The Children of Spring

Jenny V - The Debt is Paid

When the battle had started, Jenny had wanted for it to end as soon as possible, she had always loved to fight and to swing a sword, but she had not wanted any more people getting hurt, even if it was war. However, it had seemed that the warlocks had no wish for that. The Golden Company had not mooved until Winterfell had arrived. Jenny was glad that Winterfell had arrived for it had not only given them advantage, but also meant that the enemies left were the ones who were fighting in the battlefield plus the Golden Company which had just charged.
As Jenny swinged Brightroar up and down, straight and sideways, she was trying to pay attention to everyone else, in case someone got seriously hurt or if they had to fall back. Jenny was also always watching the warlock's leader, she wanted more than anything to kill him. He had tried to kill her mother, had taken her memories away, had killed the love of her life and had hurted her family. It was justice! That somehow gave her even more strenght to fight and to end that war. She knew that probably she would never even get close to him to kill him, someone else would do it, but just that thought gave her courage to try. If none of us try, we'll never get anywhere, Jenny thought as she pierced a Son of the Harpy's heart with Brightroar. She looked around to see if there was any chance, but there were still too many enemies for any of them to get near the great warlock, therefore she kept fighting with all she had left, as everyone was doing around her.
Some time before, when Jenny had arrived at the camp and had not seen anyone, she had gotten worried, still a small part of her had known that everyone had been in the battlefield. However, later, when she, Catelyn and Mia had been hiding waiting for the battle to start, Jenny could not remember a time in which she had felt more anxious. As soon as Jenny had seen the battlefield and what had been going on, she had to count at least until 20 not to do anything. She had known they had to stay hidden, still she could not help it, the fact that she had seen her parents with knifes at their throats and could not do a thing about it, had made her heart beat so hard, getting ready to jump out of her chest at any moment. Eventhough she had realized they had a plan to get to their daggers, she had been worried all of the time. Then, by the time Pyat Pree had ended his villain speech, Jenny had been ready to kill him a thousand times over. He had had no right to talk like that about their parents, and she had even thought she would get the chance, because when the speech ended, she had thought she would have to intervene, but then she had seen Galladon riding into the battlefield in a white horse, with his shinning armour and his flamming sword. Jenny had been so proud of him at that moment... And right then she had known: he was her knight. Jenny had been even more sure that she wanted to marry him, something she had never thought she would do.
Marriage and all of that lady's things Jenny had always said she hated, it had never been a part of her plans. She always knew that she wanted to be a knight like her parents, she always knew that someday she wanted to find love and she always knew that someday, with the right person in the right time, she wanted to have children. But she never knew that all of that had been in front of her eyes this whole time, all the times she had looked at Galladon, she never knew he was the one, at least that had been a good thing in the middle of that whole mess.
Jenny never did and never would consider herself a lady in a typical way, like her sister did, still, sometimes, it was not so bad to be one. Jenny knew that part of her had always known that sooner or later she would have to accept that she would always be a lady due to her social status. Her mother had told her that once and, by then, she remembered it again. And, right in the moment they all had gotten out of their hidings and the adults had set themselves free, when Jenny had seen her father and mother, after loosing her memories and gaining them back, she had felt proud to be their daughter. She had been proud that her name was Jenny Payne Lannister. And she had been determined to show the warlock's leader that they still had a lot of fight left, because that was what her family was: a family of fighters, warriors... Heroes. At that moment, Jenny had remembered thinking as a girl: Heroes are not the ones who win at the first battle, heroes are the ones who keep on fighting, even after loosing... Heroes are the ones who get up time after time and never give up.
As of then, Jenny was swinging the Lannister family Valyrian steel sword up and down and could not be more happy that her great-uncle had given it to her. The Golden Company had just come into the fight, thus making their plan a bit more uncertain. They had to try to get together to form a barrier for stopping the enemy's troops from mooving forward to the camp. It took time and many losses from the enemy, for the dragons and direwolves were also helping them, but at last the barrier was formed. Most of her cousins were on the left side of the barrier line like her and her brothers, while her parents and uncles and aunts were on right side, along with Marianne, Galladon, Jeyne, Lyanna and Mia. They were still fighting non-stop. Jenny was next to her brothers by then.
