CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN – Duty Comes Second
"Every time you do a good deed you shine the light a little farther into the dark.
And the thing is, when you're gone that light is going to keep shining on,
pushing the shadows back."
-Charles de Lint
The Stark women made it back to camp the next day, though things were still tense between them. The princess refused to return to Winterfell and leave her King, and her mother insisted that she do just that. The others in their guard refused to get involved in the squabbling of their charges, so it created an awkward atmosphere that only dissipated upon their reunion with the King.
They found him in the middle of the camp, talking to a beautiful woman, which had made Caryssa roll her eyes.
They were at war, he was betrothed to a Frey girl, so of course he had managed to find the only woman in camp, that was not related to him or sworn to him, that was beautiful enough to cause him to be distracted.
It was clear enough that he was distracted by this strange woman as he did not even hear them approach, until Caryssa cleared her throat.
"Robb." Catelyn greeted, her smile wide as her son turned, surprised at first before a small grin spread across his lips.
"Mother. Sister," He walked towards them and embraced warmly them in turn. Both mother and daughter were intrigued by the woman in front of them, rolling up a piece of parchment, smiling at the scene before her, so looked pointedly at her when Robb finally let Caryssa go. He gently led his sister over, gesturing for Catelyn to follow. "Mother, Ryssa, this is Lady Talisa. She has been helping with the wounded. She has been very…helpful."
Not too helpful, Caryssa had wanted to say, but bit her tongue. She knew her brother. He was a romantic at heart and a political marriage would suit him ill, but it had been necessary. She just hoped that he would think with his head and not choice other parts, before he did anything stupid.
She knew her mother did not like the obvious tension between Robb and this Lady Talisa, so decided to let her lead.
"Lady Talisa."
"Lady Stark. Princess Caryssa." Talisa bowed her head in respect to the two women, whose smiles she knew were full of politeness and tinged with suspicion.
"Lady Talisa…?" Catelyn pressed, wanting to know exactly who her son had been talking to.
"Maegyr."
"Maegyr. Forgive me, I do not know this name."
"Maegyr…that is one of the ruling families of Volantis, is it not?" Caryssa finally spoke. Maester Luwin had always encouraged her curiosity when she was a girl, and he had given her a book about all the lands in Essos for her tenth namesday when she had asked him about Braavos.
"Yes, it is," Talisa smiled genuinely, surprised that the princess had known, but King Robb had said his sister was a woman who valued knowledge. "If you will excuse me, Lady Stark, Princess, Your Grace."
With a small curtsey, the three royals watched the lady quickly walk away, one of them longer than the others. Something that did not go unnoticed.
When Robb finally looked at his mother and sister, he saw their amused expressions and it knocked him out of his daze.
He pulled his sister into another hug, nuzzling his face into her furs and breathing her in, and she knew he was finding some comfort in having her there. Being King had put so much weight on her brother's shoulders, perhaps too much, but if holding her for a moment and staring after a pretty woman helped alleviate the stress, even for a second, she did not mind.
Finally, after a long minute, the King pulled away and Caryssa cupped his cheek with one gloved hand.
"I've missed you," Robb stated, pressing a quick kiss to his sister's forehead, taking her hand in his, before turning to his mother. "I've missed you both."
The three started to walk in the opposite direction, and Catelyn, who had been uneasy about the way her son had watched the Lady Talisa, noticed how at ease her daughter had become with her brother back at her side. Could she really take that sense of safety away from her again? That sense of peace?
"Yes, you looked positively forlorn." Catelyn commented, shaking off her inner thoughts to deal with the problem at hand.
"You surprised me, that's all. I didn't think I would see you today."
"I wish you were free to follow your heart, as I wished the same for your sister-"
"I know."
Caryssa tugged on her brother's hand, jerking him to a stop, ignoring the indignant look on his face.
"You inherited father's responsibilities. I wish that I could take his burdens and all the burdens of the North from your shoulders, but these men would never follow me and not just because I am a woman," Caryssa sighed, hoping her brother knew how sorry she truly was about everything that had befallen their family, and how much she wished she could change all of it. "These responsibilities come with a price."
