Chapter Eleven
A/N: Thank you to beachchick3, elaine451 and magnus374 for reviewing the last chapter.
Joanna awoke not in her warm bed, her husband sound asleep beside her, but in a solid wooden chair, a woolen blanket strewn haphazardly about her legs. Her back ached horribly, as did her neck, but the pain was quick to ebb away when she caught sight of the bed across the room. In it lay the twins, hand in hand, as if that small gesture could keep them together. Young Tyrion lay between them, clinging to his sister like a monkey; despite their differences, the boy had been miserable ever since the news had broken.
Chinks of blazing sunlight were beginning to burst through the heavy wooden shutters, creeping along the floor like fingers. On any other day, the sight might have been beautiful; that day, it was merely a threat of the heartbreak to come.
The woman waited in her chair for as long as possible, savouring each moment of her children's peaceful slumber. The gods only knew when she would see them together again; the twins would be a man and woman grown by then.
Much as she might have wished it was, the luxury of time was not on their side, and eventually, Joanna could wait no longer. She tiptoed to the far side of the bed, laying a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder and shaking.
Cersei groaned in confusion as her dreams slipped away, and her mother softly placed a finger against her lips. "Quiet, sweetling, your brothers are still sleeping."
The girl quickly looked over her shoulder to where Jaime lay, the edge of his blanket clutched in his fist. For a moment, it seemed as if Joanna would face yet another crying fit, like the one she had endured that last night, her daughter's final attempt not to be sold across the Kingdoms, but Cersei quickly turned back to her mother, throwing her feet over the edge of the bed and padding over to the bowl of water set up for washing. She did not make a sound.
By the time Joanna's sons awoke, their sister was already dressed, her slight form draped in deep green silk. There was nothing of the mighty House Lannister in the colours across her breast, nor in her simple golden braid. She wore no jewels bar the simple moonstone pendant her mother had gifted her, the same stones studding her ears. She could have been any noble girl among thousands, Jaime noted bitterly; mayhaps, in just a little while, that would be what she would become.
"The ship from Highgarden will be docking at noon, if all goes well." the woman sighed. The word 'well' felt bitter on her tongue, like poison ivy. Naught could be well with her daughter being shipped away. And yet she kept a brave face, just as the child across the room did as she looked out across the water. Joanna had never realised the similarities between herself and her eldest children until now. Cersei had always been Tywin's daughter through and through. But now, biting her lip bloody to keep from crying out, she had never seemed more like her mother.
The gold thread of the Tyrell rose glinted on their sail, the ship finally appearing on the horizon. It was a bold statement, the kind that could only be made by the most trusted allies of the crown, and the sight of it turned Joanna's stomach. She could imagine Aerys' grin, watching the ship come into the bay, and it made her blood boil.
"Come, sweetling." Joanna instructed reluctantly, taking her daughter's hand in hers, the two boys trailing at their heels. There was still no sign of Tywin, who had never come to bid the girl goodbye; the way Cersei looked ahead, she clearly thought he would be waiting for her on the dock, and her mother did not have the heart to tell her otherwise.
The dock was deserted when they emerged from the castle, aside from three guards in Tyrell green, her escort onto the ship. It seemed Lord Luthor was too proud to come himself, to meet the eye of the mother whose child he was going to steal away. Joanna doubted he had boarded the ship at all.
The reality of the situation too much to ignore, Joanna knelt down to the ground, the skirt of her dress coated with dust and sand. It had been an instinctive gesture, but a needless one, as once she knelt her daughter was almost a head taller. Still, it seemed to have the desired effect, as Cersei's eyes were fixed on her own.
"I will not tell you to calmly board that ship or to pretend that you ever wanted this." Joanna professed. She reached up a hand and rested her fingers beneath her daughter's chin, her gentle smile not quite reaching her eyes. "What I will tell you is this. You are a Lannister. No matter what flag flies above your battlements or in the dining hall, the blood of the lion flows through your veins. Before long, you will be known as a beauty, and you can allow them to paint you in that light if you wish, but you must remember that you are strong and keen, and your father's daughter at heart. You will be unbreakable, so long as you wish to be. Do you understand, sweetling?"
Cersei stood tall, seeming so much older than her scarce ten years. "Yes, Mother. I promise."
Her smile turned watery, Joanna clutched her daughter to her breast, wishing the girl was still young enough for the cradle. When her children had been babes, they had been safe; no one would have dreamt of taking them away. Now, they were to be scattered across the Kingdoms, and a mother's love would do them little good so far out of her reach.
The impatient tapping of the guard commander's foot drew Joanna from her reverie, and she reluctantly released her daughter from her embrace, allowing her brothers a moment to say their farewells. Cersei clung to Jaime for as long as she could, and with far more fervour than she did Tyrion, but Joanna did not begrudge her that. With a decade's separation stretching before them, she was hard pressed to begrudge her daughter anything at all.
The woman stood on the dock for an hour afterwards, watching the ship sail away from the harbour until the glint of the gold thread was all she could see of it. The septa had taken the boys inside, Tyrion sniffling and Jaime stoically silent. It would be his turn in a fortnight's time, another tearful goodbye, and then it would be only Tyrion for her to cling to with all her might.
A lioness was the fiercest of mothers to be found in the known world. She would do anything to protect her young, and the Mother have mercy on any who tried to come between them. The same reassurance she had given her daughter now rang through Joanna's mind. 'I am a lioness just as she is,' thought Lady Lannister. 'And I shall not stand for my cubs being taken from me. I swore to the Gods I would keep them safe, and I will not rest until they are in my arms again.'
A/N: Time jump coming up! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!
