Chapter 5: Shattered Illusions

Summary:

Ashara Dayne and Cersei Lannister resume their battle to determine the most beautiful woman in the realm. Cersei happens upon a scene that shatters her illusions.

Notes:

A couple of introductions some of you have been eagerly anticipating if the comments are any indication. We hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you have the previous ones.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

AsharaI

Market at Harrenhal

Anyone who had hoped Cersei Lannister leaving King's Landing would change anything between her and Ashara Dayne would have been greatly disappointed. Lord Tywin Lannister taking his daughter back home had done nothing to end the 'war of beauty' Ashara had been fighting with the blonde, even though — if Ashara was honest — it had felt like a little win to watch the golden lioness's carriage roll out of the city. Cersei had really thought she was more beautiful than Ashara — a fact that still made Ashara shake her head in frustration. How that woman ever got such a notion into her head was a riddle she would probably never be able to solve.

Yet somehow King's Landing had also gotten boring without the green-eyed blonde. No woman dared to challenge her anymore, and Elia was too good a friend to step up and openly challenge Ashara for her title as the most beautiful woman in Westeros. Elia was — in Ashara's opinion — the only one who could really challenge her — not that self-described lioness of Casterly Rock, who was thinking her father's gold could buy her everything she wanted. Well, Cersei obviously couldn't buy beauty surpassing Ashara's. She had to hold back a laugh when she suddenly stood opposite green eyes.

"You?!" Both women asked at the same time, their small smiles giving way to matching scowls. Green eyes looked into purple ones, both ablaze and clearly ready for a fight — at least one of their personal fights involving words, dancing, or the collecting of looks from the men who stood around. Why had she even thought about this woman?! There had been no reason for Ashara to do so; she should have been happy with the blonde being gone. Yet somehow… she had missed their fights. They had made her life more exciting, even though she had sometimes lost to the golden lioness — though these losses were few compared to her wins.

"What are you doing here?" Ashara asked the other woman as she continued walking along the path to the market the merchants had set up. "I could ask you the same," the blonde had — just as Ashara anticipated — directly turned around and was walking next to her. "Let me guess," Cersei added before Ashara could even answer. "Your friend didn't want to go without her little Dornish bed warmer?" The words were not more than a whisper, so that only Ashara and Cersei could hear them — say what you will about their rivalry, but neither woman would risk the life of the other.

Ashara just raised her chin higher, a smile on her lips. "You sound jealous," she began her answer, "do you want to be in my place? I could talk with Elia, maybe she has a soft spot in her heart and will be willing to take a stray lion cub into her care." Each word dripped with a provocative and challenging tone, daring the woman to fire back.

"Maybe a frail sun is just more than happy that the beautiful and strong lioness is away, so her dragon can not notice which of them is the most beautiful and let the sun fall." Cersei Lannister always hit a nerve when she talked about Elia, and Ashara knew the woman knew it. That was why Cersei brought Elia up in the first place — she knew it was the only way to make Ashara angry. "You should watch your tongue lioness," Ashara began with a sharp and warning tone, her purple eyes ablaze, "or someone might hear how you planned to make the sun fall, and maybe that someone misunderstands and thinks you plan to bring down more than the sun." Ashara raised her head again, looking away at the same time Cersei did, each looking in the opposite direction rather than the path they were following.

Thus neither woman noticed the narrow rut carved into the road, their feet sinking into it so that both stumbled forward and crushed into the dir— no, Ashara belatedly realized it wasn't the dirt: it was something warm and hard. After a second she could feel that it was an arm wrapped around her waist, holding her against a body that smelled like a forest, like grass and trees, like freshly cut wood, combined with a slight hint of smoke. Never before had Ashara smelled something so enticing — something that gave her such a warm feeling throughout her body.

Finally she opened her eyes, looking up at her savior. Purple eyes met grey ones that were clearly amused, but also showed worry and warmth; Ashara realized then that she could drown within those deep grey pools, that she would be more than happy to drown in their warmth. "My ladies," the man said, and the depth of his voice made the hair on Ashara's neck rise upright — it was hard to not shudder at the sound of his warm voice alone. "Are you both okay?" This was the moment she realized the man had only one arm wrapped around her, and that he had caught her and stopped her from falling with just one arm. She felt movement from the other side, her eyes flicking to the side and noticing the golden hair of the other woman who was now looking up into the man's grey eyes — a man who had caught each of them with just one arm, making sure they didn't fall as he pressed them against him.

