The Wolf Princess

Chapter 14

I pray to all Seven Gods that you show me the way of enduring since the Old ones have failed me in the past year. I feel as though I have sinned, turning my back on them and listening to you but I do know that even if they wanted to help me, they have no eyes in the South.

I am aware that my motives are not the least selfish but I'm also aware that honesty and telling the truth to the Gods is the only way I could possibly have of washing myself of all the sins that I've committed.

I beseech all of you, each in your own fashion, to help me through these times. I fear the Stranger shall come for me sooner than I'd like it to, but I fear that most of all, he will take my family as well.

So, I beseech the Crone to help me find a way of doing more than what I've already done though I believe it isn't in my hands anymore.

"I didn't expect to find you here of all people," Lilia stopped her prayers, looking to her left side, where she found her mother kneeling by her side with a hesitant smile. "I didn't know you visited septs"

Her father had commanded that a small sept was built for her mother to say her prayers. Sansa would often go there with their mother but Lilia would never accompany her. When she was a child she would be forced to, once in a while, stand before the Seven Gods as a humble subject of theirs. However, it brought her no joy at all. She had always been more northern than southern and faithful to her values. The change felt foreign even to her and she wondered if that had been a fruit of all the misery she had gone through or just lack of strong belief.

"Oh, this is a first time..." she confessed to her mother, feeling the need to talk to someone about anything that wasn't politics or worries of war. She wanted to have a normal talk with her mother even if just for once... the kind of talk she never felt she could have with her. "But it is not the first time I have prayed to the Seven, I must say. I wasn't allowed to leave the Red Keep, which made me unable to visit the Great Sept of Baelor. Nevertheless, I started to seek out guidance from the Seven during my time in captivity and more intensely back in my time in Dorne"

Her mother nodded and then a strong silence followed as neither Lilia nor her mother seemed to be able to have a conversation that did not end in an argument or an awkward situation.

"I have never been to Dorne but your father has, though he never told me much about it," she said with a bitterness in her tone at the end. Lilia figured why. Jon Snow had been born in Dorne, that was where he had brought him from, most likely.

"It's quite alright, I've heard enough about it. It was where my aunt died, did you know?" Lilia asked. The only response she received was her mother's discomfort, which led her to believe that the woman knew but didn't wish her to know. "In Dorne people still whisper about such things sometimes. Let's not forget that kidnapping my aunt was not something the Dornish approved. They did fight for Rhaegar but only because of Princess Elia. Did you ever meet her?"

Her mother's lips formed a straight line. "Unfortunately not," the redheaded woman said, drowning in what seemed like her memories of the past. Lilia wondered if, among those memories, Cecilia Lannister had come to her mother's mind but didn't have the heart to ask. "But I learnt from her and from those close to her that venturing near the throne is a dangerous thing and something you must be cautious if you mean to do. Sadly, your father wasn't careful enough"

"And neither is Robb," Lilia pointed out with hurt. Her mother, as all mothers would do, avoided coming to terms with the harsh reality. It seemed as though she had intentionally blinded herself to her son's mistakes and that had always been something that Lilia despised. She hated how her mother loved some children more than others but the last incidents softened her desire to confront the woman about it.