lover's mercy - jaime lannister

TWENTY-THREE

         Later, when she was clean from mud, she took a walk with Lady Margaery of House Tyrell. Well, more like Lady Margaery dragged her for a walk as she looped her arm around hers.

                   "I have heard tales of your beauty far and wide. I don't think I could ever compare," Margaery stated humbly.

                Elyanna furrowed her eyebrows, "Do you think I'm...competing?"

                "Oh, no," Margaery saw the look on her face and gave her a reassuring smile. "I know you aren't. It's just...you do know there are songs already written about you. It's quite a lot for any lady of the court to live up to."

                  Elya pursed her lips in surprise, "I did not know."

"My favorite is My Fair Lady Elyanna," Margaery said and then sung quietly.

"Fair Lady Elyanna
with skin as white as snow
and lips as red as blood.
  All men will reap and sow
until her heart is won.
Fair Lady Elyanna..."

"And on and on it goes," Margaery explained and Elya was in shock. "The songs seem to be true. You even have Steffon falling all over you. When I married his brother, he hardly spoke two words to me. Now you come along and he's no longer the lonely Stag."

"I don't think what you imply is true," she breathed out. "We just simply understand one another."

"Do you understand the Kingslayer?" she asked and Elya stopped in their walk. "They are very many rumors about that affair as well."

"He has a name," Elya defended. "And there was no affair. We were friends."

Margaery tilted her head, "Do you often defend people that were your friends?"

"Do you often have so many questions?"

"Not usually," Margaery chuckled. "I only seek to understand what makes everyone love you. If I'm to be Queen, I need to be like you...the Wolf Queen."

"You are beautiful, Margaery. Be thankful you are not even more so," Elya advised before going to leave. "Everyone would be watching then."

                Elya couldn't have a private life. Everything about her was a tale, a rumor, a song. She wished she could leave it all behind.

                 ______

                 That night as she walked to visit her mother, she found Petyr Baelish exiting her mother's tent. She gave him a fake smile as she greeted him, "Lord Baelish."

                  "Lady Elyanna," he nodded his head respectfully. "You grow more beautiful with each new day."

                 "You honor me with such kind words," she smiled sweetly. "Although, I do wonder how you managed to escape the Queen's wrath since you were supposed to be helping my father?"

                Rheina came up behind her and started a low growl as he smiled nervously, "I was extremely lucky in that regard."

                   "Yes, luck," she sneered as Rheina approached Baelish, growling even louder as she got into an attack stance.

                   Then Elya combed through her fur, making her stand down before she dismissed him, "That will be all, Lord Baelish."

              He quickly left her sight, getting as far away from that wolf. Elya chuckled a bit before telling Rheina to stay as she entered the tent. She found her mother kneeling in front of a box.

                   "Mother?" she questioned as she saw tear marks on her face. "Why was Lord Baelish visiting you? I don't think he's trustworthy."

                 "He came...to bring us this," she gestured towards the box as she began to cry. "It's the remains of your father."

               Elya froze at the news as sobs wracked her mother's body. Then she dove into action and knelt next to her mother, pulling her into an embrace and rubbing her back.

                "It's okay, Mother. It's okay. He's back with us now," Elya held her tears at bay. She'd be strong for her mother in her time of need. She'd cry later.

                 Her mother sobbed for a time before she touched her cheek gently, "I'm supposed to be strong for you, my sweet girl."

                  "You've been strong for me my whole life. It's my turn to be strong for you now," Elya promised.

                 "You're exactly as your father said you'd be," Cat cried as she remembered his words from when Elya was just a baby.

                  "He said I'd be strong?" Elya teared up.

                 "Of course he did. You were his little Snow. There was nothing he thought you couldn't do," Cat said and Elya couldn't hold it in as she started to cry.

                    My little Snow. She could only hear her father's voice as it rung in her ears. And her mother held her as she cried this time.

                  "I miss him," she sobbed as she stared at the box and her voice was nearly indiscernible.

                  "I know, Elya. I know. We all do," Cat patted her back as a few tears fell from her face as well.

               _____

               Elya did not wish to sleep that night as her sorrows had songs to sing in her dreams. But she did not wish to stay with her mother like a child so she went to the one person she felt she was understood.

                Steffon.

              "I don't wish to burden you," she said as she stepped inside his tent.

              "You'll never be a burden, Elyanna," he promised. "Plus, I don't sleep much at all."

                He took a swig of ale in a pouch and she gestured to it, "I need that."

                 He handed it over as she took a seat next to him on the small bench in front of the bed. She took a large swig and it burned before she asked, "Is this how you get through the night?"

                "Most often," he said as she gave it back. "What happened that you needed it so bad?"

                 "My father's dead remains were given back today," she bit her lip to keep her tears at bay. She couldn't believe there were more with all the tears she had cried.

                "You can cry," he said softly. "I'll even hold you if you want me to."

                She shook her head, "I've cried enough."

                Elya looked at him as she asked, "Do you miss your parents?"

               "I never had them to miss," he replied. "Although, I certainly feel the impact of their absence. Life is lonely....bitter."

               "Did you ever consider making friends?"

               "I have made a friend," he said like he thought it was obvious. "You."

                "I'm talking about before me," she nudged him softly.

                 "I don't know," he furrowed his eyebrows. "Talking was always tiring. I never enjoyed it for long periods."

                "So am I bothering you then?" she teased.

                 "No," he gazed at her. "Never."

                       She smiled softly before they talked all through the night too afraid to face their sleepy sorrows. They talked like two long lost friends and maybe one day, they'd face their sorrows together.

AN: okay I think I captured Steffon a little better here. And they are supposed to be like best friends in a way; not like an epic love or anything.