A/N: Because I didn't mention this before (though it's pretty obvious): I do neither own these characters, nor this whole wonderful world, nor the main events that take place. Everything belongs to George R.R. Martin.
And again: I'm german, and mistakes are just natural. I've never used a beta-reader and therefore won't start working with one now. However, you can always tell me when you spot any spelling and/or grammar mistakes :)
Catelyn could not remember the last time she had woken up that early to get dressed. She wanted to leave a good impression on Brandon, and of course on his father, Lord Rickard. Therefore, she would not leave anything to chance, which is why she immediately summoned her favorite maid, Alyssa, after she had been more or less awake.
Alyssa did her work no better than the others, but she was a by far more pleasant dialog partner, almost like a second sister, and Catelyn loved spending time with her.
Alyssa helped Catelyn with her hair, which Catelyn would rather let down again, since Brandon had apparently fallen for it. Only two strands – the left and right side of her temple – were braided and tied together, so that she wore a crown of hair. The strands were tied together with a silver clip in the form of a Tully trout.
Alyssa advised her to a dress in a dark olive hue, which covered her whole body, up to the sleeves. Not that it was particularly cold, but Catelyn's septa had told her that in the presence of men it would be more appropriate to dress accordingly covered. However, in Riverrun she knew most men since she was born and except Petyr almost no one was her age, so Catelyn loved to wear airy dressed, especially on warm days. But her septa would have a particularly keen eye on Brandon, Alyssa had assured her.
Catelyn liked to dress beautifully, but just as much to not care about her appearance at all. And until this day she had only taken care of her look for herself and due to her role as Lady of Riverrun. For the first time, however, she did so in order to please others, and soon she realized that this made an impact.
When she went into the hall and discovered Brandon at the long table, she could almost not hold her laugh when he looked at her. His eyes seemed to widen and the smile faded from his face for a brief moment, until he had recovered. He smiled at her charmingly and nodded towards her.
Catelyn would have loved to sit down beside him, but he was in a conversation with both, Lord Rickard and her father, and Catelyn knew it would be discourteous to interrupt them. Certainly they were speaking about politics, something girls and woman should not be interested in, at least according to her septa. Though Catelyn had some interest in it, and neither her uncle Brynden nor her father appeared to believe that this was a bad thing. Her uncle had even once said that he appreciated this trait in women, though Catelyn had never seen him with a woman. He had never married, much to the chagrin of her father. Lord Hoster wanted Ser Brynden to marry, but the younger brother did not obey. He was then called Blackfish, the black sheep of the family Tully, and Catelyn's father never actually spoke to him, although he lived with them. Yet Catelyn loved her uncle more than anything. She loved his nature, his stories of battles in which he had fought, even if she was less interested in the actual battles, and that he always had a sympathetic ear for her concerns and problems.
Catelyn looked around the hall. Edmure was not there yet. Perhaps he was still asleep, or he was with Brynden or Lysa, as both were not here either. Only Petyr was sitting all alone at the edge of the table, and Catelyn went to him.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully as she sat down besides him. She simply wanted to forget their conversation yesterday, hoping that Petyr did as well.
"Morning," he mumbled. Catelyn wanted to admonish him to speak more clearly, but she decided to let it be. She did not want argue with him again, and she knew that her reproofs annoyed him. Often she tried to be like a mother to Edmure, as he would never have one, and mostly she used this motherly behavior when talking to Petyr and Lysa as well. While Edmure saw this as self-evident – for he had never known anything else – the other two could get rather annoyed by it, although Lysa never replied but only rolled her eyes.
Petyr, however, seemed to have noticed that his greeting had been quite rude, so he added: "I'm sorry, Cat. I was up until very late yesterday and …" He broke off the sentence and looked down.
"And what?" Catelyn asked curiously.
"Well, I … I was drinking a bit too much," Petyr confessed. He knew Catelyn thought poorly of drinking, and that she liked to admonish him about it when she noticed that he had drunken too much.
Actually, Catelyn wanted to start admonishing him, but held back again. It seemed like Petyr was indeed not very well, and Catelyn knew how horrible the men felt after a long night. She had had a mild headache herself this morning.
"That's alright," she said instead. "I had a drink too much last night as well. Perhaps this is necessary sometimes." She had said that last part more to herself, but Petyr had heard it anyway, looking at her with large eyes. That made Catelyn laugh. "That doesn't mean that you shall get drunk every night."
"All men are drinking," Petyr said. "It doesn't even taste good."
"It's not supposed to taste good. At least uncle Brynden told me so once. But I don't know what he meant with that, to be honest," Catelyn admitted.
"I can definitely live without it for a while, whether it tastes good or not," Petyr said. "But you owe me a dance for the next time, right?"
First, Catelyn was a little confused by the sudden change of topics, and then she wanted to respond that the next feast meant Brandon's farewell and she would dance with her betrothed that night, but the third time that day she kept her mouth shut. Her father had once told her that one should choose his words wisely and that it was sometimes better to leave thoughts unsaid.
"Sure," Catelyn said and hoped for a free moment to dance with Petyr.
When Catelyn had finished her meal, she got up to look for Brandon. For a brief moment she wondered whether it would perhaps seem intrusive, if she addressed the promised walk around Riverrun, but before she could waste another thought, Brandon appeared next to her.
"My lady, you surely remember that you wanted to show me Riverrun, right?" he asked with a smile. Catelyn wondered if that smile ever left his face, but secretly hoped that it did not. She loved it and in some ways it made her happy.
"Of course, my lord," she replied, trying to control her expression. She did not want to smile too much, but neither leave a cold impression.
Brandon held out his strong arm and she took it gratefully.