Despite the army of the Golden Company having started to attack, there were small groups of troops that had not come to the fight, that just stayed where the great warlock was to protect him, Jenny guessed. Leading those troops was Ser Aistan, the leader of the Golden Company, the man who had almost killed her mother.
"Is that him?" Jenny heard Thomas ask Rickon. She knew that tone well enough to know that Thomas was burning with rage within.
"Yes." Rickon answered. Jenny knew that Thomas would kill that man one way or another. She also knew that no one would stand in his way. A Lannister always pays his debts, Jenny thought as she killed another member of the Golden Company. After killing him, Jenny turned to Thomas and said,
"When the time comes, give him hell, little brother." Thomas looked at her, after killing the man he had been fighting, and nodded.
"First, we have to get out of here." James told them. The fight never stopped, the swords clashed up and down, the arrows flied from one side to the other, the smell of death and blood and ashes was intoxicating. Jenny knew that that was for sure the worst battle she had been in and it was a bit terrifying knowing that right then it was up to them to end the war. As Jenny fought, she started to notice that the enemy was focussing their strenght on the people who had fought before, which meant they were focusing their strenght on the right side. Jenny knew that they could not let them do that. They had to do something, but they could not let the left side alone as well. All of them also knew that they had to finish up that part of the Golden Company for the rest to come to battle instead of staying to protect the warlock.
Once that happened they would manage to trap the enemy, leaving the invading troops with nowhere to go. If all of the enemy came to battle, then they would win.
"They're trying to break through the other side." Gerion said as he cut down an enemy next to Jenny.
"I know, Ger. But we can't get there with this many here..." Jenny said as she brought Brightroar down on the top of another enemy.
"What do we do then?" Jorah asked as he chopped a Son of the Harpy's head off with the Valyrian steel arakh. Jenny was killing the enemies and deflecting from their blows as she tried to have an idea. Then suddenly it came to her: dragons. All of their soldiers and armys were either between the barrier and their camp or around the whole perimetre of the battlefield, therefore if the dragons burned the enemies in their side of the barrier, then they would be able to get to the others and the rest of the Golden Company had to attack.
"Jorah, the dragons." Jenny said as she chopped another enemy's head off.
"On it." Jorah said and as he fought he started to try to summon Kingly into breathing fire to the enemies. Kingly was still smaller than Drogon and Rhaegal and Rhaenys, but if he started to breath fire, then Rhaella and Daenerys would understand the signal. And so it was. After some time, Kingly came flying to where they were and started to burn the enemies that were on their side. Then they saw that the other dragons were coming too.
"Stay back!" Jorah yelled and everyone took several steps back. As soon as they did, the dragons came and burned all of the enemy's soldiers. It was brutal, but also necessary, plus Jenny felt they deserved it.
After the fire having gone out, some of it at least, they charged to the other side to help. Jenny fought and fought and fought. They had almost finished off all of the troops on the right side, when suddenly arrows started to fly in all directions.
"Down! Shields up!" Joanna said, they all did that or docked to the ground or had the shield up. Jenny docked but never stopped fighting. Still, after sometimes the arrows stopped a bit, therefore the fight returned to what Jenny already considered it's normal pace.
As soon as they felt it was safe enough, they started to fight again, however arrows would still fly by occasionally. This why I've never been much into archery, Jenny thought while fighting. It was a bit anoying. Suddenly, as Jenny battled with an Unsulied, sword and spear clashed up and down and he went up, she docked down and cut him in the middle, she heard a scream of pain behind her, she turned and saw that one of the arrows had caught her uncle Gendry in the shoulder, the one with which he used to guide the war hammer. Mia and her aunt Arya were already there and even with the arrow her uncle had managed to kill the nearby soldier with the hammer. Jenny kept on fighting where she was.
Meanwhile, Mia said to her father,
"We have to get you to uncle Sam."
