entranceway | (first gallop) | accidental video + action

...Benjen? [ when lyanna stark pushes herself into a sitting position a few twists and turns away from the maze's centre, her instinct is to call for one of her brothers: the youngest, first, and with a lilt of concern. with a groan, she brushes detritus off her palms and straightens her skirts (simple; in the northern style). and she tries to figure out why she might have been preparing her palfrey to ride in one moment, and sitting in dirt the next.

not that she minded the dirt -- not really. but she did mind the conspicuous absence of her kin. panic mounts: ] Brandon? Ned?

[ she scrambles to her feet and finds the strange small brick only a few feet away. lyanna picks it up and can now be seen peering suspiciously at its every angle. ] You're a funny thing. [ she mutters, tapping it gently and fingering (but not pressing) the buttons. but then she holds it loosely in her fist and raises her voice. ] By all the named gods and the unnamed gods -- Brandon Stark! If this is some trick or a mummer's game, I will have your hide. And without it, you can hardly hope to woo any pretty --

[ she stops abruptly because the brick chirrups like some odd precise bird. surprise catches the breath in her throat and she's forced to ask -- staring straight at the device: ] ...Are you alive, little brick?

[ grab her attention on the funny little brick-bird or else find her wandering the maze and the gardens. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nothing. Once you reach the edge, that's it. I hear if you try to swim and leave by way of the water, you get pulled under and wake up in the mansion all over again.

You don't drown?

Not that I know of.

It's rumor, of course. I don't know anyone it's happened to.

So perhaps it doesn't happen. Not really. [ ... ] Not that I'm eager to try the theory, all the same.

It's one of those things that can only be confirmed by doing, and I don't think anyone here is in a hurry to try their hand at it.

[She smiles a little, cautious, sympathetic.]

Still, that doesn't change the fact that we're stuck right where we are. At least for a little while. I refuse to accept that our situation is permanent.

How long have you been here, my lady?

Two months? Maybe a bit less.

My friend James has been here nearly three years now.

...Three years is a very long time.

That's what I've been telling him.

Funnily enough, he doesn't look a day older than when I last saw him back home. Time doesn't move here. Not really. People don't age.

Impossible. Everyone ages.

Not here -- not physically, anyway. The way I hear it, if you're lucky enough to get back home, you pick up right where you left off, but as long as you're here, time is frozen.

Is this as yet unproven -- like with the drowning?

I'm afraid not. My friend James has been here three years now, and yet he's not a day older than when I last saw him back home. By all accounts, he should be twenty now, but he still looks as though he should be in school.

I suppose there are some who would be grateful to never age.

Many, I'm sure. It's just curious. One of many things that makes this place so unusual.

[And this coming from a girl who's been taught that using magic to toss bat-bogeys at your enemy is a viable defense.]

I'm sure you'd like to take some time to get your bearings, but if you have any questions or need help finding your way around later on -- I'd like to help, if I can. I know the layout of the place rather well by now, at least.

You -- ah, you have my thanks. Doubtless, I'll call on you. It seems a place where one needs friends.

Friends are worth having anywhere, but yes -- it's good to have someone you can count on here. It makes everything a great deal easier.

[She smiles warmly, sympathetic.]

Best of luck. If you need to find me, my name is Lily. Lily Evans.

[She only just now realizes that they'd glossed over that.]

Lyanna Stark, my lady. It's a pleasure.

[ or as much a pleasure as could be mustered under the circumstances. ]

(first gallop) | accidental video + action

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