she was as big and labyrinthine as she had hoped it would be, she and Mina spent most of their days in their rooms or strolling through the gardens with the suspiciously large number of Crownland Houses girls of a similar age. How had my mother described it? Ah, yes, a 'cattle market', my dear mother had such a way with words that she had to say it. And the Florents were also there, Denna was quite prominent to be seen around the Red Fortress. My mother had not liked that at all, but she was in the company of Lord Alester, her uncle, who had so far rejected all of his mother's plots to have him and the girl from Florent expelled from the Red Fortress.
Mother herself seemed to have spent most of her time in meetings, with the King, with Jon Arryn, with the larger Small Council, and also with Tywin Lannister and Ned Stark.
She had crossed paths with Cersei Lannister and her brother several times, the girl was as her mother described her, spoiled and with a streak of insignificant vanity and cruelty a league wide. Too bad the poor fool who ended up marrying this little blonde lioness. Her brother on the other hand, well, he was handsome but there was an unsettling lack of warmth in her eyes when she smiled, and behaved with an arrogance that she found unpleasant if she was honest. Mina made a fool of herself the first time she met the Lannister couple, laughing and blushing at Jamie and then reduced herself to tears when Cersei made nasty comments about her hair and dress. Oh, no, anyone who had Jamie as a husband wouldn't have it easy with Cersei as a sister of assets. Until now, she and Jaime had been on several 'walks' together through the gardens of the Red Fortress, without Cersei present, she was a little less arrogant and more pleasant, she had a biting wit that showed that she at least had a reasonably sharp brain behind those greens. his eyes.
He had only seen Lord Stark from afar a few times, in addition to meeting him formally once in the Throne Room. The northerner dominated the room when he entered, all eyes turned to him, the man radiated power, strength, domination like a furnace radiated heat. Janna noticed that she turned more closely to observe the young Lord as he made his way along the line of courtiers and lesser Lords. He realized that the numerous noble daughters present tried their best to get Lord Stark's attention, competing with each other to strike up a conversation with the taciturn Lord of the North.
When he came to them, he bowed to the three of them, his gray eyes staring at them without emotion. —Lady Olean, Lady Janna, Lady Mina. It's good to see you at Kings Landing."
Mina had spoiled everything by laughing like a child and stumbling over her words, her mother looked at her for her stupidity. In person and up close, Lord Stark was even more intimidating than when viewed from a distance, he could feel the color reaching his cheeks, and he struggled to keep a tremor in his voice while talking to Lord Eddard. he had the height of King Robert, but while the king had a barrel chest and looked stubby despite his size, Lord Stark, despite his broad shoulders and powerful arms, had more of a hunter's gaze a thin around him. A jacket whose gray eyes pierced her chestnut, whose unwavering gaze sent chills down her back and a pleasant warmth through her belly. Janna blinked, Lord Stark had moved in line towards someone bigger, mother was giving him a frown that promised verbal whiplash later.
What had taken hold of her, what exactly did Lord Stark have that made her look as dumb as a blushing ten- and four-year-old girl? Objectively he was handsome, tall and with a body seemingly gifted by The Warrior himself, but beyond that, what had made him blush? What had provoked tremors and chills through her, and what by the gods had caused her femininity to tighten and moisten with her mere presence?
She had no answer to these questions, nor did she have answers when the mother had checked them later for her clumsiness, and Mina was reduced to tears.
"And what if he's the most handsome male I've ever seen, he's just a man? I didn't raise my daughters to become idiots with an empty head the moment a young Lord gives them a compliment, nor did I raise them to become putty in his hands, Janna!
"What, I'm sorry mother, what are you saying?"
"Oh, don't do that nonsense with me Janna, I'm old enough to know the signs, you were miles away when Lord Stark was talking to you, probably imagining your wedding party and the dress you will wear. You might even wonder how big your spine is and how it feels when you go to bed for the first time! Twits, I've raised a couple of idiots with empty heads to accompany that idiot from Mace! The gods take me now! "
With his tirade about the mother, he snorted with funny irony and then said, "I'll grant you this, he's a handsome specimen and if I were half my age and single, I'd be sneaking into their bedrooms tonight naked to make sure he doesn't carry anything on his mind, but put his cloak on my shoulders right away!"
Mother really was incorrigible, she really was. Janna sighed to herself. He dragged his mind back to the present; He walked through the gardens of the Red Fortress, waiting for Lord Eddard Stark. Mother had "arranged" for her and Nina to "take the air" with the Lord of the north, Nina had already had the pleasure of being there. Of course, when the mother had questioned Mina afterwards and, as usual, Mina could remember little of the conversation, the mother had turned to her and threatened to be locked in her room for being "a stupid girl with an empty head". Mina had burst into tears, and she had been sent to her room anyway.
She had two of her maidens with her as chaperones, not that she felt they needed them, but for the sake of decorum, and later she could see Lord Stark and two of his guards strolling to meet her. Fortunately, my mother was absent, she didn't want her and her biting tongue to spoil this or discourage her. In addition, he reflected; Lord Stark would probably welcome a change away from negotiations with his mother, even if it were only to take some air.
Ned Stark stopped a few meters from her, hovering over her and her companions, dressed in gray as he liked, her clothes cut in a strange style that she had already seen copied by other minor Lords and courtiers. She had inquired about this and apparently Lord Start called this style 'military undressing', it consisted of polished leather boots, grey wool trousers and a grey wool tunic collar with a high, on each side of the neck there were two golden wolf heads, the buttons on the front of the tunic also had small wolf heads. He wore a leather belt with a sword and a dagger and that was it, without a cape or any other adornment, simple, simple, severe, like the man or so it was rumored. However, the fabric was of the highest quality, and the "uniform", as he was heard referring to him, seemed to remind his mind "I don't need the best clothes to show you who I am".