Alys

They spent the rest of the afternoon in that little room together. No one disturbed them, which Alys was grateful for. For a good while they just sat together, eventually they moved up onto the bed to lie upon it instead. Lyanna laying with her head on Alys's chest and Alys with her arms tight about her sister. Eventually they simply started talking. Alys first, speaking of anything she could imagine might cheer her sister up.

She talked of her journey south, of getting Elia and her children from the keep, though she doesn't mention much beyond their escape. She does talk about how much she hated the traveling, earning her a small chuckle from her sister that made Alys smile. She spoke of the Water Gardens, and how lovely they were. And of Oberyn and their games of Cyvasse. She told Lyanna about Jaime, a little, mostly about how he was only marginally better at chess than her, at least at the start.

"I'm afraid he's much better now," She remarks, "at least he was last I saw him. He'll probably be out of practice next I see him, so I'll have little to worry about going up against him."

"I'm sorry." Lyanna whispers against Alys, "that you got trapped there. Because of me. I'm sorry for it all." She cracks a bit, a sob catching in her throat, "for father, and Brandon."

Alys shakes her head, running a hand over her sisters hair. "I know you never meant for any of this." She tells her, "and father and Brandon would know that too." She shifts, so Lyanna would look up at her. "Lets not focus on what's happened, but on the future." She pushes the dark hair from her sisters face and smiles to her, hoping it's as reassuring as she wants it to be.

Lyanna nods, and returns a watery and fragile smile. She settles back into Alys, and looks down to her stomach, resting a hand upon it. "It's a girl."

"Really? How are you so certain?" Alys asks, following her sisters gaze.

"Because Rhaegar was," Lya's voice catches slightly upon his name but she pushes forward. "Part of it, of us, was this prophecy he had learnt of as child." She whispers it, a quiet memory it seems to Alys. "Elia couldn't have any more children, or at least it wasn't safe for her to. But he needed three. He said, the dragon has three heads." Lya runs her hand over her stomach. "Like the original Targayens in Westeros. Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya." Her voice softens on the last name, her hand stilling and a smile coming to her face. "Alys feel," she reaches for her Alys's hand bringing it to her stomach and resting it carefully.

Alys holds still, not feeling anything. But then she feels it, a small pressure against her hand, and a smile spreads over her face.

"It's a girl," Lyanna repeats, "and her name will be Visenya. To go with her half-siblings."

"And if it turns out to be a boy?" Alys joked, but Lyanna shook her head once more.

"It's a girl," Lya states firmer before her voice quiets. "It has to be."

Alys nods before looking to the window and noticing the sun's nearly set. "Come on," she says, "we should find some dinner." She helps Lyanna sit up, and then together they stand. "And I should check on my companions, make sure they've not ended up crossing swords with yours."

"I feel we would have heard it if they had," Lyanna remarks as they move towards the door. "Sound travels far in the tower."

They find their way down a flight, to a room where Oberyn sits beside the window and Howland is fiddling with the ends of his spear next to him. The only kingsguard within is Arthur Dayne who glances up the second Alys and Lyanna enter. "I was nearly about to fetch you," He says, motioning to the assortment of food on a table behind him. It's simple, not much fanfare or intricacy to it.

"Is it just you all here?" Alys asks, after Lyanna's sat at the small table, moving to sit as well. Oberyn moves from his spot at the window sill to sit beside her as Howland shifts more into the spot that was left vacant, his eyes scouring the darkening outdoors.

"Yes," Arthur states, filling a goblet for her and handing it. "We've all gotten proficient enough at preparing food."

"Why do you not have anyone here?" Alys asks, "I mean, even just a servant or two, or a maester or midwife." She glances to Lyanna who frowns and turns her own gaze to Arthur.

"No one is supposed to know we're here." He says, sitting as well finally. "Rhaegar gave us the instructions of guarding the tower and Lyanna until his return."

Lyanna's face falls and she lets out a low breath before setting her food back down. "He's not coming." She says to Arthur who shares her saddened gaze.

"Yes," Oberyn speaks, picking at his food, "we informed the Kingsguard of their lieges fates while you two were away."

"I can't…" Arthur shakes his head. "I can't believe he died. Nor that Ser Jaime did what he did."

"He did what he had to." Alys says, garnering Arthur's gaze to meet hers. "Aerys was mad, and the city was a lost cause he wasn't willing to give up. Jaime was forced to make a horrible choice, but it was the right one."

"He swore his life to the king," another voice comes in, Oswell Whent standing in the doorway. "He broke vows that he'd made before the gods and men alike."

