RHAENYS TARGARYEN AND LYANNA BARATHEON
Lyanna Stark is nothing more than a story as Rhaenys grows up. The story of a Tourney at Harrenhal. Her crowning by then Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Lyanna Stark is nothing more than whispers in the halls of the Red Keep before they all seize one day and Rhaenys isn't sure if it is her mother or her father who is responsible for these seized whispers.
Then one day, Rhaenys is a lady of ten-and-a-seven being sent to foster at Storm's End for a year according to her late mother's wishes. She is to wed Jon Baratheon, the heir who despite being four name-days younger than her, already stands an inch taller than her. Jon is already a man grown it appears from his build and Rhaenys doesn't hesitate to look at him as such.
She arrives at Storm's End to be greeted by Lord and Lady Baratheon, their children standing behind them apart from Jon who was standing beside Rhaenys, having accompanied her on the journey from King's Landing. Robert Baratheon, Rhaenys has seen a good number of times at court, frequently visiting King's Landing but never staying long enough. However, not once had Rhaenys seen Lady Lyanna before.
Lady Lyanna is beautiful, Rhaenys admits, with brownish-black hair which are left open in the Northern fashion and eyes of frosty grey. Rhaenys almost understands why her father had crowned the Lady before her. Lady Baratheon smiles at Rhaenys and welcomes her but there is a certain edge to the greeting that Rhaenys cannot place her finger on. Rhaenys decides that perhaps Lyanna Baratheon has ice in her veins, as she had once heard Uncle Oberyn claim.
She instantly doesn't like Storm's End. The place is wet and there is always a cold draft. The surroundings are not comforting at all and the place is filled with more Baratheons that Rhaenys can count (Seven Baratheons by birth, two Baratheons by marriage). She comes from a castle where there were only five Targaryens who lived together - four since her mother's death, two-and-half years back because Uncle Viserys was always travelling and Aunt Dany lived in Summerhall even if she was yet to marry Uncle Viserys. The people are too foreign for a girl, a Princess to be exact, who has grown up knowing only the life of a King's firstborn and not as some Lady.
Lord Baratheon is a drunken oaf who is far too loud for Rhaenys's liking and she can see Jon duck his head in shame at his father's foolish japing. When Rhaenys had told Jon that she always felt he was too old, Jon had agreed stating that with parents like his it was necessary to grow up. Lady Baratheon is far too cold, wearing breeches more regularly than gowns and mostly out riding or sword fighting under the disapproving glare of Lord Stannis. Cassandra, Jon's younger sister who has just turned twelve, is a proper lady, too excited at having a Princess around the castle. "She and Sansa are that kind of girls.", Jon states in defence and Rhaenys isn't sure why he is defending Cassandra. To be honest, Cassana is the only likeable person apart from Jon and Renly Baratheon here. That isn't to say she hates any of them because she may be bothered by the lot but no, she hasn't been taught hatred by her mother. Especially for the young ones, Shireen and Rickard, Jon's cousin and youngest sibling respectively, who are both shy and so keep to themselves.
Lady Baratheon doesn't run the household, Rhaenys is told. It is Lord Stannis's wife who burdens that responsibility and that is the only time Rhaenys understands Lady Lyanna. The woman craves freedom and so do I, Rhaenys thought. However, Rhaenys had shouldered the responsibilities of the Red Keep after her mother's dead, no matter how few or small they were because a King had enough people to do his bidding. So here she starts it too even if she finds Lord Stannis's wife a little too religious for her liking. Truly, despite it all she prefers Lady Lyanna over Lady Selyse.
Lady Baratheon on her good days could almost be the female version of her husband if she was a wine lover to the extent her husband was. On her good days, Lady Lyanna laughs too loudly, speaks a few crass words which genuinely ladies would blush at, she almost seems free in those moments and Rhaenys wonders if upon her wedding, she would turn out like Lady Lyanna, waiting for the good days where she is more instantly likeable.
"My mother was a rose of Winterfell.", Jon will tell her, "She was kind and loving. Uncle Benjen tells me so many stories from my mother's youth."
"Then what happened to her?", she will ask, hoping that he wouldn't say it was Storm's End which turned her that way.
"She is still the same. A wolf more than a lady, according to Uncle Ned. She's just…", and Jon will trail off, leaving Rhaenys to wander what happened. Was it marriage which extinguished Lady Lyanna's fire? For now she is neither wolf or lady. Was it Lord Baratheon who did this to his wife?
"Mother always preferred my cousin Arya.", Cassandra will tell her one day as they break fast together. "Arya is far from a lady, I tell you. You will see when she comes for your wedding."
