Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire.
Another dragon, another wolf, another stag
Chapter 3: Willas
"Talking"
"Thinking"
(Location: Riverrun)
"Fascinating," Willas thought to himself as he watched the direwolves followed their masters about down in the courtyard. There was something truly fascinating watching them move. It was with an inherent grace that none of the dogs he had trained and bred had. That did not mean they were all tamed. He knew that the youngest son's and daughter's direwolves were just as wild as their masters. Having seen the youngest Stark run across the courtyard with the black direwolf following made him laugh.
As the wolves passed, he stepped out into the light, leaning on his cane. He watched as Robb Stark and his sister Sansa continued to walk on. They both had their mother's coloring. He knew that Lady Sansa was already pretty and would become beautiful as she grew up, like a flower blooming. He had heard his father talking about making a marriage proposal for him to the Starks, most likely to their eldest daughter.
While he could admit that Sansa was pretty, she was also too young for him. She needed someone who was closer to her own age and someone who can move without the need of a cane. If his father tried to make it official, he would refuse. She would need a knight from the songs (Loras might've been a good suggestion, if it wasn't for his…attitude), not an old cripple.
"Are you feeling sorry for yourself again, boy?" his grandmother asked him as she hobbled to his side and giving him an eyeful. A serving girl stood behind, obviously there to help her in any way she could.
"No, Grandmother, I am not. I was just admiring the direwolves of the Starks."
"Hmph, you're amazed by a bunch of overgrown dogs." The way she spoke made it sound like what he had done was stupid and childish.
But he was used to it, as it was her way. "Yes, I am."
"I guess that it is to be expected, since you decided to devote yourself to dogs and hawks."
"And reading and learning how to rule the Reach," he added. "Please don't forget those, Grandmother."
She rapped his cane with her own. "Don't be smart with me, Willas."
"Yes, Grandmother," he replied. He had been taught by her and he was her best student. His father might've cowered and behaved like a child in regards to her chastisements, but he would not.
"Good. Now walk with me." She turned around and started hobbling down the corridor. He followed along with the serving girl. It was clear that the girl could easily outpace them but stayed behind all the same. They walked in silence until the corridor had no more open windows to the courtyard. "Tell me, does Margaery still insist on tormenting the bastard?"
"She has a name, Grandmother."
"I am well aware of my granddaughter's name. I was there when she came screaming into this world."
"And can you remember the bastard's name?"
"Why? Should I?"
"She is not just a bastard. She does have a name, it's Mya."
"Yes, yes, of course it is. Now tell me, is Margaery still tormenting her?"
"Yes." He saw the look on her face at that answer. "You approve."
"She is reminding her of her place without being cruel or obvious about it."
"It is unnecessary."
"And how would you know that, dear boy? Did the bastard come to you and tell you that?"
"Yes, she did." She had come to him mere days after the betrothal had been announced to tell him what his sister was doing. At first he had thought nothing of it, thinking that she was just another girl in love with the prince. But her manner and her words made him think otherwise and after watching interact with his sister changed it completely.
"Why did she go to you instead of my son or me?"
"I asked her the same question. She said that Father was an idiot and you were probably deaf on your way to dead."
"Hmph, she does not do herself any good acting like that."
"Grandmother, she told me that she does not love Prince Aegon and that Margaery was happy to have him. She only asked me to stop my sister from doing something so pointless."
"Oh, she told you that, did she?"
"…Not exactly, no." Her words were a lot shorter and to the point.
"And what did you do about it?"
"Nothing, unfortunately," he answered. "Princess Rhaenys came by looking for her. She had no choice but to follow."
"Smart girl," his grandmother said. "She knows her place."
"Grandmother, I didn't think anything of it before then. But now I can't help but see it every time Margaery and Mya are together. What's happening is unnecessary."
"What's happening is necessary. If Margaery cannot handle one bastard girl, what will her future as queen look like?"
"Grandmother, are you not listening to me? Mya doesn't want to have Prince Aegon."
"Oh, so it's Mya now? I think you're getting too familiar with the girl, Willas."
