Amara Stark wanted a simple life in the North. She wanted the cold, the snow, and to never have to deal with those in the south. She had no ambitions to ever leave her home, she loved it too much. She didn't believe she'd ever love anything more tha...
"We aren't just representing the North or ourselves, we're representing our father as well. We owe him the respect to be perfectly well behaved."
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The duties leading up to the Tourney of Harrenhal left very little room for Amara to do much else. Packing, planning, and packing some more, was how she spent her time everyday. Harrenhal is one of the largest castles in Westeros, but it's really only half of a castle, the other half melted ruins, and it stands in the heart of the Riverlands.
Amara has never been as far south as the Riverlands, and grew more and more excited about traveling with her brothers and sister. However, when the day finally came to depart Winterfell, Amara couldn't help but wish her father was going with them.
"Everything will be fine." Rickard reassures his youngest daughter when he sees her forlorn look, "Remember to listen to Brandon and keep everyone in line."
"Yes father." Amara nods, pulling him in for a tight hug, "Love you."
"Love you too, my little wolf." Rickard pulls away, rubbing the top of her head and messing up her hair, making her swat his hand away and pat her hair back down. Her efforts were futile when Brandon walks over to bid goodbye to their father, and messes up her hair again, making the younger girl scowl at him and huff, both men laughing.
She walks over to her other brothers, who are already mounted onto their horses next to the carriage the girls will ride in. She sighs when she sees her sister mounted on a horse, "Lyanna, you have to ride in the carriage."
"No, I'm riding my horse." Lyanna doesn't look at her when she speaks.
"The travel to Harrenhal is 3 days, you'll be allowed to ride when we enter Lord Harrowway's town." Amara tries to reason, "You can't ride for 3 days on a horse, you'll be too dirty to greet anyone when we arrive."
"Who cares if I'm dirty, Amara?" Lyanna rolls her eyes.
Amara opens her mouth to retort but is cut off by Brandon walking back over, "Lyanna, get in the carriage."
"No."
"It's not up for debate." Brandon moves to his horse, "I am in charge. Amara is right, we won't be able to change our clothes until we arrive in Lord Harrowway's town. Get in the carriage."
Lyanna's scowl was deadly, but she dismounts from her horse, stomping to the carriage and getting in, slamming the carriage door in the process. Amara sighs, looking over to Ned who sends her a sympathetic smile.
"Another day I am glad to be born a man." Benjen jokes, making Amara smile before she sends won last wave to her father and gets in the carriage, ignoring the look she gets from Lyanna.
Riding in the carriage isn't as horrible as she thought it would be, but two full days of it starts to wear on a person, especially since the only person she could converse with was Lyanna, and she didn't want to talk to Amara at all.
Lyanna was upset she wasn't allowed to ride on her horse, but her anger didn't truly stem from that. Her father told her about her betrothal to Robert Baratheon, and since then Lyanna has been furious. She screamed at her father when she heard the news, took her anger out on everyone else when he refused to break it. Lyanna doesn't want to marry him, but all her father kept saying was 'It's your duty.'
That just made her more upset. She has heard those words her entire life, that she needs to be more of a lady, do her duty, be like her sister. Throughout their entire life, Lyanna and Amara have been compared to each other. Amara was born a Lady, that's what their mother used to say, that she came out knowing how to be a Lady. Lyanna has always fought against it, and never understood how Amara couldn't do the same.
She didn't want to sit in her septa lessons and hear the old hag tell her how to hold a fork properly. She didn't want to spend all day working on her needle work when her brothers got to learn how to hunt. She didn't like how Amara got to learn how to shoot a bow in the afternoons but she didn't, because she didn't finish her 'duties'. That she would be reprimanded for doing something her sister gets praised for.
It wasn't just their personalities that were so different and compared to each other, their looks were different as well. Lyanna is pale as most in the north, with dark blue eyes like her mother, along with brown hair. Amara has darker hair and dark mud eyes like their father, and more of a tan-olive looking skin color like their mother's mother. Both girls are beautiful but different.
Lyanna is always the most beautiful girl in the room, until Amara walks in.
Being desired by men has never been something Lyanna truly cared for, but when she sees the mens gazes move from her to wherever Amara has walked in at, the jealousness bubbles over again. In Lyanna's eyes, Amara gets everything she want's, everything handed to her, and it's not fair. She's just been too stubborn to take a step back and see she's the only one making her life unfair.
"I hear most of Westeros is attending." Amara tries to start another conversation, bored out of her mind with the quiet.
"Mm." Is all Lyanna replies, looking out the carriage window.
Amara tries again, "I'm excited about the feast, we haven't attended one since Ned's first departure to the Vale years ago."
"Mmhmm."
"Brandon and you will also get to meet your betrothed."
Lyanna scoffs, "How wonderful."
"You should go into it with a good mindset, try to lay down the foundation for a friendship." Amara replies.
"That's easy for you to say considering you're not the one getting married yet."
"I will be in your position soon enough." Amara tells her, "Father plans to marry me and Ned off after you and Brandon."
"I doubt father will send you to the south." Lyanna frowns, "I'm sure he has a wonderful northman for you all picked out. Probably even let you pick your own out."
"Don't do that. Father would never marry us off to people he didn't think were a good match for us."
"It doesn't matter, I won't be marrying him." Lyanna shrugs, ignoring her sisters words.
Amara frowns, "Yes, you will Lyanna."
"No, I wont." Lyanna shakes her head, "And if I do get married, it will be to a man of my choosing. Not someone who gets drunk and fucks whores every night."
"Language, Lyanna." Amara chides, "And you have never met Robert, you shouldn't allow the rumors of him to dictate your thoughts about how the marriage will actually go. Ned says he is a great Lord and friend."
"Father isn't here and you're not in charge, so I will do what I wish." Lyanna looks back out the window.
Amara shakes her head, "We aren't just representing the North or ourselves, we're representing our father as well. We owe him the respect to be perfectly well behaved."
Lyanna doesn't say anything back and Amara doesn't try to start up another conversation again. Amara also hated sitting in the carriage for so long, but she also knows she doesn't want to arrive looking and smelling like she's rode a horse for 3 days straight. Her favorite part of the travel was at night when they would make camp. She would sit around the fire with her brothers and the other north men that traveled with them, laughing at the banter of jokes and sharing stories. All of it raising Amara's spirits for the next day of travel.
The closer they get to Harrenhal however, that more she feels a pull to arrive. As if something or someone is calling out to her, telling her she's meant to be there.
She just hopes whatever is on the other side of the rope that's pulling her isn't wicked.
