Day 19: Friendly Visitor

Jaime

Jaime was biting on the nails of his left hand while he watched Brienne and the others play.

This time he wasn't able to control the tryouts but he would have to rely completely on Barristan Selmy's judgment and Brienne's strength.

They had worked so hard on this together and he just didn't want to see her fail.

He knew that she deserved to make the team he just wished Brienne had more confidence.

"Godsdammit" Jaime said under his breath when Brienne's opposing team scored again.

Barristan had appointed her the leader of her team so if they lost that would definitely affect her chances of making the team.

The other leader was Loras and Barristan had equally divided the rest of the teenagers who were trying out or who were already members of the team over Brienne's team and Loras'.

"Come on, Brienne!" he shouted she turned her head to look at him and they tackled her.

Jaime cursed again and he was starting to lose hope.

He had never seen her play this bad before and he wondered what could be the reason for it.

"Coach, I'd like a time-out if that's possible" Jaime told Selmy.

Barristan knew that Jaime never asked for something like that so after sighing he gave in.

"Fine" he said "Time out, guys!"

Jaime gestured that Brienne should come to him and he noticed that there were tears in her eyes.

"What are you doing?" he asked her in a hushed voice so no one else could hear them.

He did see a few students looking at them but most of them were stretching or drinking some water.

He saw Loras Tyrell cast an exceptionally nasty look in Brienne's direction and he was glad that she couldn't see him because he wasn't standing in her eye-range.

"I don't know" she said softly and Brienne quickly wiped away a tear with the back of her hand "I'll try harder, I'm sorry"

She was looking at her shoes instead of Jaime and he was starting to get really worried now.

"Brienne" he said and she looked up again and he noticed that her big, blue eyes were still filled with tears "you can trust me, what's going on?"

She bit her lip and he knew that she was too embarrassed to tell him but he would force it out of her if he had to.

"He didn't show up" she said eventually while a blush spread across her freckled face.

"Who didn't show up?" he asked her confused.

Tears were rolling down Brienne's cheeks again and she quickly wiped them away because she didn't want to cry in front of him.

She probably didn't want to appear weak to him but he would never judge her based on something like that.

"Renly" she said "It's my fault that he's fired"

He had heard about the whole Renly affair of course.

Every student had been talking about it for days now so it was hard to avoid it.

Most students were very upset because of it.

Apparently Renly had been a good teacher but the only time Jaime had ever talked to him was at the fair and that hadn't been pleasant.

No one believed that Brienne had had an affair with Renly though and they said that that was just Stannis' excuse because he was jealous of his younger, more handsome and more popular brother.

"I'm sure it's not your fault" Jaime said.

"But it is!" Brienne shouted "even Loras says so"

Jaime sighed and he ran his left hand through his blonde hair.

"I'm going to give you a choice now, Brienne" he said and the girl looked at him with her pretty blue eyes again "either you let me break Loras Tyrell's nose now and accept the fact that you're not tough enough to run with the big boys, or you go up there and fucking stand up for yourself! You want them to respect you? Make them!"

Brienne looked at him for a few seconds until she nodded and her usual determined look returned to her face.

She turned around and walked back to the field.

Jaime could see that Loras said something to Brienne but she didn't respond and she just kept walking.

Barristan blew his whistle and the students started to play again and Brienne's team completely annihilated Loras' team while Jaime cheered loudly.

Arya

Gendry was driving his car and Arya was sitting in the passenger seat next to him.

Gendry's adoptive family wasn't rich but they had bought him a second-hand car which he had fixed himself.

It looked pretty nice now and Arya had bought him one of those figurines you can hang from your rear-view mirror.

It was a bull of course because that was her nickname for Gendry.

The bull was swaying peacefully now while they road past different houses and streets.

Bran and Rickon were sitting on the backseat and Arya had given them their game boys which meant she wasn't going to hear a word out of them until they arrived.

Arya had decided that morning that it had no use to pout over the fact that she hadn't seen her father in such a long time and she had decided to drive to King's Landing herself or making Gendry drive her to King's Landing in this case.

Gendry hadn't want to do it at first because he thought she was just trying to runaway again but she had brought her two little brothers along to assure him that that wasn't her plan.

"Have you been to King's Landing before?" she asked Gendry while she looked out of the window.

"Yes, that's where I was born actually" Gendry said trying to make it sound as casual as possible "before I was placed with my family"

"Ow" Arya said and she felt a bit stupid that she hadn't known that.

Gendry never talked that much about his real parents because he knew nothing about them.

He had never even seen his father and he thought his mother might have had blonde hair but he wasn't sure of it.

"Have you been there before?" he asked Arya.

She nodded.