Alys frowned and turned her gaze to him, "he swore his life to a king that burned innocents and delighted in it. You all did. Doing it before the gods does not make it just or right." She shifts further to face Oswell entirely, "and you are one to talk, you didn't kill the king but neither were you there when it happened. Instead you were here because his son asked you three to be." Oswell is frowning at her, his eyes narrowed. "You swore your vows to King Aerys first, not Rhaegar, or am I wrong?"

Oberyn snorts beside her while Lyanna rests a hand to Alys's arm "Alys, please." Turning to her sister, Lyanna's eyes are imploring, and confused it seems at Alys's arguing.

Letting out a sigh she turns back to her food. "What will you all do now?" She asks, "Rhaegar and his father are dead. But the queen is on Dragonstone, with Viserys and another child on the way if I heard right." She looks to them, she doesn't mention Rhaenys or Aegon, not knowing what Oberyn has told them or what he'd wish them to know.

And it wasn't just just Aerys they'd left defenseless when they stayed here.

"We fulfill what we were instructed to do," Oswell says still frowning her way. "Protect the tower and Lyanna until her child is born."

"And after?" Alys inquires.

"I want to go home," Lyanna says, looking between the two kingsguard, "to Winterfell. With my child."

"Robert will never let you do that," Arthur states, "especially not with Rhaegar's child in your arms."

"Ned could speak with Robert," Lyanna says. But Alys frowns, and glances to Oberyn who shares her gaze.

"Robert wishes all the Targaryens dead," she says. "I heard him, Lya, maybe something could be done. But we'll have to be careful." Alys hopes, for Lyanna's sake, that she is right and her child is a girl. A girl would be less of a threat to Robert, as the Martells believed for Rhaenys.

"He'll never know," Oswell says, "Hightower has his plans. None of them involve the usurper ever knowing of Rhaegar's newest child."

"You'd have me leave Westeros?" Lyanna inquires, turning her gaze fully to Oswell.

"For the safety of your child, Lyanna." Arthur says, leaning over the table to take her hand. "It would be best and likely what Rhaegar would want."

"What Rhaegar would want?" Lyanna asks, anger and grief laced through her tone. "Rhaegar is dead, what he'd want or not is hardly for us to say. It is my child, and I want her safe but I also don't want her to grow up in foreign lands."

"What would you tell Ned?" Alys asks, looking at the kingsguard.

"Nothing," Oswell says, "the risk of him informing Robert is too great."

"You'd have our brother never learn of where Lyanna's gone?" Alys asks. "You can't do that."

"We'll do what we must," Oswell states. "Rhaegar charged us with protecting this child. And we will."

"Have I no say?" Lyanna asks, pushing back from the table. "It is my child, and my life. My family." She gazes at the two.

"Lyanna," Arthur speaks gently, trying to calm the situation it seems. "We only wish for what is best."

"And leaving her out of that discussion is best?" Howland spoke up. "And besides her, what of the three of us? House Stark is who I am sworn to, and house Stark rose the north up against the Targaryens. Why should I lie to my lord about his sister's fate?"

Oswell looked to the crannogman, who seemed unfazed by the kingsguard's glare.

Alys was torn on the discussion. She did not wish her sister to go anywhere after this but home with her. But she also couldn't fault the worries of the kingsguard regarding Robert. She wasn't even sure what he'd do if he learnt of Lyanna and Rhaegar's child.

But she could imagine he'd be angry.

But would he kill a babe solely for the fact of who their father was? She feared she already knew the answer.

Perhaps there was some other way, they simply needed time to think of it. "Howland is right," she finally adds, earning Oswell's glare to return to her. "Leaving Lyanna out of the discussion is not fair, it is her child." She looks to Lyanna, "also, her and Rhaegar running off caused this war in the first place. Will her running once more truly solve anything? Or only cause more problems."

"The child could be claimed by another," Oberyn proposes, "one of you perhaps." He smirks at Oswell's shaking of his head.

"Hightower will decide, as is his right and duty as Lord Commander."

"For a king and a prince that is dead." Alys reiterates.

"But not a house," Oswell says, "and we will continue to serve the rightful lords of the Seven Kingdoms, not some usurper." He looks to Arthur, "and we will honor Prince Rhaegar's orders to protect his child, from danger and view."

Arthur nods after a moment, before looking to Lyanna. "We have time still, perhaps not a lot, but some, before we must decide."

"A decision I will have a say in." Lyanna states, before sighing, "I'm going to speak with Hightower."

"I'll accompany you," Arthur says, and with that the pair leave and Alys sinks further into her chair.

Alys found it hard to sleep.

