King's Landing, a few days later (298AC)
Aliena
"Sansa, my sweet, how does your father fare? I heard Maester Pycelle say that he is getting stronger with every passing day and he will soon wake up again." Aliena met the eldest Stark girl in the royal gardens, where the blooming rhododendron scented the air heavily.
"Yes, thank you, Mylady. I hope he does, I pray to the Mother every day."
"I add my prayers to yours, my sweet. He will soon wake up, he is a strong man. You look very beautiful today, Sansa." Aliena said, sweetly.
Sansa was pretty indeed, in a vivid green gown made in the queen's fashion.
"So do you, Mylady. You always do."
It was true, she wore a gown of black brocade, embroidered with silver swans, and an underskirt of silvery grey samite.
"You are too kind, Sansa. I thank you for following my invitation. A walk will take your mind off that dreadful subject for a while and we can see and feel the Gods' presence in the beauty of nature."
They passed by the huge rhododendron grove, in the centre of the park, separating the water gardens from the pleasure gardens with its maze and hedges and flowerbeds. Some of the blooms were already wilting, soft and browning they hung from the branches.
"Winter is coming." Sansa said, as she noticed those. You are right, girl, more than you know. It will be coming for you, too.
"Strong words for a strong House. And always true." she smiled. Even in their house words, the Starks were upright and honest. But would that serve them well in the South?
" 'Winter is coming' is a strong motto but so plain! I would rather have a prettier sigil, a flower or a bird. And words that sing of honour and kindness."
"You can marry into a House with words you like better. The advantages a woman has in this world." Aliena laughed lightly. "But the black and gold of House Baratheon will clad you well. " She smiled and Sansa took up the hint, delighted.
"What are the words of House Swann again, Mylady? I am sorry, I have not had a lesson with a maester for a long time."
" 'No Foe but Injustice'." And fitting words they were indeed.
"Swans are no birds of prey, they do not parade their strength to inspire awe or to show dominance. Swans are elegant and peaceful, but dangerous when angered. They only attack to defend what is rightfully theirs. Or to get it back. There have been bloody wars fought about the Dornish marches for centuries. The Swanns of Stonehelm defended their lands but they have never ventured to conquer or to suppress. We have a strong sense of justice, maybe a queer one, but we will defend what is ours with all our strength."
"Those are strong words as well, Mylady. And swans are so beautiful! I have never seen a black one, though. Do you keep some in Stonehelm?"
I have not been to Stonehelm for two years.
"Maybe they do now, like you had your wolves. But swans are no pets, they go where they please and you cannot make them stay. I have always loved my sigil...swans are beautiful on the water, graceful in the air and elegant at land. Is there any other animal that conquered sea, sky and land with such perfection?"
"Indeed, they are very elegant in all circumstances. And so pretty. Just like you, Aliena. I love the embroidery on your dress, it is so delicate!"
"Aliena, Sansa." The two ladies turned around and found Joffrey walking over to them from the far entry of the gardens.
" You should have asked me to accompany you. It is respectless not to ask your prince."
"Forgive us, my prince. As you know, the Lady Sansa still worries about her Lord Father's health. I thought a walk would distract her."
"A good thought, Aliena." The boy said, and on an urging look from his cousin, he turned to Sansa.
"How are you, Lady Sansa? I look very pretty today."
"Thank you, my prince." The girl was breathless. "I just hope my father wakes up soon."
"Indeed, we all do. He has to answer for what he did to my uncle."
Sansa looked at him, shocked.
"The king will make justice, I am sure. Lord Eddard is your father's friend, Joff, and the father of your darling betrothed. We all pray for him, day and night, don't we, my prince?"
"Indeed. You can accompany me to the sept tonight, Lady Aliena." Joffrey looked at her, challenging.
"As my prince wishes. Do you pray to the old Gods or the new, Mylady?" Aliena took Sansa's arm again and moved into the direction of the watergardens.
"Both. The old Gods give my father strength, I hope, but I pray to my mother's Gods mostly. I love the tales, and statues and splendour of the septs."
"Yes, the septs are so very beautiful." Aliena agreed.
