The song of ice and fire

The White Wedding Part 1

Rhaelle

My parents are getting married this evening and it will be in the godswood of Winterfell in front of the Heart tree. My mother looks sad. She feels that Father is being too distant with her, that he doesn't love her anymore or even wants to be with her. That it is all about making sure that the child she carries will be trueborn. A sham of a marriage yet politically it was palatable enough for the Northern Houses and their fickle lords to swallow. A marriage alliance means that my father will still be King in the North. He won't have to officially bend the knee or give up his crown.

My mother is so far from the truth. She doesn't know it yet but she is the Love of my father's life. There is no other he will love more. That he will love her till his dying breath and even beyond that. Her wedding dress is black with a long red cape, the colours of her House. A thick sable black fur coat covers her. They couldn't be married through the Old Ways being related by blood and that frustrates my father more. That the Old gods he had worshipped all his life would not bless this union. Lord Manderly had to bring a Septon from White Harbour to perform the ceremony.

The whole marriage ceremony seems so tenuous. None of them had worshipped the Seven and even the New gods frowned upon incest but then again they are Targaryens. Father was determined that his child would not be born a Bastard and he was willing to drag my mother to be married if she had refused. Which she initially did, being her stubborn Targaryen self till Lord Tyrion persuaded her otherwise. So their arms are finally linked and both hands bound by the sash as they say out their vows in front of the Septon. They sound almost unwilling as if it was a forced marriage instead of uniting two people who are in love with each other, which they truly are.

I watch as my mother walks away, quickly heading back to the main keep with Missandei next to her. She doesn't want Father to see her tears. Lord Tyrion looks on sympathetically, wishing he can say or do something to comfort the Queen. He then looks at Father and shakes his head. Father has a frustrated look on his face and he stalks angrily away heading towards the crypts. Aunt Sansa and Aunt Arya look at each other, both of them speechless. Even I feel helpless in such a situation. Ghost comes up to me and I scratch his scruff.

At least there's you Boy...You would know what to do.

"You know this will only make their love stronger."

I turn around and give Uncle Bran a small smile. He looks at me from his wheelchair, thick furs covering his shoulder. He can see me even here in the past.

"How have you been Rhaelle?" He asks me gently.

"I am well," I reply. I sigh as I look at him. "I wish I could it make all better for Mama and Father. It is their wedding night."

"It will all pass. Things always do in time. Good things, bad things, everything....They are never permanent." He says. I nod in agreement. Uncle Bran speaks only the truth.

Rhaelle

"Bran."

It is Aunt Arya, looking rather concerned as she walks to him. She probably heard him talking to someone, except there isn't anyone around. Everyone has left the godswood except for the two of them.

"Who were you talking to?" She asks him.

"No one..." He replies in his nonchalant voice as he stares ahead.

Aunt Arya doesn't look too convinced and she lets out an exasperated sigh. She is resigned by now. Her brother has been all mysterious and cryptic ever since his return home to Winterfell and she doesn't bother to figure out why anymore. She accepts it wholeheartedly. Uncle Bran has changed. He calls himself the three eyed raven now and he sees visions and knows things. She walks behind him and pushes his wheelchair.

"There's going to be a storm soon..." Uncle Bran says as he looks up into the night sky.

"Yes... Nothing but storms this side of the Trident." Aunt Arya mutters.

I walk beside them and Uncle Bran looks at me and we share a knowing smile that only two companions who had travelled through time together would share. We walk pass a smiling young man with lovestruck blue eyes and Aunt Arya sighs as he looks at her in awe.

"If you look at me like that again, I'll cut your eyes out..." She warns him. She sounds serious but I know she's teasing. She cares too much for the man to do such a horrible thing to him.

"If you say so M'lady..." He teases her back. Aunt Arya rolls her eyes and ignores him as she pushes Uncle Bran's wheelchair into the Great Hall.

The future Lord of the Stormlands is still smiling widely at her while she scowls. I laugh softly at their antics. It is clear as day that they care for each other, though Aunt Arya wants to be unfeeling and cold to him. I know that she will never leave his side. They never did get married because she does not want to be a Lady, who is just the wife of a Lord. That is not who she is. Instead she helps him rule the Stormlands and commands their forces after bending the knee and pledging allegiance to my father the King.

The children she has with Gendry Baratheon, Father had them legitimized even when Aunt Arya never asks him to. Lyanna thought the whole thing was scandalous, that the King's sister would allow herself to remain the unwed mistress of a Lord. Aunt Arya however couldn't care less. Let the people say what they want. She doesn't give a fig. They never dare to say anything within her earshot, knowing how good she is with her dagger.