Jeyne
Raventree Hall had felt empty more oft than not for Jeyne. The lordling her father had arranged her to wed was near three years her senior, and she still had taken little liking to him, even though he was quite handsome.
Every day that came and went left Jeyne wishing that Jon were there with her, though wishing for it could not change reality. Jon was gone, off to join the brave brothers of the Night's Watch, and face battles against the Wildlings and other fearsome foes, while she was faced with battles of different sorts.
There had been several rumours that the king was to host a great tourney soon. Jeyne had desperately wanted to go, the chance to see her siblings again was too great to miss, before she remembered the presence of the king, and swiftly let those wishes die.
Today though, she was in attendance at Riverrun, alongside half the Lords of the Riverlands. Edmure Tully was to wed Walda Frey three days hence, and as Jeyne was married to the heir to Raventree Hall, she had little choice but to attend. Jeyne had always felt a stranger in the Riverlands, even in Raventree where the Old Gods were still kept, but Riverrun was the place she felt least comfortable. This was Lady Catelyn's home, and her presence was viewed by many as a slight. Jeyne's bastardy only made things worse. She saw all the hidden glances, the secret mockery. None would say anything to her face, but she could tell what they thought of her.
Jeyne had been reluctant to go. She knew it would end badly, and was on the verge of feigning illness to escape it, when a sudden impulse led her to go. It was a bad decision she realized.
All the banners of the Riverlands decorated hundreds of pavilions surrounding Riverrun. The Darry plowman, the maid of Piper, the quartered dragons of House Vance, the Ryger willow, the red salmon of Mooton, the stallion of Bracken. The twin towers of House Frey were third only in place to House Tully's Trout, and the Stag of House Baratheon.
The wedding was not only attended by Houses from the Riverlands. The banners of House Crakehall and House Lydden from the Westerlands, both kin of House Frey. From the Vale there came the Waynwoods, along with some Templetons and Redforts.
There was only one notable absence, house Mallister, who Jeyne assumed would arrive soon, since they hadn't passed through Raventree before they departed.
She had wondered how Lord Hoster felt though, playing host to so many who had once fought for Prince Rhaegar on the Trident, and worse, knowing that he would be playing host to Ned Stark's bastard daughter.
Her own wedding had been paltry by comparison. There had only been a few attendees, mostly the close kin of House Blackwood, including the steward of the Twins, Lothar Frey, and Jason Mallister. And there was Ser Karyl Vance, who had married Lord Tytos's sister, who had once been betrothed to her Uncle Benjen before he joined the Night's Watch.
All the others had been traveling to King's Landing alongside her father. Even Robb's wedding to a princess of the crown had been lesser, attended by the population of Winterfell, and a few minor Lords and heirs of the North along with the King's Party.
The Blackwood party began to make for the courtyard, where new visitors were being greeted. Hoster Tully held a mysterious ability to simultaneously glare at her, without looking at her at all, and it was most unnerving. Once greetings had been exchanged, the Blackwoods departed. Whilst all the King's party had been hosted within Winterfell, there were too many Lords from all across the Realm for House Tully to host them all inside Riverrun, and to invite one in and to exclude another would be a grievous slight. Only those families who were Kin to the Bride or Groom received quarters.
Lord Tytos, her good father, had led those who attended the wedding, alongside Brynden, Lucas and Hoster. Edmund was in King's Landing, and Alyn, Beth and Robert, along with their mother, had remained at Raventree.
When they were finished, a steward began to lead them to where they would be able to set up their pavilion, which some servants began to see to it being set up, and Jeyne decided to make for the Godswood.
It was bright and sunny, unlike the primal and grand Godswood at Winterfell or the aged and ancient one at Raventree Hall. It was small as well, closer to a garden than a wood, and seemed to see little use.
She stayed only for a few minutes before she grew bored, and left, making back for their pavilion, and began to prepare herself for the feast that would be upon them soon.
Although the wedding itself was still three days away, a banquet was being held tonight to celebrate the arrival of most of the guests. House Blackwood was seated at a table towards the top of the hall, alongside more junior members of House Frey and both branches of House Vance.
Jeyne soon fell to boredom, the food seemed endless, and the conversation only grew louder. She knew that she had drunk too much as well, and that she ought to keep herself better composed, but she didn't care. Eventually she decided that she had enough, and she excused herself and left for the Godswlod to clear her head.