"Dog! We are here." The boy's sworn shield made his way through the royal gardens and looked out of place in his dark grey armour with a simple olive green woolen cloak, his ugly helmet under his arm and his burns red and prominent in the bright sunlight. Sansa seemed frightened but Aliena remembered their moment under the lime tree a few days ago and suppressed a pleasant shudder. When he reached them though, she was disappointed. He spared her only a small glance but looked at Sansa openly. He fancies her. She really looks prettier with every day. Most other men would prefer the woman to the girl though, only he doesn't. Aliena felt the sting of jealousy in her ribcage. What did the girl have that she did not?
"How do you like the royal gardens, dog?" Joffrey asked with mockery in his voice.
"A waste of space. Make this a tiltyard and it will serve you better. This leads the women to believe that nature is beautiful. It is not, it is cruel. Flowers get eaten and singing birds are easy prey."
He gazed over to Sansa who could not conceal her fear but Joffrey laughed.
"There you have it. Nature is hunting and death and blood. A pretty flower is there to be plucked or eaten." he said.
"I beg to differ." Aliena smiled. "There are many flowers who know full well how to protect themselves against natural enemies. Take the rose or the thistle with their thorns. Some flowers just taste bitter but a few are truly dangerous. Nightshade, a beautiful flower, Foxglove, so pretty to look at. Monkswood grows in the flowerbed over there. My favourite is the Bleeding Heart, those wonderful pink blooms that dangle from the haulm like drops of blood. They all look so pretty but touch them, consume them and you will die a painful death." Aliena smiled sweetly to Joffrey and her gaze briefly swept over Clegane as well. He still looked at Sansa and Aliena found the smallest hint of a smile on his lips.
"Nature is cruel and malicious. But beauty and dangerousness are not mutually exclusive."
"All these flowers are poisonous? What is their effect?" Joffrey asked, eager for gruelling descriptions.
"I do not know, my prince. I prefer an arrow, a knife over poison. Poison is a coward's weapon, they say."
"A woman's weapon." Clegane looked her in the eye this time and again Aliena felt a wave of warmth rush through her body. Silly.
"Do you hold all women for cowards?" Aliena asked him, controlling the anger in her voice.
"Women cannot fight. They are not even cowards." he rasped, disparagingly.
She knew he wanted to provoke her but she would not show emotion in front of Joff and Sansa. The girl looked at them,wide-eyed but Joffrey seemed to enjoy their exchange..
"Women have weapons that bring the toughest of men to his knees." Aliena's smile was dangerously suggestive.
Joffrey joined in: "Women should be kneeling before their men."
"You have the right of it, my prince. Women should finally meet them as equals on eye level."
Clegane let out a short snorting laugh but Joffrey did not understand her jibe.
"Women are not equal to men." he said, spitefully.
"Not at all indeed, my prince." Aliena smiled sweetly.
"Men fight and conquer and serve their king. Women bear children and sew and serve their husbands. That is why we all look forward to holy matrimony."
Sansa did not notice the sharp tone of her voice.
"It is just like it is in the tales. A lady waits in the castle for her knight to return from war and then takes his thoughts off it with sweet songs."
Joffrey nodded approvingly to that.
"You will be my Queen and wait for me to come back to the Keep from war with a bloody sword and an enemy fewer."
"No man will dare to rise a blade against you, Prince." Aliena said, hoping to change the subject. It worked.
"I recommend them not to. I would slaughter them like my father slaughtered the rebels on those stony islands, Pyke. I will be feared." Joffrey loved to imagine himself as a Warrior King.
Aliena and Sansa assured him he would be feared and beloved at the same time and in perfect harmony they continued their stroll through the gardens until Septa Mordane appeared.
"I should go to the sept now, anyway." Sansa said. "I hope to see you in the Great Hall for dinner, My Prince, Mylady." She curtsied gracefully and hurried towards the sept.
Sandor
Sandor had left Joffrey and his cousin alone in the watergardens on the boy's command. He stood watch at the gardens' only entry and had time to think.
She had been jealous and he had somehow enjoyed provoking her, it had given him a tingly satisfaction. The Stark girl was pretty enough and sweet but foolish and meek as a sheep. It was the young swan that captivated him against his will. He had ignored her after the hunt and she was not amused although she hid it well. He did not know why, surely it was just hurt pride, but he felt smug that it bothered her, at least a bit. Maybe it was just retribution for what she had done to him.
She had looked good today, every time he saw her, he was astonished by her beauty again. There had been a feistiness in her today and he thought he had glimpsed a bit of the person that hid underneath all those smiles and sweet words.
