Finishing your lunch with a rounded belly, you lounged lazily on your seat and did your work, dedicatedly trimming the edge of a piece of silky fiber for the following processes, you were going to make it into a handkerchief as a gift for your knight. You knew she wished to be neat and tidy if possible, but the armor was heavy and airtight, so despite the cold weather, she still often got herself thoroughly sweaty after walking around in it all day. You figured a piece of cloth might be useful for her, and there was a tiny secret behind that: you wished she could put it over her heart, just like you held her in your heart.
The shape was almost formed as you seamed it, putting extra care on the final corner, you didn't want to ruin your future masterpiece.
Satisfying as you made it halfway through the proceeding, the object in your hands was properly settled down on the table counter before you stood up and stretched, it would do for now. The snow showing outside the window was mostly melting and the temperature was raising, making today a pleasant time for exploring the city a bit. Maybe trying some street food or pastry would be good, you felt your energy had died out in the toil.
Stepping out the front door of the tavern with a little excitement, you chose a random path and happily strolled along it. You loved watching this thriving town. Its buildings were larger, solid and well-built with more decorations, completely different from those small cabins in your homeland. The people here were more energized and fast-paced, you were a little unfamiliar with that, but you could adapt, it just gave you the different experience that you loved to have. After all, the surprise and thrill feeling it brought was the whole point of traveling.
As you wondering in a block that you had never been to before, a faint smell of mouth-watering food sneaked into your nostrils. Lurring by the aroma, you followed it through a street and the smell got stronger and stronger, eventually leading you to a carnival-like square.
It was filled with street pedlars and food vendors, which were the sources of all the wonderful smells coming from, and there were acrobats and clowns playing their tricks, entertaining the passers and crowds, plus some musicians played their instruments, letting the melodies float in the sweet air. It was a decent surprise for your little trip. You couldn't help a grin expanding on your face and quickened your paces to dive into the festival before you.
You left the quad a good while later, with a package full of stuffed pies and sweet tarts, a fake rose, made of leather and metal wire, given by a clown after you helped they with their performance, and a satisfying smile on your lips. You were thrilled to share your new-gain rewards with Brienne.
Your legs brought you to her usual training spot cheerfully, and you made sure to prepare more food for Podrick and Alina, and if Mike was lucky enough to show himself recently, he might have his serving too.
The road from the festival to the training square was not too far away, so you managed to get there before sunset, running into the squire who was gathering the battle equipment beside the shelter, while the other guards dispersed around the area.
You waved at him with a smile, "Hey, Podrick! How's your day?"
He looked up from the weapon shafts after his hand carefully put the sword back, greeting you with a shy grin, "It is nice. And how's yours?"
"Perfect! I found a market that is almost like a carnival, it's just down the road, crossing a few blocks. And I bought some food to share with you and Brienne." You showed him the pack in your arms.
"Why thank you! I can't wait to try it. I've been there a couple of times, it was full of fun and good meals." He beamed at you and loaded another weapon, dusting his hands as a sign of his task was completed.
"Speaking of Brienne, where is she?" Looking around, you double-checked that she was not in the field, you couldn't miss her figure if she was nearby.
"She was back to her quarter for washing and changing. I'm going back too after putting them back." He nodded his jaw toward the racks with all kinds of weapons.
"Oh, then I must be too late. Do you think she would have time to spare in the tavern this evening?" Disappointedly, the corners of your lips dropped, and you clutched the bag to your chest.
"Um, actually, you can come with me, if you would like that? The fort is just nearby, and it won't take long for both of us to freshen up. In fact, I think Ser Brienne might be nearly done by now." He gestured toward the fortress that could be seen from the top of the stone wall.
Your face lit up in surprise, "Of course! But is that okay for her? I wouldn't want to bother her."
He chuckled and shook his head, "No, you won't. I can promise you that. Let's better get going before she really finished. Do you need help with that?" He pointed to the food in your arms.
"No, thank you, it barely has any weight. Let's go!" You couldn't help with your cheerful steps as you followed behind Podrick.
He led you to an open living space in the fort, asking you to stay there till the knight was ready. You did as he told, finding a chair for yourself to comfortably settle in and waiting for them.
Your eyes glanced over the surrounding, taking in the decoring swords and shields hung on the wall, or the suits of standing armor along the corridors. They were the symbols of honor and protection the army and the Kingsguard provided to the king, knowing Brienne was the Lord Commander of them, you felt extremely proud of her.
While your mind was attached to that gorgeous woman, you bounced your legs and twiddled your thumbs, anticipating filling your thoughts as you awaited the two of them on the wooden bench.
