I want to give credit to Raiseth (on SV) and Flashkannon (on SV) for beta-reading this chapter for me. Thank you very much, both of you!

The Good Duke

Early the next morning, after an anxious night, Katarina awoke and was relieved to find that Sienna was still alive.

Shifting anxiously beneath the sheets, Sienna sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Katarina… what are you doing in my bed?" she asked, flushing with embarrassment.

"I came to make sure that you were all right," said the duke's daughter. "I am so glad that you are." She impulsively leaned across and kissed her best friend on the cheek. "I can only hope that the curse has been broken and that you will be safe from now on."

Sienna's face turned an even more brilliant shade of red. "Thank you," she said in a small voice.

The door opened. Anne came in, curtseyed, and said, "My lady, I think that it is time that you returned to your own rooms so that you can wash and get dressed."

"Of course," said Katarina, getting out of bed. "Will you stay here and look after Sienna, just in case?"

"Are you sure that you won't need my help in getting dressed or styling your hair?" asked Anne, raising a doubtful eyebrow.

"Oh…" Considering for a moment, Katarina came to a decision: "I think it is more important that you keep an eye on Sienna, at least until we are sure that she is out of danger. For now, I will do my best to complete my morning preparations without your help."

"Alternatively, I could grab my clothes and come with you," Sienna suggested. "We could both get dressed in your room."

There was general agreement that this was the best possible solution. Anne helped Sienna to select the clothes she wanted to wear that day and then carry them across the hallway to Katarina's room.

"Perhaps you should suggest to your father that Sienna should become your lady-in-waiting. Then, she could stay with you all the time, you could share a room, and we wouldn't have this rigmarole in the mornings," Anne mused.

"I'd like that," said Katarina with a nod.

"As would I," Sienna echoed her.

Nevertheless, Katarina hoped that she wouldn't have to be ceaselessly vigilant and keep having to save her best friend's life. She hoped that Sienna would live happily for many years to come, that Maggy the Frog's prophecies had been proven false, and that she could forget the doom that was hanging over her own head.

So far this morning, it seemed as if her hopes might be coming true: by the time the two girls were fully dressed and ready for the day, Sienna had not had even a single potentially fatal accident, which seemed like an improvement on the previous day.

"Be careful on the stairs," said Katarina, as they went down for breakfast. She wondered if she was fretting too much: she suspected that, by now, if Sienna had been anyone else, she would have been irritated by her constant fussing. Instead, her best friend seemed to take her seriously even when she was probably being foolish, which she found gratifying.

"I will," said Sienna with a nod.

They made it to the dining room without incident. Anne had stayed behind to tidy their bedrooms, so Katarina felt under pressure: if anything went wrong during the meal, she would have to save Sienna's life without the help of her faithful maid.

"Good morning, you two," said her father, who was eating a boiled egg with long thin strips of buttered toast. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine, thank you, father," said Katarina, bobbing her head.

Next to her, Sienna curtseyed and indistinctly muttered a few words to the same effect. She had always seemed quite intimidated by Duke Luigi Claes.

"I'm pleased to hear it," said the Duke. "Have you had any further problems after yesterday?"

"None this morning," Katarina told him. She gave her best friend a thoughtful glance and amended that to, "At least, not yet."

"Let us hope that the curse has been lifted," said the Duke. He put on a slight frown and seemed about to say something else, but hesitated.

"What's the matter, father?" asked Katarina.

"It's nothing," he replied. "Enjoy your breakfast."

Katarina thought about what he might have wanted to say. She knew that last night he had sent some of his men to fetch Maggy the Frog so that he could talk to her about how the destinies she had predicted could be overcome. Judging by the troubled look on his face, she guessed that they had been unsuccessful in their mission.

She watched as Sienna cut up an apple and began to eat it. After a few moments of being stared at, her friend swallowed and then asked, "Don't you want anything?"

"I want to make sure that you'll be all right," said Katarina, although her stomach grumbled in protest. "After that, I'll have some toast or something, certainly."

Sienna gave her a doubtful look but didn't say anything. She went back to eating her apple.

Just then, there was a loud noise from the kitchen. It sounded as if someone had dropped a plate – or possibly several plates – with a shattering crash. There were surprised shouts and muffled expletives. Katarina was about to say something snide about that, but then she noticed that Sienna was struggling to breathe: in her startlement, she had gasped in shock and accidentally inhaled a half-chewed lump of apple.

Hearing her best friend fighting for breath, choking, and sputtering, Katarina let out a terrified shriek. "Help! She's dying!"

She got up out of her seat, flapping her hands wildly, desperately looking around for something she could do.

