Alayne Redfort

Alayne Redfort, sometimes known as Alayne Royce, is the Lady Regent of Redfort, ruling in the name of her niece, Alys, until she comes of majority. The widow of Eustace Redfort, once brother to the Lord Terrance Redfort, Alayne seems more melancholy than not nowadays.

Appearance and Character
Alayne Redfort is a slim woman, yet her body is beginning to show the wear from pregnancies she has not fully recovered from, eroding away at her once quite enviable physique. She now puts much less effort than she once did into maintaining her looks- all her powders and rouge from the Free Cities now gone to waste as she struggles to even rise in the morning, let alone put on a face full of makeup. She now seems perpetually tired, and this is beginning to show on her face, managing a household as well as three children, one of them not even of her womb.

Where Alayne was once a singular ray of light at both Runestone and the Redfort, she has sunk into depression. The death of her only daughter and the loss of her husband and her lover within the span of only a few years has irreparably damaged Alayne's psyche, and she now clings to anyone she cares for as if they were a lifeline, fearful that her remaining children and friends will be pulled away from her as well. If she as any other major fault, it is her envy. Following the trials of knowing her first love was to marry another, Alayne has become deeply convinced that she can be replaced at any given moment, and views other women as competition. This unhealthy habit has died down in recent months with the sheer amount of work that she has been put through, but it's slowly resurfacing.

Biography
Alayne Royce was born in the Third Moon of 411AC, a healthy girl to Raymun Royce and his wife, Meredyth Rosby. She seemed to be the baby of the household, and thus the small world of Runestone seemed to revolve around her for the majority of her early childhood. Runestone was as good a place as any for a small noble girl to grow up, with songbirds and ponies and travelers aplenty to tell her stories and entertain her for as long as she wished.

A Girl for Ages Past
Stories were her favorite part of the day, and she always longed to hear new ones, and thus just about everyone who passed through the gates of Runestone would be badgered by a small Alayne, begging for tales of the world outside those tall gates. The further the better, and her favorite stories came from merchants of Essos with tales of Dothraki riders and the ruins of Valyria and wives of mercenary leaders who would regale her with legends of fierce monsters that had once roamed the land, but most of all the Maesters who would come with their chains of histories and tell her of long dead Targaryen kings, and how her family had once been Bronze Kings over the Vale, for a time greater than even the Arryns.

Her love for history and reading was sparked by these stories, and when she wasn't practicing sidesaddle in the yard or plucking away at a harp on the dias of Runestone, she was in her room with her head buried in old books, the more pictures and illustrations the better, and they only became more complex as she grew. Alayne was a voracious reader, and her love for stories and histories showed strongly as she could recite the lineage of House Targaryen and their great deeds to anyone who would listen by the age of nine, and required her father to spend a pretty sum bringing books to Runestone to sate her ever-growing quest for knowledge and entertainment.

A Falcon at Runestone
When Alayne was just passing twelve years of age, a young Godric Arryn came to Runestone to squire for her father. He was older than her, a more comparable age to her brothers, but he would listen to her, always there to offer an ear to her so that she might ramble on about the history of his house and how impressive his father was, or some rumors she had read in a dusty scroll about the Summer Islanders on the nature of their summer harvest rituals and their famous boats.

What was once only a small friendship turned into something more grand, as upon reading some new factoid or fantastical tale her first instinct was to rush to Godric to inform him. Still young, she had little idea of what to do with her growing affection for the older boy, and thus focused her energy to teasing him as much as possible.

Indeed, Alayne was crestfallen when Godric left Runestone in the Blue Winter to return to his home. Her day to day routine was simply not the same without him there- despite the household's attempts to win her happiness with maids in the form of knight's daughters, along with a new puppy and a chest full of dresses that any girl would covet. They were all good distractions, but painfully temporary.

Yet as she grew, her heart soared whenever Godric would pay visits during the young winter, coming to terms with her own affections for him in her own way. His pessimism was disheartening for the young girl, but she did her best to lift his spirits during his visits to Runestone, whether it helped him or not.

Two Weddings
Her love could remain for long, yet when Godric returned to Runestone in 429 AC, Alayne couldn't have anticipated his news. He was to marry Lysa Templeton, the kin of the lost knights Tristan and Gawain. She mourned for her love dearly, shutting herself away in her room for days, seemingly inconsolable to anyone besides her father who was always so eager to comfort his daughter. It seemed that Alayne would never truly recover from this slight, and was noticeably not present at Godric's wedding. Envious of Lysa as she was, Alayne drove herself into sickness and vomiting rather than make the voyage to the Eyrie.

Yet, Alayne could not keep her under his roof for much longer. Alayne was reaching a good marriageable age, and there were suitors aplenty for her hand. Unwilling to be sent far from the Vale, a bargain was struck with House Redfort- Alayne was to marry Eustace Redfort, younger brother to the Lord Terrance Redfort. Eustace was a few years her senior, but more than pleasant and kind to her, and it was as good a match as any could be, what with her being able to travel home practically on a whim. The pair would be married in 430 AC in the Godswood at the Redfort by a Septon.

