Of Lions, Wolves, and Dragons (Jon Snow)

31. The Trial: Part 1

Sitting in the courtroom waiting for Tyrion's trial to begin was a painful thing for Joellyn, so she tried to think on other things as she and everyone else gathered waited for the judges to enter so the trial could begin.  As she nervoulsy played with her fingernails, she reflected over what had happened in the past two weeks.  In the fortnight that had passed since Jaime gave Brienne his sword, not as many things happend as Joellyn would have liked. Brienne and Podrick had come to the same location that she and Oberyn had been training together, quite by accident. However, she was happy this had happened, once she made Brienne and Podrick swear that they would not tell that she was learning how to fight that was.  Joellyn wasn't sure why she was so determined to keep it a secret anymore except for the fact that her father and Cersei would certainly not approve.  It also made her feel as if she had an advantage over them if she held this information secret.  Brienne and Podrick, not interested in interacting with her family any more than they had to, quickly agreed not to mention what she was doing to anyone and then Joellyn was able to watch and see Podrick's progress.  It was almost pathetic how bad he had been initially.  In fact, Joellyn had probably been better at fighting initially than he was.  However, he was improving much more rapidly than she had ever improved.  He was by no means going to be a master swordsman by the time that he and Brienne left to go search for Sansa, but he was not going to hinder her.

Oberyn had been so busy with small council meetings here lately, their training time in the morning then time together after dinner was really all the time that they had together.  He had begun to teach her to use a spear, and this made her feel as if she had lost all progress that she had gained.  The spear seemed foreign and bulky to her, but Oberyn assured her that she would grow to love it as a weapon once she became familiar with it.  It took a few training sessions, but she did become a little more comfortable with using a spear.  Once her comfort level grew, she was determined to become even better at it, since a spear would provide distance between her and anyone trying to attack her.  After training with Oberyn, Joellyn had most of the day to herself, so she spent quite a bit of time down in the dungeons with Tyrion.  Tyrion was beginning to lose himself down in the darkness so, even though he was nervous about the trial, he was anxious for the trial to begin so that he would be able to leave the darkness of his cell.

Joellyn looked around the courtroom at all who had gathered and couldn't help but recall Tyrion's words to her from the day before.  She had hugged him as she went to leave and said, "Brother, the truth will come out.  You know that Oberyn knows of your innocence and Father cannot be so cruel as to see you killed."

Tyrion shook his head as he heard her words and scoffed before he said, "Baby sister, your optimism has always been one of my favorite things about you.  But you know very well that our sister will not let me live through this.  She and all the city have turned against me.  I believe that all I may be able to hope for is to die with dignity."

Joellyn hugged him tightly again before saying, "You're wrong.  You have more to hope for than that," but she doubted her words now as she sat in the courtoom and took in the faces of the people around her.  They looked eager and they looked angry.  A combination like that could not possibly mean anything good for Tyrion.  As she took one more glance around the courtroom, she jumped slightly as she heard a door open.

When she turned her attention to the front, she saw her father, Mace Tyrell, and Oberyn file in and take their seat as judges, followed by the rest of the small council taking their seat in the courtroom.  Joellyn met Oberyn's eyes and smiled sadly up at him, to which he nodded softly in return.  She wanted nothing more than to have him by her side through the trial, but having him as a judge was the best thing for Tyrion.  It meant there was someone that was not wholly convinced that Tyrion was guilty.