"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.
Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.
We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
-Maya Angelou
Chapter Eight - A Bite Worse Than Its Bark
A week later, when they had stopped at an inn for another respite after a long day of riding, Caryssa was helping Septa Mordane finish setting up the tent she would be sharing with Arya and Sansa, with Rhaenyra always at her heels. Her sisters had wandered off; Arya taking Nymeria to go find the butcher's son, Mycah, whom she had made friends with, and Sansa leading Lady along on a short leather leash. Caryssa had let them wander off, preferring to get everything done without the added stress of her younger sisters squabbling like babes.
As Caryssa busied herself with making hers and her sisters' beds, she thought about her journey so far. The journey along the Kingsroad had thus far proved to be uneventful. They had already stopped three or four times, the last halt being at Moat Caitlin. Their next stop after this would most likely be The Twins. Caryssa wasn't particularly looking forward to that. Her mother had told her about Lord Walder Frey, and how his lust for women and power had not diminished with his age. His wives got younger and younger as he got older and older. Caryssa could only hope that having her betrothed at her side, no matter how much Ser Jaime annoyed her, and would be enough for the old miser to leave her be.
She was pulled out of her worried thoughts by Rhaenyra growling.
"What is wrong with that wolf?" Septa Mordane questioned, as they both looked at the angry direwolf.
"I think that might be my fault."
Caryssa turned to the opening of the tent, and stared at Ser Jaime as he stood just inside the tent, his eyes on her.
"You can't be in here…Ser." Septa Mordane snapped, only adding his title on at the end as she remembered her propriety.
"I wished to talk to my betrothed…alone." He shot a sharp look towards the septa, who, though she wanted to protest that it was improper for a young unmarried woman to be alone in a tent with a man, bit her tongue and quickly left, though not without giving the Lannister lion a glance that screamed bloody repercussions should anything indecent occur.
Caryssa eyed Jaime with suspicion, but continued to make Arya's cot up, so it would be ready for her to sleep in come the night.
"What do you wish to talk about?" Caryssa dared to ask, sensing that it was most likely something that would make her more miserable than she already was.
"Well first, my sister has moved our wedding forward. We'll be man and wife a week after we arrive in King's Landing."
Caryssa froze, turning her head towards the golden knight, shock clear on her face.
"Why?" She gaped.
"It seems my father wants us to start making heirs as soon as possible." Caryssa glared at him, before turning away from him.
Her mother had told her what to expect from marriage, what to expect from the bedding and Septa Mordane had tried to help as well, as best she could. Her best source of knowledge on that subject had actually come from one of Theon's whores. Caryssa had caught the woman leaving Theon's room and curiosity got the best of her. Ros, Theon's favourite whore, answered all her questions in shocking detail, but for once, Caryssa was actually thankful for bluntness. It meant she had a very good idea as to what she was going to be in for come her wedding night. She had just expected to have more time.
"I'm a Lady of the North, not a mare used for breeding," Caryssa seethed, fury glinting in her eyes as she dropped the sheet in her hands and turned back to him. "And I will not be treated like one. Not even by the Queen's brother."
"Did I manage to light a fire in the Ice Lady? That must go on my list of achievements," Jaime teased her, and Caryssa just continued to glare at him, refusing to let his words amuse her. "We were going to have to get married anyway, might as well make it as soon as possible, and the sooner we are married, the sooner we make our fathers happy by giving them grandchildren."
"And I'm sure that giving your father grandchildren is the only reason you want to bed me as quickly as possible. I'm sure it has nothing to do with your own base desires." Caryssa replied dryly.
Before Ser Jaime could reply with something she knew would be vulgar and rude, her father burst into the tent, with Sansa at his heels, pushing past the Lannister lord and storming towards his eldest daughter.
"Have you seen Arya? Has she been here?"
Caryssa had only seen her father this panicked and flustered when Bran had fallen from the tower. She looked to Sansa, but her sister seemed just as shaken. Caryssa instantly pulled her sister into an embrace, holding her slightly trembling body to her own. Sansa seemed to be somewhat comforted by this, and the shaking stopped.
