Hello everyone! I usually don't do prologues, but it felt necessary for this fic. Lyra's parents were known as the Desert Rose and the Wild Wolf and their back story is quite important later on.
Enjoy ^.^
Face Claims:
Princess Meria Martell: Emmanuelle Chriqui (Character age, Present-36; Past-16)
Lord Brandon Stark: Eoin Macken (Character Age at Death-22)
Tia Tavner: Anna Popplewell (Character Age-20)
"Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word."
-George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Prologue: The Wild Wolf and the Desert Rose
Princess Meria Martell was an oddity, even for a Martell-she had a high born bastard from the Reach for a paramour, and she enjoyed spending her days among the common folk-she simply found them more interesting than the nobility. In fact, Princess Meria even had a common stoney dornish woman as one of her handmaidens. The handmaiden's name was Tia Tavner, and she and Princess Meria were currently taking tea on the veranda of the Old Palace in Sunspear; the traditional ruling seat of House Martell.
Looking out at the Narrow Sea, Meria felt the loneliness creep up on her. With Eliy Flowers left to go back to the Reach a couple of days ago, and her only child gone North, Meria had a terrible feeling of grief that not even her jovial brother, Prince Oberyn Martell, could cure.
As Meria drank her tansy tea, brewed to prevent an illegitimate pregnancy by Eliy, the two women chatted about everything from Lyra's upcoming marriage to Robb to potential suitors for Tia. Her loyal handmaiden was now twenty years, she was older than Meria's only child, and Meria needed to think of potential marriage prospects for her in return for her many years of service, companionship, and loyalty. The youngest sister of the Ruling Prince of Dorne was thinking of one of her oldest brother's newly anointed knights, whom she'd caught exchanging flirtatious glances with the handmaiden in question. Though Meria would have to speak with her brother, Ruling Prince Doran Martell, before the marriage could be arranged, she was certain that her dear brother would agree; the knight, Ser Aldo, came from a merchant family as did the orphan Tia Tavner.
"Oh! My Princess! I almost forgot," Tia said excitedly as she pulled an unopened scroll from her pocket. "Lady Lyra's raven arrived with a letter for you this morning."
Thanking Tia, Meria examined the scroll, which had an orange, unbroken seal with the Stark dire wolf. Meria sighed and shook her head, her daughter Lyra was quite committed to her nickname, the Sun Wolf. Meria even laughed as she remembered the day Lyra began calling herself "the Sun Wolf".
Doran's oldest daughter, Princess Arienne, was play fighting with seven-year-old Lyra, and lost against her younger cousin. When Lyra declared herself to be a warrior as Queen Nymeria, Arienne, who had always been a bit of a sore loser, indignantly told Lyra that she could never be like the founder of House Martell because she was a Stark, and thus a wolf not a spear wielding warrior. Lyra, who's father, Brandon Stark, had died only two years prior, asked the old wizened Maester Derren to tell her all about the House Stark warriors. Upon learning of their wolfish nicknames and how her own father was called the "Wild Wolf" due to his fiery, passionate personality, Lyra decided to follow in her father's footsteps and came up with her own nickname.
Meria and Brandon's daughter took her position as her lord father's sole heir quite seriously, especially after her father's death and the usurpment of her own seat in Winterfell. Despite the fact that the Northrn lords pledged fealty to Brandon's brother and Lyra's uncle, Ned Stark, Lyra still believed herself to be the true heir to Winterfell. Due to these unfortunate events, Lyra began to call herself the "Sun Wolf" due to being a Stark residing in Sunspear under the protection of House Martell. Lyra so wanted to be Brandon Stark's proper heir that she had even gone as far as to take up swordplay at the age of seven in addition to archery, much to everyone's chagrin. Nobody would even teach her how to properly wield a sword, mostly at the behest of Meria herself, until Meria's other older brother, Prince Oberyn, came back from Essos, and he saw his niece relentlessly trying to force lowborn children around the palace to spar with her.
Prince Oberyn, who'd just found twelve-year-old Obara Sand and was teaching her to fight with a spear, sat down with his eight-year-old niece, and asked her why she wanted to learn how to fight like lords. Lyra's response was that she was Brandon's heir, and thus she needed to learn just as her father before her; but mostly, she did not wish to die as her royal cousins and aunt had during Robert's Rebellion, fearful and defenseless because the knights who were supposed to protect them failed in their duty. Meria felt her heart break at her daughter's response; Lyra was too young to be so jaded as to believe that her own sworn men might not or could not protect her. Oberyn was touched by Lyra's response as well, but differently from Meria; his heart broke for his deceased niece, Princess Rhaenys, who was less than one year younger than Lyra, and he felt that she had a valid point as his emotions about the Sack of King's Landing was still raw. That very day, Oberyn began teaching Lyra about spears and swordplay along with his own bastard daughter.
