The North, near Winterfell
Orryn
No one lied about how cold the North was, and though every damn castle we passed claimed it was still summer, I could feel my bones aching with cold.
The journey along the King's Road was painfully slow, and my uncle liked to feast when we stopped. The parties ends late, which meant the king wouldn't wake up until the lunch, and more time we lost".
The queen also had her problems, insisting on traveling in a gigantic carriage that broke down every three miles, nothing good came of this 'adventure', and perhaps nothing ever would.
More than once I had to ask for hot water to scald one of my men's feet because of the cold. Hugh was the worst, when he finally took off his boot, his feet were purple.
The young knight was amusing company, arrogant yes, more than he had any right to be, but he was a good man. I couldn't tell him anything important, that was a fact, Hugh told me everything he knew after a few cups of wine.
About his father's debts in the Vale, debts he inherited when the old man died. About how his mother managed the small estate they had, and how the only reason they didn't lose everything was because she appealed to Lord Arryn, who accepted him as a squire.
It was more or less when we left the Riverlands that Hugh finally realized one fact, his promotion to knighthood was a gift to Lord Arryn, not to him. Unfortunately for him, Ser Borys was kicking his ass day after day, sevens hells, even I was a better knight than he".
The entourage's camp was a mess at every stop, the royal family always slept in some castle, but the rest? They just spread out as best they could.
I was supposed to sleep in the castle, I had that right, and it was only natural that it should happen, but I avoided it as much as I could. The twenty men who accompanied me were solid, hand-picked by my father, and I wasn't stupid enough to think they would obey me without question just because of my birth, I was still a green boy in their eyes.
Ser Borys was there to be my 'mentor' in dealing with veteran soldiers, and the first thing I did was camp with my men.
We followed the military code, with organized tents, latrines as far away as possible, and everything is practical. But they still had to keep up appearances.
"You are not an ordinary soldier, remember that". Ser Borys, always short of words, grumbled when I joined the camp, and he was right.
Being close to my men didn't mean being one of them, I was still a nobleman, I was still a leader, I still commanded them. I trained with them, shared the duties and functions I wanted, but otherwise I kept my distance.
Lunch was always in my tent, and as good as my men's food was, the only ones who shared my table were the knights, Ser Borys and Ser Hugh.
With a full stomach, I began to write a letter to my father. I told him the stories I'd heard about Hugh, how he'd been an errand boy for Lord Arryn, even a book carrier. I joked that some of the books were quite heavy and helped build his strength, books like 'The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms'.
I had barely finished writing and was waiting for the ink to dry when Ser Hugh called to me from outside.
"Lord Orryn, Lord Tyrion Lannister requests an audience." I covered the letter with a pile of papers and told Lord Tyrion to come in. The dwarf was an interesting man, lecherous and drunk, but very intelligent too. We met a lot of people on our journey, and he tried to stay out of the Queen's sight as much as possible.
"Lord Orryn! I brought the game I mentioned last time, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Tyrion said smiling and carrying a board.
"Cyvasse, as I remember Lord Tyrion. A fever in Essos". I replied, standing up to greet him.
"And in Dorne too, don't forget." Lord Tyrion joked, placing the tray on another table.
I pulled a chair over to the man and sat down on the other side, staring at the pieces being arranged. "Dorne, huh? I think that says a lot about this game."
Picking up a bottle of wine, Tyrion laughed. "You say that because you've never had a Dornish woman in your bed."
"I'd like to know, since all our conversations always end up on that subject."
"Because you must be the last Baratheon virgin of your age, and it's fun trying to corrupt you."
"Surely, Lord Tyrion, you will never see me in a brothel. If I've managed to refuse my uncle, King Robert himself, to take me to one, you find it too difficult."
"You make a good point, boy, I hope you enjoy your chastity until your father marries you with some unattractive girl".
"I hope you enjoy your whores while you still have gold to please them."
Tyrion took a sip of his wine and laughed. "That's why I like you boy, you're perhaps the most intelligent companion I've had on this journey, so you can see how low I've fallen."
I gave a dry, more sincere laugh. "Are you sure it's not just your legs shrinking from the cold?"
"Ha, ha, ha. Let's play the game, shall we?" Lord Tyrion cut me off and proceeded to explain the rules.
Each piece had a function, made specific moves, and could only be killed by other specific pieces. A Spearman could never kill a Dragon, but it could kill a Catapult, and the Catapult could kill a Dragon.
As expected, my first game was a crushing defeat against Lord Tyrion, but the game was interesting. In the following games I felt a gradual improvement, but I was still far from being able to compete with a more experienced player.
Tyrion was the kind of player who thought three, four moves ahead and as the board moved it was hard to imagine what his plan of action was, there were too many options.
In the last game I lost again, but inflicted heavy losses, which made Lord Tyrion smile.
"You're a good boy, but hard for me or not, it's still a win. Your mistake is not trying to play your own game, but always trying to react to mine."
It was good advice, but honestly it was impossible for me to plan against someone like that, it's like they say in court, when you play the game of thrones you win or you die.
"It is a fun game Lord Tyrion, I can see the 'military' appeal behind it. Many might also interpret it as a political representation."
