Let's play a little game

The Road North

The constant racket and shaking of the carriage had become annoying about three days ago at this point. They were traveling slow. Thalia would have rather still been on the ship from the shield islands to Old Oak had she known she'd be stuck in a wooden box for days. New to her lady-ship as Lady of the Shield Islands, she had not quite known just how long traversing to Kings Landing would take. Their horses could not cross the river to go through The Reach North so instead, here they are, traversing mountains and hills, a migraine growing behind Thalia's eyes. If she had known how long this trip would have taken, she'd have brought a book or two in order to suffer through it comfortably. The winds constantly licked at her carriage windows, blowing them open if they had not been locked. It was becoming cold, frosty, and bitter out as the trees finished painting themselves golden. By this time, the sun will have been settling for the night and painting the horizon an amber hue. Thalia stood in her carriage and called out for her men to stop. Like clockwork, all of the horses hooves paddling the ground ceased and her carriage came to a halt. She stepped out, finally in a flat land with trees and less rocks to roll over and jolt her carriage to one side.
"How far are we from Lannisport?" Thalia asked her Guard.
"Still about fifty miles, My Lady." Ser Alestar replied, bowing his head down.
"Fifty miles until I can sleep in a real bed and read real books, not hear facetious tales of the war of five kings or of Daenerys Stormborn who is set to win a war I may be funding." Thalia said unenthused. "I shall be back before the sun sets. We should travel through the rest of the night to get to Lannisport."
"Yes, My Lady." Ser Alestar bowed once more before Thalia turned and walked towards the woods.
Thalia listened to the calming calls of the birds, accompanied by the crinkling of leaves beneath her feet. The crisp autumn air smelling earthy and fresh. She sat under a tree for a second, her train on her gown covered in leaves and stems. She took off her shoes and sat with her bare feet on the ground and her knees to her chest. She learned she enjoyed the changing of seasons, despite the prophetic whispers of men and women alike that our days are numbered. Winter was coming, and Thalia knew that some whispers may be more far fetched than the last. She heard whispers coming from village towns near the wall of the dead coming to claim Westeros for their army. She heard whispers from Essos of a Long Night that lasts decades. Growing up, she wanted to be a Maester. As silly as the thought of a girl maester, she knew no better. The shear amount of knowledge the citadel has in its grasp is astounding and one can only be curious as to what they would learn from the thousands of books on their shelves. Maester or not, these tales had no proof, and Thalia prided herself on her see it to believe it attitude. Men lie, eyes don't.
Thalia watched as the orange glow dimmed along the horizon. She took a deep breath and sighed. She stood up, brushing her backside off. She put her shoes back on and walked back towards her party. She entered her carriage and waved for them to begin their trek once more.
Thalia must have fallen asleep up against the wall of the carriage, as her head was killing her. Suddenly the carriage stopped. She opened her window to look outside and saw that they had finally reached Lannisport. They were welcomed in and she immediately went up to the chambers prepared for her.
She awoke feeling sore and cranky. Despite sleeping in a real bed, her body took quite the beating in her carriage the past three days. She sat up with a groan, holding her head. She slowly made her way to the mirror in her chamber. A small bruise had formed near her temple from resting against the carriage walls. "I'll be lucky if I make it to Kings Landing without looking like I have endured a beating." She mumbled to herself.
Her hand maiden entered her chambers, a new thick dress in tow. This one wasn't nearly as pretty as her last, but warm enough to keep her comfortable through the ride ahead. Her other hand maiden entered with a bucket of steaming water and a cloth to clean her with. "Thank you ladies." She said with a smile as she stripped down to her bare form. They went to work quickly, scrubbing away the filth accrued from the days long trek. The warm water trickled down her skin to her feet, becoming cold before dripping off of her skin. They lightly rinsed her hair, only leaving it slightly damp before one of the hand maidens picked up the bucket and left. Her other hand maiden helped her into her blue dress that hugged her body, flowers embroidered into the fabric. After finishing getting her dressed, her hand maiden went to work with her now drying hair. She put it into a braided half up-do.
"My lady, let me get some powder to cover up this bruise." Her hand maiden said while bowing. Thalia nodded and stayed seated in front of her mirror. The hand maiden returned and started tapping powder onto her face. "I shall do a little bit of makeup so you look less ghastly, My lady."
Thalia chuckled, "Thank you, Annette. Your honesty is truly my favorite part of your personality."
"Thank you, My lady. I strive for open honesty, but I imagine that trait will not thrive in Kings Landing, as they all lie there." She responded with a smile.
"Yes, a city of lies, and my lovely hand maiden to tell me the truth of it. You give me my favorite counsel among my hand maidens. One day I will have you in a much higher position, perhaps split my islands with you. Make you a lady of one of the Shield Islands, there you can perhaps even have your own hand maidens. But unfortunately, they may be a drab bore compared to you." Thalia said, watching her reflection in the mirror.
"And I imagine whoever takes my place as your head maiden will be a little less eccentric compared to me, so we can live our lives with boring company together, drinking and reading our woes away." Annette replied with a smile, finishing her makeup.
Thalia turned and grabbed two glasses and filling them with wine. She handed Annette a glass and raised hers. "To our boring future and our woes." She said with a bright smile, a laugh hiding behind her eyes. They both drank and let out chuckles.

They began their trek once more, the goal destination being Stoney Sept. It was about another 3 days of trekking through mountains and windy climates. Thalia had been gifted some books to read for the long road ahead. On day 2 of her trek she had already gone through all of the books and had read about half of them twice. What she would do to have some wine at this point. She cursed herself for not asking for a flask of wine before departure. Suddenly the party jolted to a stop and she slid from her seat to the carriage floor. She immediately opened her carriage door. "Why are we stopping?!" She shouted, unsure of what was happening.
See Alestar ran up to her, a parchment in his hand.

"Daenerys Stormborn has laid siege to Casterly Rock and has attacked Lannister troops returning to Kings Landing. Olenna Tyrell, a traitor to the throne, and usurp conspirer is now dead. Queen Cersei Lannister demands your party join us in Kings Landing at once. Any and all stops should be negated. - Hand of the Queen, Master of Whisperers, Qyburn."

"Great." Thalia muttered as she turned on her heels, entering her carriage. She waved her party on and began rubbing her temples. "This is going to be a long ride."

Half a fortnight had passed and they had just reached Harrenhal, anticipation for what's to come growing in Thalia's throat. If she doesn't fund this war, her head will be on a spike, if she does and should they lose, her head will again be on a spike or melted into dust. Her leg was thumping the carriage floor and she sat and contemplated what actions to take.

The dreaded moment of her party greeting the gate of Kings Landing finally had come. The smell had reached them about three hours before they even saw the city. Thalia was covering her nose with a handkerchief sprayed with perfume the entire ride to the palace. She finally stepped out into the the city at the palace gates, the smell of sweat, vomit, shit, and corpses reaching her nose before she could even take a breath. Her head hand maiden joined her at her side. "Ah, the city of lies and shit." She whispered, her hand wafting the permanent smell of feces away unsuccessfully.
Thalia was greeted by an unfortunate looking man. "My lady, I am the Queen's hand, Qyburn. It is a pleasure to meet you in these unfortunate times." He said, bowing his head down.
"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, but unfortunately I can't say so myself." Thalia pushed passed him. A short haired blonde woman stood in a black dress at the palace doors with a smirk on her face. Thalia bowed, "Your Grace."
"Come, we have much to talk about in the coming war." Cersei said coldly, not a single emotion on her face. Thalia nodded and followed, her personal guard close by.