Hello, my dears, I'm very sorry it's been more than two weeks. Oh, gods, I'm beginning to sound like my former teachers that didn't manage to give a test back in time...
However, I'm so busy at the moment, my next exam is on Friday and I'm very unhappy that I find almost no time to write, so I'm glad that I managed to get this part ready at all.

I hope you won't feel I'm going to fast after the slow pace of the last one, but I'm just so impatient to get them where I always wanted them...so I thought that I might wrap the whole thing up during the next chapters, not without a little more angst/drama/fuff of course, but that we'll finish this story around part thirty.

If you feel like telling me what you think about that or any feedback on this chapter, I'd be very grateful! Hope you enjoy reading!

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Jaime?" Brienne's whispered voice leaked through the gap in the door that had just opened, accompanied by a beam of light that the torches radiated from the corridor. It was late, the sun outside the window had gone hours ago and with only the fire breaking the darkness, the room was lit up as her voice did to his dark thoughts and worries.
"Jaime are you awake?"

"Of course", he said, immediately getting up on his feet and on his way to the door, to her. He had been pacing up and down at first, but at some point, the physical and mental exhaustion had triumphed over his nerves and he had laid down, unable to find peace though.
"As if I could sleep while some floors away your father is rolling the dices of my fortune."
Despite his tone, Brienne couldn't suppress a smirk.

"How poetic", she said. "But it's not like that. You know he really can't do anything." Her voice was calm and soft, but Jaime just rose his eyebrows doubtingly.

"He can send me away", he detected drily, mostly to hide the fear and hopelessness that surely would have spoken from his voice otherwise. He didn't ask what she had told him. Actually, he didn't care. As long as it had its effect.

"No, he can't." She closed the door behind her, leaving them in the semi-darkness of the glowing fire.

"What do you mean?"

"He can't", she said, leading him to the bed where he followed her gesture to lie down with her. He didn't wonder at it at all, even though she had been given her own room next to his. She apparently didn't even think about it when she stripped off her boots, he noticed with a sensation of warmth spreading in his body despite his troubled thoughts. They had been sharing a bed for such a long time now that it felt as natural as breathing.
"Because", she went on, shifting to find a comfortable position, "I told him I would go too if he forces you to leave." She said it light-heartedly, is if it were the clearest thing in the world. Then she sighed, cuddling to him. Jaime lifted his arm obediently to make more space, but his brow was wrinkled in confusion.

"But you're the heiress", he detected unnecessarily once they were comfortably settled. "You can't leave." To his surprise, he felt Brienne's lips form a smile against his chest.

"I know", she simply said, lifting her head a little to look at him with calm, soothing eyes. "And he knows that too."
Jaime nodded slowly. Her tactic was simple, obvious even, and she seemed to be sure of its working out.

"I hope you're right."

"I am. I know him", she added before she settled back down to close her eyes. "Trust me."
She smiled when she could feel how Jaime placed a kiss on her hair.

"Always."

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Brienne had been right. He wasn't sent away. He was allowed to stay as a guest, how Lord Selwyn accentuated, a term he was only too familiar with from their time in Winterfell. It said I don't trust you, but you're being tolerated for her sake. Jaime had looked at Brienne, who slightly nodded to him encouragingly, and he had humbly accepted.
Being in her father's company was still uncomfortable, he could feel his eyes following him at table and when they walked about the castle, Brienne utterly adorable in her excitement to make him acquainted with every corner of the grounds. Jaime tried to ignore the suspicious glances from the Lord and his staff, and he managed quite successfully most of the time, delighting in his beloved's happiness as much as if it were his own.
Not that he was unhappy. He loved Tarth. It was beautiful, green, lively but calm, everything that his life had not been so far.
Then he even thought to notice that Lord Selwyn's expressions seemed to change when he watched them. Perhaps it was just his wishful thinking, but as the days went by, became weeks that finally turned into the second month after their arrival, he was almost sure that he was overthinking his initial apprehension. His eyes were softer now, sometimes glowing with an emotion Jaime couldn't quite estimate, but that left him with a spark of hope. The meals became more relaxed, he and Brienne could laugh more, the conversation was more carefree - and when Jaime kissed her one evening as she handed him his plate back, his eyes met Lord Selwyn's, who slightly nodded at him. He bowed his head in reply and they resumed eating in silence.
That was when he knew something had changed. He would go and ask what he had planned to do from the beginning, he decided. Perhaps the time had come.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Do you love her?"

