𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 | The Three-Eyed Raven
{ Lyra }
✧✦✧
𝕿he aftermath of the battle had felt like a dream. Lyra could barely remember walking back into Winterfell, or sitting down in the hall to have her injuries cleared. The only thing she did remember was Tylar barrelling into her side, laughing and clutching onto her. That was when she broke down and cried. It only got worse when she found her wolf but it was over and they'd won.
But it wasn't without losses. Too many losses.
The piles of bodies were stacked on pyres, waiting to be burnt, as the remainder of the soldiers gathered around, faces downtrodden. On the closest wooden pyre, she could see a familiar face.
Bran had died during the fight, having managed to hold the Night King still and contain him so that Arya and Jon could kill him. He'd died shortly afterwards, long before any of the remainders of his siblings could reach him. Lyra wanted to cry, but she had shed far too many tears already.
Her brothers and sisters stood by her side. Most were silent, holding onto their children tightly as they looked out across the sea of dead bodies. Sansa stood to Lyra's right, clutching her hand as Tylar and Jaime hovered behind her.
Robb stepped forward, his eyes rimmed red as he looked up to speak to the masses.
"We're here to say goodbye to our brother and sisters, our fathers and mothers. To our friends." Robb looked down as his voice cracked, and he took a deep breath before continuing. "To those who set aside their differences to fight and die together, so that others may live. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid."
Eliza's lip trembled, both of her boys curling close to her side as the baby in her arm whimpered. Everyone had lost someone that they loved as no one was spared the grief. Jaime shot Lyra a cautious look, cocking his eyebrow but Lyra waved him off.
"It is our duty and our honour to keep them alive in memory for those who come after us and those who come after them, for as long as men draw breath. They were the shields that guarded the realms of men. And we shall never see their like again." Lyra bowed her head as a moment of silence swept through the crowd, before they all began to pick up large torches.
Robb stood at Bran's pyre, whilst Lyra headed over to one filled with Lannister soldiers. Everyone stopped, before they all began to chuck their torches onto the wood, watching it crackle and burn.
Lyra looked down at the men in front of her, smiling sadly, before she retreated to her siblings side once more.
It was finally over.
✧✦✧
There was a celebration that night for winning the war against the Night King, but Lyra hadn't gone. Instead, she'd composed a letter to her husband to tell him of what had happened and when she would be returning home. That turned out to be a good thing during the council meeting the next morning, where most of the participants were still hung over from a night of drinking and partying.
Lyra had to contain her giggles as Robb slumped down next to her, his hair still mussed and looking tired. Eliza had not contained her laughter, cackling softly and patting him on the shoulder. It had lead to a most amusing council meeting, though Lyra had left swiftly to deliver the news to Jaime and Tylar that they would be leaving shortly.
"Lyra?" The woman paused, turning on the parapet to look behind her at the call of her name. Daenerys stood there, wringing her hands behind her back as she chewed nervously on her lips. "Do you think we could talk?"
Lyra hummed, before leading the woman out of the castle gate. They walked across the battlefield, Elia diving in and out of the snow next to them, before they finally came to a stop near to the dragons. It was sheltered, but far enough away from the castle that no one would be able to overhear them or pry into the conversation.
Spreading her cloak over the snow, Lyra sat down, Daenerys following suit. They fell silent, both watching the view as Elia snorted and rolled around in the snow.
"I can not imagine growing up here." Daenerys smiled softly. "It seems so cold."
"You're a Southern girl. You don't belong in the cold of the North." Lyra muttered, before turning to look at Daenerys. "But, you did not come here to make small talk about the weather, you came to talk with me about the Iron Throne and who will sit upon it when this is all said and done."
Daenerys nodded, falling silent as she seemed to think of the words to say.
"Coren likes you. He thinks you're a good person and over the time I've known him, his judgement has rarely been wrong." Daenerys smiled at the thought of her husband, before looking back at Lyra. "His advice was that you and I should talk together, queen to queen."
"Your husband seems like a smart man."
"He has his moments." Daenerys chuckled, before shaking her head. "But, I agree with him. You and I should talk."
"I know you want the Iron Throne," Lyra looked back out across the snowy field where the battle had taken place, you could still see the scorch marks from the dragons in the ground. "but that's something that Joffrey and I can't give up. We worked so hard for our kingdom and we lost so much."
"My brother always told me, when I was younger, that one day we would go back and rule Westeros because it was our birth right. He always said that things were better with a Targaryen on the throne." Daenerys sighed, shaking her head. "Even though I despised him greatly and was more than happy when he died, that mentality stayed with me. It was the only thing that we had in common."
Lyra nodded, allowing the woman to rant to her.
