Golden Lioness [Game of Thrones] COMPLETED!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"A man's first kill will always be as memorable as his first love."

-Tyrion

Joanna was sitting by the window in the library when Robb and Theon returned. She heard the clip-clop of hooves in the courtyard which was not unusual for Winterfell but what truly made Joanna look up from her book was a woman's voice, thanking the tree gods for their mercy. To say that Joanna was curious is an understatement. She placed the feather of a crow in her book and glanced out the window.

Maester Luwin was almost running towards Bran, followed by the lumbering giant Hodor who was attempting to keep up. Theon and Robb were holding a strange woman by her matty knotted hair. When Hodor picked up Brandon, Joanna saw Robb fuss, and the Maester glance at Bran's leg. Joanna wanted to know what had happened after she had left the forest, but she felt she couldn't intrude at the moment, so she went back to the book on her lap but kept one eye on the window.

The Wall and the Beings Beyond was a funny book, but as Joanna read more and more about the Hornfoots, the humour began to dissipate. It was clear to her that her handmaiden was a wildling as the Hornfoots were known for their thick mousy hair and marriage-like unions at a young age. Just when Joanna thought she could be free from compromising issues, her handmaiden had to be a wildling. As a child in the South, there was little said about wildlings, but Joanna could recall her cousins trying to scare her with stories of flesh-eating humans from beyond the Wall. The more she read, Joanna knew that Anya wasn't a cannibal, those where the Thenns.

While she read, her mind wandered a bit, thinking about Jaime and Kingslanding; how Tyrion was and if she'd ever see him again. She also wondered about Robb and if he was going to war. She glanced out the window, the sky was beginning to darken, why hadn't she been summoned for dinner yet?

The clanging of chains had Joanna looking away from the window and through the bookshelves. There was the woman from earlier, the one Robb had been holding by the hair a few feet in front of her. She was haggard looking, but with a bath Joanna figured the woman would be acceptable looking.

"M'lady?" She heard her name being called by Anya, who had entered the library as she towed the other woman around. Joanna stood, tucking a feather into her book leaving it on the ledge where she had sat and walked over to her handmaiden and the woman in chains. "This is Osha," Anya was bubbly. "I've been showing her around Winterfell," the girl explained.

"Are there not other maids for that?" Joanna was skeptical of the haggard woman and walked around her inspecting every inch of her. She had just had a bath, Joanna realized, which meant the grime of life was etched into her.

"Where are you from?" Joanna asked, eyes narrowed and head cocked to the side.

"North of 'ere," Osha's accent made Joanna's educated Lannister blood gurgle. It was similar to Anya's, a thick northern accent, but much worse.

"You are a wildling?" Joanna was peering at her handmaiden while she said this. She was pleased with Anya's reaction. Her face whitened, eyes widened, obviously surprised that her very southern lady knew of wildlings.

"Yah," Osha said, and then Anya nudged her. "...M'lady," Osha added, bowing awkwardly.

"You are getting a hang of the courtesies," Joanna commented to her handmaiden when Osha began looking around the library. "Congratulations." She tried to turn away to go back to the window nook but Anya began speaking.

"Thank you, M'lady. I've been studying and getting the other woman to help me. Apparently, there's such thing as a kitchen wench?" Anya blabbered to Joanna's dismay, who just wanted to read her book and perhaps watch Anya and Osha interact, not interact with Anya herself. "I met a kitchen wench, I also met a Maester. I've never heard of a Maester before."