The eulogies went on for another week. By then, the bodies were spread far enough from the hold that pyres could be burnt at all hours without disturbing anyone, and the armies could take care of their own dead without the interference of the lords and ladies of the castle. Everyone finally began to settle into regular patterns again, including sleep, and the next meeting of the council was held with decidedly less animosity among those gathered. A feast was even being held that night, a celebration of life in contrast to all the mourning they'd all been partaking in.
Tyrion knew that his brother and the Knight of Tarth had reconciled after the incident of a week ago. Jaime had told him so that night, but he needn't have bothered. Tyrion often spied them in each other's company at meals after that, and he'd seen the way they stole glances at each other when they knew the other wasn't looking. Ser Brienne was not a beautiful woman by objective standards, but she was formidable, her eyes were like the ocean crashing into the boulders below Casterly Rock. She was no beauty, but when he saw his brother watching her from the across the room, or studying her when her eyes were elsewhere, Tyrion could imagine her one.
You and me we've got two minds that think as one
If Bronn were there, he would have complained about it, he would have said that her eyes were drawn to Jaime the same way any woman looked at him, but Tyrion knew better - whatever this was ran much deeper than the simpering glances that women had for him when he was the golden lion of their youth, perhaps deeper even than Cersei's lustful obsession with her twin, healthier at least. And he knew his brother – his feelings for the Knight were different than anything he'd seen from him - somehow fiercer than his blind dedication to their beautiful sister. After all, he had jumped into a bear pit for her. And lost his hand. And defied their sister - more than once. If that wasn't love, what was. Their mutual admiration, at least, was undeniable.
And yet there was something else – some invisible blockade between the two of them that seemed to be keeping them circling and never settling. It was maddening to watch. Tyrion found himself wondering how long they'd been like that - had they been doing this dance in King's Landing back before he'd sent her away? If they had, there'd been no whispers of it, but to see them now one might imagine they'd been practicing their safe distances and averted eyes for years. With the next war back on the horizon, it wouldn't do to have them persist in this battle, it was too exhausting for the observers.
Two weeks after the dead arrived, Tyrion pulled Podrick aside in the yard and walked with him to the godswood. "Tell me how your lady fares, Pod."
"My lady, my lord? You mean Ser Brienne?"
"Yes, delightful boy. I meant Ser Brienne. How is she faring after all…" he gestured noncommittally toward the castle, "…this."
"She is well, my lord. Fewer nightmares I think, now. She's sleeping longer."
"That's good. I had a few myself – mostly dreams of Tywin Lannister crawling out of a Stark tomb and berating me for defending Winterfell…but it passed."
"Yes, my lord. Mine as well."
"Pod, there's no one to impress here, stop with this my lord business. Call my Tyrion, damnit."
Tyrion looked up at the leaves of the weirwood and then cast a sidelong glance at his former squire. "Your lady is sworn to my former wife, which means you'll likely be staying here in the north, is that right?"
Pod hesitated. "She is sworn to Lady Sansa, yes. I believe Ser Brienne will stay with her. I will stay if she asks, but I think, if I may, I think I've grown out of being a squire. And with the war heading south I might be of more use there...as a fighter."
"I believe you're right, Pod. We'll make a knight of you yet. You care for her, though. For Ser Brienne. You'd stay by her side if she wanted."
"Of course, Lord...Tyrion. I haven't had a chance to ask her yet, though. She's been occupied of late."
"Haven't we all." Tyrion muttered, considering Pod for a moment and then chancing a skirt at the subject he was most interested in. "What do you know of Ser Brienne's…friendship with my brother?"
"Their…well, Ser Jaime sent me to squire with—"
"No, no I know all that. I was hoping for less history and more substance. I've been away for a long time, Pod, paint me a picture," he said petulantly.
Pod pondered a moment, then looked to Tyrion as if he had a secret he was hesitating to let out. It turned out to not be such a mystery, "She's very affected by Ser Jaime," he started cautiously. Tyrion rolled his eyes, and Pod quickly continued, "What I mean, my lord…Tyrion, is that she's never…I believe she cares for him a great deal…"
Pod's face flushed pink, but Tyrion nodded, encouraging him on. "When we arrived at the wall with Lady Sansa, there was a man there – you know him – Tormund Giantsbane. He paid Ser Brienne a great deal of attention, but she had no interest in him."
"Yes I believe we've all borne witness to his style of wooing. She's a discerning woman."
