[TR] For Bran and Robb

[tooktheblack]

It always felt a little wrong to light fires on the island, seeing as how it was oppressively hot most of the time, but there was a familiarity to sitting around a fire at night and with the breeze off the ocean, it was a little cooler than it was during the day. Jon had lit the fire late one evening, thinking that he and Robb and Bran could stand to have a bit of time together.

It was a long time and many leagues from Winterfell but they were the same, still brothers (even if Jon were more of a cousin than brother technically speaking) and Jon felt it was important to keep those family ties strong. Robb had been here several years now and seen versions of Jon and Bran come and go - that kind of thing had to take a toll on a person.

He had a mug of Robb's cider that he was sipping at while he tended the fire, coaxing it into a warm, welcoming flame. He would never be overly fond of fire after burning his hand but he still respected it and respected the atmosphere it could create; a fire meant life and death north of the Wall. Here on the island, it was merely a place to wind down the day with his brothers and catch up on the comings and goings of the day.

Jon was glad that things were so simple once again, so much like being home again with none of the peril.

[OOC: Tag order depends on who gets here first, maybe?]

Comments

[theyoungwolf]

Robb is leaning against Grey Wind as if the direwolf were a pillow, long legs stretched out lazily in front of him. He loves how bustling and noisy Summerfell has become--Esca is there nearly always now and Del most of the time, with Daniel and Abby in tow. They, with Reynald and Zoe Reynolds, have been making full use of Reynald's play castle, and so these days Summerfell's yard is usually echoing with children's laughter.

It's how it ought to be, and Robb loves it, but these quieter moments are important, too. And an evening with cider, a good fire, and the brothers he's lost and gained again is something he can definitely appreciate.

"Another day or so, and the first batch of elder-ale will be ready to try," he says thoughtfully. "I'll have to inflict it on family, as it's the first try."

[summerchild]

He'd been content to just stay in his chair until he saw Robb reclining against Grey Wind and looking like the picture of comfort. Not for the first time, Bran set out to imitate one of his brothers and set to clambering out of the chair so he could sit on the ground beside him.

It was easier to get down than it was to get back into the chair, so Bran settled down in the dirt with his feet only slightly too close to the fire.

"Could I try it?"

[tooktheblack]

Jon arched a brow and looked to Robb. Robb was the elder, always had been, and more importantly, he was the lord of the house. It wasn't the same as Westeros but Jon still wanted to respect that authority.

"I think he's old enough. What say you, Robb?"

[theyoungwolf]

"I say of course you can," Robb laughs. "But that you're likely to regret asking, because it may well be awful. And you may want to scoot back a little before your shoes catch fire." He flashes both his brothers a conspiratorial grin, his voice dropping as if he's telling a secret. "I've lost boots that way before. It's impossible to be dignified while the soles of your boots are spitting smoke."

[summerchild]

"Oh." Without feeling the heat on his feet he hadn't noticed, but now Bran tugged his legs so they were tucked under him. Summer curled up around Bran so the boy could lean back against him. "You have not," Bran accused him but was grinning. "And you're not dignified anyway. Anyway, I just want to try it. Are you going to use it in your fancy drinks at the bar, Jon?"

[tooktheblack]

"Probably," Jon said. He hadn't considered it before now but the bar served Robb's cider regularly enough and there was no reason why they shouldn't serve anything else he brewed.

"We've got our own Redwyne here, after all. Who needs the Arbor when we have Winterfell?"

[theyoungwolf]

"I have too," Robb sniffs at Bran, and grins. "In an army camp, on the way to Riverrun. We were talking and planning and I didn't notice just how long I'd been resting my foot by the fire until the leather started to smoke. If they weren't quite such good boots, I would have noticed rather sooner, I think." He almost never minds telling the sillier stories from the campaign; it makes it all seem harmless and far away.

"It might be too early to say that, Jon anyway. It may not even be drinkable yet. But if you want to try our own wines and shoot for the likes of Arbor Gold, you know I won't complain!"

[summerchild]

"Oh, Robb." Bran managed to sound appalled just before breaking out into giggles as he imagined his brother with smoking boots. He held out a hand to the fire now that every part of him was safely away from getting scorched. "I think it will be even better than Arbor Gold."

[tooktheblack]

"Probably better," Jon agreed, "Seeing as how we'll actually be able to get Robb's ale on occasions other than feast days. From King to Winemaker, who knew it was possible?"

[theyoungwolf]

"And just ask me which is more enjoyable," Robb says dryly. "Anyway, we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves. It took a few batches for the cider to be worth sharing, and that's the easiest thing in the world to make, you just press them and leave them alone."

[summerchild]

"Could I help with the next batch?" He curled his fingers in Summer's fur and the wolf's tail wagged contentedly. "I could help."

[tooktheblack]

"I could help as well. We could make it a family venture this time around. Besides, with Bran and I for oversight, I'm sure our first batch will be better than your attempts," Jon teased. He shared a glance with Bran, grinning all the while.

[theyoungwolf]

"Of course you can, both of you, I'd be grateful for it," Robb says. What could be better than making things for the island with his brothers? "Though here is a stranger thing still than a king who makes ale--a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch who serves it in a tavern!"