"We've been there a few times" she said shrugging "Sansa likes it"

They had been driving for a few hours now and finally the contours of King's Landing where visible at the horizon.

She bit her lip and she twirled her fringe around her finger.

"Are you nervous?" he asked her.

Arya shrugged again and she bit her lip even harder.

Gendry looked a little bit annoyed by her answer which wasn't really an answer at all.

She had always found it difficult to open up to people but she knew that if she wanted her relationship with Gendry to work out, she would have to eventually.

"A little" she said softly and Gendry's annoyed look disappeared again.

"Why's that?" he asked her.

Arya looked into his blue eyes and she forced herself to be vulnerable in front of someone for the first time in her life.

"What if he doesn't want to see me?" she asked him "what if he's too busy and I'm just distracting him from his important work?"

Gendry gave her a reassuring smile.

"Who wouldn't want to see you?" Gendry asked her "don't worry so much"

Arya couldn't stop worrying though and she was wondering if it had been a mistake to go to King's Landing.

Gendry drove into the street which lead to the Red Keep and there were people everywhere.

It was very hard to reach the large building of Baratheon Industries because there were cars wherever they looked.

Eventually Gendry decided to park somewhere because it was impossible to drive through the streets because it was just too busy.

After searching for a parking spot for about forty-five minutes they finally found one.

"Come on, boys, we're here" Arya told her little brothers who both acted like they couldn't hear her so they could keep playing.

Arya let out an annoyed sigh but Gendry wasn't so easily defeated.

He honked loudly which startled both Bran and Rickon and they couldn't pretend to be deaf any longer.

It wasn't hard to find the Red Keep since it was the tallest and biggest building in whole King's Landing.

It used to be the main building of The Royal Targaryen Enterprise but Baratheon Industries bought it after Aerys died.

They were only a few feet away from the entrance now and Rickon and Bran raced each other to the door.

"Where going to see, daddy!" Rickon shouted laughing.

There was a tall security guard in front of the building who immediately stopped them.

"Sorry, but I can't let you in" the man said but he didn't sound sorry at all.

"It's okay, we're here to see our father, Ned Stark" Arya explained.

The guard chuckled and it was clear that he didn't believe them.

"Of course, kid, and I'm Robert's younger brother" the guard said.

Arya's face turned bright red and Gendry took hold of her hand so she wouldn't punch the guard in the face.

"I actually know Renly and he's a lot more attractive than you are" Arya said.

"Why can't we see daddy?" Rickon asked Arya and he gave her a confused look.

"Yeah, why don't you explain that to him?" Arya asked the guard.

Rickon looked at the man with big eyes.

"Doesn't daddy want to see us?" he asked the man.

"Seven Hells" the man cursed and Arya could hear Bran chuckle softly "fine, I'll let you in but if I find out you were lying I'll throw you out again personally"

"Thanks, buddy" Gendry said sarcastically and they entered the building.

The hall of the Red Keep was large and shiny and a pretty woman sat behind the large, glass desk near the entrance.

"I'm looking for my father, Ned Stark" she told the secretary.

"Daddy!" she heard Rickon shout.

Arya turned around and she saw her father leaning on a can with one hand and holding a stack of papers with the other.

He had just stepped out of the elevator.

He looked a bit older and a bit thinner than the last time she had seen him but he was still her father.

"Dad!" she shouted and she hugged him so suddenly that he dropped the stack of papers on the ground.

"My little girl" Ned said while he hugged her back "I've missed you so much"

Margaery

Margaery had just finished painting her nails a light blue colour and she was watching a reality TV show.

She loved those little moments of peace and quiet before she had to plunge into the world of high school politics again.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and she let out an annoyed sigh.

Margaery got up from the couch and she walked to the front door.

She looked at the little screen next to the door and she noticed that it was Osney Kettleblack who had rang the doorbell.

"Oh dear" she sighed "what are you up to this time, Cersei?"

Margaery knew that Cersei had every boy on the football team at her side, except for Loras of course, and she knew that Cersei wasn't afraid to trick someone into doing something for her by using her sexuality.

Margaery knew that a woman's sexuality was a powerful weapon and she couldn't deny that she had used it before but she would never sleep with someone just to get them to do something for her.

She was above that but Cersei had once again proven that she wasn't above doing anything if it meant getting her way.

Margaery opened the gate and the front door and she waited for Osney to come to her.

"Osney, what a surprise!" Margaery said while she kissed him on both cheeks "What are you doing here, love?"

"I wanted to see you of course" Osney said and she noticed the bouquet of yellow roses he was holding.

She didn't understand why boys always bought her roses and especially why they always bought her yellow roses.

Margaery was fully aware of the fact that a golden rose on a field of green was the symbol of Tyrell Enterprises and she didn't need other people to remind her of that.

