"....... oh, ah." Then she lowers her own voice, flushing and unable to keep any kind of lid on her smile. "No, that won't be required, thank you, um. My lord husband is, um. Very attentive to my needs. I apologize if I caused concern. But I am taking quite well to being his wife."

"...is milady certain? 'Twould be no shame to treat anything that may come about, the girls know to be very discreet about such matters." Then she tilts her head in confusion. "Or..." And once again a tiny whisper, "did milady and milord not consummate?"

"We absolutely consummated our marriage, several times, I believe the bedsheets are stained as proof, just, ah." She must surely be bright red as the the bricks of Riverrun itself by now, ".... my lord husband is very concerned with my comfort and pleasure and. Is very attentive to my needs." She coughs.

"...milady's... needs? Does milady mean milord took good care of her afterwards?"

Wow she is so incredibly lucky, isn't she, poor Wilmena is having so much trouble conceiving of sex as being great instead of just tolerable and avoiding or minimizing injury.

"... Yes. And also during. He's. He's a very good man and I am very lucky to have him."

"Milady means she... enjoyed the... consummation?" She looks absolutely baffled by the idea. "—the consummation itself felt nice to milady?" And does this mean her husband could have... made sex nice for her... and never did? "But, how? What did milord—Oh, please forgive my indiscretion, I should not be prying. I am happy milady is happy. I shall bring milady and milord's breakfast soon."

Another curtsy and then she's fleeing down the hall before she gets tempted to try to get more highborn gossip and gets reprimanded for it.

Anavett gives a little nod of confirmation to the question, but then is more than happy to leave things at that. That is quite enough. That is probably more than enough, really. If she knows the gossip network of Riverrun, and she does reasonably well, everyone that is concerned for her welfare should soon learn that she is well. Very extremely well, and very extremely happy, and very extremely married and thrilled about it.

(Gods, someone did hear her, that's so embarrassing...)

"I'll, ah, return to our chambers, then, thank you!" she calls, and then it's her turn to flee. It wouldn't really do any good to have her hanging around while there is important gossiping to be had.

Alisander is reading a book when she returns (and he must really love this book, bringing a book along with him to the war is begging for it to be destroyed) but he folds the corner of the page he's at to mark it then puts it down and raises an eyebrow at her. He didn't hear what she was saying but she sure was there for a while.

In she goes, into bed and into his arms, still a faint shade of pink.

"There was some concern for my welfare on account of the, ah. Sounds. I have set the record straight with the staff as to my wellbeing." Blush blush blush.

"The... sounds..." Then it clicks, and he blushes a bit, too, but the cat that got the canary expression comes right back.

She spots his expression, and snorts.

"Yes. Rest assured, the entire estate and probably half of the surrounding countryside will be well aware that I am very happily married thanks to your efforts," she says, and she's trying to sound cross with him but is really not managing it.

Lord Alisander Stark is in fact rather smug about appropriately fitting the Stark stereotype of great potency and manliness and whatnot, even though intellectually he thinks it is kind of dumb. There's just this instinctive part of him that couldn't help but absorb all of the expectations for a Stark and that really wants to match them all.

"If Lord Karstark or the Greatjon catch wind of it then the other half will be made aware, too."

“I’m sure,” she snorts.

Soon enough Wilmena's back with their breakfast. Alisander puts on a robe to accept the food from her, and when he says "thank you" she visibly blushes before stuttering something and fleeing once more.

Anavett snickers.

“You realize that now perhaps an entire quarter of the female staff are going to want to learn firsthand what their lady was so pleased about," Anavett teases.

"If this leads them to demanding better treatment from their lovers, good."

“Oh, certainly, but I meant in a more direct, hands on sense.”

"...ah. Well, they shall be left wanting, then, for I am not bedding any of them."

She nods, then nibbles her lip.

“That’s probably for the best, we’d never hear the end of it, though…” Oh, how does she say this without it sounding rude. “… we are soon to be apart for months, at best. A year or more, at worst. From all I’ve heard of the horrors of battle… well. Feel free to take solace where you can? Without, er.” She waves a hand awkwardly. “Leaving anyone worse for the experience, please, be it partner or, ah, child, just.”

That is to say: no rape, and if he sires any bastards, he should try to see them set up comfortably.

"I should hope you believe," he says, after a couple of frozen seconds with his breath held, "that I am not wont to cause unnecessary suffering. It is a part of what I see as my duty of honour, to face the consequences of my actions head-on, and to not treat others' trust lightly." Lying on him like this, though, she can probably feel the way his heart is beating harder, now, though he hopes she... well... he doesn't even know what kinds of inference she could make from that.

Poor man. She pets him, because he’s so nervous and she doesn’t entirely understand why.

“Yes, I truly couldn’t see you taking liberties with someone without their, ah, happy cooperation, just, um. I could see you quietly shriveling up on the inside, and coming back to me miserable and traumatized and… War is hell. Please try to come back as whole as you can.”

"...I will do my best," and is she going to say the same thing if his lover is a man, and worse yet, if he is in love with said man? Ahhhhhhh. "In any case, it is perhaps time we should get dressed and start our day."

“Yes, quite. Sorry to, um, bring up such a topic and imply anything untoward about your honor, just. I care about you and wish you well.”

"Milady has caused no offence." He pulls one of her hands up to his lips to plant a soft kiss on her knuckles. "And I appreciate your concern and understand where you are coming from." He's pretty sure if he hadn't tasted the forbidden fruit he would actually not be quietly miserable and die inside but even outside of Zakary he now knows what it's like with Anavett and he'd have absolutely suffered rather a lot, yeah.

...and he might yet. He is not sure he is actually willing to do anything with Zakary, surely she is only thinking about other women he might bed. Which he will categorically not.

“Okay. Good.” She leans forward and kisses him, then finishes up the last of her breakfast and gets to getting ready for the day. Mostly this will involve heading back to her own personal rooms to be dressed and made presentable, but she will give him another kiss before she goes.