Twelve days after the wedding, Jaime, Brienne and Tyrion reluctantly got ready to depart for the West. Jaime had previously sent messages to his father in King's Landing and to his uncle Kevan in Casterly Rock to notify them about his return home with his wife and brother, so everything would be ready for him to take charge as the acting lord of the castle. Of course, as long as Tywin was alive, he went on being the Warden of the West and technically he was still the lord of the castle on paper, but as he acted as the Hand of the King, his heir would assume the role of Lord of the Rock on his father's behalf.

Such as Brienne had warned, Tyrion became a bit suspicious of their change of heart with regards to the honeymoon, but he seemed sufficiently assuaged when Jaime told him about the letter demanding the newlyweds to head for the Rock straight away, though of course suppressing all the part which referred to the threat and to using him as leverage. Luckily, Tyrion understood perfectly the implications without the burden of knowing that his father had threatened him to make Jaime do his bidding, so the young couple had breathed easier. Even so, Tyrion had looked disappointed at their journey having been cut short, which was natural in a thirteen-year-old eager for adventure, so Jaime had suggested, if only to lift his spirits, that he continued to travel alone with a few Lannister guards for his protection. After all, Tywin hadn't mentioned what his youngest son should do from then on, or forbidden him expressly to continue the journey on his own. But both to Jaime's regret and relief, Tyrion had declined the suggestion, choosing to return with Jaime and Brienne. That decision had half saddened and half soothed Jaime. He wanted his brother to be as happy as possible and enjoy life, but he also wished to have him under his wing to protect him.

Jaime had told Brienne that, apart from the period he'd squired for Lord Sumner Crakehall which led to his knighting by Ser Arthur Dayne (a period in which he'd been allowed getaways home sporadically as vacation, at his father's command), he'd never been far from his brother. Jaime had always felt worried and responsible for Tyrion's wellbeing, though he admitted he'd quite failed to protect him from Tywin's and Cersei's cruelty, what he felt guilty for. Brienne had told him that he was just a child and it was their father's responsibility to look out for all his children in equal measure. Such a heavy burden shouldn't ever fall on an innocent kid, it was unnatural and unfair, but Jaime had not been placated by her attempts to help him see reason and feel better with himself.

When Brienne had asked him discreetly about his relationship with Cersei, Jaime had tensed up noticeably and looked reticent to talk about it, so she'd apologized hastily and said that he didn't have to tell her anything he wasn't willing to disclose. He'd softened slightly and replied that he and his twin sister had been very close in the past and that he'd felt conflicted because, as Brienne knew well, Cersei, like Tywin, hated Tyrion, and Jaime felt useless to stop her meanness against the poor little child, though he tried to deflect her acts of cruelty whenever he saw the chance to distract her from targeting their helpless and vulnerable brother.

From what Brienne had been able to guess from his succint tale, Jaime had loved Cersei deeply and developed a very close bond with her, but she'd been manipulative and selfish, and in addition he'd been caught in the middle of the rest of his family's hatred toward Tyrion. It seemed that at some point recently, Jaime had felt terribly hurt by her to the point of severing all ties with her, or that was what he'd implied. He hadn't been very specific about the matter, but Brienne hadn't pried into his personal issues with his sister, as it wasn't her business and besides, Jaime didn't feel comfortable bringing up that topic and clearly wished to put it behind him, so she hadn't insisted.

The sixth day after their wedding, her moonblood had come and she'd felt secretly disappointed. She didn't know a lot about women's fertility cycles, but she'd heard that it was during the middle days of the cycle when there were more chances to get pregnant, and by the time Brienne had started to have relations with Jaime, the middle of her current cycle had already passed, so it was normal that his seed hadn't taken root in her womb. They only had to persevere throughout the next cycle, she thought with a blush and a shiver of arousal. The sex with him was very far beyond antyhing she might have dreamed, and she felt like a beast in heat almost all the time, and the best part was that he felt the same. At the rate things went between them, with them coupling daily (except for her moonblood days because she didn't feel comfortable about the mess and besides, she was too sensitive and sore down there), if everything was all right with their bodies and things followed their natural course, her belly wouldn't take long to start swelling with child. Or so she hoped with all her being.

