𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖉𝖞𝖓𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖞, 𝐚. 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧¹

intermission; part one

⊱❀⊰

      DEATH WAS not a foreign concept to the young Lannister girl, who stood above her mother's frail body, her blue eyes wide as she watched Cerenna Lannister tremble with chills. The fever was strong, the Maestor said. There was a chance she might not recover from the injuries she had sustained during her complicated birth.

      That night three days ago had been one that Alysanne would never forget. She would never forget the sounds of her mother's agonizing wails as they tore through the Red Keep nor the sight of her body drenched in blood, the red liquid staining the sheets of her bed. But most of all, she would never forget the sorrow that had passed through her body when she first laid eyes upon the blue babe cradled in the midwife's arms.

      That was her first brush with the Stranger, who had come late in the night to steal Alysanne's little brother away from her family. His name was to be Tyson, she had come to learn.

      Alysanne would never forget the look on her father's face as he watched his wife wither away as his dead babe was carried away by the midwives. Tyland had not left Cerenna's side since the funeral for his babe, and though Alysanne wanted nothing more than to stay with her mother, she was being ushered out of her chambers with hushed whispers of worry.

      Lady Cerenna needed rest, they said. The sickness was something Alysanne did not need to witness.

      Hot tears slid down Alysanne's cheeks as she was wrenched away from her mother's frail body, her eyes meeting Cerenna's as her mother's pale blue eyes cracked open. They were so light they bordered on lilac, and her pale skin was paler than usual as her light blonde hair stuck to her face with sweat. She began to mumble something incoherent, prompting Tyland to lean forward and soothe his delusional wife.

      The door to her mother's chambers was closed as the midwife requested that Ser Loren return Alysanne to her chambers. Loren obliged and rested his hand upon Alysanne's shoulder as he guided her down the corridor and away from her mother's chambers.

      "There, there, little Lady," Loren said softly, his attempt to cheer up the crying lady falling flat. "All will be well on the morrow," he promised, the clanging of his metal armor the only sound Alysanne was focusing on as they walked.

      She looked into her guard's eyes, her own rimmed red and brimming with tears. She stared into Loren's face and wondered if he had ever been in such a situation when she remembered that he was a knight. There was a good chance that the had indeed seen combat before and had likely taken a life with his own hands.

      She wondered if he had family of his own and what might have happened to them when Loren decided to become a knight. She knew that he hailed from a small village a few miles south of Casterly Rock, but Alysanne doesn't recall Loren ever speaking in detail of his own family.

      She opened her mouth to ask after them when Princess Aenora suddenly appeared, her pale face drawn with an expression of pure delight. "Come, Alys!" If Aenora noticed the girl's teary eyes and forlorn face, she said nothing. Alysanne looked at Loren as the princess started tugging her down the corridor. Her guard watched with a fond smile as she was dragged away before he started trailing after them, keeping a healthy distance to give the girls their privacy.