A Dragon In Wolf's Clothing ~A Game of Thrones fan fiction~

Chapter Forty: The Past

"How did you know who he was, Ser Barristan, I mean?" Daenerys asked Lyanna that night as she braided Lyanna's hair, which was now at her shoulder blades.

"He helped me in King's Landing, after Joffrey had me tortured he gave me his cloak to cover myself, carried me back to my room, made sure I was safe," Lyanna exlained, closing her eyes from the memories. "He's a good man, Dany, he's trustworthy, and he loved your brother and my mother fiercely,"

"Rhaegar..." Daenerys muttered thoughtfully. "Rhaegar married Elia Martell, but not his sister, your mother. Thousands of years of Targaryen's marrying their siblings, so why did they stop there?"

"I never thought about it," Lyanna shrugged. "I just assumed the Mad King didn't want them married," Lyanna felt Daenerys stiffen behind her, her hands freezing as they held two pieces of hair. "Sorry. I know how you feel about people calling your father that, but I grew up with my father calling him that. Old habits die hard,"

"It's fine, you aren't wrong probably, I wouldn't know," she muttered. Lyanna wondered if Daenerys had wished she'd met her father. Part of Lyanna was glad that she never met him. She didn't know if it was part of her upbringing, but she didn't know how much she would be able to connect to her Targaryen family, other than Daenerys.

"I know that you struggle to trust new people, but Ser Barristan deserves your trust," Lyanna sighed, deciding to change the subject. "I know how he's feeling, he's left everything he knows behind to find you and support you. If anything, just trust him because of me. Please,"

Dany sighed. "I want to trust him, but Ser Jorah,"

"Ser Jorah didn't trust me at first, he thought I'd been sent to kill you, or at least hurt you," she remembered, smiling slightly. "He still doesn't trust Eryk either, and he's been with us for months now, it's only natural,"

"He acts so protective over me," Dany admitted, sounding a little embarrassed as she said it.

"Because he's been with you the longest, even longer than your dragons and your dothraki," Lyanna turned to face her aunt, smiling slightly. Lyanna wasn't blind; she knew how Ser Jorah felt about Daenerys, but it wasn't her business to tell her. "It's only right for him to care about you as more people begin to recognise and support you. He just wants you to remember who was there for you when you were no one,"

"I do remember him, without him, I'd be nowhere," She sighed. Lyanna wondered if Robb struggled this much with his advisers now he was king.

"Look at it this way, if you have men who want to lay down their lives for you, to be part of your Queen's Guard, don't turn them down. There was a time you were no one, but now you're finally being viewed the way you should be, don't turn willing support away, because it's better than buying support,"

***

The next morning, Lyanna was dressing in a light blue dress, attaching her weapons belt around her waist and slipping her feet into her worn leather boots, when there was a quiet knock at her cabin door. Winter and Rey both got up from where they had been sleeping in the corner, the dragon stretching out her wings, projecting herself into the air as Winter howled lowly by the door.

Lyanna went to open the door to see Ser Barristan. She shot him a small smile, before going back into her room, scratching behind Winter's ears to reassure her everything was fine.

"When did you leave King's Landing?" Lyanna asked, sliding her dagger into it's scabbard on her back.

"A few days after you escaped, Joffrey said I was too old, and I disobeyed him by helping you after..." He explained, cutting himself off.

"After he had me tortured?" Lyanna spoke bluntly. "I never really got to thank you that day,"

"No thanks was needed, I looked at you whilst it was happening and knew your mother would have killed me herself if she knew I'd let that happen," he shook his head, and Lyanna couldn't help but wonder if he thought about the Targaryen's much. She imagined he did, living in the past almost, in his memories of her mother and Uncle Rhaegar.

"My mother, will you tell me about her? My Uncle Ned never told me anything about her, other than the fact she was a princess, and a Targaryen," Lyanna bit her lip. She'd been thinking a lot about her mother lately.

"She was the most beautiful person I ever met," he sighed. "I never had children, but the way the way the Mad King treated her, I began to think of her as my own, though she thought of me as a brother. Aerys deserved his nickname, he was truly insane, and the worse he became, the more vicious he was. His hatred to Ayrella was always clear,"

"Why did he hate my mother?" Lyanna frowned.

"Your mother always suffered with her womb. She never bled until she was sixteen. It caused her much pain, which was made much worse by Aerys's beatings," Ser Barristan sounded sorrowful. "The queen, your grandmother, she had always been terrified of Aerys, but when he started having Ayrella hurt because she didn't become a woman..."

"Is that why my Uncle married Elia Martell?" Lyanna interrupted, realising she now had an answer to Dany's question.

"Yes, her late flowering meant that Rhaegar had to find a wife elsewhere, not that he cared. Your mother and her brother were close, as close as you to your brothers, and he didn't want to marry her,"

"My Uncle Ned told me she was betrothed to a Tyrell," Lyanna said, cocking her head slightly as she thought it all through.

"Aerys thought that little of her to plan on selling her to High Garden," Barristan nodded. "He suggested multiple times that laying wildfire on her belly would fix the problem. I guarded her door every night, with many other members of the King's Guard, even the Kingslayer. Everyone in the Red Keep loved her, except her father.

"She once told me that all she wanted to do was go North, where her father couldn't get to her. Each night, after she'd get back to her room from her father hurting her, she'd have a different plan. One night she'd be riding off to the West, the next she said she'd sail away to the East. After she met your father though, her only plan was to go north,"

"Did she love my father?" Lyanna asked before she could stop herself.

"More than life itself," he answered, taking Lyanna by surprise. She expected him to say no, expected her parents relationship to have been a one-time thing. "She only saw him a few times, but her father's abuse drove her straight to him. The night at Harrenhal she was driven into his arms by the King, not on purpose, of course,"

"Did my father feel the same way?" Lyanna asked, frowning as she remembered her father should have been the one to marry Catelyn Tully, not her Uncle Eddard.

"I believe he did, I never asked him, but when he was killed, the only person he looked at was your mother," his words reminded Lyanna of her ignorance to his death. Her Uncle had refused to tell her, a story for another time he'd dismissed her, but now he was dead too.

"How did he die?" She asked bluntly. What was the point choosing her words carefully, the only thing she'd get out of it would be a slower answer.

"The Mad King had your grandfather Rickard set on fire inside his own armour, and tied a leather noose around your father's neck, placing a sword a foot in front of him, just out of his reach. He strangled himself trying to save his father,"

Lyanna's eyes were closed, as if she was hiding from the story. She didn't want to think about how horrific his death was, how horrible both of her parents deaths were. Her hand rested on ice at her belt as she imagined her father alive, as if that had never happened. Now she knew why her uncle had refused to tell her. She was shaking slightly, until she realised that her eyes were still shut. Opening them, she took a deep breath, before sighing again.

"We need to go, Dany needs us," she said, almost hurriedly. It was time to go in fact, but Lyanna used this as an excuse to leave her room, as all she could picture was her father's death.

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Word count: 1498
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