Brienne's parlay with had been no more successful than Jaime's. He'd been right - the man was stubborn to a fault. And suspicion must have run straight from the Tully line because just as Arya and Sansa had been wary of her, so too was their mother's uncle.
"We can stand longer than your one-handed friend thinks we can," he'd argued with her. Automatically she had replied "He's not my friend." He was so much more, but at the risk of her own life she couldn't betray that to the Blackfish.
Ser Brynden had stopped and turned back to her, stunned at her words. "Oh no? Who gave you permission to cross the siege line and enter the castle? Who gave you that sword with the gold lion on the pommel?" Brienne knew she was in danger now and gripped the sword. If the Blackfish did not believe her motives, then at best she would be in the castle dungeons when the Lannisters attacked; at worst, Jaime would be avenging her death. The only way through this was to convince Ser Brynden of her loyalty to his family, even if it meant lying about the purity of Jaime's motives.
But you catch a glimpse of sun light
"Ser Jaime kept his word to your niece, Catelyn Stark. He sent me to find Sansa and help her as Catelyn wanted. He gave me this sword to protect her. That is what I have done and I will continue to do until the day I die."
The Blackfish was silenced by her words then, and had taken the letter from her. For a moment as he read it there was hope. But his stubbornness won out. His priorities were with his home, not anyone else's. Not everyone wants to die for someone else's home, Jaime had said to her. He would not abandon Riverrun. Brienne's duty required that she stand by him whatever decision he made, not that she had a choice. If the Blackfish still suspected her of being a spy for the Lannisters, he would have her killed before allowing her to leave the castle.
He'd left Brienne and Podrick standing in the yard. Pulling Pod aside, Brienne urged him to find the maester and convince him to send a raven North to the wall. There was a risk that the message would be intercepted by Ramsay's men, but what else could they do? "What should I write?" Brienne could only think of Jaime, knowing that the Tullys were ready to fight for their lives, concerned that this might put him over the edge of the cliff he'd been standing on. She closed her eyes. "Tell her I failed."
Shinin', shinin' down on your face
On your face
Oh your face
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 Andrew Belle's "In My Veins" (C) 2010.