Everlong

Afternoon in Silverymoon

"That's so hot!" Olly complained as Mari dumped a full bucket of steaming bath water on her head.

"You always are such a baby when it comes to getting cleaned up" Mari said turning her perfect button nose up in the air.

"You always get it in my eyes!" Olly growled as she sunk herself deeper into the water, the large bath looking more like a water temple than an actual washroom, the white marble pillars lining the square pool so that if someone wanted, it could be a communal bath. Jen would have bath time with all her children in here, making sure none could escape the scrubbing of muck and grime from their skin. 

"Mari, go and get some more linen so Olly can dry herself" Jen instructed, her hands laying down some crochet she had been busying herself with while her daughters readied the bath for their sister. Jen still had an air of royalty about her even now, he motions deliberate but graceful. Olly had always heard the rumors of Jen when she was Prince Kendrick's royal consort, that she had actually never laid with him for fear "her powers would diminish." In truth, Jentess of the Moonshea islands just didn't like the prince, for long after her many children were born, she still remained just as powerful as she had always been.

"But-" Mari started but Brienne was quick by her side, dragging the youngest of the girls away to give Olly and their mother some privacy.

Once it was certain that Mari could not overhear from outside the door, Jen turned to her daughter who was concerning herself with the giant tower of bubbles that had grown since she first got in the hot water. She knew that kind of prying look from her mother, the feeling that she had been caught doing something and trying to look innocent.

"So, are we to talk about it?" Jen said with a smirk as her daughter already began to blush. It wasn't like talking to Father, where Olly felt like she had to be a perfect statue to represent all his hard work, where no flaw could be found. This was her mother, the one who had almost sacrificed her own life to bring her into the world, there was not much to be kept between the two. 

"Talk about me being here? Or talk about what happened in the training yard?" Olly said blowing a puff of bubbles into the air, still trying to avoid the question.

"All of it Allana" Jen said crossing her arms, another warning sign that her mothe was not having it "Where have you traveled? What have you been doing? Why did you bring a Cleric with you instead of Peren?"

"Ahh there it is" Olly smiled pointing a finger up, flicking water "You want to know about Ed."

"I want to know what my daughter has been up to these many years" Jen said the smirk now gone as concern grew over Jen's face, now coming to the edge of the pool so that Olly knew it was time to face the music "I want to know why you were in such pain just now, and if that has been happening regularly. I've felt your pain this entire time you've been here, since the moment you entered Silverymoon."

"I don't know about what happened in the training yard" Olly shook her head, her knees going up to her chin as she bobbed in the water "It was just a lot of pain, no clue where it came from. It felt like someone was choking me, it scared me...."

"Why?" Jen asked.

"Because I think it may be Peren" Olly said fiddling with the black ribbon around her throat, the thing refusing to leave the touch of her skin "I had to get away from him Momma. He had gotten so mean, so callous with everything. Gold became the only thing he really concerned himself about, even me. And when I said I needed to leave to find Nole he..." she stopped, not wanting to know what had transpired, about Peren's hand flying and smacking her, but Jen's amber brown eyes bore into Olly that she felt she needed to tell her "He laid his hands on me. I ran away from him, and I've been scared he's going to find me and make me pay for it."