Oh, Lord, that is breathtaking.
She saw the monstrous castle from her carriage as they got closer and closer to Harrenhal.
"And they say that Harrenhal is twice or thrice as big as Winterfell. Cat, will you be fine? Think about the amount of work you might have in Winterfell. I don't think it's too late to not marry Brandon Stark." She teased her sister who only slapped her lightly on her shoulder.
"Well, at least I will have a big castle and a big family." Catelyn smirked with pride. She could get so full of herself sometimes.
"Meh, I'd rather settle for a smaller one. It's cozier that way." Lysa simply said.
"But think about the amount of hidden passageways." Edmure's eyes lit up.
"Yes, and think about the amount of time you'll get lost. You're not playing 'Assassinate' here Edmure. If not for making yourself a fool in front of the other nobles it is for your own sake so you don't get lost." Catelyn warned him.
They had been at each other's throats over the game not being allowed to be played at Harrenhal. In the end, Cat won the argument. Lysa never interfered when it came to Cat exercising her authority unto others. It wasn't her place to do so.
"Oh, come on, Ed." Lysa poked his cheek to cheer him up. "There will be tons of other things to play. We can always play Jenga or how about the role-playing game 'Fairytales & Legends'. You can always try and upgrade your character Asgard character's status. I did bring the dices." She grinned.
"Sweet!" He got excited but then seemed to become nervous "Do you think the other children will want to play?"
"Oh, I bet they will. Because I have a rather good story this time."
"Oh, and what's it about?" Catelyn curiously raised her left eyebrow.
"Well, I would tell you Cat. But you have always found these games so silly. How about this? If you play with us I will tell you."
"Not, happening." Cat was just so predictable.
"Well, then it will only be Ed and me and the other noble children." Lysa leaned back in her seat.
They then sat quietly until they finally arrived in Harrenhal.
Lady Whent greeted them and they had the usual ritual. Bread, salt and water. Lysa was not a fan of eating plain bread but she put up with it. They were shown to their rooms and also given some time to freshen up before dinner.
Lysa chose a dress that wasn't too plain but wasn't something to show-off either. In comparison to her Catelyn had certainly outdone herself. Lysa was sure that Brandon Stark wouldn't be able to take his eyes off of her. Hopefully, that twat Petyr wouldn't do anything stupid while he was here. Lysa had been against her father allowing Baelish to tag along with them but Catelyn had spoken for him.
They went to The Hall of the Hundred Hearths where the feast was being held at. Lysa again had to keep reminding herself to keep her mouth closed. She couldn't believe that it was such a huge hall. An entire army could fit inside this hall alone.
There were house banners hanging next to very long tables. The Paramount houses were at the front while the minor houses were in the back. Lysa saw House Stark's banner and tried to guess who Brandon Stark was. It would have helped if they had made a portrait of him and had it sent to Riverrun before they traveled to Harrenhal. She could guess from personality who Brandon Stark was but then again his personality wasn't uncommon among the men sitting in this great giant hall. She guessed from the two guys that were wearing a wolf sigill on their cloak had to be Eddard and Brandon Stark but the question was which one was which... It didn't take her long enough to figure out.
"Lord Eddard Stark?" she approached and curtsied to the most quiet man out of the bunch.
Seeing that he responded and confirmed his identity Catelyn took this chance to introduce herself to her fiancée.
"Lord Brandon Stark," Catelyn blushed while curtsying perfectly.
"You must be Catelyn Tully," Brandon Stark took her hand and brought it to his mouth. "You are even lovelier than a rose."
Brandon was indeed giving her sister attention but Lysa felt that he was the sort of person that grew easily bored of perfect and beautiful women. Hopefully Brandon would show Catelyn the respect she deserved as his future wife, and in the future as his wife.
"Catelyn take your time with your betrothed and future family. Edmure and I will go and sit with uncle and the rest." Catelyn nodded at Lysa's explanation.
Lysa was obviously not a pretty girl in comparison to her sister or Lyanna Stark. She refused to make herself feel like an outsider or put herself in a situation where she made herself feel inferior. And she definitely did not like the stares Lyanna and everyone else were giving her at this moment. It was better to just walk away.
"So dear sister. Any thoughts about our dear Cat's betrothed?" Edmure took some food from the table while the servants kept replacing plates and food.
Lysa glanced over at Petyr who was sitting far away from them to her satisfaction but she couldn't take any chances with Petyr or anyone else.
"Edmure, my dear brother. You know I would never reveal my real thoughts. It's too unladylike." She said it as dramatically as she could.
"Pfft, oh, well. Do you think B.R. is here?" Edmure looked at the Stark's table.
"She could be among the women sitting at their table but then again I wouldn't care."
"Why wouldn't you care? This woman might make our sister miserable."
