ONE CLICK AWAY
She couldn't tell where the sea began and the sky ended or vice versa. Both shimmered in intense hues of blue - some small white fluffy clouds adorning the skies above her as she stared into the eternity the skies provided here - on Tarth's shores. The small waves gently rocked against the beach as she slowly made her way across toward the small lighthouse ahead. Her bare feet dug deep into the sand with every step she made as if she was holding on to the feeling underneath her, the feeling of being home, the feeling of being alive.
She missed Tarth.
She would probably never admit to anyone just how much she missed the little island with its azure blue waters and its rough landscape. Moments like this made her remember her sheltered childhood that included long trecks across the mountains, days spent on the beach, riding her most treasured chubby pony 'Chickpea' and the love that surrounded their little family.
A soft breeze tousled her hair and moved her white sundress which flowed around her body, concealing what Brienne thought were too broad shoulders, little to no chest and a weirdly shaped waist.
As she walked further down the beach, her breathing started to become a little more laboured. 'Walking on the wet sand sure is exhausting,' Brienne though and made her way to drier patches of sand to move ahead more easily. When her breathing didn't improve, she stopped and waited, confused as to what had her exhausted. Her fitness regimen was pretty tight and straightforward - she'd normally be able to run across the entirety of beach and not break a sweat.
"Brienne?" a male voice called. Brienne turned around.
"HOLY SHIT!"
With a jolt, Brienne Tarth woke up and it took a few seconds for her to realize that she was still in a foreign hotel room, in a different city, in a different country.
"Brienne?" Sansa looked at her, confusion and concern in her big eyes.
"I am sorry, did I wake you? Of course, I woke you, I am so sorry Sansa..." Brienne rambled on, swung her legs out of the bed and slowly walked toward the bathroom to splash her face with ice-cold water.
"What's up?" Sansa asked, concern still apparent, "that is if you wanna talk about it."
"Just a bad dream," Brienne deflected, unsure whether or not talking about her dream seemed to be a good idea. She had no clue what to make of it herself and sometimes the more was distinctly not the merrier!
"If you're sure ... I'll be here if you wanna talk about it, you know?" Sansa said softly.
"I know and I am very grateful for that, don't ever think of me differently," Brienne affirmed, getting bed into the comfortable hotel bed.
"Good, I am glad," Sansa replied and snuggled deeper into the fluffy pillow.
After a few minutes of silence, Brienne heard Sansa's breathing even out and hoped her regular breathing would help her drift into nothingness, preferably not another dream of Jamie Lannister.
At 5:30 am Brienne gave up. It was going to be one of those days.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"Good morning to you, too, dear brother," Jaime grinned, looking up from 'The Daily Westeros' newspaper he had just browsed the sports section of.
Tyrion looked at his brother expectantly.
"Looks like the King's Landing Lions are off to an unexpectedly great start this baseball season," Jaime quipped, setting down the newspaper, "I am pretty bummed I didn't bet a hefty sum on them. What a fortune I could have made ..."
"Jaime Lannister, you're incorrigible..."
"I beg to differ, little brother, I am not sure what you're trying to imply here. I am merely stating that I could have increased my fortune by making a smart decision at one of Westeros' betting agencies ... some pocket change if you will ..."
"Do you care for the newspaper, too, Mr Lannister?"
"I do," Tyrion replied and waited for their butler to serve the breakfast and to retreat from the dining room before addressing Jaime again, who had once again retreated behind his newspaper.
"Soooooo," Tyrion started anew, "what are you going to do now that you pretty much know you've been talking to Brienne Tarth on a dating platform for a couple of weeks now?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jaime quipped, peeking above his newspaper, grinning widely.
"Jaime Lannister ... if I didn't know better I'd say you have an idea and that usually requires my help because you rarely get things done on your own..." Tyrion scolded his older brother but then broke out into a happy grin. It was good, no great actually, to see his brother being happy - even though none of them knew what Brienne Tarth would think of the recent developments if she knew.
"I'll get back to the kind offer, dearest brother," Jaime said, using an underlying tone that told Tyrion not to prod any further. Jaimie would be needing his help sooner or later, this much he was sure of. Without further ado, Tyrion took a bite from his freshly baked croissant and studied the economy section of the newspaper.
Two days later, Brienne and Sansa arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Despite Sansa's complaint - who had suggested a stroll through the city centre and an afternoon coffee in one of the little shops of the history alleyways - Brienne had insisted on arriving at the airport at least three hours prior to the departure of their flight back to King's Landing. Their taxi ride to the airport had been smooth and uneventful.
"You do not know how busy security is going to be!"
"But ..."
