Chapter 3
Nine Moon 297 AC
"The men in your life will tell you that maidens like yourselves neither the need nor the ability to learn the same way men do. Many say that education in those of our sex brews wantonness and misbehavior. For flues our natural tendencies to be creatures of vapidness and hysteria."
The professor paced slowly in front of her assembly, her sturdy blue gown and the high-necked undergarment, making her look older, her hands laced in front of her, calling even more for her straight posture that somehow looked natural.
The young woman could help but lean forward, understanding – feeling - what her professor was telling her.
"Perhaps they will tell you that your whole lives. Maybe you will luck out and marry a man who understands that women have the same capacity for thinking like men. I cannot tell you your fate. But it is my hope that you all leave this class and schoolhouse so confident in your own mind and soul that you will listen to those words with a knowing smile. For you will know better. They can parrot their words all they want, but you will know yourself to be the evidence against their words."
Walda Frey devoured her cousin's words the same way she ate sweets. And she was not called "Fat Walda" for nothing.
Walda wasn't called that in her new home. At least not in front of Cousin Alyssa and her ladies, who would not welcome any behavior like that. But she saw it in the judgment in the other girls' eyes.
Cousin Alyssa told them to listen to people's eyes, for they say much, many had been confused, but Walda had understood. She might not have understood half of what Cousin Alyssa spoke in her classes, but she understood that one bit. Walda had learned at the Twins to read people's faces. It was the best way to know which of her uncles were trusted and which ones she should stay as far away as possible.
Still, Walda was confident that she knew more than Ami. Her eldest sister had been the one who was most happy to be coming to Cousin Alyssa's Schoolhouse for Girls, but that excitement ended a moon into their lessons.
Amarei could smile and be witty and at five-and-ten had the feminine charms to catch a knight, but she barely could write her name. And she cared little to know more than that.
Perhaps being pretty and having boys make eyes at her would be enough for Ami, but Walda would not have any of that luxury. She wasn't beautiful nor articulate with her words like Cousin Alyssa was. Walda could barely write and count until she came here. Like most girls in House Frey, her education was the responsibility of her mother. It should be more than enough for any lady like her. Mariya Darry, Walda's mother, was one of the best-educated women at the Twins. Still, she came nowhere near as close to Cousin Alyssa. And she had no patience to teach her daughters much of what she had learned at her own mother's feet.
Besides, Walda found that inside her, a desire to want to know everything there was to known. In truth, she had never been so happy in her short life.
By the Seven, Walda wished she was like Cousin Alyssa. She was tall and graceful and cultured in a way Walda had never seen a woman be until she met the women that composed Cousin Alyssa's household.
While Cousin Alyssa paid the bill, and some girls brought their own money to pay for their stay, the leadership of the schoolhouse was composed of three women, the schoolmistresses: Cousin Alyssa, naturally, but also Lady Felicia of Braavos and Wynafrei Whent, the motherless wife of her full-blooded uncle Danwell. All had their classes. And while Wynafried Whent wasn't as well learned as her peers, she was raised by her family under the belief that she would join the Faith. Therefore had a stellar education in the arts of a proper lady. She ended up being married off to Danwell Frey and committed the great Frey sin of being childless.
"But aren't we supposed to serve and please our father, brothers, and husbands?" One of the young girls asked. Walda remembered thinking like that. At times, she forgot she didn't need to anymore.
Cousin Alyssa gave the brown-haired girl a slight curl of her lips. "Rosey? Right?"
The common-looking girl shone and nodded fervently. Ami huffed by her side. Cousin Alyssa knew the names of every girl in her classroom, but the new ones always seemed surprised by it. Ami rolled off her eyes in a mocking turn that spoke what she could say in a class: stupid commoner.
"Yes. Supposedly, while unmarried, you serve your father's pleasure. Once you wed, that responsibility is of your husband."
Walda smiled. She saw what Cousin Alyssa's cat-like eyes said.
She liked it more than her pretty words.
.
.
