Among Lions and Wolves • |Book 1|

.chapter six.

For a week Rhaella kept confined to her chamber, her only visitors being Cersei and Myrcella. Tommen visited once, briefly. He brought with him tales of his play fighting with Bran, one of the younger Stark boys. 

Myrcella brought along tales of the Stark girls and how she longed to have the eldest Stark, Sansa, as her sister. And by law, she would be when Joffrey took her to be his wife.

But Rhaella cared little for the tales they brought her. She had even hardly smiled when Myrcella told her of the young Stark girl, Arya and her rebellious nature.

However, that day, Cersei had made a point to encourage the older girl to leave her room and join Myrcella along with the Stark girls for their lessons.

Myrcella chatted away happily, going on about how she was sure this lesson would be her favorite since Rhaella was joining them.

"And if you mess up, do not worry, I can help you!" She told Rhaella, beaming up at her.

Rhaella nodded her head in response, offered a small smile and set her eyes upon the white wolf trotting in front of them.

"Don't worry," she felt Myrcella's small hand squeezing her's. "We'll be back in King's Landing soon. I've overheard mother speaking with Uncle Jaime about leaving sooner. Wouldn't that be exciting? Though I would miss it here. It's been a breath of fresh air."

Rhaella stopped, surprising the little girl. "You like it here?" She asked, her voice high pitched as she spoke.

"Only a little," she admitted, her cheeks turning a deep pink. At this Rhaella could not help but truly smile. "You're smiling," Myrcella pointed out, she too, now grinning. "I've missed your smile!"

Not realizing how Myrcella must have felt to see Rhaella sulking about in her stuffy chamber and not able to bring a genuine smile to her lips, Rhaella instantly felt guilty and pulled the younger girl into her arms.

"I'm sorry, Myrc," she whispered softly. "I promise to smile more often. My behavior has been most childish, how could you ever forgive me?"

Myrcella pulled back, "All is forgiven," she replied. "I could never be upset with you. I would behave the same if I were you. We've spent our lives in King's Landing. To leave for good? To leave each other?" Her sweet eyes filled with sadness.

Rhaella pulled her back into her arms, this time squeezing her tightly so that Myrcella could not slip away.

"I will never leave you," she vowed. "We will always be together."

"Even if you are not my sister by law or blood, you are still my sister," Myrcella told her. "And I too promise to never leave you. We will always be together, you, mother and I."

The girls finally made it to their lessons. The youngest, Arya, was being scolded by their Septa when Rhaella and Myrcella entered the warm room.

"Ghost!" Arya cried, tossing aside work to kneel down and hug the white wolf.

The girls' Septa was outraged by Arya's behavior. Along with scolding the young girl, she apologized profusely to Myrcella and Rhaella.

"Leave her," Rhaella spoke softly, silencing the room as she sat down near the fire. "She is causing no one any harm."

Arya peered up from her position on the floor beside Ghost, smirking. Septa opened her mouth to voice her opinion but decided against offending the ward of her queen.

Myrcella called the Septa's attention away from Arya and Rhaella, leaving the girls alone near the fire.

"You like direwolves?" Arya asked, standing up to her full height.

"Not particularly," she replied dryly, not really wanting to go into why she had one of the wolf pups.

Arya sat down in the chair across from Rhaella, "I have one too. Her name is Nymeria. She's really sweet! Would you like to meet her?"

Slightly taken aback by Arya's eagerness, Rhaella sat there staring blankly at the young girl until she felt herself smiling and nodding her head.

There was something about Arya Stark that Rhaella liked. Perhaps it was the way she'd rather discuss wolves than the correct cross stitching or perhaps it was the way she knew not to ask questions that she did not want to answer.

"Jon is a good brother," she then said, pulling Rhaella from her thoughts and confusing her. Who was Jon? "It was nice of him to lend you Ghost and his cloak to keep you warm while you are here. You're from King's Landing, right? What's it like? Is it anything like Winterfell?"

"No," Rhaella replied quietly, her mind still on Jon. So that had been his name. It was simple, not at all hard to forget, yet not at all easy to remember either.

"Do you like Winterfell?"

"No."

She caught the look Arya gave her and for a split second, she was sure Arya would get up and leave putting an end to the conversation, but she did not. She continued stroking Ghost's fur and sighed softly.

"I don't like Winterfell either," a voice said. Rhaella turned to see the eldest Stark girl watching them. "I hate it here."

Arya, clearly a girl who loved her home, voiced her opinion on Sansa's remark, and Sansa was quick to strike back, not willing to bend to her younger sister's harsh words.

"I don't want to leave," Arya finally said. "I don't want to go to King's Landing."

"Well I can't wait to leave this ghastly place behind," said Sansa Stark. "I bet King's Landing is beautiful and I will be with my prince."

Rhaella saw the face Arya made and laughed bringing Sansa out of her delusional dreamy state to glare at her little sister. Then she turned her fury toward Rhaella.

"Why are you wearing my bastard brother's cloak? If you're cold, you should be wearing Robb's, he is to be your intended. People will talk seeing you wearing the bastard of Winterfell's cloak."

"It's just a cloak," Arya said defensively. "Who cares what she is wearing? At least Jon was kind enough to offer his cloak. If Robb wanted to, he could easily offer up Greywind in the place of Ghost or his cloak but has he?" The last bit was directed toward Rhaella.

Her cheeks flushed from being brought into the midst of two bickering sisters. She suddenly felt too warm to stay in the room, but before she excused herself, she made a point to answer Arya.

"He has not," she told Arya. And in truth, even if he had, she would have refused.

It had been Ghost who made her feel safe, not Robb Stark's direwolf. And although she knew there was really no reason to keep the bastard's cloak, she still felt safe wearing it. But Sansa was right, people would talk and the talking would reach the ears of the queen.

Cersei had already looked past it for the sake of Rhaella but would she tolerate her name being dragged through the mud?

She knew what she must do, calling Ghost to her heels, Rhaella smiled apologetically to Myrcella before leaving the room.

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I am highly aware I probably didn't capture Arya as well as I should have. I'll try to work on it by reading the book to get a better feel for her character.
She will actually play a huge part in Rhaella's life. It almost brings me to tears knowing their paths will split.

And I mean these aren't necessarily spoilers because I did say I'd follow both book and tv show storyline. I mean if you thought Arya wouldn't disappear, you're just as delusional as Sansa 😂
Which also means that you can already get a feel for where this story is heading.