"Also you don't know if everything is right with the reservation. I worry that the upgrade we got might have messed up the return flight..."
"But ..."
"Also I just wanna be there early, it's just safer. I don't wanna miss our flight!"
"But ..."
Brienne looked up from 'The Daily Westeros' and looked at her friend who sat right next to her in the back of the cab and raised an eyebrow.
"I get that, Brienne, I truly do but I really thought we'd have a little more time in the city," Sansa sighed. They had gone out to dinner the previous night with some of the work acquaintances Brienne had made during the trip and Sansa had indeed used the time Brienne was stuck in meetings to explore the city on her own - yet, it was different when your best friend would be around to see things with you.
"It just wasn't the same without you, Bri ..." Sansa added and Brienne sighed.
"We can always come back on a non-work-related trip, can't we?" Brienne grinned and Sansa sighed happily. She would love that, indeed.
Brienne's hunch to arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare turned out to have been the correct choice. As they arrived at the baggage check, the scan revealed that - indeed - their bookings had been modified. The agent was not able to see how the changes reflected the upcoming flight and directed them to a check-in counter on the farthest end of the departure hall. During the entire walk, Brienne shot Sansa several 'I-told-you-so'-glances that Sansa answered with 'Stop-that-smartass'-glances that had them both giggle by the time they showed her booking information to the semi-interested check-in agent at the airline's priority desk.
"Ah, Miss Stark, Miss Tarth, thank you for stopping by," the agent said and retrieved more information from her ticketing system.
"Is there anything wrong with our reservations?" Brienne asked nervously, tip-toeing from one foot to another. By her careful calculations, they were running a tad bit behind her internal airport schedule and the security lines looked exceptionally massive. This afternoon was the start of a short school vacation period and a lot of people were scheduled to use the time for a quick getaway.
"Everything appears to be fine," the agent said and handed them two newly issued boarding passes, "do you have luggage to check?"
"We do, actually," Sansa said and only when both of their bags were successfully checked and the labels attached to their paper boarding passes did both of them notice they had once again been upgraded to First Class.
"Tyrion is insane," Sansa squealed.
"We don't know whether this was him, though..." Brienne cautioned.
"Who else could it have been?" Sansa asked, not expecting an answer from her friend but then added, "... unless it was Jaime, right? We've kinda told both about this trip, didn't we? What if it was him? Come on, you must have entertained the idea, Bri! With the way he was looking at you? Surely ..."
"He was not looking at me..." Brienne scoffed, slowly making her way to passport check before their priority security check line.
"He was," Sansa grinned, "you were trying so hard to not gawk at him that you must have missed it but I, I was very aware ..."
Brienne blushed furiously at the thought but tried to downplay her emotions by simply shrugging her shoulders.
"Ah well, you'll meet this mystery person soon - maybe he's even cuter than Jaime. You'll never know .."
'Well, yes ... I do,' Brienne thought. Time to fly home. As she got settled in her plush First Class seat roughly two hours later and the hurriedly served champagne once again calmed her down and sent her mind into a deep state of relaxation, she started thinking that she would not mind if her mystery chat partner did turn out to be Jaime Lannister.
The thought was both terrifying yet exhilarating.
Golden_Phoenix: Hey Knightsblue, sorry I was MIA for the past two days. I had a lot of things happening all at once and I had to sort through them all to be able to get ahead of what was happening. I seem to recall you're still away on your work trip so I hope this was at a time where you wouldn't mind not being able to chat because you were busy anyway. Not that I didn't want to chat ... shit ... this is most definitely not what I had planned to say. Anyway, I'll stop rambling. I hope you had a great and successful trip and everything went ahead as planned. Talk to you soon?
MEET MELARA - Newsletter, your source for all things gossip
Welcome back my lovelies to a special edition of our newsletter tonight. A spokesperson for the Lannister family has released a statement and announced the next public appearances for both Tyrion and Jaime Lannister. They're both expected to attend the ribbon cutting at the 'Red Wedding'-exhibition at the Westeros' History Museum this upcoming Saturday - other guests include Danaerys Targaryen and muse Missandei Naath, Margaery Tyrell (our favourite It-Girl, might we add that we do expect a rather stunning and extravagant dress again?) and Brandon Stark, the King's Landing Lions' assistant coach (the youngest coach in Westeros' baseball history might we add, his coaching qualities already unmatched!).
Jaime Lannister is also scheduled to appear at the next home game of the King's Landing Lions - the half-time show is sponsored by Lannister Corp. Whether Jaime is bringing a date was not disclosed, the spokesperson for the Lannister family could not be reached for a comment so your guess is as good as ours!