He liked her spiritedness, he even liked the fierceness with which she protected women. She had the right of it, somehow. Normally, he would support the prince. Women did not belong outside of a castle, they were there to bear and bring up children and keep the household and sew and whatever ladies did. His mother had not been a prominent figure in his life but he remembered her as a simple end lenient woman who saw to his father's needs. But somehow he could not imagine her sitting by the fire, sewing, with a babe on the lap, or silent at board, nodding to her husband's words. She belonged on a horse, she belonged right here where she made them dance to the melody of her keep, no household, no family would ever satisfy her as this game did. No man either. For a brief moment, he allowed himself to remember that moment in the woods, right after that sleazy knight had left her. You should have bloody taken her there and then. It would be over now and you would not be the pitiable creature she has made of you. He had wanted to take her, there was no denying that. But he had not only wanted her body. He had wanted her to be kind to him, to flirt with him as she flirted with all the others and thinking about it alone made him gag. When did he turn into this weak wimp?
A messenger appeared and roused him from his thoughts. He was in a bad mood now and frightening the boy would allow him to vent his anger.
"What do you want, boy? Your prince is in there with his cousin, they do not seek company." Whatever they were doing in there. The boy was now almost a man and he lusted after his cousin in a sick way. Why, just like me. he thought, bitterly.
"It ii-is the Lady Swann, th-the king wishes her t-to come to his private audience chamber at once." The boy was practically shaking and he had not even started. Pansy.
"Go, I will tell her." An excuse to disturb them was welcome to him and he decided not to think about the reason for that anymore.
He found them sitting on a bench, close together, her hand on his knee, her mouth at his ear as she whispered something that was apparently funny.
"Lady, the king wants to speak to you." he said, without any sentiment, he hoped. The girl stood up and nodded, ready to leave but the prince held her hand.
"I will accompany you to my father's rooms. I will wait in the ante chamber. Whatever he has to tell you, it is my right to hear it, too." Joffrey came with her, his sworn shield as his shadow. The Lannister guards that stood watch did not comment their presence there with a single word. They were the queen's and no one would refrain her son from doing something he wanted, even against the king's wishes.
Aliena walked in, slowly and left the door ajar for her cousin. He waited with the boy, admittedly curious what her uncle wanted and with a dark suspicion.
"Aliena." his voice was heavy with wine. "We need to talk. Eddard is gravely wounded and I have reconsidered. We need more houses on our side than just the Lannisters. Ned had the right of it, after all." He wants her to marry.
"You will pick a husband from a great House. You refused Robb Stark already. Theon Greyjoy is about your age and the Greyjoys have a massive fleet."
"You cannot be serious, uncle. You want to make me spend the rest of my life in a draughty keep on Pyke where I will probably catch a chill and die soon? They do not even ride horses there. And Theon Greyjoy is a fool at best, with a cruel streak who has seen the brothel more often than the sept. He cares for nothing but killing and women." Aye, and what's so bad about that?
"If not him then Edmure Tully. He has the Riverlands behind him." A bloody oafish popinjay. Is he serious, he would give her to him?
"Do you mean to insult me? I do not want to, uncle. Please, let me stay." Her voice had grown soft, a murmur almost. "I love you dearly and Joff and I are inseparable-"
What her uncle had liked once he did not like anymore.
"The boy has a betrothed now. He treats you more kindly than the Stark girl, questions will be raised at some point. No, Aliena, you are old enough. I have been convinced by you and Cersei, but Cersei wants you for her son and I will not let that happen. You will be lady of a Keep, ride horses, have children...whatever women do once they're married."
"Well, that is exactly what I do not want to do, uncle! I can go to Storm's End if you want me out of your sight. Renly will have me, I am sure. I can keep his household, please."
Even Sandor felt his chest tighten at her bidding tone but the king was in an especially bad mood today.
"You will marry before you are ten and seven, and if I have to drag you."
"You cannot force me. The Seven do not allow that."
"Then you will marry under the Old Gods. But you will marry. It is goodwill on my behalf that I let you choose."
A pause. Then her voice rang through the silence again, cold and harsh like a whip of ice. "Who else is on your list then, Your Grace?"
"Aliena-"
"-Who else?"