"You are promised to another," Catelyn added, ignoring Robb as he tried to tell them that he knew. He knew, but he was still attracted to the Lady Talisa. He was still tempted by her. "A debt that must be paid."
"I haven't forgotten." Robb replied, his voice soft.
Catelyn opened her mouth to continue, but her son was saved by Lord Bolton approaching.
"Your Grace, Your Highness, my lady," He greeted them, a small bob of his head in place of a bow and raised his arm to show them a scroll. "News from Winterfell."
Robb and Catelyn both moved to follow the man, but Caryssa stayed put.
"Aren't you coming?" Robb questioned, when he noticed his sister had not moved.
"I have duties elsewhere to attend to."
"What duties? You don't mean- No, I forbid it." Robb snapped, and his sister simply arched her brows.
"Family. Duty. Honor. Family comes first, duty second. He may be our prisoner and he may be a worthless sack of shit, but I swore oaths to care for my husband in front of the Gods, so until the day comes that you either ransom him to his father or lop off his head, I have a duty to attend to," Caryssa lowered herself into a clumsy, but mocking curtsey, sweeping her arms out wide in a dramatic flourish. "Your Grace."
With that, she turned on her heel and stormed off in the direction of the cages the prisoners of war were being kept in, only pausing to ask a couple of the serving people to fetch her a small plate of food, a cup and a bowl of water and a clean cloth.
It's not as though Caryssa wanted to spend any time with her husband, the last time she had seen him he had told her that he loved her. She still did not know what to do with that information.
Jaime loved her. She loved him, but she hated him too. She loved and hated him in equal measure and she hated him for making her so confused. It should be simple. Jaime was her enemy; his father was attacking her mother's family, his son had killed her father, so she should hate him. Then she remembered their days together before the war, before he had attacked her father outside Littlefinger's brother, and she loved him again.
So, until her feelings became less complicated, she would fall back onto her mother's lessons.
She would be a dutiful wife, and she would tend to her husband, even if he was a prisoner.
The princess approached the lion's cage and, with a nod to the keeper of the keys, the door was opened just as the servants with the food and water arrived.
"Could you wait out here with the food? I should clean him up first."
"It's more than the bugger deserves, your highness, but I'll do as you bid."
Caryssa ducked into the cage, Will and Lorry moving to either side of the entry to stand guard with Rhaenyra sat in the space between. If Jaime tried to escape, he would not get far, nor would he re-enter his temporary lodgings in one piece, but his wife almost wanted him to try.
From all reports, Jaime had been the perfect prisoner. He'd eaten all meals given to him, with only his dry, witty commentary the only complaint his guards could make about him. He had not once tried to break free of his confinement.
It was suspicious.
"Caryssa? They said you were in the Stormlands."
"I was. I tried to treat with Stannis Baratheon," Caryssa replied, moving closer to her husband, until the smell finally overwhelmed her. "Gods!"
"Does my scent offend you, wife? I hardly notice anymore…the smell, I mean. It's hard not to notice that you're sitting in your own shit and piss day in and day out," Jaime snapped, as his wife struggled not to gag at the foul stench assaulting her senses. "I suppose it could be worse. Lord Karstark comes by most days and threatens to lop my head off."
"Robb won't allow it, so you shouldn't worry," Caryssa kept at a distance, and allowed herself a look at her husband. His beard, which had grown in the months of his captivity, was filthy and matted, and his hair was much the same. His clothes…it could only have been a miracle that kept them in one piece, because they were so covered in Jaime's own mess that Caryssa was surprised that the cloth and leather held together. His wrists were rubbed sore from his bindings, and looked like they were only the brink of infection. Her golden lion was in a sorry state, and she couldn't let it go on. "I came here to clean you up, but I'm afraid a bowl of water simply won't cut it. I'll do what I can for now, but I'm likely going to have to beg my brother to allow us to go to the river and bathe you-"
"Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why bother? I'm the enemy, remember?" Jaime pressed, "You owe me no kindnesses, like cleanliness or good food. So, why bother?"
