Lyanna felt seasick.
She had never been on a boat before, and neither had Winter, who was in the corner of their cabin, shivering. Focusing all of her energy on not throwing up, Lyanna felt the pain of her loss leave her momentarily. Alize, who had sailed to King's Landing from High Garden, was sewing in the corner quietly, unaffected by the current.
'I'm lucky to have her,' Lyanna thought, looking over at her handmaiden. 'She's so loyal and gentle, if she dies because of me... damn, why do all of my thoughts eventually turn to death?'
"Maybe you should do something to take your mind off sailing," Alize suggested. When Lyanna used to want to take her mind off things, she used to take Snow out for a ride, but how could she ride on a ship? Instead, she found a scrap piece of parchment and a quill and began to write a letter.
'Jon,
I expect you already know about father's execution. I'm guessing you also know that my son was killed by the commander of the city watch. It was awful, but I didn't write to give you the details.
I wanted to write this to you to tell you that you won't be seeing me for a long time. I miss you terribly, but if I go North, I'll put you and the others in danger. That's why I'm going to disappear for a few years. I'll be back, and when I do come back, I bet you I'll still be better than you at fighting.
Love from your sister,
Lyanna Snow'
She knew she probably shouldn't have put that she was leaving, but it was too late. When they come to the shore, she would find a bird to take the note to castle Black. And when she sent the bird, she would begin her search for Daenerys.
"You might want to get some rest. It's a long way to Essos and we've got a lot ahead of us," Alize suggested, and Lyanna nodded, pacing over to the corner of their cabin where the bed was. Bed, it was more of a platform with straw and blankets thrown over it, but Lyanna would have rather slept on a bed of knives than still be in King's Landing.
Unbuttoning her heavy leathers, Lyanna stripped until she was in just a thin underdress, where the large, red scars were highly visible. She would bare those for the rest of her life, like the scar on her jaw from when Littlefinger had sent the assassins after her, and the stretch marks around her belly from carrying Brandon. None of those marks on her body would fade, nor would they fade from her mind. What had happened in the south had changed her. She had left the north a girl, she left the south a hardened woman.
"Do you want me to blow out the candles?" Alize asked, as Lyanna laid on her side, carful not to aggravate her scars. She shook her head, her newly short hair tickling her jaw as she did so.
"No, please don't," She'd had trouble sleeping in the dark since Brandon was born, the night she killed her first man. The thought of her son caused her chest to ache, and, as if she sensed Lyanna's discomfort, Winter paced over, licking her cheek's gently before curling up at her side, sighing heavily.
Alize nodded, not saying anything else. She looked back down at her embroidery work, wondering why she was still sewing. It had been something for Brandon, but as much as it hurt to think, Brandon was dead, so why was she carrying on? Was it to distract herself from the thought of what had happened the day before?
Alize had grown up in High Garden to stories of gallant knights and beautiful maidens. She had dreamed of being a princess, but instead became a carer to her younger brothers and sisters, all six of them, until her mother died. Her father saw no more purpose in her after her mother's death, and so shipped her off to King's Landing to 'be of some use'. As much as it had pained her to think, she was excited for this new adventure. Although she loved her little brothers and sisters, she wanted to look after princesses, help them with their hair and listen to their woes and maybe one day, earn a high enough status to marry a knight, a handsome knight who would love her very much and bring her nothing but happiness.
Instead though, she got Lyanna; a hand maidens worst nightmare. She was boyish, didn't care too much about her appearance, and she was a real fighter for equality. Alize may have liked all of those things about her, but she wasn't supposed to. Lyanna wasn't supposed to be like that. She was supposed to be gentle, feminine, beautiful and sweet. The only time Alize had ever seen Lyanna gentle was when she was practicing archery and holding Brandon. Lyanna wore dresses, but that didn't make her feminine. Sure, she was beautiful, even with her large nose, overly pale skin and immense curly hair, but she wasn't sweet. She was witty, brave and strong. They weren't characteristics that women were expected to have in Westeros, which would have made her a great, just queen. She loved her family; all she ever talked about was Jon and Robb and her pride to be a Stark.
Alize had watched as Lyanna matured from her arrival in the capital, from her wedding day, to the day she found out she was pregnant, to the day she was tortured. She became the woman she always had to be, the strong, hard woman that would have made the north proud. Even now though, Alize looked at her, and was amazed at this girl, who started out as just a bastard with no other aspirations but the wall, was the queen on the iron throne shortly and the heir to the greatest dynasty their world had ever known.
Things in the capital hadn't worked out the way Alize had always imagined them. Lyanna made her happy, and bringing her son into the world brought her great joy. However, the last few days, her dream, her lovely image of a knight for a husband was destroyed. Her life had changed irreversibly, her view of the world forever in ruins.
"Alize?" Lyanna said quietly, snapping her out of her harsh thoughts. "Will you pass me the dragon egg please?" Nodding, Alize got up, opening the leather case, taking out the grey-black stone egg before handing the egg to Lyanna, who wrapped her arms tightly around it, hugging it close. "Thank you. You're a good friend, I don't know what I'd do without you, or what I would have done for the last year. I wouldn't have survived back on King's Landing without you,"
"I was your handmaiden, it was my job to help you,"
"Not to the extent you did though," Lyanna muttered "I know at first you probably thought I was some scruffy northern bastard, which I was, or am. I didn't know how to be a lady, not very well anyway. I wouldn't have lasted as long as I did without you,"
Alize shrugged. "I was just doing my job,"
"Yes, but you didn't have to do it was well as you did," Lyanna sighed. She had always struggled to put her feelings for people into words, even with her family.
