Garnett's return

Pale green and sunlight dazzled the landscape that flowed outside the carriage windows, an early spring breeze greeting her return to Ygriss. What might have been a placid scene was disrupted by the constant pound of hooves and the lurching of her vehicle. Mud sucked at the wheels, the whole cabin jerking when the poor beasts pulled it free with each step, but despite the painful jarring of her spine, a faint satisfied smile rested up on Garnett's lips as she watched the delegation churn around her.

Lady Wenfrith now, although still 'Your Highness' or 'Princess Garnett' by birth but those days were long past. Save for her tall sturdy son that awaited her from his court in Wenyl, it might have all been a dream. Might have been .. but in the leather case tucked carefully at her side, she bore the beginnings of a treaty that might never had been reached without the payment of a debt from those old days. How often had she wondered if she'd done the correct thing in saving that life? Even at the time, Uhtred had disapproved..one of the few times she had knowingly done such a thing. His reasons had been sound.

Her gloved hand smoothed over her face to still moisture that wanted to seep into her eyes, that facade that she had schooled feeling as though it might crack within the privacy of her carriage. So many tendrils crept from that single act, and all so different from the ones she had tried to cultivate at the time. Her eyes closed against the memories, thankful for the sharp jerk of the carriage that forced her to be attentive.

"Welcome home, Lady Wenfrith." After more than twenty years, that name still sounded as though it belonged to someone else, but she lifted her head attentively. A polite proper smile pasted itself to her lips, and she inclined her head as she took the footman's hand to help her from the carriage. "His Highness wishes to meet with you in his study. Do you require any refreshment first? Or perhaps you wish to wash the road from you, m'lady?"

She dismissed all the hospitable offers with a shake of her head. "I will see him now. Thank you." Before the concern and well-wishes of her return could overwhelm her, she slipped off through the darker business wing of the estate, knowing her children by the long dead Lord Wenfrith would wish to see her, but it was Uhtred's child she sought first. It was for him she had left.

Quietly, she rapped her knuckles on the thick wood door of his study, unsurprised when he answered it quickly. Her smile gentled into something genuine, and she accepted his kiss to her cheek and his warm welcome home. Beneath it, she could see Drysllthen was impatient to know what news she brought, but her training held for her son ushered her to the couch in his well-used study.

"Would you like a glass of wine, Mother?" Drysllthen offered, his long legs carrying him over the piles of paper and books that littered his haven, a sort of controlled chaos engulfing the room. Her brow furrowed slightly at the offer, her glance darting to him away from the massive map he'd commissioned for his wall, the old borders of Nharati still solid on it. The glint in his eyes made her chuckle softly, her head shaking as she watched her son pour her usual tea rather than the wine he'd offered.

Her gloved fingers delicately took hold of the cup's handle, Garnett wetting her mouth as she watched her son lounge with deliberate and and wholly unbelievable casualness against the corner of his desk. When it became that he would not ask, not yet at least, she relieved his misery, extending the leather case to him. "Read it for yourself."

Calmly, she sipped her tea, watching his bearded face from the corner of her eye as he read over the document. His brow arched slowly, and the Prince suddenly looked up at her with disbelief on his face. "Do you know what this says?" He demanded, fingertips jabbing the page.

She simply nodded, the corners of her lips struggling to keep from curving. "Of course I do, Drysllthen."

"Then..but how.." He stuttered, elation lighting his freckled face as he searched hers for some sign, some understanding, and finally she smirked at him, pride in her eyes. "How did this happen so soon? What..we thought..Tyltin.." Apparently the poor lad could no longer form coherent sentences. "Do you know what this means?" He finally blurted out, pushing off from his desk to shake the paper in her face, laughter nearly making his words incomprehensible.

"Yes." That calm was a struggle to keep about her in the face of his excitement, and when he swooped in to embrace her with a kiss to her cheek, the laugh that erupted from her was real. Her arms curled around him in motherly fashion.

"How did they manage this? We thought it would take months to get to this point if at all. I never dreamed it would happen so soon. I mean, I know this doesn't resolve it, but he's agree to treat? And he won't press the battle to us? Mother, this is Tyltin! The Swordking!" There was something almost accusatory in his disbelief, as if she'd brought him the wrong document. The smug look on her face began to sink in, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you have something to do with this?" He shook the pages again, excitement making him sound more gruff than he was, his eyes, those painfully familiar eyes, focused sharply on her face.

"If you'll let me get a word in, Drysllthen...." She chided softly, plucking the document from his fingers. "I know quite well with whom the treaty is. I spoke to him myself." His eyes seemed as though they might bulge from his head as she continued, but he held his tongue. "As for what I did, it was long ago. A debt long left unpaid, but that.." She nodded toward the paper, pleased to find she could keep her face smooth for the moment. "..settles it. I'd honestly not expected it to even be remembered."