"It was a dark and stormy night, just like tonight. Two boys - they are brothers, these boys …"
"No, Father!" Robert and Stannis shouted in unison. "That's not the story we want to hear," Robert said, pouting.
Steffon laughed. "No? Are you sure? It's a very interesting story. Who knows what adventures these two brothers might have together. They could slay dragons, win numerous battles, rescue a maiden … "
"We want to hear about King Durran. And how he built Storm's End," Robert insisted.
Cassana gave her husband a look. What? Steffon mouthed silently in reply.
"I'm not sure that story is appropriate for the boys," Cassana whispered to her husband. "They're too young."
"We're not too young," Stannis insisted. "Seven and eight are not too young, Mother."
"I'm almost nine," Robert boasted.
"You won't be nine until three more moons," Stannis replied. "That's not almost."
"Yes it is!"
"No it's not!"
"Boys, boys. Do you want to hear the story or not?"
"Yes, Father," the boys replied, nodding their head with excitement. Cassana was curious how her husband would explain the story of Durran and Elenei to boys too young to understand the love between a man and a woman.
And more importantly, too young to understand death and destruction.
"This castle, the one we're in now, is actually the seventh castle Durran built. Do you know what happened to the first six?" Steffon asked his sons.
"They were destroyed by terrible storms," Stannis replied.
"No, they weren't," Robert disagreed. "It was the gods who destroyed the castles."
"Who's right, Father?" Stannis was asking. "Was it the storm, or the gods?"
Steffon smiled. "Well, you're both right. The gods were angry at Durran, so they sent a massive storm to destroy his castle every time he built a new one."
"That means I am right," Robert said, looking satisfied. "The storms wouldn't have come without the gods, so it's really the work of the gods."
Stannis frowned. "But why were the gods angry at King Durran? What did he do, Father? Did he do something bad?"
Steffon turned to Cassana with a stricken expression on his face. What should I say? His face was clearly pleading to her. Cassana resisted the temptation to say, I told you so.
"He married someone he shouldn't have," Cassana replied. There was no other option now except to tell the boys the truth. She would have preferred that her sons not hear this story until they were older and more equipped to understand its lessons, but that was too late now.
"Someone his father didn't want him to marry?" Stannis was asking Cassana. He frowned again, her earnest, solemn boy, who always seemed to grapple with everything so seriously. Too seriously, Cassana worried at times. "But what does that have to do with the gods? Why were they angry? They're not Durran's father. They can't tell him who to marry."
"You ask too many questions, Stannis. Like you always do. Just let Mother and Father tell the story," Robert said crossly.
"Father said it's good to ask questions," Stannis replied.
Steffon nodded. "Yes, it is. You should always ask if you don't know anything, or if you don't understand something."
Stannis gave Robert a look as if to say, See? Robert ignored him.
"It was not Durran's father who disapproved of the marriage. It was Elenei's father. And her mother too," Cassana continued the story.
"Elenei," Robert said the name with awe. "Is that the name of Durran's bride? She must be very beautiful."
"That's silly," Stannis said. "How can you know she's beautiful just from her name?"
"I just do!" Robert replied, indignant. "Of course she was very beautiful. Durran wouldn't have risked the wrath of the gods for an ugly woman, would he?" He turned to his mother. "She was the daughter of the gods, wasn't she? That's why the gods were angry. That's why they destroyed Durran's castles."
Cassana nodded at her eldest son. Her happy, sunny boy, who always had a smile and a charming word for everyone, who always looked like he did not have a care in the world. Robert was a very bright boy, but Cassana knew that some people did not see this, fooled by his gleeful exterior.
But what Robert said about ugly women gave her cause for concern. Cassana frowned slightly. "Durran married Elenei because he loved her, and she loved him. Her beauty, or lack of it, was not important."
"He wouldn't have loved her if she was ugly," Robert insisted. "And the daughter of the gods must be very beautiful. And kind and gentle and -"
Stannis interrupted suddenly. "A lot of people die, didn't they? Every time Durran's castle was destroyed." He looked around the room, looking horrified. "This is a castle built with blood."
"No!" Robert shouted. "It's a castle built with love! You're ruining the story. Why do you always have to ruin everything?"
"I'm not! You always blame me for everything." Stannis was shouting too.
Steffon gathered both boys in his arms. "Yes, a lot of people died. But Durran and Elenei did love each other. So you're both right, in a way. There was death, but there was also love. The one thing does not negate the other."
"But … " Stannis looked unsatisfied.
"Do you want to hear another story? About a stag chasing a turtle?" Steffon asked.
