you cannot kill a flower, for it will grow back stronger than before...
caecilia tyrell shed her petals a long time ago and replaced them with thorns. no longer the daisy of highgarden, she brandishes a bow and arrow and devotes herself to the seven...
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SOUTH OF Highgarden lies a lonely castle on top of the hill it's named after, rising high above the thick forestry it looks down upon. It is tall and foreboding despite its pretty stone that glimmers pink as the sun sets upon it, but it is nothing compared to the glittering white walls of Highgarden whose shadow spans long and wide over the fields of the Reach.
South of Highgarden sits a lonely Tyrell in the window, one leg hanging high over the craggy hill below. It's dangerous, she knows, and if her siblings had been here to see her, they would have pulled her back out of the way. But nobody in Horn Hill cares too much about their liege lord's daughter.
There is no acres-long hedge maze surrounding this castle, no pretty flowers springing up in all cracks and crevices of stone, just halls haunted with memories of Tarly's past, every gloomy picture hanging from the walls meant to impress her. They are all so ugly. The halls are bright in Highgarden. Golden arches everywhere, staircases made out of shimmering marble, sun shining through long rows of windows to keep the shadows from crossing their paths. There are too many ghost stories told about what awaits you in the shadows.
Caecilia finishes off her letter to her mother with her signature, slashing across the parchment in black ink. The ravens here are slow and weary, so it will take more than three days for it to reach her home. What could happen in three days?
At Horn Hill, nothing.
"Hello, my dear." Trevyr swings open the oak door that had separated her from the rest of this dreary castle. Does he hear the wind screaming through the holey walls at night? Like a tortured princess awaiting saving, or damnation. Whichever comes first.
"Good afternoon, darling."
Trevyr had been out hunting with his father and brothers. A morning ritual for the Tarly boys who leave with the dogs after breakfast and come back, near lunch, with a lone deer. It is barely enough to feed them all, but they always look quite proud of themselves. The women are kept in the castle where they do their duties; reading, sewing, singing, looking after the children.
Caecilia always keeps to herself.
She was never like this in Highgarden. Always out in the gardens with her mother, drinking tea beneath the lattice patio as the birds chatter away around them and they can whisper gossip without worry of interference. Or, she was running through the maze with her sisters, giggling as they tried to hide without getting caught by one of the poor knights they had roped into playing with them. Or, if she could stand to be around her brother's pomposity for more than ten minutes, she would visit the clear waters of the Mander and they'd take a pleasure boat to enjoy the sun without needing to engage in an activity together. Her reading and him eating grapes.