Walda was trying to read a book on healing that Cousin Alyssa had in the school library, but the words were hard to comprehend, with too many terms she had not heard before. Still, Walda would keep on trying if not for the gossip going about in the room. All the girls shared rooms. Something Walda was more than used to at the Twins. But some of the other girls seemed to have trouble with it. Or their companions, most likely.
The schoolroom had three floors. The first floor was the common area with three classrooms, the common hall where they eat, a smaller solar, and kitchens. The utmost level was where the tutors' private chambers and the library were. On the second floor were the bedchambers for the wards, with comfortable solar where they spent most of their free time gossiping while they practiced their crafts.
Cousin Alyssa refused to have her wards separated by status, so Walda shared a chamber with five girls of various backgrounds.
Marianne Vance was the eldest at nine-and-ten and still unwed. Her father did not seem to be in a hurry to find her a husband, so she would probably stay at the schoolhouse for much longer than most. Her mother had been Maegelle Frey, so Marianne was cursed with a chinless face and small, dull, brown eyes. Despite her supposed dullness, she knew how to read and do sums before coming to the school, allowing her to climb off the ladder of education quicker than most. She was one of the handfuls of members of Lady Talisa's advanced healing lessons and was one of the few girls to take the High Valyrian class. Marianne Vance's talents, however, were in brewing medicines.
"Saffron" Jeyne was the second oldest. A merchant's daughter with an exotic appearance that Walda knew men liked, she was of medium height, with attractive curves, and had the darker tones of her Myrish mother. Outside the classrooms, "Saffron" Jeyne dressed in much finer outwear, for it was her way to compensate for her lack of title, but despite her common birth, she was the most well-educated of girls since her father had put her to use as a young girl and taught her the ways of bookkeeping. When her brother died at the hands of pirates, her father almost lost everything in his grief if not for Cousin Alyssa. Jeyne was one of the first attendances of the school, with her lessons being the most advanced of the girls but for healing, which she did not like. Even with her commoners her background, Walda liked her. "Saffron" Jeyne was always willing to help her schoolmates when they had troubles.
Aster was of an age with Amerei but couldn't be more different. Her mother had been a woods witch in some Riverlander village until Cousin Alyssa invited her to work for her. Her father also worked at the mansion. It was likely why Aster got a place in the school. She was learning how to write and read still. But despite being uneducated, Aster knew how to brew and recognize plants better than any other girl at the school.
Walda, at three-and-ten, was the second youngest, followed by Denyse Mallister, perhaps the highest-ranking ward.
Denyse was a child of ten and the daughter of the very widower Jason Mallister, the Lord of Seaguard. Denyse favored her father in appearance with light brown hair and blue-grey eyes. She excelled at much of the lessons and was beginning to learn High Valyrian. Denyse could read, write, do sums, dance, and seemed to have a natural talent for music. She sang prettily, could play the lute and the harp, and was learning the clavichord. The Mallister lady was too proud of her accomplishments, and at times Walda wanted to hit her for being so foolish to the world. Then, Walda remembered that Denyse was a child, worse, one of higher ranking birth than her, and stilled her hand.
As the whispered words continued, Walda gave her reading. Amarei, Alyx, and Mariah Blanetree had come in to join the elder girls in their gossiping. Walda liked reading about anatomy, but she also loved to gossip.
"I can't believe I have to have lessons on etiquette from that Braavosi woman," Amarei was protesting.
Alyx, whose own brother was Braavosi, huffed in irritation.
"Sorry, Alyx," Amerei said dismissively. "But your mother became a proper Westerosi. That woman is old and never wed. What does she know about womanly skills."
"Lady Felicia is teaching us how to behave in a court," Walda said suddenly. The small group turned to her as if only now realizing she was also there. "Not how to be wives or mothers."
Amerei groaned. "Like we would ever be invited to court. And what does she know about it? I beat she never been to King's Landing."
Walda wasn't very bright about geography or cultural studies, but she was sure the Braavosi court was likely as glamorous and complex as King's Landing. Lady Felicia did not have a very highborn background but sounded and acted like royalty must do.
"My mother said Lady Felicia was the mistress of Alyssa's husband and that she was very well-liked in the Sealord's Court for her witty and for being a good conversationalist."
