Exploring (Tag: Lina)

Kayley wasn't sure what it was, but after visiting Akhesa in Sunspear, she felt like Winterfell had become a little boring to her.  Sure, she still liked spending time with her family and was enjoying her sword-fighting lessons, even though Amelia could act pretty weird sometimes.  But after seeing all the beauty and wonder that Sunspear had to offer, Kayley felt like she wanted to see more of what was out there.  Sunspear had been her first big journey away from home, all on her own.  Before that, the furthest she had been away from home was King's Landing, and even then, she had been with her parents.  So, she had decided to take a little trip down to White Harbor.  Sure, it was still in the North, but at least the scenery was different from the castle at Winterfell.  And there were always lots of interesting people too.  As Kayley made her way to the shipyard, she saw all sorts of people walking about, mostly sailors of some sort.  Lucky for her, they were too busy with their work to notice a Stark was around, which suited Kayley just fine.  She didn't want people groveling all over her at the moment.

Lina had needed a vacation away from her brothers for awhile. She wanted to do her own thing and travel without her brothers watching her. So she bought her own ship, hired her own crew and left for awhile. She never stayed in any harbor for more than a few days and mostly spent her time sailing. It was nice, invigorating. However, The Deadman’s Rose needed repairs after Lina had misjudged unfamiliar terrain and had gotten the hull badly battered by rocks. So she was in White Harbor while the repairs were being made. After haggling with the carpenter she was sitting on a crate by her ship, arm-wrestling with one of her crew. After a few moments of playing with him Lina crashed his arm into the crate between them so hard he flipped over and landed on his back. She took a victory swig from her booze as the crowd of watching men cheered. Lina grinned. This was a good day, despite being on land so long.

Kayley turned her head when she heard loud voices nearby.  Curious, she wandered closer, trying to see what was going on.  There was a small crowd of spectators watching an arm-wrestling match.  To Kayley's surprise, one of the contestants was a woman.  And to her even greater surprise, she actually managed to win the match pretty easily.  Kayley didn't know who she was, but she knew it took skill to be that strong.  "Wow, that was amazing!" she said happily.

Lina looked over at the compliment. It sounded like a girl, maybe not much older than herself either. Lina stood up and looked around the men to see the girl. She grinned and gave the girl a sweeping bow. "Thanks! I love giving these men a run for their money" she said and chuckled. "What brings you to the docks? Not a lot of girls come down here that often" unless they were looking for trouble or men who might have enough coin to buy their services. Or were Lina herself, of course. But she was a Greyjoy and the sea called her. This girl was obviously not a Greyjoy or Salt, so it made Lina curious as the girl didn't seem like the normal type to come to the docks.

All Kayley could do was oogle in amazement for a moment.  This woman beat men at arm-wrestling regularly?  She had to have some serious talent.  Was she a warrior, like Amelia was?  It would explain why she was so strong.  "Just exploring, really," she said with a little shrug.  "I'm finally old enough to do some traveling on my own, so I figured I'd take advantage of it while I can."  No doubt Kayley's traveling opportunities would shrink when she got married or something.  That seemed to happen to more than a few people she knew.

Lina gave a sly grin, looking the girl up and down before making a snap decision. "Come along with me then. I sail all over and go wherever I want. You'll be having plenty of traveling if you come aboard. You'll have to help around, but you seem like a quick learner; I bet you'll get your sealegs pretty quick" Lina chuckled. "My name's Lina Greyjoy. This is my ship, but she's down for some repairs at the moment"

"I can travel with you?  Really?"  That sounded like a great opportunity.  And Kayley was even more pleased to hear that the woman was a Greyjoy.  Sure, the relationship between Greyjoys and Starks used to be tense, what with Theon Grejoy seeming to betray the trust that the Starks had in him.  But that was all in the past now.  Kayley was more than happy to spend some time with this woman.  "I'm Kayley, Kayley Stark," she said, hoping that wouldn't put a damper on Lina's plans.  Some people tended to tense up and get all formal whenever they found out Kayley was a Stark.  Hopefully, Lina wouldn't act that way.

"I wouldn't offer if I didn't think it was alright" she told the girl, amused. Lina smirked and quirked an eyebrow. "Your family okay with you traveling around, lady Stark?" she was mostly joking really. She could care less about what families thought, hence why she was ignoring her brothers and their wishes. Plus, they had no right to talk. "It's gonna take a bit longer for repairs but we won't be sticking around on land for terribly long"

"For the time being," Kayley replied.  "They're expecting me back within a couple of weeks or so.  But I can probably stretch it out a bit longer if I tell them I'm with a Greyjoy.  They're paranoid that something will happen to me if I'm by myself."  True, she had a few guards with her, but Kayley's parents still fretted about her traveling alone.  If she told them that she was with a Greyjoy, they might sleep a bit easier knowing that she was with a member of one of the Houses of Westeros.  "Oh, I don't mind," she said when Lina said that repairs might take a little while.  "Is there more fun stuff to do at the harbor?  Maybe you can arm-wrestle some more guys.  You could probably beat all of them."