Lord Selwyn Tarth's eyes pierced through Jaime from the high seat in the Throne room. It hadn't been easy to find a time to speak to her father without Brienne noticing, but he wanted to keep her unaware of what he was up to until he had been allowed what he desired. It hadn't been easy to tell her father what he had come for, and he was certain that it wouldn't be easy to get it either. This first question was easy though.

"I do." The Lord's face stayed expressionless, not one twitch of a muscle.

"And does she love you?"

Brienne had said so. At first, Selwyn hat been sure that she didn't mean what she said, couldn't know what she was talking about. What did his little girl know about love?
Perhaps more than I thought possible, an unwelcome thought flashed through his mind. Nonsense. The thought alone that this man in front of him - he of all people - should be the one to make his daughter happy? Her, a soul purer than any he had ever seen? Utterly ridiculous.
But then, he couldn't deny what he had witnessed. He had seen it with his own eyes, heard it with his own ears how they talked to each other, smiled, laughed. Never before had he seen Brienne like this, behaving like this around someone else. And even more, there had never been a man that treated her like this Lannister did. No man that had looked at her that way. Could all this be a game, a fallacy?
Selwyn scrutinized the lion before him, attempting and failing to understand it. Could it be true? Did he really love her as he said? That's all I ever wanted for her.
Or was he just another of those that were only trying to take advantage of Brienne for her lands and title? Was he actually different or just like all the others, simply a better actor with a more charming smile?

Jaime had lowered his eyes to the ground at the question, his mouth curling. He had expected to be asked these things, and he knew that confirmation was probably not at all what the other would want to hear.

"That's not in my place to claim", he said therefore rather diplomatically. "She told me so, but if she hasn't done so already, I believe it should also be her to tell you. I can do nothing but hope that she will and", he added, rather enjoying the disapproving look on her father's face -clearly disapproval of an answer given beyond the desired means-, "if I should be so fortunate, spend the rest of my days trying to prove worthy of her and her love."
Jaime waited, watched Lord Selwyn as he watched him with a wrinkled brow, and a moment of silence passed as he considered how to go on. This young man was throwing him a bit off course with this unexpectedly skilful replies, he had to acknowledge, but he was determined to keep the upper hand. This was about his Brienne after all. His steps would need to be thought through.

"My daughter is the heiress of Evenfall Hall", he finally detected, as if that were news. Jaime bowed his head in confirmation.

"I'm aware of that, Mylord." Of course, you are. All of them were.

"Yes, but have you both considered what that means?", he said slowly, accentuating his words by seriously raised eyebrows. "She won't be able to spend the rest of her life the way she has done until now. She has a birthright, a place to take, a duty to fulfil", he said gravely. "I'm not a young man anymore, Ser Jaime, I won't live forever and neither do I plan to rule until my last breath. It won't be long until Brienne will have to sit on this chair. The isle..." He gestured through the room, figuratively containing what would be the whole of Brienne's kingdom, "it will be hers, her land, her people - and they will need her here."

"She knows that, Lord Selwyn", Jaime said calmly, "I can assure you. And so do I." He saw a spark of emotion flickering over the other man's face, suspicion, then uncertainty.
He doesn't know how to estimate me, it became clear to him. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Then may I ask what you are planning to do when this day comes?"

"I go where she goes", Jaime said shortly - It was as simple as that.

"Is that so." Lord Selwyn leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on Jaime over merged fingertips. "Then you would be willing to give up your own claims to stay here on Tarth with my daughter?"

"I don't have any claims, Mylord."

"You are the eldest son of Tywin Lannister, are you not, Ser?", he countered. "That makes you the heir to Casterly Rock." He said it as a fact, but Jaime just shook his head.

"The Rock belongs to my brother", he explained politely, but leaving no room to question. "I lost my right to inherit when I took the white cloak, even if I'm not wearing it anymore. But even without the rules of the Kingsguard", he added, "I never wanted it anyway. Casterly Rock should have been Tyrion's a long time ago and I made sure that it finally is without any cause for contestation." Brienne's father watched him attentively, apparently eager to notice every twitch on his face, every change in his voice, every hint of untruthfulness. If what he found left him satisfied, Jaime couldn't tell.