"Yes, Father," Robert replied quickly. He turned to look at Stannis. "And don't ask stupid questions like why would a fast stag need to chase a slow turtle. It's not really a story about the animals."
"I know. I'm not stupid," Stannis replied, indignant. "It's about Mother and Father."
"Well, if you already know the story, then you don't need me to tell you," Steffon said, pretending to look disappointed.
"No!" The boys said in unison. "We want to hear it. Please, Father?"
"There was once a stag who wanted to mar … I mean, wanted to befriend a turtle," Steffon began. Robert and Stannis giggled. "But the turtle did not want to be friends with the stag. That made the stag very, very sad."
Cassana interrupted. "It's not that the turtle did not want to be friends with the stag. But the turtle was wary, because the stag occupied a much higher position in the animal kingdom. And the turtle's grandmother warned her about the stag having dragon blood in him."
"Are dragons bad? Is that why the turtle's grandmother did not want her to be friends with the stag?" Stannis asked his mother.
"Of course dragons are not bad," Robert scoffed. "Targaryens are not bad. Our grandmother was a Targaryen."
It was Cassana's turn to look at Steffon with a What should I say? look on her face. She knew she was the one who had blundered this time. She should not have mentioned her grandmother and her warning to the boys.
"Dragons are not … bad," Steffon said. "But some of them, not all of them, mind you, only a very small number of them, are not always very ...well, not very ..."
Steffon was struggling to find the right word.
Not very sane, Cassana thought. But they could hardly say that to the boys. "Not very kind," she said instead.
Steffon nodded. "Yes, not very kind. It's not their fault, the gods made them that way, but they could still be dangerous. That's why the turtle's grandmother was worried."
"So what did the stag do?" Robert asked.
"The stag went to visit the turtle's grandmother at her home, humbling himself before her, trying to ease her concerns. Now in truth, he did not have to do this, because the turtle's father had already agreed to let the stag and the turtle become friends," Cassana continued the story.
"Didn't the turtle have a say in it? Maybe she didn't want to be friends with the stag," Stannis said, looking solemn. "Maybe she wanted to be friends with someone else. A fox, or a lion."
Cassana smiled at her younger son. She recognized the playful tease for what it was, but both Steffon and Robert seemed to have missed it completely. Stannis looked disappointed.
"Well, I don't know," Steffon said, looking puzzled. "What do you think, Cassana? Did the turtle want to be friends with somebody else?"
"No," she said firmly. "There was no one else. She was not certain about the stag at first, but not because of anyone else."
"So why did she agree to be friends with him in the end?" Robert asked.
"Well now, how do you know that she did?" Steffon teased. "Maybe she didn't. Maybe she went away to be friends with someone else, and the stag went on to live a lonely life, alone and heartbroken."
Robert giggled. "Because they had baby stags, of course," he replied.
"Two of them. And maybe more later," Stannis added. He was actually grinning, to Cassana's surprise and delight.
Steffon laughed. Cassana answered Robert's question. "She was touched by his sincerity. And humility. He was so much more powerful than the turtle and her family, he could have just commanded the turtle to be his friend. But he tried very hard to ease the concerns the turtle and her grandmother had about him." She paused. "And … well, he looked really good riding a horse, too." She was horrified to realize that she was blushing. Steffon squeezed her hand gently.
"And they live happily ever after," Robert said, grinning. "That's how the story ends."
"No one can live forever and ever," Stannis said. Robert frowned, about to protest, perhaps to chastise Stannis for ruining a story yet again. But Stannis continued before Robert could speak. "They live for many, many years, with the baby stags, and the babies of the baby stags, and the babies of the babies of the baby stags, and -"
He paused, concentrating hard, his fingers in motion, silently counting. "No, that's it," Stannis nodded, satisfied.
There was something very disconcerting about the way Stannis was earnestly counting the years, Cassana thought later, after the boys had gone back to their own rooms. Robert's "ever after" was less troubling to her, more a remnant of a child's innocent faith in the world than an actual belief. She very much doubted that Robert actually believed, or expected, that his parents would live that long. She could not say the same for Stannis, even though his calculation had been more hard-nosed, seemingly more practical and more realistic.
"Cassana?"
"Hmm?"
"The boys seem fine, don't they? We are not doing too bad, are we? As parents."
I think Stannis really believes that we will live long enough to see our great-grandchildren. And I'm afraid it will break his heart and his faith in the world if we don't. I'm worried that Robert is too much of a dreamer in some ways. Or maybe Stannis is the real dreamer, I'm not sure. She told her husband none of these things.
"We're doing fine," Cassana said to her husband instead. "We're doing the best we can," she amended later, after Steffon was already half-asleep.