Caryssa blinked owlishly at him.
"You're my husband. It's my duty," Caryssa stated, wondering when the men in Westeros had just forgone all sense of decency that it genuinely confused them to see it in others. She slowly moved to her knees beside him, dipping the cup into the bowl of water and holding it to his lips. "Drink. The rest of the water is to wash your face."
Jaime complied, his eyes on hers, burning into her with an intensity that she was all too familiar with.
He would look at her like that, back in King's Landing, back before she knew of him and Cersei, before her father had been killed and the king had died, back when things between them were good and the world she knew made sense to her.
She would look into his green eyes, and she knew he wanted her.
Part of her, a strange, primal part that seemed able to ignore the muck and crud covering his entire body, wanted him too.
She ignored it, and continued her ministrations, circling the wet cloth against his cheeks. Weeks of grime gave way to her methodical scrubbing, until she could nearly see pink skin underneath.
His beard and hair would take more than one dousing of water to become golden again, but she tipped the bowl of water over his head anyway, smirking at his spluttering and profanity.
"Thank you wouldn't go amiss, you know," She said, towelling his hair dry, having been handed another dry cloth by Lorry. "Like you said, I owe you no kindnesses."
Jaime scowled at her, but waited until she had finished rattling his head to reply.
"Thank you."
His tone was earnest, his words sincere, and Caryssa was shocked. He meant what he said, even if she had prompted him to say it.
"You're welcome," Caryssa replied, before turning to Lorry. "You can hand me the food now."
"'Ere are, Princess. Shame it's just broth, was hopin' he'd choke on it." Lorry shot the grumpy lion a grin, before leaving to retake her post outside the cage once more.
"Don't mind her," Caryssa instructed him, lifting a spoonful of what looked to be leftover meat stew to his mouth. Only he didn't open wide, as she expected, and she sighed. "Are we going to fight about this? I doubt it's poisoned. You're too valuable to murder."
"You look different."
Caryssa's eyes widened.
He couldn't know. She'd told no one, not even her mother or brother, and they certainly wouldn't tell Jaime, even if she had trusted them with her secret.
So, how?
"Different? How so?"
"You look…tired. Aren't you sleeping?"
Inwardly, she let out a sigh of relief. Outwardly, she rolled her eyes and pressed the spoon to his lips, impatiently.
This time, he opened his mouth almost obediently, and accepted the mouthful.
"Treating with Stannis was difficult…I apparently don't have the right temperament for sea travel," Caryssa commented, making Jaime chuckle. "I managed to convince him that an alliance with my brother was beneficial, and he even agreed to keeping the North independent under Robb's rule…but, he killed Renly. Not on the battlefield, like he'd sworn to, but with some type of magic. He had a red priestess with him, of some strange religion from Essos. She claims he's the chosen king of some Lord of Light, and she created some sort of shadow that killed Renly. A shadow my mother says looked like Stannis."
"Shadow creatures, red priestesses and a dead king? That would be enough to keep someone awake at night, I suppose," Jaime acknowledged, swallowing another mouthful of broth. The lukewarm, unidentified meat-flavoured water would never rank in the best meals he'd ever eaten, but he was grateful for a change from cold slabs of mutton and lumps of stale bread. "Will your brother still ally with Stannis?"
Caryssa arched an eyebrow at him, knowing he was fishing for information.
"I don't know. We haven't discussed it. All I know is that I personally wouldn't trust Stannis Baratheon, not with the witch still at his side," Caryssa stated, spooning the last of the broth into Jaime's waiting mouth, before pushing herself to her feet, collecting everything she had brought into the cage with her. She didn't know how Jaime could use a dirty rag to flee his prison, but she wouldn't chance it. "I'll do what I can to convince Robb to have you bathed, but I will get you a change of clothes and something for you to…do your business in. I can imagine how Cersei had my father treated in the Black Cells. I imagine he went to his end, looking very much like you do now. I can't be like her. I won't let my brother be like her either."
