𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑 ━ got.

innocent creatures

        aleyna saw the towers of ironoaks castle beyond the tops of the emerald pines. the castle was bold on the blue beyond. it was situated right on the river, washed by the waters that run east from the lake to the narrow sea. this protected the castle from attacks, for it could only be reached by a narrow stone bridge rising over the water. when she was a girl she would often see people swimming in it, taking their whole families to the river. but in recent years the tides became dangerous and the wastes from the castle would more and more often be dumped in the river. 

          growing up in the small town brothel, aleyna would often hear travelers tales of stately castles that seemed to rise above the sky and the lords and ladies that lived in them. she liked to think that such people represented something morally superior. different from everyone else. It comforted her to think that some special people in the world were pure by birthright. people like that would not find themselves in houses of pleasure. and indeed, aleyna had never seen a noble lord buying himself a girl for the night... only later did she learn that there was no real difference between the high lord, covered in gold, and the blacksmith, cowered in the smell of wine and his own piss. the only difference was a choice of a more elegant facility they visited. they bought girls, just not from a dump like that. and after aleyna found herself in a castle from her fairy tales all she could hear were lies. oh, how often they preach, those greedy ones, who like to act prideful and honorable, while taking whatever and whomever they please. she understood why they would need to isolate themselves from everyone else, hiding beneath tall walls. to live in a building so grand and empty, surrounded by their own filth.

        on the bridge of the castle stood several men, armed with silver swords, defending the gates day and night. they stood in twos, swapping with one another once a day. aleyna knew them by sight, as they knew her. for so many years she had found herself at those gates for various reasons, most of which bore the name of elys storm.

        elys... she couldn't find the right word to describe who he was to her. elys was her half-brother, also a bastard. they looked so much alike, sharing their father's features. dark thick hair, bright blue eyes. yet anyone who looked at them closely enough would spot the differences: the boy's full, ruddy cheeks and his sister's pale, sunken, sharp cheekbones; his blue eyes sparkled every time he smiled, while hers seemed lighter, having an almost grayish hue, they were sunken and almost always tired; elys had small, almost girlish hands with soft and warm skin; aleyna's hands resembled her father's – big and muscular, with skin stiff and somewhere rough because of the scuffs left by the bow from constant hunting. with all those differences and similarities elys wasn't really her brother... he was an infant when she first saw him. and then she saw him grow into almost a man. he was a child to her, as much as she was a parent to him. at the end of the day, that's all they've had at the time.


        elys used to live in ironoaks with his mother – the noblewoman of house florent, who gave birth to a bastard child of king robert baratheon and was sent to live the rest of her days wealthy and protected within the walls of the ironoaks castle. but before the boy even turned two she was wed to one of her household knights and bore his child. she ran away a year after and aleyna never saw her there after that. elys would write to her, but he never got an answer.


        " I pity the boy " – she once said to jon arryn – " but I can understand this woman. is it wrong to long for something that would be of your choosing? "


        aleyna was only thirteen herself when that happened. she couldn't know the adult responsibilities and choices that they have to make. but she knew the feeling. the feeling of longing for a choice of your own.

        " I also understand... what it's like. he probably doesn't even remember her face, but he knows that something's missing. he feels it when he wakes up in the morning and when he falls asleep at the night. i can't remember my mother's face either. i don't think that I know her, i don't think that I even like her, but... it's like she took something with her. something important".


        and she stayed. elys was acknowledged as a bastard since his mother was an offspring of a noble house. he was a sweet child, adored by everyone. he never had to adapt to this life the way she did. he was just born into it. and she knew that she probably needed to hate him. for everything that he had and she didn't. aleyna envied him, wished to be him, but somehow she couldn't hate him. she grew fond of this boy.


        which made her wonder how he would react to her leaving. it would be stupid to believe that this visit to king's landing will take less than a year. and if she's right and father planned to wed her, she could never see him again. aleyna thought of it as she walked into the ironoaks territory. It was beautiful under the daylight and everyone seemed busy with something. a peasant woman was carrying buckets of water from the river in her hands, which seemed to be twice her weight, but she seemed unaffected by it. the workers were busy mending the roof on one of the low towers. a woman was standing on the ground in front, loudly telling them what to do. a woman was standing with her back turned to alayna, but she recognized immediately in her tone that it was lady waynwood. she was a tall, slender, middle-aged woman. her brown hair began to sit up, and aleyna often noticed the shine in her hair and the pride with which she wore it. she almost always wore green, reminiscent of her house sigil, and proudly placed the broken wheel of the waynwood house on her clothes. now she was wearing a dark green mantle with a broken wheel lined with strings of beads. aleyna approached her.


        — lady waynwood, — aleyna bowed in a polite gesture. she always bowed a little lower than she should have, and lady waynwood always noted it in her. a wild beast will always be uncomfortable in a sheep's fur. — it's a pleasure to see you today.


        — no need to be gracious, aleyna. harrold arrived today and warned me that you'd be coming today.


        — he told me that you missed the gathering in the eyrie. has anything happened?


        — I wasn't feeling well, so my sons attended for me, — she seemed to stutter, only for a few seconds, trying to find the right words. — harrold told me the reason behind this. i am very sorry, child.


        she seemed sincere. aleyna had never been close to lady waynwood. there had always been a cold distance between them, as though the woman had learned by experience to sense something wrong behind the girl's kind addresses and to keep her at arm's length. aleyna also thought that this might be because of her close relationship with harrold, the lady's ward. especially when his marriage was at stake.