The Long Winter | Jaime Lannister X Stark OC | GOT/ASOIAF

Vows To A Dead Man

The parlay that day had been a resounding failure. Renly and Stannis seemed to prefer the idea of war with each other to war with the Lannisters, no matter the best efforts of people around them. Ross had been present herself; she and Loreon Storm, had tried to make the brothers see that by fighting together they had a chance, whilst even the winner of a fight between them both would be weakened and suffer defeat overall. Their efforts had been in vain; Stannis knew all this already, but was too stubborn to bow to his younger brother, whilst Renly seemed to think he could win against both Stannis and the Lannisters with ease and still be hailed a hero.

"They're fools. Complete and utter fools, stubborn and too proud for their own good, the both of them. They will doom us all if we let them, just to squabble over the ashes!" Loreon would no doubt have been pacing, had there been the room for it in Ross' tent. As it was, his presence filled the small space, blue eyes dark and angry as he loomed over her.

It had been nearly six weeks since Ross had arrived at Renly's camp. Loreon Storm had become her closest ally. The young man was playing the game constantly, so well that it wasn't obvious he was even doing it at all. He always wore an assured, warm smile, treated all men with friendliness and respect regardless of whether they were a common soldier or a lord, acting the charming but humble everyman. He had their respect as a formidable fighter, and proved his intelligence in the war councils, without presuming to challenge any of the lords directly. In all the time she had been in the camp, Ross had not found anyone who did not praise the young knight for being brave, honest and unambitious. Perhaps one of those is true.

This strategy wasn't so much an act, though, more like he was only displaying one side of himself, which could be why it worked so well. Even so, it must be exhausting. Loreon had displayed another side entirely on the occasions he had spoken to Ross alone; sharper, ambitious and pragmatic. Whether this was a conscious decision or not, it made her regard for him grow in a way that being everyone's darling did not.

Ross herself set aside the thin smiles and half-answers she gave to humour Renly, unwilling to commit Robb's allegiances one way or another, and spoke plainly to Loreon. She knew already that his loyalties lay with Stannis - in truth, she was surprised he hadn't defected to Renly entirely by now - but she suspected he was still been holding onto the naive hope that he might somehow be able to make the Baratheon brothers allies again. He was still young, after all.

Now, it was clear he was under no such delusion. Ross was seeing Loreon Storm live up to his Baratheon temper for the first time. Ours is the fury indeed.

"And the red woman, Melisandre, she's been filling his head with all kinds of horseshit, prophecies and magic. We're lucky she hasn't managed to get him to replace the stags on his banners with her god's fiery heart! Her influence was growing when I left, but it was always Selyse who listened to her, not Stannis. That's clearly changed - maybe he fucked her, Gods only know - and now he's even harder to reach than before. Would it have been any different had I been a trueborn son, and you a lord not a lady? Would they have listened to us then?"

"If you were Robert's eldest trueborn son, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place," Ross said. "And if I was a high lord - "

She broke off. What would I have done, in Brandon's place? She liked to think she wouldn't have marched straight into Aerys' court and demanded his son to come out and die. Perhaps slapped some sense into Catelyn.

"There's been no battle yet," She continued. "Why aren't you saying all this to Renly, instead of me?"

"You heard him today," Loreon said with no small amount of scorn. "There's no chance of him giving up his crown. Stannis even offered him Storm's End, and he refused. I've been working on Renly for months, and for what? Fucking nothing,"