"On Dragonstone, the only people that were there were my own, so I never truly knew how others saw me. My advisors didn't tell me and Coren, the only person's who always been truthful with me, hadn't been back here in years so he didn't know." Daenerys' eyes grew sad. "Then I came North. They feared me, feared the dragons that saved so many in Essos, feared the soldiers who protect. They thought of me as a foreign invader, someone here to steal their land and burn their crops and villages. It reminded me of my brother and I never, ever, want to be portrayed like that because I am not him."
"I understand." Lyra sent her a sympathetic smile. "Joffrey does not like his family. Cersei has been stripped of all royal titles and banished and he hated Tywin and his father with a burning passion for various reasons. When Joffrey first came to the throne, we became aware of the fact that someone in the Small Council was vying for a war between the Starks and the Lannisters soon after my death. He told me that he didn't want to be like the rulers of the past; his father, your father or even anything remotely close to Tywin Lannister. But still, that character gets pushed onto him. He hates it."
"Neither of us want to be portrayed as the bad guy." They fell silent once more, before Lyra licked her lips and began to speak.
"I think that both of us have been hearing a lot of misconceptions about the other and then making decisions based on these false facts." Lyra commented. "It is of no one's fault."
"I agree." Daenerys nodded, smiling as the large direwolf popped up from the snow, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. "I was told stories by others about how cruel and viscous Joffrey was."
"And we were told horrific stories about you and what you would do to us." Lyra shook her heads, before wincing as Elia came to lay across her legs. "But we listened to them, because that's what our advisors told us and they were there to guide us."
"I don't want another fight, Lyra," Daenerys sighed, lines of fatigue appearing on her face. "I can't fight anymore. I just want my family to be happy and healthy. I want to go home and for so long, I thought that was Westeros and it's not. It's just the place I was born."
"You should come back to King's Landing." Lyra suggested. "Come when Robb and Jon do. We'll talk it through with both Joffrey and Coren there."
"I think that sounds like a brilliant plan."
✧✦✧
"Why are we all here?" Lyra strode into the Godswood, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She was the last person to arrive, her siblings all around her. Tylar, who had found her as she entered, stood behind her.
"We just need to talk, as a family, and work out what's going to happen now." Jon looked around at everyone. Tylar backed off, prepared to leave but Lyra caught his arm. He was family.
"What's going on?" Eliza raised her eyebrow, her hand wrapped around Robb's arm as she tilted her head. "You both look tense."
Jon and Aoife did look tense. The Wildling was sitting on a tree stump, rubbing the bridge of her nose as Jon licked his lips.
"This must remain a secret between the family. No one else can know outside of us." He looked at all of them individually. "Swear it."
"Aye." Lyra didn't join the chorus, her eyebrows furrowing.
"I can not lie to my husband."
"I don't expect you to. He can know, but no one else." Jon smiled at his sister, who relaxed.
"Aye. I swear I won't tell a single soul."
Sansa joined Lyra's side, standing beside the smaller woman as they waited for Jon to say something. He struggled to find the words.
"Before Bran died, he and Samwell Tarly found me and told me something," Jon looked nervous, glancing at Aoife for reassurance. She sent him a warm smile. "Father was never my father..."
"Jon, that's preposterous. You're our brother." Robb interrupted. "No matter what anyone else says."
"That's not it. Father was my uncle." Jon shot back. "My real father was Rhaegar Targaryen, my mother was Lyanna Stark. I was never your half-brother. I'm your cousin."
"What?" Lyra felt her world caving in around her.
"Gods." Eliza went pale, as Robb rested a hand on her back, both of them sharing a stunned look. "Explain, please."
"The marriage between Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell was annulled and a Septon married Rhaegar and Lyanna in secret." Aoife was the one to speak, her voice strong as she looked between them. "They had Jon, Lyanna died and your father hid it all."
"To protect him." Arya muttered. "Look what happened to Elia's children, it makes sense."
"If Lyanna was dead, then Jon would be the last piece of her left. It makes perfect sense." Tylar muttered, looking around. "He didn't want you to be killed by a vengeful Robert or Tywin Lannister so he said you were his bastard son."
"All this time." Lyra sighed, before looking up at Jon with steely eyes. "It changes nothing."
"What?"
"Nothing changes. You are still family. We still grew up with you," Jon took a deep breath at her words. "As far as I'm concerned, you are still my brother. If you don't want to do anything with this news, then we'll support you, but even between us, this changes nothing."
"Thank you."
Hiya,
So Dany turns out to be relatively okay and she and Lyra are talking. Also, Jon dropped the bombshell, Bran died and we've got like two more chapters till Joffrey and Lyra reunite, which is going to be super cute and I'm so excited for it,
Let me know what you guys think,
Love Li xx