Captain of the Guard's Office and Chambers

[Tim of Raventree]

She thought for a moment. "You can hold a weapon, and you have one eye left. I know you can't do everything you could before, but you can do some things when you are strong enough. It will take time to adjust, I suppose. But you needn't be useless."

[Boros]

Keeping his balance was a not yet mastered art, one wrong movement with his right arm and Hoster fell, stump first, on the bed. A shot of lacerating pain burned across his body, he let out a cry.

"Think ah need to rest, kid." Hoster said sadly, after the pain had faded, throwing himself back into his former laying position. He wanted some time alone to think about his incapability. No matter what Violet said, it wouldn't help him change his mind, at this point Hoster was pretty sure life was over for him. " Tell tha' fellow wi' da chain ah need ta change da bandages."

[Tim of Raventree]

"I will," she vowed. "And milk of the poppy too. I think you need sleep most of all." At least if he slept, he would be free from pain and anxiety over his future. "Keep the wine. You need it more than I do. I'll come back some time and see how you're getting on."

She left him to his rest. She felt terrible for him but there was nothing really she could do to help, not herself. She could only pray that Percival's ministrations would help. In the meantime, perhaps she would visit her sister,

[Vex]

//////////

Dacey went to visit Hoster the following day. Didn't bring wine though.

She knocked on the door first to see if he was even awake.

[Boros]

"Wha' took ye so fecking long? It's been more than an hour tha' ah told ye to bring da fecking wine." Hoster was sitting by his bed waiting for his nurse to come back with his order. It was the first time he managed sitting on his own, he was pretty proud of his achievement. "Leave it on da fecking table."

[Vex]

Dacey entered the room, doubting from Hoster's reaction that he got too many visitors.

"It's me," she said. The idea had been all well and good, but now that she was actually here, she found the situation a little awkward. "I didn't bring any wine, though." She looked around in the room to see if there was any lying about somewhere Hoster couldn't reach.

[Boros]

"In da connected room, beside mah desk." Hoster said, his mood easing after he noticed it was Dacey that came to visit him. "Ah keep tellin' tha' girl there's a barrel there, she insists on gittin' it from da kitchen... Always takes forever to com' back, tha' wench. Don' fecking kno' why." He muttered, he'd have to request another one to serving, this one wouldn't do.

"Cam' ta see yer cripple uncle, eh?" He let out a very sad chuckle.

[Vex]

With a nod, Dacey went into Hoster's office and emerged a minute later, holding a tall cup filled with wine. She handed the drink to Hoster and pulled a chair next to the bed as well, taking the seat. She sat rigidly as usual, not letting her back touch the chair for obvious reasons.

"Surprised you're already out of bed," she commented, allowing herself to look a little impressed, even. Hoster was, it seemed, an exceedingly tough bastard to kill. "You'll get back to your feet in no time."

[Boros]

"Aye... Da lil' shit in a dress took me arm off, but ah hav' to admit he did one hell of a job." As he was not drunk enough, Hoster conscience (surprisingly, he had one when he was not completely drunk) prevented him from mentioning the 'having a shit laying on a bed' event that had lead him to try at least to sit up, in order to do his necessities. "It hurts like feck, but ah've seen worse amputations in the field."

"How's Will's? Last I seen him, the basterd was in a pretty bad shape." Hoster said, taking a sip and offering Dacey som. "Bloody fecking mess we got ourselves into."

[Vex]

"He'll live," she said, shaking her head at the offered drink. She didn't really drink. Besides, Hoster probably needed it more. "The maester removed the bolts. He is quite good at what he does," she agreed, and for a second, was reminded of Percival's mangled face. It was a good thing he'd patched them all up without any bias, after the beating he'd taken from Belric.

She nodded again at what was probably the most accurate possible description of the skirmish. "I shouldn't have made you rush in," she said after a while. "But what's done is done."

[Boros]

"Nah, rushing in was the fun part." Hoster tried to lighten up the mood a little bit. Things could have been a lot different had Willis not shouted as they approached, had he not failed to convince Donnel to stand down, had the situation been other...

The brightness he tried to bring didn't last long, a darkness suddenly covered his face as he remembered the events of the 25th. Many were to blame for what happened, but one thing was not yet clear for him.

"Wha' da feck happen'd tha' day in da woods, Dacey?!" Those events had lead to everything, to the loss of his arm and eye and friends. "Wha' did Donnel fecking mean wi' feedin' them to a Bear?"

[Vex]

Dacey sighed. She didn't enjoy snitching, but she had to acknowledge that things things would have played out differently if she'd told Hoster this before. Perhaps he wouldn't have brought his Bonny boys to the hunt or at least let Donnel talk and persuade their men to defect.

She told him of the events in the woods exactly the way she'd seen them unfold, keeping it unbiased, short, and unglamorized. Edmure had shoved Donnel towards the bear while he himself was retreating. Donnel and Harold had ran for the horses. Edmure had ran, too. Either Harold or Donnel had shot one of the horses before they fled on the other two. Edmure had returned and finally fought alongside Jormun and Dacey.

"I don't know if your men would've ran from the fight, had one of them not been pushed towards the bear," she said, suspecting that they might've ran all the same. "But I highly doubt they would have deserted."

[Boros]

Hoster first clenched tight during Dacey's story, the strength made his still inflamed muscles burn, it hadn't hurt this much since right after the confrontation. But the pain was nothing compared to the anger that filled the Captain of Harrenhal's Guard.

"Tha' whoreson , Ah gonna feck him up." Hoster tried to get on his feet, which made his body hurt Ben more. Needless to say, he failed and pathetically fell back in bed. "Tha' basterd fecking ruined it. E'ry thing was goin' as planned, until tha' lil' shit threw mah boys to the bear. Now they are all fecking dead an' ah'm a fecking cripple." He had never felt so incapable in his life, he wanted to punch Edmure's face util it turned to pulp.

[Vex]

Dacey couldn't really offer Hoster her condolences for the men he'd lost, seeing as seven of them had betrayed them. As for Hoster himself... well. She doubted he wanted her pity. She didn't have any to give, anyway.

"He denies what he did," she said, looking as Hoster rose and fell. "The best you could do now is rest and heal. Get your strength back."

Knowing them both, Dacey was pretty sure Hoster didn't even require both his arms to rough Edmure up.

[Boros]

"Tha' fecker..." Laying on the bed Hoster spat, literally. The cleaning girl would take care of that later on and since he couldn't walk, there was no chance he'd accidentally step on it.

With some effort Hoster managed to reproduce his earlier exploit, getting back to his sitting position. The strain and the pain helped him to relieve some of his anger and level his thoughts.

"Kid..." He said much calmer now. There was something he had to do. "Back in da Pits... What ye did... Thank ye."

As much as he didn't like it, Hoster had to admit, had it not been for Dacey, he'd be five feet under. The sight of the blade coming through Donnel's chest had been the most relieving he had had in recent history.