''As High as Honor.'' Those are the words of House Arryn. Taehyun remembers them well. As a babe they taught him honor, and to keep his head held as high as the Eyrie, no matter what. They never let him forget who he was - a pure-blooded Andal, of a lineage of Kings of the Vale who wore the Falcon Crown proudly, of the same men who managed to destroy the Targaryen fleet when Aegon the Conqueror would have had them all bend the knee right where they stood. The Arryns fought back, and the Arryns persevered, as long as they could. As High as Honor. As high and as strong as the Eyrie.

They are not so High now, it seems. There has been nothing but misfortune for House Arryn as of late, and Taehyun has asked the Seven way too many times for a way, or a sign. None came. His aunt Lysa had followed his uncle's doom, and now a sickly boy sits the lord's throne. Everyone says that wretched Littlefinger is now pulling all the strings in the Vale, and pulling them in all the wrong ways. But what could Taehyun do? His family may be the next in line of succession, but it is his cousin that is the rightful heir, not him. So what could he do, and keep his honor high? How could he protect Sweet Robin from where he was, leagues away from Runestone? What could he do about the cause of the Lords Declarant? He is just a young man with no claim to anything, Arryn or no.

Taehyun doesn't know what to do, he realizes, but he certainly cannot sit idle either. ''The Vale takes no part in these wars,'' his mother had told him, but Taehyun thought that maybe that was the reason the gods were punishing them. Maybe it's the massive host we're keeping secluded from the world when we could stop the evil running rampant through the lands, leaving death behind. Taehyun didn't mean to start a war, nor to join one of the plenty, but he couldn't sit idle and live with Petyr Baelish as Lord Protector of the Vale while his own blood of old still ran through live veins.

Gulltown is bustling today but he cannot hear it over his thoughts. When he sits astride his horse, it's almost instinctive.

''Where are you going, son?'' his mother wakes him from his thoughts. She looks as beautiful as ever, fresh and sun-kissed, traces of salt in her hair. The most beautiful, strongest woman that has ever lived, he knows. It is his younger brother leading her, their arms entwined. Fresh from a walk through town on this wonderful summer day, he realizes. But he cannot sit idle. Not him.

''The Gates of the Moon,'' he replies.

''Why?'' she asks, her voice already filled with dread.

''The Lords have declared against Baelish-''

''Not Nestor Rhoyce,'' she argues quickly, ''You cannot trust him.''

''I mean to speak to him all the same.''

''Son-''

''I cannot sit idly, mother, not now. Do you not see what is happening?''

''I don't care for politics,'' she says through her teeth. ''Mother-,'' the younger Arryn tries to calm her sweetly, but there would be no calming her for days to come, Taehyun knows. ''I care about my son. My heir.''

''I will be back,'' Taehyun says, ''But if the Vale is to have any heir at all, something must be done at once. I'm sorry, mother.''

''Think of me, Taehyun.''

''You two are all I think of.''

''Be careful,'' his younger brother clasps his forearm, ''Return to us, good news or no.''

''I will.''

As he rides out of Gulltown he wonders if leaving them behind was smart. He wonders if ushering them out of the Eyrie was smart.

The Eyrie... Most secure, safest place in Westeros simply did not feel quite so safe with Littlefinger in it. No, this was good. He had done well.

All his life he had kept to himself, not speaking, not acting, not affecting. Too long. Now he meant to right some wrongs.