Rolling over in the bed she glanced at Lyanna, who seemed to not be having similar issues. Despite her having returned from talking with Hightower upset, she'd fallen asleep rather quickly. She'd only told her a bit of it. Apparently Hightower was reluctant to discuss it in general with Lyanna.

Alys was worried for her sister. Worried, once again, what would come next.

Would she ever stop worrying on the future?

Or was that her life now? Wondering, always, if the path they decided on was the right one? Worrying over those she loved and cared for.

She was tired of it.

She missed the simplicity of life from before this all. When her biggest worries were the goings-on of Winterfell.

She rolls over once more, before getting up from the bed entirely and wandering to the window within the room. Settling on the seat beside it she leans against it to feel the cool night air outside, her eyes shutting a few moments to just breathe.

Her mind turned to Jaime in Kings Landing, and she wondered how he was doing since she'd left.

Once again she wished that she'd been able to speak with him before she'd left. The kingsguard here's disapproval of his killing of Aerys made her wish it even more, as she's sure he could have used some assurance that he'd done the right thing.

And she did believe he had. It was something that needed to be done. She would never fault him for it.

She turns her gaze back to Lyanna asleep on the bed and realizes she wishes that Jaime were there instead.

She missed it. And him.

She feels that she'd have little trouble sleeping if it were him instead of Lyanna beside her.

Which was odd. She'd never had trouble before, she'd found her sister's presence a comfort before.

But the bit of betrayal she felt now, still, from her sister's actions stirred in her.

She couldn't bring herself to be truly angry, not at the moment. But it was there, still. She wondered if it would ever leave, or if this was a part of her now. Anger towards Lyanna, a thing that once upon a time she'd never have considered possible.

She'd been upset by Lyanna before, as was bound to happen between siblings. But she'd never truly been angry at her. Or any of her siblings.

She'd certainly never yelled at them.

It wasn't how she dealt with these things. She didn't take them out on someone, she took it away. Settled it with herself, separating herself from whoever or whatever upset her until it had passed and she could be near them again.

She couldn't do that now. She couldn't give her sister silence, and she couldn't leave her. Lyanna needed her now, and perhaps would need her for some time to come.

So she looks away, to the moon high in the sky outside of the tower and pushed the anger away into it's own little corner of herself. A spot for it to stay until she could deal with it, however that may be.

She leans her head against the stonework, and looks to the stars. Letting her mind go to things of happier origins, and wander from there.

Eventually her eyes shut, and she drifts to sleep. Her last thoughts being the Godswood at Kings Landing, of games of chess, and finally of Jaime.

Alys is awoken by her sister's groaning. A soft and mewling sound that seems sourced in discomfort.

She's still leant against the stonework at the window, her legs curled up beneath her and the sun cresting over the mountainside. Bathing the area surrounding the Tower in a gentle light.

"Alys…" Lyanna calls, and Alys blinks away the last bit of grogginess as she turns to find her sister sat up with her eyes squeezed shut as she breathes carefully. Her face twisted with pain and a hand placed protectively over her stomach.

"Lya?" Alys moves quickly to her, kneeling before her and placing a gentle hand to her sisters face.

"I think it's time." Lya breathes, a frown to her lips as she lets out another breath. "I don't know though."

"Okay," Alys says, pushing some of Lyanna's hair from her face. "I'll tell the others, we'll see what we can do."

"Thank you." Lya says, and Alys gives her as reassuring a smile as she can before heading out of the room and down the steps to the floor below.

In the room below Lyanna's she finds Oberyn and Howland. She's grateful that Oberyn is already awake, the Dornishman sharpening his spear when she opens the door. He raises a brow at her upon her entry, "Lya's going into labor, I think."

"You think?" Oberyn asks, standing and setting aside his spear to walk with her. Howland turns over in his bed to peer at them.

"I haven't exactly studied birth, I only know what I was told growing up, but in truth it wasn't much." Her mother would have been the one to tell them, but she'd died when Lyanna and her were still young, neither girl having even flowered yet when she had passed. Maester Walys had told them some, so had Old Nan, but Alys had the feeling even with that little education on the ways of labor and birth neither Stark girl were truly prepared.

Howland sits up the rest of the way in his bed with a yawn, while Oberyn nods and remarks "I read a bit, during my time at the citadel. Not much, certainly not enough for a link, but a bit." He motions for Alys to lead the way up to Lyanna.

"Howland," Alys calls, "can you inform the others?" He nods and then the pair leave him to dress and fetch the kingsguard

"She should have a maester here, or a midwife." Oberyn remarks as they start up the steps. "It is rather reckless of them to have not sent for one."