"Oh, please, Edmure. Did you not think Cat was prepared for her husband's mistresses? Cat knows how to handle herself. The only time we interfere is when Cat is going to murder someone. Alright?" She smiled to her younger brother who nodded.
As Lysa was going to take a bite from her piece of bread the royal family suddenly arrived. Lysa stood up along with the rest of the people in the hall. She curtsied as the king, the prince and the princess passed by. Prince Rhaegar was certainly very handsome and she saw the ladies swoon as he simply passed by them. Lysa wondered if she should at least pretend to be taken by his handsomeness. Then again Cinderella had seen even handsome men and concluded that it wasn't worth it. One guy among the royal family's entourage caught her sight. His hair was golden and he looked to be about her age. His eyes were beautiful emerald green. Jaime Lannister. While thinking about the Lannisters she looked at the table with a Lion banner hanging next to it. A girl about the same age as Lysa who had beautiful golden hair and green eyes and who was very pretty stood blushing as the prince passed by her. Lysa almost thought that she would have jumped at him with those desperate eyes of hers.
The king that had been quite hidden from her view looked horrible and Lysa was glad she had her poker face on as the king hadn't seemed like he had showered in a long while or slept for that matter. She could guess that even the servants tried to stay away from him as much as possible.
Everyone waited for Aerys Targaryen to say something but the king just sat silently next to his table which was the front table. He sat in the middle while Rhaegar sat next to his left side and Rhaegar's wife sat next to Rhaegar, while their children sat next to their mother. Nobody sat on the king's right side. Anyone would have expected that his The King's Hand would do it but it was pretty obvious that Aerys did not like Tywin Lannister. Lysa suspected that it probably had something to do about Joanna Lannister as the king was known to have had a crush on her. Years of bitterness must have taken a toll on him.
Instead of the king saying anything it was the prince Rhaegar who told everyone to participate in the feast and have a good time. It seemed that Aerys had not appreciated Rhaegar's initiative.
Lysa stopped looking at the royal family and focused on her food as she enjoyed the music. Apparently Lady Whent had hired the bard Steren. He was quite famous and Lysa had heard him play at one of the feasts in Riverrun. She especially enjoyed his faster music, in which she could dance Irish Ceili to it. Cinderella had taken some Irish dancing lessons during her teenage years in order to get out of her house once in a while. She participated in many other dance lessons too like waltz and tango and also competed in dance competitions. She never won though, but she was satisfied with what she got in the end of the competition, which were nice bouquets.
When people had eaten themselves to the point of stomach ache many had begun to fill the dance floor. She watched Catelyn being escorted to the dance floor by Brandon and Lysa smiled at the couple.
"May I have a dance with you, my lady." Her uncle Brynden must have taken pity on her as most young ladies were on the dance floor. The only other person she had seen not participating in dancing was Selyse Florent. She was very recognizable because of her moustache and Lysa could imagine the bad self-esteem she had. After all Cinderella too had moustache. If she had stayed in her country her moustache wouldn't have been seen as something unusual. However, she had moved to a country where women waxed, shaved and did everything to get rid of unwanted hair. Hence why Cinderella had learned how to make sugar wax and threading and all of that was for the sake of fitting in.
Lysa shoved the past memories and simply smiled, got up and curtsied as she placed her hand in her uncle's
"You may, my shining knight in armor." She giggled as she was led to the dance floor.
She spun and walked and spun again, switched places with her partner and the person dancing beside her. Then she danced in a small circle with people who had danced closest to her. The dance kept going for a long while.
Lysa thanked her uncle for the lovely dance and went back to sit at her table. Edmure looked bored.
"Dear brother, why aren't you dancing?"
"Dear sister, why aren't you dancing?" The brat responded with a smirk and she couldn't help but pinch his cheek as he faked injury and shamelessly asked her
As everyone were taking a rest from the second dance the bard Steven began to play a familiar song. She remembered this song. She had heard the bard play it in Riverrun. It was her favourite out of his songs as it reminded her of "Kingdom dance", which Cinderella had loved a lot after she watched Tangled during her date with a guy who suddenly had to babysit his little sister. The date had barely been about them but Cinderella had enjoyed watching the movie.
"Edmure, dance with me." She dragged her brother as while the song was still in it's mild parts.
"Lysa, I have no idea how to dance to this song." Her brother complained.
"Don't worry, just never let go of my hands."
She then walked over to Catelyn and dragged her along with Brandon, Ned, Lyanna and Robert.
"Don't let go of each other's hands no matter what!" The music began to get faster and Lysa who
was leading the team of linked people began to run.
"Lysa!" Cat had no idea what her sister was doing and hoped that it wouldn't lead to their embarassment.
"Just follow my lead!"
