Carliene
I arrived late to the great hall, with all the lords and knights already gathered to receive the Hightower host. I remained standing at the side of the hall, not daring to interrupt by walking up in front of everyone and take my seat. I came to join maester Lomys, slightly hidden behind a large pilar painted in twisting roses. my eyes scanned the Lords stood at the front of the hall, searching for familiar faces.
A man clad in heavy pale plate rose from where he had knelt and look dup at his liege lord. I found myself confused to identify Ser Garth Hightower instead of his older brother Baelor.
"I fear our numbers are less than we promised your grandmother" the knight spoke. "We had to leave a considerable amount behind as to not leave Oldtown completely unprotected"
"We charged Lord Redwyne to secure the Redwyne Straight so as to not leave Oldtown unprotected" the seneschal who shared his name spoke up from where he sat.
"Which we are very grateful for, I assure you that, but surely you have all heard what happened to the shield islands" Garth Greysteel said loudly as to address every man inside the hall.
The crowd began to mumble in agreement.
"What happened to the shield islands?" I asked the maester in a hushed tone.
"Ironborn" he stated simply in a bitter tone.
The seneschal cleared his throat to quiet down the hall before he spoke again. "And if every Lord thought as you had, we would be standing here with half an army" he spat.
I could sense the anger from the Hightower night even from where I stood. before the man could defend himself however Willas spoke.
"If your father thinks it necessary then we shall be grateful for the men he has sent us" the Lord decided.
Ser Garth bowed gratefully his blonde bouncing past his chin as he did so. "Thank you my Lord. If It is any conciliation, the faith has mobilised a host under their new High Septon and will be joining our host within the week" he announced and the hall stirred louder than before. "Queen Cersei undid King Maegor's decree of banning the faith militant" he raised his voice to dominate the noise of the hall. "Let her have a taste of the Stars and Swords"
Cheers filled the hall and my chest swelled with the feeling that these were memorable points in history we were experiencing.
When the reception had ended and the lords and knights started to scatter again, I slowly followed the Hightower men outside. I kept to the edge of the wall, not wanting to capture too much attention or be pulled into any sort of conversation. In the yard I found Garth bark orders at his men to have their host set up camp outside the castle walls and let the Tyrell servants show the captains their quarters in the outer bailey. Not far from him, and rolling up a large Hightower banner stood his younger brother next to his horse.
I had always judged Ser Gunthor to be the more approachable of the two, not having forgotten that Ser Garth probably still thought of me as a fraud. So I decided it best to leave the older brother to ordering his men around and pose my questions at the younger one.
"Ser Gunthor" I called out to him as he had his back turned to me.
He turned at looked confused at first, but then his small eyes filled with recognition. "Lady Carliene" he greeted kindly as she stowed the rolled up banner on his horse. "I see Highgarden becomes you better than the sea"
"Thank you" I gave a pleasant nod. "I hope your travels were pleasant" I decided on pleasantries instead of leading with my main questions.
He shrugged and stretched his back. "As pleasant as days on horseback can be"
My gaze flew across the yard again. "I see Ser Baelor is not with you"
"No" he confirmed my observation. "He remains at the Hightower to lead the defence of Oldtown as we are expecting an attack from the ironborn"
I nodded in disappointment. I had looked forward to seeing Ser Baelor again. He had reminded me of my father I noticed. If my father had smiled more.
"How fares our wife?" I asked in hopes of hiding my emotion.
He laughed. "Oh she misses me terribly I am sure" he heaved his saddle bag from the back of his horse and onto his shoulders. "She threatened to kill me should I dare die on the field of battle"
I laughed with him, though grew slightly nervous at the thought that it as very possible that he might.
Although we clearly had the numbers and the resources and three dragons, I had the feeling in the pit of my stomach that it would not be that easy.
"Do excuse me my Lady, my men need me" he said apologetically before he walked over to his brother and some of their captains.
My eyes shortly locked with those of a broad-shouldered man and the red scar he had across his face. Brandon, I remembered and thanks to the maester's lessons I also remembered what house his sigil belonged to. Yellow flowers on blue: House Cuy. Pleased at myself for remembering I turned to return to the rose keep. The sun was already hiding behind the walls of the godswood and it would soon be time for my first lesson. retuning to my room, I found Desmera sitting on a cushioned bench, gussying herself with some needlework. I was about to tell her that I had not judged her to enjoy embroidering as a past-time, when I noticed that her eyes were red and sightly swollen. Hastily I closed the door behind me and rushed over to her.
"What is wrong? what happened? Did somebody hurt you?" I demanded of her, taking a seat next to her.
She sniffled. "Oh it's nothing really" she quickly turned away and rubbed her eyes again. "I am just being so silly" her voice cracked.