Everything she owned had already golden flowers on it.

"Oh you shouldn't have" she said smiling "thank you, love, I'll go put them in water"

Margaery got a vase from the cabinet, filled it with water and put the flowers in the vase before placing it next to a larger vase filled with even more golden roses which stood in their hallway.

She saw the slightly disappointed expression on Osney's face when he saw his bouquet standing next to the one Joffrey had given her and she had to try her hardest to keep herself from smiling.

"So is there any other reason why you're visiting me or did you just really want to see me?" Margaery asked him smiling.

"Isn't that enough?" Osney asked her smiling back at her and he brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I'm just surprised that's all" Margaery said shrugging "I had figured that you would be at Cersei's house this weekend"

She saw the flash of fear in Osney's eyes before he composed himself again and he confirmed her suspicions.

She was sure that Cersei had sent him here, she just wasn't sure why she had sent him exactly.

"You know" he said "It really kills me to see you with Joffrey"

"Why's that?" she asked him still smiling.

"Because, I know that he isn't treating you right" Osney said.

Osney was right about that even though he didn't realize it himself.

"And you would treat me better?" she asked him biting her lip and looking at him with flirty brown eyes.

"Of course I would, love" Osney said and he tried to kiss her.

Margaery waited until he closed his eyes before she punched him in the face.

"Nice try, Osney" she said "but I'm not that easily fooled, okay? You can go tell Cersei that I won't cheat on her precious little cousin"

"You bitch!" Osney shouted while blood streamed from his nose "how the fuck did you do that?"

"I had to grow up with four brothers" Margaery said smiling her genuine smile which didn't look as sweet but a lot more beautiful "now I'm going to have to ask you to leave my house before you'll bleed on the carpet"

She showed Osney the door and closed it behind him.

Margaery checked her nails and she noticed that they still looked the same as when she just painted them and she smiled.

Today had been a good day for her.

Jon

Ygritte opened the front door for Jon and he entered her apartment.

He hadn't talked to her since their date with Gilly and Sam but she had called him that morning to ask him if he wanted to come over.

He had to admit that he was curious about what happened between Gilly and Ygritte and why it had pissed her off so much but he had promised himself that he would break up with her if it was something stupid.

Sam had told Jon that Gilly didn't stop crying that night after what happened at the coffee shop and Jon knew that he would have to side with his friend if it came to it.

"So what's going on?" he asked her while they walked into the kitchen.

"Just sit down for a second" she said while she handed him some tea.

She had never made him tea before because she hated it so he knew that something was going on.

"So tell me about Gilly and you" he said while he sat down at the kitchen table.

"Give me a second, okay?" Ygritte said annoyed but Jon could see that she didn't really mean it that way.

"So you know why Gilly lives at the orphanage, right?" she asked him eventually.

"Because her father abused her and she was afraid that he would hurt her child too or something, right?" Jon asked.

He only knew what Sam had told him about her and he hadn't had the heart to ask his friend more about Gilly because he could see that he didn't like to talk about it.

"More or less" Ygritte said nodding "fuck this is hard"

Ygritte turned bright red while she struggled to find the right words to say.

He had never seen her like that before because Ygritte usually just said whatever came to mind.

"Why is it so hard?" he asked her.

Ygritte sighed.

"Because I feel like it's really none of my business" she said.

"Well we've already got involved so there is no need to keep quiet now" he said and he took her hand.

She sighed one more time before she finally told him what was going on.

"I guess you could say that Gilly's father abused her in more than one way" Ygritte said while looking at the table instead of him "and then she got pregnant, do you understand now?"

Jon felt like someone had just punched him in the gut.

He didn't think that anyone deserved to go through something like that and he couldn't express how sorry he felt for Gilly.

"That's why I told her that she needs to give the boy up for adoption" Ygritte said and she looked at Jon again "he will never have a normal life if he grows up like this"

Jon nodded and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Poor, Gilly" he just said.

Ygritte nodded too.

"She loves the kid" she said "but this isn't right, it isn't natural. If the children in his class find out they'll think he's a monster and their parents will think the same, a closed adoption is his best chance"

"But she doesn't want to give him up for adoption, right?" Jon asked and Ygritte nodded.

"Her son is the only person that will always be there for her and who is depended on her and not the other way around" Ygritte said "I can understand why she doesn't want to give him up but it's the kid's best chance"

"Maybe I could talk to her" Jon said softly.

Ygritte looked at him with big eyes.

"Really?" she asked him.

Jon nodded.

"I don't know if she'll listen to me but it's worth a shot, right?" he asked.

Ygritte smiled softly at him.

"Thank you" she said.