He was beginning to get frustrated but that would not do anything for him. He had to stay calm in the face of his grandmother's words. "Have you ever talked to her?"
"That bastard?" she asked. "Why should I? She has never come to me and I have better things to take care of then one little girl's problem."
"If she does come to you, I beg you to listen to what she has to say before dismissing her."
She snorted and rolled her eyes but said, "Very well, Willas. I will indulge you on that."
"Thank you."
They passed a trio of ladies who giggled with one another, only to fall silent when they saw him. Their silence lasted while in sight of him but once he was sure that they were gone, he could hear them start giggling again. "Foolish chits," his grandmother remarked. 'They believe themselves to so clever to hide the Woman's game from any others." She looked at him. "So, have you figured out who they're playing for this time around?"
She asked him that every time the game was played at a tourney. He always found out but now, it proved to be a little more difficult. "I am not sure. I have heard some ladies say that the man being played for is Ser Daemon Sand."
"Would those ladies happen to be Dornish?" she asked. "Most likely, those snakes never did like outsiders. Well, who else is involved? Have they finally chosen you?
"No." That much he did know. Loras was more likely to be chosen then him. It was a bitter old feeling that he never quite got over.
"You're not feeling bitter about it again, are you boy?"
"No, Grandmother." It was an old feeling and while it was still there, he could keep it quiet and locked away.
"Good, it does not help to gnaw on old wounds. Do you know who the other man is?"
He shook his head. "I only know that it is not one of the regularly chosen people."
"Might add a bit of flavor to the game, finally," she said, mostly to herself. She looked over at the girl behind them, asking her, "What about you, girl? Are you going to be playing this game?"
"No, my lady," she said. "I have a husband and a babe in swaddling."
"Hmm, it's rare to see such a woman at your age married. They just seem to be getting younger every time."
"Or perhaps you're just getting older, Grandmother?" Willas asked her with a slight grin.
She turned her head to him like a whip cracking. "Don't start mocking me, Willas. Just because I didn't use it enough on your father doesn't mean I don't know how to use a cane." Even though she said those words, he knew that there was no real venom behind them. "I am hungry," she suddenly declared, turning right to go down another corridor. "Girl, entertain my grandson."
She vanished from sight, leaving them alone together. "My lord," the girl said with a bowed head and a nervous tone in her voice.
Whatever she was thinking, he would not do it. "My lady, you have already said that you have a husband and a babe. You have nothing to fear from me. Although, if you were to run, I would hardly be able to catch you," he said with a slight humor in his voice, tapping his cane against the floor.
She did not say anything to that. "Will you go any somewhere, sir?"
"Summer, wait!" they both heard a boy's voice call out. Moments later, another direwolf appeared before Willas. Following behind him was a boy who had the coloring of a Tully. His eyes widened at the sight of them. "Oh, my apologies, my lord, my lady," he said, clearly embarrassed.
"I'm not a lady," the serving girl told him.
Willas just waved his hand assuredly. "There was no harm done, Brandon Stark."
He frowned. "How do you who I am?"
"I was there at the feast and I remembered which direwolf went to whom."
Another woman came striding up behind him. "Your direwolf find what it was looking for, little lord?" she asked in a rough informal voice. She was tall as Willas with a hard face and brown hair that looked it had never been cut before. He saw scars on her hands and wondered if she had been abused.
"No, I don't think he did. I don't even know what it was he was looking for," the young Stark said, frowning at a thought. Then he looked at Willas, saw the flower brooch holding his cape up, saw his cane rest in his hand, and widened his eyes. "Lord Tyrell," he said in greeting.
"Lord Stark," Willas replied, giving courtesy a turn.
"You know this kneeler do you, little lord?" the woman asked the Stark, looking quite unimpressed.
"Osha, this is Lord Willas Tryell, the heir to Highgarden."
"It is a pleasure. And you are, my lady?" he asked.
She laughed and then spat out some phlegm onto the stone. "Ain't no lady, kneeler," she told him. "I was one of the free folk and a spearwife too, until the little lord's brother captured me and took me in chains to Winterfell."