Rolling onto her side, wrapping her body around the egg, whilst Winter laid her head on her leg, Lyanna closed her eyes. She was immediately greeted of images from the day before, her father, her son, Sansa. Was this going to be the rest of her life, PTSD from King's Landing? Forcing her mind onto something else, anything else that was moderatle happier than the day before, she found herself back in Winterfell.
"Theon, you fool, you made me bleed!" She hissed, glaring down at the small wound, emitting blood through her thick sleeves on her arm.
"Suddenly you turn into a lady again, you going to faint at the sight of blood?" The Greyjoy boy taunted, turning away from her, letting his guard down, thinking she was done.
"I see more blood than you!" She spat at him, switching her sword to her left hand. For some reason, she liked the feel of it in that hand. Raising her blade, she swung it at Theon, who turned just at the right time, dodging the blow, lifting his sword, just at the right time.
"I didn't know you hit womanhood, you still look like a little girl," he smirked, meeting her sword with hers. She spun , meeting his blow with an equally sharp one.
"And you're a cocky git who's going to get hurt if he's not paying attention," she spat again. In one swift movement, she lifted my leg up, throwing a kick at him, hitting between his legs. Dropping his sword, his eyes going wide in pain, he murmured a little groan, making her smirk triumphantly.
"Serve's you right, Greyjoy," Jon chuckled. She threw her brother a grin, before brandishing her sword at him. "You've gotten good in the last few days,"
"Not that it matters, I'm not going to the wall," she sighed.
"What are you practicing for then, the prince?" Theon raised an eyebrow.
"Damn right, now fight me Snow," for the first time, Lyanna was making a joke about her betrothal.
"Yes, mi'lady," he bowed jokingly, before swinging his tourney sword at her.
"I want to fight! I want to fight!" they heard a cheering, turning to see little Rickon running into the courtyard, followed swiftly by Shaggydog, who was already the most wild out of the whole litter of wolves.
"Lady Stark would throw me to the Bolton's to be flayed if she caught me giving you a sword," Lyanna muttered hearing a cracking of fire behind her. She turned, to see a bonfire going on in the courtyard, the yellow flames flicking on a pile of straw. She turned back around to face her brothers, forgetting it was there almost as soon as she'd turned away.
"My mother would do what?" she heard Robb ask, frowning with a small smile on show. Lyanna pretended to look shocked that he'd heard as Jon wandered off to where Mikken was smithing swords. "She hates you, probably not that much though,"
"No, she'd rather me freeze at the wall," she joked.
"You'd rather freeze, it was your idea!" he exclaimed.
"I know, she just likes the idea, but it's still not going to happen, King's Landing is a pretty different destination," Lyanna muttered, before grinned at him, tying her messy hair into a knot, stray hairs dangling down her neck. "Rickon, go find Bran, and maybe then I'll show you both how you shoot," her little brother nodded vigorously, before taking off at a sprint back in the direction he came in, his wolf following him. As she watched him, she could see the fire had grown slightly, creeping away from the log pile slowly. No one else seemed to notice, no one except for Lyanna, and even then, she couldn't find it in her to point it out, so she turned back to Robb and Theon.
"Robb, did you know your sister's a woman?" Theon teased. Lyanna flushed red, throwing her sword down and lunging at him. She threw a punch at his cheek, but missed and hit his chest instead as the two hit the floor, the Snow girl on top of the Greyjoy. "What was that for?" he gasped as he continued hitting his chest.
"For being a dick," she hissed at him, getting off him, and kicking his side.
"Well if I'm a dick then you'll like me, since you're a woman now!" he joked and Lyanna threw him another glare as Robb sniggered at them both. When she shot a glare at Robb, he soon fell silet, raising his hands in defence.
"Sorry, sorry," he said quickly before Lyanna could attack him like she had done to Theon.
"I'm sorry too," Theon muttered half-heartedly.
"You will be sorry when I cut off your cock," she joked. He looked wide eyed at her. "That was a joke, Theon, take it like one,"
As she spoke, she could hear distant howls. They were low pitched, but sharp, getting closer; they belonged to Winter. Turning around, she saw the fire had advanced to her feet, crawling up her boots and trousers. She looked towards her brothers, to anyone else, but no one was watching, it was like they couldn't see her any more, like she had just disappeared. Maybe she had, maybe she was ash. But it didn't feel like she was burning, the flames merely tickling her gently, as they climbed up her body.
Winter's howls continued, though the wolf was nowhere in sight. Something that was in sight was the large shadow being cast over Winterfell, followed by the screeching of a creature that hadn't been heard for hundreds of years.
Dragon.
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Hey guys! Oh my Lord, I only have one more exam, I am almost ready to collapse from exhaustion!
I hope you liked his chapter, I worked hard on it to develop Alize, because I always felt like she was a little two dimensional before (I don't want to create a Jar Jar Binks!) I hope you guys liked her back story.
Comment your prediction for the next chapter because I tried to create a bit of a cliffhanger for something big coming in the next chapter, and I wanna see if you can guess what it is!
Thanks for reading,
~Olivia