⧫⧫⧫
Just like Podrick promised, it didn't take long for both of them to refreshen. When they appeared at the entrance of what you supposed was leading to the residences of the knights and officers, dressing in casual clothes and cloaks, you quickly stood up and beamed at them. The female knight crossed the room in stride, her lips curved up into a smile.
"Y/N, it's nice to see you. Podrick told me you came with gift. You really don't have to." She said softly.
"It's nothing, really. I just want to share good things with you!" Your cheeks warmed up, holding the bag up to show her, your eyes were practically shooting stars. She took it from your hands gently and took a look inside, grinning at the contents.
"Thank you! They look delicious."
"I'm glad you like them, I find they rather tasty."
She nodded and resealed the opening of the pack, "I can't wait to try one, but we must have diner first, I'm hungry."
"Oh, yeah, I'm starving!" Podrick muttered quietly.
You chuckled at both knights and said, "Well, then let's head to Laura's tavern? I'm sure she will have plenty of food to feed you both."
"Hm, sounds good, let's go then, it will take us half an hour to be there." Brienne said, already turning her heels to the entrance.
"Wait, Ser!" The young man chipped in, "Maybe we could have the meal at the dining hall? It can quickly serve food and drinks."
The knight turned around with a surprised face and raised brows, "Good thought, Pod. Yes, we could do that, I'm eager to fill my belly."
"Thank you, Ser." The man smiled timidly with a little pride in himself.
"I told you the title can be dropped, but use it if you like to." Brienne shook her head and shrugged amusedly. Her ocean-blue eyes gazed at you softly, her arm extending toward a corridor, "Come this way, and the dinner is on me. The food is not as good as Laura's, but you can get as much ale and wine as you want."
You raised a brow and winked at the tall woman, "Another drink competition then?"
Her face was shocked before her head snapped back and laughed, "You mad woman! Thought you learned your lesson."
You couldn't help your brat and smirk, "Never. And we haven't tried booze-up with wine!"
"At least I just need to carry you upstairs, and I have lots of helping hands around." The young man grinned broadly.
"Not you too, Podrick!" The female knight acted as if she was angry, but the smile on her face couldn't be hidden and soon turned into laughter, with you and Podrick giggling along.
You gasped when entering the grand dining hall of the fortress, it was spacious with the highest ceiling you had ever seen, being lit up brightly by hundreds of torches on the wall and candles lined along the long tables, with an enormous fireplace at the end of the room.
The bustling hall was half-filled with starving people devouring their food, and the sounds of chatting and cheering were loud and booming.
The knights led you to an empty table that already had plates of bread, meets, and fruit on the counter, popping into the chairs, you three started eating immediately. The winter weather just burned your energy and the training session was no doubt exhausting the two, for some moments, you just devoured anything in front of you, completely forgetting about the function of talking of your mouths.
Some servants brought you bowls of hot soup, mugs of ale, and bottles of wine, you managed to thank them with a full mouth and gulped down the drinks as soon as the liquid poured into your cup. You moaned for the decent taste of the sourness and sweet aroma of grapes, eyes lighting up happily, "This is good!" You raised the wine in your hand to Brienne, who sat in front of you on the opposite side of the table.
Her lips tugged upward and firmly nodded her head, "Yes, the offerings wine served to the King's Landing is the best around seven kingdoms."
Your eyes widened, darting to the wooden container in your hand then back to the tall woman, "Am I even allowed to consume that?"
Brienne smirked at you, fully showing her pearl-white teeth, "If not, what would you do? You can't vomit them out, do you?"
Your face was shocked and utterly horrified, too scared to notice the mischievous flickering in her eyes. Panickingly, your hands strangled your own throat in fear of being punished, trying to force the drink out, but only gasps and noises slipped out from your lips.
Brienne snapped at you wide-eyed, throwing the slice of bread between her fingers away, her face dropped as she quickly stood up and leaned forward, her strong hands grasped your smaller ones and steadily pulled them away from your neck, but the color of red had imprinted on your skin.
You breathed shakily and looked up at her, she was towering over you in a dominant position, yet a shade of regret enveloped her face, her brows knitted tightly, and her blue eyes darkened, covered by the pain. She folded your hands in hers and gently guided you to sit down. As her fingertips rubbed your knuckles in slow circles and those round sapphires glanced over your face, your brain started to calm down. The whole time the poor squire looked between you two and your interreaction with his jaw gaped and face taking aback, didn't dare to say a word.
Inhaling deeply a few times, each longer than the last until you could breathe normally. Now that you had cooled down from the panic, you looked at her with confusion, and she lowered her head to avoid your innocent gaze.