"By the gods, an actual wilding," Willas thought to himself. If she was what she said she was, it would explain the scars on her hands. No doubt they were from some battle. "If you were captured, why are you still not in chains?"
She grinned. "I earned their trust."
"Let's go to the godswood, Osha," Brandon said to her. His direwolf seemed to agree with the idea as it began to move in place, waiting for the command to go.
"Might we accompany you?" Willas asked.
"Got the prettiest manners, don't he?" Osha remarked out loud. "Follow the old gods, do you?"
"I do not, but I would like to see it all the same."
"I'd be honored if you joined me, Lord Willas," Brandon told him, remembering his courtesies.
"Thank you, Brandon."
"Call me Bran."
He smiled at the innocence of the boy. "Very well, lead the way, Bran."
They made quite the group walking through the corridors of Riverrun: the northern boy and his direwolf, the wilding, the man from the Reach, and a serving girl. No doubt they garnered looks from smallfolk and nobles alike, especially with the direwolf in tow.
The creature fascinated him. There was power and strength in every step it took, its keen eyes seemed to miss not a thing, and by the way its tail was wagging slowly back-and-forth, it was content. "Your pardon, young Bran, but where did you find such a magnificent creature?" he asked the Stark.
The boy was subdued as he answered. "My brothers found a dead direwolf. She had whelped pups before she died. My lord father had debated whether it would've been more merciful to kill the pups then, even when Robb and I protested. Then Jon stepped in and pointed out to Father that there three boy pups and two girl pups, just like had three trueborn sons and two trueborn daughters. Father relented after that."
"And what happened to the mother?" he asked as they came upon the entrance to the godswood.
"I…don't know. We never spoke of her afterwards." He fell silent as they started walking on the grass.
The godswood was a place of light and sounds, with bird singing in the air and a small stream gurgling along. It was a pleasant mixture that was soothing to his ear. Yet when he looked at the Stark beside him, the boy looked discomforted. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing," Bran replied.
"Let's go find the gods, little lord," Osha said to him. "Perhaps that will ease you."
"Is something the matter?" the serving girl asked.
"He's used to a different kind of godswood," she said shortly. "Come on, keep it moving." They continued to walk until the weirwood tree came into sight. But there were already people there, two people, standing before the sad face on the heart tree.
"Is that Jon?" Bran asked as he watched the man talk to a lady. "Who's he with?"
Willas didn't know who the man was but he did know who the lady was. "That is Lady Tya Lannister, Lady Cersei's daughter."
"What are they say?"
"I do not know."
He was about to walk in open sight when Osha grabbed hold of him and pulled him back. "You might want to wait on that, little lord," she told him, a knowing smirk on her lips.
"Why?" he asked. She didn't answer him.
Willas was more focused on what the northern boy and the southern lady were talking about. "…plan on joining the tournament, my lord?" he heard Lady Tya ask.
"I'm not a lord, my lady," the boy Bran had called Jon replied. "I'm a bastard."
"Then perhaps I shall call you Lord Snow. You are the son of a lord, are you not?"
"…Aye, I am."
"Then Lord Snow you shall be," she said with a little laugh, like it was a game. Willas could see on the boy's face that he was uncomfortable with the title. "But come now, you still haven't told me if you plan to join the tournament. I would be most cross with you if you did and you did not at least try to ask for my favor."
"My lady, I think you have confused for someone else," he tried telling her.
"What is he thinking?" Willas wondered. A young lady acting like that to him? Most young men he knew would fight each other for such a chance. Then he realized what was going on. Jon Snow must be the one they are all playing for. "The boy is going to be eaten alive by them all."
But she only laughed. "Of course not," she told him. "I have never confused who I—"
"Lady Lannister!" Prince Viserys called out as he and Theon Greyjoy came out from behind a nearby tree.
They both turned to look at who was coming their way. "Your Highness," she said with a graceful curtesy.
Both direwolf and boy decided to join everyone in that moment, leaving Willas alone with a wilding and serving girl. "Shall we?" he asked them both. Osha snorted and walked out.
