edge_of_forever | (no subject)

In her capacity as diplomatic envoy for the Betazoid government, Lwaxana Troi had travelled from one end of the Alpha Quadrant to the other. The sight of an unfamiliar starfield outside the nearest viewport was not unsettling to her. But here on this station, if she thought about it for too long, the knowledge that she might be seeing constellations that were completely uncharted by any entity she had ever come in contact with—

Well, that was worth glossing over.

So as she sat at the small table on the observation deck, she gazed out at the stars with only a passing interest. It had taken a bit of concentration not to concentrate on finding familiar star patterns, but once attained, maintaining a detached view of things was not too difficult. Since she was simultaneously attempting to ignore her discomfort at having to present herself in these rags--with her own hair!-- Lwaxana began to regret arriving so early to meet the young Vulcan, and started wishing for someone else to distract her.

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"Relatively new, I would say," Lwaxana replied, trying but not quite succeeding to match the girl's quiet tones. She studied the girl as she gazed out at the stars. Even with the limits on her telepathic powers, she could sense the thin undercurrent of displacement the girl felt. It triggered a kind of protective maternal feeling in her. "My name is Lwaxana."

Gesturing out at the window, she asked, "You're not at home here, are you?"

Her brow furrowed the smallest bit at the strange name, but she smiled. "Alayne Stone," she said obediently; at this point the answer was rote, and there were no hesitations. It was like it had been at the Vale, when she had been Alayne, when Sansa was put on the shelf to only be pulled down if needed. When Alayne's father decided it was time.

It was easier, that way - but now, Sansa didn't know if Alayne was the easiest path or not, especially now that it was all falling apart- but she could hardly start telling the truth now, without people knowing she was a liar, without exposing who she was. At Lwaxana's second question, she shook her head slightly. "No, m'lady. This is not my home, I'm from Westeros." She paused. "Only one of the people here even knows of it's existence," she said, knowing that Lwaxana was likely not one of them, either - only the crazy man who had started yelling when she spoke to him knew of where she was from, and since he'd greeted her with her name - her actual name, she was staying as far from Abed as possible. "Are you home, here? I mean - the stars, not... here. I don't think anyone's from here, exactly."

"I do live among the stars, dear," Lwaxana said grandly. "I'm an ambassador and I spend most of my time traveling between them.

"But you said you are from Westeros? You must be referring to that handsome young man I arrived here with. He seemed very dashing. I could tell he was of noble birth." She cast about a moment for his name. She hadn't seen him since they'd been released from their quarantine chamber.

Her eyes widened as Lwaxana said she did live out there - she was nothing like Zoe, she was poised and well spoken and although her voice was odd, she would have been at home in any court. "But this place is not normal for you, is it?"

Her teeth dug into the meat of her lower lip until she realised what she was doing and how rude it was. Her stomach had dropped to her knees, but she smiled politely. "I'm sorry, m'lady, but who are you talking about? I have met no one from my home." And, she knew full well that no one ever in their right mind would call Sandor a handsome young man - and while Lwaxana seemed a bit flighty, she hardly seemed mad. She hoped, for one insane moment, that it would be someone that she knew - but then she realised that there was no one that she knew who fit that description - handsome young man who would be safe to see - or who would be alive. For one moment, she had thought of her brother, Robb, but the reality of it made her jaw tighten even though she continued to smile prettily.

Lwaxana shook her head gently, "No, I am as much a stranger to these stars at the rest of us."

The young woman was clearly well-practiced at hiding her fidgets, but Lwaxana could sense her anxiety. She thought to herself that there were probably a great many wrong answers to the question of the man's identity, many more wrong than right. Carefully, with a watchful eye on the girl's reaction, Lwaxana added, "He was one-handed. Blonde. His name began with 'J', I think..."

Sansa stared at her for a moment, and she could not stop the spike of fear that dug through her, but her face was still kind and genial, her eyes widening just a tad. "Ser Jaime Lannister? I heard tales of him, from my father." She bit the inside of her lip for a moment, and pulled in a breath. "I have not met him yet," she said demurely, her lips still in that same soft smile. "Although I am looking forward to it, now! It is good to know I am not the only one from my home."

Every word that fell out of Alayne's mouth made Sansa curl closer, into a smaller and smaller ball. The words scrabbled at her heart, that Jaime Lannister was here, and she did not know what she expected him to do - if he would take her home, if he would take her head - they said she killed his son. She did, in a sort, and his sister wished her head on a spike.

But Alayne smiled, and talked of how exciting it was, after all - Ser Jaime was a knight, and even if he was the Kingslayer, even if he was hardly Arthur Dayne, it was still exciting. Even though it made Sansa feel as if she was going to be sick.

Lwaxana raised an incredulous eyebrow at the girl. There was no getting around it. "You have met him, and, if you haven't, you certainly are not looking forward to it."

If Lwaxana had had access to her full range of telepathic abilities, it would have been much easier to separate out the truths, but sensing only the emotions behind them, she was forced to guess. Her guess was that there were many things the young lady had been lying about for a very long time.

Her smile sort of... fell.

"Jaime Lannister is- He is a dishonorable man. I'm happy to see someone from home, but he is the Kingslayer. It is not- It is not for me to spread the tail amongst those who are not from our world, but he is..." She trailed off, trying to cover the trail of her words. "I should not be afraid of him, but he stabbed the Mad King in the back when he was his guard."

"Oh, my," Lwaxana sat back. "He did seem rather rough, I suppose, but I thought perhaps it was the shock of displacement. He stabbed a king? How very dramatic."