𝐋𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀. 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀. 𝐙𝐄𝐇𝐑𝐀

“Will you teach them to dance then?” She inquires wondering about her baby, the little thing of the north knowing she would like a world it could waltz about in dancing among flowers and fresh snow. Lyanna would love to see them run along the edges of roofs like she and this honorary uncle of theirs would or father if one believed rumors. Part of her half wished at times perhaps he could’ve been but he was her platonic soul mate no more meant to love him then a fish could love a bird. If Lyanna had her way she would grow old with her friends, grey haired the lot of them and the many of them and this man who would remain ginger until he died fussing over a generation beyond the next. 

“I could never break your heart like that, Rickon. You will always have the protection of the north and your Lyanna” She smiled though her face drops softy when he sheds light on his proposed travel plans. Lyanna couldn’t be certain when the baby would arrive, early or late and the thought of not having those important to her about her was a quietly terrifying thing. Lyanna out to tell him the secret of the child’s father ought to have him stand there in his place. His question next then made her smile fade entirely. 

he walked over to the target and retrieved both knives before going back to her side. vaegon held her blade out to her as they speak of rats that are not animals. perhaps rats who are seahorses or squids or even lions. there were many enemies coming to the capital but vaegon was not the man he was a year ago when they last saw each other. "rats can be sneaky but that is why we have rat catchers, is it not?" he says with a slight smirk, his blade in his hand. "i only fear when tensions will come from having so many in the keep once again. the last we were all here, my cousin perished and my uncle started a war. time will only tell if we will put an end to that war for good. but this time, i will be prepared for it." turning his blade over in his hand, he looked back at elia. "and what say you? how do snakes feel of rats? they are food, are they not?"

he'd felt a pang of envy when he learned of elia's return to the bracing warmth of dorne, longing for the days he could move as he pleased. he would love nothing more than to travel with helaena and defne. emir's attention was torn between king's landing and oldtown, but his heart was with his home, his people, and his unease and fury blended into something that kept him as sharp as the situation required. "i'm told you've regained your strength. i never doubted you, old friend." he nodded his approval, and mustered a rare smile, reserved mainly for his daughter and his wife these days. elia was a cherished friend, for her, he would strive to cheer up. "i'm in dire need of a distraction. spar against me, or drink with me, or do both. lose and your coin will quench both our thirsts."

lyanna stark was a sister, not of blood, but most definitely of heart. a pair of eyes she trusted to watch over her sons, with as much affection and diligence as her own. she busied herself with her apothecary chest, to make salves to soothe irritated patches of a sensitive babe's skin, and glanced to lyanna with a gentle smile. "i wish you'd heeded my advice and gone north." perhaps she should've preserved silence, but it unsettled her, that she would have her child in king's landing. unwed, unprotected. this was not dorne, nor lyanna's home. "or south, nymor would have allowed it. my mother could have accompanied you. i worry for your safety in the capital."

“You know me to be a stubborn woman but not completely without reason. I need to be here - to represent the few Starks that are left and who was there for you when your youngest came into this world? I’d not want to have my child without my closest friend there with me to be the first to hold them?” She speaks honestly with a smile watching hands busy in a chest lyanna had also become deeply familiar with having seen them crafted and created by the skilled hands. “Nymor is a good man - another one of my dearest friends - I am eager to see him with my own eyes. With Karstarks and Daynes who could ever fear for their safety knowing sun and stars guard the way? I will admit this travelling has been a nightmare, this one loves to kick often. I have a fighter I fear half ready to meet the world and still content to be where they are”

“The outset of all our troubles around this time I expect and on my journey north to deliver a nephew to safety. The father is not involved in the child’s life” She states speaking in a voice that drops a conversation into a private and personal exchange between sisters. Lyanna by this time was used to answering this question and countering a request for a father’s identity. “You do know how children are made, Alson” She teases but there comes a note of seriousness “It will be a snow. I do not pretend a queen would legitimize a child before its born or at all.” Lyanna states still wondering if she would bend the knee, if she would betray her chosen king in that way or that even swearing some false fealty that it would be granted. They had, the Starks, asked for aide to feed their people and were told none would come from a dead queen. Was a living and new one different? She sighs “I missed you. It has been too long since we have been a proper family if we were ever allowed to be. You were always my sister - I always claimed you as a Stark."

