The Road Less Travelled

When your life was going extraordinarily perfect, the last thing you wanted to hear was I need you to leave. Now.

Things had been going so well. Or at least, i thought it was going well. I had fallen in love in a place i thought i would call anything but home. King’s Landing first looked like a fairytale when i had arrived. Having only explored the grounds of Winterfell i wasn’t used to the hundreds of people passing by and selling everything and anything you could ever want. My father was a knight for Eddard Stark and led a simple and humble life. I had been pushed into a life i had imagined in my daydreams and fantasies, but once i was standing in the far away place i suddenly felt strange and alienated. Suddenly i yearned for my mother. I desperately wanted to go back to her, to feel the fresh green grass beneath my toes. Outside the gates the grass had turned a muddy brown from having been trodden on so many times. The knights and noble men who passed by were all tall and intimidating, i kept my head down and kept close to my father as we followed a man from the kingsguard to show us the way to the bedrooms. Mine was small but nice. There were things i had never thought i would own, sitting on the tables and hanging in the cupboards. Queen Cersei had provided the young girls with dresses made with such delicate silks and such strong, vibrant colours. I felt like a princess, looking at myself in a royal dress. I danced around the room, laughing at my new surroundings, both scared and excited.

Everything had gone wrong in King’s Landing. Lord Eddard Stark had been killed, Arya had escaped, Sansa and I had been held prisoner and with every passing day Joffrey grew more violent and repulsive. My father had been murdered in a fight, trying to protect Lord Eddard from a bunch of lions. Most of my time i had spent crying. If it wasn’t for Jaime Lannister i would probably be dead, or a peasant trying to look for work. Maybe i would have sold myself to a pleasure house. Thankfully i never had to find out.

I had just come back from a walk with Sansa when Arya asked me to help her practice her sword skills. We had been going for what seemed like hours. Arya, who was almost half my age, was always a step ahead. She told me that Lord Stark has brought a professional sword fighter from Braavos to train her. At first i was reluctant to believe her, but she was the one who ended up teaching me how to fight, or protect myself for a few seconds at least. As it happened, on our first practice together, the Kingslayer turned up as cocky as ever. He walked forwards, slowly and observing our every movement, until he stopped and focused on me. I could see him looking me up and down and i could feel my cheeks burning with nervousness. Thankfully i was already flushed from swinging the sword, so he didn’t seem to notice.

People always say they remember every little detail about their first encounter with their partner, but i was too nervous to really take anything in. Pathetic, isn’t it? My days in Winterfell were spent wishing i was somewhere else, and Sansa had told me tales of Jaime and Cersei, the Lannister twins. She told me about every noble man and every story she knew. Seeing a legend in person was daunting. My hair was tied back in a quick ponytail and i was wearing an old dress that i didn’t care about ripping. Arya wore a more appropriate outfit, but my father couldn’t afford a sword teacher and i didn’t think Cersei would be willing to lend me some of Joffrey’s clothes.

Jaime said something. It was something so... Jaime. It was cocky, arrogant, flirty. Some line about how girls shouldn’t be fighting or getting their pretty hair in a knot over something that should be left to the men. When he spoke his words came over and sank deep inside of me. He was talking to me and i couldn’t believe that the soft pleasurable voice was speaking to me. That’s why i don’t remember what he said. I was too nervous and startled that he was actually talking to me that i failed to actually listen.

I managed, however. Giving him a quick glance, i returned back to my duel with my small friend and told him to leave and be egotistical somewhere else. I made sure i didn’t look at him, but i could hear a smirk, and he then walked off.