BLUE MOON ; Jaime Lannister

chapter twenty-two ; "a long road ahead."

 Blue  M O O N

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛᴡᴏ ; "ᴀ ʟᴏɴɢ ʀᴏᴀᴅ ᴀʜᴇᴀᴅ."

299 AC. THE WESTERLANDS.

THEY WERE HEADING TOWARDS KING'S LANDING, TO DO THAT, THEY HAD TO CROSS THE MOUNTAINS OF THE WESTERLANDS.  Jenny had glimpsed these mountains before, yet almost all alone she had time to finally take them in. The mountain range was huge, stretching from the edge of the Westerlands to the edge of the Reach; a natural border with very few cracks. It was in one of those cracks, the women and their prisoner escaped through and Jenny was sure she was so high up, she could see the clouds around her and touch them.

As Brienne began the descent, Jenny turned her head around. She could see everything from here, everything in the former Kingdom of the Westerlands. She could see the Sunset Sea, though it was a shade of aqua now, as the sun was still high in the sky, just above her head; when she opened her mouth she could briefly taste the salt in the air. 

Very distantly, just out of reach of her sight. She could see it. She could see Casterly Rock. It was detached from the rest of the lands of the Westerlands, a small canal of seawater ran beneath it and over it, a grand bridge had been constructed - shining sharply like jagged teeth as the foundations plunged out of the water. The outer bailey and the battlements were all white, though parts of it had become grey and mossy with age; each level of the keep was heightened, until the inner bailey stood tall above the rest, stretching towards the sky with its monstrous turrets. She could make out the red leaves of a weirwood sitting somewhere within one of the outer baileys, surrounded by others; it was poorly looked after. 

Though Casterly Rock was grand, even in the blistering sunlight, Jenny had gotten an ill feeling from it. She could tell laughter of the Lord's children did not flood the halls, she could tell it was a place of seriousness. The seat of House Lannister glared at her from afar. The seaside city of Lannisport sat beside the beastly keep of the Warden of the West, only twenty or so leagues between them. The majority of the rooves in Lannisport were red, billowing with smoke and the docks had ships relentlessly coming in and out of them.

Then, Jenny noticed the drop from the cliffs of Casterly Rock and into the sea below, her eyes widened - that jump was big enough to kill a man, yet Jaime had done it, fearlessly and boldly. She stiffened at the thought of that jump, how could've he done that so easily? How had he not hit the rocks below?

The midnight-colored stallion, neighed, as Jaime began to lean to the side. Jenny straightened, pulling the man up with two arms, letting go of the horse's reigns. He was sitting with an empty bag of grain over his head, leaning against Jenny's plated chest and belly. He was taller than Jenny, so the maiden had to lean over his shoulder, resting her chin lightly as she rode. She was sat awkwardly, arms around his waist, a spear in one hand and trying to cling to the reigns.