An Altogether Amiable (Alarmingly Acrimonious) Anniversary

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

Prince Geralt had prepared for the first anniversary of his wedding to his Hightower wife in much the same way a knight prepared for a battle. He had chosen the battlefield, The Boar's Tooth Lodge, judging it to be advantageous terrain after having endeared himself to its staff earlier. He had scouted the site, having judged the cuisine and wine selection up to Alyssa's exacting standards, though the eclectic decor gave him some pause. He had fortified his position, having the staff set up in intimate table for the couple, a bouquet of fresh orchids and lilies arranged in a myrish glass vase, hoping the preparations would afford ample defense against her barbs and critiques. His fine garb was his armor, his bright smile his arms, the hired musicians his archers, and her gift his cavalry charge. If love was a battlefield, he was determined to be the victor.

He had gone ahead, as if laying wait at the table for an ambush, a messenger sent ahead with Alyssa's invitation to join him for supper and a carriage prepared to transport her the mile and a half north of the castle where the converted summer palace sat by a nearby stream.  

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

Having celebrated htheir anniversary in the carriage on the road, Alyssa had nt expected anything. She assumed that the invitation to dinner was some other purpose perhaps some negotiation he neeed help with. She always dressed well though, and was wearing a tasteful red silk dress that caught the light. Her hair was half up and half down so as to look elegant and show off the shine. She wore a bracelet the prince had got her, that she had loved when he'd presented it to her having happened upon it from a merchant at oldtown, of course when he'd given it to her she'd waved it off.

The mix match of decor of furniture secretly pleased her, it wa unique and she liked unique, ordinary no matter how opulent as boring.

She looked around for her husband as she entered and saw him by the field of flowers, and was admittedly taken aback, though she composed herself quickly.

"These will only die you know" she criticised, but her eyes were smiling as she smelt them.

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"Yes, yes, and one day the Wall will melt, Dorne will freeze, and the seas will swallow the Hightower," he said, standing and making his way around to pull out her chair. "Best enjoy the little things while we can."

"Has it been a year already?" he mused when he returned his seat. "I could swear it feels like 7."

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"Seven years and I am still putting up with you, I must be a masochist" She said, taking one of the flowers out to hold, "Feels like only yesterday I was being dragged into the starry sept and forced into marrying you, how time flies."

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"I am sure the gates of the Seven Hells did not look half so foreboding as the gates of Oldtown when I rode into the city," he replied, with a laugh at the melodrama. "But we survived and in my experience that is always worthy of celebration. So, the all important question, Arbor Red or Gold to mark the occasion?"

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"well, that depends on what we're eating," She said with a sigh, every time she thought they turned a corner, "So what kind of 'food' do they have here"

Alyssa said, looking at him like she was challenging him to impress her.

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"They are famed for their boar," he replied simply, not bothering he had sampled the fare earlier and found it comparable to the standard she expected in Oldtown. "Served with fresh carrots and apples."

"So, that would be the red then," he suggested, in the same tone he had once used with his maester during lessons. "The 193 would pair well I believe," he added, showing off now. "Or Fossoway cider."

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

Alyssa seemed to pause, maybe to find some reason why it would not be adequate, but fell short, just sitting back in her seat and nodding.

"I suppose that will do" she said, looking at him, and then leaning forward again, "Imagine my surprise your tiny breaking managed to take in some informatin."

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"A Hightower may know every cobblestone of Oldtown's streets, but a royal Gardener is expected to know every blade of grass in the Reach," he grinned, as if he had won some contest, happy to occasionally make her reconsider underestimating him at every turn. "Lance and blade may have been my focus growing up, but it may surprise you to know not every other lesson fell on deaf ears."

"The question is if you have any surprises left for me," he remarked, half teasing and half challenge, as he motioned for the server to fill their glasses with the indicated wine.

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"You'll have to wait and see, no? I am sure after seven years of marriage I can think of one thing or another. I always knew you were a hound" She said and then laughed, mockingly, "You don't know every blade of grass in the reach... you're too busy treading them down with your horse"

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"You can read all the books in the world, but you cannot know a land if you do not ride its roads." He sipped from his glass, seeming pleased with his selection. "And you may be able to see the whole world from the top of the Hightower, but you cannot know its people if you do not go down among them."

"And if I am a hound, I think we both know what that would make you," he remarked, chuckling at the implication. "But let's keep a civil tongue this evening."

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"Or I am just into bestiality?" She suggested, and laughed a bit, a soft noise he didn't hear often. "I do go down amongst my people every day, i see them living, i shop amongst them, know them. There is a baker on Star Street who lives andworks alone because plague took his wife and children. We have bakers in the Hightower, but I commissioned bread from him personally to go to the Orphanage near the Thirsty Scholar which was started by my father after the plague left too many orphans. Just the othe week when i checked in he was telling me how he was taking a lad on there as an apprentice. Do i need to know that? No. Can i know everyone? No. But i know my people. I care for them."

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"That would...certainly be a surprise," he replied, the risque joke actually having taken him surprise, so much so that he almost choked on his wine.

"Our people now," he corrected her, not unkindly, with a warm smile. "You care for them and I will protect them. On that note, I may need to leave for some time upon our return. It seems bandits have been growing bolder on our border with Dorne, enough that the Green Hand is required to pacify them."

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"Go and do what you must, do you need to take some men with you are are the Green Hand enough?" She asked, her voice holding an edge as he used their dinnertogether to talk about fighting. You didn't see her talking about the finer points of trading with Volantis. "You're a gardener, I assumed even the blades of grass around oldtown fell into that,"

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"I was told a few ships may be required," he said, delicately, with another sip of wine, already regretting broaching the topic. "I simply wanted to ensure I would not be missed terribly and did not want to surprise you with it. I know full well how you hate surprises."