"Very well." He appears honest. Perhaps lands and titles actually aren't what he's come for after all...But then what-?
He paused and Jaime already thought that he was done, when the Lord's mouth suddenly curled into a smile, a sort of smile that made him slightly uncomfortable, even though he couldn't quite put his finger on the reason.
"One last question, Ser", he said then. "Apart from leading with strength, justice and honesty, a leader also has another obligation." The sparkle in his eyes left Jaime wondering what was there to come, but he wasn't kept waiting for long. "I'm talking about securing the survival of our line", Lord Selwyn said meaningfully, watching Jaime as if he were waiting for anything amusing. "Brienne will have to produce descendants and those, as you can clearly understand, will have to go by the name of Tarth. There has always been a Tarth on the throne of this isle, and that's how it will be until it is nothing more than dust in the seas of time." He waited after this slightly pompous declaration, apparently pleased with himself. "Are you really willing to abandon your name, your family, or at least not to have your children named after their father?"
It was obvious that he thought this might finally unsettle the young man who had been so composed until now. Surely, these conditions couldn't be acceptable for any man with a decent amount of pride. But to his surprise, Jaime only smiled.

"Of course, I understand your point, Lord Selwyn", he said calmly. "And I agree. There should be a Tarth on the throne of this isle." The puzzlement on the other's face flickered with a hint of disappointment, making Jaime the one smiling to himself now. He'll get over it.
"What you have to understand", he went on, "is that my home and my family lie with your daughter now. My name means nothing. But beyond that, my reputation precedes me and so does my house's - I'm not keen on handing this burden over to my children."

Jaime couldn't deny that he was enjoying this, but that made his words no less of the truth. He meant what he said. His name meant nothing. Not anymore. If he was honest, he couldn't wait to leave at least some of its load behind.
He smiled internally at the thought of his father. He hoped there was a life after death so that Lord Tywin would have to watch how his name and legacy were now resting solely on Tyrion's shoulders. Look at your precious children, father. The pride of house Lannister. Maybe there was some justice in this world after all.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

That night, Jaime lay awake a long time, staring at the ceiling of his chamber, thinking. He went through the conversation with Lord Selwyn, turned the words over in his mind.
Now that he was past this first step, he had his next to think through. It should be planned, shouldn't it? A location, a certain time, a speech perhaps. A ring? He had no idea how to set up something like this, had never had to think about it, had not even thought that he would ever have to. With Cersei, it had always been out of the question. With Brienne, everything stood open. They were free, he was free, everything seemed possible. And that brought countless possibilities to choose from.
Jaime drew his hand over his face, rubbed his tired, burning eyes. He should sleep. He wanted to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes, his mind began to work, imagining thousands of scenarios what he could do, what he could say, what could go wrong. Not that he was sure she would reject him. But he didn't think she was expecting him to pop the question either. Neither of them seemed to be suited for marriage, they had both made their peace with that fact a long time ago. A lifetime ago, Jaime thought. For that it had been for him, another life, the life of another person.
He knew what he wanted now. To be honest, he had always wanted the same thing, he had just never thought it possible. As a young boy at Casterly Rock, the Septas had read them stories about princes and princesses, knights in shining golden armour that saved the lady of their heart from cruel witches and dangerous beasts. Stories of brave men that escaped the fiery breath of dragons to take their women home to their castles, married them and lived happily ever after. The little boy with the blonde locks had listened eagerly, had imagined himself -grownup and handsome, the saviour of a beautiful woman he would make his wife. Later, the face of that woman had transformed into that of his sister in his mind, her hair blowing around her beauty as they rode into the sunset. He had been stupid. Foolish. Naive. Of course, he had to find out that none of that would be possible with Cersei. They were living in the shadows, spun a net of secrecy and lies. No castles, no dragons, no sunset, no marriage. And yet he had hoped it enough to get the happily ever after, had told himself that she would be enough.
He sighed, looked down at the sleeping Brienne next to him, listened to her steady and peaceful breath for a moment. She was nothing like his childhood imagination. She was not beautiful, she didn't need to be rescued, she was nothing like any of the women in those stories.
No, she was more. She was not pretty, she was magnificent. She wasn't helpless, she had been the one saving him. And she would be the one he was going to marry.