Amarei seemed to find Alyx's words delightful. "Wait," her smile broke into a wicked grin. "That Braavosi was the old man's whore." Amarei laughed. "Gods, Alyssa was no maid when she wed, but she didn't need to make friends with whores while in Braavos."
"Mistresses are different from common whore," Alyx stressed.
"Which one is Alyssa?" Amarei jested.
Marianne Vance shifted in her seat on the bed. She, like Walda, probably knew Amerei was, above all, jealous of Cousin Alyssa. Alyssa Frey had little of the less attractive Frey traits, and the only things Cousin Alyssa got from their Crakehall side were her tall figure and green eyes. She had womanly curves but wasn't too curvy or stocky like the rest of the Crakehall-Frey girls. Her cheekbones were high, and her chin sharply shaped. Her features were more Blackwood in that department, long and defined but tempered with softness.
Alyssa Frey was no golden beauty like Queen Cersei Lannister or even Lady Felicia, nor was she ethereal like Targaryen's were, but she was without a doubt more beautiful than Ami. And her sister knew it. And even if not, Cousin Alyssa had a way to move and speak that was so sophisticated that she could be wearing her school dresses and looked as poised as a princess. Walda dreamt one day to be half as good as her. She must have learned that from Lady Felicia, whose cultured tone made her twice more attractive.
Walda might be fat, and it would not change because she refused to give up her sweets. But she would be cultured and poised in her way.
One day.
"Oh, come on, everyone knows she lost her maidenhead to Willas Tyrell."
"It was a rumor. They were caught in embraces, not naked," Alyx countered.
"Her father never got a maester or a septa to prove if she was still a maid. Because she had no maidenhead to show." Amerei smirked in triumph.
"She likes horse riding." Marianne offered. "Many girls lost their maidenheads riding."
"Please," Ami scoffed, "that is what they say when their husbands ask why there is no blood on the sheets."
"There is no medical evidence that women must bleed," Walda quoted one of the books she read. "And don't you like horse riding as well?" She asked her in a sweet tone.
Walda had caught Amarei in a compromising position once with a scullion at the twins. At the time, she didn't quite understand, but Walda had soon learned there were ways of pleasuring men that did not involve the place between their legs.
Walda wondered if Cousin Alyssa had books on that was well. Then, hide her blush for thinking of such a thing. Cousin Alyssa had already been married. She did not need such books, for sure. The septa at the Twins always said that her husband would tell her what to do or not. Walda did not need to know what went in the marriage bed.
Amarei glared at her as Mariah giggled mockingly. Her sister turned to her hen of friends and followers. "If I fucked the Heir of Highgarden, I would make sure his seed took root."
Marianne gasped, "You would have a bastard! It would ruin you, Ami."
"I would have the heir of Highgarden's bastard. Or I would make him marry me. You can't tell me Alyssa did it for love."
"But she did," Alyx stressed. "They said she and Lord Willas were in love! That his grandmother found out Lord Willas wanted to marry a Frey and put a stop to it."
"Our uncles said that. And you just admitted that you think she fucked him. Love," Amarei scoffed. "She sure couldn't have bedded him for his skills. He's crippled!"
"You know love and bedding someone is different, right?" Walda asked. It had to be. Men slept around constantly, and whores couldn't love all their clients.
Amarei glared. "What would you know, Walda? Fat as you are, you will find having a proper husband hard."
No one of Amerei's friends – Walda's friends – defended her, even if most looked down ashamed. At that moment, Walda Frey vowed she would marry much higher than Amerei or not marry at all.
.
.
"Would you take strode with me, cousin Walda?"
Walda put down her book, marked the page she had been on with a ribbon, and turned to cousin Alyssa.
"Cousin Alyssa, it would be my pleasure," Walda replied almost instantly and got up.
Cousin Alyssa was not wearing the modest clothes she wore in the classroom. It made sense. On the Seven Day, there were no classes, for it was the day all pious would go to mass in their best. Septa Marya always took them to the closest sept to hear the septon's sermon and made sure they bathed and wore their best clothes.
