Only A Northern Song ~ Game of Thrones / Willas Tyrell ~

Chapter Twenty Three: Gold and Silver

The next few weeks were a blur of settling into married life.

As the newlyweds, Eddmina and Willas were expected to spend their time with the guests who had travelled for the celebrations, which was fine for the most part, if not a little awkward at times. That was due to Willas, as he didn't particularly enjoy the many family family lunches the two of them had to go to, notably the ones that included distance uncles and cousins that he didn't like.

"They were all set to write me off as a lost cause after the joust," he had explained one afternoon as they walked the hounds together. "Uncle Garth the Gross had practically promised Garlan his support as future Lord not even two days after the accident,"

"Hence Garlan pretending to be sick to get out of this lunch," Eddmina had joked dryly, learning quickly that Willas hated unnecessary sympathies towards his bad leg.

The lunches weren't truly  as intolerable as Willas found them, but they were different to what Eddmina was used to. It felt strange, thinking that all the strangers she was meeting were technically her family, but Willas didn't leave any of them alone with her, and if he did ever have to leave he made sure that either Margaery or Leonette was with her. It was as if he refused to even allow another situation like the one the day after their wedding occur, but Eddmina didn't mind. She liked his company, and she quite liked him being protective over her too.

Whenever Willas didn't want to be with his family, he dismissed himself and his wife, using the perfect excuse of wanting to spend time with the Dornish visitors. The other Tyrells hated the Martells, which just seemed to make their company even better. The first time Willas introduced Eddmina to Oberyn Martell, she was a little shocked at how close their friendship was. Oberyn looked at her husband the way Loras looked at Renly Baratheon, but he was impossible not to like.

Eddmina thought the Dornish would hate her. After the rebellion, where Prince Rhaegar betrayed his wife Elia by kidnapping her aunt, Eddmina was certain the fact she had been told she resembled Lyanna Stark would mean immediate resentment, but any resemblance was ignored. In fact they all regarded Willas so highly that they instantly seemed to like her too. Oberyn alternated between treating Willas like a little brother or an old lover, and despite their history the two men got on finely. The women too, Princess Arianne and Ellaria, were kind and funny, yet they were the complete opposite of how Eddmina had been taught ladies were meant to behave. They didn't act like ideal highborn ladies, they both had cutting wit and made crude yet hilarious jokes. They drank a lot and played a complicated board game called cervasse that Eddmina thought was close enough to gambling and so the highest form of rebellion from her mother and Septa's teachings.

"Perhaps the two of you should visit us in Dorne soon, I think you'd find it much more your pace," Oberyn had suggested with a wry smile one night as he watched Eddmina beat Arianne at a game of cervasse, the princess scowling in annoyance.

"I find High Garden too hot, perhaps I'd catch fire under the Dornish sun," Eddmina joked, enjoying the way they laughed, especially Willas. "Though you're right. I've always found the Dornish culture much more exciting than the rest of Westeros from what I've read. I can't imagine Princess Arianne having a septa scold her wanting to practice sparring rather than needlework,"

"Oh, never," the princess grinned, and Eddmina noticed just how beautiful she was as she sipped her wine. She looked so dignified, so collected, yet fiery. Eddmina wondered if she'd ever appear so... cool. "In fact there were times I'd have much rather done needlework than train fighting with my cousins. To say the girls are spirited is an understatement,"

Eddmina enjoyed the company of the Dornish the most out of all of the guests, to the point that she felt their absence closely when they left. They departed High Garden before any of the other guests. Oberyn kept joking that it was because he thought Lady Olenna would poison him, and Eddmina wondered if there was any sort of truth in the jest; the Martell's and the Tyrell's had been at each other's throats for decades now, after all. Their party left with promises of letters and visits, and the newlyweds then had to spend time with their less interesting guests.