~Rhiannon~

Growling angrily to herself, Rhiannon scrambled out of the carriage-

-and fell into a mud puddle.

"Seven hells!" The princess roared in rage as the filthy water seeped through the dress she wore and into her small clothes.

"Why do I always find you unceremoniously cussing?" A familiar voice from Rhea's left side asked, tauntingly.

"Help me!" Rhiannon snapped.

"Always the uncouth one." Jaime Lannister laughed as he bent down and hooked his arms around his daughter's waist, hoisting her up.

"Uncouth? I'll have you know, I have plenty of manners- I just tend to use them only when I see fit." The princess huffed, grabbing onto her father's shoulder to balance herself.

Jaime snorted, patting her on the head, "As you will, little one."

"Little one?!" Rhiannon shrieked. Without so much as a warning, she hurled herself at her father, effectively knocking them both in the mud puddle that she had just recently evacuated.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Jaime boomed in a mockingly outraged tone.

Giggling, the princess scooped a handful of mud from beneath her and dumped it all on his golden hair. "And that, Uncle Jaime, is what you receive when you mock a princess." Rhiannon snorted.

"What a sight!" A voice from behind Rhea laughed.

"Care to join in the fun, Uncle Tyrion?"

"The cold puddle just wouldn't do for my legs, sweet one." The dwarf chuckled as he held out a hand to help his niece to her feet.

"How are they, by the way- your legs, I mean?" The princess asked as she took off her once pink silken slippers- now brown- and removed the muddy water from them.

"They ache like fuck." Tyrion replied as he began to disappear in the crowd of guards.

Laughing, Rhiannon shouted after her uncle, "And people wonder where I get my bluntness!"

"Blunt questions deserve blunt answers!" Her uncle called over his shoulder.

I couldn't have said it better myself, Rhea thought to herself gaily, already in a good mood. I wonder where Eli is...poor thing is probably as soaked as I am. Maybe I can convince her to take my place in the carriage. Gods only know how much I'd love to ride terror to Winterfell instead of being stuffed away.

Determined to find her cousin, the princess passed her father, but not before she patted his muddy head in the same fashion he had done to her not five minutes before. She headed towards the place where the horses were being tied for the night, assuming Elianna was tying Aspen to a branch.

The Baratheon girl was indeed tying her horse when her cousin found her.

"Hello Eli, Aspen." Rhiannon greeted as she crept behind her cousin.

Elianna jumped- Rhiannon couldn't tell if it was because of surprise or her muddy state, but she assumed it was the latter since her cousin's jaw dropped in shock and she immediately began to look her over like a mother hen.

"What happened to you?" Eli asked in worried tones as she lifted her cousin's long wet braid.

"Take a wild guess, dear cousin." The princess replied, patting Aspen on her elegant neck.

"Someone threw you in the river in a crazed attempt to assassinate you?" Elianna tried.

Rhiannon's eyes widened, before she burst out in uncontrollable laughter. "No, you silly goose! I was playing in the mud."

"You were playing...in the mud?...are you ill?" Eli asked as she placed her cold hand on the princess's forehead to check her temperature.

"I'm as healthy as my hounds. Speaking of which, I must go see them. Rosco and Desoto were not permitted inside the carriage- my siblings are scared that the boys will eat them."

"As they should be; your boyss are rather like you with their moods- you never know when they'll snap." Elianna replied as she gave one last pat to her mare before she followed her cousin towards the crate that contained the two grown male wolfhounds.

A/N

The torch is now being passed on to my classy, sassy Beta! Yippee!

Reviews are deeply appreciated!;)