Game of Thrones: Wild Princess

Chapter 6 of my Game of Thrones story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.

Chapter 6

Lyanna's search for Rickon brought her to the Godswood, where she found him by the Heart Tree. Hearing her approach he looked up and started, surprised to see her.

"Lady Lyanna?"

She shook her head, smiling lightly. "Just Lyanna, please."

He smiled a little hearing that and replied. "Well, in that case, don't call me Prince."

He actually shuddered at the title and Lyanna almost laughed. She walked closer until she was next to him and sat down.

"I...I was hoping we could talk."

"You've been at Winterfell for some time..." He replied, incredulous. "Yet now you want to talk?"

She nodded. "I know, I'm sorry about that; I just...I don't know how to explain it."

Rickon shrugged. "Try, maybe it'll get easier as you say it?"

"Alright then, um...well, it's just. I've always held on to the idea of being strong, independent...I had such an idealized view of how a Northern woman, such as myself, should be. I even, idolized your sister, thinking she was the epitome of what I viewed a Northern woman to be."

Rickon smirked a little at that. "Then you were betrothed to me and felt...betrayed when you saw Arya was married, right?"

Lyanna sighed. "Yes, that and...I felt that, being married would stifle who I was, that I wouldn't be allowed to be myself."

Rickon turned to look at her seriously.

He looked unsure if he should actually reach towards her, in the end he didn't, instead he simply spoke.

"I wouldn't have done that to you, I never would have..."

Lyanna sighed. "I didn't know that at the time; I was resigned to my fate, facing disappointment after disappointment...Until last night, Arya and I spoke, she told me the truth about herself."

Rickon hissed at that, she nodded; he knew of course what Arya had been through, clearly the whole family did.

'Were they scared of her, during that time?' She wondered, before continuing. "Then I thought, really thought about everything I saw, the people here that are married...your family; I saw I was wrong."

Rickon grinned a little. "I see...so..."

"So now I want to talk, we...have a lot of catching up to do." She remarked. "We need to get to know each other after all; before the wedding."

Rickon nodded and both of them smiled as they got ready to share their stories. As they did so, Lyanna allowed herself to hope; she had seen that marriages could work and that just because she was married didn't mean she'd stop being herself.

Her soon to be good family were all proof of that. Rickon had also remarked how he wouldn't have stopped her and she could tell from the way he reacted that he was genuine.

Rickon meanwhile was relieved, he had been stuck thinking for so long how to approach Lyanna, and bridge the gap between them, when they were supposed to be married before long. Yet she had come to seek him out of her own accord and her confession, while surprising, helped him understand.

Now they began talking, this time looking to get to know each other better.

Lyanna smiled as she thought back on her talk with Rickon; it had been longer than she expected, but still rather enjoyable. She was also surprised at the things they admitted to each other; at the similarities between them; the last child of five; both of them had a wild side and that was just two of their common points.

While thinking of that she prepared herself; still a little surprised she had agreed to this. But then again, she had heard much spoken about Winterfell's hot springs, so she was actually eager to try them herself.

That was why she had agreed to join Queen Talisa, Catelyn, Sansa, Arya and Meera during a trip there.

"Trust me, Lyanna." Sansa was saying. "You'll probably be a little shocked at first; but this will be enjoyable...and good for you."

Lyanna grinned. "I can hardly wait."

Meera however bit her lip, seemingly uneasy. "Are you sure I should be, I mean..."

She looked down at the swell of her belly, her pregnancy advancing, but Catelyn nodded reassuringly.

"It's fine Meera, in fact, I believe you will really benefit from this." She said. "These hot springs helped provide me with some much needed relief throughout all the pregnancies I had here at Winterfell."

Meera smiled a little at that and soon they all began getting undressed.

As they undressed Lyanna gasped; the other women tensed a little, Arya sighed. If she hadn't heard Arya's story last night, Lyanna was pretty sure she would have been revising her opinions about the woman with what she saw now.

For Arya's body, what was normally covered by her clothes, was littered with scars of varying sizes; many were clearly combat wounds. But others looked different, Meera had scars too, from hunting and fighting, very similar to many of Arya's, but that also made some of Arya's scars stand out as odd.

Especially the ones on her back that looked disturbingly like whip marks.

As if knowing where she was looking, Arya replied. "From my time...in the darkness."

Lyanna bit her lip; knowing exactly what she meant and how she hated talking about it. She wondered if the other scars that looked like signs of torture or attacks came from that time too.

But she pushed the matters from her mind as she joined the other woman in getting into the hot spring, almost instantly feeling the effects they had on her tense muscles.

She grinned; finally, despite her dim view at first, things were looking up, she had now realized her mistakes and hopefully, could correct them quickly; now she had much to look forward to.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.