she had been dreading this moment since vaelora told her that they were summoning all the great houses back to the capital. it was one thing to turn your back on your family through letters, it was another to see their faces again after. in the months since the war began, alson kept telling herself she was not a stark, she was a snow, so turning her back on her siblings was not has bad as if she were a true stark. but she knew that was not true. unlike their father, her siblings were noting but kind to her. lyanna especially since they were so close in age. alson is standing in the yard, her white cloak still attached to her shoulders as she over saw those who were entering the keep. that's when she sees her for the first time in years. lyanna stark. but- her eyes fall to her stomach as she walks into the gates. she was with child? alson hesitates, almost turns and runs to avoid this moment, but instead she steps forward. "lady lyanna," she says in a small voice. "i- erm- welcome to king's landing." her words were formal but filled with fear.

much has changed in the months since the ceasefire had been given. his mother was dead, his sister queen, obella was pregnant, and elia was healed. vaegon has grown quite close to his good sister. after she had healed from her injuries, she had kept up her promise to teach him the ways of dornish knife work. their trips to dorne in the past months had done wonders to better himself. he held his dagger in his hand, the one elia had gifted him all those months ago. "the keep begins to fill," vaegon says under his breath to her. he spun the dagger between his fingers before aiming and throwing it at the target across the way. he was not nearly as good as elia but at least he hit his target with near accuracy. "how long do you think before the rats begin to feast?"

There is a flash of the blade that nearly ended her life, her own valyrian steel, whipped forward landing perfectly beside his . "I will not hold my breath for that" She smirks knowing he is aware that she favors him rather highly. He was the best of men for her sister, perhaps a better man than any of them deserved. He after all had become Elia's close friend perhaps even helping aide in healing any divide between sisters both lodged in the middle of their family. This and his little dragonseeds she had brought down to Dorne she adored as if they had her sister's blood. "How long- oh rats are ravenous things but should they seek to devour you know and I know you will be prepared for any outcome. What's on your mind, Zaldrīzes? Vaegon my brother-"

"ruggedly handsome and willing to let you take care of me, is it? so you like your patients feeble? my, lyanna, perhaps i ought to fear your presence in the infirmary." lorent broke into a coarse chuckle, throat still dry, about to reach for the jug in her hand before her touch came to ghost over his face. something passed over blues then, something akin to fear, and lorent retreated entirely from his intent to lean forward. if he gave into her tenderness, lapped it up like the war-worn, crestfallen man he was, he'd surely come apart at the seams. "no sleeping draughts, i've slept plenty. never felt more awake. you reserve your snarl and bark for me."

he stood now, in his tunic and breeches, looking for his belongings. if he was fit enough to stand, he was fit enough to walk to freedom. "you wouldn't have wanted to be there with me, trust me. i'm grateful for your shoving my shoulder back where it belongs, i don't think my slouching added to my rugged comeliness." making a face at her, he dismissed her offer to confide in her, and offered his hand for her to take instead. "i'm famished. what about you? with your ruined ankle, you're not limping, are you? i'd offer to carry you to the kitchens, but alas..." a little shrug of his sore shoulder, which made him wince. "one limping, the other slouching. what a pair we make, lya."

As he stood, Lyanna stretched out, reaching forward over rumpled bedding to return the heavy water jug to its place. For a moment she felt bare- exposed as if laid out there for him waiting for another reaction to brush her off or if he wished for her to snarl and bark risk stealing a moment to do something scandalous - kiss her as if they were not softly at war with another before battle threw them back at one another. Stretching an arm out further to place it more squarely in the center of the side table a knee wobbled causing the perfectly poised woman to lose her center. Falling across the bed she huffed, turning herself over as he searched for his effects. it was an incredible sense of deja vu that came over her, a flash and flood of memories of more recent days before words had been said in haste, in desperation of deep desire that saw them having placed distance between each other. A full chest rose with every breath, corseted bodice concealing a broken heart and a bigger secret she kept from him - a truth she'd rather not reveal just yet. He'd made a face at her, playful and dreamy as it was to look at and a wolf simply stared at his offer to sup together.

"I think I had to force my knee into it - throw my entire body into correcting your slouch. Even if you're shoulder were at full strength I wouldn't let you throw me over it - forget a bark or a snarl i would bite you - just a little. a friendly nibble. Truthfully though, honestly I would let you carry me to the kitchens but alas." She explained, propping up onto elbows looking at the hand still. For a moment she considered what taking his hand would mean. Rough and battle worn hands though slide over over the other pulling herself up and out of his bed to stand beside him now. With deep and dark brown eyes she stared up at the blonde giant beside her, tall and well built despite his injury, wincing the same as she moved a touch too quickly to remotely lie about her ankle being better. Just as his shoulder was sore, her ankle was still no good to do much on let alone dance or run away from him. Lyanna scrunched up her nose returning the same face he'd made earlier offering her arm. "What a pair in deed, Lor. Together we would make a fully functional human being. I don't know how much I will eat though - famished as I am - I am still leery of upsetting a stomach Ashara recommended oat cakes and blander foods. Suppose you'll eat what I won't, hmm? Shall we? We'll move slowly"

