The tourney of the Hand was as bloody as Keaira had expected, with Ser Hugh being killed on the first day by the Mountain. Keaira liked to think that she was not easily scared, but the giant man terrified her. She was sure he'd be able to crush her skull with one hand. Arya did not seem to share this fear, as she noticed the young girl's look of amazement as she watched the joust. Her eyes seemed to light up as she watched Ser Hugh choke on his last breaths. On the complete opposite end of the scale, Sansa looked like she was about to faint as she watched the same scene. Keaira herself felt indifferent, it was a horrible way to die but the young man should have known what he was getting himself into. She knew that it had been noticed that Ned was not in attendance of his own tourney but not even she knew what he was up to. She felt as though she had become out of sync with the Starks since reaching the Capitol, so she was happy to be able to spend the day with Sansa and Arya. She wasn't surprised in the slightest as she watched Jaime beat all his opponents in the tourney, even managing to throw Ser Barristan from his horse. Anyone else would have been met by thunderous applause but instead it was met with a sharp insult from the King as usual. She could see that this hurt Jaime even though he would never admit it. He was far too proud, and as quick as the expression was there it was gone. As he rode away there were a few claps from the crowd, including Keaira. She and Jaime shared a quick glance as he went past them, as she gave him a small smile. She was glad that Ned wasn't there to witness and then analyse the interaction, but she noticed that Lord Baelish who for some reason suddenly seemed very interested in Sansa, had.
The next day Ned decided to come to the Tourney, stating to Keaira he had been preoccupied with a book the day before. She knew there was obviously more to the story, but he didn't seem comfortable with divulging more. The King seemed to be getting more and more irritated by the fact that Jaime Lannister still had not shown for the tourney.
"I wonder what could have the Kingslayer so preoccupied" Littlefinger exclaimed, his eyes flickering over to the Queen for a moment.
Keaira's eyes widened at this gesture and realised that he must have known about the sibling's relationship. His eye caught hers as he turned around and knew she had seen where he had looked. As he raised an eyebrow at her, she quickly turned away, a frown still on her face.
"He must be somewhere in the Castle. Look harder" She heard Cersei hiss from above them.
"Um…if you'll excuse me, I need to get something to drink" Keaira announced, as Ned nodded and let her past him.
The Queen watched the young girl leave, as she herself was about to stand up and look for her brother. She couldn't help but wonder if Keaira had the same idea.
"Forget the bloody Kingslayer! Start the tourney!" The King ordered, raising his goblet high.
"But Keaira will miss the beginning" Sansa pouted.
"Perhaps a tourney without Jaime Lannister is not of interest to her" Littlefinger said loud enough so both Ned and Cersei heard him.
Keaira was unsurprised when she found Jaime not far inside of the passageway, a bottle of wine by his side and his glass already half empty.
"Do you often drink by yourself in the dark or is this a new hobby?" Keaira asked.
"Well I'm no longer by myself, am I?" Jaime replied, handing the glass her way.
He didn't seem too sure whether she would take up his offer, but grinned as she took a swig of the wine. Within a few seconds she had downed the entire contents and sat down on the floor beside him.
"The tourney has already begun" She informed him.
"I'm sure many will be heartbroken at my absence" Jaime scoffed.
"Maybe not, but I don't think your sister will be happy" Keaira told him.
"She didn't even congratulate me after I beat Ser Barristan…then again she did have to spend most of the day with the King, so I can understand her mood" Jaime sighed.
"It was an impressive feat yesterday, I'll give you that" Keaira mumbled, as she poured herself some more wine.
"If only everyone felt the same as you" Jaime said, bitterly.
"Then the King would probably be ordering mass killings. They only show disdain towards you to please him" Keaira suggested, sipping on her drink.
"And Ned Stark?" Jaime queried, as he took the drink from her hand.
"Well I'd like to tell you why you irritate him, but you refuse to tell me what happened with the Mad King, so here we are…" Keaira retorted.
"Here we are" Jaime repeated, holding up the glass in mock toast.
"And I think that's enough drinking for you" Keaira laughed, taking the drink before he could put it to his lips.
She stood up then, dusting off her dress in case she got any dirt on it, as Jaime followed suit.
"Why are you so interested in those events?" Jaime couldn't help but ask.
"Because I have never known Ned to hate anyone for no reason" Keaira admitted.
"He has every right to hate me…but not for that" Jaime mumbled, as Keaira frowned.
"What does-" Keaira was cut off as Jaime suddenly placed his hand against her mouth and stamped on the torch.
He then proceeded to press her against the wall, a hand going to her waist. Angrily, she raised her hand and gave him a hard slap to the face, which almost made him lose his grip on her, as he wasn't expecting it.
"Sh!" He insisted, using his hand that had been on her waist to grabs hers, and press it against the wall.