"Y… yes," her eyes were back on the man's grey eyes when she also heard a 'yes' from Cersei. "Good, I was a bit worried you might have been hurt." Ashara noticed that a small smile stayed on the man's lips as he looked down upon them.

"Ned! I need your advice," a voice suddenly bellowed over the sound of all the people at the market, and Ashara could feel the man let go of her waist, taking a step back. "I have to excuse myself, my ladies," he said, with a bow to both of them. "I wish you a wonderful tourney, and perhaps you should watch the path you take together instead of pointedly ignoring one another," the words — combined with the hint of a teasing smile on the man's lips — brought a blush to Ashara's cheeks… but not only hers as she realized a moment later when the man had turned around and left.

Cersei had blushed from the man's words just as Ashara had, one hand slightly raised as if she was considering waving after Ned — that was the name his friend had called him by — and just a second later purple eyes looked into green ones, both women opening their mouths at the same time. "He clearly wanted to catch me!" they said at the same moment, and then their eyes became angry slits. "Dream on Lannister," Ashara replied directly. "His eyes were focused on me most of the time; he clearly wanted to catch me, and was smitten by my beauty." A laugh was Cersei's response to Ashara's words. "I don't know what you've been drinking, but you're imagining things Dayne," the daughter of Tywin Lannister answered. "His eyes were clearly on me the whole time," she added as she raised her chin, green eyes still locked onto purple ones.

Ashara laughed and shook her head. "Did you even see the warmth in his eyes?" she asked the other woman as she took a step towards her. "That warmth was only for me," Ashara's eyes moved up and down Cersei's body once, a smirk coming to her lips. "The only thing his eyes had for you was amusement — amusement about you behaving like a spoiled little child. As if a woman like you could ever catch the interest of a man like Ned," the smirk stayed on Ashara's lips while she looked into Cersei's green eyes.

"You only know his name because of his friend," the lioness fired back. "Ned clearly didn't tell you himself, and also didn't encourage you to call him by such a personal name." It was Cersei's turn to raise her head now.

"Well, we will see whom he chooses by the end of the tourney Lannister," Ashara now stood just inches away from the other woman. "I'm sure it will not be you. Why would Ned even consider you if he can have me? I'm the most beautiful woman in the realm," Ashara whispered to the other woman before turning around and leaving Cersei Lannister standing right where she was. A smirk was on Ashara's lips as she went to search for Elia and Rhaenys at the market, since her friend had told her to meet them there.

CerseiI

Market at Harrenhal - After Meeting Ashara

Out of everything that could happen to her at Harrenhal, she'd had to run directly into Ashara Dayne — the woman who thought herself more beautiful than Cersei. Even though her father Tywin had taken her with him back to Casterly Rock, the war between the two of them hadn't ended. When the carriage had left Kings Landing, Cersei had been looking out the window, up to the balcony upon which Ashara Dayne and Elia Martell had been standing. To the average observer it would have seemed as if the two women were merely talking, but Cersei was certain they had actually been mocking her and making fun of her losing the battle of beauty thanks to her father.

Elia Martell… that was another painful topic for her. Since Cersei had been a little child, her father had promised her to one day become the queen of the Seven Kingdoms, telling her that he would make sure Prince Rhaegar would marry her. However, King Aerys had sent the Baratheons out years before her father had expected him to pursue a match for Rhaegar — tasking them with finding a Valyrian wife for the Prince, as only Valyrian blood would be good enough for him. When the Baratheons failed — their ship sinking with them into the depths of Shipbreaker Bay — her father had been relieved, only to get even more shocked when the king announced the marriage of his son to Princess Elia Martell of Dorne — a marriage to ensure the Dornish people would stay loyal to the crown — before her father could even press his suit for her.

It was only thanks to her mother that her father hadn't done something stupid that day — just as her mother had so often stopped anyone from their family from doing any number of stupid things over the years. Cersei had to admit that her mother had even had to stop herself and Jaime from doing something very stupid once.

When it had happened, Cersei had not understood what was so bad about it — the Targaryens had done it for generations after all — but her mother had not shared this viewpoint, and had screamed at them both. Never before had she seen her mother like that — even her father seemed quite surprised when the screams had called him to the scene.