"Will I be punished?" You asked timidly. Her hands squeezed yours a bit tighter. They were warm and dry, bigger and rougher than yours, you felt safe held by them, and almost inclined your body instinctively, trying to bury your face in her palm.
She didn't catch your concentration loss with her head lowering, "I am sorry, Y/N."
"Hmm? For what?" Replying halfheartedly, you were dizzy like in a dreaming state, forgetting anything that just happened.
"It was just a joke, you won't be punished, and I'm sorry for frightening you. Please forgive me." The taller woman said in a low tone, and her hands pulled you forward, bringing your wandering mind back to reality.
Your eyes lifted from your entangled hands, surprisingly finding that your faces were inches close as her concerned eyes cast your face for any clue of depression. But there was none of it, she could only see your arching eyes, deepening smiling lines, soft curling lips, and flaring nostrils as you chuckled. The knot on her brows evened noticeably, but they still frowned together. Without thinking, partially because your brain hadn't recovered to its full function, your hands broke from her gentle grip and found their way up to cup her face.
"It's okay, funny, actually, but I'm gonna chastise you a bit for that." Your fingers pinched the flesh of her cheeks and stretched them to opposite sides, her face was softer than you thought. You rubbed it a couple of times and enjoyed its tender texture before releasing her face, sighing contently as you sat back in your chair.
Her gasp, ox-eyed expression, and flushed cheeks made you giggle. "Now we are good." You smiled like a cat got its cream and took the cup with wine, happily sipping from it. The knight gazed at you with an unreadable face, speechlessly, she grabbed the mug of ale and gulped down. Podrick dug his nose into the bowl of soup before him, eyes focused on the tabletop, desperately shrinking his body as small as possible.
⧫⧫⧫
Some time passed by, you were all content with the hot meal and fear food, casually having soft chats and exchanging of drinks and the pastries you prepared. The tall woman was rarely sharing her journey before the great war happened, why she left her homeland of island Tarth and began her travel with task after task, battle after battle, facing loss and gain, cheers and tears, and witnessing the ugliest humanity and the purest vow. Her stories were heavy, filled with sorrow and hurt, making one question their own life, yet they were enchanted, the glint of hope flicking in between the lines.
Your breath held as you listened dedicatedly to her talking, unwilling for even the noise of your inhaling and exhaling to interrupt her tale. And you looked at her, elbows propped on the counter and supporting your face, you watched every movement of her lips, every slight twitch of her facial muscles, every emotion fleshing through her eyes as she spoke. Her hair was ginger yellow, darkened by the orange light of the torches and candles, the pale skin of her face was browned, shadowed by the beams on the ceiling, yet her azure irises were brighter than ever, sparkling with every up in her life story. You wished nothing more than to watch her forever.
During the short breaks between her accounts, you would push the mug of ale or the cup brimmed with wine to her, earning a soft smile and thanks from her, and when she has done moisturizing her throat, you would encourage her to continue the tale with the biggest doe eyes you had, making her chuckle and grant your wish with her calm and deep voice.
In some of the plots, the squire was involved and experienced personally, that was when he would thrillingly talk about the events from his side of perspective. You knew from his sincere words that Brienne truly possessed the unadulterated knight spirit and the most honorable personality.
Your eyes staring at her grew lighter with twinkling respect and adoration, as they lit like torches, the tall woman broke eye contact with you and turned to stare at the young man with frowning brows, slamming his shoulder with a pink dusting her cheek. She didn't put her whole strength of course, and the boy simply shook off the sting and giggled along with you. The knight huffed, yet the corners of her lips curled up.
The night went on and on, when you poured yourself the fifth cup of wine, or was it the sixth? or maybe seventh? you couldn't tell, just felt a little high, just a little bit, and your whole body was floating, light like a cotton flower. Wearing a cunning smile on your blushed face, you stood up with your magic drink in hand, wambled to the opposite side of the table, and bumped yourself into the bench beside Brienne. She snapped to you as her jaw clenched, glaring at you with those enormous large eyes.
"Brienne! Thanks for bringing me here, the wine is the best I ever had!" You yelled as your arm put around her shoulders, pulling her toward you, or rather, pulling yourself toward her, you didn't mind which was the truth as long as you were close to your friend.
Elevatedly, you raised the cup high and roared, "Let's toast! For the fucking delicious drinks and the most fabulous knight of you!"
