Pod took lord Selwyn's letter adressed to Brienne to her chambers, sent by Sansa once the maester had announced that the raven from Tarth had completed its journey carrying two missives, one for the queen and the other for lord Selwyn's daughter.

Brienne thanked her squire and accepted the rolled up parchment, trying to keep her nerves at bay. Jaime watched her in silence, aware of the seriousness of the situation.

"You want me to leave you alone while you read?," he asked tactfully, mindful of her privacy. Perhaps she would need some time to herself to digest her feelings.

She denied with her head and took his hand. "No, Jaime. Don't go, please. I'll feel better if you're by my side."

He nodded with a tender smile and sat next to her. She unrolled the piece of parchment with slightly shaking hands and started to read.

My daughter,

First of all, I'm happy to have received word from you. It's been years without communication and, though I'm painfully aware we didn't say our farewells in the best terms, I've missed you terribly and regretted a few decisions that made you feel pressured and unhappy. I understand why you were eager to leave and I'm very sorry. I only hope you forgive this old and silly man in due time. Since your mother, sisters and brother passed away, I didn't pay enough attention to you. I have no excuse for that negligence and I wish I could make up for lost time. As that's impossible, my only wish now is to have the chance to see you again.

I admit that the bits of information you've revealed are shocking at the least. I had heard rumours about you and the Kingslayer and I didn't like them. I ignore what your dealings with that man have been exactly, but it's obvious he dishonoured you as you're expecting his child. That he's asked for your hand doesn't erase the damage, but I appreciate that he's willing to marry you. As he belongs to a great house, we can rule out an ambition to improve his position and status by marriage. The Lannister house is still the richest and one of the most powerful ones in Westeros. But his reasons to marry you aren't what truly worry me, though my old heart wishes he hasn't asked for your hand merely by duty, but because he loves you. What alarms me is his reputation. He's committed vile crimes as an anointed knight and he I'm not sure he's a man to be trusted. And to make matters worse, he kept an incestuous relationship with his sister for many years and sired three bastard children. The whole Westeros knows the truth.

What makes me take pause nonetheless and reevaluate my opinion of him is the fact that you have him in such a high regard. I'm aware you've experienced first hand the harshness and badness of the world in your wanderings around the realm and you're not an innocent girl anymore. I also know you're a good judge of character, as you've always been a no-nonsense type of person who doesn't tolerate hypocrites or double-faced dudes who perform evil acts. That helps me give him the benefit of the doubt. That an the fact that he honoured his word to fight the dead (when his sister didn't), knighted you when no other knight ever thought to do it (no one deserves the anoinment more than you) and fought beside you in the Long Night. You also say he saved you several times during your captivity in the Riverlands. Well, all those facts help me give him the benefit of the doubt, as I've mentioned before. But until I meet him and size him up by myself, I'll keep my reservations.

With respect to your concern for my health, I manage. My old bones are a nuisance I'm used to suffer. I'd be perfectly capable of traveling North. I won't do it because Winterfell has been brutally devastated and impoverished by the recent wars and I won't add many more mouths to feed with my presence there, not to mention queen Sansa would have to seek accommodations for a whole cohort and Winterfell is half in ruins. I would go if we could stay in our ships, but unfortunately Winterfell is very far from the coast. We both know my men wouldn't allow me to travel with just a handful of people and I wouldn't want to place that burden on the queen's shoulders.

That doesn't mean I won't regret not attending your wedding. I've always dreamed of you marrying for love. That's what I had with your mother and I want it for you as well. So it's a pity I won't be there to see you unite in marriage with the man you love and who seemingly loves you. But it comforts me that you're willing to renew your vows here in the sept of your childhood home and give me the chance to meet my grandchild. I'm very eager to be acquainted with that little one. I can't express the joy of becoming a grandfather after I had lost almost all hope.

So of course you have my blessing, my beloved daughter. If that fiancé of yours hurts you, he'll be greeted by the worst of Tarth's wrath. You can tell him that on my account.

And to finish with, your queen Sansa is something else. I'm very proud of everything you've done for her. It seems that oath you and your Lannister fiancé made to her mother has payed off in strange and surprising ways none of you would have foreseen in a million years.

Well, my daughter, I say my farewells for now. I carry you and my grandchild in my heart.

Please keep writing and I'll do the same. No more distance between us.

Your father who loves you,

Selwyn.

P. S.: We are due a long talk about your knighthood and your fight against the dead. That my daughter is the first female knight in history fills me with pride. And not only me. The whole Tarth can't stop prattling about that. And the matter of you facing hundreds of moving corpses! That's a feat very few knights have achieved since the beginnings of time, even less ones have survived to tell the tale. Tell your Ser Jaime I thank him for protecting you then and in previous occasions.

A couple of tears had fallen on the parchment and smudged some words a little. Brienne smiled to Jaime to convey her relief and happiness at her father's answer. She had refused to believe that Selwyn would reject her and her baby and had been right. She knew her father barked a lot but his heart was as big as Tarth.

Jaime hugged her and brought her head to his shoulder to caress her hair. She wore it longer now and it looked good on her, wavy and shiny. It softened her features and he loved to tangle his fingers in the locks.

"See, you have nothing to worry about, my pretty wench. Your father practically adores me." Brienne elbowed him slightly and he winced. "Ouch. One of these days you might stop cracking my ribs. One could think you're helplessly crazy for me. People crazy for others often have the urge to break their bones."

She pushed him away and shook her head, seemingly unimpressed. Her efforts to hide her laughter betrayed her mirth. "You're a lost cause, Jaime."

"As if that's ever stopped you," he retorted. "I'm the best lost cause you'll ever find. What's life without a good challenge? You'd get so bored without me."

She rolled her eyes. "I fear I'll come to miss some boredom in my life at this rate."

He waved his hand in dismissal. "Meh. Boredom is boring."

She couldn't hold her cackles any more and they kissed between bursts of laughter. "Jaime, you truly are a lost cause. And I love you."