Only A Northern Song ~ Game of Thrones / Willas Tyrell ~

Chapter Sixty Six: Revelations

When Jeyne's parents left the next morning without saying goodbye, she cried.

Eddmina hadn't been there to witness the Queen's tears, because she instead saw her brothers, as, at the same time the Westerlings left, Robb was reunited with Sansa. He wept tears of joy, hugged her close, spouted apologies for not rescuing her. The whole time, Sansa beamed, as if forgetting only the day before she had been complaining about his dishonour in marrying a Westerner. That was the ladies courtesy that they had been taught, after all, and Sansa demonstrated it yet again when introduced to Jeyne, when she curtsied and called her 'sister'. Even so, when Robb hugged her and held her hands, Sansa's smile reached her eyes, which had become a rare thing.

After the reunion, Eddmina left them to it to seek out Willas and go to the godswood, Honour padding alongside them both, her tail wagging. They each held one of Uther's hands, marvelling at every tentative step he took, and when he seemed to tire of it, Eddmina swept him into the air and balanced him on her hip, pushing a storm of kisses onto the top of his dark curls while he clapped and shrieked with laughter. Willas took the opportunity to take hold of her arm, his hand resting in the crook of her elbow as the two made their way down the cobbled path to the weirwood tree.

"Are you alright carrying him?" Willas asked in concern, and when she tore her gaze from her son to look at her husband, she saw him staring at her stomach.

"Of course I am," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I will never not be alright carrying him."

"You will not be saying that if he grows to meet either of our heights," Willas laughed, though Eddmina's eyes narrowed, as if silently saying: 'try me'. "You know what I mean. I don't want you exerting yourself."

"Your father is a soft, silly southerner," Eddmina told Uther with a joking grin, tickling him and making him squeak with laughter. When she did eventually look at Willas again, she offered him an apologetic smile. "I am fine, I promise you. If I am ever not fine, you will be the first to know."

"I just know that yesterday was... eventful, and I don't want you tiring yourself," Willas sighed, and she knew that if he hadn't been holding her arm, his hand would have been tousling his hair the way he always did when he was thinking too much. "I want this time to be easier for you than the last. I know in some ways it will be easier since we know a little more of what to expect, but last time we didn't have the war. Last time you..."

"Weren't a nervous wreck prone to moments of panic?" Eddmina finished for him, and though he sighed, he also nodded. "Will, I was also convinced I was going to die in childbirth and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't. I will be fine, because we will be in Highgarden, and I will be able to ask your mother at least a dozen questions hourly, and I will have Sansa, Margaery and Leonette with me, and I am sure your grandmother will insist on bestowing her opinions disguised as advice. I will be fine. We will be fine."

In truth, that was how she felt. She was not scared at all to have another child. She didn't fear childbirth the way she once did, nor did the childhood fear of disappointing people with her child's gender just as hers had disappointed people haunt over her. Anytime she considered what awaited her she couldn't help but smile, which had become such a rare expression on her face over the last few months. She had almost forgotten how to feel happy, but the news that she was to have another baby had taught her the emotion again.

The only thing she was wary about was telling people. The night before after Eddmina returned from her meeting she had found Willas and Garlan drinking and playing cards as they had so often done in Highgarden, and when she arrived Garlan had hugged her and kissed her cheek, congratulating her and toasting to her health. He had been just a little drunk, but she knew he had meant it, and she also knew she would not get the same joyous reaction from the rest of her family. Perhaps Sansa would be happy, perhaps her mother would see it as a good thing, but she knew that the war hung over them all, and even if they all knew it was good news, the war would loom over the joy they were meant to offer her.