AN: Hey guys, it's me again! I'm still alive! I'm sorry for the long wait for the new update and even sorrier if this chapter isn't really anything special. It's supposed to be a filler chapter before we see Ryssa and Sansa at the tourney of the Hand. I'm still debating with myself whether or not I should let Ryssa take part in the actual tourney or should make her just watch it from the stands.
Anyhow, in this chapter we get to see what else Ryssa likes to do in her free time and something more about her family. The second half of the chapter is a sort of a flashback where Ryssa remembers a story her dad told her once. It is the same story she sends to Bran in her letter.
Also, be sure to check my profile for Ryssa's theme song, dress she wears in this chapter and some more stuff concerning her. I highly recommend you do this to better picture the scene in this chapter.
Hope you have a great summer (what's left of it anyways) and like this chapter (no matter how disappointed in myself I am with it)!
Follow/Favourite/Review and enjoy! ;)
Chapter 10Sunrises in King's Landing felt different to those in Winterfell and Forgehammer. They were brighter and warmer but still chilled Ryssa to the bone. She did not like it here, down South. The sun was too bright, the air too moist and hot, the clods were too few and the people too cold and snobbish for her taste.
Over the course of the last couple of days, Ryssa had almost completely forgotten about the letter that Robb had sent her alongside her father's. She reasoned that with being too busy with finding Arya a proper swordmaster to teach her and with her courtly duties, which, though few, were quite time consuming.
One of the duties she had deemed she hated, were the ever dreaded embroidery and sewing lessons in which she only managed to put herself at shame with her inability to make even the simplest of designs look presentable. Oh, how she hated making embroideries.
The letter Robb had sent Ryssa sat untouched in her boot for several days before she remembered it. It made her feel slightly ashamed for completely misplacing it within her mind and so made sure she read it the moment she pulled it out of the boot. The letter itself was brief and only brought news to Ryssa about Bran's awakening, something maester Luwin suspected was helped with by the teardrops Ryssa gave him for the little boy.
Upon reading the news, Ryssa felt like she could cry of happiness. The little boy would live! And though he would be forced to spend his life not being to walk, he would still be alive and have the love and support of his family and friends, the people who care for him the most. Bran not having the use of his legs did not mean his life was completely ruined and over. No, he could still spend his time in the library, like he used to do, reading and absorbing different information from the ancient thick books like a sponge absorbs water, and surpass all his siblings in the terms of wisdom and intelligence. Who knows? Perhaps it would help him be a great war tactician one day.
With a wistful smile, Ryssa grabbed the closest quill she could find on her desk and wrote a brief answer to Robb and included a story her father once told her, when she was a young child, on a new piece of parchment. It ended up being a few pages long but she wrapped it all up in a scroll, sealed it with blue wax and the Manalis seal, before tying it to the leg of the hawk that brought her the letters in the first place.
"Carry the letter to Winterfell," she spoke to the bird gently while it watched her with intelligent amber eyes of a predator. "Give it to Robb and no one else. After you give him the letter, go back to Forgehammer." Ryssa carried the bird on her bare arm, its talons slightly digging into her fair skin, and sent it to flight once she reached her window. For a few short moments, she watched the grey feathered bird fly northward in the sunrise before she went back to her morning routine.
Washing her face, brushing her, now pink, hair and lining her black eyes in small amounts of kohl, Ryssa put on a short white dress of light silk dress with no sleeves. The dress reached only to her mid-thigh and was held in place by two thin white straps that went over her shoulders. Underneath the dress, Ryssa wore white silk short breeches that went only a few inches beneath her hips and a white wrapping around her chest. Her pink hair was pinned away from her face and styled so that the parts of it that would usually bother her were braided down her back. Ryssa put some bandages on her feet to prevent them from being scrapped on the stone floors and, after putting a long white silk robe over her clothes, padded her way down to the Small Hall, where she was sure Arya and Syrio would be practicing in a few hours.
Her hair had always had a habit of turning a lighter shade when in contact with the sun. All the red haired women in her family would have their hair pale to a shade of pink when staying in the sun while the men's would darken until it turned black. It seemed odd but it was something they had to live with. Ryssa's hair had started turning pink not long after they had passed the Neck after what she had taken to wearing a shawl wrapped around her head to prevent any further contact between the sunlight and her normally scarlet hair.
In King's Landing, however, it was too hot for Ryssa to wear a shawl so she had to forfeit this battle and stop wearing one lest she get a heatstroke, hence, her hair being a lovely shade of rose ash pink.
All the tables in the Hall were still pushed out of the way and onto the walls while only one that was enough for Lord Stark's entire household here, was placed closer to the wall but not pushed against it. With the morning sun slowly filtering its way through the windows, Ryssa knew she would have only an hour or so to herself before the others came down to break their fast.
Ryssa took a deep breath and took off her robe, leaving it folded on one of the benches and walked to the middle of the room. After a short series of stretches to warm up her muscles she stood with her arms to her sides and her legs hips width apart, her head slightly bowed down to the floor while she took another deep breath.