She was about to use her other hand to hit him, when she heard footsteps. Her eyes widened as she saw a torch approaching them. She could see a large figure start to come into view and acted impulsively to distinguish the flames of the torch they were carrying. An angry muttering could be heard, and then fast footsteps as whoever it was rushed forwards, so they could grab the torch further down the passageway. Once they got closer to the torch on the wall, Keaira could see them better and found they were completely bald. Varys. He grabbed the torch and continued on his way, as both she and Jaime held their breath until he was completely out of view. Keaira then lit the torch by their feet, as Jaime finally took his hand away from her mouth.
"At least we know who's been using this passageway" Jaime stated.
"That's how he knows everything. Not because of his little 'birds' but because of this place. He can spy on everyone, all the time. It's…very impressive" Keaira exclaimed.
"Are you not more appalled?" Jaime suggested.
"More appalled that I never suspected him" Keaira sighed, disappointed.
Jaime let out a small laugh, which Keaira shared, both relieved that they had not been spotted. It was then that Keaira realised how close they still were, as she could feel the warmth of Jaime's hand through her thin dress. Her eyes dropped to his lips momentarily, as she wondered whether he had even noticed where his hand still lay.
"You hit hard for a girl" Jaime chuckled, the hand that had been on her waist going to touch his face.
"And you are very rude for a Knight" Keaira retorted.
"I have a reputation to uphold" Jaime smirked, as he picked up the torch on the floor.
Keaira could then see that the reason the slap must have hurt was because her fingernails had scratched him. She grimaced as she saw the tiny scratches on his face.
"How're you going to explain those cuts on your face?" Keaira inquired.
"I'll say I propositioned a beautiful young maid...I'll just have to find one first" Jaime teased, as she hit his arm, laughing lightly.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I know the tourney is a bit different in the books vs. the TV show, so I think I've ended up adding things from both. Varys' secret passageway is going to be an important thing throughout this story so watch out for that. Also, I think from this chapter that we can see Keaira is starting to think of Jaime in a more romantic way, whereas Jaime seems to see her as more of a friend at the moment. Please leave a review:)
xx az xx: Aw, thanks for this review:) I'm so happy that you like her and she makes you laugh! She's definitely a bit more fun than some characters, haha.
Laura201112: Thank you for the review! I'm really happy you're enjoying this story so far, it really helps motivate me:)
Will'0 Wisp: I think this is probably the longest review I've ever gotten and the longest reply I'll write. Thank you saying I'm a good writer. I'm always willing to take criticism on board as long as it's helpful and not rude. One of my issues with this story has been all the negative feedback I have gotten which has massively dented my motivation and I have to admit this is not one of my better written stories as sometimes I feel like what's the point? I think the Wildling issue is due to me re-writing this story about five times now, things have been missed out which were included at first. In my first go with writing this story I had Benjen thinking that Keaira most likely was a noble girl due to the things he found on her e.g. clothes and jewellery and that she had been injured and basically dumped on the wrong side of the wall. However, in my re-write I decided to just go straight into the story as it just didn't flow very well. So yeah, I guess I felt that Benjen thought she was a noble girl and not a wildling. I do think I could play on this more though, as clearly there is no evidence whatsoever. I do admit that my character's relationships are quite similar to a lot of other stories, but that's just the way that I wanted to write it I guess. I do disagree with her being a great swordsman, she only picked up a sword a few chapters ago and would have no idea how to wield one. She's also terrible at archery etc. So in that way I certainly don't think she's very Mary Sue like. Cat asks her to watch over them as she knows how dangerous Kings Landing is and she knows that Keaira cares for her children. With Jaime's characterisation I suppose I'm trying to show how he could have been different if someone had tried to get through to him. I think you can see even in the first season that he longs to be liked by people and actually have friends and Keaira is basically offering him that. She is not an object of desire to Robb either, they are friends and would be willing to have an arranged marriage but that is it really. With the Protector in the North title, I think this is once again me forgetting I've edited things out and not re-written them. I originally had a scene with King Robert not knowing what to do with Keaira, having half his advisors telling him to use her, the other half telling him to kill her. So in the end he decided to basically get rid of her. Keep her at the Wall where she would most likely be killed but not by his own hand. I don't get the thing with Jon's hair? I'm not sure why you would think I'm talking about the actor, I think it's just a part of Jon that physically stands out the most and Keaira has quite a teasing nature. I think the thing with Keaira being put into people's story arcs is that, well she's in Kings Landing, she's in amongst all the big players, she will interact with them. What would the story be about otherwise? I'm not sure what you mean about prophetic dreams unless your talking about the first chapter? That was just a nightmare. She's been told she needs to protect the North and what is the big Myth about beyond the wall? White walkers. There won't be much men fighting over her, as soon enough Jon will be meeting Ygritte and then Dany. I will take on what you mean about her becoming her own person a bit more, but I think that's also just a flaw with who she is. I feel like OC stories are probably not for you but I will take what you have said on board.