"Fine. God damn you, God damn this chair. The Redwyne twins, a Tyrell, Jon Arryn's boy." A sickly babe of six or seven at most. "A Waynwood, Beric Dondarrion-"
"Not a Royce?" What does she even want with that bloody pansy? Joffrey shifted as well, anger on his pretty face.
The king ummed and erred. "Ser Andar has asked for the right to court you. Cersei…"
"She rebuked him because she expected that you would keep your word. Your Grace. ...Well, not him then. He has a brother."
"A younger son."
"Oh please, do not pretend you care a fig. Give him a keep and some gold and I will spend my life away from your precious children out of your sight."
"I bloody care. That is why I do this. Someone has to marry you off before-" Before the boy gets his way with her or gets the throne and her. He wants to protect her. That and Stark is adamant about this,
"What about Lord Tremond Gargalen then, Your Grace? Cletus Manwoody? Willas Tyrell? My cousin, Ser Balon?"
"Tremond Gargalen is a widower twice your age, Cletus Manwoody has a lazy eye, Willas Tyrell is a bloody cripple and your cousin is heir to only dust."
"I do not care for their looks. If I must spend my entire life with them, I want them to be quick of mind, witty, enigmatic, strong of character. I will write to them, as soon as possible. And as for the inheritance...I have a little keep of my own."
"If you marry someone I approve of, you will have more than that. Renly and I discussed it...You will be heir to Storm's End, as long as Renly has no children of his own, you will be heir to your favourite castle, all you need is a husband. Renly has suggested Ser Loras-"
"He can keep him as his squire but I do not want the boy for my husband. He is...not my taste."
"Another one then. A second son, if must be. You will have a keep of your own in the end and in the meantime-"
"Only if Renly has no children."
"He will not. As I said, in the meantime, I will give you another castle, or maybe rebuilt Summerhall. Would you like that?"
"I would like to stay alone. I would like to stay here. You know what I would like, Your Grace. Do not try to sweeten this bitter dish with a promise and a pile of stones. Yes, I love Storm's End, yes, I would love Summerhall. But I do not want it like this. I am my own person and I want it for me, not for the man I took to pay the price."
"You will take what I give you then. I can send you to the draughtiest keep on Pyke, marry you to a toothless widower with cobwebs around his cock. And you will still graciously accept it!"
Robert's voice was booming now, surely everyone present in the holdfast would hear him now. From his place at the door, Sandor saw the girl curtsying low.
"Yes, sell me like a horse on the market. You were bought as well, with fine Lanniater gold. Tell me, did it make you happy?"
You should not have said that, little swan. But Sandor could not deny her fierceness... and neither could he deny that he liked this.
"OUT! Now. I will give you the worst man I can find, maybe I will give you to the king's justice."
"If I can keep my head, why not. At least I do not have to move far away." The girl walked towards the door.
"Any man, as long as he promises to take you away. A lordling, small and unimportant. A cold, tiny keep with cobwebs in the corners and damp walls. And you will swear your vows and bear his children."
Looks like I stand a chance, swan. How would you like a dog as a husband? Ugly, brutal, with no redeeming quality but my swordplay, everyone agrees. A tiny draughty keep I can buy for you, cobwebs and all. Sandor almost snorted out loud with joyless laughter. He should not even think this. He did not want her.
"Whatever my king commands." She sank into a last, low curtsey.
"Mother would be disappointed." her voice was not more than a whisper but it was filled with contempt, sadness, anger and disappointment. It was a tone made to cut through a heart. Her uncle's heart.
She closed the door as she walked out but the king's voice rang through the thick oak wood as if it was a silky curtain. Aliena looked at Joffrey and then to him. The guards around them pretended not to be existant.
Her cheeks were pink, her breathing quick, her eyes sparkling with anger. She walked down the corridor without a word and Joffrey hurried after her. Groaning, Sandor followed them.
In the corridor where their rooms lay, she slowed down, but her face was still a mask of fury.
"I will not let it happen, Aliena. I swear, you will stay here, with me. Father is an old drunken fool, but I will make him see sense. Who knows maybe he dies and I am king then. You will not go anywhere once I am king. You will stay here for my pleasure."
"Thank you, my prince. The king might reconsider...if not, why, a lot of things can happen in half a year." She concealed her anger well but Sandor knew that under that pretty, smooth forehead, planning and schemeing had already begun.
She went into her chambers and left a boy and a man in front of the door, both desperate to keep her close, only for different reasons.