The farewell between her and her father was hard, aware that from then on they would only see each other every now and then, when she could visit Tarth, or he could visit the Rock, which wouldn't be easy for any of them, as they had responsibilities and duties to perform in their respective castles and lands, and besides, traveling was a rough affair even for nobles like them, and not at all advisable for pregnant women, and Brienne expected to find herself in that condition soon. Therefore, she spilled tears of sorrow and longing on her father's shoulder while they hugged tightly. He told her to take care of herself and they promised to write letters to each other often. He then apologized for having been so distant and withdrawn since the tragedy and he regretted with a half teasing tone that right when he had the chance to make up to her for his mistakes, she'd been snatched from him by a Lannister pest. Se laughed between sobs, knowing that her father had come to genuinely appreciate Jaime, looking past his surname and sensing his big and tender heart behind his exuberance, his snarky sense of humor and his often irksome facade.

Selwyn had previously taken Jaime apart, most surely to give him the due speech all fathers felt themselves compelled to give their sons-in-law concerning their daughters, and Brienne hoped with a smile that he hadn't threatened her husband too much. Not that Jaime would feel intimidated by anything he might be told, but Brienne was confident that he would listen to his father-in-law and take his words into account, out of respect for him and of love for her.

She'd also cried onto Ser Goodwin's shoulder, promising him not to neglect her trainings whenever she could keep carrying them out, and to add notes for him in the letters aimed to her father.

And at last, the castle staff had gathered at the main hall, and even if Brienne hadn't been especially close to any of them save for a small handful of maidservants because she'd always assumed that they preferred to keep their distance due to her physical appearance, she was surprised to see the respect in their stance and the sadness on their faces.

On his part, Tyrion had made a deep impression on her father too. They'd become close friends despite the age gap, and they would miss each other dearly, that was evident. Brienne had been witness to their easy camaraderie. Perhaps Tyrion might be persuaded to come back for visits from time to time, it would do him well, and he'd grown very fond of the place anyway (and especially of the castle's library and of the island's brothels).

Right before their departure, a commotion broke unexpectedly. Septa Roelle barged into the main hall, out of breath, yelling something about her bed full of horse dung. The whole room burst into uncontrollable cackles and the woman reddened to the roots of her hair at being the center of such unwanted attentions. Selwyn silenced everyone with a hand gesture and tried to interrogate the upset septa, to the others' sushed mockery, but nothing could be figured out and the culprit didn't step forward, so poor Selwyn, with an expresion of resignedly being expecting an impending headache, did his best to appease the offended lady with the promise to punish whoever had perpetrated such a misdeed against a woman of the faith of the seven. As soon as she turned her heels and vanished into the hallway in a swirl of skirts, the crowd resumed their laughter and fun at her expense, and Selwyn could do little to repress the ruckus, or had little desire to.

Brienne had turned to Jaime, who was grinning from ear to ear like the cat that got the cream, and that expression of his was enough to raise her suspicions.

"Have you had anything to do with this latest turn of events, by any chance?," she asked him in a chastising whisper.

The mischief in his eyes made her both wish to pinch him and laugh hysterically. "Maybe I might have dropped the horse shit into her bed, now that you mention it, wench," the scoundrel admitted brazenly.

Her eyes widened. "What? Why have you done such a thing?," she berated, though deep inside she was fighting to suppress her own laughter.

He looked as cool as a cucumber. "Well, she's awful and I don't like one bit how she treats my wife, so she had it coming. And she can consider herself lucky that I decided not to skewer her with my sword like a pig on a spit. At the last minute I thought that you wouldn't appreciate too much if I offered you such a gory show, so I spared her the impalement. Instead, I came up with a much less harmful but more stinky punishment," Jaime answered, radiating his usual slightly crooked rejoicing when he'd planned some mischief.

"Jaime!," she scolded in a loud whisper, between exasperated and flattered because he had gone to those lengths for her, because it was true that her septa was an awful woman (Brienne wouldn't miss her very much, to tell the truth) and he'd fulfilled Brienne's secret feminine longing for having a knight in shining armor defending her, but on the other hand he'd behaved so childishly that it bordered on absurd. In the end, she had to turn around and cover her face with her hands so no one would see her barely suppressed laughter. But Jaime noticed, of course, and the naughty smugness in his demeanor made her want to punch him with a vengeance only to kiss him better afterwards. It was all so ridiculous and wonderful.

She loved that impossible husband of hers more than ever.

Finally, after all the fuss calmed, the whole departing entourage mounted their horses, and Brienne turned to look at her father, Ser Goodwin and the others wistfully but hopefully, lifting her arm in farewell and conveying her heart and soul in her stare and gesture.

The new stage of her life had just begun, and she felt a mind-boggling mix of fear, hope, yearning and happiness which would have threatened to swallow her whole, if it weren't for the reassuring and unwavering presence of her husband next to her, providing her with the strength, confidence and warmth she needed in order to fight the uncertainties of the path laying in front of her.