"Ser Brienne told me once how she'd danced with King Renly when she was young, at a ball." Tyrion's brows screwed together, wondering what one could have to do with the other. "That she'd cared for him because he'd come to her aid after other boys had been mocking her plainness. She said that no one had ever looked at her with any kind of affection before that."
"Well," Tyrion considered, "to go so long with no affection (even if it was Renly's affection) and then have someone like Tormund Giantsbane trying to carry you off…I think if I were a woman, I might run away too, he's terrifying."
"But that's just it – Ser Jaime…I saw the way the two of them looked at each other when he sent away – his looks were no less baldfaced than Tormund's are now, he just thinks he hides 'em better." Tyrion guffawed at his companion's frankness. "And then at Riverrun…I thought she was going to climb out of the boat and swim back to him."
Tyrion puzzled at this, "I don't think I know that story."
"Lady Sansa sent us to retrieve Lady Catelyn's uncle from the Riverlands. We didn't know that King Tommen had sent the Lannister forces to try and take Riverrun back from him for the Freys at the same time. When she and your brother saw each other it was as if they'd both been struck by lightning. The two of them just shook hands and gawked at each other for an age."
"I've seen that look."
"And I've seen them holding hands."
"Really?" Tyrion was stunned, actually, "Every time I see them, it's as if they're carrying a hedge between them."
Pod nodded, "At the burnings some nights ago. I'm sure they didn't think anyone could tell, it was so dark and all, but I saw him pull away after."
Interesting, thought Tyrion, "And since?"
Pod raised his eyebrows and shook his head, "Nothing from what I've seen. They're together often but if they're engaging in—."
"No, I don't imagine they are. They're too stiff around each other to have let off any of that steam, and frankly it's making me bloody tense...What was that you said about a boat?"
"Ser Jaime granted us passage to try and treat with the Blackfish—"
"-He was there to take the castle and he just let her...go in?"
"She convinced him to let her try to persuade the Blackfish to go with us."
"And go against the Freys?"
"I suppose so."
"This may be more serious than I thought," Tyrion muttered to himself.
"But the Blackfish could not be convinced, and Ser Jaime was marching on the castle, so we had to escape."
"Surely the two of you had nothing to fear from my brother."
"No, but she didn't trust his men or the Freys. And the Tullys already suspected her of working with your brother – we couldn't stay."
"Fair points."
"We escaped in a small boat from beneath the castle. Ser Jaime was on the ramparts and kept his men from sounding the alarm when he saw us. And then they - the two of them stared at each other for a long time while I did the rowing."
"You're a good man, Pod. A loyal man." Tyrion raised his brows. "I've always known my brother to be a good man, too. But Cersei was always a terrible influence on him. It fascinates me that Ser Brienne has had quite the opposite effect."
Pod looked at his feet and Tyrion chased after his glance. "What else?"
"Ser Bronn told me - when we went to King's Landing - he told me that Ser Jaime had been...mourning her, that he'd kept Ser Jaime in his cups to keep him from jumping into the Blackwater."
"That doesn't sound like my brother..."
Podrick shrugged, "He thought her dead in the battle between the Starks and Boltons."
"The battle of the bastards, they called it," said Tyrion with a nod, then a memory struck him – what was it Jaime had said about how he wanted to die?. "No you're right, Pod. Jaime said something about..." he shook his head. "She does love him, doesn't she," it was a statement, not a question.
"As surely as he loves her."
And our hearts march to the same beat
"Lovesick idiots the both of them, then," Tyrion sighed. "But why not...act on it? They're equals in status, if not quite in height. Cersei is far away and cannot hurt them, they've clearly been itching to climb into each other's armor for years, and they've just survived a fight with dead men. What's stopping them? Are they both too damn honorable to fuck?"
"She is."
"Of course she is," Tyrion said with a chuckle. "Poor Tormund."
"Why do you say that?"
"If she's too honorable to make love to my brother you really think she's ever going to give in to Tormund's advances? Although come to think if it - gods, they haven't…?"
Pod blushed, "No! At least…no. Though I think she does not dislike him as much as she once did."
"Tolerates him, I imagine…" he cocked an eyebrow and looked toward the castle, "I could use that."
"Lord Tyrion?"
Tyrion stared off into the distance and then turned back to the squire with a wry grin, reaching his hand up to his shoulder. "Pod, what else has the Knight of Tarth told you about herself?"
A/N: I do not own Game of Throne or these characters; some dialogue may be taken verbatim from HBO's Game of Thrones or George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Lyrics used are directly from "You and Me" by Alecia Moore and Dallas Green (C) 2014.