"I... can go by myself... Don't worry." Gendry said, it hurted a lot, but he could go to Sam's tent alone, they didn't have to come too. They needed to help in the fight.
"At least, take two soldiers." Arya said, she was covering them.
"Fine..." Gendry said and then he turned to his daughter and gave her the war hammer, "Here... Take it. Fight... And don't stop until it's over, alright?"
"But-" Mia was saying surprised.
"You know how to use it... I know you do." Gendry said and she nodded and accepted the war hammer. Her father was right, she knew how to use the hammer. Therefore, as Mia joined her mother in the fight, smashing the enemies heads with the hammer, her father went to the camp along with two soldiers. It felt good to Mia to have a war hammer, Brandon and Eddard were fighting with one, she was the only one left, her father knew that. Half Stark and half Baratheon, it covers it, Mia thought while fighting with the hammer.
The rain stopped and Jenny was glad for it, sometimes it was difficult to see, at least that was better. Her armour was still heavy, but the golden lion on the chest still glowed. As she fought, she was still paying attention to everyone around her, Thomas and James were still next to her, Marianne was next to Gerion and Galladon. And her parents were next to each other.
At last, the rest of the Golden Company that had been protecting the warlock's leader came to the fight and with them their leader.
"Thomas... It's now." Jenny said as she cut down another enemy. "Go!" Thomas nodded at her and started to cut his way to where Ser Aistan was.
"James... Go with him!" Jenny said to her other brother.
"What about you?" James asked as he killed another enemy.
"I'll be fine, go!" Jenny said as she killed another enemy and James nodded and went after his brother.
Jenny was still paying attention to everywhere and everyone. She was slaying another Son of the Harpy, thinking: Where do these come from?
(she could swear that she had slayed at least 20 of those), when she noticed that Eddard was next to her.
"Hey, Ned... How are you doing?" Jenny decided to say, while fighting.
"I'm... fine. Mia said that my father will be alright. So..." Eddard said as he crashed an Unsulied head with his war hammer.
"That's good to hear..." Jenny said as she cut down another Unsulied.
"Good... Back to back...?" Eddard said and Jenny decided to follow his lead.
"I have to tell you something." Eddard said.
"What is it?" Jenny asked confused.
"You have to kill the warlock leader. It has to be you." Eddard said. Jenny finished another enemy and looked at her cousin.
"What? Why me? Not that I don't want to..." Jenny asked confused. Eddard finished the enemy he was fighting and then turned to her as well.
"Durran saw it in the flames and I had a greendream." Eddard said. The enemies started to come again and they had to turn back to back again to fight them.
"What happened in the dream?" Jenny asked as she cut down a Golden Company's soldier.
"Well... I talked with your grandparents." Eddard said as he cracked another Son of the Harpy's head open with the hammer.
"You did...? What did they say...?" Jenny asked surprised. They're always looking after us..., Jenny thought, while fighting.
"They told me... To tell you to never forget that you're a Lannister... And, like Gal said, Lannisters always pay their debts. That asshole needs to be reminded of that. I added the asshole part." Eddard said as they both finished the enemies around them.
"I'll try. I promise." Jenny said.
"Then go." Eddard said.
"You'll be fine?" Jenny asked and he nodded. Therefore, Jenny went to the first horse she saw in front of her and mounted. She knew that she would never be able to get to the warlock's leader on foot.
Meanwhile, Thomas was almost getting to where Ser Aistan was. James was close behind him. Thomas wanted to kill that man more than anything. However, the leader of the Golden Company was on horse and Thomas and James were on foot. Still, Thomas had a plan. Therefore, he kept going to where Ser Aistan was, James had gotten held up in the fight behind him, when the leader of the Golden Company saw Thomas, he turned his horse to him and was coming in his direction. You're really stupid, aren't you?, Thomas thought angry and sarcasticaly, that was exactly what he wanted. Thomas stopped and looked at the horse that was coming in his direction and slided his hand to his Valyrian steel dagger and, when he was close enough, Thomas threw the dagger at the horse's leg and the horse fell. At that, Ser Aistan jumped from the horse and they started to fight. The swords clashed up and down and up again and sprang apart.
