Chapter 8: Searching for Answers
Summary:
Two lionesses search for answers, and each get more than they bargained for.
Notes:
Another chapter, and more character moments. We had a lot of fun with this one, so we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it.
Chapter Text
JoannaI
Camp of House Lannister
Joanna had decided that a walk would help her think about everything Tywin had told her over the last hour. Her husband had always been ambitious, and he'd always wanted what was best for House Lannister — never caring about the feelings of others — but now it seemed as if everything had changed within the blink of an eye. Suddenly a second born son had become an interesting candidate for Cersei's hand — a second born son from the North. She really didn't understand Tywin changing his mind; the North would bring barely anything of value into the marriage compared to what they could gain from other kingdoms — or even a royal match if the winds changed..
Deep in thought, Joanna hadn't noticed where she was going; it was only when she saw the first grey banners in the distance that it became clear where her legs had carried her: the camp of House Stark. She hadn't been standing there for even a minute when a man from the other camp walked towards her. When he got closer, she noticed that the man belonged to House Stark: not as a servant, guard or bannerman — this was a member of the family.
It didn't take long until emerald green eyes looked into grey ones as the man now stood opposite her, and it was only then she realized how tall and broad he was. "Lady Lannister?" the young man asked Joanna in his deep voice — there was a certain warmth in the depth of his voice, she noted — and Joanna nodded. "Lord Eddard?" she asked the man in return — from all her husband had told her this man looked like the second born and not the firstborn. A nod came as an answer to her question, but the surprise visible in the younger man's eyes made Joanna realize this may not have been her best idea: why should she be able to recognize a second born son? It really made no sense now that she thought about it. "Earlier I saw your father with a different young man at his side; it was a lucky guess that he might've been the older brother," she said quickly, thinking on her feet. It was not a complete lie; she really had seen Rickard Stark and a young man who resembled him.
To her relief Eddard Stark gave a nod with a small smile. "I can imagine that my father had a talk with my brother," he affirmed, and the lioness was sure she saw a bit of amusement playing in those grey eyes. "What brings you to my family's camp? Did you want to talk with my mother?" he continued. The name Lyarra Stark came directly to Joanna's mind at the mention; the lady was the daughter of the wandering wolf, a man who was known throughout Westeros for his skills with the sword and the battles he'd fought. More than once she'd listened to tales about the man while she was still a child — but that was a topic for a different time. "Your mother is here?" Joanna asked instead, a smile on her lips. "I thought she would've stayed in Winterfell, since your father is here." When Joanna had first looked into those grey eyes, she'd thought it would be easy to read them, but now she noticed they simply gave nothing away. "In all honesty, Lord Eddard, I was simply taking a walk while thinking, and my legs carried me to your family's camp. I only noticed a moment before you came into my view," she said. It impressed Joanna how the young man was able to keep everything hidden within his eyes, but it wouldn't be good to dwell on that for too long. "Mayhaps you would escort me back to my husband's tent? I would enjoy a nice talk rather than dwelling on my thoughts any longer," she finished. From all her husband had told her, the young lord would never deny a lady the request of an escort back to her tent — and neither would he have any inappropriate thoughts while performing that duty.
Just as her husband's words had predicted, the man nodded and offered her his arm. "It would be my pleasure to escort you back to Lord Tywin's tent, Lady Joanna," the words were respectful and charming, and his behavior was perfect as if she'd personally taught him his manners at Casterly Rock. With a small smile she took his arm as they walked back through the tents. "Excuse the blunt question Lady Joanna," she suddenly heard, and turned her head towards the young man, giving a nod for him to continue, "but could it be that your daughter is also here?" Joanna nodded, "Why yes, did you run into her?" The question left her lips while her mind was still pouring over Tywin's words from earlier; maybe this time her husband's plan would work out, and he'd get the husband he'd selected for their daughter, unlike his prior choice, Prince Rhaegar.
"Yes," Eddard's response pulled Joanna's attention back to him. "Earlier at the market I saw two ladies. It seemed as if they'd been in an argument, as each was looking in a different direction. Thanks to this, they didn't see a breach in the path, and both stumbled over it," Joanna's eyes widened in shock. Had Cersei been hurt and no one had informed Tywin and her? "Don't worry," Ned said. She'd tried to read the man earlier, but now he'd read her solely from her reaction. "I was able to catch both ladies and make sure they didn't fall to the ground," he said, and again the northerner impressed Joanna. Most men would struggle to catch one lady wearing a dress like her daughter, but this man had caught two of them. "One of them had blonde hair and her eyes were the same shade of green as yours; that's why I thought she might've been your daughter," he finished. When would the northerner stop impressing her? It was a legitimate question in Joanna's mind; the man had caught her daughter — his arm apparently wrapped around her — and he could still remember her eyes — the implication being that his eyes had made contact with Cersei's rather than being glued to her bosom.
