Of Lions, Wolves, and Dragons (Jon Snow)

22. My Princess

There was no way that she was going to be able to get out of practice with Bronn two mornings in a row.  Likely, he only let her get out of practice yesterday because of her lame excuse as well as the wedding.  So, Joellyn rolled out of her bed much earlier than she would have liked and headed down to where she and Bronn had been training together.  As much as she was hoping that Bronn would not be there, it would have been too good to be true.  He was already there, waiting on her, ready to begin.

"Ah, I'm glad you could join me today, Lady Lannister," Bronn said sarcastically.

Joellyn rolled her eyes, "If you're going to be combative before we even begin training, I will leave right now.  I'm paying you for this.  I don't have to put up with it."

Bronn shook his head in frustration, "Let's just get started then, shall we?"

As per the usual for the past few weeks, practice was not going well.  Bronn was attacking her quickly, giving very few pointers about how to defend herself, and knocking her down quite frequently.

"My lady," Bronn verbally sparred as he knocked her to the ground again, "you continue to show no improvement."

Joellyn pushed herself up to standing and finally let out what she had been holding in against him for weeks, "How am I supposed to improve when you are not teaching me?  Ever since I told you that I wouldn't pay you extra just because you're now a knight, you've been a pain in the ass and miserable to work with."

Bronn angrily replied, "Well you haven't been sunshine and roses either, Lannister.  You've been constantly bitching about my lack of teaching skills, but you have made no effort to improve as a student."

Joellyn wanted to throw herself at him and hit him, but it would have been no use.  He would just knock her away anyway, "Well, then why do you continue to come if I am so frustrating to work with?"

Bronn looked her square in the face and said, "That is an excellent question.  I'm a knight, I don't actually need.  I think we'll be through here."

He walked past Joellyn, bumping into her as he went, but she continued to stare defiantly ahead over the water, and would have continued to stare at the sea for a while had she not heard an exotic accent say, "I quite agree, you two are through here.  You will not be training with my lady anymore."  Joellyn didn't need to turn around to know who that was.  Apparently Oberyn had followed her down this morning.

She heard Bronn reply, "You enjoy your lionness.  I'm through here."

Joellyn was relieved that Bronn was gone, but knowing that Oberyn was present made her a different sort of nervous.  She turned around and saw him looking at her with a confused look.  Still being frustrated from her short training with Bronn this morning, she asked, "What are you staring at?"

Oberyn shook his head, "I am just surprised by you, is all.  I did not get the impression yesterday that you would be a fighter."

Joellyn scoffed, "Well, if you were watching long you know that I'm not."

Sounding genuinely interested, Oberyn asked, "Then why train to fight?"

Joellyn walked over to a large rock and had a seat, "Not long ago, King's Landing was under threat of attack from Stannis Baratheon.  I knew that if his men got into the city, that I would be helpless without someone to defend me.  I didn't like that feeling, so I wanted to be able to protect myself and not have to depend on someone else to save me.  Bronn was the only person I could think of that would help me.  I became proficient with a bow and I'm getting better at throwing daggers, but as you saw I am miserable at hand-to-hand combat and self-defense."