This chapter was written as part of the Facebook challenge "Sur Votre 31":
- Invite : ''Free''.
- Number of words: From 100 to 1000 words.
All the universe of Game of Thrones belongs to GRR Martin, DB & DW.
Context: Follow the 17th drabble of my collection ''True Love Never Ends'', ''The Wind Will Carry Us''.
Enjoy reading!
When they finally arrive in Pentos, after days and days, maybe even months spent on this boat, they are something they have never been : they are free.
They are free.
In Westeros, they were Cersei and Jaime Lannister, children of the great Tywin Lannister, from the richest family of the Seven Kingdoms, they were brother and sister, they couldn't love each other because it wasn't right, not right in the eyes of the Seven whom they had been taught to respect since their early childhood, not good in the eyes of society, which did not allow incestuous marriages, except for the Targaryen family, but unfortunately for them they were not Targaryens, and not good in the eyes of their father, who hoped for each of them to have a marriage that would bring him power and might, more than he already had when he already had too much.
In Pentos, they are just Cersei and Jaime. They are not Lannisters, they are not lions of the Rock, they are not brother and sister, they are not the children of Lord Tywin. They are nobody.
They are nobody, and they are free.
Just the word has the sweetest flavor on their tongues.
Free. Free. They are free.
They are free, and nothing and no one will ever change that.
Pentos strangely reminds them of Casterly Rock, with the turquoise sea, the white sand and the burning sun in the blue sky without a cloud on the horizon.
The first thing they do when they arrive is to go to a broker to exchange the jewelry that Jaime has taken care to take with him for money.
The gods know how much they will need it.
After all, they are just two young teenagers, who have just arrived in a place that is totally unknown to them, with no place to go and no one they know who might be able to take them in.
But most of all, now they live with the constant threat of being recognized, found.
Now that their father has had to realize that his golden twins are missing, he has probably sent his armies after them to the four corners of the Known World.
Cersei doesn't like the look on the broker's face when they parley with him, as if she were a particularly appetizing piece of meat, and Jaime doesn't like it at all, so much so that he puts a possessive arm around her waist to show the fat little man in front of them that she is already taken.
They come out of that place as quickly as they went in, their money in their pockets, enough to buy a more than decent house.
They find a nice one, right on the beach, by the sea, with white stone walls and a red tile roof.
When the richly dressed man offering the house for sale, thinking he is trying to convince a young, newly married couple, asks them if the house is right for them, they don't even have to talk to each other to find out if they agree. One look is all they need.
They start their new life with a little difficulty.
It's hard for them, two fifteen year olds who have never had to lift a finger to support themselves, to start earning a living by the sweat of their brow.
It's hard, but they make it, because they are together.
Jaime managed to get hired as a city watchman because of his swordsmanship. Meanwhile, Cersei takes care of the house, and even earns a little money sewing or embroidering clothes, her slender fingers trained through endless hours and hours spent with septas repeating the same movements until everything is perfect.
But it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter, because in Pentos they are free. They are free to love each other.
For the other people in the town, they are a young married couple.
Cersei falls asleep in Jaime's arms every night and wakes up in the same place every morning, without exception.
They can kiss each other's cheeks or lips, hold hands, become one, as they were always meant to be, all those little everyday gestures that were the greatest of luxuries for them in Casterly Rock, and the most natural thing in the world in Pentos.
Cersei often thinks about it, how ironic it all was.
In Westeros, they were part of the richest, most prominent, most powerful family in the whole kingdom. They should have been able to do what they wanted, without worrying about what other people thought.
After all, the lion is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep.
But no, that was impossible. They lived in the greatest luxury that could be, and yet, the simplest things, they were not entitled to them. They had to make do with stolen kisses at the corners of corridors or behind trees, holding hands under the table, where no one could see them. As for sleeping together, there was no question of even dreaming about it.
But in Pentos, where they lived in simplicity, it had become possible. And Cersei realized that not living in opulence didn't bother her anymore.
She didn't need the expensive silks and gems, and the servants ready to meet her every demand.
In Pentos, she had Jaime and her freedom. And that was priceless.
Thank you for reading!
Please take the time to leave a little comment, it's always a pleasure ^^
Don't be too hard on English, it is not my mother tongue.