"Mayhaps you could tell me who was with her? We came here without any of her friends, and she didn't tell me any of them would be coming here with their families," Joanna now asked, intrigued, and simultaneously trying to maneuver the conversation away from Cersei for a moment, thus making it easier to sort her thoughts and hide her emotions. "The other lady was a bit taller than your daughter, with raven black hair and purple eyes," Eddard told her, and Joanna simply couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped her lips. She noticed that the young man was looking at her and gave a slight wave. "Forgive me Lord Eddard," she said, excusing her sudden outburst, "but you just described Ashara Dayne, Cersei's arch enemy from all she's told me about her time in King's Landing." A smile was still on her lips when Eddard nodded. "And here I'd thought the two of them might actually be friends who'd had some silly argument about which of them wore the prettier dress," the northerner again proved to her he could be a funny companion as she couldn't hold back a smirk.
"You know Eddard, from all my daughter's told me I think the two of them could actually be great friends if they weren't so stubborn," Joanna admitted with a smile still on her lips. "It's something Cersei inherited from Tywin — and also from me, much to my shame. If we want something, we normally get it," and Tywin wanted this man for his son-in-law. Joanna also slowly started to want that, sure he would be a good man for her daughter. "When Cersei was a child, she always wanted everything others had. When my husband got Jaime a sword, she wanted one too. Tywin didn't even consider getting one for her, so one morning she snuck out of her room and to the sparring yard. To this day none of us knows where she hid, but the guard who opened the guardhouse with the sparring weapons didn't notice her and left the door he'd opened unlocked. Cersei snuck in and got one of the wooden swords out of it: Tywin and I had just walked out onto our balcony, so we saw how she was dragging it behind her. Tywin shouted at her to stop, but Cersei wanted to prove her mettle and stood her ground, trying to lift the much too heavy wooden sword. She actually impressed me when she lifted it, but then the weight caused her to lose balance — from the balcony it looked as if the sword was dancing with her, pulling her from one side to the other, back and forth, circles and bends. And then little Cersei fell face first into the sand of the sparring yard. I couldn't hold in my laughter, and even my lord husband had a smirk on his lips."
CerseiII
Camp of House Lannister
So much had happened in not even two hours; Cersei had seen the real Rhaegar Targaryen, a man with no love for his child and wife, only caring about prophecies. Prophecies! Words said by people who claimed to have supernatural powers; words that were differently interpreted by every single person in Westeros, and often contradicted by prophecies made by other people. How a man like the crown prince had gotten so obsessed over them Cersei couldn't understand.
Yet that wasn't enough. Then she'd quite literally stumbled upon the complete opposite, Ned. First she'd really thought he was only a northern brute, catching her and Ashara to impress them and plant the first seed of interest — a warmth inside them that would make them come back to him again and again. Still, that wasn't the last time she'd seen him; it wasn't long after that when she'd stood hidden in the shadow of a merchant's tent and watched Ned meet Princess Rhaenys.
Sure, Ned hadn't known who the girl was, but he'd still been kind and sweet with her. During the time Cersei had spent in King's Landing, she'd never heard little Rhaenys laugh so much. Even when the girl told him he looked funny, Ned hadn't gotten angry, he only laughed and let the girl touch his beard. Cersei raised her brow when he suddenly stood there in the market, the little princess on one arm, and the meanest cat Cersei had ever seen on the other, a kitten who only let Elia and Rhaenys close normally — but the northerner seemed to be a special case as the kitten sought contact with him and wanted to be close to him, just like the little princess who clearly enjoyed being held on his arm.
Elia had arrived at the scene mere moments later, and the northerner proved to not only be a good man around children, but also to know the rules of court. It was then that Cersei considered she may have judged him a bit too harshly, that maybe she'd want her future husband to act with their children just as Ned had acted with the little princess.
Cersei's thoughts still dwelled on Ned when she entered her family's camp. She considered talking with her mother about the things that had happened today — specifically about what she'd seen and why her mind suddenly seemed to not see only a complete savage in Ned anymore. Her mother would probably be able to help her understand her own mind, and why these things all confused her so much.
Having made a decision a smile came to Cersei's lips as she walked towards her parents' tent, passing a few of her father's most loyal guards who seemed to be surprised by the smile. A moment later her smile disappeared while her eyes went wide: a few feet away from her she could see her mother and… Ned. She blinked thrice before she was sure she hadn't imagined the scene in front of her. The Lioness of Casterly Rock was walking through the Lannister Camp with Ned — and her mother looked worried.
