6th Month of 286 A.C. Braavos
Princess Lyanna Targaryen nee Stark
There were times when she missed home, when she missed Winterfell, desperately. She missed the castle, the sounds of people working and going about their daily routine, she missed playing in the godswood with Benjen, she missed causing all kinds of havoc, and having father scold her and then wrap her in his embrace. She missed Brandon and the crazy things they would do, she missed her home, but realised that the moment she had run off with Rhaegar she had decided her fate. It had been a bitter pill to swallow at first, she was only a girl, and yet she was a mother, it had been a strange thing to think on, to process, but gradually she had come to understand what that all meant. She loved her son, she loved him with everything in her, and she would do anything for him, but it had taken time for her to realise that. She hoped that meant she was maturing, for being a child and having to help raise three children would not do, it just would not.
Her son and Princess Daenerys were sat on the bed next to her, looking at her with pleading faces, as if they knew that she would not be able to say no. They were right of course, there was nothing that she could deny them and so she looks at them and asks. "Okay, you have the chance for one more story before bed time, so tell me what do you want the story to be?"
Almost at once Daenerys speaks. "Florian and Jonquil!" Lyanna smiles slightly, that's the girl's favourite story, or rather song.
Her son, Jon, named for Jon Stark, grimaces as only a three-year-old can. "Oh please not that one, I hate that one."
Lyanna hides a laugh behind her hand, as she sees Daenerys pout at Jon and respond. "It's far more better than anything you might want to know."
Lyanna smirks then, seeing her son about to protest, she quickly intercedes. "Would you like to hear about Winterfell?"
She feels her heart soar a little at the look of delight in both children's eyes. "Oh yes please Mama." Jon says.
"And what about you Daenerys, would you like to hear about Winterfell?" Lyanna asks.
Daenerys seems to hesitate for a moment, and then she nods. "I would." The girl gives her a shy smile, and Lyanna smiles in return.
"Well then, I guess it is best to start at the beginning." Lyanna says, watching as her son and his aunt fix her with their full attention. She takes a deep breath and then speaks the words she heard once as a child. "Long ago, the stories tell us that Brandon the Builder, the First Stark, and perhaps the greatest of them all, built Winterfell, out of wood and timber, using magic and giants to do his bidding. He built the First Keep, and the Great Keep, and the crypts, and throughout it all he did it with a smile and a laugh."
"Why was he laughing Mama?" Jon asks.
Lyanna smiles. "Because, he was building something to prove a point to his brother."
"He had a brother?" Daenerys asks surprised, she likes hearing the histories.
"Oh yes, his brother was named Garth, and he was quite the trickster. He had met a wager with his brother about who could build the biggest and best castle in all of Westeros." Lyanna responds.
"And did Brandon think he had built the biggest one?" Jon asks.
"Oh of course. Brandon had something that Garth did not have." Lyanna says.
"What was that Mama?" Jon asks.
"The love of his people. Whilst Garth was a shrewd man, he did not have the love of his people, Brandon did. And his people helped him wherever they could, and so the castle was built bigger and better than anything Brandon could have possibly thought possible." Lyanna states.
"The love of his people helped?" Jon asks sounding unsure.
"Oh yes." Lyanna says smiling, she had expressed similar uncertainty the first time she had heard the story as well.
"How?" Jon asks.
Lyanna takes a moment to consider how best to explain this to her son and his aunt, finally she settles on a course, and goes with it. "The love of his people enabled him to ask them to do things that Garth could not ask his people to do. It was their love that went into the building of the castle as much as it was magic and the labour of giants. Their love was what gave him the strength to keep going, to keep pushing through everything that came."
Jon's eyes are as wide as anything Lyanna has ever seen, and she smiles softly at that. "Wow, that is really, really cool!" her son exclaims.
Lyanna smiles, and kisses the top of her son's head and then kisses the top of Daenerys head and says. "Now, one more story on Winterfell and then bed, okay?"
"Okay!" both of them reply.
"When the building of the castle was done, Brandon held a great feast, and when some of his men tried to deny the common folk entrance, he came to them, and told them that the common folk were as responsible for the castle as anyone else. And so they were welcomed into the castle, and they were feasted and toasted for nights and nights. There was much singing and dancing." Lyanna says, thinking of Winterfell, and feeling a pang in her chest.
"I want to see Winterfell one-day Mama!" Jon exclaims then.
Lyanna feels her stomach flip slightly at her son's words, the feeling of missing her home engulfs her then, fighting to keep her voice normal she smiles, kisses her son's hair and then says softly. "I am sure you will soon Jon. Goodnight my loves." She moves from the bed, watching as the two of them shift into comfortable positions on the bed.
"Love you Mama." Jon says sleepily.
"I love you too my sweet boy, I love you both." Lyanna responds, and finds that she means it, she truly means it.