"You should have been more careful, boy." Ser Aistan said and the swords clashed down.
"Why is that?" Thomas asked as the swords went up again.
"Let's say, I'm better than you." Ser Aistan said and the swords went down and Thomas swirled his sword and disarmed Ser Aistan.
"I don't think so." Thomas said as he stabbed him in the belly. "You tried to kill my mother, now the debt was paid. After all, you know what they say about the Lannisters." Thomas twisted the sword and then pulled it out. That was for my mother, Thomas thought. He was surprised that he had had no rage attack, but also happy for it meant that he was growing up. Thomas went to pick up his dagger and sheathed it.
Behind him, James was trying to fight off all of the enemies around him, with a bit of difficulty, when Thomas went to him and help him.
"You're alright?" James asked as he killed another enemy.
"Yep. I'm fine." Thomas said as he did the same.
"You didn't have a rage attack. Good. I'm glad you grew up." James said as he chopped the head of a Son of the Harpy.
"Well... We both had to." Thomas as he pierced a Golden Company's soldier in the heart with his sword. The brothers smiled as they were fighting back to back.
Meanwhile, Jenny was on the horse trying to get to Pyat Pree, while cuting down most of the enemies that came to attack her. It was easier on the horse, however at some point the horse got hit and she had to jump.
Jenny knew that everyone was exausted, they had been at it for a long time, fighting non-stop, but they could not stop or it would all be over for them. The armour was heavier than usual, still, by then, it seemed easier to bear. Despite being fighting with Brightroar, Jenny had her dagger at the back of her belt. She had gotten that dagger at her 15 nameday. The pommel was golden with a red tulip on top with an amethyst in the middle of the flower. Her mother loved orchids, her sister loved violets (like the ones in her dagger) and Jenny loved tulips. It was probably a family trait.
On the ground, Jenny was fighting her way to Pyat Pree, never loosing sight of him, when suddenly he seemed to get really angry. Jenny followed his gaze and saw that Thomas had finally killed the leader of the Golden Company. Well done, Thomas. Well done, Jenny thought while piercing the heart of another enemy. Jenny looked around and all of her family was dispersed in the battlefield and she was almost isolated. The only person that was not so far away from her was her father that was fighting at her left. Her mother was near him, even futher to the left. Jenny looked at Pyat Pree again and saw that he was casting a spell and that the spell was bound to hit her father. Jenny would never let that happen, but she was too far away and she would never get to her father on time, neither could she stop the warlock from throwing the spell. Thus, Jenny did the only thing she could remember. It all felt like a play, regarding how fast it happened and how unreal it seemed. Jenny took her dagger and threw it at her father's leg. It was the only way. As the dagger hit his leg, Podrick fell to one knee and the spell ended up hitting one of the Golden Company soldiers. As her mother and few soldiers went to help her father, Jenny started to fight another Son of the Harpy and killed him, taking his knife, and throwing it at Pyat Pree. The knife cut of most of his hand, therefore he could not cast any more spells.
Jenny felt as if a bell had tolled in her head. It was time! It was her time...
At that, Jenny held Brightroar tightly and started to run, it was then or never, she ran to where Pyat Pree was, cuting down any enemy that appeared in her way. At last, she was near him, behind him and, as Pyat Pree turned, Jenny stabbed him in the guts and said,
"That was for my parents." She twisted the sword, "This one was for my memories." And she twisted it one more time, "And this was for Gal." Then she pulled the sword out, looked him in the eyes and said,
"Now the debt is paid in full." Then she swinged Brightroar and chopped Pyat Pree's head off. Just to make sure he was really dead that time. It's over, Jenny thought, still her hands were shaking.
Jenny turned around and took a look at the battlefield, the rest of the enemy was surrendering. The swords and knifes were falling. Everyone was starting to cheer, her cousins were going to their parents, her brothers and sister were trying to find their parents and at that Jenny became fully aware of what she had just done before, I... I just... threw a dagger at my father's leg, Jenny thought in shock, she felt tears in her eyes with the realization, I have to go talk to him. Right now.