"What's wrong? What happened with Arya?" Caryssa questioned, grabbing hold of Ned's arm to stop him from leaving the tent. "What is going on?"
"Arya's wolf bit the prince. Sansa said Arya fled with Nymeria. I need to go out and look for her." Ned replied, and Caryssa's eyes widened in shock. How could things already be so messy? They had not even made it to the lion's den yet. Then her eyes darkened. The prince must've been doing something to Arya in order for Nymeria to attack him. She just hoped that her sister was not harmed, because she was not sure she would be able to control her temper and stop herself from finishing what the wolf started.
"I'll come with you." Caryssa started, but her father and Ser Jaime blocked her exit.
"No, I need you to stay here. Arya might return. I need her in safe hands. There are none safer than yours." Her father stated, and Caryssa reluctantly nodded.
Ned left quickly, but Jaime lingered, watching as his betrothed maneuvered her sister to perch on the edge of one of the cots. Caryssa dropped to her knees in front of Sansa, the younger girl gazing down at her in wide eyed curiosity.
"Sansa, you need to tell me exactly what happened. Why did Nymeria bite Prince Joffrey?" When Caryssa saw her hesitance, her Tully blue eyes glancing at Ser Jaime and away again, and Caryssa took her hands and softened her voice. "Pretend he isn't here. It's just you and I, little wolf. Tell me.
"We were walking, Joffrey and I, and he offered me some more wine. That's when we heard Arya and the butcher's boy pretending to be knights with wooden sticks. The butcher's son hit Arya, and Joffrey cut his face with his sword," Sansa recounted, her words almost blurring together with how quickly she was speaking. Sansa's eyes filled with tears. "It was terrible, Caryssa! Arya hit Joffrey with her stick, and then he…and then Nymeria bit his arm. Arya took his sword and tossed it in the lake and ran off."
"And then he what, Lady Sansa?" Jaime questioned, stepping closer to the two women, but keeping an appropriate distance. He didn't want to intimidate the girl when she was already clearly shaken and terrified.
"He-he…" Sansa trailed off, but Caryssa squeezed her hands and gave her a nod of encouragement, but the young girl shook her head. Sansa was terrified of what the repercussions would be if she spoke against her betrothed. She didn't want him to cast her aside because she wouldn't lie for him. "I don't remember."
"Sansa-"
Caryssa was cut off as a couple of Lannister soldiers opened the tent flaps, and walked in. Caryssa rose to her feet, a look of outrage spread across her face.
"Who permitted you to enter my tent without my expressed permission, without even announcing yourselves?" Caryssa questioned, her voice at a regular level, though there was so much venom in her voice that the occupants of the tent were surprised that the two soldiers had not dropped dead.
"The Queen, my lady. She requests that the Lady Sansa be brought before the King to testify against her sister and her sister's wolf for attacking Prince Joffrey. We were sent to retrieve her."
"You will retrieve nothing. I will escort my sister to the King myself, and Ser Jaime will come with us. You both should make yourself scarce, because if I see either of you near my tent again, I'll have you both flogged for your indecency." Caryssa hissed, hauling her sister to her feet, and barging past the two Lannister guards, who balked at her rage.
Jaime followed behind the two females, laughing loudly at the terrified expressions of his father's men. He would have to speak to his father about that. Lannister soldiers should fearsome and brave, not be frightened by angry women. Even if that angry woman is Caryssa Stark.
Lions do not fear the wolves, not matter how fierce their bark or bite may be.
Caryssa, half-dragging her sister behind her, tried to maintain some grace and dignity as she marched into the Inn, and was promptly led by a guard to where the King, Queen, her father and Arya were convened, surrounded by some of the southern entourage and a few men of the North, namely Jory. Seeing a few friendly faces made Caryssa feel a little bit braver, as she stepped forward, with her sister shielded behind her, to address the royals.
"Lady Caryssa, I was told you were asleep. You brought your sister with you, I take it?" The King smiled at her, and she nodded once, a frown marring her face. Not exactly the smile the King had been hoping to see. It was so much like her aunt's.
