She has shoes now, they are too big for her but the bandages he put on her feet make up for the size difference and they are soft leather, very comfortable specially since she isn't walking anymore but sitting on the horse. Instead he is walking, opening road in front of them under the moonlight, away from any of the main roads.
-I shouldn't be using your horse…
-What kind of knight would I be if I let a lady walk while I ride?-He let out another of those gruff snorts of his- Anyway, I wouldn't be ridding at night either, bad for the animal, you can't see, he can't see, bad combination. This is the best solution to both, you on the horse it's just an extra, but you can walk to if you so wish it, he will thank you for it. -
-I..I would prefer to stay here -
-Clever girl-
It was not hard to move, the night was clear and the sea like a mirror, so sharp she could almost pretend Westeros was visible, just beyond it as if she could extend her hand and touch it for the first time. But she knew it was a fantasy, it didn't matter, even if she were somehow to appear there she wouldn't recognize it, home was in Braavos beyond a red door.
-Tell me about Westeros Ser Jorah-
-What would you like to hear your grace?-
-Tell me; tell me of your lands; of the North-
-Well if you were to ask a southern about it, they would tell you it's the closest thing to hell you could find on earth, a frozen hell. Most people of Essos would also tell you is hell, but since they already live in it they would just tell you is more cold to what they are accustomed-
-And what would Ser Jorah Mormont say?-
-I would say its home, even through the long winters and the cold, and only having bear skin to wear AND bear skin to eat. Those are the things people from outside notice; they never stop to feel the earth beneath their feet, hear the dark trees whispering or feel the old magic crackling inside the weirdwoods…..-
-A weidwood?-
-Aye, they are trees, they grow thick beyond the wall, but they are still abundant in the whole North, Bear island, my home, had a fair share of them-His eyes were also looking at the sea as if he could see his weirdwoods- Their trunks are white my lady, as the snow they grow in, their leaves and sap are red, the hearts and blood of every Northman that fell in battle, every Northwoman that died on childbed, and their faces weep for them-
-Trees don't have faces-
-Aye, but this one's do child, some say the children of the forest carved them, some that they grow along with the tree, it doesn't matter, all weirdwoods have faces and they all weep-
-It sounds….morbid-
-Aye, it may seem that way, when told like this, but everything has to faces child, life and death. We also call the weirdwoods heart trees, for couples marry underneath them, covered by the hearts of their people and surrounded by the soul of their land-
She tried to imagine it, marring beneath a white tree of red leaves with faces all over its trunk, weeping blood like sap. Her dressed in furs while the snow fell to cover the land in a blanket till were sight could reach. She had no face for the man in front of her, but that didn't matter she didn't had a face for the man they wanted to marry her in Pentos either, and she was sure THAT wedding in the desert wouldn't had been magic at all.
-Did you ever have one ser Jorah?-
-A what?-
-A weirdwood wedding-
-Aye child, the first one was under a weirdwood, the second was in a sept because that it's what she wanted and I am a fool. My first wife she, she died in childbirth, both she and the child, sometimes I feel that all the bad choices I made after that were because she was angry that I dared to marry so far away from home, because I didn't marry under her heart. –
-I am sorry-
He shrugged apparently not disturbed but with his back to her she had no real idea if he was just playing it as if didn't matter anymore.
-I'll have to pass on telling the tale of my second marriage, I am afraid that one needs much more alcohol in my body than all I have left on my bags right now-
Nor she had any wish to be alone with a drunken man in the middle of nothing.
-The sun it's going to rise soon, we will still have several hours for walking before we have to stop at midday, the closer we get to Braavos the easier the weather will get-
Yes, she could already see the rose tones of the clouds in the east; it didn't take much for the firsts rays of light to peek behind them. Her knight had grown quiet again, like he had for most part of the night, a man of many words he was not. Some part of her was thankful because she had no idea of what to say to him either; but another part of her wished for someone who would make her laugh or to be silly with, things she had never been able to do in abundance before now that she could, in theory, she had no one or no reason to.