"Bran, what are you doing here?" Jon asked, seeing him follow his wolf.
Lady Tya saw the number of people coming before the heart tree. "I shall take my leave of you, Lord Snow," she said to the bastard before leaving them all.
"Lord Snow?" repeated Prince Viserys as he looked at Jon.
"She said it, your Highness," he replied quietly. He didn't meet the prince's eyes.
"That must make you feel good, huh, Snow?" Greyjoy said with a smirk. "Having a woman like that all over you? I was beginning to think that they just didn't like you."
"Shut up, Greyjoy," he muttered.
"Prince Viserys, my apologies for barging in like this," Willas said to the prince with a bow.
"There is nothing to apologize for," he said in reply. "Osha, how are you?"
The wilding snorted. "I've been watching the little lord as instructed. What else would I be doing?"
He just laughed at that. "Indeed you are and we thank you for it. And who is this lovely maiden beside you?" he asked, turning his eyes to the serving girl.
"Yara, milord," she answered, bowing her head slightly.
"A pleasure," he replied. "She's is a pretty one, wouldn't you say, Theon?" he asked the Greyjoy standing beside him. But he didn't get a reply. "Theon?" he asked, turning his head to look at him.
Everyone did the same, even the direwolves somehow. Theon was staring at the serving girl, his eyes wide with shock or surprise. His mouth was moving but no words were coming out of them. "What are you doing here?" he finally managed to say, his voice rising at the end of it.
The girl raised her head but now there was something different about her. "Is that any way to speak to me, Theon?" she asked him, her voice completely different from the servile tone she had before. It was rich and commanding, with a lazy smirk on her lips. Her posture changed too. She held herself like a man with a confidence that spoke of experience.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded again, his voice rising higher.
"I was invited, same as you. Of course, I came by myself while you came with your green land family."
"Theon, you know this woman?" Prince Viserys asked him.
"Aye, she's my sister, Asha."
Willas was the first to turn to her. Now that he knew that they were related, he could see the similarities. They had the same dark hair and the same shape of the eyes. But she had confidence while he had cockiness. There laid the difference between them. "My lady, my apologies," he said to her.
She laughed. "I am a captain, Greenlander. You'd best remember that." She looked at her brother with a disdainful eye. "You've become a soft little Greenlander yourself, Theon. Do you enjoy wearing their dresses and drinking their weak ale?" He didn't answer and she just laughed. Then she turned to look at Willas. Her eyes found the cane. "Pretty little thing there. Maybe I'll take it for my own. Maybe I'll take the old woman's too. She wouldn't notice, would she?"
"My lady, that is my grandmother you are speaking of," he told her.
"Are you going to defend her like a knight?" She tapped his cane with her foot, hard enough to make it move and him to stumble slightly. She laughed again as he regain his foot. The direwolf of Bran Stark's began to growl, echoing in the godswood. She looked at it and then at Bran. "Control your mutt or I'll be wearing a cloak soon."
Both Bran and his bastard brother were angry, letting it show on their faces. She laughed and walked away, a swagger in her walk. They all watched disappear into the godswood without saying anything. When she was finally gone, it was the wilding who spoke. "I like her. She just might make an antique Free Folk."
"She's practically a wilding already, Osha," Prince Viserys said, his eyes faint with distrust.
"Still a kneeler," she replied.
But Willas still looked the way she left. She had been fascinating. A woman captain, he had never heard of something like that. He resolved to meet her again.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
Willas is an interesting character. All we've got about him is from second-hand sources. I personally believe that he is what people about him but also a little bitter and self-deprecating about what happened to him.
But he's also the heir to the Reach so even if he's not a knight, he would be the epitome of chivalry and shrewd as well, due to his grandmother's doing. It will be interesting to see how that clashes against Asha's swagger and crassness, along with her strength.
And yeah, this story isn't going to be just about Jon, Rhaenys, and Aegon. There will be other characters. Probably not as many romantic ones but I'm going to do what I can. One idea I have is for Arya managing to squire under Brienne and the two of them get along with Asha, see where that goes.
I'll see you all next chapter!