"winter roses sound like a wondrous sight. you will have to take us there when they come into bloom, all of us." both hands curled around lyanna's, warm, soft touch of a friend who would not leave her side until she was ready to rest. "he is not my friend, you are. i would not speak a word of it to him even if you did not care to keep it a secret." she spoke of her increase in size, and ashara smiled knowingly -- for a few more weeks, it may be attributed to rich foods still, but after that, it would grow more difficult to hide. "i understand you need time, to process it all. but what will you do when it can no longer be concealed?" a question she likely had no answer to yet. "you may find he will agree to wed you once he knows, but since he has rejected you before, i doubt it would be for the reasons of the heart. such a union, devoid of love, brought about only by a shared responsibility for your child… well, you know i could not stand it."

she loosened their hold to guide a hand to her cheeks, in an effort to dry tears. "i wrote to olyver's father when i was a little over five moons. i gave him ample time, to read my letter and to return to starfall, to witness the birth of our child. dorne would not have required marriage of us, or a name other than sand for our boy. varyn never answered, he never came to see us. when i asked the truth of him, he told me he had never received the letter. only after i wed him did i come to understand he had received it, and burnt it." she inhaled deeply, and exhaled, before speaking again. "i was not cross with him, i am not cross now. i've no respect for him at all. my boy smiles brighter than the sun, he laughs, eats with a healthy appetite, walks, tries to talk. he is well, and he will grow up and know his mother to be truly content, which was impossible beside the man who sired him. your babe needs a healthy, happy mother, and their mother needs helping hands. you have my support and my promise to love and protect your child, as you love and protect mine."

"Then I will tell him - when I can no longer keep it a secret I can tell him then. I do not wish to hide the child or hide myself away - I would wish to give him the option to choose us or himself. Ashara - you are my friend. One of the few I still have left breathing - I pray I never lose you or your children. A union devoid of love or heart I could endure for the child - for the north to be well fed and defended. He may grow to hate the woman they might make him call wife but I would hope beyond all things he would love my child. He is no Varyn - I do not know who my Lorent is anymore but I know enough about him that he would come if I called - if I truly begged for him to be at my side for this - if I asked him to be there. From watching how he was with my nephew I would believe he would be a good father - a great one even if it were in his heart to want it" Lyanna heaves softly, trying to breathe and control tears as she nods. Its not her crying out of a loss of love, nor is it over a man in truth it is because life is happening all at once death, loss and new beginnings with and without those she had believed for the life of her would be there beside her to experience them. She smiles though, warmly at the mention of the little boy she felt so fiercely protective over as if she were his mother too. Olyvar would have a place in the north always with or without a step-father and family Lyanna would make sure a little one knew it was his home just as she did for her nephew ( although eira's boy was much larger and far older ).

Shaking her head Zehra laughs softly. "If we were to tempt the thought of another child in the future at some time - bear or otherwise I would like to name a girl Brienne. Its a beautiful nam, strong and fierce but beautiful. Our children love you and I would wish you take care of yourself more often. I do not plan on being a widow in this lifetime so you must eat and well. Don't talk about it yet - it will come when it comes"

what his sister steered the conversation toward next did surprise him. her mention of an illness did alarm him, and he reached for her hand again. it surely was not a common cold that would pass by with the right remedy, or else why would she be seeking him out to inform about it?

Fingers dig gently into the fabric at her abdomen, the soft bit of cloth covering what in the coming weeks would be something even the best seamstress would be unable to hide from the world, concealing a child that would like its parents before it desire to be noticed and noticeable. Did she have to say his name? Could she go again years as had become the customer without saying it until a Karstark would speak it to her, pulling a memory of a man back into existance? In another day and age entirely, a time long since dead though it were, but years ago, the girl who wore a crown of wildflowers in her hair and danced barefoot in a garden paradise would've flown into the arms of her only beloved - she would've never needed to say the name. Lya would never have needed to have this conversation with the heir in the north because she would not be in the north. Lyanna would be where her heart so agonizingly ached to be the moment lungs drew in her first breath of sweet air, touching foot in the reach longing to call it home. Lyanna would be no Stark but a Tyrell and a wife, and there she would, in contentment, laying midst a verdant landscape with a burgeoning belly curling soft locks of golden sunlight between her fingers during a lazy afternoon. It was a good dream. It was a dead one, and life didn't wait for either their permission to begin again or at all for them.