Alys
It was strange, a bit, how similar and different her days in Kings Landing were now compared to before she'd left.
Her days were still spent often in the Godswood or the gardens. She visited with Elia and Rhaenys often. It wasn't chess or Jaime, but she spent much time sat across Oberyn playing Cyvasse.
The biggest difference if she were honest was the addition of Jon, as he rarely left her side.
And the absence of Jaime, but she was still trying to not think too hard on the fact that she's only seen him in sparing moments since their discussion the day of her return. And each of those moments had only been in passing, as she had yet to garner the courage truly to speak with him.
She feared he'd push further on the issue of Jon, as it seemed he was to be the one person in Kings Landing to disbelieve her tale of motherhood.
Still Alys tells herself she was a fool for thinking it would be any other way. He'd said it himself, he would be the one person here to know if some lover had been had by her.
He was the only man to share her bed in her life.
But, to her gratefulness, there had been no rumors of falsehood surrounding Jon.
No the prevailing discussion when it came to Alys or Jon was the truth of a father, no one doubted her position as his mother.
It seemed to be the more prevalent discussions about court, as talk of Rhaenys or Elia tended to seem to much like walking on fragile ice to most gossipers about the Red Keep. And guessing at the man who had fathered Alys's bastard seemed to be much less treacherous a topic.
Well, so long as it was not done too close to Ned.
A few have even gone as far as to fish for the truth with Alys. Lady Alerie and Mina in particular had both fawned over Jon much kinder than Alys had worried over, it seemed it mattered little that he was a bastard. Both women were fond of babies, and Jon was according to them, and to Alys, a very cute one. Alerie had the added influence it seemed of a new pregnancy of her own, along with it seems the missing of her children in Highgarden.
But in between their cooing at him it was quite clear that they were also searching for some sign of his father. They also went in with sly questioning of her, delicately tiptoeing about the clear topic they wished to suss out the truth of.
She tried her best to ignore the questioning, or to at least deflect it away. But she also was acutely aware that it was not likely to lessen until she's securely in Winterfell and the court's eyes turn to more immediate intrigues.
A fact she's repeated to Oberyn who watches her carefully over the cyvasse board after another pair of ladies just left following an appropriate amount of cooing over Jon in his bundle of blankets next to her.
"The scrutiny almost makes me wish for the days when they all ignored me." She near whines, moving her piece across the board and studying Oberyn closely for some sort of reaction to her play.
"Truly?" He laughs, "some would relish all eyes upon them."
"Perhaps, but I am not, nor have I ever been, one of those. Especially when it's because I'm an unwed mother of a bastard son." She watches him move a piece and frowns as he seems close to winning. "It makes me want to sequester myself once again with Elia and Rhaenys."
"The two of them would likely happily trade positions with you and Jon," Oberyn remarks, eying her in the way he does when she's about to make a wrong move upon the board. She lets out a frustrated sigh and retreats from the move. "Especially poor Rhaenys, the girl got used to the freedom of Dorne so quick."
"I imagine it's hard for her," Alys finally settles on a piece to move, but the second she does Oberyn's mouth quirks up at the corner and she regrets it. "She's moved so often, Dragonstone then Kings Landing, then on the road, then Dorne. And now once again back here, with little answers for where to next."
"Doran speaks little of that to anyone," Oberyn snaps out, a topic he dislikes greatly is the topic of what will happen to Rhaenys and Elia. Alys believes it stems simply from not knowing, though she's sure there is also genuine worry over what happens to them. They are in a very precarious and dangerous position. "I've heard only the vaguest things, talks of fostering her, of removing her Targaryen name, hell even of vowing her to the damned Silent Sisters." He frowns deeply, moving his next piece with a bit more force than necessary.
Mindful of the space about them, and the likelihood of any hidden ears about them, Alys leans forward as she contemplates her next move. She says quiet, and in hopes of easing Oberyn's mood, "my brother has spoken with me a bit more forthright. It seems at the moment there is talk more towards the first two, not the silent sister route."
Oberyn inclines his head in thanks, his eyes shifting from a fiery temper to a more contemplative look as he watches her move her piece before she settles back again. Her own gaze turning to Jon as he naps lightly in the late-afternoon sun. "Any talk of where?" Oberyn inquires as he moves his piece.
Alys gently shifts Jon's blanket over him before leaning forward again to move her piece. "Potentially north," she watches him carefully. "With a trusted friend of Robert, who's loyalty is considered as good as blood."