But then her father was there, dashing around the table with a speed she hadn't been aware that he was capable of. He made Sienna stand up, away from the table, and then leaned her forward and dealt a sharp blow to the middle of her back with the palm of his hand. This dislodged a rounded chunk of apple from her airway, causing it to fly out of her open mouth and onto the floor, along with a small puddle of spittle.

While her best friend gratefully got her breath back, Katarina tearfully flung her arms around her father and exclaimed, "Thank you so much! I love you!"

"I should hope so," said the Duke, in a tone of strained amusement.

"I suppose this means that the curse has yet to be broken," said Katarina. "Maggy the Frog told her that 'death is coming for you tonight' – I thought she meant yesterday night – which I assumed meant that she would be safe if she survived until today." She paused, sighing heavily. "But she isn't. Death is still coming for her, isn't it? We haven't prevented the prophecy from coming true, only delayed it for a little while."

"Until her parents come back for her, Sienna is my guest," said the Duke. "I would be dishonoured if anything regrettable were to happen to her while she is under my roof."

Katarina knew that Sienna's father was a minor baron who ruled over a small fief adjoining the much more extensive lands ruled by the Claes family. For some reason she had never bothered to ascertain, Lord Nelson and his wife had gone away to the great city of King's Landing for a few months, leaving their daughter to pursue what they considered to be a valuable friendship with the daughter of their powerful and wealthy neighbour.

"I want her to stay with us," she said. "Her parents don't know what she needs."

Wearily, her father closed his eyes for a moment. "I suppose I will have to tell them about the prophecy. That will be an awkward conversation."

"Then don't tell them!" Katarina urged him. "Tell them that I want her to be my lady-in-waiting!"

"I am sure Lord Nelson will be delighted with that," said the Duke, giving a faint huff of laughter. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

Katarina nodded. "I do, father."

"Yes," said Sienna, taking her hand and moving to stand beside her.

The Duke gazed at them both for a moment, quirking an eyebrow at them. "Very well. I hope you'll be very happy together."

"We will, father," said Katarina. We're best friends!"

Next to her, Sienna blushed crimson and hid her face behind her free hand, although Katarina couldn't think why.

"After you've finished eating, I will need to speak to the two of you in private," said the Duke. "When you're ready, come upstairs to my study."

"We're ready!" Katarina declared. She turned to her would-be lady-in-waiting. "Unless you'd like to eat anything else…?"

"No. Not after I nearly choked to death," said Sienna. "But what about you? You haven't had anything to eat yet."

"After what happened to you, I can't stand the thought of eating," said Katarina, untruthfully. As if in answer, her stomach gurgled reproachfully.

"Give me a few minutes to finish my breakfast, at least," said her father, making his way back to his egg and toast. Before he could sit down again, he was approached by the cook and two of the kitchen maids who had come to apologize and apportion blame for the noise that had almost caused Sienna to have a fatal accident. After he'd listened to both sides of the story, he held up his hands and said, "I understand that there were extenuating circumstances. That is why I am not insisting that either of you should be punished, this time. However, if it happens again…"

"I'll make sure that it doesn't!" the cook hastened to reassure him. "They're good girls, normally!"

The Duke looked sternly at her and said, "The kitchens are your domain. No one should question your authority there. If you think that either of these young women should be dismissed from service, you don't need my approval for that."

"Of course not! But it won't happen again!" the cook squawked at him, before bowing her head and dragging the two chastened kitchen maids back out of the room with her.

When they were gone, the Duke sighed and went back to his half-eaten meal.

In the meantime, Sienna had managed to coax Katarina into sitting back down and eating some bread rolls spread with jam and butter. She ate enthusiastically, but didn't completely forget her table manners while she was doing so: despite the fact that she was making an effort to be polite, the Duke suspected that his wife would not have approved; personally, he could not find fault with his daughter for enjoying her food.

"You must be thirsty," said Katarina, pouring a glass of cool water for Sienna. "Drink this. Take small sips, remember."

Her friend nodded and gave her another bread roll. "You need to keep your strength up, Katarina," she chirped.

Looking up from his food, the Duke smiled to see them taking such good care of one another. He hoped that they would continue to be staunch friends even after Sienna grew up and out of her childish infatuation with his daughter.

When he had finished eating, he went upstairs to his study. A little while later, he was joined by his daughter and her would-be lady-in-waiting.

He made sure to close the door and let them sit down before telling them, "Last night, I sent some of my men to fetch the woman known as 'Maggy the Frog'. When they reached her house, they found it deserted. Inside, they found the body of an old woman who had been dead for months."

Katarina's brow furrowed in perplexity. "Whose body was it?"

"As far as they were able to tell – or anyone was able to tell them – it was the body of Maggy the Frog herself," said the Duke.

"But it can't have been! We met her just yesterday! She gave us those horrible prophecies!" Katarina protested.