Knightsblue: Hey Golden_Phoenix, no worries! That sounds like a busy few days! I hope you do get to relax eventually. My work trip was very pleasant, we had a great few days. It ended on yet another upgrade, we were very lucky once again. I need to make sure to thank the gentlemen that appears to be responsible for this lovely treat!
Brienne had said a quick goodbye to Sansa at King's Landing International Airport as her friend was in the mood to go out with Margaery tonight - an invitation that Brienne had gracefully declined, citing a minor headache that had crept up on her. This much was indeed true; while she had enjoyed the warm fuzzy feeling of the expensive champagne in First Class, the headache right after landing could only be attributed to a low tolerance in a pressurized cabin (surely that must be it!) and the fact that she had fallen asleep quickly and not had enough water inflight in order to counter the booze.
Margaery: You sure you're not coming? Me = sad.
Brienne: Like Yoda you talk. Not do this you must.
Margaery: Ha! Ha!
Brienne: Seriously, though, I brought this on myself. I didn't drink enough water during the flight. It's not about not wanting to come, I promise!
Margaery: I believe you.
Brienne: Just be sure to not overdo it, I need Sansa tomorrow.
Margaery: I know ...
Brienne: Sansa!
Sansa: I kinda had to tell her, she asked me what we were doing on Saturday...
Brienne: ...
Margaery: It's no biggie. I have plans with Tyrion later that night so I am happy I don't have to be anywhere around noon, unlike Sansa :D
Brienne: Oh! Be sure to tell him 'thank you' for the upgrades.
Margaery: I'm sure the's plenty of opportunities for you two to do that yourself. Tyrion has invited me to the ribbon-cutting event at the museum tomorrow night. I'm sure I can get another one of two tickets if you wanted to come?
Sansa: Ohhhh...
Margaery: You were the first I made sure was on the list, silly!
Sansa: Ooooooooooohhhhhhh! I love you!
Brienne: I'm putting the phone away now, guys, headache! Have fun. Be safe. Love you!
Margaery: Goodnight!
Sansa: Goodnight!
Golden_Phoenix: Oh hi, Knightsblue! That sounds amazing, what a treat!
Knightsblue: Hi Golden_Phoenix, yes, indeed, we were really lucky. I do have a headache, though. I fell asleep after I had champagne on the plane and it's not something I do on the regular so I feel a little off.
Golden_Phoenix: Do you wanna postpone?
Knightsblue: Oh no no, don't be silly, I'll sleep it off.
Brienne's fingers hovered over the keyboard of her laptop for a moment. When had she become this confident in being in the same space as a stranger she talked to on the internet? This wasn't her, this had never even remotely been her, yet, here she was, talking to a stranger on the internet - again - setting up rules for a 'meeting' that wasn't really a meeting per se ... more of a planned lunch in the same restaurant, knowing the other person is around yet not knowing who they are.
Knightsblue: What I mean is ... I will be ok.
Golden_Phoenix: I'm glad! I was worried you were going to cancel on me.
Knightsblue: Really?
Golden_Phoenix: Yeah, I had this weird gut feeling you might.
Knightsblue: Why?
Golden_Phoenix: I don't know - I just felt like you might not be comfortable with the entire scenario ... that you'd find it too creepy after all, you know?
Knightsblue: Come on, we went over this ... you promised you weren't a serial killer - just old! - and we said we didn't have to meet ... right?
Golden_Phoenix: Right! I'll let the comment on my age gracefully slide at this point ...
Knightsblue: See? No problem, right?
Golden_Phoenix: No problem whatsoever. I am sure I can figure out who you are...
'Bold, Jaime, bold!' he thought, eagerly awaiting her response which took a little time. He paced around his bedroom, waiting for her to finish her message, anxiously staring at the three dots that appeared next to her username, below his last message. When her reply appeared, Jaime was a little disappointed.
Knightsblue: Ya think?
Golden_Phoenix: Did you just type and erase multiple messages before you sent this? :-D
Knightsblue: You got me there. I usually don't like cocky, but I, too, am willing to let that slide ... :-P
Golden_Phoenix: Witty, I like that!
Knightsblue: :-D
Golden_Phoenix: So brunch? At 11 am? Are we still ok with 'Seven Golden Flowers' across from Tyrell's?
Knightsblue: Still a-ok!
Golden_Phoenix: So ... a 'date', huh?
Knightsblue: ...
Golden_Phoenix: It's gonna be fine, don't you worry.
Knightsblue: Easy for you to say, Mr-You-Are-Surely-Handsome ... :-D
Golden_Phoenix: Well, if you have to call me something, I'd prefer 'easy on the eye', if you don't mind ...
Knightsblue: Ha Ha! See you tomorrow?
Golden_Phoenix: :))))))