Rylee went to the funeral at the Sept and paid her respect to Twyin, she didn't have many good feelings towards the man, but she did respect him, and he was Jaimes father. Once back at the Red Keep she mingled and observed until she spotted Jaime alone in a corner. She approached him and stood there for a moment unsure of what to say, he wore guilt on his face. She wrapped her arms around him bringing his head to her shoulder, "Jaime, I'm so sorry."
"Thank you." He said trying not to cry, her arms comforting him more than anything that day. Cersei watching them as she faked listening to Loris.
"I truly am, I can only relate to the feeling of losing one's father, I don't know how to relate to what you must be feeling." She spoke in his ear, "Just know that it is not your fault, your brother chose his own actions after you had done yours. This blood is not on your hands."
"Oh Rylee." He gripped her tight, wanting to hate his brother, but still unable too.
"Is there anything I can do?" She pulled away slightly, wiping a tear from his eye so no one would see.
"May I come to your room later tonight? I don't want to be alone." His eyes were sad, the eyes of an emotionally distraught man.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Of course, I'll tell the knight on duty to expect you."
That night Jaime came to her room as he said he would and the knight let him pass with ease. Once he was in her room she wrapped her arms around him, holding him like she had earlier in the Great Hall. He held her tight, tears falling down his cheeks. She was able to comfort him more now that he wasn't wearing his armor, it was as if her grip could squeeze the sadness, mourning, and guilt out of him. She stroked the back of his head with her finger tips while whispering, "It's alright, let it all out, and everything will be alright."
He couldn't speak and he didn't want to, he just wanted to stay in her arms, her fingers helping to relieve all of the pressure in his head. When his breathing finally calmed down she took his arms and led him to sit down on the edge of her bed with her. She wiped a tear away, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Normally you force me to." He let out a slight laugh along with a sniffle.
"Not this time." She cupped his cheek stroking away a tear stain with her thumb, "Tonight I am here for you. So tell me what you need."
He leaned into her hand, his eyes closing and a small smile forming on his lips with a pitiful laugh. Jaime knew what he wanted but that's not what she asked from him. Slowly he opened his eyes, "Wine and a good conversation?"
"I shall get the wine." She slowly stood placing a kiss on his forehead. Lingering there she knew what the look on his face had been before he opened his eyes, he had wanted something else from her, another kind of kiss, but this was all she could give him.
Once she returned with the wine she handed him a glass and they held their drinks, sitting in silence. Jaime couldn't help but chuckle, "So much for the conversation."
"Honestly, I'm not sure what to talk about." She looked down at her glass, "I know what you seem to need to talk about, but it is not what you want to talk about."
"Not really. I have talked a lot about my father today and how my brother killed him." Jaime gave her a sad smile.
"What of these then?" She asked, her finger trailing over a feint scar on his cheek, "They seem to be going away very well now."
"Yes, Qyburn gave me something for them." Jaime felt the area where she had just touched.
"Shame." She gave a small smile, "We believe scars should be left showing, memories of past mistakes, battles survived, they are your stories. If you have scars then you always have something to talk about my father said."
He reached out and ran his hand over a slight scar on her own cheek, "What was this one?"
"You were there for it, Brienne gave it to me the night Catelyn let you go." They both let out a quiet laugh remembering Brienne hitting her with her armored forearm.
"This one?" He ran his finger over a line on her upper arm.
"When my father and I were attacked. Our caravan was flipped over and my father managed to crawl out making a way for me. A one of the bandits shot an arrow at my father missing, hitting me in the arm, pinning me to the caravan."
"How did you get out of it?" He leaned in curious.
"I broke the arrow and very painfully pulled myself off of it. My father's throat was cut and I grabbed his dagger attempting to defend myself. They must have realized after killing my father though that we were royals, or just very rich, and decide to take me hostage to see who I belonged to. Then Eddard came and saved me."
"It was lucky that they didn't hurt you other than this." He ran his thumb over it, "A girl of twelve would have been tormented by men like that."
"They were men of the Westerlands, they must have known that a higher price would have been given if I was intact due to the family who ruled them." She smirked.