"I did, but I would like to be told why exactly she was summoned here in the first place, and why Arya was not brought to our tent. They need rest if we are to be travelling again in the morning." Caryssa replied, managing to hold back her anger as she spoke to the King, though she did not manage to stop her eyes from narrowing at the Queen, who was smirking at her.
"Your sister and the butcher's boy attacked my son, beat him with clubs and disarmed him, before they set her little beast on him," The Queen hissed, and Caryssa turned to glance at Arya, who shook her head at the Queen's words. So that wasn't what happened. She would believe her younger sister over the Lannister Queen any day of the year. Arya would never lie to her over something so serious. "Joff's arm was nearly ripped off."
"The Prince still has both his arms well intact, as far as I can see. If Nymeria had wanted his arm, she'd have it," Caryssa explained, as calmly as she possibly could while staring down the Queen, who hated her beyond all rational explanation. "Besides, I oversaw the training of all the direwolf pups. They would not attack without provocation."
"What are you saying, Lady Stark?" King Robert questioned, and Caryssa turned her eyes back to him.
"I'm saying, Your Grace, that I fear the Prince, Arya and the butcher's boy were roughhousing and it got a little out of hand. Maybe someone got too violent with their play, and Nymeria saw it as a threat to her owner. She-wolves are infamous for their protective nature, especially when it comes to their cubs. Almost as protective as a lioness." Caryssa answered, her eyes looking pointedly at the Queen, whose lip curled down in a sneer at her comment.
"She attacked me, my lady! She did!" Joffrey insisted, trying to bring Caryssa to his side. On their journey, he had often talked to the Northern lady, bragged rather, and made quite crude comments, and Caryssa knew that he, like his father, had an interest in her that went beyond her status as the Hand's daughter or Jaime Lannister's future bride.
"I would like to hear Lady Sansa's testimony now, then maybe I can get some bloody answers and be done with this blasted mess," The King grumbled, and Caryssa reluctantly stepped aside, nudging her sister forward, but keeping a hold of her shoulders, keeping her in front of her. "Now, child, tell me what happened. Tell it all and tell it true. It's a great crime to lie to a King."
Sansa glanced at our father, then at the prince, and then over her shoulder at her elder sister, and Caryssa could tell she was nervous. She didn't want to displease Joffrey, as they were to be married, nor did she want to anger father or Ryssa by not standing by the family, so the eldest Stark woman smiled at her as warm as she could manage in the stressful situation, and squeezed her shoulders gently, encouraging her to answer truthfully.
Sansa turned back to King Robert, and sighed deeply.
"I don't know. I don't remember. Everything happened so fast. I didn't see." Sansa said, trying to be diplomatic.
Arya didn't see it that way. She surged forward, almost knocking Caryssa to the ground, and tried to grab Sansa's hair. She would have managed if it had not been for Jaime grabbing her about her waist and physically holding her away from the red-headed Stark. Arya still struggled in the Lannister man's arms, until she caught the murderous look on her eldest sister's face, one that was mirrored by her father.
"She's as wild as that animal of hers. I want her punished." Cersei stated, her victorious smirk plastered back on her face.
Caryssa was beginning to feel her father's dislike for the Lannisters now. She felt as though she wanted to knock the Queen down and rip that bloody smirk off of her beautiful face, but her own sense of propriety and decorum held her rage within her, and stopped her from doing something that could very well lead her to losing her head.
Arya was placed back on her feet, calmer now, and she glared at her sister's betrothed, wanting to beat his smirk of his face, unaware that her thoughts were terrifyingly similar to her eldest sister's.
"What exactly would you have me do, whip her through the streets?" King Robert demanded, barely looking up at his wife from where he sat in his chair. Cersei glared down at him from where she stood at his side, when she realized he was not going to give her the satisfaction she wanted. "Damn it, children fight. It's over."
"Joffrey will bear these scars for the rest of his life." Cersei reminded her husband, but all it did was make the King turn to his son, a look of disappointment in his eyes.