Where Eustace was easy enough to get along with, he was also considerably more extroverted than Alayne, prone going out with friends at any given moment to hunt or to hold small reveries out in the town surrounding the Redfort while his lady remained at home. Some would say this is why it took Alayne nearly two years to come with child, though not for lack of trying. Some of the maids tittered that Eustace took others to bed besides his meek wife, who was too afraid to speak out against it. Regardless of the validity of these rumors, Eustace and Alayne would always be considered as firm friends who could rely on each other, regardless of any passion between them.

Troubles at the Redfort
Terrance Redfort had sired an heir some four years prior to Alayne's arrival at the Redfort, and his wife, the Lady Mya Moore had only become pregnant again in the year 433AC, following the birth of Alayne's first child, the small and healthy Osric Redfort. Unfortunately Mya would grow tragically weak in her pregnancy, already a decade older than Lord Terrance and two decades over Alayne herself. Alayne was horrified to watch the woman who had been as an aunt to her waste away in what should have been a joyous occasion.

A plot hatched in her mind- if the baby was taking the Lady Mya away from her, then she simply had to get rid of the baby. Alayne slipped just a bit of moontea into the wine that they shared during their luncheons outside in the summer, carefully abstaining from the drink on the claims of an upset stomach, watching with relief as Mya herself consumed the tainted drink.

Mya seemed better for a few days, happier under Alayne's watchful eye as she continued to secretly dose the pregnant woman with moontea, and then it became horribly wrong. Alayne could remember being awoken from her marriagebed to the sounds of screams echoing through the halls, maids carrying bloodsoaked sheets and the Maester consulting in hushed words with a local physician. Mya had lost her baby, and it seemed that Alayne would lose Mya as well.

Horrified at her own actions, Alayne shut herself away again, just as she had with Godric, tending only to herself for the sake of young Osric who still suckled at her breast.

It was during this time that Alayne strangely bonded the most with Lord Terrance, who was crestfallen at the loss of his life-partner. It was perhaps out of guilt, though she would never tell anyone the truth of what she had done to Mya Moore. In this time Alayne tried her best to be a friend to the daughter of Terrance and Mya, the young Alys Redfort. The girl was more like Eustace, bold and daring in her speech, but she seemed changed by the death of her mother, and Alayne saw part of herself in the girl's sorrow.

In 434, Alayne would fall pregnant again by Eustace, a pregnancy that was haunted by the memory of Mya Moore. Alayne was bedridden for most of it, and every day was a struggle as the same maids and Maesters who had waited on Mya on her deathbed now attended to her. Ultimately, Alayne would give birth to a stillborn, a sweet daughter who she privately named Carolei. This tragedy would drive Eustace away from his life, and if he had not taken mistresses before he would now.

Terrance would be her primary comforter, as the two grew closer together after the loss of daughter and wife. Some would say it seemed as though Terrance were her doting Lord Husband taking care of his wife, Alayne. The more gossip prone scullery maids would say that Terrance occasionally visited her bed to comfort her in a more physical manner, though the validity of those rumors are in question.

Things Get Worse
Eustace Redfort, already distanced from his wife, was offered a position by the Arryns to serve as a commander of the Vale. His job took him away from the Redfort, and only furthered the gap between the married couple. Alayne began to rely more frequently upon Terrance, as they helped each other through their day to day lives. Alayne even began to take a more powerful role in the Redfort, acting as something like a secretary to Terrance, helping him manage his meetings and banquets and money. Eustace's visits back to the Redfort would become sporadic, and he very rarely came to his wife's chambers.

Tragedy came to Redfort on the day in 436AC that Alayne received a raven informing her of her husband's death in a mob uprising in the Southern Vale, pulled from his horse and crushed under the weight of his steed as it fell atop him. Alayne was essentially too numb to mourn, horrified at her own near indifference, yet in some way it made sense. She could never forgive Eustace for replacing her with other women in his bed, despite his untimely death.

Then came the surprise not three weeks after Eustace's death that Alayne was indeed pregnant. The question for the gossiphounds was largely of whether the child was Eustace's or Terrance's, but none posed the question to the lady herself as she became bedridden once more. This pregnancy she would carry to term though, and gave birth to a healthy if not exceedingly noisy baby boy who she would name Robert.

It seemed that she would not even be allowed solace with just Terrance for too long, as one night Alayne awoke to a cold bed and yet again the screams of servants, even as she rushed from her bedroom she knew he was dead, could feel it inside her. By all accounts he had tripped when going down the flight of stairs at the Redfort, and had broken his neck at the bottom. The maesters had assured her that he had felt no pain, but the loss of yet another love drove her near mad.

Lady Regent
Alys Redfort was only twelve when her father died, and the Moores and the knights of Redfort thus convened to announce Alayne as the Lady Regent until Alys did come of age. Once again the woman was forced to be strong for her family, to put on a good show of grace and beauty though all she wished to do was retreat to her bed and cry. The documents which she had once so lovingly poured over with Terrance now seemed to mock her, a constant reminder of his absence.

She could not flee this mortal plane yet though, not with her two beautiful baby boys who relied on their mother so heavily and sweet Alys who always tried her best to make Alayne feel better. And thus, Alayne Redfort soldiered on, the last of the four friends who had once called the Redfort their home. Some say she is still haunted by their ghosts.