By the time the sun rose in the sky Lyanna was already dressed, all her belongings packed, all her farewells said. She might never come back to Winterfell, and even if she did, it would never be the same. Jon would be gone, and without him it would never be home again. The other Stark children were her siblings, she loved them, but Jon was her family. He understood her, protected her, was her. Shaking the thought away she took one last look at her room and left.
After another four hours of waiting the King awoke, signaling the start of the final preparation, and another hour after that passed before they were finally on the move. While her insistence to ride on her new horse rather than in the safety of the carriage house had brought about a roaring laughter from the king, as he compared her stubbornness to her late aunt, apparently she had once done something similar once, Lyanna did not mind as long as it meant she was allowed to remain by her twin's side a little longer. Though the King did occasionally request her presence riding with him and her father until she began feigning falling behind, allowing her to fall back. It was an act she quickly became adapt at, though she soon noted that neither her father nor her intended seemed fooled. In fact they both seemed rather amused by her little acts of defiance. But as long as she got her wish she did not mind, at least until the King told Jaime to fall back with her during the third day of their journey.
"It seems you have relegated me to the back." He commented lightly from her right side.
"No doubt you appreciate being away from the King as much as I do, brother." Lord Tyrion said, riding up to ride by their side. The smile that overtook the elder Lannister's face at the sound of his brother's voice was probably the first real emotion she seen in him. Perhaps he cared for something after all.
"I thought you would have left us for a brothel by now. What are you still doing here?"
"I told you, I aim to take a piss off the wall. I will be gone tomorrow with the rest of them." She tried not to flinch at the words, but it seemed she was unsuccessful as he added. "You will see your beloved brother again. I doubt even an army would be able to keep him from going to King's Landing or Casterly Rock or wherever you will be for long."
At first she didn't say anything, or look at either of the Lannister but she could feel their eyes on her. However as his words registered, she turned to look at him in surprise.
"You are not going to King's Landing?
"Afraid not. But not to worry, since you are now to be my sister you will have the protection of the entire Lannister guard in the capital. If someone as much as sully your shoes he will be killed on the spot."
"I would prefer your company to any thousand guards or trained knights." She smiled.
"I will be back for your wedding." He promised. "And if it is your will, you shall have me by your side until your first born child leaves the womb."
"You do not like children?" she asked.
"Gods, no! They are little monsters until they learn to speak properly. No use at all. And even then they might turn out like my nephew."
"Hold your tongue, or I shall remove it myself. Any child I will surpass any other."
"Any child you bare shall have kingdoms tremble, and cities empty in seconds, should he be blessed with your temper."
"I shall have you know, the King find my disposition delightful."
"Because you barely say a word in his presence unless asked, and then you keep it as short hoping he will let you leave. I, however, have seen your full glory. I have had your blade pressed against my throat, and I have seen you throw that dagger with frightening accuracy. "
"I did not intend to spar that fly." She denied, much to Tyrion's amusement.
"So you say. I am also fairly certain you can outride any rider in this company if you wish it. And all I have done was sneak up at you in the dark. Your anger must be frightening indeed. Tell me, little wolf, are you a trained assassin?"
"My father would not allow it." She said with a smile, making Tyrion turn to his brother with exaggerated curiosity.
"But would her husband? I wonder."
"If she wants anyone dead, all she has to do is ask." Jaime said with unconcerned amusement, leaving her wonder what to make of it.
"If I want someone dead, I shall be the one to kill him." She said. "If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. It is the Stark way, and the older way. I see no reason it should be different for me just because I am a woman or a bastard."
"Ah, now that is an interesting way to see it." Tyrion said. "But I think this conversation is becoming a little too serious for my liking. You are from the North, my dear, tell me a tale of the wall."
"It is safe enough there now, it is still summer." She smiled. "But winter is coming, and so is the time for fear. Thousands of years ago, there was one such winter during which came a night that lasted a generation. Kings froze to death in their castles, same as the shepherds in their huts; and women smothered their babies rather than see them starve, and wept, and felt the tears freeze on their cheeks...In that darkness the White Walkers came for the first time. They descended upon Westeros from the farthest north, the polar regions of the Land of Always Winter. None knew why they came, but they killed all in their path, reanimating the dead as wrights to kill the living at their command. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds. Eventually the peoples of Westeros rallied and in a battle where the White Walkers were finally defeated and driven back into the uttermost north, with the Wall raised to bar their return. It is only this wall that is all that is keeping us safe, but it is only as strong as the men of the Night Watch. Once manned by volunteers from the noble houses, the service has fallen on hard times and now it is mostly formed of criminals and delinquents avoiding strict punishments, or high-born lords escaping scandal. May the Gods have mercy on our souls should they fail for neither your seven gods or my old ones will be able to save us. For over the millennia the knowledge gained during the Long Winter has become lost in myths and legends and we would be helpless against them and the age of the Others shall come."
