Jill, from Katherine Kerr's Deverry books
A young woman with short blonde hair walks in, stops, and looks around in surprise. She is wearing worn baggy trousers, a slightly stained linen shirt, boots, and a swordbelt from which hang a sword and a silver dagger.
"By the Lord of Hell's black hairy balls! Since when did Brin Toraedic have a room that looked like this(OOC: This Jill is from ( Read more... )
"By the Lord of Hell's black hairy balls! Since when did Brin Toraedic have a room that looked like this(OOC: This Jill is from ( Read more... )
How can she explain what she is, without resorting to terms that would mean as little to this woman as 'Wyrd' means to Brienne? "I am the trueborn daughter of a lord," she says, haltingly. "I learned to fight because I wished it and argued for it. I am good for nothing else." She indicates her awkward, tall, muscular frame, unable to articulate what an unlikely lady she made, how wrong she looked in a gown, how stupid she felt when doing anything but fighting or riding or sailing.
Her face lights up at the compliment to Oathkeeper. "The blade is Valyrian steel, very rare," she said. "It was given me by -- " the man I love, or do I? " -- someone to whom I owe a great debt, as token of an oath I swore, and means by which that oath is to be kept. So it is called Oathkeeper, as all blades of Valyrian steel have their own name."
Even as she evinces clear pride in the blade, she cannot help a note of sadness creeping into her voice as she speaks of oaths.
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"Don't put yourself down like that," she says. "I used to think the same, then found a few other things I was good at. It was good of your father to let you learn because ye gods, men and their cursed pride! I've known and known of a good few lords who've made their daughters and sisters marry regardless of their wishes. Even in the life when I was Lady Gweniver I would never have become a Moon-sworn warrior if my father and brother had still been alive."
She listens with interest to what Brienne says about Oathkeeper. "I've never heard of Valyrian steel, but the way you talk makes them sound like very good weapons indeed. This person you're oathsworn to must honour you highly to give you such a weapon."
She holds out her hand. "What little manners a silver dagger's bastard like me has must have gone to the dogs. I'm Jill -- well, it's actually Gilyan, but everyone calls me Jill."
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Being told not to put herself down is something Brienne is beginning to get used to, at Hogwarts, but something she's never been able to internalise or act upon. It's just another way in which she disappoints people.
"I would have married," she says. "The man I was to marry died. It may be expected that I marry one day; I am my father's only living child. Still, he is only fifty-and-four, and not too old to sire an heir." She shrugs; what goes without saying is that she is not exactly a prize on the marriage market, not where she comes from.
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"Good to meet you, Brienne," she says, then sighs. "There was a man I almost married, too. I'm sorry your man died. Did you love him?"
Jill's grey gnome appears next to Brienne, and looks up at her mournfully. Jill gives it a wistful smile. "Mayhap your Da will sire another heir. It'll take pressure from you, I'm sure, if you don't wish to marry."
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"I think my father will be at some pains to ensure he does get an heir," she said. "For all he knows I could be dead now. It's certain he does not know where I am now --" and that made her think. "Do you know where you are, Jill? Did you come here on purpose?"
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She tosses her head. "But that's in the past. I suppose if you didn't love him it wouldn't have ached your heart when he died as much as if you had." She gives a pained smile. "Have you found anyone you love?"
Even as she says it, she realises that that's a somewhat personal question, but talking about Rhodry has made her more tactless than usual. "I...I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry. Don't answer if you don't want to." She sighs. "As for me being here, it wasn't on purpose, no. I was at Brin Toraedic -- where I live now -- and just ended up in here when I walked through one of the doorways. Laura said this was a castle steeped in magic, but beyond that I'm not truely sure where I am."
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"Dead people can come back, here, I'm told. It is a magical castle, yes, and it's also a school where people can learn magic. I did not come here purposely either. I was looking for the people I'd sworn to find. Instead I found someone I was hoping not to find -- but then the girls I was looking for, they showed up here too, not long after. The school is called Hogwarts, and that's why you're in this room: the other people who live here get to come and ask you questions, and decide which part of the school you should live in. My part, my House, is called Gryffindor. It's supposed to be for the brave, so I think that's where you should be, too. I only live there because a kind man asked the Sorting Hat to allow me to live in the same House as the girl I needed to protect. The other of the girls hadn't arrived yet," she explained parenthetically, almost anxiously.
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She nods along to Brienne's explanation of Hogwarts. "That makes a lot more sense now, thank-you. I'm glad you think that I should be in the same House as you, and that someone got you put with the girl you need to protect. If the other girl has arrived now, where is she? Is she in Gryffindor as well?"
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She looks at Brienne curiously. "House Lannister? Is that like Gryffindor and the other Houses that Laura was telling me about?"
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