dancing with our hands tied | r. targaryen

lix.

133 A.C.
WINTERFELL
•••

"ATTACK!"

A flurry of snowballs flies toward Elissa and she ducks behind a wall of snow that she's built up. She leans around and throws a couple of snowballs, hitting a kid in the face and she holds back her laughter as she hides behind the wall again.

"Press forward!" a stable boy yells.

"That wouldn't be wise," Elissa responds as she throws a snowball, hitting the stable boy and dropping back behind the wall.

Cregan, who had been preparing the horses to venture out of Winterfell hears the ruckus and looks over to see all the children in Winterfell, servant and noble alike attacking a snow wall that was shielding Elissa. He placed the saddle on one of the horses before making his way over to the snowball fight that was going on.

Elissa throws a snowball which was meant for the master of arms' daughter, but instead, it hits Cregan in the face. All of the children in the courtyard let out a gasp and Elissa's hand flies to her mouth in shock as she watches the lord wipe the snow off of his face.

"Cregan I am so sorry," Elissa apologizes.

Cregan shakes off his hand after wiping the snow from his face. Wordlessly he bends down, grabbing a ball of snow. Everyone watches as he does so, unsure of what he was going to do with the snowball as he put it together.

And then he throws it at Elissa, hitting her in the face.

Cregan holds his hands up, "It's only fair."

Elissa wipes the snow from her face with a smile on her lips. She looks at Cregan who quirks a brow at her.

"First person to hit Lord Cregan becomes Lord or Lady of Winterfell!" Elissa exclaims.

And then a flurry of snowballs begins flying in Cregan's direction. The Lord of Winterfell is pelted with snow and runs behind Elissa's snow fort. She gets a look at Cregan and can't help the laugh that escapes her.

"I think they've all won the title of Lord and Lady of Winterfell," Cregan informs her, and Elissa laughs harder.

Her eyes scan over him, "I can see that."

Cregan brushes the snow off of him with a smile. He looks up at Elissa, "The horses are ready for our hunt."

"Right," Elissa says she goes to walk toward the stables, but she recalls that both she and Cregan had massive imaginary targets on them. She glances over at Cregan who watches her expectantly, wondering what her move was going to be.

"Truce!" Elissa exclaims as she rises from behind the snow fort. There are several moans and grumbles from the kids as they drop their snowballs. Elissa looks down at Cregan and nods for him to stand. Cregan is slow to rise to his feet fearful of a surprise attack, but as he sees the children sulk over to his parents, he knows that it's safe.

The people of Winterfell had taken a liking to Elissa Baratheon. They did not take to outsiders kindly or quickly, but Elissa had won them all over with her witty and blunt remarks as well as her relationship with their lord's son. They also weren't disillusioned with the lingering looks that Elissa and Cregan were sharing.

Since the death of his father and brother, the young lord had been down, but it seemed that the presence of Elissa Baratheon had made a huge change. They were starting to see the young man that they had once known before the losses.

"I would have won the war if it weren't for you," Elissa says as she looks up at Cregan.

"I wouldn't have gotten attacked if it weren't for you!" Cregan argues.