Where green fields had once surrounded the land around the Tent-Sept the land was now covered in a sprawling mass of temporary shelters, fires, and events. Smallfolk intermingled freely in a crowd that also included a multitude of clergy and merchants. Speckled throughout the crowd could be seen men in brilliantly coloured copes, two such men in copes of pink guarded the makeshift bridge that had been serving as a temporary means of passage across the river while the true bridge was being worked on.
The other bridge would be massive when it was completed, wide enough to fit two carriages side by side across it. The large stone pylons had been set, and even now workers were building a narrow plank bridge across it so that work could soon begin on the main body of the structure.
Though many did seem at work, whether at the bridge, cookfires, or in the distant fields even more seemed to be caught up in the activities of the day or else conversing amongst each other from topics as jovial as the victory over the Red Demon to as serious as placing bets on when the next winter would come.
A corner of the field had been roped off, and there danced many young boys and girls under the keen and watching eyes of a row of elderly Septas who sat off to the side, voicing a critique whenever one of the children took a wrong step. Spread on the ground in front of the Septas was a large tapestry in the process of being worked upon. Many older girls sat around it as well doing their best to aid in its stitching, though judging from the bandages many had wrapped about their fingers and the often exasperated sighs of the Septas it was obvious it was the first time that many had attempted such an activity.
Opposite the Septas, on the other side of the roped off section sat a group of musicians upon a dais strumming their instruments for the dancers. The multitude of silver stars sewn onto the chief musician’s cloak could be seen eve from across the river as the carriage neared.
In another corner of the field many older boys were involved in some sort of game involving a heavy ball of dried cow leathers, a pile forming in the field as they roughhoused for control of it as if it were a precious gem.
Many more there were, some conversing, and many more beholding themselves in groups to different Septons and Begging Brothers. Some groups lay prostrate as the clergyman held up a Silver Star, others stood in silence, while others sang loud hyms with most of the words mispronounced and butchered...But the intent was there.
As the carriages topped the hill and began to draw near many heads in the crowd began to turn to stare, a few of the cloaked men already clearing the road of smallfolk that the carriages might have room to drive. Even the dancers faltered as the chief musician set down his instrument, standing and hurrying towards the bridge, quickly joined by a group of coped men.
If Terrence noticed any of this he didn’t react. He stood knee-deep in the river washing clothing with a group of children. “Now Tommen, this must be the second time I’ve told you to not tease your sister, no matter what she’s done!” He gently tossed the sodden pair of trousers he had been soaking at the bow, laughing heartily as he gave a yelp and fell back into the water.
The boy emerged a minute later, blindly splashing some water at where he remembered Terrence to be, only to douse his poor sister. The other children (And Terrence too) wasted no time in joining battle, a battle which ended when Terrence’s feet were swept out from under him and he was submerged beneath the waves.
He came up a moment later, spluttering and laughing heartily. It was only then when a call from a knight on the banks reached him. He glanced over to the approaching carriages as he stood up, despite all his hours of prayer he still felt his nerves building. This will be the point that makes or breaks me.
“Well children, let us say hello to our king and queen. Help me up to the bridge.”
It took a minute or two for him to finally mount the steep slope leading from the water’s edge, slipping once or twice despite the children’s aid, his hands smeared with dirt. He proceeded over towards the bridge with the children in tow, the entirety of his robes sobbing wet, wiping the mud on his hands idly off on his robe, further dirtying it. Fine sight I will be for these lords and ladies.