I placed a reassuring hadn't on her shoulder. "Tell me"
She took a moment to compose herself before she turned to me with a sigh, her nose red and runny. "I just thought that maybe, because the Hightowers were coming with their army, my father might also have" she sobbed unhappily. "How stupid right, of course he wouldn't my family's strength alway lay in our naval fleet not our army. I just would have liked to see him again"
"Oh Desmera" I sighed and pulled her against my chest, wrapping my arms around her as she sobbed silently. "It's never stupid to hope" I told her and held her until she calmed a little. "Listen" when she sat back up I took hold of her hands and looked into her puffy eyes. "Once I am Lady of Highgarden, the first thing I will do is order my loyal handmaiden to take a vacation to the Arbor"
A shy smile formed on her lips.
You shouldn't lie, the guilt in me urged. Was I? No one could know what the future would hold, how could it be my fault if things came to pass differently?
Have you forgotten Bran's words?
"And you should come too" she agreed rubbing the tears from her cheeks. "You would love it. we could walk the vineyards and look at the sunset"
And drink the sweetest wine.
"I am sure Willas would let you and if he doesn't I'll make him" she assured.
I chuckled from the thought of the two of them quarrelling. This girl was so headstrong I did not doubt that she would talk Lord Tyrell into an early grave.
"But first we must get through this war" I reminded her.
She pulled up her nose and nodded. "I know, I know" she assured straightening her posture. "Look" she picked up what she had been working on and held it out to me.
her work wasn't done but I could already recognise the grey wolf depicted in the middle, with silver sting weaved into its fur.
I raised my brows in admiration.
"It's you" she explained. "Figuratively I mean"
My brows furrowed slightly. "What is that on its head?"
She groaned and placed it back onto her lap. "It supposed to be a wreath of winter roses, but it doesn't look it I know"
"No it's great" I disagreed and rose. "Far better than I could ever depict it" I walked over to one of the trunks and brought forth my riding attire, seeing as that seemed to be the most fitting thing to wear for my training. "Could you help me with my dress?"
She looked at me confused but put her needlework aside to come and undo the buttons at the back of my dress.
"Where are you going now?" she pondered as she watched me slip out of the gown.
"Uhm" I was actually uncertain what to tell her. Willas had requested that I be discreet, but I was unsure how discreet. "Out" was all I could come up with.
She gave me a suspicious look, but luckily for me refrained from asking any more questions. "Fine" she decided and raised her arms in defeat. "But don't come complaining to me if your bed starts smelling like horse"
I chuckled as I fastened my pants and slipped into the leather tunic. "No need to sit for me, you are excused" I told her before slipping out of the door.
I walked along the balcony to be able to see if the knight was already waiting for me by the fountain. Surely if I was early and waited there, dressed like this, someone would take note. But Ser Vortimer was right where he said he would be, acting patiently next to the large marble basin, with water lilies in the middle.
"Right this way my Lady" he gestured with his hand and I had a difficult time hiding my excitement.
We passed through the colonnades that separated the garden from the yard. Across the cobbled way an old archway lead into a small courtyard, surrounded on both sides by the windowless walls of the tall buildings around and by the inner curtain wall.
"So why is this called the princesses hideout?" I demanded as I looked around. There wasn't much to the space. Stone to all sides except up. There as a drain towards the right, which I resumed to be for rain water, and a large empty plant pot.
"Well the tale goes that in the age of the Gardener Kings there was once a princess who had a secret lover and would meet up with him in this very place" the knight began to explain as he walked over to a chipped bench sat against the wall of the building to the right. "Her father gained wind of the affair and one evening he let his men ambush the both of them and killed the man in front of the princess"
I made a face, having had a feeling that there would be no happy end to the story.
"Apparently her scream was so loud that all the flowers in all the gardens of the castle wilted" he picked dup something from the bench and approached me again. "And to this day no plants ever grow in this courtyard, they all just wither and die" he had a little smirk on his lips when he finished as if he himself did not believe the tale.
I looked up at the sky above us and the tall walls framing it. "Well.." I shrugged and stomped a foot on the stony floor. "It's all hard stone and I don't think the sun has much chance of reaching down here. Plants need good soil and sunlight" I deduced.
"You must have been fun company as a child" he mused.
Before I could inquire about the meaning of his phrase he pressed something into my hands. It felt like stuffed leather and lay heavy in my arms. "What is this?"
"You should wear it" he turned back to the bench.
"Why?" I ask sceptically but slipped the protective vest over my shoulders none the less. Once I had posed my question I was able to answer it myself.
"So that I don't cut you"
I frowned at him as I fastened the ties at the front of it. "What about you?"
He smirked to himself as he picked dup two blunted swords. "You're not going to cut me" he sounded so sure of himself.