"You let that little girl disarm you?" Robert questioned his son, and Caryssa saw the shame in the Prince's eyes for causing his father to be disappointed in him. "Ned, see to it that your daughter is disciplined. I'll do the same with my son."
"Gladly, Your Grace." Ned replied, turning with a gesture to all three of his daughters, meaning for them to follow him out. King Robert climbed out of his chair, wanting to wish the Lady Caryssa a good night, when his queen stopped them all where they stood.
"And what of the direwolf? What of the beast that savaged your son?"
"I'd forgot the damned wolf." King Robert mumbled, turning to one of the Lannister guards behind him, looking at him expectantly.
"We found no trace of the direwolf, Your Grace."
"No? So be it." The King said, turning to leave once more, eager to speak with the woman who resembled his Lyanna.
"We have another wolf."
Caryssa snapped her eyes towards the queen, and glared at her. She knew that Rhaenyra was perfectly fine in her tent, Septa Mordane would never let the wolf be taken without Caryssa's consent, so that meant they had Lady.
"As you will."
"You can't mean it." Ned uttered to his oldest friend, as he brushed past him, urging his king to see sense. Sansa had done no wrong and neither had her direwolf.
"A direwolf is no pet. Get her a dog. She'll be happier for it." Robert replied, and Caryssa could no longer remain diplomatic and calm.
"And where is the justice in that, Your Grace? Lady has done no wrong, neither has Sansa. The wolf who committed this 'crime' is long gone, what sense is there in mindless bloodshed?" Caryssa questioned, her eyes screaming bloody repercussions and her hands curled into fists. She couldn't stand by and see Lady slaughtered, especially not with Nymeria gone. Her sisters needed as many comforts from home as they could have and Lady was the best thing there was. "What sense is there in the murder of an innocent animal and the heartbreak of a young girl?"
"The wolves are wild, my lady. They belong in the wilds of the North, not in the capitol. They aren't meant to be tamed."
"And yet you would take me from my home in the North, where I belong, and try to tame me," Caryssa commented, causing many in the room to chuckle at her words. Jaime smirked at her as she tried to convince the king to change his mind. "Should I be killed too, Your Grace? Perhaps you can find Sansa a new sister in the South, one that belongs there, one she'd be happier for."
"Now, wait a minute-"
"Leashes!" Caryssa cut him off, making the king turn red with anger, but pause when he registered what she had actually said. "The remaining wolves wear leashes at all time, until we get to the capitol and then they are only allowed to be free of them in our rooms. No death, no slaughter of innocent animals. A compromise that is fair and just to all."
The King was silent a moment, considering her word, his eyes on hers at all time. Just like Lyanna, he mused silently, always bloody fighting against the smallest of injustices. Caryssa, Sansa, Arya and Ned all waited with bated breath, hoping that the She-Wolf's compromise would be accepted.
Finally, Robert nodded, and Caryssa smiled widely at him, much to his pleasure.
"They must be leashed at all times, girl, do you hear me? Don't let me catch them running wild." The King warned, and Caryssa nodded wordlessly, grateful for the lenience, even if the Queen was not.
"Robert, you cannot be-" Cersei started, but the King raised his hand and silenced her.
"That is my command. No more discussion." And with that said, the King stormed away, grumbling about wild kids and bloody wives nagging him.
Ned, grateful that Sansa would no longer lose her direwolf and Caryssa had not gotten herself into trouble, decided that he would take his three daughters back to their tent. Except Caryssa resisted, when he tried to nudge her towards the door. Instead, she walked towards the Queen and Prince, much to everyone's surprise.
"Does it pain you much, my prince?" She questioned, showing genuine concern to the boy who had tried to get her sister flogged or worse.
Joffrey was stunned at this turn of events, but shook his head, quickly putting on an air of bravado and arrogance, thinking that was the kind of act that she would like, and not knowing that it was the opposite.
"No, my lady. It did at first, but the pain is barely there now."