"They seem determined to keep her hidden," Alys says with a small sigh. "But you're right. Childbirth can be risky even in the best of situations." She recalls Jaime, speaking of his mother. As the Lady of Casterly Rock she'd likely been surrounded by midwifes, with a Maester as well at her side.

And yet she had died.

"Oberyn," she reaches for him, grabbing his arm and stopping them at the top before they enter Lyanna's room. "The kingsguard are determined to stay here and guard Lyanna. They might not be willing to leave to fetch one." She meets his gaze worriedly, "if they aren't, would you? Starfall isn't far if I recall the maps, and I've heard labor can take a while, especially a woman's first child."

Oberyn looks down at her, his dark eyes looking over her before he nods. "If none of the kingsguard will, then I'll go for you." Alys lets out a relieved breath and then releases his arm, the two of them continuing on into Lyanna's room to her stood by the window, a hand on her stomach and her face furrowed in pain before she lets out a low breath and looks their way.

Oberyn does end up riding for Starfall. With a letter from Ser Arthur as well, asking for a midwife and a wet-nurse (which Lyanna asks for herself). Oberyn promises to ride fast, and Alys hopes it will be enough.

She's terrified, she realizes quickly, for her sister. Of what might happen if they're left to do this without help.

But she bottles that fear away, far inside her so Lyanna won't see it as Alys stays with her and does what Oberyn instructed her to before he'd left. Howland leaves with Arthur to fetch water, and Alys spends the next several hours at her sisters side. Walking with her about the small room, and holding her hand as the pain of contractions makes her cry. Using a gentle cloth to wipe away the sweat that slowly gathers on Lyanna's brow, and when they return with water she uses it to cool the fabric to press against Lyanna's skin.

And through it all she makes sure she's steady in it. Not showing any fear, or worries, or anything but support and assurances.

Because Lyanna is fearful enough.

That becomes clear quickly to Alys, as they pass midday and enter evening and her sister cries through more contractions. She weepily tells Alys of her fears, that she'll pass and her child will be left alone.

"That will not happen," Alys assures, as she has throughout the day. Pushing a lock of hair from her sister's forehead. "You will be okay, you'll be there to raise your daughter and it will be all okay."

She prayed, silently to herself, that she was not lying to Lyanna.

"I've dreamt it," Lyanna says, after the sun starts to set. "It's all I've been dreaming for the last few weeks. My blood covering the bed. And the flowers. The same ones from the crown Rhaegar gave me." She winces, stopping in her speaking as another contraction passes through her. When it falls away she slumps back into the bed. "They're bloody as well."

Alys shakes her head, and runs a hand gently through Lyanna's hair. "Those are just dreams." She says. "Just dreams," she assures softly.

The moon is high in the sky when Lyanna's contractions are too close together and Alys realizes that Oberyn will not be returning in time.

Arthur joins her, apparently having been the kingsguard to read on childbirth alongside Lyanna the last few months. The pair of them ready themselves, and Lyanna screams with the pressure and the pain. Alys coos words of encouragement and the stands readily by her sister's feet, prepared to help guide the baby as she spots through the blood that was already soaking into the bed the crown of their head.

"Good, Lya, you're doing so good." Alys says, her own breath heavy though she works to steady it as she reaches. "Just a push away, a big push."

Arthur wipes at Lyanna's forehead, one of his hands holding hers as she screamed through the next contraction. Alys stares wide eyed and reaches as the pop of pressure comes and soon mingled with her sisters cries are that of a newborn.

Alys brings some clean cloth to the baby's skin, wiping the blood from it and a smile creeping to her face as she looks them over. She reaches for the knife Arthur had set on the table nearby and after tying the the cord she brings the knife to it and severs it.

"Alys?" Lyanna cries softly, "is she okay?"

Alys looks to her sister and smiles before nodding, gently she moves with the baby towards her sister. Arthur stepping away as Alys comes. She looks once more to the babe in her arms and then to her sister.

"It's a boy, Lya." She says, settling the still softly crying babe in her sister's arms, "and he's perfect."

Thank you for reading!

This chapter was nerve-wracking to write and I'm still not sure if I did a great job, but I'm tentatively happy with it. But hey, Jon's here! so yay!

I want to, as always, say thank you for the kudos and the comments. I loved seeing all the reception to Lyanna in the last chapter and it was also interesting seeing how you all interpreted Alys's interaction with her. Seriously, like seeing comments on this character that I've made and this story I'm telling is always fantastic and lifts my spirits so much. So again, though I'm sure I sound like a broken record every chapter, thank you so much for it!