-There are some seagrapes ahead; they make good places to rest, very thick shadows, and good covering-
-The midday it's not yet here ser, shouldn't we have some hours left?-
-Aye, but it's a good place to rest, better to stop early than risk been caught without refuge in sight and with the sun burning your back-
The small trees did make a nice refuge, even if they still had to rest in the sand, she was getting very tired of sand everywhere even if it allowed to keep her children warm. She proceeded to bury them again under his amused stare while he unloaded the horse and left him to graze, she knew his name now, Ned because he was stubborn as a mule, and no Jorah was not going to explain that.
-We are going to leave the coastline soon if we hope to find some water, we are running short and Braavos it's still far away-
-Very far away?-
-Not so much, you had already covered an impressive amount of land by the time I found you, and without shoes to-
She helped him unpack now that her children were taking his daily sunbath and blushed under his words of praise; she wasn't a useless princess after all.
-Although, the only reason you still have feet's must be more that you walked along the beach than anything else, pure dumb luck actually-
What, how he dared? She prepared herself to deliver the most scathing remark that she could but when she looked at him there was a small devious smile on his face. He was, he was joking with her, she could almost not believe it but then it grew bigger at her shock. Oh, what a insufferable man, without any real idea of what to say she settled for pushing him from his crouching position and into the sand which in turn sent him into peals of laughter.
-Stop, laughing, you can't I am a princess- That sent him laughing harder for some reason, maybe because she looked like anything but a princess at the moment- Oh you terrible, terrible man, bear…..-
And then she just couldn't avoid it and stopped laughing along him, his laugh feeding her and the other way around till they were wheezing and there were tear on their eyes, she wondered if that was because neither had laughed in a long time. Afterwards they just laid there on the sand looking at the big leafs above them and the grapes that were not grapes slowly swaying in the sea breeze.
-You never told me why you are going to Braavos child-
-I could ask you the same ser-
He snorted and rose to dig between his bags, finally returning with the water to her side.
-That it's hardly a mystery, I am between jobs and tired of having to deal with the Dothrakis, jobs in Norvos and Pentos always end involving them somehow. Jobs in Braavos usually are either about killing someone or sailing, I am up to both-
She grabbed the waterskin from his hands and took a long gulp pondering what should she say or not. The thing was, she needed help, and she didn't know anybody in Braavos, to this point she had not even though what she would do once she got there, maybe he could help her.
-I am looking for my home.-
-And that home it's in Braavos?-
-Yes, I grew up there in a big house with a red door-
-That it's not very specific child, who knows how many houses with a red door exist in Braavos-
-I will remember it; I know I will. It had lemon trees in the yard, and under my windows-
He stopped suddenly, the waterskin she had given back halfway there to his mouth, and gave her a look of deep pity that made her angry.
-Child, there are no lemon trees in Braavos-
That felt like a bucket of ice water on her body; that made no sense. What was she remembering then? Where was her home? And she couldn't ask anybody, now that Viserys…. Better not go that way she already felt about to break in tears. Ser Jorah looked at her with a deeply ashamed expression, as if it were somehow his fault that lemon trees didn't grow in Braavos. Silently he finished unpacking by himself and gave her food; they ate in silence, suddenly uncomfortable the moment created by their laughs destroyed. Finally after what seemed an eternity he addressed her again.
-Better to sleep, if we want to keep going during the evening and the night-
One of the big advantages of the road they were taking was that even if sand got everywhere it was comfortable to sleep on, and you could even make a pillow by putting clothe over a mound. He looked ready to drop as he laid down.
-Don't worry about problems; Ned, the old grouch, can't stand pretty much anybody, not even me, if someone tries to get close he will make enough sound to wake up the dead-
They settled in silence again, she thought for a moment that the sun in the green leaves above them was the most beautiful thing she had seen in her life.
-Ser Jorah?-
He looked sleepy, halfway there to a dream, she wondered when was the last time he slept before having to carry a runaway with him.
-mmmm, yes?-
-When we get to Braavos, its likely there will be people looking for me with a reward, from Westeros or Pentos I don't know. Are you going to give me up?
He looked at her, both surprised, he must had though her more innocent than this, and conflicted, after a moment he closed his eyes with a pained look.
-I don't know child-