Rhaenys will nod and distract Cassandra then, telling her another story about her Targaryen siblings, because all Rhaenys sees in Cassandra is a motherless child. That is the first time she finds any ill feelings towards Lady Baratheon because she left her child that way. How often had Rhaenys taken on the role of a mother for her younger siblings since her mother's death? She vows to extend the same love for Cassandra.
"Almost embarrassing! Shameful.", Lord Stannis will spit on seeing Lady Baratheon behave nothing like a lady.
Rhaenys will be the first to jump to Lady Baratheon's defence, "She uses the sword well. Reminds me of my cousin Obara a bit." She says it not because she likes Lady Lyanna, Heavens no, but because her Dornish family has taught her that women will be judged at every turn and you need to learn to defend yourself. "A woman is free only in Dorne.", Arianna had told her smiling at the fact that out of all the kingdoms, she would rule Dorne - a Dorne that welcomes one and all without judgement. Which is how years later Arianna ends up taking a husband from a minor cadet branch of the Daynes.
All too soon a year passes and preparations start for her wedding. She is almost surprised to see Lady Baratheon help in the wedding preparation and even more surprised when she sees Lady Baratheon behave a certain way when the Starks arrive. Rhaenys notices that to an extent Cassandra had been right - Lady Baratheon seemed extremely fond of Arya. Arya wasn't too bad either. She was not lady-like yes but she was still bubbly, sweet if she desired. She was alright even if Rhaenys preferred Sansa over Arya. Then suddenly seeing Arya with a sword, that Jon had just gifted her, was like solving the mystery of Lady Baratheon. Lyanna was Arya once and truly if Arya were to grow into a woman without any change, she would be a friendly and kind person. Yet, Lady Lyanna had gone far away from that.
Lady Lyanna visits her to ask her about her maiden cloak.
"My sister will bring it with her, my Lady.", Rhaenys assures, remembering the lengthy letter her sister had written, telling her that Visenya had helped in the stitching. Visenya had truly missed her if she was stitching a maiden cloak of all things. Her sister had no patience for needles.
"You look like your mother. Do people ever tell you that?", Lady Baratheon asks her.
"Yes, my Lady. So people tell me.", Rhaenys answers suddenly all too uncomfortable with this conversation. She has shared exactly six full proper conversations with Lady Lyanna, most of which have been about Jon.
Lady Lyanna smiles a little at that. "I know Jon loves you. However, I must ask - do you love him?"
Rhaenys is taken aback at that simply because she hadn't expected that question. She recovers quick enough, smiling, before replying, "I do, my Lady."
"Well then we can only hope for good things from your marriage I believe. If your marriage is as loving as your parents, then you will have no trouble though do not be surprised if Jon gets bored of your face for a little while.", Lady Lyanna speaks bitterly and Rhaenys has to bite her tongue to not raise her voice at the woman before her. Rhaenys was a Princess of the Seven Kingdoms and the woman before her was a foolish lady speaking such ill about the late Queen.
"Atleast I will not run after married men.", she retorts instead, realising now that Lady Lyanna was drunk.
"Your father chased me, foolish girl, not the other way round.", the woman spits.
"Careful of your tone. I am a Princess and my father King.", she warns not speaking about whatever her father and Lady Lyanna shared because Rhaenys knows her parents never married for love.
"Oh girl. You believe your title scares me when I had your father in my palm.", Lady Lyanna laughs.
"And yet when the day came, my mother was Queen and what were you exactly? Oh right, the King's common whore." Rhaenys knows she shouldn't have said those words. She was well aware that her father had never had any physical relations with this woman for then her father would have never escaped Uncle Oberyn's spear. Whore is what people call Lyanna Baratheon only when they are talking crudely of the King's business.
"How dare you, you insolent…"
A knock from the door interrupts them and Jon stops at the door, sensing the tension between his mother and to-be-bride.
Her wedding is held in the last days of the long cold winter and so Rhaenys doesn't shiver as Visenya places the Targaryen maiden cloak on her before leaving to join the wedding.
Her father and her are the only ones left in the room now and Rhaenys cannot think of a better time to speak of it. "Lady Lyanna holds no love for me."
Her father stiffens at the mention of that name and Rhaenys understands. While Visenya and Aegon and arrived days before the wedding, her father had come only day before yesterday and spent the time since avoiding Lady Baratheon.
"You are marrying Jon not her.", her father replies, his eyes looking anywhere but at her.
"I am marrying into the family. She will be my good-mother in a few hours.", she reasons. They would share the same roof until one of their's death.