First, Catelyn showed Brandon the castle. She learned that Winterfell was even larger, but Brandon thought the rooms here more beautiful designed and furnished, and also the view to be better. Catelyn did not know if he just said it due to courtesy, or actually meant it. With such an honest smile it was hard to doubt a word.
They talked a lot and although Catelyn led him, he put one comment after the other about Winterfell into their conversation. That was certainly understandable; after all, Catelyn would live in Winterfell and not the other way. While Brandon liked telling her about how Winterfell had been built, what kind of people lived there and what it looked like, so did Catelyn loved to tell him all the stories that were hidden in Riverrun. Whether actually happened or for entertainment purposes only, from tales of its building to ghost stories. But most of all Bradon seemed to like when Catelyn told about how the Tullys obtained their seat. She told how Harren the Black had once ruled over the Riverlands until he and all his relatives had been burned alive in Harrenhal. Then one of Catelyn's ancestors, Edmyn Tully, who had fought at Aegon side, had taken control over the Riverlands and the Trident. Brandon listened to her with interest, although she was sure that he already knew all of this. After all, she knew quite a bit about Winterfell and the Starks as well, and he was a few years older than her.
"Thus Riverrun does not rightfully belong to your family?" Brandon asked, when they both arrived at the balcony where Catelyn had talked with Petyr last night.
Catelyn could see something flaring up in Brandon's eyes, something that almost looked like a challenge. This, she accepted willingly.
"Only if you doubt the current reign of the Seven Kingdoms," Catelyn said firmly.
"What do you mean, my lady?" Brandon asked curiously, still with a smile, and obviously interested in what she might say.
"Well, from the perspective of our king, Harren the Black was a traitor. He denied the crown that Aegon the Conqueror had given himself."
"A traitor? But he has lived here first," Brandon said, still looking pretty interested.
"From Aegon's perspective, he was", Catelyn said with a calm voice, though she felt some uncertainty rising inside of her. This was not something you should talk about with your betrothed. Or maybe it was? Catelyn never lacked courtesy and manners, but this did not mean that she did not find some manners superfluous or even disturbing. "Aegon made himself King of Westeros and thus anyone who denied him was a traitor to the crown," she continued. "And Edmyn Tully was therefore the rightful Lord of Riverrun. It depends on the perspective. And since the dynasty continues until now, and we all acknowledge Aerys Tagaryen as our king, the Tullys are the rightful heirs."
She looked at him expectantly, but Brandon just smiled and shook his head.
"Is something amiss, my lord?" she asked him. Maybe I should better keep my mouth shut.
"There are far too few who think like you, my lady," he told her. "Most are convinced that they are in the right, but you say that it depends on the perspective from which you look at it. I find that admirable," he added, and Catelyn looked away quickly, so he did not see her blush by his words.
"You don't need to hide. I think you're beautiful when your cheeks turn red," he said, and she looked back up to him, even though she knew that even more blood rushed into her head. Catelyn would no longer look away, because she had the feeling that with strength and intelligence she could impress him far more than with any manners.
"You know," Brandon said after a moment of silence, "I didn't know what to expect, here in Riverrun. But one thing I can say for sure: I'm not disappointed."
Again he looked at her, deep into her eyes, and Catelyn started to feel like he was doing this on purpose, just to see her blush again. Her suspicions seemed to be confirmed when he chuckled.
"I'm also not disappointed, my lord," she replied.
Catelyn tried to withstand his gaze. While he looked at her, the smile faded from Brandon's face. Everything seemed too soften, and he slowly leaned forward, so Catelyn was sure he would kiss her. But at the last moment he pulled back, and only looked at her again.
Catelyn did not know if he did not want to kiss her because of her septa, who sat in the hall, only a few feet away, and always glanced over to them, or whether something else kept him from it. She only knew that she could not suppress a certain feeling of disappointment.
"Are you going show me the rest, my lady, or do we want to linger here until my departure?"
Brandon asked. He had put on his smile again, but in his eyes was the same sparkle Catelyn had seen this morning in the hall.
Again he offered her his arm and she took it with a laugh.
"And?" Lysa asked. It was evening and they both sat together in her chambers.
"He tried to kiss me," Catelyn admitted to her sister.
Lysa screamed with joy and excitement.
"Really?" she cried. "Gods, you're so lucky. Brandon is perfect!"
"Shh," Catelyn cautioned her sister. "You don't need to wake up everyone in Riverrun."
Secretly, Catelyn could only agree with Lysa. Brandon was perfect, and she would marry him in the not too distant future, live by his side as the Lady of Winterfell and give birth to his children.
"I just hope that father will find someone like Brandon for me," Lysa sighed. "But I can't think of anyone."
"As far as I know, Brandon has two younger brothers. Eddard and Benjen", Catelyn said.
"Benjen is still a boy," Lysa said devaluating. "And Eddard is the younger brother. He inherits nothing more than small estates, like where Petyr comes from."
"What about Jaime Lannister? He's exactly your age. And heir of Casterly Rock."
"Jaime Lannister." Lysa let his name melt on her tongue. "Yes, he's not bad. At least what you hear about him. And he's apparently rather handsome. But he has this sister," she added. "Cersei Lannister won't let anyone or anything get near her brother, at least that's what people say. It's more likely I'll get the younger one, the imp."
"You mean Tyrion," Catelyn corrected her. "And father isn't that cruel."
"But Lord Tywin is" Lysa muttered.
"Stop looking at it with such a pessimistic view. That way you'll never find someone to make you happy," Catelyn told her.
"There is someone," Lysa said, but more to herself than to Catelyn.
"And who?" Catelyn asked curiously. She would love to see her sister happy. Catelyn had been lucky with Brandon, but would Lysa be just as fortunate? She could only hope.
"Oh, no one," Lysa replied, almost sounding sad. "I'm pretty tired. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
And with that she left Catelyn's chambers.