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"Well, bad surprises, if it's you going off to fight dangerous people, you should have saved the news for my birthday," she said, smiling at him sweetly. "I'll give you what you need. It is the border by me. I am just pit out you were not the first aware of such an issue. That is what I pay you for"

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"Well it was Constayne who informed me, so technically his border as one of your banners, so really that is what you pay him or," he returned her smile, reaching towards something near his feet, then seeming to change is mind.

"Oh, well then I suppose I can save your other present for your birthday if you are already satisfied..."

[King Theon IV Hoare]

The doors slammed open as a furious Theon Hoare marched his way towards the royal couple. "How dare you?! How... dare you??! I knew there would be some awkwardness, but the gall of you, Gardener...!"

The Crown Prince had ridden to his family lodge the moment he had heard the news, and was already slightly out of breath from the exertion.

"I bore you no ill will when you wed my former beloved! That was simple politics! But to flaunt your marriage in my face in my own hunting lodge?! What, do you not own enough castles already? You could have booked an entire inn or restaurant in Harrentown, if you were so impatient! But my servants in my home with my...? And only a year after it was broken off...? Have you no decency, man?!"

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

Geralt's initial reaction to the outburst of the incensed Ironborn prince was to turn around to see what poor sod was the unfortunate recipient of his fury. Then he heard is surname realized everyone was staring at him.

His second reaction was confusion, having no idea what Theon was talking about, passing a bemused looking from the Ironborn prince to his wife, hoping for some clarification that never came.

The third reaction, and the one he settled with was anger: at the interruption of his pleasant evening, his wife's secrets, the scene being created, the wasted effort he had put into the night, and the attack on his character.

"How dare I?" he echoed, standing to his feet and positioning himself between his lying wife and the mad prince. "I am not sure how they define decency in your kingdom, but in the Reach to burst in on an intimate dinner and begin hurling insults would be boorish to say the least. We are here by invitation, so I suggest you apologize and leave us to our dinner before you embarrass yourself, myself, and my wife any further."

[King Theon IV Hoare]

"You embarrass yourself, Ser! Fifteen years I was set to wed Alyssa, should I fail to obtain my chain or renounce it. Our families had arranged everything, and by all the gods, we fell in love. Oaths were exchanged between man and woman... And you come into my house..." He gestured to the summer palace about them.

"And then you... You.." He halted his tirade before finally asking in a shocked voice, "You have no bloody clue to what I am referring, do you?"

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"Not the foggiest," he replied, stone-faced, reaching into his pocket to draw out one of his doe-skin gloves. "But you have offered more slight than my honor can ignore." He tossed the glove down between them, connotation clear even lacking a proper gauntlet at the moment. "Apologize and leave us to salvage the remains of our evening, or pick it up."

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

Alyssa was just as shocked at Theon's arrival, taking a moment to compose herself. Her surprisingly genuinely nice evening with her husband was up in smoke. She gave the both of them a very displeased look.

"Geralt," she said standing herself and moving next to her husband and whispering, "geralt, he is no fighter... where us the honour in harming the defenceless? He has shamed himself, let that be enough" She asked him, standing close to him, and putting a hand on his arm.

"Theon, you should go, before this gets any worse." She was clearly very unhappy with him.
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[King Theon IV Hoare]

Theon had already picked up the glove without hesitation, being perfectly aware of the eventual consequences of not doing so. He simply stated, "I nominate Lord Mychel Mallister as my second."

He gave Alyssa a brief, sad look, but could say nothing in this situation. The die was already cast.

It was perfectly obvious to Geralt the man wasn't a fighter even before Alyssa's comment. He was slender with little muscle. The swords he had worn in public had been different each time, suggesting he didn't practice enough to favor a personal weapon like the majority of warriors. And of course everyone knew he had spent most of his formative years at the Citadel.

He was probably going to lose a body part over this. But not his reputation.

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"The defenseless would do well not to publicly besmirch an anointed knight in a gathering of noble witnesses. To allow it to stand would be a stain on my honor. Any man who wears a sword should be prepared to answer for his words with it," Geralt answered his wife, with a critical glance. "And you would do well not to defend him at this juncture." He tightened his jaw lest anger cause him to say anything he would regret, though it was clear they would have a long discussion about this matter later.

"I name Ser Garret Costayne, of the Order of the Green Hand, as my second," he intoned, returning his attention to the Ironborn prince. "You will receive word from me at first light indicating the time and place. Now, if you will excuse us Prince Theon, I have a long evening of celebration planned with my wife." He hoped the words cut as deep as his blade would.

[King Theon IV Hoare]

The one bowed to the other, and then to Alyssa. "My lady." He gave her an apologetic look before leaving the room.

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

They couple resumed their eating in silence, and what was a very pleasant evening was wrought asunder. Their food arrived not long after, the server clearly waiting until the scene was over before she approached.

"Would you please pass the salt?" She Asked in a genial tone.

Inside she was seething at theon ang Geralt and all of them, the world would run very smoothly if not for the egos of men,

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"I don't know," he replied, tone dripping with venom. "I would be embarrassed to discover the salt was first promised to someone else." He passed it to her nonetheless, picking at his meal. The fine cuisine tasted like ash and wine like vinegar in his foul mood.

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"So long as the salt gets to the right person in the end, what does it matter? It always supposed to be with pepper anyway." She asked, looking at him with a sigh, not wanting to argue. "Does pepper want to leave?"

[Prince Geralt Gardener]

"The carriage is outside when you are finished," he replied stubbornly, not really making any effort to answer her question as he stabbed at his meal, finally pushing his plate away.

[Lady Alyssa Hightower]

"Let's go then," she said standing up and leaving.