Caryssa turned to leave, but paused when Jaime softly said her name.
"Thank you for this. For all of it." he said, bowing his head, unable to meet her eyes. It shamed him for her to see him brought so low, even if it were his own fault. It had been an impossible situation, his family against hers, his loyalty to his father warring against his loyalty to his wife. Perhaps he had chosen wrong, and his cage and his sorry state were his punishment for breaking his vows to her.
But, then again, he was always breaking one vow to fulfil another.
"You're welcome."
The princess left the prisoner, and the cage door was shut and locked once more.
A/N:
And I'm back once more.
I'd lost the disc that had the scene I needed for the beginning of this chapter out of my box set for Season 2, which bothers me to no end, because I always put the discs back in the case, no exceptions, but this one is missing. I found the scene on Youtube, but then it took me forever to write the following scene with Jaime and Caryssa, due to a mixture of my own incompetence, my crippling anxiety and depression, being sick for months, losing my granddad in May, losing my Great-Uncle in December, and both of my nans being ill. It has been a rough time, since the last time I posted, and I'm just really thankful there are still people out there who want to read this story, because I know I'm the worst updater imaginable.
Anyways, I'm still not happy with the chapter. I think I'm just really rusty, and that's why everything just seems crappy to me, but I hope some of you like it. I promise I'll try to do better in the next chapter. I'm gonna do an entire rewatch of the entire series, so hopefully that will hype me up a bit, especially with the LAST EVER SEASON coming our way in May.
So, yeah, sorry to everyone who's been waiting forever for a new chapter. I did post a Caryssa Stark Outtake, but I was told by a couple of people that they don't give a shit about reading those, they just want the main story. I'm still gonna write them though, because fuck those people! I write those to try and make the main story better, to practice my writing and to keep my interest going in the main story, so please, if you don't want to read the Outtakes, you don't have to, but don't tell me that you don't care about my other writing, because it makes me feel shitty. Feeling shitty means I'm less likely to write. Positive encouragements only please!
Anyway, thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter:
Sparky She-Demon, BrittStar1199, ZabuzasGirl, AndArmorYourselfInIt, MADStar529, monkeybaby, Moniquita2, dvali, thebestpeopleinlifearefree, NicoleR85, Brooklynhills, Amanda, Daniella, Guest (1), Vicky, Guest (2), Irene, Padfootette, Larissa B, Ctg, MisfitCarter, Jen P Conn, Guest (3), Riddicks-gurl1988, galwidanatitud, Violet97mc, Guest (4), Hapsgurl80, kai-baekyun98, Morning Songbird, wombats, ILVEAZGREENTEA, Guest (5), Fernanda, Guest (6), EirSnowLavellan, lolistarkiller, badwolffor3ver, Guest (7), Forgotten Prince, Big Fan, GiggleboxGirlie, Shadow Wolf 15846 and Stark.
I am so grateful to you guys for commenting, despite the long waits, because I'm still seeing some familiar usernames amongst you and that warms my heart so much. I did get one really crappy review from some jerk, who only read the first chapter, you know, when I was still very much in the stages of working out who Caryssa was and what she wasn't, and working out my writing style. I started this story back in 2013, and I'd like to think I've grown as a writer since then. Anyway, all this is to say, I love constructive criticism, not people being assholes, commenting on my profile avatar and my Instagram photos, which have nothing to do with the story at all.
Also, to celebrate all of you lovely reviewers, who are not jerks at all, I would like to tell you that I am going to be writing a Robb/OC, as well as this story, and I would like one of you to star in it. My main OC, Katarina Beaumont, is from Dorne, and she'll be marrying Robb prior to the events of the show as part of a marriage alliance. One of YOU lovely people can be part of her entourage. Do you want to be one of her handmaidens? Part of her guard? I'll be randomly picking a name from the comments of this chapter, and private messaging, so please comment on an actual account!
Again, big thank you to all of you. Hope you enjoyed the crappy chapter, I will do better next time.
Sophie.