Oberyn eyes her a second, a silent question to his gaze for confirmation to which she nods and he leans back himself to mull it over in his mind. "Interesting." Is all he mutters out. She doubts it's what he wants to hear, to know that his niece may be so far removed from family.
They move a few more pieces in silent thought, until it seems Oberyn's mood has settled and he smiles brilliantly before moving his last piece into victory.
"One of these days I'll win." She states, a smile to her own face as he packs up the board. It was nearing dinner, and she'd be eating with Ned again on their own while Oberyn dined with his sister. "Or I'll simply convince you to play chess instead and I'll surely beat you there."
"Never play the chosen game of your opponent," Oberyn jests. "That is how you'll find yourself at a disadvantage from the start."
She shakes her head at him, "it's only a game though. And I would like to win on occasion." Oberyn laughs and after standing holds an arm for her which she takes easily after adjusting Jon in her other before they start back to the Maiden Vault.
"We should find her kitten." Alys remarks, her mind in their walk having drifted back to Rhaenys.
"Her kitten?" Oberyn peers down to her, a curious look to his gaze.
"Rhaenys, she had a kitten. Named him Balerion and everything," she wonders where it got off to. "We obviously didn't grab it when hiding them away or sneaking off. So it's probably somewhere around here." Most likely in Maegors Holdfast, prowling about with the other stray cats of the Red Keep. "It would likely lift her spirits greatly, and wherever she ends up she'll have a companion."
Oberyn studies her a second before nodding, his lips turned up in a smile. "Sounds like we have some cat hunting to do. And you found your way out of losing more to me in cyvasse."
Alys laughs lightly, shaking her head until she looks up and spots a familiar face walking towards them.
Jaime
Jaime hadn't, for once in the last few days, been searching out Alys. He'd been walking through the gardens out of sheer boredom and the wish to be anywhere but with his father and uncle talking about plans for Cersei's wedding and his father's other more scheming plans regarding pressuring his release from the Kingsguard and return to Casterly Rock, as it seems Ned Stark has offered a solution by means of him joining the Night's Watch.
Which to Jaime just seems ridiculous.
If the man's biggest hatred of him was his breaking of a life vow, how in all seven hells did it make sense for his punishment to be making another one?
Regardless, Jaime was bored and for once not seeking the disappointment of looking for Alys only to find her with Oberyn Martell.
Only to come walking right upon Alys and Oberyn Martell walking arm in arm in such a way that made his stomach sour.
Of course his stomach twisted further by the fact that Oberyn had apparently made Alys laugh in that light way that Jaime enjoys, which made for a rather conflicted feeling because he liked it but also found he disliked it.
He did not enjoy this.
He considered, for a fraction of a second, just turning on his heel before he was noticed. But then he got a bit annoyed at that train of thought, and figured he'd had enough of this avoidance and solitude she's inflicted upon him since he made the apparent mistake of pointing out that the babe in her arms is not actually hers.
A secret he's very much kept to himself, especially with the rising whispering surrounding her and the child.
So, with the resolve to end this absence of each other's company in hopes of regaining some bit of his sanity and enjoyment in Kings Landing, he walks himself straight for them until they all come to a stop before each other and he gives a bow to them both.
"Prince Oberyn, Lady Alys," he greets, though he pays little attention to Oberyn beyond spotting the prince eying him curiously as his own eyes look instead to Alys who looks at him with a mix of her usual kindness and a bit of caution as she shifts Jon just the slightest bit in her arms.
"Lord Jaime," Oberyn greets in return first, "enjoying the gardens?"
"Vaguely," he shrugs, "once you've walked it a few times you've walked it plenty." He glances about the space, "it's more about the company one brings along that staring at the pretty flowers."
"And yet you walk here alone today," Oberyn remarks, and Jaime can't help but look his way at the slight jest to Dornishmans tone.
"Yes, well, not many racing to accompany the kingslayer in a turn about the garden paths," he remarks with little effort to hide the bitterness to his voice. "But, I was hoping to speak with Alys, actually." He returns his gaze to her.
"About?" she asks.
"Well," he doesn't look again to Oberyn, but acknowledges to himself that the man didn't move to give them any sort of privacy in their conversation. "I've been quite stressed these last few weeks in fact," he states, "I talked myself up a bit in my last letter to Tyrion, regarding my increase in chess skill since you so graciously started playing with me in this last year."
Alys is eyeing him cautiously, but he can't mistake the little quirk to her lips. "And?" She inquires further.
