After a quiet morning in my cabin, I am startled by the sound of laughter on deck. I join Ser Denys and Tito there, and Ser Denys launches into a dramatic tale about how he became a knight. He reported that he began as the younger of two smith apprentices, and the older was more talented but cruel. One day, Ser Denys responded to his cruelty with violence, and when the house Master at Arms found him beating the living hell out of his fellow apprentice, he invited Denys to train as a knight. Before his training began, as punishment for his temper, he was branded with the tip of his broad sword. Tito showed off a scar on his leg, and snickered his way through a story about jumping out of a window after getting caught with his pants literally around his ankles. I am reduced into a fit of giggles myself from his story of such a chaotic affair, and after some prodding, I reluctantly share a scar of my own, which I have spent much time and effort covering up. Ser Denys' eyes grow wide and Tito looks on with increasing respect as I share the tale of Olivia nearly decapitating me. "She was never going to stop pursuing me, and I can't always count on the axe missing my neck, so I was glad to end things with Olivia in Gulltown," I explained to them solemnly.

Ser Denys suggests we return to Gulltown to make sure Olivia is gone for good. I'm very grateful to hear his empathy rather than disgust at my hideous scar, and Tito launches into another tale about the time a brother worker nearly bit off his tongue. We roar with laughter on the deck of the Rambis, and swap stories of love lost and the pain of of our mistakes. I notice a sense of closeness with these new members of House Jasper, and am grateful for this feeling I haven't experienced in some time. It isn't too long before a battered crew returns with a nearly dead Thomas and a horrifying winged creature attempting to climb aboard the ship.