"You do not have to get along with her.", her father argues and Rhaenys wants to scream out at that. Not once had her father or mother spoken of Lady Lyanna.
"Do not curse me to such luck. I cannot bear her. She is wild and wilful, cruel and vile. She hates me because I am your child. Tell me is her anger justified?" By the end of her sentence, she was almost screaming.
"I knew her for only three moons before the war started.", her father speaks as if that was the answer to all her questions.
Eyes narrowed, she glares at her father before speaking, "You have cursed me to such a luck. Swear upon your life you will not do the same to Visenya. Wed her in a family were they will all love her. I am brittle and I shall survive but Visenya, you know she will not." It had always been hard being a daughter to the King. To Rhaegar Targaryen especially. There were only two kinds of people Rhaenys had met - the people who adored her father, speaking constantly of how wonderful and noble he was and the people who called her father an Usurper who had taken the throne before his father's blood had even dried. That was the sole reason why Rhaenys and Aegon had been so protective of Visenya. Visenya was her father's dearest child. It was well-known throughout the Seven Kingdoms that Rhaegar Targaryen loved none more than his youngest who had been brought up with the most warmest of care. They had all shielded Visenya so much that Rhaenys knows her sister would never be as strong as her.
Her father sighs at that, finally moving to seat on the bed. "My father… he did not hold much love for your mother. So I took her to Dragonstone."
"My husband is not the prince of Dragonstone, though.", Rhaenys answers because her father was prince then but Jon is just a Lord.
"My point is… I could do that because I had royal duties to carry out. If… and only if you are willing, I will have you shoulder some royal duties. You would meet smaller lords, handle their disputes, listen to their troubles. It will be a tiring journey but it shall keep you away from here."
She takes her father up on his offer, tells Jon that it is of utmost importance that she do it and only she. They travel for a few months before her father calls her to King's Landing and announces Visenya's wedding to Aegon. Briefly, Rhaenys wonders if her sister and brother were being wed because of the promise she had made her father keep on her wedding day. Yet, the wedding was away for now, atleast almost two years, the time it would take Visenya to turn sixteen.
Jon and Rhaenys travel along with no care in the world. Jon is younger still and has no desire for children, Rhaenys is eighteen and so has years for a child. So she is free, away from Storm's End and often Rhaenys wonders if this is what Lady Lyanna needs to.
Then a year later, Rhaenys's womb thickens with child and so she returns to Storm's End for it is Jon's greatest desire is to have their child be born at home. When they tell the news to the Baratheons, Lord Robert laughs aloud, patting his son, booming loudly to anybody who will hear that he will be a grandfather. Lord Robert decides to host a feast and it is on the evening of the feast that Lady Lyanna visits her.
Despite her marriage, she retains her Targaryen name for she is King's blood and is still addressed as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen atleast until her husband takes his father's title. So she instantly corrects Lyanna Baratheon when the latter calls her 'lady'.
"Princess is the way to address me.", she reminds Lady Lyanna. Normally, she is not at all particular with her titles and allows people to call her Lady Baratheon or Princess, whichever they prefer for she believes that she needs to learn to be accustomed to the title of Lady. Yet, this is Lyanna Baratheon so no she isn't going to be so forgiving.
"Forgive me.", Lady Lyanna speaks, this time fully sober, "I only came to congratulate you. You are very fortunate."
"Yes. Thank you.", she answers too sweetly, a sugary smile on her face.
A staring battle follows when neither say something or turn away before Lady Lyanna tells her, "You remind me of your mother. Every time I look at you I see Elia Martell laughing at me, taunting me that she stole my love." There is no malice in Lady Lyanna's tone yet Rhaenys cannot help herself when the next words she speaks are a veiled barb.
"My father was Elia Martell's husband long before you came into the picture. You stole my mother's husband."
"I suppose you are right in that regard. But… I clearly wasn't a good thief if your father still went back to your mother." Lady Lyanna speaks to her in a note of actual conversation, no fight, no barbs, nothing. So Rhaenys lowers her shields too.
"Why do you speak of my mother this way to me?" That is a question Rhaenys has wanted to ask for so long.
"Rhaegar… he… we were writing letters to one another. His words were enough to make me fall in love with him. It seems my words were not. I wed Robert and stood by as your mother was crowned Queen to the King I wanted. I stood by and watched as Robert and Rhaegar made you Lady to my firstborn. I am… just so tired of losing every time. Rhaegar doesn't speak to me anymore, hasn't even looked at me in years now. Do not take my son away from me like that. I am begging you right now, please, not my Jon."
