Of White Trees and Blue Roses
I own nothing. This all belongs to GRRM, and I'm just playing with the story he gave us.
Sorry for the delay—I'm glad to say that I've been doing some paid editing work. (Don't judge me on this story—this is posted as it's completed and unbeta'd) It pretty much took up all of February to do a full 150k novel—if you're interested it's a children's fantasy novel called The Wizard of Crescent Moon Mountain by Oldman Brook, which should go to print very soon. I really enjoyed the whole experience.
~X~
Chapter Twenty Six – Precarious Balance
Lord Rickard didn't spot the riders at first, it was one of his soldiers that caught his attention.
"Lord Stark. Horsemen ahead...carrying the direwolf banner."
"Hmm?" the aging Warden asked, and then saw the figures in the distance for himself. There were six of them, and as they drew closer a hundred different explanations ran through his head. Many from the caravan had left to join his son and heir on his final journey before he became a married man, and if the stories were true, it was better that Lord Rickard had stayed well away.
Had their games gotten out of hand? Had someone gotten hurt? Brandon? Lyanna? Or had his wilful children been the cause of the harm? The latter was the most likely. Once Lord Stark could make the riders out, he recognised Howland Reed and the knight who he'd sent with his daughter, bloodied and dirty.
Lyanna wasn't with them, and Rickard started to panic. Once more, an iron fist clenched at his chest, and he took a few moments as it passed. Red faced, he looked up and caught his breath as the men approached.
Howland pulled to the head of the group and made a beeline for Lord Rickard himself, his face a picture of concern. This was not going to be glad tidings.
"My lord, I have grave news, but it is news that I must tell you in private."
In private? Lord Rickard's brow furrowed, but he pulled his horse out of line and walked it a distance away, the nervous crannogman following close behind. Once he'd paused for a while, the Reed boy looked around, and then spewed a number of hastily spoken words out into the air. All Lord Stark got was something about the Knight of the Laughing Tree, King's Landing, Lyanna and Brandon.
Holding his hand up, Lord Rickard halted the crannogman in his tracks. "Please, be calm. I didn't catch a word of that." He held his hand high for a few more seconds; once sure that Howland had taken a number of deep breaths, he signalled for him to continue.
"Lyanna rode off on her own four mornings ago. The knights tried to keep up with her, but she lost them in the woods. Some of them are here with me now—"
"Where is my daughter and what has she done this time?" Lord Rickard said with mock humour that did little to hide his true concern.
"We don't know where she is," Howland said solemnly, "but we do know who she's with...Prince Rhaegar. She rode away with him—willingly or unwillingly, we're not sure."
As if Lyanna would allow herself to be taken unwillingly, Lord Rickard thought with a snort. Should anyone be stupid enough to try, then Lord Rickard didn't doubt that said man would realise the errors of his ways quite quickly. But maybe there was one particular man who Lyanna wouldn't fight...
"Rhaegar Targaryen?" Lord Stark's mind immediately drifted back to Harrenhal, and remembered the moment the crown prince had unexpectedly presented Lyanna with the circlet of blue roses. At the time, Lord Rickard had thought it completely out of character, but his daughter did had a certain air about her and it seemed that it must have captivated the usually honourable Targaryen.
This would bring dishonour on the entire Stark family, and then there would be the reaction of Lord Robert Baratheon, Lyanna's betrothed. After all the trouble he'd gone to arrange good marriages for both of his eldest children.
Brandon. "And my son?"
Howland winced and Lord Stark prepared himself for the worst. "Brandon is riding for King's Landing with two hundred men."
Luckily, Lord Rickard had the chance to turn away before his chest clenched and his face grew red; the Reed boy probably thought it was his reaction to the news, but this bout was harsher than usual, and it took Lord Stark a while before he was able to suck air back into his lungs and be capable of reasonable thought.
As he turned around, Howland continued, his voice getting excitable and more and more panicky by the moment.
"There is something else, my lord. Something you should know. You see, Lyanna and Benjen, they were both the Knight of the Laughing Tree, and Prince Rhaegar—he knew. He helped Lyanna hide everything. The prince could have told the king, but he said nothing."
Lord Rickard stayed inert as he thought and recovered from his moment of shock. His mouth twitching in false amusement as he realised that it wasn't a surprise that his children were the secret identities of Harrenhal's unknown competitior, but it was the prince's actions that was the true mystery.
Prince Rhaegar had a reputation for being noble and honourable. He had helped children of a lord he barely had dealings with and no real reason to love, and he had crowned his daughter the Queen of Love and Beauty at Harrenhal—had that been a reward for her jousting, or merely because Lyanna was growing to be a strong and fiercely beautiful woman?
One thing was for sure, he hadn't taken her to marry her. Targaryen polygamy was very much a thing of the past, but there again, maybe his father could be persuaded to reinstate the tradition in order to save face. He was the king after all, and his son had a reputation to maintain.
Lord Rickard considered riding for King's Landing himself, but the soreness in his chest reminded him that he wasn't in the best of health. No, Brandon was already headed that way and maybe that was a good thing. If someone could pause him before he found the prince and passed on a message from his father...
He looked up at Howland who was waiting patiently. "Go fetch a maester. I will need to send ravens."
Desperately searching his mind, Lord Rickard wondered what friends he might find in King's Landing. Someone who might be able to catch and calm Brandon before he did anything rash, and give him a lesson in tact and diplomacy before he went before the king.
If the situation could be balanced just right, then maybe, just maybe, he could come out of this as the father of a princess. Yes, that would be the best outcome of a very messy situation.
What Lord Rickard knew was that now was not the time to be travelling to Riverrun. The ache throughout his body made him long for home and familiar surroundings. Lord Tully wouldn't be pleased at the delay, but what could be done if there was no groom to wed? Hopefully Lord Hoster Tully would say nothing if his future son-in-law came back with a royal sister, even if she was a second wife.
Storms End might not be so easily placated. A raven would need to be sent to Jon Arryn, who would know the right way to break the news. In the meantime, Lord Rickard would retreat back to the safety and comfort of Winterfell, to let the storm come to them.