However, Cousin Alyssa prayed to the Old Gods, despite the years at the Motherhouse. Still, her gown was far too high quality for a simple walk around the lake. It was in interesting Braavosi fashion composed of a gown made of black velvet cut at the front to show the kirtle. Most of the girls started copying cousin Alyssa's style, but no one had yet gotten the round, full shape of her skirts right. Her cousin's gown had a modest, square bodice lined with pearls and wide sleeves that showed the lined blue-grey satin, the same textile as the kirtle. Despite the neckline raising higher than most young ladies would wear, it still showed a pick of her white chemise.
The only strange thing about it was the black round headband-thing lined with pearls attached to a black veil hiding all of her hair. Walda had never seen her such a thing. It was pretty.
Walda was wearing her finery as well. A blue gown lined in brown velvet embroidered with gold thread by Walda's hand with the fashionable long sleeves but Cousin Alyssa's square-cut neckline. It made many look at her breasts, but Walda felt slightly powerful wearing it. Instead of looking like a sack with high necks, her family forced on her. Still, Walda knew she came nowhere near as close as cousin Alyssa, who wore in her girdle of gold, pearls, and onyx, more jewels than Walda found proper for a lower noblewoman.
Her mother would hit Walda for daring to wear such thing. But her mother was far away at the Twins.
"I hope I have not disturbed your reading. "
"You have not," Walda said with a smile as Cousin Alyssa moved to link their arms.
"I was surprised to see you in the house, did go not go with the others to the sept?"
Had it been anyone else, Walda would have feared punishment, but cousin Alyssa said it in a simple tone of the conversation that put her at ease.
"Piety is not a gift the gods have given me," Walda tested the waters carefully. It was not something a maid should say, but Alyssa did encourage them to be outspoken and from their own opinions.
Her cousin gave her a knowing smile. "I do understand you. The septas did try to make me more pious, but not even her gentler hands could have swayed me to the worship of the Seven. I did enjoy spending my nights in their library, however. I find theology something engaging. With the right people."
"Do you pray to the Old Gods?" Walda asked curiously.
"From a very young age. I try to visit the Raventree weirwood as many times as I can. Have you seen it?"
Walda shook her head.
"A pity, I shall take you with me next time, if you wish. I found it difficult not to believe in a higher power when in front of it. Weirwoods have a way to make you feel both protected and watched."
"Perhaps they shall hear my prayers."
Walda doubted.
"They have heard some of mine," Alyssa gave her a gentler smile and pulled her face closer. "I shall not pry your prayers and desires from your lips, cousin, even if I find myself terribly curious. It is my shame and my glory this curiosity of mine." She winked, and Walda could help but smile. "I am sure you've heard it."
Walda blushed at it and looked down.
"Worry not, cousin. I know what people say of me. Even the maidens in my household. Especially them. It is our nature to wish to know the lesser behavior of those around us."
"Do you?" Walda found herself asking. "Do you know the bad things those around you do?"
Alyssa laughed. It was soft and lovely, like the onyx-shaped rose ring she always wore on her forefinger.
"I would say they were bad things," Then cousin Alyssa's serene smile turned sly.
Walda had never seen it before but loved it.
"I do know Lady Alyx has her mother's confidence and, as such, knows a great deal of gossip surrounding our family. I know Mariah cuts her gown and padded strategic places to seem curvier and that your sister Amarei is desperately trying to discover how to brew Moon Tea," her cousin winked, then smiled brightly. "It is wonderful to have you girls develop your own fashions and be interested in herblore."
Walda had to bite her lips not to laugh.
"I also know a certain cousin of mine sneaks into Talisa's healing room to see her work."
"I am sorry," Walda looked down, ashamed.
"What for?" Alyssa sounded incredulous. "I too, once, was ashamed of what I perceived my lack of female allure. I still dressed in ways to feel better about myself. It is my vanity, and I take pride in it." Gods, her cousin sounded so confident. Walda could never imagine being that confident to say such a thing. "About Amerei. I would rather she came to me, or Talisa, and asked for the tea than for Amerei to end up with a child out of wedlock. Someone should speak to her, teach her about being careful and the dangers she faces in such dalliances."
"No. I mean about my spying on Lady Talisa's work."