It nagged at me. "This is not the first time I hold a sword you know" I told him as he handed me one of them. My muscles had forgotten the weight of one though and I felt my arm nearly buckling under it. You are going weak and soft in these luxuries, I scolded myself.
"Is that so" he faked an impressed tone. "Won't you show me then what you can do"
My heart skipped a little. Here I was again, letting my big mouth get me into trouble. Naturally I was too to back off though, so I raised the steel and got in position. I remember the footwork quite easily, it seemed to be something that, once learned, remained in your muscles. His movement were even smoother though and just by the way he was so effortlessly holding his sword at the ready, I knew that I could not win.
I tried a few attacks but he blocked them easily, a triumphant smirk crawling onto his concentrated features. Finally I gave up and lowered my blade, giving him the room and satisfaction of judging me and begin giving me advice.
"Its not a bad start" he offered. "You seem to have grasped the basic techniques-"
"But?" I pushed. I did not need him to tell me what I could do.
"But" he agreed amused. "You are way to slow and your defence is lacking. I could have killed you over ten times during this"
I huffed. Those were very encouraging words. "Well I have not been able to practice in a while" I offered as excuse. Then I frowned again. "Why did Lord Willas suddenly have a change of heart in the matter?" I pondered.
He gave an innocent shrug studying his blade instead.
I shook my head, deciding that it didn't matter in the end. As long as I got my training. I got in position again and offered my blade.
"May I speak plainly my Lady?" he requested lowering hi sword.
"Oh I insist"
"Alright then, you are not very strong and you are a woman, meaning that simple arithmetics would stack the odds against you in any fight"
If he is trying to convince me to give up already I may need to find myself a different teacher.
"Which means that your main tactic should be to evade and avoid any blows and train at a good defence"
I tilted my head slightly. "How am I going to kill my enemy by avoiding them?" I pondered.
"Firstly" he raised his blade and widened his stance and I followed suit. "By staying alive. A good defence can be just as affective, because all you need is a single chance at an attack to come out victorious"
Our blades rang as they connected.
"Similarly it will only take your opponent one blow to mortal wound you" his blade cut through the air so quickly that my eyes lost track of it and I only felt the hard blow against my sword, which nearly caused i tot be hit out of my grip.
"So I need to be able to block his attacks" I agreed.
He slowly began to explain the best methods in which he thought I could defend myself should I ever find myself fighting off with a swordsman who actually meant to cut me down. Up until now my style of fighting had been a lot of acquired muscle memory and instinct. It as both interesting and frustrating to learn all about the different techniques. Mostly because it seemed the knight spend more time explaining what we were doing than actually meeting swords with me.
At dusk he wanted to call it quits, but I convinced him to go on until it was so dark that we could not see the blades in front of us anymore.
"So who taught you to fight?" he asked as I leaned against the wall and wiped sweat from my brow.
I chewed on my li as I thought of Bronn. "A sellsword" though he was a knight, or maybe even a Lord now from bringing Cersei my hair.
He gave an unimpressed expression. "Swellswords don't know much about proper technique" he decided.
"It doesn't matter how you fight, if you in that means you did it right" I pointed out, thinking that Bronn had probably said something similar to me once.
He chuckled. "I suppose that is true of war, but it is not very honourable"
Honourable. "Honour is a good thing until it gets you killed" I mumbled bitterly as I undid the ties on the padded vest.
"You are a bit of a cynic, my Lady, aren't you" he observed as he took the garb from my hands.
"I suppose" I sighed, stifling a yawn. Not without cause though.
He gathered the swords and the vest in his arms. "It is late, you should retire"
"Wait" I rose as I thought of something and followed him, grabbing one of the swords from his arms.
He raised a brow. "May I ask what you plan on doing with that and may I remind you that it is a blunted sword, while doing so" he said amused.
"I'd like to take it to my room, so that I can practice whenever I have the time" I explained. "You don't need it do you?"
"No not really"
"The sword is supposed to become an extension fo your arm right? So best to practice whenever you can"
He shrugged. "If only some of the squires I teach were as enthusiastic as you" he mused as we passed though the archway.
I smiled to myself proudly.
"Do make sure to get some sleep in-between though" he advised. "A sharp mind is just as important in a real fight"
"Will do" I promised.
That night I was back in Blackwater Bay with blunted sword, standing at the edge of the water all by myself and having to wait for the boats to come in, knowing they were carrying many enemies. And when they finally arrived I was shocked to see that it was not filled with Baratheon men or Lannisters, instead golden roses spilled from the floats and onto the dark sand. Willas was at the very front, clad in golden armour with his left leg missing entirely. He swung a large blade as thin as paper and sharper than a razor. He hopped toward me like a one-legged crow and screamed as he raised his weapon. And all I had was a blunted sword.