord Stark and Sansa, who seemed to be less than thrilled to be here and he couldn’t blame her, no one really seemed thrilled to be here but some of them were making it better than others.
The silver haired dragon eyed Relena as he too drank from his goblet, trying to block out everything the Lady Baratheon was saying as it seemed to be more just nonsense. But the fact Stannis seemed welcomed to the idea of Storm’s End so it seemed like Viserys and Daenerys would get their family’s lands back. Daenerys could be Lady of Storm’s End. The thought made Viserys want to smile but as his eyes caught Stannis’s eyes the happiness died all too quickly. “I heard the maestesr say that they believe the winter will end in a month.” He mentioned. “They say the signs are all there from years past when there has been a short winter. What do you think, Lord Stark? Will we have a short or a long winter?”
What do people think of a hollow sculpture of Ammit with a movable jaw? So people could feed things to her if desired? (both you know, offerings but also for heka purposes)
THIS IS SO SMART!!
I don’t think I’m going to start a statue at this time but this gave me a good idea of putting some art of Ammit on a jar and feeding her names. (Maybe even just things I want to leave my life?)
Or!!!! What about if you make a little jar the base, the opening being her mouth, and build around it?
Naw, movable jaws are simple to make and I want something quite anatomically correct for Ammit’s various parts.
Extremely rough one minute design sketches:
Oh no your idea is by far cooler. I was just thinking of something I could do for myself because the idea of having a little Ammit to throw hearts into is just amazing
❛ the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and be loved in return. ❜ ❛ i owe you nothing. and you are nothing to me. thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love. ❜
❛ seasons may change, winter to spring; i love you until the end of time. ❜
❛ come what may, i will love you until my dying day. ❜
❛ he will fight for me. ❜
❛ it’s a little bit funny. ❜
❛ never fall in love with a woman who sells herself. it always ends bad. ❜
❛ i can’t carry on without you. ❜
❛ why does my heart cry? ❜
❛ i don’t like this ending. ❜
❛ i don’t need you anymore! ❜
❛ we are creatures of the underworld. we can’t afford to love. ❜
❛ i’m paid to make men believe what they want to believe. ❜
❛ i can’t believe it, i’m in love. ❜
❛ the difference between you and i is that you can leave anytime you choose. ❜
❛ when will i begin to live again? ❜
❛ you’re a beautiful woman. ❜
❛ i love sex. ❜
❛ where were you last night? ❜
❛ you don’t have to lie to me. ❜
❛ we have to end it. everybody knows. ❜
❛ i saw you together. ❜
❛ it’s nothing. it’s just an infatuation … it’s nothing. ❜
❛ you’re going to be bad for business, i can tell. ❜
❛ then i’ll write a song and whenever you sing it or hear it or whistle or hum it then you’ll know. it’ll mean we love one another. ❜
❛ it’s not that i’m a jealous man. i just don’t like other people touching my things. ❜
❛ today’s the day when dreaming ends. ❜
❛ how could i know in those last fatal days that a force darker than jealousy and stronger than love had begun to take hold. ❜
❛ only you can save him. ❜
❛ i was a fool to believe. it all ends today. ❜
❛ outside it may be raining but in here it’s entertaining. ❜
❛ things aren’t always what they seem. ❜
❛ things are exactly the way they seem. ❜
❛ everything’s going so well! ❜
❛ i couldn’t! i couldn’t go through with it! i saw you there and i felt differently! I couldn’t pretend! ❜
❛ i don’t want to pretend anymore. i didn’t want to lie. ❜
She kept her hands fixed between his dark mane, fingers tracing soothing lines over his scalp. and she hummed softly.
“I thought, perhaps if it is a boy, we should name him Martyn for your father, or Rodrick for your uncle. As for a girl, I am not certain I can think of any I can settle on.”
“What about after one of your brothers?” He asked noticing how she had left them out of the equation. “Wylla, after Wylla the warrior maiden? Nymeria?” He asked unsure himself about what kind of name to give their child if it were a daughter. There were so many options and to choose one for the babe seemed impossible. Jory sat back, sighing heavily. “How did Eddard and Cat name all of their children.” he laughed shaking his head slightly.
Relena’s shoulders dropped slightly while one of her dark eyebrows rose. “Why couldn’t you tell me that before I agreed to marrying you? I would have just send her into battle and won the war with ease.”, she complained, the hint of a smirk tugging on the corner of her lips. “But you do realize that you will have to make your peace with my mother before we get married, right?” After all they would spend the rest of their lives under one roof and the young queen certainly didn’t want to find her husband hiding in corridors just, so he could avoid Cersei. “I always thought you dragons were brave.”
The dark haired woman let out a sigh. “At least one of us is.”, she said with a roll of her eyes. “No, feel free to return to my brothers. I am sure Joffrey is eagerly waiting for you.”, while she spoke Relena was already walking down the hall into the direction of the Hand’s tower.
For quite some time Relena was just staring at the door, unwilling to walk out of it. This dinner would be even less amusing than any she had had with her family lately, but there was no way around it. Her hands went over her dress once, to straighten the fabric, before one of her ladies finally opened the door. While the queen stepped outside one of her hands was still adjusting the seam of her sleeve. “It is always hard to believe anything a person said after they had to take a short break, especially if it is a compliment.”, Relena pointed out, glancing up from her arm while she spoke, before reaching for Viserys’.
“My Lords, my Ladies.”, the queen said, walking towards the head of the table, before sitting down. “My mother and my siblings excuse themselves, they are used to dinning earlier.” A lie, of course, but with her uncle and her fiancé at the table, Relena had believed there were enough chances for trouble, without adding Joffrey and her mother to the mixture. “I hope we will have more opportunities to together during your stay, don’t you agree, Viserys?”, she asked, her turning away from her uncle’s family to turn towards the Targaryen.
Viserys shuddered at the idea of Cersei on the battlefield. It would have been a terrifying thought and one he was glad he’d never experience. At her next set of words, he straightened he’s back and held his head a bit higher. “I’m brave. I’mjust a bit wary of her now that the battlefeild hand rules have changed is all” He told her with confidence. War was easier than these months of courting had been.
He cleared his throat before replying to Relena, having watched how easily she making this all seem and that’s when he remembered it was just simple conversation. It wouldn’t be hard. “Yes,” He began. “I do hope that is the case, perhaps even with your mother and siblings” He told Relena, knowing exactly where and why she had spoken about her family as she had. “How was your journey Lord Stannis?” He asked the older stag who didn’t seem impressed by the pleasantries one bit.
Viserys had no idea what to say to the wife who was staring at the young couple every now and than. So, it seemed he had to change tactics. “Lady Shireen, Relena tells me you are also an avid reader. Our library is quite expansive. I’m sure you will find it to your liking.” he mentioned to the young girl, a smile crept to his lips before his violet eyes caught her mother’s as she glared at Viserys and he looked at her for a brief moment before focusing on his food and wondered if she thought Relena would receive the same or similar ‘curse’ she had.
Goldnwulf 