"Perhaps she faked her death," Sienna suggested. "She must have known that you would send your men to arrest her, so… I suppose she found a dead body somewhere, put it in her house, made people think it was hers, and then ran away."

"It seems unlikely," said the Duke, "but I don't have a better explanation."

"We have to find her!" Katarina cried. "Wherever she's gone, it shouldn't be too hard: her appearance is very distinctive!"

"Can you be sure that the old woman you met yesterday wasn't wearing any kind of disguise?" the Duke asked her.

His daughter stifled the urge to scoff at what she obviously thought was a silly question. Instead, speaking slowly and carefully, she said, "I don't see how she could have been. When we entered her house, she was asleep in her armchair. She didn't know we were coming…" Her eyes widened and her voice trailed away: it seemed that she had come to a sudden realization.

"By all accounts, she had the power to see into the future," said the Duke. "Perhaps she saw you coming."

Katarina looked stricken. "But… she needed our blood to do that!"

"Are you certain of that?" her father asked. "Besides, she wouldn't have had to look into your future: if she could look into her own future, she would have seen that she would meet you that afternoon."

There was silence while the two girls considered this.

"What can we do now?" asked Katarina, at last.

"If Maggy the Frog is still alive, I am sure that she will have fled as far away as possible, for fear of retribution. I don't know if it will be possible to find her," said the Duke. "However, I have asked your friend, Tom of Sevenstreams, to act as my agent in this matter. There are plenty of bards in Sorcier: they all share gossip and stories with each other. I have instructed Tom to let me know if he hears of anyone who is rumoured to have prophetic powers. Undoubtedly, most of the fortune tellers he comes across will be charlatans, but if any of them are genuinely able to see into the future – or if they're Maggy the Frog up to her old tricks again – we may be able to get some useful information from them."

"That could take months or years," Katarina pointed out. "What should we do until then?"

He gave a helpless shrug. "Keep doing as you have been. Look after each other. Save Sienna as often as she needs saving."

"I have been thinking of ways that we could render the prophecies invalid," said Katarina. "Out of the three of us, Anne will be the easiest to save: she can just refuse to get married. Her father will put pressure on her to obey him but, if she is under your protection, I doubt that he will be able to do anything more than threaten and bluster."

"Or he could kidnap her and then bribe a septon to perform the wedding ceremony against her will," the Duke suggested.

"So… we will need to protect her when the time comes." Katarina looked downcast: she had thought that she'd found a solution, only to be shown that it was less perfect than she'd imagined. "Also, Maggy predicted that Jeord would kill me. But what if I were no longer betrothed to him? Would I be safe from him then?"

"That would ruin your reputation," said her father.

"I would like to survive long enough for my reputation to matter!"

"I'm not sure that breaking your betrothal would do anything to invalidate the prophecy. As I recall, Maggy didn't mention it, only that Prince Jeord would fall in love with another woman, that you would attack her, and that he would kill you in retaliation." He gave her a pondering look. "Unless there was more to the prophecy than you told me yesterday…?"

"No, I think that I told you everything, father," said Katarina, after a moment's thought.

"Well then, the events described in Maggy's prophecy could still happen even if you were no longer betrothed to Prince Jeord. If your reputation was ruined and you had become an object of derision, you would have even more reason to be angry with him and his new sweetheart. Then, if you ran at her with a knife, people would think that you had gone mad, but most of them wouldn't be particularly surprised."

"But I wouldn't do that! I know better than to do that, especially now!"

"Who is to say that you would have a choice? You weren't given a choice about any of these near-death incidents you've been through, were you, Sienna?" asked the Duke, glancing at his daughter's best friend.

She shook her head. "No, I wasn't."

"Perhaps you will be compelled to do as the prophecy says, even though you know the dire consequences. Prince Jeord may not want to kill you, but perhaps he will be forced to draw his sword and end your life. Against an incontrovertible destiny, perhaps none of us…" His breath caught in his throat; he grimaced and shook his head. "Don't count on being able to choose."

By this point, Katarina was silently weeping. "Why tell me that?" she asked. "If I can't do anything to prevent the prophecies from coming true, what's the point of any of this?"

Sienna put an arm around her, trying to comfort her.

"I don't know that you can't prevent the prophecies from coming true," her father said gently. "I don't know what is and isn't possible. As far as I know, you will be able to overturn the destinies that Maggy the Frog predicted for you and your friends. I suspect that it won't be easy, but that's no reason not to try. Now, dry your eyes, my dearest." He took a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her.

Taking it, Katarina wiped her face and smiled wanly at him. "I had an idea about how we could invalidate what Maggy said about how Sienna would die. She said that worms would have her maidenhead, so I thought–"

Distressed by what he thought she was implying, the Duke hastily interrupted her, "I would advise you to think very carefully about what you are going to say next."