"And you don't?". Tyrion asked me with a raised eyebrow.
"It's a game, that's all it is. You can't expect an army to always fight the same way, Lord Tyrion, there's no such rule on a battlefield, there's no such rule in politics."
"But you have to agree that there are some patterns that people tend to follow. Of course, it won't be as clear as it is on this board, but for those who can see it, it will always be there, even if dozens of boards get mixed up."
"Would you like to play another game, Lord Tyrion? I'm sure my defeat will take longer this time, I can assure you of that." I said with a smile.
"That depends, boy, how much wine do you have left?"
"Enough, and if it runs out, it's nothing that can't be fixed."
Cirilla
It had been two moons since I returned to Dragonstone and I hadn't known what it was like to sleep for a week.
"Ciri, are you all right?" Shireen said worriedly. We were in her quarters back at Dragonstone and she was reading me a book.
"I'm fine, Shireen, I'm just a little tired, that's all." I smiled, but it didn't convince the little lady.
"Ciri, you are my friend, my only friend. I know something's wrong...". She said, taking my hand and looking at me with her blue eyes, eyes very similar to Orryn's. "You can tell me."
I bit my lower lip, not knowing if I should tell her about it or not. "I... I... I think I'm pregnant, Shireen."
"How?" Shireen said, surprised and wide-eyed.
"It's been two moons since I had my blood, you haven't had it yet, but you know how it is, don't you Shireen?".
"Yes... but how? Ciri, who is the father of your child? Did someone in the capital... hurt you?". Shireen said worriedly, grabbing my other hand.
"No! It wasn't like that!" I said quickly. "The father of this child is Orryn!".
Shireen was silent after that, more silent than I expected, she didn't even try to correct me or tell me that her brother wouldn't do that.
"I know it's a stain on your brother's honor, I intend to drink the moon tea now. I know it's dangerous, but it's the best way". I spoke with my head down, shame and sadness eating away at my heart.
"No!" Shireen said and hugged me. "My brother wouldn't accept this, Ciri, I know he loves you!".
"I know that, Shireen, but I can't say this is Orryn's child... I just can't."
"I'm sure we can work something out, Ciri, Orryn may not take this child, but he will love him, I'm sure of it."
"I can't just deny it and not say who the father is, if the child is born looking like a Baratheon, everyone will comment on it and I'll probably be sent away." I replied almost on the verge of tears.
"You can marry someone... say the child is his." Shireen said uncertainly.
"I don't want to be touched by another man, Shireen, and no man would marry me so he couldn't touch me. Unless he was..." I started to say, but stopped when a realization finally came over me.
"Ciri?".
"You're brilliant, Shireen! That's exactly what I'm going to do!". I replied quickly and got up to leave.
"Do what Ciri?" Shireen said confused.
"Get married, find a 'husband' to take this child, and I know just the one.
I ran through the castle and into the stables. A groom was brushing the hair of a beautiful chestnut stallion, a horse Orryn had won as a gift from his grandfather Florent. The damned beast was worth more than any servant could dream of in a lifetime, but Lady Selyse thought it inappropriate to give her son such a simple gift.
Orryn, on the other hand, liked the horse and often took me for rides. He confessed to me that he regretted not taking it with him on his journey to the capital.
"Serwyn, I'm looking for you." I asked the stableman. Serwyn was handsome behind the straw and manure, but there were two things about him that interested me besides his seventeen-day name. One, his black hair and light brown eyes. Second... Serwyn was a sword swallower.
"Cirilla? What do you want from me today?" Serwyn said a little unsure. He had been afraid of me ever since I had caught him being fucked by the son of one fishermen.
"I need to ask you some questions about the condition of Lord Orryn's horses, he wrote to me, now let's go."
"Can't I answer these questions here?"
"Let's go." I said harshly, and Serwyn nodded stiffly before following me.
We walked to a more secluded corner and when we were finally alone, I looked at Serwyn with cold eyes. "I have an offer that could be good for both of us, Serwyn."
"And what would that be?" He said a little stammering.
"You have a problem with your preferences, your father already bothers you because you are not married yet, and let's face it, you have a reason." I said with a crooked smile. "Then marry me."
"What?" Serwyn said in horror. "Have you gone mad, Cirilla?"
"I'll be honest with you, Serwyn, I carry in my womb the bastard of a lord I met in the capital. He left me a fair amount of money, but admitting this mistake will cause me to lose my job with a respected family like the Baratheons."
"And why should I help you? That's your problem!" Serwyn said, gaining a bit of arrogance.
"Because my punishment would only be dismissal, yours... how many lashes would you get for being an unnatural monster? I'm sure Lord Stannis would know the answer".
Serwyn paled when he heard that, he knew he'd have a lot more trouble if I told his problems than if I didn't, and fortunately his will was weak.
"If I marry you, I'll have to take the child, won't I?".
"Yes, you don't even have to touch me to have an heir, isn't that great? As for your 'passion', you can keep it to yourself as long as you are discreet, I don't care".
"That could be a problem, Cirilla..."
"It'll work, just tell your father and I'll arrange everything with a septon. We'll get married as soon as possible".