The Wolf and the Rose / Sequel to The Queen in the North

Thirty-one

Thirty one

Garlan

The next few weeks that followed were tense, to say the least. Garlan busied himself with preparations and meetings that El was subsequently excluded from. It hadn't been done purposely as Garlan knew if El knew plans were being made without her she would be less than impressed. She had wanted to spend most of her time sparring or riding and hadn't really concerned herself terribly much with the preparations. It was only when Axel received a raven from Jon that El was left out of the preparations. With the rumours growing as the lords grew more anxious by the day Garlan began to believe that perhaps there was truth in the whispers. The looming threat of the impending Lannister army was enough to stress the tensions that had been previously kept at bay in Highgraden.

It was El who had talked him into making a claim. Though she hadn't done it to manipulate him to get power, that Garlan didn't believe as it was just petty. She had however convinced him in the best way she knew how. Which Garlan was glad the likes or Baelor and Lord Redwyne didn't know. She had fucked him and used that to get Garlan to see her point of view, but that was El. Hotheaded and rash but clever in her own way.

The raven from Jon urged Axel to try and talk to El about the severity of their situation. Jon had also explained that he was in the process in negotiations with Daenerys and that the possibly of an alliance between her and the reach was entirely viable. It was Axel who brought the raven to Garlan because it was an opportunity that El might have neglected in her anger at Jon. He brought it to Garlan in the hope that he might finally listen. Not that Axel thought El didn't have the sense, it was just perhaps that in her current state of seemingly fragility. She appeared irrational and that led him to believe she couldn't have handled this slight.

Garlan took the letter from Axel, scanned it and sighed. "Has El seen this?"

"No." Axel said plainly.

Garlan raised his eyebrow, "and you agree with Jon, you think we should go to Daenerys?"

He nodded, "honestly I do, that is if we all want to live."

Garlan considered the letter for a moment. This was exactly what he'd been praying for because truly he knew that fighting the full Lannister army wasn't going to be an option. Though he could hardly tell El about his doubts, she was take that notion baldy. Even if she now knew that it was her persuasiveness had landed them in this situation. Their interests had been sidelined in the great game and Garlan had never truly wanted to be a real player. But in his nature he lead when he'd needed to. To say El had exploited this position to feed her desires for power was a little unfair to El. Though it was fairer to suggest that the fault lay in the hands of both their naivety. Both Elonar's for power and Garlan's weakness for El had caused this.

It was a little late to be pointing fingers about who was to blame. It was home for decisive action, action that was either prepare to fight the Lannister's or make an alliance with Daenerys. Pragmatism  lead one to believe that siding with Daenerys was the obvious choice. Though there wasn't really a choice to be made. Garlan hardly needed to ponder the outcomes of not replying to the Dragon queens raven. Only that Highgarden might find itself guarded by Lannister's, with El and Garlan's heads on spikes.

The pettiness that had come from fights before this seems minuscule to this. There was an air of finality in the way the atmosphere was gearing up. Ultimately this great fight has been coming and to be alive to witness it, Garlan's only choice was Daenerys. "Leave it with me, I'll write to our new and plea for our heads shall I." He smiled. In relief he sat back and turned the letter over repeatedly. "If you don't mind Axel, until we have a reply from Daenerys we might not trouble El with this."