Jenny searched the battlefield for any signs of her father, she saw none, which meant that he was in the camp. However, Jenny did see her mother, right in front of her. Jenny sheathed Brightroar at her waist and ran to her mother.
She was so worried, she did not hear the chears and the victory cries.
When she got to Joanna, Jenny hugged her mother tightly and her mother hugged her back.
"I've missed you so much." Jenny said her voice was a bit shaken.
"I've missed you too, sweety." Joanna said. After the hug, Jenny looked at her mother and said,
"Mother, I really have to speak with father. Can I go to camp?"
"Of course." Joanna said and Jenny nodded and was going to camp, when her mother put a hand on her shoulder and said,
"Jenny. Me and your father are very proud of you." Jenny nodded and went away, thinking, If you knew that it was me who hurted father, you wouldn't be proud. Jenny went to camp as fast as she could without running.
As Jenny did that, Marianne, Thomas and James went to their mother. Marianne hugged her mother tightly and she hugged her back.
"I was so worried... I thought that... I miss you, mother." Marianne said, her voice was shaking a bit.
"I'm alright, sweety. I'm alright. I miss you too." Joanna said after the hug. Then the twins did the same.
"We missed you too." The twins said.
"Me too, my sweetlings." Joanna said as she hugged her sons.
"Where's father? And Jen?" Marianne asked concerned.
"We saw that she killed the warlock but then nothing..." Thomas said. Joanna had seen what had happened, had seen that Jenny had thrown the dagger to save her father's life and had seen that she had killed the warlock's leader. Therefore, Joanna knew that Jenny had to talk to her father alone, no matter how worried she and Marianne and the twins were. They needed to talk first. Besides, Joanna knew that Sam was taking care of Podrick.
"Your father was hurt in a leg during the battle, nothing serious, and uncle Sam is taking care of him. Your sister was very worried and needed to talk to him, so she went to camp." Joanna explained.
"Can we go too?" James asked right away.
"We're still needed here. Then we'll go. Alright? Your father will be alright, I promise." Joanna said calmly and the three of them nodded. However, Marianne thought, What is happening here? This is not normal. It did not make sense that her mother was that calm when her father was hurt.
By then, Jenny was walking through the camp to the Maestre's tent, she knew her father was there or at least hoped he was. Jenny did not know how she was going to tell him, but she knew she had to. She felt that she owed him an explaination. She was worried too, she had thrown the dagger, but she had not seen how bad it had hit his leg. I don't even know what I'm going to say, Jenny thought, she had her hand in the hilt of Brightroar, somehow resting her hand there seemed to calm her down. At last, Jenny saw the tent, she took a deep breath and came closer, as she did, she heard a small groan of pain, she stopped at that, she could not see it if her uncle Sam was still taking care of the wound, she just couldn't, but she heard voices too.
"I'm sorry, but it was you who didn't want to take the milk of the poppy." It was her uncle Sam. Why?, Jenny thought confused.
"I know, Sam. Just tell me it's almost over." She heard her father saying.
"It's over. There's just the bandages left." Jenny heard her uncle saying. Then she counted up to ten and took another deep breath and entered the tent, her hand never leaving the hilt of the sword.
As soon as Jenny entered, she saw her dagger in a table, she knew that her father knew that the dagger was hers. Shit... I was going to confess anyway, Jenny thought, she did not know what to say though, not that she had to, for when her uncle Sam saw her, he said,
"Hello, Jenny. Don't worry, he'll be alright." Jenny just nodded for the words would not come out and she felt dangerously close to tears. Sam finished coveringing the wound with bandages in a short time, during that time, Jenny did not look at what he was doing or said anything, she could not.
"There. Now, it's rest." Sam said when he finished.
"Thank you, Sam." Podrick said as he turned and sat up in the bed. When Podrick saw his daughter's face, he realized that she was worried and a bit in shock, therefore he asked,
"Sam, can you give me a moment alone with my daughter, please?"
"Of course." Sam said and then left the tent, the battle was over and he had work to do.