After that night her mother had made certain it could never get so close to happening again — causing more than one shouting match between Cersei and Joanna Lannister, which resulted in Joanna always proving who the real lioness of the two of them was.

Now — after multiple name days had passed since that night — Cersei understood why her mother had been so furious back then. With time and a lot of reading about the ruling family, she understood that something wasn't always good simply because someone powerful had done it.

Now there was this man — a man she had never seen before. His friend had called him Ned, and she couldn't remember her father ever talking about a firstborn son named Ned. It had surprised her to see that he had actually managed to keep both her and Ashara from falling — but he looked like a northerner, they had always been brutish barbarians with more brawn than brains. Why Ashara even showed such an interest in him was a mystery to her — the man might not even be a second son, and who would trust his warm grey eyes combined with the deep and dark but still very pleasant smell of nature? Both — his eyes and his smell — were clearly made to seduce some poor southern girl into giving him her maidenhead before he left for his cold home.

No; Cersei really had no interest in him — but simply letting Ashara have him was not an option. That would be like surrendering to the other woman and admitting she had no chance at getting a man the other wanted — and a lioness never surrendered.

A high pitched voice pulled her from her thoughts as she realized she stood next to a merchant's tent, looking toward the castle. She saw two figures close to the castle, a man with white hair who was sitting on a wooden box, and a dark-skinned woman who might be able to challenge her and Ashara's beauty if she didn't look so thin — Rhaegar and Elia Targaryen. Cersei slowly walked a few steps towards the couple, hiding in the shadow of the merchant's tent — and finally she also saw the source of the high pitched voice. Little Rhaenys Targaryen — daughter of Rhaegar and Elia — was standing in front of her father and trying to get his attention.

"Kepa," Cersei heard the young girl say in an excited tone, "you play with me and Balerion?" The little girl had stepped closer to her father, one hand gently pulling at his right trouser leg to get his attention — but Rhaegar simply ignored his own daughter, an annoyed huff escaping his lips as he was disturbed while reading some old book; however, what shocked Cersei the most was that he simply waved his hand, indicating that he wanted the little girl to leave him alone.

"Rhaegar…" It was easy to identify this voice as Elia's. "Can you not lay that book down for a few minutes and play with our tala?" Cersei was sure she'd never heard Elia's voice with such an annoyed and exhausted tone to it. Slowly Cersei looked back down to the little girl who was looking up at her father — probably hoping that the man would listen to his wife — and Rhaegar again didn't react at all, his hand just moving to the page and turning to the next.

It was then Cersei realized that Rhaegar Targaryen seemed to be not at all interested in his family, the book he was reading clearly more important than the happiness of his daughter and wife.

"Really?!" More anger was audible in Elia's voice. "These damn prophecies are more important than our tala? Well," Cersei saw how the woman took a hold of her daughter's hand, "enjoy your day with your prophecies. Rhaenys, Balerion and I will be at the market."

Even then — with an angry Elia and a nearly crying Rhaenys in front of him — Rhaegar Targaryen didn't show a single emotion; he only gave a small wave of his hand after a moment, telling his family to leave him alone before his voice could be heard. "These 'damned' prophecies — as you call them — will one day save Westeros; you should treat them with the respect they deserve." The normally melancholic and gentle voice was simply cold the way steel was cold, empty of any emotion just as Cersei had noticed.

Cersei was sure Elia huffed then, lifting Balerion from the ground and placing the kitten in little Rhaenys's arms; the only sweet thing in this scene happened then, when Balerion pressed his head against little Rhaenys's hand and licked a tear away from her cheek.

"Let's see if we find something nice for you at the market my Little Sun," Cersei could hear Elia say as she left with her daughter. "Aunt Ashara is also waiting for us." This and the black kitten seemed to cheer the little girl up slightly, bringing a small smile to Cersei's lips.

Still, she was shocked at Rhaegar Targaryen's behavior, and for the first time she was happy that her father's plans had not worked out — that she was not married to this emotionless man.

Cersei slowly started to move away from the scene when another thought came to her mind: if Rhaegar was her husband and behaved like that all the time, she would make certain that they had no more children. Mayhaps she and Elia thought alike, and Elia had likewise ensured she hadn't given Rhaegar more than a single child after witnessing how he treated Rhaenys.