The Little Wolf

Chapter 16 | Bastards of Dorne

"You look beautiful," Lilia said as she looked at the little girl in front of her. They were currently getting for a feast that Princess Arianne insisted on organizing as a way of 'making Princess Myrcella familiar with her new family'. Of course, Lilia was perfectly aware of the fact that it was only an excuse for her to throw a feast. She had been invited as well, which she felt happy for.

"You think so?" the girl hesitantly indagated earning a smile from Lilia. "Do you think Trystane will think so too?"

"Myrcella, you look absolutely breathtaking and if Trystane doesn't realize that, then he's either blind or stupid" Myrcella looked down with a shy smile. "Have you talked to him lately?"

"Yes, we walked through the gardens and he seemed to be sweet" Lilia smiled at the Princess's happiness. Lord Tyrion had certainly made a good match when setting that betrothal. Lilia hadn't had the opportunity to speak with the young Prince but she did have the opportunity to take a look at him. He seemed like a good lad, one worthy of Myrcella.

"Then, you have nothing to fear. Just be your usual lovely self!" Lilia advised as she combed the girl's hair with her fingers. "Now, it is time to go. You don't want to keep your intended waiting"

"Will you come with me?" Lilia had been invited to the feast by Arianne herself. However, she wasn't keen on having to go. She never liked feasts, she never thought they were extravagant and back home, whenever her family hosted a feast, she would seek refuge with Jon, who was rarely allowed to stay in the room.

"Alright" she agreed after looking at the girl's eyes. For better or for worse, that girl was her Princess. Despite the family, she had come from, in spite of everything her family had done to Lilia's, she couldn't refuse the little girl.

They headed to the feast together, once they got there, everybody was dancing and having fun. As Lilia looked around she realized she knew nothing about feasts because that one was completely different from any feast she had ever had the opportunity of attending.

Everything was very colourful, without being boring. People would dance and simply have fun without the weight of looking proper. Bastards wouldn't be left outside, as some of the Sand Snakes were standing with Princess Arianne.

For a moment, she wished she had been born a Martell of Dorne instead of a Stark of Winterfell. She had heard her father say that Dorne was unlike any other place she would ever see in the Seven Kingdoms and that the people were similar to the ones who lived in the North.

Lilia couldn't disagree more.

Yes, they cared about family as much as northerners did, but they also had another context of the family very different from the people in the North. Perhaps the desert and the heat made them that way, but the truth was that compared to them, the cold wasn't the only thing freezing in the North.

One thing she also wondered was when and how had her father come to Dorne. Many say it was due to the war, others said he came to visit the one who people believed to be Jon Snow's mother, the woman who had made Ned Stark cast his honour aside for a moment, something not even his own wife had been capable of. The woman's name had been forbidden by her father at Winterfell, but Lilia still managed to discover the woman's name – Ashara Dayne.

She was the sister of Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. Rumour has it that they met at the Tourney of Harrenhall, when her uncle, Brandon, had to go up to Ashara, who was one of Elia Martell's ladies, to ask her to dance with his shy brother. And they did. They danced once, and many said that she was the first woman her father loved.

Sure, he did love his wife, but before her, there was Ashara Dayne. She had a tragic ending, Lilia had been told that the woman jumped off a tower after being pregnant with a baby. In the North, many believed that baby to be Jon Snow, but others believe that the baby died and that its father was actually her uncle, Brandon Stark.