Lyra ended up having quite a talent with swords, so much in fact that Oberyn, who was a spearman and not much of a swordsman, felt he'd taught his niece all he could about swords when she was only eleven years, which is why he and Meria tasked Sunspear's Master at Arms to teach Lyra from then on. Of course, Oberyn continued to teach Obara everyday about mastering a spear, and Lyra would occasionally join them, claiming that she wanted to learn every weapon so that she could be as strong as possible. She would even go as far as demanding that her older, much bigger and stronger cousin spar with her everyday starting at the age of thirteen once Lyra received her own commissioned sword, which she had dubbed Night's Queen after her father's sword, Night's King.
Oh Brandon...I miss you. As does our only girl...Meria's eyes began to water in grief for her long dead love and father of her only child. Most days, Meria could push her grief aside, but days like this—when the sun was partially obscured by clouds and most of the family was busy or away—it was hard. Though Meria had a couple of paramours starting three years after Brandon's death (Why shouldn't she? She was still a young and comely woman, and she did not wish to live out the rest of her days alone), she still truly believed that Brandon Stark was her true love.
Princess Meria was only fourteen when she met sixteen-year-old Brandon Stark of Winterfell. It was at a tourney in King's Landing held for Prince Rhaegar's name day. Despite Brandon's betrothal to Catelyn Tully, he began to court Meria, who was just becoming known as the "Desert Rose" of House Martell, as if it were love at first sight. Meria was with her brother, Oberyn, watching him enlist when Brandon finally approached her after staring at her all morning and asked her for her favor. She fondly remembered that long summer and the five day long tourney, in which she saw Brandon compete and cheered him on for every event. During the nights, they'd have late night rendezvouses when they'd talk and kiss passionately while in each other's arms. He didn't win anything but the melee, which didn't allow the winner to crown a lady of his choosing as the Queen of Love and Beauty; however, as the winner, he was allowed to make a request of the King. Brandon, being stubborn and passionate, especially at the age of sixteen, asked King Aerys II if he could have a crown of red roses so that he may name Meria the Princess of Love and Beauty. The crowd fell silent as nobody had ever asked such a thing of the king after winning the melee, but the King, back before he went mad, found the young man's request to be touching and romantically innovative. King Aerys accepted Brandon's request and the gentle and kind Queen Rhaella had her ladies in waiting take the pink roses from her own vase to make the crown for Meria right then and there. Meria, only having just come into her beauty and womanly figure, remembered her face flushing as she was summoned before the King and Queen for Brandon to crown her as his Princess of Love and Beauty. Though the roses were not red as Brandon had requested, Meria and he felt that the crown of pink roses was more fitting since she was the Desert Rose, which are pink, not red. The crowd cheered when Brandon placed the crown atop of Meria's dark, thick hair. Meria still had that crown actually, she had let the roses dry out and the crown now sits atop her dresser; now a nostalgic reminder of the love her and Brandon shared.
After the tourney ended and everyone went back to their respective homes, Brandon asked Meria if he could write to her, to which she accepted. One month later, she received her first letter from Brandon, much to her surprise; she was hoping that the dashingly handsome man would write her, but she didn't get her hopes up. For two years, they exchanged letters every other fortnight. Of course, Meria's mother and eldest brother warned her about not getting too attached to a man betrothed to another girl, but Meria was too smitten with Brandon to listen. In the end, she was thankful that she didn't.
Two years after the tourney at King's Landing, Meria and Brandon met again at another tourney at King's Landing, this time, it was to celebrate the birth of Prince Viserys. During the seven days their families were there, Meria and Brandon picked up where they'd left off two years earlier as if no time had passed at all. During one of their late night rendezvouses, Brandon admitted to Meria, who was being considered as a potential bride for Prince Rhaegar, that he did not wish to marry Catelyn Tully; instead, he wanted to marry Meria. Though Meria was as brash and passionate as any other Martell, even she had her doubts. She tried to reason with Brandon that they couldn't spurn their duty to their houses, to which he argued back that even the Seven believed that a person could not be married against their will, and he was no longer willing to marry the Tully girl.