The said knight stared at your excited red face in utter disbelief and horror, didn't know what to deal with a drunk woman. She didn't want to push you away, fear you might fall over and land on the floor by your head, but she certainly didn't want to stay in this hilarious posture at the risk of any subordinate seeing their commander kidnaped by a mere woman.
With one of her arms surrounding your waist securely, her head turned to the other side, wide mad eyes bored at the squire and shouting, "Podrick, do something, now!"
Your hand still tightly cramped her shoulder, and you lifted the wine once again, "What are you waiting for? Cheers!"
The poor boy stared blankly at you two in absolute shock. Under the deadly gaze of his former master, he quickly put himself together, fumbling to stand up, he nearly trapped when moving his leg across the bench, carefully approaching you. In the meantime, Brienne was trying to get the devil's liquid held tightly in your hand.
"Give it to me, you drink too much!"
"No! I am not! Come on, get yours and toast with me!" The tall woman growled, she stretched her body, using the advantage of her height in reaching her hand to the cup. But it was useless as the competition in your mind was lit up. You struggled in her arm, screaming, giggling, and did your best to avoid her palm, it was a total mess. Yet the wine remained safely in the magic cup, swirling, but never splashing, what a miracle.
Podrick sneaked to your back. His movements were clumsy as he was, too, drinking too much beyond the healthy amount, but you were even drunker than him and failed to notice him as you were busily twisting and bending in the tall woman's embrace to dodge her hand.
The contention between you and Brienne continued back and forth, much to her dismay, you were incredibly nimble when rolling drunk, and the wine surviving in your hand each time she nearly touched it.
She was basically pressing her front against yours, forcing you to lean back and squeal, suddenly, you were aware that her face was only inches away from yours. Her beautiful face was red and full of determination, her eyes bright white with fighting will, her lips hovering on your jawline, her hot breath panting on your cheek rapidly.
You held your breath and stared into her eyes, feeling dizzy and sober at the same time. If you propped up a little, your lips might touch. Only the thought could make your head fall into the vortex again.
You two were frozen for maybe a mere second or 10 minutes, just looking into each other's eyes. Slowly, her aggressive face softened, her lips curved up slightly, and your stiff body melted into hers, and your guard let down.
Catching the chance, the younger knight snatched the cup away from you, and with a swift turn of his body, he put the container on the other table and out of your reach. You yelped surprisingly as your wine was taken away from between your fingers, and your mind snapped back to reality, as well as Brienne's.
She quickly straightened her back and pulled you back to sit, both of your faces were blushing. Couldn't hold your gaze with hers, you looked away, your cheeks grew hotter and your heartbeat raced like a wild horse escaping from the harness. And so did she, eyes bolting at the grand fireplace with deep flushing on her cheeks.
"You really shouldn't drink anymore, Y/N. You look very red." The man poured a mug of water and handed it to you. Mumbling thanks, you eagerly drank from it, the cold liquid sliding down your throat, refreshing your mouth and bringing you back to sane. You were ashamed of fighting for a cup of silly wine against Brienne, and now the foolishness had overwashed you. Being too nervous to look at her, you just quietly put the water on the tabletop and stared at your lap, criticizing yourself with your face warm.
After the rushing blood faded away did Brienne dare to turn back, only for her eyes to take in the looking-down sight and bitten lip on your flushing face. Serving herself a cup of water, the female knight let out a soundless sigh, her elbow propping on the table against her jaw, body turning aside and leaning on the wooden edge as she spoke softly,
"So, the wine really got you, hm? I should have invited you to drink here earlier." She finished the sentence with a little giggle.
"Ya, I think so. I'm sorry that I try to force you to toast with me." You lifted your chin upward a bit to look at her, your doe eyes filled with bashfulness.
She shook her head, a tender smile showing on her face, "No, no need my friend. I can't believe I'm saying that, but it was admittedly fun." Her smile turned into another giggle, "You were silly, and much more stubborn than usual."
"And you are deft! I can't believe you pull through Ser Brienne's hands for so long." Podrick chimed in, grinning with his bright-white teeth and wrinkled hose.
"True, I'll give you credit for that. Who would think you are a seamstress who never received training after seeing those movements?" She huffed out a laugh, shooking her head amusedly.
"Hey! Perhaps you should join our scout, you might do well!" The squire sounded sincere, and the knight nodded firmly with a coy smirk.
Infected by their cheerful sounds, you looked up fully and scratched your nape, smiling timidly at them, "Well, I'm flattered. Didn't know I have that side in me. I might send my resume to your office, Ser." You playfully winked at them and bowed your head. The statuesque woman and the emaciated man both snapped their heads back and burst out laughing. You couldn't help but laugh with them too.