"You have been listening to Old Nan stories too much." Jon said from behind her, she hadn't heard him ride up. "Or maybe not enough. You have changed it a bit, haven't you? Why? Because the Imp has told you what the Night Watch is really like? You would trust him over our father?"
"Father has never told us anything but the old stories, neither has our uncle. Don't you wonder why?"
"You were the one who told me to go." He reminded her, for once sounding the teen he was, while Tyrion gestured for his brother that they should move ahead of them, giving an illusion of privacy at least.
"I told you to get away from Winterfell, to find somewhere you weren't just our father's bastard. You are a man; you can make something of yourself despite being what we are. If I left my choice would have been a maid or a whore. You were the one who decide to follow in our uncle's footsteps in your quest for honor, not I."
"No, you are just marrying the Kingslayer." He spat. "Where is your honor?"
"Because you are my twin brother I will ignore that, this once." She said with such a coldness it made him flinch.
"Sorry. But why are you riding with them? You are not one of them yet."
"I happen to like Lord Tyrion."
"Not the other one?"
"I don't know the other one." She snapped.
The rest of the ride was quiet, and as they sat up camp for the night Lyanna found herself walking on the outskirt of the campsite, Arya walking beside her as she curiously watched the people around them move about.
"You will see knights everyday in King's Landing, you know." Lyanna teased as she noticed her sister's eyes follow two Lannister guards, their red capes blowing in the wind.
"How does it feel? Knowing you can command them to do anything and they would?"
"I can not, I am not a Lannister yet. But you dear sister can order around any of the Stark guards you wish to."
"It's not the same." She insisted. "Will Ser Jaime have to stop being a member of the Kingsguard when he marries you? Maester Luwin said the Kingsguards can't marry or father children."
"No. King Robert is making an exception to please his Queen."
"I didn't think he loved her enough for that."
"You can not talk about such things here, it is not proper."
"Proper?" She asked disbelievingly. "You never used to say such things. You sound like Sansa." She said as if it was the greatest insult possible.
"May the Gods have mercy on my soul, I hope not." She laughed. "But such words are enough for someone to chop your head off. And I quite like your head where it is."
"You are lying."
"Perhaps, you are a little loud at times, perhaps..." Arya glared at her. "You need to be more careful. Father is no longer the highest authority around. You must think before you speak, and one does not speak anything but kind things of the King and his family. Do you understand me?"
"I wasn't being unkind." She insisted, but Lyanna recognized the resignation. "It was just an observation."
"Did Jon give you his gift?" She asked instead, knowing it would lift the girl's spirit.
"He told you about it?" She asked excitedly. "I named it Needle."
"It a good name. It suits it." She agreed.
"Have you named your dagger?"
"I have not. My dagger is no sword." She smiled.
"True." She nodded. "Will you teach me to use it?"
"I don't know how. You should ask father when we reach King's Landing. He will find someone to teach you."
"Jon said not to tell anyone." She said hesitantly.
"He probably meant your mother. And that you should not let people see it, a lady does not carry her weapons. That is what she has guards for."
"You do."
"I am not a Lady."
"The King says you are, and when you marry you will be Lady Lannister."
"Then I will have to keep it hidden, same as you."
After supper Jon came searching for her, as she had known he would. He was truly leaving. Their father said they would reach the crossway before noon the next day. She almost wished the long night would come if it meant that time would never arrive.
As he sat down next to her, she spoke the first words that came to mind.
"I have honor." She didn't know why it came out, or why those words seemed so important.
"You do. I was angry. I don't like how they see the Night Watch. How they make you look at it. I want you to be proud to have a brother there."
"I will be." She promised. "Though I would prefer to have him by my side."
"It's an honor to serve on the Wall. You reap what you sow there. They won't care what I am, and I know how to use a sword as well as any lord. It's a better place for me than a King's Landing."
"I could need you there."
"You are already creating a new family. Lord Tyrion adores you."
"You will always be my favorite brother." She promised. "He can't even begin to compare."
TBC…