"That. Oh, Walda. All of the sudden, her cousin sounded slightly sad. "Never apologize for your curious mind. It is a terrible thing men taught us. I confess I did come to you with an ulterior motive. Talisa has known for some time. She wished to know if you would be interested in assisting her."
Walda's heart stopped working. "You truly mean it?"
"It won't be all simple and just applying herbs mixtures and tinctures. Talisa also goes into houses where she has to perform surgeries and help give birth, both bloody businesses."
"I do not mind." And she didn't. Walda wanted to see all of that, perhaps too much to be natural. "I saw many babes being born at the Twins. I used to sneak up to see them kill the animals."
Walda was curious from a young about what was inside the bodies. If humans were like animals, or they were completely different. And why! She never said it out loud because even in her head, she sounded insane.
"Them, go to Talisa tomorrow morning, and she'll take you in," Alyssa said with a smile, then turned more serious. "If you feel that is not where your heart and curious soul lies, you can say no anytime you wish. Do not force yourself into liking something which you don't."
.
.
"You were right about Walda." Her friend said as soon as Talisa entered her chamber.
Alyssa was being helped out of her laces by one of her maids. Talisa was terrible with names, but she knew the girl of three-and-ten had worked at a brothel from a young age. Like most of her chambermaids.
"I can count on an assistant tomorrow then."
"One very much willing to follow you like a puppy." Alyssa moved to she could take off the black velvet faster. "Gods, I hate wearing black and that stupid veil."
But it was the color of power to the Braavosi and the heavy veil of symbol of her mourning. "How was your meeting with Tycho Nestoris?"
"Productive," she replied.
Talisa moved to the small table and sat on a chair, beginning to pour a glass of Dornish red as Alyssa reported back her meeting with the envoy of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Talisa listed to it, even if her mind was not the best for that type of business.
"The Sealord send us bolts of brocade. Green, gold, and blue. And a sapphire ring."
"Is he still courting you?" Talisa raised an eyebrow. "He is aware you're not interested, no matter how many expensive jewels he gives you?"
"He's a fool old man that thinks he can get all he wants because of his position. And he's charmed by my witty letters." Alyssa pointed out as her hooped red underskirt was being taken off, leaving her only in a white linen shift that she too began to strip.
Talisa hummed in understanding, drinking a sip of wine. Her eyes contorted the gentle curves of Alyssa's body, the lines of her muscles as she stretched her arms and was wrapped into a blue satin dressing robe, loosely tightening it around her waist, barely hiding a thing.
"You do like playing him."
"If I didn't know he was capable of fucking me despite his progressive age, I would marry him without a thought."
"That, I believe," Talisa said without judgment as she offered Alyssa a glass.
Her friend sprawled over her chair like a cat which did little to hide the swell of her breasts. "Can you imagine being fucked by an old man with a large belly?" Alyssa shivered. "I am not that ambitious."
Talisa grinned knowingly. "Missing the Braavosi court?"
Alyssa took a deep. "I love the girls, truly. But gods, it can be boring."
Talisa, who found the schoolhouse and the work as a healer the best time of her life, still understood her friend. Alyssa Frey was not made to teach girls in a country house away from political excitement.
"Are you served of a glass, Cassie?"
"No, my lady," the girl said with a pretty blush as she looked between the two women. "I thank you, but it is time for me to dine."
"Then go ahead. Take the rest of the day and tomorrow morning for yourself."
The girl nodded in appreciation and left the room. Talisa moved to the bed that could fit almost three people and wet her lips as Alyssa stripped herself of the dressing robe and lighted up the candles closer to the bed. As the room began to lighten, Talisa caught up to the expert way Alyssa swayed her hips. Talisa wanted to push her into the bed and tie Alyssa to it.
Perhaps she would. Alyssa did deserve a good punishment for all the teasing.
Talisa was stopped by further planning her sweet revenge by Alyssa joining her. Even the way she entered the bed was seductive, all teasing smiles and soft movements. So different from the blushing girl she had been three years ago.
"I don't understand your need to come to me dressed," Alyssa pouted from atop her.