Jeyne sat down at the foot of the Weirwood and began to pray to the old gods. She prayed silently for her family. For Sansa, Arya and Bran in King's Landing, for Robb and Rickon still at Winterfell, and most of all for Jon, alone at the wall. She hoped she would see him again. As she sat, she found herself wondering if her father had ever prayed before this tree during the Rebellion, and if he had, what had he prayed for?
For a moment she wished to see her father again, but as she tried to picture him, all she could see was his cold disapproving gaze that she had only ever seen from Lady Catelyn.
She tried to shove those thoughts aside, and wondered about her mother that she had never known. As children she and Jon had asked their father about her a lot, but all he would tell them was that he had loved her dearly. For Jon that seemed to be enough, but Jeyne had never stopped wondering. When her father hadn't told them anything, she had asked their grandmother in the hopes she might know, yet she had not told them anything, and she had died not long after.
Eventually father had promised one day he would speak to them about their mother, yet when they had parted ways he had done no such thing, despite Jon being off to become a man of the Night's Watch, and her becoming a woman wed.
Jeyne wondered if her mother knew that Jon was going to the Wall, or of her marriage, and what she thought of it. Was her mother even still alive? Jeyne asked silently to the gods.
"Are you sure it is empty?" a voice asked in a hushed whisper. Jeyne retreated behind the tree. She wished Silver was here with her rather than back at their pavillion
"I told you my lord," said another. "No one will be in the Godswood at this hour."
"As we discussed then, the Prince and his sister." said a third.
"They are Stark's wards my lord. There is no way for us to crown them when they are hostages of the usurper's most loyal subject," the first voice said. Jeyne felt her heart rising in her chest a little. She wasn't supposed to be hearing this she knew.
"Stark cares not for the Lannister, that much is plain, perhaps..." The third began.
The second man quickly cut him off, "Stark will remain loyal to the throne as his honour demands. Little as he likes the Lannisters, he will hardly try to remove his friend's son."
"Stark's feud with Robert is greater than you realise, and his dislike for the Lannisters is well known. You should pay more heed to rumours, my Lord." A fourth voice declared.
"And you should pay more heed to common sense." A fifth voice spoke up, "Stark's dislike of the Lannisters may run deep, and he may not be as close with Baratheon as he once was, but he will not rise to war against them."
"Then we must be the spark that makes the war," declared the third voice, "If we pit the Lannisters against the Starks, and are able to crown the true heir, then we will be unstoppable. Riverrun will follow Winterfell, and the Blackwoods, Mallisters and Freys will follow Riverrun. Prince Doran will support his nephew's claim to the throne, while the heir to Pyke is wed to our Prince's sister. The Reach fought for the Targaryens once, they will do so again, and the Lord of the Vale is a boy of twelve. There has not been a better time.".
"Your plan is folly," replied the second man. "If we can crown the boy, everything will fall into place, yet we have no way to crown him." Suddenly Jeyne realized what they were planning on doing. They wanted to crown Aegon, the silver haired lad who had grown up alongside her at Winterfell. She considered for a moment how he might have felt if he were hearing this now, remembering how he had taken little interest in reclaiming his grandfather's throne.
"If we do not strike now, we will lose a golden chance. Most of the realm will rise with us. Should we delay, we risk losing all." Declared the fourth. "March on King's Landing will all our force. Together we should be able to take the capital by force. Lady Whent will join us for certain, to avenge her husband and sons who fell in the Rebellion. We strike now and fast, and we take King's Landing. Imprison Stark, kill the usurper, exchange Lord Stark for the rightful heir and crown him." They would hurt her father she realized grimly, and all Jeyne could think was that she had to warn him. But what would she say to him? She spotted some men she didn't know discussing treason in the Godswood of Riverrun, which would not be received well. Her father would listen to her, and hear her tale, and be there to reassure her when she had finished, but he wouldn't act on it.
