[Lore] Lucas II: A Lost One

When the ragtag group of former hostages crossed into the war camp at Lord Harroway’s Town, Melony had begun shouting and calling, naming houses by the banners she saw.

“Where is Lord Piper?” She demanded, calling attention with no fear. “Send for him, for Lords Piper and Smallwood, for Tully and Corbray. We have many nobles among us -- Starks, Rygers, Oldflowers, I am Lady Melony Piper, we’ve come from King’s Landing.”  

Lucas could only follow in her wake, apparently the fate of all Melony’s brothers, and before long a destrider came pulling through the tents at speed, just barely tacked to ride. It came to an abrupt stop close by and it took Lucas a long moment to recognize the man who leaped from the saddle and hit the ground nearly running.

“Martyn!” Melony screamed, and ran into the man’s arms right away.

Martyn. Martyn had been ... what, ten and two when Lucas left the Riverlands? His hair was long, and he was clad in a soldier’s garb, half-armored. He had been a boy then but now he was a man and he was clutching at Melony, with her holding him just as tightly in return.

Lucas stood there stupidly, unable to do anything but watch. He knew them, and yet they felt like strangers, and he an unwanted audience, even moreso when Melony was let down and promptly pointed right at Lucas. 

Truly, Lucas did not know what he was meant to say to a brother who had not seen him for a decade. Lucas couldn’t remember if Martyn had ever written to him at all. Perhaps Martyn rightfully resented Lucas for abandoning them, or maybe his younger brother was thankful to be a step closer in the succession of the Pinkmaiden lordship. Maybe none of it mattered at all and Lucas was as good as a stranger to --

Martyn grabbed Lucas in his arms, lifting him like a doll and spinning around joyfully like he was yet a boy. “Finally, you’ve come out of that dusty Citadel and come home! Mother is going to be elated!” Martyn gasped as he set Lucas’ feet back on the ground, and dizzily Lucas was forced to grip Martyn’s shoulders to steady himself. “Mother! I must send a raven to her right away, her prayers have all come true, you’re both safe -- come, come!”

Martyn and Melony quite literally pulled Lucas along between them, Martyn leading his horse by the reins with his free hands. The two of them spoke rapidly, with Melony pressing Martyn for details of the battles that Martyn was answering to the best of his ability. As they passed the banners of Rivermen and Valeman, cries of “Pinkmaiden, Piper!” rose raucous and happy from the levies. Martyn’s returned shouts came with wide smiles; Melony’s, however, were forced.

Lucas knew that Melony had been unable to sleep unless by firelight or candlelight since they left the capital. Though Lucas hadn’t seen her in years, he knew this was not his sister’s way. She dragged a weight behind her everywhere she went.

When they reached the blue and pink Piper banners, the cry from their bannerman reached the clouds. They all knew Lady Melony and Ser Martyn; Lucas could only walk in his siblings’ wake. He had given up being a noble son a long time ago, and he had never missed it -- or so he had thought.

They reached Martyn’s tent and he ushered the two of them inside, hurrying to pour them something to drink and to get them warm. Martyn and Melony kept up their conversation still, sharing news from their respective sides of the war, while Lucas felt as if in a daze.

“--manage to never see you, Lucas?” Melony was addressing him, he realized belatedly. Lucas looked up from his cup to his sister’s face. “What were you keeping busy with at court?”

“I’m quite surprised I never saw you myself. I was working with the court apothecary, at times very close with --” He cut himself off rapidly, nearly choking off the words. Your Rhaena, he was going to say, but he dared not. “Valora Waters, I had studied alongside her at the Citadel.”

Melony’s expression paled when Lucas named her. “That bitch.” She spat, and Lucas started. “The accusations she brought against Rhaena at the coronation saw her imprisoned for months.”

“I...”

Valora was gone, to somewhere Lucas did not know. Dozens of times in his silent house arrest he had played their last conversation through his mind. She had sworn she would take him with and find a way out for them from the collapsing King’s Landing. He had thought again and again of her words, saying that she valued their work, those odd smiles she gave him.

She had always had a way with lies, Lucas knew, and he had never begrudged her for that. But he had also thought he knew when she was being honest with him.

When the doors had been smashed open, some part of Lucas had kindled the hope that he would find Valora there in the chaotic halls. Instead he had found Melony and no sign of his colleague. 

If the Mad Hand had had the court apothecary executed, the guards would have whispered -- no, Valora had vanished into the wind without a trace. She had left him behind. She had abandoned him. 

Lucas’ friends had been few and far between since he was a boy. He had felt satisfied leaving the Citadel on the trail of Valora Waters and her company, certain he’d regained a sense of direction that he had been steadily losing in his last few years of studies. It had felt a place to belong, at Valora’s side.

Maybe she was dead, for all Lucas knew. Perhaps her plan had failed, and Lucas had been the one to escape by virtue of doing nothing, of sitting aside, silent and afraid. Martyn, Jon, Melony, they all rode to war, Valora traded in secrets, and yet Lucas the acolyte, the half-maester, survived by being borne along by the current.

It all felt wrong. 

“She’s vanished from King’s Landing last I knew.” Lucas finally told Melony, feeling a thousand miles away from his body. “I don’t imagine we’ll ever see her again.”