"And well, you've evidently been quite busy and I haven't had any moment to practice myself, nor did I particularly wish to as I don't enjoy playing the game alone like you have in the past." She frowns in a teasing way at his dig, "thus I was hoping to acquire your assistance, as I have only a week before my brother arrives in Kings Landing and I'm certain he'll be expecting a match." He shifts just slightly, "I would like to beat him, at least the once, so I could tease him with my victory for the rest of our lives."
She studies him, clearly weighing it all within her mind as well. The risk, he recognized, of him using chess as a means to question her on Jon once again. But that wasn't it, he just missed her, a thing he'd admit to no one except for perhaps her. Not that he could be that frank in this moment, with Oberyn Martell looming at her side.
"I'm free this evening," she finally states. "I'll be going for a walk in the Godswood to pray following dinner. But after that, if you'd like."
"Yes, that would work well enough for me," he smiles and she, to his delight, returns it. "I'll meet you there then, with a chess board so you can defeat me and tell me how awful I've gotten in the time we've spent apart."
She nods, "Then I will see you there." She looks to Oberyn and after Jaime's stepped aside to let them pass her gaze meets his a second more and he relishes a bit in the look he finds.
It seems that he was not the only one missing the other.
He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the peace of the Godswood. It would be hard to not be fond of the space after it being sort of a staple of good moments spent with Alys through the year of her being a hostage there. Lots of small discussions and games of chess and even just quiet with the only sound being each others breathing and the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Not to mention it had been a place of peace while she was gone as well, where he could escape skeptical eyes and the weight of his sins upon him.
Strange that a spot meant for the gods made him feel less stained with the disgraces to his honor.
Even stranger that it was a sort of place he'd never bothered with before Alys. He supposes then that it solely because of Alys that it gives him any peace.
Perhaps it was just Alys herself that did that, and to him the Godswood held more association with her than it did with any gods.
He arrives early, ducking away from dinner with his father and uncle early to enjoy the relative solitude of the Godswood. It wasn't as low-traffic as it had been before the sack, with numerous northerners still in the capital for Ned Stark. Though it was lessened than immediately following the seige. Now only the men directly under Stark's command remained, his lords having returned North, likely to enjoy the seclusion and the cold Jaime presumes.
Thus he sits alone on the bench, the chess board beside him as he listens to the wind and enjoys the late evening sun.
He hears her arrival before he spots her, the soft tap of her steps against the stone paths and the swish of her dress. He glances over, seeing her enter and stop with a start when she spots him.
"You're earlier than I expected." She remarks, walking his way.
"And you're missing a child." He can't help but note. He can't recall seeing her without the babe once around the keep. She eyes him a moment, clearly waiting for additional comments, but he does as he promised he would to himself and keeps any questions he has away. For tonight at least they can find their way back to easy companionship before he treads anywhere near that topic once more.
Besides, he believes he knows the answers already. And has already resolved that he'll keep it to himself as well.
Finally she speaks, "He's sleeping, I didn't wish to disturb him." She sighs, "I'm hopeful he's starting towards the period where he'll sleep the night." She moves towards him and sits. "Wylla says though that he's better than some of the other babes she's nursed for."
Jaime just hums in acknowledgement, not knowing much about babies to have anything really to say. Instead he motions at the board, "ready for my abysmal show of skill?"
"I'm sure you haven't gotten as bad as you think." She moves her first piece. "And, you've always been more skilled at it than you like to let on."
"Perhaps," he smiles, "but where is the fun it that." He glances at her, "besides, I quite enjoy letting you win."
She scoffs, but there is a bright grin to her face that he's missed most of all he thinks. "I said you were more skilled than you let on, not that you were a particularly good player." She watches him move his own first piece and gets that look he recognizes as him having made a mistake.
"Well," he sighs leaning back and watching her study the board. "Let us hope that you can get me to being a particularly good player in this week so I can get a victory over my brother."
"It's certainly good that we're in the Godswood then," she moves her piece, smiling with genuine mirth and looking at him with the fondness he's missed to her eyes. "Because it is likely to require the intervention of the gods." She jokes and he can't help the laugh that escapes as he shakes his head and takes his turn.
He has, very much, missed Alys Stark. And loathes the idea of her ever avoiding him again.
Thank you for reading!
This chapter took a while to come to me, but I'm really happy how it turned out (especially Jaime's POV).
As always, thank you all so much for your reviews they always mean the most to me and I look forward to them every time.