dancing with our hands tied | r. targaryen

v.

110 A.C.
KING'S LANDING
•••

THE DAY BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT, ALAYNE LOOKED OUT OF THE WINDOW OF THE RED KEEP, watching as lords and ladies arrived last minute. Over the last week or so, King's Landing had been receiving people from all over the Seven Kingdoms, from the Salt Shores of Dorne to the Wall in the North. They were all gathering for the birth of their supposed future king.

There was a lot of pressure on Queen Aemma to deliver, but Alayne believed that she would. Honestly at this point she had no choice.

"Excuse me, do you know where I could find my younger sister?"

Alayne quickly looked away from the window to see her older brother standing there and a smile spreads on her lips as she jumps up from her seat and runs over to him.

"Gwayne!" she exclaims as she jumps into his arms. Gwayne chuckles as he catches her and spins her around.

"See I told you she'd be excited to see you," Alicent says as she pokes her head into Alayne's room.

"What are you doing here?" Alayne asks, "I thought you were back in Oldtown with Uncle Hobert."

"I'm here for the Heir's Tourney. I'm competing," Gwanye informs her with a proud grin.

"You mean I get to watch you get knocked on your ass?" Alayne asks with a grin, "Well this day just keeps getting better and better."

"Watch it," Gwayne says as he slaps her on the back of her head and Alayne gasps before she launches into a fury of attacks against her brother.

"Stop it you two," Alicent says as she steps between her siblings. Gwayne and Alayne stop swinging at each other and look at their sister. Alicent looks between the two of them, before quickly hitting Gwayne and Alayne before taking off down the hall.

"You're such a cheat Alicent!" Alayne exclaims as she chases after her sister, Gwayne on her tail. She hears Alicent's laughter down the hall and she follows the sound before crashing into a solid figure and falling to the ground.

"Apologies," a male voice says as he kneels before her, "You were coming so quick I couldn't get out of the way."

Alayne looks up to find a young man with eyes that almost appeared blue. He had long black hair, but the thing that bothered her the most was that he looked familiar, only she couldn't exactly pin where she knew him from.

"I ran into you," Alayne says apologetically, "My sister assaulted me, and I was trying to exact my revenge."

"Ah," the young man says as he glances down the hall and back at Alayne with a small smile. He rises to his feet and holds a hand out to Alayne which she takes. He stares at her a moment too long and suddenly his eyes widen, "Alayne?"

"Yes?" Alayne says wondering why he was saying her name as though it was a question.

He lets out a laugh before he points to himself, "It's me! Brandon?"

"Baratheon?" she asks, and he nods his head. This certainly wasn't how she was expecting this to go. She took him in and saw that he looked different, less like a boy and more like a man, "My, you're much taller."

"And you're much prettier," he responds. Her eyes widen, caught off guard by the compliment. Brandon shakes his head as he looks at her, "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that."

"You could have said that I'm taller as well," Alayne tells him and Brandon laughs.

"You are," he says with a shy smile, "Taller."