[@BlackPanther]
[color=82ca9d][b][center]Lyra[/center][/b][/color]

Lyra's eyes widened. He was half-Hyland?! He was no ordinary bastard. She herself was a bastard of the mountain, he was a bastard of the family itself! Should she even be talking to him? Was there a heiarchy among bastards as well, with her lower than him?
But he seemed untroubled talking to her? He even seemed interested in her predicament. The question was, should she tell him? Would he spread it to anyone who would listen? Would he keep it a secret? Would he somehow be able to help?
Her decison was made quickly. If she didn't talk about this to someone she was going to burst.

[color=82ca9d]"I am begging on your honor as a Sky to keep this between us, good sir,"[/color] she said, clasping her shaking hands together. [color=82ca9d]"There is... someone... who has decided that he wants me. In what capacity I'm not certain but considering my postion I can only assume it's for..."[/color] she winced and swallowed before continuing. [color=82ca9d]"I am terrified. The person in question is... not of a low standing. It must all be a game for him to pursue me, even though I had told him such a thing cannot happen. He insists. But if he wins the tournament then he will marry the princess and I shall be forgotten and left alone."[/color]
She was tearing up at that point. [color=82ca9d]"I don't know what to do. I have no power, no family, no protection. The only living relative I have is my whore mother who would hand me over on a silver platter to anyone who paid her."[/color]

How did she end up stammering all of this to a stranger, close to weeping? The more she tried to stop talking, the more she spoke.
[color=82ca9d]"I am sorry... I shouldn't have told... but since the feast I have been so afraid... I don't know what to do. Should he not win and continue this pursuit... Lady Hyland will feed my remains to the pigs or worse she'll toss me out for the wolves, both animal and man, to consume."[/color]
At this point she was weeping in earnest. It felt good to unburden herself, to share her fear.
[color=82ca9d]"I'm sorry,"[/color] she stammered through her tears.[color=82ca9d] "I'm making such a fool of myself."[/color]
She wouldn't be surprised if he ran away. Most men were not comfortable with female tears. And how was a man to understand such a dilema as this? Not for the first time Lyra wished she had been born a boy.