She ran to the dance floor with the group of teenagers and created a circle by running a few times around. Then she ran under the linked arms of Ned and Lyanna which forced Brandon to spin around in a weird way that made everyone laugh. Then she heard the clapping of the bards and took the last person in their line, which was Robert. They stopped moving in a circle and she lead them into the circle and out while raising and lowering their arms. And then they danced quickly around in a circle while holding their arms up high before Lysa let go to put her hands on their back while taking Cat's and Lyanna's hands. The guys followed and took their. They followed her and they danced around in a circle while stopping to kick the air from time to time. They were basically dancing the Hora a jewish dance but faster. Then Lysa let go of their hands and took Edmure's hand once more and and walked between Cat and Brandon, just before the music began to play slower and Lysa lead them around the different tables and picking up people to join their line. Among the people who she picked up were Selyse Florent, Stannis Baratheon, Renly Baratheon, Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Oberyn Martell and Ashara Dayne. Petyr had somehow gotten into the line uninvited. The music was getting faster and Lysa once again ran to the dance floor and created a circle which was bigger this time so she could run between at least two pairs of people who were holding each other. The first time was between Ned and Lyanna making Ned having to weirdly spin around while the second time was between Oberyn Martell and Ashara Dayne and Ashara was the one who spun around. Lysa then took Petyr's hand because he was last in line. And then she repeated the in and out movements in the circle. Before letting go to grab the hands of Cat and Tyrion Lannister as they began to dance a fast Hora dance. She then let go and took Edmure's hand and led the line between Selyse and Stannis. Selyse was the one who to spin. The music wasn't over and the slower part began again and so Lysa looked for new victims while leading the trail behind her.
"How big is this line going to be?" Cat while trying to keep her breath under control.
"The goal is to get it so big that there will be a need for many circles. One inner circle and one outer circle. But since The Hall of the Hundred Hearths is so there is really only a need for one circle."
"How are you not sweating?" Edmure was practically drenched in sweat and looking like he was dying.
"Lots of practice. Now, come on. We need more people before the bards start playing faster."
A figure surprised her.
"May I join?" Prince Rhaegar walked alongside Lysa while she was walking slowly along the music.
She was surprised that one of the royal family would want to dance this simple but common dance and she smiled calmly.
"Of course, your highness. Does Princess Rhaenys also want to join?" As if hearing the question the young princess came running with Arthur Dayne behind her. Rhaegar held Balon Swann's hand while Rhaenys held his and Arthur held her other hand.
Since Rhaegar joined a number of other ladies also did too. Cersei Lannister pushed another girl from taking the hands of one of the girls closest to Arthur Dayne. She wanted to be close to Rhaegar Targaryen as much as possible. The girl simply huffed while another tried to take Cersei's hands but the girl simply refused to hold it which meant that Lysa would have to hold Cersei's as she was the last person in the line.
The circle was so big. Normally two circles would have been created but the hall was so big that it fit such a large circle. It was so big that she could go between at least six pairs this time. Everyone laughed as some failed miserably while spinning around. They laughed as they didn't know the dance steps and tried to imitate. They laughed as things were too quick and they lost themselves only to get encouraged to join the dance once again.
The music eventually stopped and Lysa applauded. At first it had only been her that had applauded but then Edmure, Cat and eventually everyone else applauded. The applause died by itself. Everyone who had participated since the start of the dance felt like dying. Robert complained in a vulgar way how the dance had made him sweat more than during sex. That earned him a glare from Lyanna who was aware of how much of a whoremonger he was.
Lysa had no time to rest as the prince approached her once more.
"Lady Tully, what is the name of the dance?"
There wasn't actually a name for the dance as she had made it up on the spot.
"It's called Kingdom dance, your highness. It is a common dance." She said with a matter of fact voice.
"Oh, it's my first time dancing this dance. It was a very lovely dance. Thank you for showing everyone how to dance it." The prince flashed a smile and she heard women and girls faint behind her.
"It was my pleasure, your highness." She curtsied and smiled. The prince bowed in return and walked away.
"My dear sister, are you fainting yet?" The little bugger teased her.
"Why? Do you wish to see me make a fool out of myself, dear brother?"
"Surely, you wouldn't think so badly of me?" He pretended to pout and be hurt.
She grabbed his cheeks with four fingers.
"You cheeky little brat. Isn't it time for bed-time now?"
"No- Yes, yes, yes!" he patted her hands in a sign of giving up.
"Good, then we'll tell our dear sister Cat that we will retire for the night."
She walked over to the Stark's table where her sister sat comfortably.
"Cat," she greeted the Starks. "Edmure and I are retiring. Will you stay or retire with us."
"I shall stay, dear sister, but thank you for asking." Cat looked intoxicated and so happy.
Lysa and Edmure bid her good night and went to their bedrooms in the "House Tully quarters" while being escorted by their guards.
"Goodnight, Lysa." Edmure opened his door and yawned as he walked in.
"Goodnight, Edmure." Lysa walked into her room.
She quietly removed her gown before praying to God and then went to sleep.