[summerchild]

Bran smiled, obviously pleased about getting to participate. "And Arya can help too, if she wants to." It was hard to tell with Arya and especially now that she was all grown up, but he didn't want to leave her out of anything.

[tooktheblack]

"Arya will probably come into The Hub and ask me to make her a slippery nipple or something of that ilk. If there is an embarrassing drink name in my book, she knows it and orders it all night long," Jon said, shaking his head.

It was all in good fun and, honestly, a jest he would probably have inflicted on Robb if he were the barkeep instead of Jon.

[theyoungwolf]

"She helped quite a lot with the cider," Robb says, taking another good long drink of his. "It needed all of us at times, though I never did convince Grey Wind to let me hitch him to the press so he could pull it." The direwolf, at this, lifts his head a little as if to say, As if.

[summerchild]

Bran pulled a face. "They really have drinks with names like that?"

[tooktheblack]

Jon nodded, unable to keep from laughing at Bran's disbelief. "Oh yes. There's also one called Sex on the Beach, which I didn't know about until, yes, Arya. It tastes halfway decent, though."

[theyoungwolf]

"I didn't know about it either," Robb says deviously, "but I'm going to go order it from you, now that I do. When are you serving next, again...?"

[summerchild]

Bran's mouth fell open, the picture of a child scandalized.

"Why would you name something that?!"

[tooktheblack]

"Clearly not someone from Westeros," Jon said, laughing even harder at Bran's face. "It seems common enough among the more modern citizens. They don't even blink at it. Some of them even order it occasionally."

[theyoungwolf]

"Because it's funny," Robb says dryly, "and you can't be that surprised that a place that turns you into a woman or a child at random intervals would provoke an infantile sense of humour."

Which all means he, of course, thinks it's terribly funny, mostly because he's picturing islanders asking Jon for Sex on the Beach. "The first time someone ordered it, what did you say?"

[summerchild]

Bran looked between Robb and Jon and tried, with only limited success, to arrange his face as though he was just as grown and happy to talk about this all night. As if he knew all about sex and how to have it on a beach and in a drink, which he didn't really, except in the vaguest sense.

"What'd you say? What does it taste like?"

[tooktheblack]

"Peaches and fire. That's the vodka," Jon explained, unable to keep from smirking about this entire situation. It was a surreal conversation to be having with his brothers but Jon was merely grateful that it was possible, that they could be together and safe.

[theyoungwolf]

"And you've neatly avoided my question," Robb says, feigning a pout. "I'll just have to go around asking other people how you answered." In the meantime, he's noticed Bran's desperate attempts to deal with the conversation, and decides it's time to steer it in a new direction.

"You are both going to come watch our play, aren't you? I merely hope to be competent and remember all my lines by the time we actually perform it, but Arya will be brilliant. And in a dress."

[summerchild]

"Yes, definitely," Bran nodded, because the play was much safer ground. "Lady Percy and the Earl of Archibald. Is there lots of fighting?"

[tooktheblack]

"I would hope so, if they've cast Arya in it. Is Lady Percy a pirate? I can't imagine Lady anything suits Arya's tastes at all."

Jon thought Arya had the potential to be a fine lady like her sister and lady mother, certainly, but having the potential and the desire were two different things.

[theyoungwolf]

"It doesn't." Robb almost sounds smug. "But she'll be brilliant anyway." He grins easily at Bran. "There is fighting, though as much of it happens offstage as on, and you see the wounded survivors limping back."

[summerchild]

It would certainly be better if it had the fighting on the stage, but that didn't dampen his excitement about seeing a story be played out instead of just sung. "Does Arya have to fall in love? Will she have to kiss someone?"

[tooktheblack]

"That, I would like to see," Jon said, laughing a little at the mere thought of it. He guessed Robb would know better, considering, but it was a funny thought while it lasted.

[theyoungwolf]

"If she does, it'll be Maladicta," Robb points out, "as she's playing Hotspur. I think they're in love, yes, at least a bit." They're married, of course, but Robb knows his brothers understand as well as anyone that doesn't always mean what it does on the island.

[summerchild]

Sighing a little, Bran settled back against Summer and held his hand out to the fire. "Is being in love fun?"

It seemed like it would have to be. People went to an awful amount of trouble on account of it.

[tooktheblack]

Jon coughed a bit to try and mask his surprise. It was a strange question from someone so young as Bran but, then again, Bran wasn't so young anymore, was he? He'd grown and matured since the last Jon had seen him.

"I wouldn't know. I don't know that I've ever been in love. I've loved people before but...there's a distinction."

[theyoungwolf]

Robb's expression changes, though only for a moment; the easy nonchalance is chased away by something darker but fleeting enough to be gone before it can be recognised.

"I'm not sure 'fun' is the word I'd choose," he says, "but it's...intense. I suggest putting it off absolutely as long as you can." This is mostly for Bran's benefit, as Jon is certainly old enough to go falling in love if he wants to, but Robb says it to both of them.

[summerchild]

"I will," Bran promised and took it to heart, even if he missed Meera an awful lot just then.