Had her mother and father heard about the incident earlier? Had they heard she'd fallen and the young man had caught her — how close she'd been to him, and her not immediately moving away from him as would've been appropriate, and how she'd nearly waved after him? She didn't want to think about her father's anger if she'd brought shame to House Lannister. It wasn't her fault, Ashara had fallen just as she had, and was caught by Ned too — and Ashara had immediately been smitten with the man, seemingly falling in love at first sight, while she only was thankful he'd saved her from the embarrassment of falling into the dirt. She was Cersei Lannister, her parents should know she would never fall for the tricks of a northern savage.
Determined to find out what the two were talking about, Cersei moved closer to them and tried to stay hidden from their view while she could still see their faces. The worry had moved from her mother's face, a smile coming onto her lips while she kept talking with Ned. Cersei couldn't hear what they were talking about, and she felt that was driving her mad. What was so funny? Had Ned told her mother something funny — maybe about her fall? Had he told her mother she'd behaved like a spoiled brat in full view of everyone, and consequently hadn't seen the rut in the road? She had to get closer to them. Immediately.
Thus she dared to risk more, moving into the view of the two people who talked as if they'd met each other before. It surprised Cersei; her mother had always taken her time with strangers, wanting to judge their characters before she would talk with them about anything funny — but this time it was an honest smile on her mother's lips — something the lady of House Lannister rarely bestowed upon those outside their family. It was then that Cersei asked herself what was so special about Ned that every woman seemed to like him immediately? It seemed as if they found it easy to talk with him and genuinely enjoyed it.
Was it maybe caused by the honest smile Ned had on his lips when Joanna started to tell him something — the smile that didn't even disappear when Joanna was talking longer this time? Actually, she was talking so long Cersei was sure it was a story, one that seemed to amuse Ned immensely as his smile slowly got bigger.
When Cersei was finally close enough to listen to them, her mother had just finished the story, and Cersei couldn't hold herself back.
"When did you laugh and father smirk?" She asked her mother as she stepped forth from her hiding place, a second later her green eyes looking into her mother's. "When you had your dance lesson with the sword," Joanna immediately answered, and Cersei felt the heat rising to her cheeks as they got red. "Why are you telling Ned about that?" A second later Cersei would've liked to slap herself for saying this without thinking; she'd met Ned not long ago, and now called him by his nickname in front of her mother — and she could see how her mother raised a delicate brow, surprised that her daughter already called a man by a nickname so soon after meeting him.
"Ned?" Her mother asked, and Cersei could've sworn that a mischievous glint was in the Lioness of Casterly Rock's green eyes. "Eddard told me he met you earlier," Cersei had to bite her lip to keep herself from saying anything at the sweet tone accompanying her mother's words, as her mother continued, "that you and the lady Ashara had nearly fallen, but he was able to catch the both of you," her mother finished, her eyes still looking into Cersei's, daring Cersei to look away. "He didn't tell me the two of you were already on a nickname basis," now her mother finally looked away, into Ned's grey eyes. "Oh, I think your lady daughter, Cersei, only caught it when Robert, Lord Baratheon, was calling for me and thought it was my name. Sadly, I forgot to introduce myself to the ladies in my haste," Ned said, a smile still on his lips, and Cersei was speechless when her mother just smiled back and nodded. "Well, from what you've told me, my daughter also failed to introduce herself, quite contrary to what I taught her," her mother finished, and Cersei's face got even redder while the smile on Eddard Stark's lips got even bigger.
Cersei curtsied perfectly — she'd never dare shame her mother by doing anything less — and extended her right hand, her green eyes meeting Ned's grey ones as she spoke, "I'm pleased to meet you, my lord. I'm Cersei Lannister, daughter of Tywin and Joanna Lannister." Ned smiled warmly at her as he spoke, "The pleasure is all mine, Lady Lannister. I am Eddard Stark, second son of Rickard and Lyarra Stark," before he bowed to take her hand, placing a gentle kiss upon her knuckles. Cersei was almost grateful for her earlier embarrassment then, as she wasn't sure she could've lived down her cheeks rapidly transitioning from her usual complexion to the flaming red she was sure they wore now.
Ned — despite the formal introduction, she couldn't think of him in any other way — released her hand, rising back to an upright posture. Cersei fought to regain her composure, but that struggle began anew when she saw her mother's face. There was a familiar glint in her mother's eyes — a glint that told Cersei the Lioness of Casterly Rock was planning something. Still, what could the lady of House Lannister possibly be planning involving the second son of House Stark?
Cersei felt a void form in the pit of her stomach, her emotions in turmoil after all she'd witnessed and experienced over the last few hours. She couldn't fathom her mother's plans, and she hadn't felt so helpless — or so inadequate — since she'd been a little girl. She was pulled from her thoughts by her mother's elegant voice, "We'd be honored if you'd join us for dinner, Lord Eddard, but of course we'd understand if you have prior commitments." Cersei didn't know whether Ned should be thankful to — or terrified of — her mother then.