Sansa

Sansa and Mya were sitting at a table far away from the table of the bride and groom but she didn't mind at all.

She had expected that her aunt would make her sit next to her cousin but Lysa had placed her son close to herself.

The ceremony had been quick but lovely and everyone who didn't know Petyr Baelish would believe that he was actually head over heels in love with Lysa Tully but Sansa had thought that his vows had sounded over the top and almost mocking when he had described Lysa's "everlasting beauty".

The music was playing and Sansa softly nodded her head to the rhythm.

"Do you want to dance?" Mya asked her who had drunk more than a little.

"Sure" Sansa said smiling and they got up from their seats.

The ballroom was decorated with the red and blue Tully colours and there was a dance floor in the middle of the room.

Only a few people were dancing but Sansa didn't care or at least she told herself that Alayne didn't care.

Mya and she moved their hips to the music while they danced and sang along to the pop music.

A boy with sandy hair walked up to them and he smiled at Sansa.

"Hello, beautiful" he said "what's your name?"

"Get lost, pervert" Mya said and the boy shot her an annoyed look.

"I wasn't talking to you" he said looking Mya up and down as if she was garbage.

Mya didn't seem to care much about his attitude towards her though but she watched him carefully while he took Sansa's hand a pressed a kiss on her knuckles.

"I'm Marillion" he said "and you are?"

"Alayne" she told him.

She knew that it was ridiculous to say that her name was Alayne but she didn't really trust the boy and his sly smile.

"What a beautiful name" he said smiling and she knew that he would still have said that if she had told him that her name was "Spotted Pate the pig's boy".

"Would you like to go for a walk with me?" Marillion asked her "it's a bit crowded here"

He said the last thing looking at Mya with that same annoyed look of his.

"No, thank you" Sansa said.

Marillion put his hand on her arm.

"Come on, beautiful, most girls don't refuse such an offer" he said and he tried to force her to come with him.

"Well then go bug those girls and not me" Sansa said and she thought it must be Alayne's courage that made her say such a thing.

Sansa would have been too afraid to refuse him anything because Sansa always wanted to please everyone.

"At least give me a kiss, beautiful" Marillion said and he leaned towards her.

"Get off me!" Sansa shouted and she shoved Marillion who fell into a table and knocked over the tall wedding cake.

Sansa heard a shrill voice shouting and when she turned around she saw her aunt with a bright red face which made her look even more ridiculous in her big wedding dress.

Little Finger tried to stop her but she was already running towards Sansa.

"You little brat!" Lysa shouted and she grabbed Sansa's arm.

She dragged Sansa out of the ballroom while she yelled at her.

"You just had to ruin it, hadn't you?" Lysa asked her "Oh you're just like Cat, you won't even give me my one special day!"

"He tried to kiss me!" Sansa shouted while Lysa dragged her through the hallway and to the front door "I didn't do anything wrong"

Suddenly Lysa slapped her and she left a red mark on Sansa's cheek.

"Don't you even dare!" Lysa shouted and her eyes looked creepily big as if they were going to pop out of her head "You think you're so pretty, don't you? You think that all the boys just love you, don't you?"

Sansa didn't even know how to answer her questions and she just stared at her aunt with fear in her eyes.

"Don't you?!" Lysa shouted in her face and Sansa shied away.

"I don't" Sansa said and Lysa slapped her again.

"Liar!" Lysa shouted "you just love it, don't you? Making them fall in love with you and then dumping them? Oh Gods you're just like your whore mother! But you can't have my Petyr, you'll never have my Petyr, Cat, because he loves me! ME! And this time you can't ruin it! Not anymore!"

Sansa felt tears burn in her eyes while her aunt's grip on her arm tightened and she could feel Lysa's nails dig in her flesh.

"Lysa, what are you doing?!"

The both turned around and Petyr ran up to them followed by Mya.

Lysa immediately let go off Sansa and she wrapped her arms around Petyr's neck.

"She tried to take you away from me, Petyr" her aunt said crying while she buried her head in Petyr's chest.

It had something grotesque which had to do with how ridiculous Lysa looked in her wedding dress which looked like a four year old obsessed with Barbie had picked out for her and the look of disgust on Petyr's face while he held Lysa.

"Of course not, love" he said "no one can ever take me away from you"

He nodded his head in the direction of the road telling Sansa that it would be best if she left before Lysa freaked out again.

Sansa nodded and Mya followed her while they left the castle where the reception took place.

They waited until they were out of earshot before they started to talk again.

"I know that it got you into trouble" Mya said "but I just want to say that it was totally badass how you shoved that Marillion guy"

"It was kind of badass, right?" Sansa asked chuckling and they both started laughing while they walked home.