The turn of events were so surprising that Rhaenys did not even move when Lady Lyanna started crying.
"My Lady… I… What happened between you and my father is a matter long gone and it is best you let it be buried. My mother was his wife and hence his Queen. She did not wed my father to win something over you. And I did not wed Jon to win something over you either. So please, there is no reason to shed tears. Jon is your son and he shall remain so."
Inspite of the glaringly obvious signs, not once had Rhaenys noticed that Lady Lyanna's real enmity had been with her mother and not her father or her. Oh, how cruelly had Lady Lyanna suffered to watch a ghost of Elia Martell wed her son Jon because Rhaenys looked almost identical to her mother at the given age if one could overlook the indigo eyes. She feels pity for Lady Stark but only a little pity because all she can think is how many times this woman had prayed for her mother's death.
As the celebrations continue, Jon freezes suddenly, his eyes fixed at one point or person rather. Rhaenys turns to look too and in that moment, she is jealous of the pretty raven-head Jon is staring at.
"Who is she?", she asks instantly.
"Father's bastard daughter.", Jon answers and Rhaenys recoils at those words, "I do not know what he means to achieve by parading her around. He doesn't see how it hurts mother."
Rhaenys's eyes search for Lady Baratheon in that moment and sure enough the woman sat, stiff as wood, unmoving, unresponsive to her surroundings. It is the following morning that Rhaenys sheds her dignity and goes looking for Lady Baratheon.
"How do you bear it?", she asks as soon as she and Lady Lyanna are alone in the latter's chambers. In Dorne, a bastard would not have mattered but these kingdoms are different, her mother had warned her. A bastard for them is a curse, a shame. "Does the girl's presence not bother you?"
"Can I do something, tell me? Mya. Her name is Mya Stone. Robert sired her before our marriage.", Lady Lyanna answers, not even bothering to look at Rhaenys.
"Is she the only one?", she asks. Jon had hinted at the possibility of his father having more than one bastard.
"Oh, many, my dear child. Many. He said he would stop, did you know that? When Robert wed me, he said he would stop his whoring. He made all these big promises of being loyal to me, loving me till the end of his life. I was wary but well, your father had already broken my heart so it didn't matter anymore. I gave Robert a chance…
"It was wonderful in the beginning. We wed and less than a year later, we had Jon. My little Jon. Then I thought, we could cope. Your father was happy in his life and I promised myself that I would try and be happy too. Rhaegar Targaryen was my past but Jon, he was my child. He was all that mattered."
"What happened, then?" Jon had told Rhaenys that often times, he had to play parent to both his siblings. His parents would have fights, his father would go hunting or drinking and his mother would either lock herself or go riding. If Lyanna Baratheon said that she was being happy then how did this come to be?
"Then… then Robert fell back to his old ways. I had just learnt that I was with child again, my little Cassandra and Robert was off whoring. We fought, we screamed, I went away to Winterfell. Cassandra was born there, did you know that? She was born in the North. But… She was a Southern lady before she was five and I could find nothing to talk to her about. You should have seen Lady Catelyn, my brother's wife, how she fell in love with Sansa and Cassandra. They were born months apart, Sansa the younger one. And I had lost my daughter while we stayed there. I stayed there for three whole years."
"Then why return?", Rhaenys can't help herself and ask. She had known that Lady Lyanna preferred the North since the day she had met her.
"My Jon. My Jon was here. Robert kept him here, my son. I have never hated Robert more than in that moment when he kept my son. And then my brother Ned… Oh how he loves Robert. He begged me to come back, Ned told me things would be better. That Robert had finally understood his folly. To me it didn't matter, he had fathered far too many bastards by then."
"Rickard?", she asks almost too afraid to know how that boy, currently eight-nine years old, came to be conceived.
"A drunken moment. I almost cannot remember it happening. I didn't want him. I couldn't bring myself to have another one of Robert's. It was too painful…. But… but he is my son, my child. How could a mother do it? And yet… as he grows… I cannot. How can I look at a child born of anger and hatred? How can I give him love the way he deserves?" This is the second time Rhaenys sees Lyanna Baratheon cry. She had seemed so proud, Lady Lyanna, when Rhaenys had first seen her. It was all a pretence and it was all Robert Baratheon's fault and perhaps, even her father's. They had snuffed the light out of Lady Lyanna and it just makes Rhaenys detest both men more.
Over the years, she would frequently wonder how such a small creature could carry so much hate? How had she not died under the weight of so much, over these years? Lady Lyanna Baratheon, Rhaenys believes, is one of the strongest ladies she has ever met.