In her mind, Ryssa could hear the melody of the song to which she wanted to dance. It had been so long since she had danced like this, more than a year, surely. She used to dance all the time in Forgehammer while in Winterfell she was always too busy and preoccupied, not to mention she could never seem to be able to find a peaceful place to practice in quiet. At home, her siblings would sometimes play and sing for her while she danced in the middle of the warm Great Hall of Forgehammer. She still remembered the feel if the smooth white stone floors beneath her bare feet.
She let the melody in her voice carry her and started dancing in graceful moves while humming the tune. Only few seconds later, she was so carried in the tune that she started singing it.
Hello, hello
anybody out there?
'cause I don't hear a sound
alone, alone
I don't really know where the world is but I miss it now
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
like a fool at the top of my lungs
sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
but it's never enough
cause my echo, echo
is the only voice coming back
my shadow, shadow
is the only friend that I have
listen, listen
I would take a whisper if
that's all you have to give
but it isn't, isn't
you could come and save me
try to chase it crazy right out of my head
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
like a fool at the top of my lungs
sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
but it's never enough
cause my echo, echo
is the only voice coming back
my shadow, shadow
is the only friend that I have
I don't wanna be down and
I just wanna feel alive and
get to see your face again once again
Just my echo, my shadow
you're my only friend
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
like a fool at the top of my lungs
sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
but it's never enough
cause my echo, echo
oh my shadow, shadow
Hello, hello
anybody out there?
...
A little six years old Ryssa ran down the hallways and passages of the huge snow white fortress known as Forgehammer. Everything echoed with the sounds of bustling people in the middle lower levels where the town and the markets were located and with the sound of hundreds of hammers pounding hot metal in the lowest levels of the forges beneath the city and the castle. The air was warm with the heat of thousands forging fires and hearths lit inside the white walls in the Black Mountain.
Ryssa giggled while passing by a tapestry that depicted Aegon the Concourer and his sister-wives burning down Harrenhall, the sure padding sound of Argento's paws slowly catching up to the young red haired girl. Her long braids were flying in the air behind her while the skirts of her sky blue dress were bunched up in her small hands, to help her outrun the massive kind year old silver lupine, showing the brown breeches and black fur lined boots she wore underneath them.
She expertly navigated through the maze of halls until she came to her parents' chambers. Most lords and ladies lived in separate chambers but Lord and Lady Manalis have always been living in the same chamber, ever since the day they had gotten married under the Heart Tree in the Godswood almost sixteen long years ago.
Lady Manalis had unfortunately lost five children before giving birth to Therenger, a boy of black hair and silver eyes, who was now ten. Only four years later, Lady Manalis gave birth to Ryssa, a spitting image of her mother with her father's colouring of scarlet hair and beautiful eyes so dark green they looked like they were black. Two years later, Niantine was born with brown hair and brown eyes, and two years later, Lady Manalis gave birth to twins Ranald and Rafaem, both with startling white hair and dark brown eyes.
Opening up the large dark oak doors, Ryssa entered the warm room with young Argento at her heels. Her father was perched in his crimson velvet armchair next to the blazing hearth, a thick leather bound book in his grasp. Argento gave Ryssa a lick on her cheek before lying down next to the fire while leaving his yellow eyes strictly trained on the little girl.
Ryssa came to her father because she was bored and wanted to hear a story. Therenger was down in the yard training while Niantine was acting as their mother's shadow while the woman took care of the young twin boys who had recently taken up exploring the halls of Forgehammer in their own two year old hands. So, Ryssa let Argento inside and ran to her father in hopes that the man would help her break her boredom somehow.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Little Flame?" father asked her once he took his dark eyes off the ancient book. He put the book on the small table next to his armchair and beckoned Ryssa to sit in his lap.
"I was bored and wanted to hear a story," she admitted. There was no use in lying to her father.
Lord Rafario nodded while scratching at his short thick auburn beard before snapping his fingers. "I know!" he said. "There is one story that I believe would be to your liking."
Ryssa flashed him a white smile. "Well' tell it, father!" she beckoned.
"Alright, alright," Lord Rafario nodded. "It goes something like this," he started the story.
"Long time ago, when the earth was young and the air was sweet and the mountains kissed the sky. In the great beyond, with its many paths, man and nature lived side by side.
"In this wildernes of danger and beauty lived three brothers, bonded by love. Their names were Sitka, Denahi and Kenai. They were hunters and lived in harmony with nature alongside their tribe while asking the spirits of their ancestors for guidance.
"When they entered adulthood, young members of the tribe would be given a small totem by the spirits which would lead them in further life. Each totem was symbolized by and animal. Sitka had leadership, Denahi had wisdom. On that fateful day, is was Kenai's turn to receive his totem.
"Kenai was so excited that he had forgotten to properly tie the basket with the village's fish to the tree so that the bears and other animals could not get to it. He rushed to the cliff where the ceremony would take place."