"Aw. And to think, I was horribly embarrassed that screaming at my father was the first you'd ever seen of me."

"It was a very good first impression! It helped that I was very cross with your father right then, but it was—the way you were doing it at least in large part out of love for your sister, the arguments, how clever you were being about trying to pull at what was clearly something you'd calculated would be your most useful lever..."

She smiles at him and leans up to kiss him.

"I didn't realize you'd noticed all of that. But, yes, it was for her... there was so little I could and can give Lysa. I could at least give her her own wedding." Then she snorts. "And father implied I was a stupid, spoiled, silly little girl about it."

"Which did not endear him to me any further."

"Nor to me!"

Alis starts drawing circles on her hand with a thumb. "So then I said 'oh, gods, I am in love with her', and Zakary said... he made fun of me, said that I was the only person in the world that would react that way to finding out I was in love with my spouse, but before that he said..." More wine. "That love stories are all lies, not everyone is looking for their own one true love," and he's very much not looking at her face right now, and he's gradually lowering and shrinking his voice, "and that some people have more love than that. More love than for just one person."

(Ha she knew it, it is definitely Zakary Baratheon!! … not the time to be pleased about solving a puzzle, Anavett, your husband is clearly baring his soul and feeling very vulnerable right now.)

"The other being him?" she finishes gently, squeezing his hand.

He laughs weakly, squeezing her hand back. "The reason this came up was that he noticed I was bothered by something, and he wormed his way into guessing that it was about this, and... I was... afraid that I would be betraying your expectations if I already had someone I loved and couldn't love you. That's when he told me the rather obvious in hindsight truth about how I felt about you." He looks up at her. "He also said that you'd guessed at the feast. Had you?"

"I had, and it was taking all of my self control to not just cackle that I was right, because I didn't want to trample all over your feelings while you're baring your soul."

"I hate both of you," he grumbles with no heat.

"Ahuh," she agrees, amused. "Well. I don't think you're betraying my expectations. If anything, you've exceeded them, I'm incredibly happy I married you. I'm... honestly mostly just worried about you because, er." Wince. "... You've gone from being the second son to being the heir, and. He is also the heir, of Storm's End, and."

It seems like it would be difficult to spend time with him, okay, they're kind of beholden to different sides of the continent.

Alis laughs once again, this time very bitterly, and shuts his eyes to prevent any tears from falling. "Yeah," he says, and his voice is a little shaken so he pours himself more wine and drinks it. "Yeah. He was... is, maybe, I'm not sure... betrothed to my sister. She knows," he adds. "About us. Their betrothal was very much political convenience, to strengthen the alliance between our Houses, and Zak respects her very very much. And I was a second son, so maybe I could..." Not get married, and he and Zakary would be able to visit each other with Lyanna's blessing.

"And now things are more complicated." She leans forward and kisses his forehead. "I'm so sorry, dear. I'm not against it? Or angry at all? I'm just. Sad and worried for you. Both of you."

"We'll... deal. The world has never been fair. We've had wonderful years together and... thinking about the future in any really specific way feels like walking on an old bridge of wood and rope. I don't know what my next step will be like. And I... well I suppose there's no way he'll be with Lyanna now, is there? It would be good if..." And he lowers his voice to a whisper. "If Rhaegar survived. He seems like a good man who would be a good king. —I do not think he kidnapped Lyanna," he adds as context.

"I don't, either, I think Brandon stupidly jumped to conclusions, and that if he'd stopped and talked to me first I would have been able to keep him from—" She huffs, shakes her head, and stuffs her face with some of this poor food that they've been ignoring. Grumble grumble munch munch, she is not going down this road again right now, it's not very useful. "... Yes," she agrees, after she's swallowed, "Rhaegar would certainly be a better king than his father."

"Yes." He sighs and follows his wife's example; the food got somewhat cold by now but he doesn't particularly care. "But I am not sure there is a way for him to be king that does not get me and Zakary at best exiled to the Wall." He takes another swig of his wine and half-slams his cup on the table. "I don't understand what Lyanna was thinking. She was betrothed! And she knows Zakary, at least well enough to know he would be reasonable about it should she wish to dissolve the betrothal. She has blackmail material on both of us. She could've been... reasonable..." And now he has to stop talking because all of this is just putting more and more of the weight of his lost future in him and he doesn't want to cry in front of his wife.

"Oh, darling." She pets him. Then something in her husband's words clicks for her. Huh. The... Wall.

".... How much does Zakary want to be Lord of Storm's End...?" she wonders, blinking.

He blinks, opens his mouth to complain about mind reading, then decides to save the time. "Not at all. He thinks his brother would be a much better pick."

"So... I mean, I know it's freezing cold, and he'd be standing guard on a literal wall made of ice and sworn to not marry or sire children, but.... I can't help but notice that the Wall is significantly closer to Winterfell than Storm's End."

"...yes it is. But—there isn't a way for him to be exiled and not me, at this point, and I have obligations to Winterfell now. And to you."

"Yes, I'd rather not give you up to the Wall, just... I'm not sure there isn't a way. If nothing else, I know it doesn't really happen, because who would want to go there on purpose, but. He could actually just go there willingly. Or, um, I hear Rhaegar is taking to the field and marching north?" Her knowledge of army movements is entirely based on the Riverrun gossip network, which means it's not very reliable, but she knows that much. "I expect you could negotiate? And—I still think killing Brandon was absurd, for the record, but his exact words upon getting to King's Landing were 'come out and die.' But there is no justification for your father, or his men, or then asking for your and Zakary's heads. You might be able to get concessions and point out that the Starks were very personally wronged?"

"That would be... a good outcome, I think, but I do not think I can get away with not having the Mad King's head.  For justice for my family and men, and for the armies that are following me south. I would be seen as weak, my standing in the North would suffer greatly and it would be a deep blow to the loyalty my vassals hold for me, especially those who also lost men to the Mad King's petty whims."

"Oh, no, I'm not saying 'Do not kill Aerys.' Absolutely kill Aerys, he is going to plunge the continent into even worse war if he stays crowned, I'm saying... negotiate with Rhaegar that you will end this war and support his claim if he becomes king, if his father is executed for his crimes—possibly by you?—and you can have Zakary taking the black as a 'concession' for rebelling, since his family hasn't been horribly personally wronged and he rebelled anyway. Check with him first before offering that, of course, just, um. It seems the tidiest solution that ends this war as quickly as possible?"

"...yeah. Yeah that could actually work." There's a small flicker of hope on his face before he schools it. "But it's a foolish dream to hope the future will care about what we want. It is just as likely to throw it all in our faces and laugh at our misery." Bitter, him? Where could you have gotten this impression from?

"Okay, yes, have some backup plans, just." She leans up, and kisses him. "Don't smother a spark before it's caught just because the fire might be blown out?"