"Will Lord Tywin sit idly by as we depose his grandchildren and kill his son? Will the Stark boy not march to save his father? Will Riverrun, and Raventree Hall, Seagard and the Twins stay back as we march? Will Dragonstone, Highgarden, Driftmark and Storm's End not interfere as we kill their kin, and depose their allies? Will Yohn Royce forget the deaths of his Brother and Father?" asked the fifth. "We need a war, that much is plain, but we can hardly fight against the realm alone. We must pit Stark against Lannister, and use the chaos to our advantage."
"There are others who will join us. Lord Connington has returned from exile I've heard it said, and no doubt his people would like the return of their lord. With them should come the rest who fought for Rhaegar, Swann, Tarth, Dondarrion, Penrose, Selmy, Buckler. Storm's End itself is held by a Penrose and a Reacher Lord if I recall correctly, and the rest have little love for the Baratheons," the fourth replied.
"The usurper is not like to sit about as the realm rises against him, my lords. Lord Tywin…" A sixth man began to explain.
"Is old and the power of the Rock is not what it was. The Reynes and Tarbecks are dead, the Westerlings failing, the Leffords ruled by an old man, whose only heir is a girl of nine and the Braxs connected to House Frey by marriage. The Lords of the West love Lord Tywin naught," the third voice told them.
"But how?" Asked the first voice again.
"We strike. Lord Eddard holds little love for the Lannisters, nor does Lord Tywin have much fondness for the Starks. Should any ill befall one of their kin…" The third voice said, which caused Jeyne to panic. If they knew she was listening, surely they would be coming for her then, and they might anyways she realized. She wasn't safe at Riverrun anymore.
She looked around. There was no way for her to escape the Godswood, not without surely alerting them to her presence, until for a moment she looked at the Weirwood Tree before her. Bran is just as much Lord Eddard's son as I am his daughter, Jeyne thought to herself before she began to climb.
It was hard when she was so drunk, and twice she nearly fell, and she feared she night have created such a noise to alert them to her presence, but she was quickly safe on one of the Weirwood Tree's large branches hidden by the leaves, and continued to listen from there without them seeming to know she was there at all..
"-The Princlings are both unwed, as well. They will be able to rally more lords to their banners. Perhaps there is merit to this plan," the first voice said.
"Times have changed my lords though," the fifth man started. "Lord William Mooton tried to marry his daughter to Ser Edmure, and that same daughter is a lady in waiting to one of the Usurper's daughters. Lady Shella is a weary widow whose husband and sons have all predeceased her, the Stormlords tipped their banners to Robert when defeated, and Mace Tyrell has more reason to love the Usurper than he does the Targaryens now."
For a moment there was silence, and Jeyne wondered if the man had won them all to support his caution, but it was only fleeting.
"Lady Whent grows wary, yes my lord, but she has not forgotten. She will rally to the banner of the dragon when it is raised," the second voice said.
"We are gathered now my lords. Would you not give your life to remove the usurper from the throne?" The third voice added. "People here have not forgotten how King Aegon I saved the Riverlands from the tyranny of Harren the Black. They yearn for their rightful king, and few would stand against us. We should march at once and take the capital. Rosby, Stokeworth and Hayford will provide scarce defense and we should soon have the city in our hands with the Usurper and his sons having their heads decorating the Red Keep."
"Such a move would be folly my lord. Stark and Lannister would descend on our rear, while we would face hosts raised by the usurper in King's Landing, and Tully, Blackwood and Frey will not sit back idly either. We need a war, for certain, and we must needs pit the lion and the wolf against each other," the first man stated.
"What would you do ser?" Asked the second.
"I have an idea my lord, though I must think on it some. We shall strike soon though, I am certain," the first voice responded.
And with that, the men began to part, though Jeyne couldn't see them, just hear them walking away. But she could not tell if all six had left, and so she waited and waited in the tree, until she finally found herself drifting asleep, and the next morning when she awoke, she was in the Maester's Chambers only having a sparse remembrance of the previous night, and an angry man looking over her.
Author Notes:
Oh wow, look at me getting 5 whole chapters out in a whole month, and counting...
Obviously that last chapter was an April Fool's day joke.
Next chapter will be back at Winterfell, though I'm not quite sure when it will be out.
Oh and if anyone is able to properly put names to faces of the voices Jeyne hears, then props to you.
Thanks for reading as always, and all follows, favorites and reviews are more than welcome.
ASOIAF belongs in its entirety to GRRM. I own none of it.