I've fallen for another, you, he'd argued with Meria, and I know that you've fallen for me; I've seen it in your letters,he said as he lovingly stroked her cheek. We've written every other fortnight for two years and I feel like I know you better than I've ever known anyone. You've poured your heart out to me. Tell me you don't feel the same way.
It was true, Meria had fallen in love with Brandon Stark, and after confessing their feelings, they went to Meria's grown brother, Prince Oberyn, for his consent, which he gave; and the next night, all three of them fled the Capitol to Barrowtown, the seat of House Dustin. Lord Dustin was at the tourney with Lady Dustin, so his cousin, Aden Dustin, was the acting lord of Barrowtown. Brandon knew Aden well from being fostered with him at Barrowtown, it didn't take long for Brandon to persuade him to marry them in the Gods Wood. Meria had no gown to wear so Aden had the servant find her the white gown his own mother had worn when she was married in the same Gods Wood. Aden said it would be an honor for his best friend's wife to be married in his late mother's gown. Of course, Meria had to take the gown in due to her rather elegantly slight build of the Martells, but that very night, she and Brandon were married with Oberyn as their witness by Aden in front of the Heart Tree, in sight of the Old Gods, Brandon's and, later, Lyra's Gods.
Wedded and bedded, those three uninterrupted days Brandon and Meria had at Barrowtown as newlyweds will always be remembered as magical and romantic by Meria; however, it didn't take long for the Martells and the Starks to catch up with them. As Brandon, Lord Rickard Stark, and Meria's mother argued in Lord Dustin's solar, who had returned as well and was reprimanding Aden for not telling him about the wedding plans, Meria sat outside, waiting and terrified that their marriage would be annulled and her happiness would soon turn to ash in her mouth.
After what felt like half a day, Brandon came out, smiling happily, to tell Meria that the Starks and Martells had agreed to officially validate their marriage. However, the Meria's mother was still angry with her because they had to pay the Starks a larger dowry than they should have due to the fact that this meant Brandon broke his oath to Catelyn Tully. Everyone was angry with the newly wedded couple, save for Oberyn and Aden, but neither Brandon nor Meria cared; they were too happy to care.
Luckily, Lord Stark and Lord Tully were able to patch up their broken alliance, but at House Stark's expense. Meria and Brandon had to deal with much scorn from the older members of House Stark, but Lyanna and Eddard were nothing but kind to Meria, and Meria still thanks the Gods that Lyanna was happy to accept her so quickly as her good sister; Meria didn't think she would have survived Winterfell without Lyanna. Fortunately, nine months later, Meria gave birth to Brandon's first child, whom he named Lyra after his grandmother in the hopes that she would be gifted with great beauty, passion, and lovely voice as her name sake. After Lyra's birth, the older Stark's anger was mostly quelled, and a year and a half later, Robb was born to Catelyn and Ned. Though Meria still felt guilty for unintentionally putting her good brother in an awkward position; when Lord Stark went to Riverrun to patch their relations up, he took Ned with him to offer his second son to Hoster Tully as a husband for Catelyn. Meria heard that Hoster accepted Rickard's terms, however, Ned and Catelyn had to be married right away and Brandon's heir had to marry one of their children. The fathers agreed to each others' terms and Ned and Catelyn were married the following day, without Brandon and Meria in attendance; Lord and Lady Stark felt that their presence at the wedding would insult House Tully further.
For four years, Meria and Brandon and their daughter, Lyra, were happy. After Catelyn gave birth to Robb at Riverrun, they and Ned came North so that they could all live together, happily, as a family; Robb's birth quelled Catelyn's anger towards Meria and Brandon enough for her to be able to forgive them. Knowing she had wounded the other girl's pride, Meria warmly greeted Catelyn at her homecoming with Ned and Robb to Winterfell. She wanted so desperately for Catelyn to feel as much a Lady Stark as herself and win her over that Meria even gave Catelyn equal rights to her own rooms and solar. It took some time, but Meria eventually won over Cat, as Catelyn eventually asked Meria to call her.
Indeed, they'd all lived as a big happy family, until the day Brandon rode South to save Lyanna from Prince Rhaegar...
Author's Note: This is actually a re-write of the first fic I ever conceived. The Rise of the Lone Wolf is a coming of age story in the Game of Thrones universe, and it's also an AU with an Original Character. I've always been quite curious about what would happen if Brandon Stark left an heir behind, but it was a girl, I also find the Martells and Dorne to be quite fascinating and underrated; thus the idea of Brandon Stark leaving behind a female heir with a Martell was born (no pun intended).