"I… I have been told that I should be careful when riding a horse – and that I should ride side-saddle – to protect my maidenhead," said Katarina, giving him a look of blank incomprehension. "Sienna doesn't know how to ride a horse, but I thought we could teach her – teach her to ride astride – and then if she damaged her maidenhead that way, there'd be no way that the worms could have it, so she'd be safe."

The Duke was somewhat surprised that Sienna didn't know how to ride; but it occurred to him that, for as long as he'd known her, she'd never been very athletically inclined. She would much rather watch Katarina showing off her physical prowess than take part herself.

"I think teaching her to ride would be too risky. Horses can be dangerous even to people who aren't cursed with lethally bad luck," he said. "She could all too easily be kicked, or trampled, or thrown to her death. I appreciate your thinking, but it isn't a good idea."

"Oh."

"Any other ideas?" asked the Duke.

After a moment's consideration, his daughter said, "This morning, when I saw Sienna choking, it reminded me of a story I heard about a poison that killed people in a similar way. I am worried about what would happen if she was poisoned. I don't know how or if we could possibly save her. So, I thought we could ask Maester Pycelle what precautions we should take. He has several lead and silver links in his chain, which means that he must be an expert on both medicines and poisons."

For hundreds of years, since long before the Targaryens had conquered Sorcier, the Order of Maesters had been the premier institute of knowledge and learning in the kingdom, with many of their members serving as advisors and teachers to the nobility. Before the Civil War, Aerys the Mad King had wanted to make them subordinate to his own newly created 'Ministry of Magic', but nothing had come of that. Since then, their organization had only grown in power and prestige: they had been credited with the advances in metallurgy, chemistry, and gunnery that had brought a definitive end to the age of castles and armoured knights, which even Targaryen magic had been unable to do.

Pycelle had once been regarded as one of their finest minds and a leading candidate to be the next Grand Maester. However, after a scandal had almost caused his chain of office to be stripped from him, he was never able to achieve the exalted status that he had once aspired to. Instead, he had been shuffled aside and made to occupy a series of relatively humble positions, until eventually he had been invited to serve the Claes family at their manor house. There, he advised the Duke on how to govern his lands, acted as a personal tutor to the noble family's only daughter, and spent the rest of his time living in great comfort and luxury.

"It occurs to me that you are supposed to have a lesson with him later this morning," said the Duke, giving his daughter a thoughtful look.

"More arithmetic," she said, turning her delicate nose up at the thought of it.

"Under the circumstances, I'm going to assume that this isn't just an excuse to get out of a lesson you don't like," he said with a soft chuckle. "I agree with you that keeping Sienna alive and well is more important than sums, so I will give you permission to ask him about poisons instead. Just this once."

"Thank you, father," she said, getting up and giving him a quick hug.

"Thank you, Your Grace," said Sienna, curtseying.

"Run along with you both," he said. "Enjoy your day, stay safe, and I'll see you at dinner tonight."

As they opened the door and scurried away, the Duke gazed fondly after them. Then, he sat back in his chair, sighed, and shook his head. "They're good girls, normally," he muttered, remembering what the cook had said to him earlier that morning. "It's such a shame…"

Author's Notes:
In the beginning, I genuinely thought that this was a HameFura/Game of Thrones crossover, not a HameFura/ASoIaF crossover, but as I kept writing I realised that almost all of the references I was making were to the books, not to the TV series. Overall, I suppose that the books must have made more of an impression on me.

Because I've been slotting in ASoIaF characters wherever they will fit, this may have some peculiar results. For example, I've given Pycelle a role as the maester at the Claes Manor instead of having him be the Grand Maester in service to the King himself. Also, I want to split the role of Cersei-equivalent between Katarina (a spoilt brat who is given a horrible prophecy by Maggy the Frog) and her mother, Miridiana (a stubborn, prideful woman who has tempestuous rows with her husband because of his 'infidelity'). However, in this fic, neither of them will be as actively malevolent as Cersei is in ASoIaF.

Whereas the events of 'The War of the Five Kings' in Game of Thrones/ASoIaF are loosely based on 'the Wars of the Roses, I've decided to base the setting of this fic on a later period of history: after the English Civil War, in fact. So, instead of references to 'Robert's Rebellion', you'll see references to 'the Civil War'. Expect to see dashing rakes, cavaliers, and quite a lot of gunpowder weapons rather than heavily armored knights.

I restarted this chapter three times. First, I thought it was going to focus on Keith, then I decided that it would be better to focus on Jeord instead, then I thought that Pycelle was going to take centre stage, and then finally I decided that because I'd written a couple of thousand words that mainly focused on Duke Luigi Claes, maybe this chapter should be about him. So yeah, it's taken a while longer than I expected. Oh well.