"Good thing Lannisters are so stingy with their hostages." Jaime grinned them moved his hand to her outer waist where a longer scar was, "And this?"
"It was a rainy day and we were training the newest family members. The boy I was training slipped in a puddle and got me with his sword." She laughed, "I remember yelling 'Fuck!' and he was frantic thinking he had killed me."
"Clearly he hadn't."
"Takes more than that to put me down." She spoke proudly, "I just looked at him and told him to remember that form but to remain standing next time and went to get it stitched up."
"Last one for tonight, I promise." He looked at her with a grin.
"I would stay up all night telling you stories if that's what you wanted." She placed a hand on his shoulder with a soft smile.
He had always wondered about this next scar, but never had a reason to come out and ask her about it. Jaime slowly put his finger on the scar in the middle of her stomach, the one that was larger and deeper looking then any of the others. Her hand went to where his was, laying gently on the scar and he looked up to see her face had gone sad, "You don't have to tell me."
"It's all right." She took a sip from her glass, "It was the night Cecilio died. We had settled in Princes Pass for the night and had taken on some new people, so it was late by the time we all turned in. Cecilio was helping Hayden prepare the carts for the next day's journey since we were going to be heading up hill, I was inside our tent preparing for bed when the attack started…Once I heard it happening I grabbed my sword and began fighting. The new people were a band of mercenaries and there had been a bigger group following them to attack us from the outside while they attacked within."
Jaime could see the look of sadness in her eye as she spoke but still she continued, "I took a man down and what I didn't realize was that another was behind me, we had put out most of the fires for the night and only had the moonlight, plus I was half asleep. I heard him call out my name, and when I turned around he was there, standing in front of me, my husband taking the sword that had been meant for me deep into his stomach. The sword was long though, longer than either of us had expected and it went right though him and into me. It would have killed us both had Cecilio not pushed the man back causing the blade to be pulled from both of us…I tried to fight the man off but he realized that his side was losing and he ran. My husband died in my arms that night apparently."
"Apparently?" He had been consumed by her story, his heart breaking for her but finding the way she told it enchanting.
"Yes. I don't remember it but Hayden found me bleeding out, leaning on a tent post with Cecilio against my chest, my arms wrapped tightly around him after he had already died. He said it seemed as if I was trying to drag him to be healed. I believe our medicine woman said I had passed out from trauma and loss of blood." She looked up at him.
"I'm sorry." Jaime moved to where he wasn't leaning into her story any more.
Rylee grabbed his hand and placed it over her scar, "I am not ashamed of it, only saddened at times. It is a part of me, reminds me of how much he loved me, a part of my history, which is why we have no shame in scars."
"I'll remember that the next time I get one." He gave her a sad smile, "It's late, should I go?"
"Only if you want to." She bowed her head slightly, "You may stay as long as you wish, even sleep here if you want."
"Really? Won't your knight say something about that?" Jaime questioned.
She laughed, "No, he will know if anything more than sleep happens and even that is none of his business unless someone attacks me. I am his Queen, not his daughter. Plus he knows you are in mourning, comfort and pleasure are two things Elisians are very good at and understand well."
"Then I would like to stay." His voice was soft, "Until we fall asleep or the sun comes up."
She bowed her head and lifted up her wine glass to him, "That we can do."
Jaime was looking for Rylee and searching in the gardens when he found her sitting at a table with Hayden. As he approached he heard her brother ask, "So then who do we chose to keep our alliances with if let's say the Targaryen's, Tyrells, and Starks were to go to war?"
"They did during Roberts Rebellion." Jaime answered and the two siblings looked up at him, "May I join you?"
"Yes, of course." Hayden smiled, he now trusted the man a little more after he kept his sister company after her attack, "I was just asking Rylee to reteach me some of the more difficult things I have forgotten in our time away from Elisia. She was surrounded by that sort of thing more than I was."
"Shall be an interesting course on foreign politics." Jaime smiled taking a seat.
"Promise you won't use the knowledge against us?" Rylee said smiling giving Chadoir a piece of meat from the table.