When Sam left, Jenny looked at her father and she just did not know what to do. Pod knew that and she was so worried, he just wanted to calm her down, for, of course, he was not angry or disappointed, she had just saved his life. He had seen the spell passed right above his head and if she had not thrown that dagger, then he would probably not be there.
"Thank you for saving my life, sweety." Pod said softly looking at his daughter. Jenny looked at him surprised.
"W-what? But I just..." Jenny said confused.
"When I fell, I saw the spell passing right above me, it would probably kill me. I thought it had been lucky. But then, when Sam pulled out the dagger and I saw it was yours, I realized that my daughter had saved my life. Then your mother told me what had happened and that you had killed the warlock. I'm so proud of you, Jenny." Pod explained and Jenny was surprised, but relieved too. She did not have to explain herself at all. She went to her father and hugged him tightly, he hugged her back the same way and kissed her forehead.
"I've missed you so much... And I'm sorry anyway..." Jenny said as she hugged him, she was crying a bit by then, that had been happening a lot lately. Her father held her and said,
"I've missed you too. And I'll be alright, don't worry. It's just a leg." After the hug, Jenny looked at him, her eyes still had some tears, but she was not crying anymore, she smiled a bit and he smiled to see her smiled.
"Thank you for keeping the promise." Jenny said as she sat in a chair next to him. She had no rush to leave that tent, she had lost her memory and right then she remembered everything and she was seeing her father again, besides he was there because of her, so it was the least she could do. Also, Jenny knew that her mother and brothers and sister would come to them.
"You don't have to thank me. I would never let anything happen to your mother." Pod said.
"I know. Does it hurt much?" Jenny asked concerned.
"A bit, but it'll get better." Pod answered and she nodded, "How are you after, well, everything that happened?"
"I'll be alright. There were times that it was hard. But now everything will be alright again." Jenny said honestly.
"That's very good to hear." Pod said.
"Father... Why did uncle Sam say that you didn't want to take the milk of the poppy?" Jenny asked confused.
"Because, when I saw the dagger, I knew you would come to talk to me and I wanted to be there for you. I know my litle girl, well, not that little anymore." Pod explained. Jenny smiled a bit and said,
"Thank you..." However, in that moment, her mother entered the tent and said,
"Hey, can we come in?"
"Of course." Jenny said with a nod. At that, her brothers and sister entered the tent too. Marianne went straight to her father and hugged him. Jenny got up and went to where her mother was. The twins did the same that Marianne did. After that, Marianne asked her father,
"Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"Yes, sweety, I'm sure. It's just a cut in the leg." Pod said softly and Marianne smiled, so did Jenny.
"You will still be able walk, right?" James asked a bit concerned.
"Of course I will. It'll just take sometime to heal." Pod answered.
"And we'll help you, right?" Joanna said.
"Right." The four of them said.
"How did that happen anyway?" Thomas asked confused. Pod looked at his eldest daughter, so did Joanna, but they decided that it was up to her to decide wether to tell it or not, therefore Pod just said,
"It doesn't matter now." Jenny noticed what they did, but she decided that she had to tell her siblings, therefore she went the table where the dagger was and she picked it up and turned to her brothers and sister.
"It was me." Jenny started showing her siblings the dagger, they were surprised, "I was in the battlefield and I was going to where the warlock's leader was, so I could kill him. But then, I saw that he was casting a spell and was going to throw it at father. I couldn't let it happen, but I had no way to get to father on time or to stop the warlock on time, so I did the only think I could remember... I threw the dagger at father's leg, so when he fell, the spell didn't hit him."
"She saved my life." Pod said. Thomas, James and Marianne looked at Jenny and nodded, she nodded back. And their parents smiled.
"You all saved our lifes, me and your father might not be here if you hadn't come up with that plan and hadn't come here. So, thank you. We're very proud of all of you." Joanna said.
"We really are. And we want you to know that, no matter what you do and what happens, we will always love you." Pod said.
"We love you too." Thomas said and they all smiled.
After everything that had happened those past months, they were finally together again and the war was over. All of them knew everything would be alright.