Lone Wolf || Tyrion Lannister

Chapter Thirteen

After having her checked over, it was concluded that aside from the injuries she sustained from the previous day, Anari got out of the riot unscathed. Though, that could not be said about her mental state. Sansa was reminded of the stupor Anari had fallen into the day Bran had fallen.

How her eyes were unseeing, and while she spoke, it was clear to all she conversed with that she wasn't all there. Sansa had noticed it first, a light that had been within her had gone out. While her spirit had not diminished, there was a small crack.

Tyrion had also seen it; he could see the shift in her. What had happened during the riot had changed Anari, and he had a feeling he knew why. Once more, he was reminded of Jaime and how he was after killing his first man. The night of, Jaime had cried, not for the death of the man he had slain, but the death of part of himself.

Jaime described it as feeling like a piece of himself had been chipped away. Like there had been something missing the moment he saw the light in the man's eyes go out. Everyone experienced it differently, as the morning after, Jaime was back to his normal self.

Anari, Tyrion knew, was going to be different. He remembered his own experience and thoughts after he had killed a man for the first time. Deciding that afternoon, two days after the riot, he was going to speak to Anari. Something told him that she wasn't going to show her true feelings to Sansa.

It would be imperative to her mental health if she told someone about how she was feeling. Considering Tyrion, arguably, knew this city better than anyone, he knew that there was hardly anyone there she could trust.

However, Anari would always be able to trust Tyrion.

He never wanted to see the girl harmed, and he would do everything within his power to see that nothing happened to her. Why he was so protective of the young woman, Tyrion didn't know. He just knew that he felt the need to keep her safe and to ensure she was alright.

Tyrion found Anari in the gardens. She was tucked around one of the larger bushes that held a rarely used bench. It wasn't a well-traveled portion of the gardens, so it allowed for a small measure of privacy. "My lady," he greeted softly so as not to startle her.

Anari looked up from the blue rose she held in her hand to see who had joined her. "Lord Tyrion," she greeted back.

"May I join you?" He asked, gesturing to the bench she sat upon. Anari nodded in return as she made room for him to sit with her. After taking a seat, he glanced down at the rose she had in her hand. "A winter rose," he said. "A fitting flower for you to pick."

"They grow often back at Winterfell," Anari replied. "In the glass gardens, there are three bushes that are harvested. I remember making wreaths of them as a child, and my father would take them to the crypts and place them around my Aunt Lyanna's statue."

She looked back down at the flower as she gently rolled the stem between her fingers. The rose reminded her of home, and sitting in this part of the gardens, if she closed her eyes, Anari could pretend she was there. It offered her a sense of comfort, and given what had transpired in such quick succession, Anari needed that bit of solace.

"Sometimes the wreaths would be placed in the Great Hall," Anari continued. "They would serve as decoration and be wrapped around a circle of candles." Anari smiled as a memory came to her. "I remember when I was a girl and I asked my mother why the roses were blue."

"What did she say?" Tyrion questioned gently.

"She said that it was because they were from the North," Anari replied. "She said that the cold had turned the petals blue and that they were known as Winter Roses because of that," one of her fingers traced over one of the soft petals of the bloom. "But she also said that they can grow almost anywhere, one would only have to know how to care for them."