Jaime held up a piece of meat after her and Chadoir jumped down, landing on his golden hand, "And risk turning my little friend against me I think not."
"Very well." She laughed then turned to Hayden, "Using Roberts Rebellion is a good example. The Tyrells sided with the Targaryen's while the Starks were with House Baratheon, a family we have good relations with, but none like the other three. Who do we back?"
"Well in reality we didn't back any of them. But I would say probably the Starks." Hayden thought for a moment.
"Why?" She asked and Jaime was intrigued, their logic was so much deeper than the one used for the Lannisters which only amounted to who could get them what they wanted or who was going to win.
"Because." Hayden paused thinking, "Because the Mad King burned two of the Starks alive without reason and threatened the safety of his people."
"Turning on the Targaryens also means turning on the Tyrells." Rylee pointed out.
"Yes and the Tyrells were just doing what their King wanted of them." Hayden thought hard about his answer now, "Shouldn't we side with the ones that ask for our help?"
"From what I understand both sides asked for our support." Rylee said, "Which is the smaller reason of why we stayed out of it. Looking at all the angles we could not go against the Targaryens without going against the Tyrells despite the fact that the Mad King had done horrible things. Also unless the fighting came to our borders we have no right in a foreign battle. Now if the Tyrells were with the Starks and had both asked for help, we would have if we had been able to, which we were not, and that is the main reason we stayed out of it."
"Why weren't you able to?" Jaime asked.
"Yes I wasn't aware there was another reason." Hayden looked at her confused.
"Because there was no one to command our army." She looked at him shocked he didn't know, "Did mother never tell you?"
Hayden looked at her not knowing what she was referring to, "Mother never told me anything about the army."
"Only a when a Blood Talon is on the throne can there be a commander for the soldiers and thus they can be sent to war." Rylee sat back in her chair, "That is why none of our soldiers have gone beyond our border other than weddings and the like since father and I left."
"So you have no army when you have no king or queen?" Jaime asked, that was incredibly dangerous.
Rylee shook her head, "Never said that, they will defend our border and our people, they just cannot go past it. They can fight a war in their own land but not on someone else's."
"You were still alive though, so the commander could have sent them to war?" Hayden asked.
"No one knew if I was alive or not, I was being hidden in Winterfell. Also the commander died, then went missing for two years."
"What?" Her brother was confused.
"Father was the commander of the army. Not uncommon when a Talon has no siblings." Rylee sipped her drink, "He also left me as the next commander when he died."
"How did I not know any of this?" Hayden asked sitting back into his chair.
"Because father did not want you to." She looked at him. Jaime stayed quiet, just absorbing the information.
"Why not?"
"Do you remember what you were like growing up?" Hayden shook his head slightly, "Not much different than you are now, but back then you were gentler. Do you remember when father taught us how to fish when we were six?"
He thought for a moment, "Yes, we got into an argument because you wanted to keep the fish we had caught and I wanted to throw them back."
"And father told us we had to decide together what to do with them. I told you that I worked hard for my fish and that I wanted to keep him for the cooks to make my dinner. You looked at me with a sad face and said 'But all it was, was hungry, it shouldn't die because of that.' We ended up throwing the fish back."
"What does that have to do with this though?" Hayden was confused.
"A year or so later, I had defeated all the children my age in combat, a few while having a broken arm. Father sat me down and explained to me how the army and its command worked. He told me that typically the sibling of the Queen would lead the army. But we both knew you didn't like combat, I know you still don't even though you've gotten used to it now." She looked down at her glass smiling, "He said that we both had the hearts capable of leading the country, we were both kind and just enough. But to lead an army you must know loss and survival. That war was dirty and not meant for those who would hesitate thinking about the life of another who was going to kill you. He said that I was born that way, with the full power of the Blood Rage, you were kind and sweet and so you would have to be trained into the Blood Rage. He asked me if I wanted him to train you in that or if he should train me to lead the army as well." She paused and laughed a little, looking up at her brother, "At the amazing age of seven I looked up at my father and said 'Train me to not hesitate. I need my brother to hesitate, to be my conscience for when I lose mine. He is how I will be a good Queen.' So instead he chose to have you trained to be my advisor so you could spend your days in the library learning about anything you wanted, doing something him and I both knew you loved to do. He must have told mother too because she could have made you the King and Commander after a year of my disappearance, but she didn't. She waited, hoping that you could stay the conscience I needed you to be. The conscience you have been for me."