"I am glad, but should it bother you, my maester gifted me with some salves that would soothe your wound. I'd be more than happy to share it with you." Caryssa offered, trying to ease some of the tension that the whole Arya-Joffrey-Nymeria situation had created between the two families.
"T-that's very kind of you, my lady, but I'm sure it won't be necessary. Like I said, it doesn't hurt too badly." Joffrey replied, and Caryssa smiled politely at him, before nodding once, and, with one simple half-glare at the Queen, she turned her back on the two royals and proceeded to leave with her family, mending bridges with the person she saw as the biggest threat should he remain displeased.
Jaime followed his betrothed out of the Inn, though he stopped her before she could follow her family into the females' tent. She looked at him quizzically, but remained with him outside of the tent, curious as to what he had to say to her.
"Well played, little wife."
"I'm not your wife yet, Ser Jaime. And I'm sure I have no idea what you mean."
"Appeasing Joffrey? The heir to the throne? You're playing the game well, I must say." Jaime remarked, a smirk on his face that he was surprised to see mirrored on her face as she stared up at him.
"I may be of the North, dear Jaime, but I am a woman. We are well versed in mind games, and I will do what is necessary to protect my family when we arrive in that rat's nest you call a capitol, even if it means stooping so low as to befriending the prince."
"My, my, I may make a lioness of you yet, my lady." Caryssa rolled her eyes at her future groom, but smiled at his comment nonetheless, no matter how false it may be. She was not a lioness, she was a she-wolf, and, no matter how much exposure she got to the Lannisters, nothing would take the ice from her veins.
Instead of voicing this, Caryssa leaned up and pressed her lips to Jaime's cheek, before walking inside her tent, leaving him both pleased and confused at her action.
"Goodnight, Ser Jaime." Her voice floated back, and he smiled, not knowing that his sister watched from a window above, a scowl marring her beautiful face.
Cersei had not thought the Stark girl would warm up to her brother, she thought that the very idea repulsed her, but she had kissed him. On the cheek, but, even from a window view, Cersei had seen the affection with which the Stark kissed him.
This did not please the Queen. Not one bit.
A/N:
Hi everybody!
First of all, I'm so sorry for the very, very, very times a million late update, but unfortunately, life and a lack of inspiration got in the way of me updating, but here we are! A new chapter!
From now on, I'm going to attempt to update every two weeks on Wednesdays. That's two updates a month, which gives me time to re-write and edit the later chapters without feeling rushed, and even looking for job shouldn't hinder that. So two updates a month, guys! That's the goal!
Now, this chapter is very much Caryssa fighting against Cersei. I tried not to make it very obvious, but that's the theme in this chapter. These two women are very strong and family oriented, and I hope that came across in this chapter. They will butt heads because of Jaime, but it's more because they're both fiercely protective of their family and their family's standing in the world, and will do anything to ensure their family's safety.
Plus, I didn't kill of Lady! A couple people asked me not to, and I loved all the direwolves from the get-go. They were the first thing I really loved about the show, and I think I formed an emotional connection to the wolves before I did any of the human characters, so Lady lives! She'll be going to King's Landing with Sansa, and that will give her a little more security later in the story. Lady won't allow harm to come to her owner, and neither Sansa or Tyrion (when he arrives back) will allow anyone to kill her.
Also, more Caryssa/Jaime interaction. I'm not sure I'm happy with how the beginning went, but I liked how it ended. I'm trying to show a natural progression in their relationship. Caryssa was very adamant on not being married off, especially not to a Lannister, so she's very slowly warming to him, which is another thing Cersei is not happy about. Even with her relationship with Jaime being purely familial now, with no added incest-like benefits, she still sees him as hers. I think Jaime, in the show and in the books, was less a love interest for Cersei as he was a symbol of her power. He was more like another pawn for her to use and play with on the chess board that is the Game of Thrones, even if she did truly love him. So she's not happy that someone else is going to be able to claim Jaime as her own, and for him to really move on from her.
Anyway...enough rambling, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review, follow and favourite.
Here are all the lovely, patient people who have commented since the last chapter:
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See you in two weeks,
SophStratt.