As Alyssa unlaced her blue gown, Talisa slipped her hand to one of her firm breasts and rolled the stiff nipple in the way she knew would drive Alyssa mad. Talisa circled it softly, and she had to hide her smirk at Alyssa's sudden moves.
A pen up Alyssa was an Alyssa easy to seduce.
"You're the one who always talks about proper behavior." Talisa teased her friend by pitching one of her nipples as hard as possible, making her fail one of the laces.
"Fuck, Tali," she moaned as Talisa continued to pinch the sensitive skin. "Not inside my chambers."
"We could do it in other places. I do."
"You the risk you take when you visit that knight. What is his name?"
"Pate. Stupid name, but he's a fast learner. I peeked three times today."
Her friend glared at her.
Alyssa was not jealous of the boy in question. It was the pleasure Talisa had with him that made her envious. Despite sharing a bed for two years, neither expected fidelity, especially when both were more interested in men. Sometimes Talisa wondered why they lack such negative feelings. Perhaps it was how they began their sexual activities that made their willingness to share never be questioned.
And Talisa did thank Prince Oberyn very fervently for unleashing Alyssa's hidden desires.
The Gods knew he didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart.
Still, Alyssa could not be as open with her sexuality as Talisa. Not in the backward land. Westerosi purity when it came to carnal desires was something that annoyed Talisa. It was worse even than Volantis!
Alyssa's past would never allow her to show the outside world the passionate woman she was. And it was a pity. Talisa loved sex for the release and pleasure, either with men or women, but she knew what she liked. She loved Alyssa, but she could not live forever faithful to her. Thankfully her lover understood her pleasure-seeking nature. Alyssa, however, loved beauty for beauty's sake. Be it painting, poetry, music, or sexual. And like with other types of beauty, Alyssa was open to all, to feel and experiment with all the world had to offer her.
In a way, she was much like Prince Oberyn, the first and likely only man Alyssa freely opened her sexuality.
Her friend was more willing to bed women because it was easier to hide an affair with a woman than with a man.
After all, she fell in love with a man.
It was that love, or rather the way it ended, that made Alyssa increasingly look at relationships the way a banker looks at a new loan, weighing the pros and cons and how she could benefit from it.
Only a few saw the passion being the coldness. And Talisa counted herself lucky to be one of those.
Talisa let Alyssa control the pace of their kiss and distracted her with gentle biting. But when she circled the nub of nerves that made Alyssa moan out loud, Talisa grinned into their kiss. Talisa kept the circling motions as the moans grew in intensity. Knowing when her friend's pen-up desires hit their highest, she gave the killing blow.
Kissing her way to Alyssa's ear, she bit it softly before whispering, "He is not as good as Mallister. That is a man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to take it."
Alyssa growled. "You know that Jason Mallister wants to marry me. I don't need to know how good in bed he is!"
"We can share," Talisa said as Alyssa moaned her peak, and Talisa grinned at the debaucher picture she made.
Her lover sprawled, almost in defeat in the bed, finally giving Talisa control of her body and pleasure.
"He is not Prince Oberyn or Nym," She moaned the last name as Talisa's lips found her center.
"No man is like Prince Oberyn. But Jason Mallister can be as forceful as you like men being with you."
To prove her point, Talisa mercilessly shoved three fingers inside Alyssa, making her lover growl. Yes, Talisa thought in pleasure. She did miss commanding Alyssa.
.
.
Much later, Talisa washed away the evidence of her lovemaking and kissed the handprints on her lover round backside.
"Come here," Alyssa rasped.
Talisa rested her head in one of the pillows and gazed at her lover. Alyssa's eyes almost melted her away.
"I won't marry Jason Mallister," Alyssa whispered. "Not because you bedded him. Or because he would not allow us both to share his bed. He is a lord with heirs. I would be the lady of a great keep, true. Far from what one would imagine of a mere Frey girl," she mocked, but Talisa saw the hurt in her eyes.
Willas and the Tyrells. It always came back to it.
"I will marry a great lord, whose keep will belong to my children or not marry anyone." With the conviction in her tone, and the ambition lighting her eyes, Talisa believed her.