Hayden looked at her, a small smile of gratitude on his face, "I should have had a say, but I appreciate it."
There was a long pause and Jaime who had been entranced by her story once again raised a finger, "Question, if you were the only way for her army to be able to mobilize, why did she send you away?"
"She told me this during her visit here in Kings Landing, she said that she had to send me away to make sure that I was going to still be able to survive, to still be capable of the full Blood Rage. So she sent me out to survive on my own, knowing that when the time came I would come back for my throne and I would be strong enough to claim it as well as prove that I had been telling the truth about not having been taken by a man. She had been so cruel about it because instead she said she wanted to weep seeing her little girl alive, but knew she couldn't as Queen Regent." She looked at Jaime, "She regretted however that it took me so long and that I had whisked my brother away with me."
Hayden laughed at the last part then looked at the sun, "Speaking of whisked away, I must be returning to the tribe."
"Yes if you are to make it by sundown you must leave now." Rylee gave him a nod, "Tell everyone I miss them."
"I do every time." He smiled then leaned down giving her a kiss on the top of the head, "Be good little sister."
"You too little brother." She waved him off.
Jaime looked at the man walking away then to Rylee, confused and concerned, "How are you both little?"
"Our parents refused to tell us which who was the older twin since I would be getting the throne either way and so we both insist we are the older sibling." She smiled, "So we both call each other little."
"Cersei would never let me forget that she's older than me." He laughed running his finger under Chadoirs chin.
"Yes well as long as you can beat her in a fight, it doesn't matter who's older. That's what I say."
Jaime gave her a smile, "I came here to ask you something and ended up getting a marvelous history lesson instead. You certainly know how to tell stories that captivate."
"Yes well when you live in a tribe for so long you learn how to tell them." She finished her drink, "So what was it you wanted to ask me."
"How well do you know the areas in Dorne?"
"Very well."
"Would you be willing to go back? Help me and another man through the terrain?" He wasn't sure if she wanted to go back since it had been so long.
"Yes, I can help with that. I just have to send a raven to my mother and let her know I will not be here for a time, Hayden too lest he think I've gone missing or been killed." She smiled at him warmly.
Escorted by two Blood Knights, Rylee was on her way to her room to prepare to leave for Dorne when she was approached by Cersei. Rylee bowed her head slightly, "Queen Mother Cersei."
"Queen Rylee." Cersei tried to sound pleased to see her, but Rylee knew she wasn't, "I hear you will be escorting my brother to Dorne."
"Yes he said he needed someone who knows the lands and how to get through them, and that would be me." She smiled gracefully to the blonde woman, "I will be sure to keep him safe, not that a swordsmen as great as he shall need protecting."
"As much as I appreciate you watching after my brother, I suggest you stop. You saved his life and he save your life, the debt is paid." Cersei's voice got lower, "When you leave Kings Landing, do not come back."
"But I will." Rylee smiled, hoping to get an answer to question, "You see someone hired men to sneak into my room and kill me and I need to find out who that was."
"I have noticed your protection has gone up slightly since the death of my father."
"Yes, no need to worry though, I dispatched the men with two strokes of my dagger. The men hired were not skilled at all, if the person wishes to try again they should send someone who actually has strength or perhaps they should even hire a battalion. It was a poor attempt to try and assassinate me." Rylee saw as Cerseis jaw tightened in annoyance, her hands trying not to ball into a fist. She had her answer, Cersei had hired the men, "My apologies, but I must get ready to depart for Dorne…to retrieve your daughter."
Cersei watched as Rylee walked away with her knights. The Talon Queen had left her no option, she had to die soon.
A/N: Love Dorne! Can't wait to go there! Let me know what you guys think! :D