CHAPTER 4

Laenna went back to Casterly Rock, but nobody asked questions. Nobody wanted to. Laenna didn't want to.

She had seen Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark kiss in one of the only visions she could truly remember afterwards. The rest didn't make sense, she had seen flashes of the rest, two wolves in flames, and a Stag and a Dragon charging from opposite sides in a vicious fight, she had seen bloody images of war, and she had seen a green flame, and she saw the iron throne full of bleeding swords.

She had seen too many flashes, and these flashes she prayed with all her might were only a dream and not what she had read before in the Kyndall and Lannister and Harrenhal Libraries. She couldn't possibly be a witch and she was certainly no priestess, so there was no way she was predicting the future. It was not possible, Rhaegar's hand might have been bleeding a bit, but surely that did not mean a single drop of blood that she tasted could force her to see things. Things yet to pass.

At first, the maesters thought something like shaking sickness, but she had never shown symptoms before, so they quickly discarded it, but after that, they could find nothing, no signs other than it might be something else that was unnatural.

She couldn't believe it. She was surely just stressed or ate something or there is something they didn't see.

Because what they thought was so very damaging. They thought her a potential woods witch. She had heard them speak in hushed, whispered words.

But she knew somehow there was something she was forgetting. Her childhood had many gaps before she came to the Lannisters.

The trip back was a throat grip as she awaited for the Hand to take her.

When they got there, she felt she was about to meet her maker, Kevan Lannister went in before her and talked to Tywin before she was also called in.

"You have made house Lannister weak," were his unnerving first words as she sat down.

"You have shown a part of you that the king will no doubt wish to exploit and possess."

"I'm sorry, my Lord, it was not my intention-," Laenna started.

"Do you know why you were sent here by your father?"

She was silent.

"Well," Lord Tywin questioned, "Do you?"

"No," She said.

"No, my lord," he corrected.

Laenna repeated, "No, my lord."

"You suffered horrid visions and your mother begged Joanna to take you in, to try and find some way to cure you of your visions, but it seems as soon as you came here, your shaking sickness stopped and your visions became mere dreams and nightmares."

"What you stated in one of your dreams, though according to a servant, was that you said house Lannister was destined for greatness and that Cersei would marry a stag. A stag in ancient times was a symbol for kings before Targaryens came. You also named events and conversations in some of them that only I know from the past. That is the only reason you are still here. I think you could be useful, but trust me - betray me ever, or deliberately keep in the dark something I should know, and I will see you executed. Witchcraft is not accepted in the faith nor in this castle."

"I don't remember anything of this," she had said, almost willing her memories to return to her so she could make sense of this news.

He sensed her confusion and analyzed her face for a bit in stoic silence before continuing.

"The king does not suffer tears. He in fact enjoys them. Never show him weakness if you wish to survive if he ever does call upon you."

Laenna could feel coldness sweep over her body once more.

"You are dismissed."

Then she was dismissed as though she were nothing now, he turned around, his back to her, and it felt like she was nothing more than wind. Blowing constantly yet just as constantly ignored. Which was a problem as she wanted to ask him how she was not supposed to cry, if she always cried at everything.

After that some months passed before, and whilst Cersei terrorized her further. Mocking her with her gaggle of friends without fail whenever she saw her.

She mocked her manner of speaking, called her fat constantly, laughed at her unrequitable crush of Jaime, her love of the monster Tyrion, and called her a witch, to the point of Laenna trying to cover her ears, while they circled her like vultures, and it felt like it would never end, like they would not let her escape.

This all culminated one day with a cry of, "You horrid spoilt bitch! Why?! What did I ever do to you?! Even if I was a witch, it would only be to curse you!" This Cersei could not handle, and answered with a violent red print slap that landed her on the ground. This was followed by three furious kicking girls. Only then did a guard seem to notice when Laenna started screaming.

Of course only she was punished, because what could she say against three other girls of biased opinion and of higher rank than she, a septa taking a cane to her hand countless times on the words of Twyin who had ordered, "Teach her what happens to those carless of words," and Laenna was forced to pray for forgiveness to the mother on her knees till she could not feel her legs. and her ribs felt like they would take the breath from her.

But that was not the end of that day of terror, as that night Cersei goes to her bed and takes with her a knife to Laenna's throat, and threatens her.

"Call me a bitch again, or threaten me ever again, you vile witch, and I'll take your tongue from you"

But as she looked Cersei in her teary eyes and as Laenna's hands also held the knife to her throat, she could've sworn she saw only a frightened child whimpering, trying to face a wild animal that could kill her.

All she wanted to do after this was stay in bed all day, but of course that was not allowed, and she was pulled out by her hair and hit again with a cane if she refused.

The only comfort in her life at this point after was Tyrion and the library and she held these memories dear to her heart.

Tyrion once asked her, "Do you think dragons are gone forever?"

She had immediately answered, "No, because that would mean magic is gone forever."

Laenna had smiled at him and he had told her that she gave too much of a simple answer sometimes.

"Well, I give simple answers because-,"

"Yes, I know, life is cruel and you want to make it better with easy answers, but is that truly how it is?"

"Your the smart scholar, not me, Tyrion."

"A dwarf with nothing else to live for is barely a scholar-"

"To me, you cast a great shadow, so much so, your not a dwarf," she interrupted him with a small smile.

"My father would be so glad to hear this." he said giggling way too much.

"Well, anyways, us outcasts have got to stay together."

To that, he spit in his hand and raised it, "The dwarf and the witch forever and ever."

"Tyrion, no spit, that's so gross! I told you, I'm not a man," she yelled, running away laughing and screaming.

Tyrion had immediately chased her hand first, "Come on, brother, show me you love me and promise me this!"

She could still remember this happiness as her cheeks burst out at the seams and her smile felt it was tearing her cheeks.

There was many moments like this before it all went away, and she held onto them as her life turned to shit.

The news comes out a few months after that, unexpectedly and terrifying quick. Not to Laenna though. She knew this would happen. She had been awaiting the consequences. Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna.

Then the royal summons came and this time as she was dragged from Tyrion, she could make no promises to ever see him again.

She only begged Twyin for mercy, to not send her away, that she would be good.

But good girls don't survive this world, and all girls are easily shipped off as a breeding stock from the age of their first blood.

There would be no sympathy from Twyin Lannister.

Twyin's last words that day had been a warning in fact, "Listen carefully - Leave Jaime out of your mess, stupid girl."

All the while, Tyrion also begged on her behalf before being violently shut down.

This made her wonder how a strong and kind woman like Joanna could've ever loved him.

Even though this all happened, she tried not to cry till she was pulled into a carriage by a guard.

But the tears would come, they would be consumed by those more powerful than her, licking her tears like they held the seccrets of life, and her tears would flow as as if she was a vessel of the sea. With no end or depth in sight.

In this sea, she hoped Jaime would save her from drowning though, despite everything - but unfotunetly this was also to prove false.

-Next we will see Laenna's horrific life at King Aerys the Mad's court, thank you for reading