——————————-
"People pretend not to like grapes when the vines are too high for them to reach."
- Marguerite de Navarre
——————————-
Ever since the moment she was born, Jorelle Lannister was her parents' favorite child, much to her siblings' dismay.
As a girl, she was spoiled relentlessly by her father and any lord trying to get in his good graces. Her chamber was often flooded with gifts from lords and ladies near and far, most of whom she couldn't care less about. Tapestries from Myr, wine from Dorne, silk from Qarth, Jorelle had more than most little girls her age could imagine.
She knew of her family's privilege once she was old enough to run through the courtyard lined with crimson flags of golden lions. She smiled and laughed as she played, watching her mother, radiant as ever, smiling at her from the balcony above.
But soon that image of her mother faded away. Her mother was gone and so was the joy of the Lannisters. Jorelle no longer smiled and laughed and the only gift she had was a younger brother, a dwarf hidden away from the world. Her father was no longer joyous either, as that part of him faded with his wife.
Jorelle had always wanted to be like her mother, but started to reconsider. Her mother was like a woman in a song, but all the women in the songs died too soon. Her mother was kind and beautiful, but what good did that do her? Jorelle wanted to live a long life, a life of power. She wanted to be like her father. She hoped that being powerful would bring the joy back in her life.
——————————-
"As she lies here beside me
Asleep with the night
And her hair, in a fine mist
Floats on my pillow
Reflecting the glow
Of the winter moonlight"
- "Wednesday Morning, 3am" by Simon & Garfunkel
——————————-