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

Chapter Fifty Five: News of the Purple Wedding

There was one way to describe Lyanna's time in High Garden; Lovely. She'd been there for about two months and there had been no sign of the Lannister's knowing where she was, no sign of betrayal, no sign of danger. She had never felt safer than when she was in the Reach. She had never felt safer than when she was with Willas.

Being with Lord Willas gave her a sense of security no man had done before. He saw her not for her name or her sex, but for herself. He liked spending time with her, and the two of them spent their time together going through the gardens, him telling her all about the plants and the creatures there, or sat in the library reading. They both adored reading. Willas used books to become a good Lord as his bad leg meant that he would struggle to show the strength in combat needed to be a good ruler. Lyanna joked that they were two halves of a perfect pair; her strength in fights, his knowledge of the world.

He didn't just love reading and plants, he loved birds, especially Falcons. Some afternoons he'd take her out to the aviary and show her how he'd trained his birds. With this, Lyanna realised that Rey was basically a big bird -a fire-breathing bird at that- and whilst she'd managed to train her as best she could with her direwolf training knowledge, she could get Willas to help. One evening, she asked him to go to the docks with her the next morning, where she was keeping Rey and Winter.

"This will be the biggest falcon I've ever trained," he joked, but she could still tell he was excited at the prospect.

After that, they spent nearly everyday at the docks, Willas showing Lyanna what to do to make her dragon more obedient. At first, Rey didn't trust the presence of this newcomer (unlike Winter, who sensed Lyanna's trust and greeted Willas everyday with her tail wagging) but soon, when she realised that food and treats came from him, she warmed to him. After a few days she began to land wherever Lyanna pointed, take off and come back on command.

"I'm just glad she's still small, imagine getting a dragon the size of a ship to do this," Lyanna noted one day as the two of them sat out by the docks, watching Winter hunt around for meat whilst Rey flew in and out of the sea.

"I think I'd be long dead of that was the case," Willas laughed.

"Me too," Lyanna smiled. She smiled a lot more when she was with him.

They ate together every night, even being joined by Eryk sometimes, who was starting to like Willas more. He was still mourning though, like Lyanna, though she had the therapy of Willas to get through it. Some nights they were even joined by Willas' younger brother Garlan, whenever he was around; he was a knight and often away at jousts and events. It was clear Willas loved Garlan the way Lyanna loved Jon, and she admired their brotherly bond.

Despite spending every waking hour together, Lyanna didn't realise she was falling in love. This is until one night, after she'd been telling him stories of Winterfell, and the next night he'd asked the cooks to make kidney pies with peas and onions, beef stew with parched peas, with oatmeal and treacle cakes for dessert (although he also gave her lemon cakes because of her stories of Sansa), even finding northern wine from the wine cellars. The gesture made her heart sing. He listened to her, he'd remembered what she'd said, so maybe he loved her too. Well, even if he didn't love her, and he was just a kind man, she loved him, and every second she spent with him, she felt herself falling deeper.

***

It was one morning when the two were in the library when the first disturbance of peace occurred. The two were sat by an open window, Lyanna cross-legged on the oak floor as she flicked through a book about the history of House Tyrell, whilst Willas was sat on the rich sofa above her, his bad foot perched on a stool, his cane next to him as he was immersed into one of Lyanna's favourite storybooks about the Nights Watch.