[He doesn't sound thrilled, but that might just be exasperation over Loras' blind pride for Sansa's decision.]
I'd respect it more if it were just Morla's offer that she refused. I wasn't any more interested in the arrangement than she was, after all. But our...mutual mentor had come up with a solution. He'd wanted us to cooperate anyway, so he suggested that she formally accept the arrangement and we maintain the appearance of a very long-term engagement until something better could be worked out. No one would have actually had to marry, and Cothromach would have been saved Morla's wrath.
I agreed to that arrangement, to protect those in Cothromach whose lives might have depended on it. But Lady Sansa decided against it, in the end. Apparently, she preferred to subject her people to a siege than pretend at a farce of an engagement for a while.
A family name isn't much excuse for leaving your people to suffer in your stead.
[Especially when he himself was prepared to deal with it too. He doesn't sound at all swayed by that justification, but he carries on even still with every ounce of politeness.]
Regardless, I took Redgate instead, and we made arrangements so that we could keep in contact quietly and cooperate when needed. You're holding the result of that.
[A pause, and when he speaks again it's with a carefully neutral tone, revealing nothing but perhaps just a hint of curiosity.]
...And what are you basing that decision on?
[It's one thing to acknowledge the pointlessness of reporting anything to anyone. But it's something else entirely to choose to continue with this despite the risk it carries. After all, it would be a simple matter to just toss this point of connection and drop the matter entirely.]
voice
[Still trying to sort this out, after all.]
And I am proud of her stubbornness, and her refusal. No one should be forced into such a thing. It's...it has never ended well, in my own world.
voice
Saralegui. Lord of Redgate.
[He doesn't sound thrilled, but that might just be exasperation over Loras' blind pride for Sansa's decision.]
I'd respect it more if it were just Morla's offer that she refused. I wasn't any more interested in the arrangement than she was, after all. But our...mutual mentor had come up with a solution. He'd wanted us to cooperate anyway, so he suggested that she formally accept the arrangement and we maintain the appearance of a very long-term engagement until something better could be worked out. No one would have actually had to marry, and Cothromach would have been saved Morla's wrath.
I agreed to that arrangement, to protect those in Cothromach whose lives might have depended on it. But Lady Sansa decided against it, in the end. Apparently, she preferred to subject her people to a siege than pretend at a farce of an engagement for a while.
voice
Because of what Sansa went through, in Westeros...such a arrangement would be abhorrent. She had been played by such ideas, before.
[Still.]
My own sister has often married people she wasn't particularly interested in, to play the game. Tyrells--we know how to deal in arrangements.
Starks never have.
voice
[Especially when he himself was prepared to deal with it too. He doesn't sound at all swayed by that justification, but he carries on even still with every ounce of politeness.]
Regardless, I took Redgate instead, and we made arrangements so that we could keep in contact quietly and cooperate when needed. You're holding the result of that.
voice
[Those who have never lived there, can't understand.]
Something that could get us both punished for treason.
voice
Mm. So what will you do with that information, Lord of Cothromach? Report Lady Sansa's treachery to your queen? Or mine to my own, perhaps?
voice
And to report yours would also gain me trouble.
I think the collaboration should remain, still.
voice
...And what are you basing that decision on?
[It's one thing to acknowledge the pointlessness of reporting anything to anyone. But it's something else entirely to choose to continue with this despite the risk it carries. After all, it would be a simple matter to just toss this point of connection and drop the matter entirely.]
voice
There may be times when things greater than either court might arise.
This would be instrumental, in situations like that.