The Wolf Princess

Chapter 2 | Family

After some days of a long, tiring and somewhat terrifying journey, Lilia saw the Eyrie at last. The fact that she had to ride a mule scared her but she reminded herself that she had to be as strong as her Lady Mother. If Lady Catelyn had been able to go through this, then so did she.

The one good thing was that she actually got to meet one of King Robert's bastards, the first daughter he ever had, Mya Stone. He was still living with Jon Arryn and Ned when his first daughter was born. Black hair, blue eyes. Not blond hair and green eyes, she definitely had nothing to do with either of Robert's legitimate children.

She had come to realize how sweet she was and that sweetness reminded her of her own sister, Sansa. The innocence of love was a beautiful sight that she had in her own mind and Lilia hadn't been able to break it in a million pieces. A bastard girl and a noble boy were never going to work, but Lilia decided not to say so. She decided to let life break the girl's dreams and just smiled at her as she excitingly shared her prospects.

"We're getting close, My Lady", Willem warned her. Lilia could never forget the sight of that castle, how amazingly high it stood on the mountains... it felt like it wasn't even standing on the ground, it was almost like it flew in the sky.

She had been riding with Ser Willem, who had kindly volunteered to ride with her, not knowing that she was most likely a better rider than he was. She decided not to ruin the image he had pictured of her and just enjoyed his commitment to his duty, a duty which wasn't even his, to begin with.

Lilia's hands got sweatier as they approached the castle. She didn't remember meeting her Aunt, and let alone her cousin. For all she knew, they had never seen each other. As far as her knowledge went, her mother and her aunt used to write to each other for many years but in the past years... she couldn't say for sure...

They passed near Alyssa's Tears, a waterfall near the castle. People said that the waterfall runs because when Alyssa Arryn watched her family getting butchered, she didn't shed one tear. It was said that the Gods decided to punish Alyssa, only allowing her soul to rest once her tears touched the Vale where her family had been buried. However, since the tears never actually got to the ground since they would turn into some sort of fog, Alyssa would never rest.

Lilia wondered if the story was true. Some said that it was a myth since the Arryns didn't have a story of their own. The Lannisters had Lann, the Clever; the Starks had Bran, the Builder; The Martells had Nymeria, the Warrior Princess. According to what she had heard, singers created Alyssa. It is uncertain if she really lived, but it's impossible for that to have happened.

Lilia had watched her father die. She knew how bad she had felt, like a piece of her heart had been ripped off her chest, worse than any heartbreak she had to face in her years. She couldn't say if it were worse than losing a child since she had never been with child, but it was horrible enough. There was no way someone wouldn't cry while watching their family being murdered...

She heard the gates opening and watched the few knights that had accompanied her to the castle get inside the walls of the infamous impregnable castle in all of the Seven Kingdoms.

Ser Willem climbed down his horse and helped her out of it, respectfully placing his hands on her hips. She smiled gratefully and took a deep breath as she followed the knights towards the great hall, where she was supposed to meet her Aunt.

The room was empty but she took some time to look at it. There were two thrones high on some sort of pedestal which was reachable through some stairs. It was certainly, without a doubt, a bigger hall than the one at Winterfell where she would play with her brothers and sisters. Yet, this one was so quiet and empty that one could hear the sound of the waterfall running.