It's Been A Long Time (D1LM)

[Marten Tremaine]

"Aye." Marten said. "Once you know them well enough, you can see the little differences in the way they stand, or the way they carry themselves, even before they open their mouths. There's few enough besides me that can tell them apart so easily, I'd say. Perhaps not even our Maester, 'though he tutors them both."

"But they're alike in a lot of ways, too. Just as siblings usually are." He said. "At least when they're so close together in age." He looked at Alicent a little curiously. "Do you just have the two brothers, then?" If so, there was a large gap in ages indeed.

[Alicent Feyther]

She smiled warmly listening to him talk about them fondly. At the question it wasn't hard to sense the confusion in his tone. "Yes... I was a bit of a surprise. My mother was 44 when I was born."

[Marten Tremaine]

Forty-four. Martin wasn't yet forty-four. Perhaps he wasn't so old as all that. His expression brightened minutely. "Well, I can only imagine that you were a welcome surprise." He said, smiling.

"Can I ask what sort of thing interests you, milady? My daughters have such diverse interests between the two of them." As always, his voice grew fond as he talked of them.

[Alicent Feyther]

Her smiled dimmed slightly. "In a way."

Asking about interests turned the flame of cheerfulness right back up, however. "Everything. I'm interested in... learning, I guess. Originally I wanted to go to the Citadel, but my parents forbade it."

[Marten Tremaine]

Marten eyes narrowed just a little at the reaction. A difficult subject, it seemed. Well, he would have to remember that.

"Interested in learning?" He echoed. It was a little unusual, but who was he to judge that? "That sounds very fine, indeed. What sort of subjects does your tutor instruct you on?" He chuckled. "Or is it all subjects? Our Maester is very good, but I don't think he knows quite everything."

[Alicent Feyther]

"Mm... everything he's familiar with. Mainly history, but I have a fairly broad if not deep familiarity with quite a few subjects," she explained. "Your Maester?"

[Marten Tremaine]

"History. Very good." This time, it was Marten's turn to bite back a joke, a self-deprecating one. "One my tutor learned the trick of starting with famous battles when teaching me, I did well enough in that one, myself."

Marten nodded. "Maester Simon. He was formerly from our lands, and we were fortunate enough to have him return when we had need of one. He, ah, has been tutoring the girls, since."

[Alicent Feyther]

"Ah, I see... Is he going to be continuing their lessons while they're here?" She asked curiously. "Is there a battle that you were particularly interested in?"

[Marten Tremaine]

"Well, House Tremaine dates back to the Blackfyre Rebellion. My great-grandfather Osmund Tremaine held the Blueburn river against bandits. I enjoyed hearing about that one for years." He said, nodding.

Marten chuckled, shaking his head. "Aye, I'm sure they will. The girls are both quite enthusiastic about their lessons." Some of it, he rather suspected, was because of certain qualities the Maester had.

He gave Alicent a look. "I'm sure Maester Simon would be happy to have one more in the lesson, if you'd like to attend."

[Alicent Feyther]

She smiled, listening. "I'd like to hear about it more at some time, if you wouldn't mind sharing. My family's founder was involved in some of the battles of Aegon's Conquest."

"It's good to hear they're enthusiastic... Another reason we'll get along, hopefully." She looked surprised. "Oh, I.. would appreciate it, if you and he don't mind."