Duty (Brandon) - Gjuno_chanJuly 13 2012, 23:45:01 UTC
It is almost absurd, but the first thing he remembers when he hears the news that his sister has vanished, has been spirited away by the Targaryen prince, is a summer afternoon in Winterfell, practicing at the archery butts.
He is eleven and Lyanna is but six, and she’s stolen a pair of Ned’s old breeches to climb a tree in the godswood, exactly as their father forbade. Even then she had been a little monster, and if there is anything she loves more than climbing and running and riding her horse, all manners of unladylike behavior, it is listening to orders if only so that she may do the exact opposite. She calls to him, boastful, “Brandon, see how high I’ve climbed! Higher than you ever have!”
Studiously, he ignores her so that he may continue his practice, drawing the bow back and holding his arm steady to release the arrow. The shot goes awry when he hears a crack followed by a loud screech, and suddenly Lyanna is tumbling to the ground, snatching at branches to try and stop herself as she falls.
She is lying in a heap when Brandon reaches her, wailing at the top of her lungs, and suddenly they are surrounded, the blacksmith calling for the maester, the guards running off to fetch him and Lord Rickard. By the way she is thrashing her limbs, Brandon thinks she is crying more from indignity than from pain, but he allows her to bury her face in his chest, snuffling against him, and puts an arm around her.
Later, he receives a far sharper reprimand from his father than the gentle scolding Lyanna had received, and he protests the unfairness of it all, for all he had done was concentrate on his practice, all he had done was look the other way.
“She is your sister,” Lord Rickard had told him gravelly. “You are the eldest. It is your duty to protect her, even from herself.”
Even at eleven, the shame had run deep, and he had sworn to his father (and to himself) that he would never let such a thing happen again, that never again would he turn a blind eye to his sister.
The rumors that come from King’s Landing are conflicting - some say that Lyanna Stark had stars in her eyes since a crown of roses was placed upon her brow, and that she and the prince had run off together to a place where they may freely share their love. Others say that she was most unwilling, carried over the shoulder of a burly Kingsguard, kicking and screaming before being flung stomach-first over horseback.
Brandon does not care which is true. His father’s words and his sister’s tears echo in his mind, and he turns his horse to ride to King’s Landing.
He is eleven and Lyanna is but six, and she’s stolen a pair of Ned’s old breeches to climb a tree in the godswood, exactly as their father forbade. Even then she had been a little monster, and if there is anything she loves more than climbing and running and riding her horse, all manners of unladylike behavior, it is listening to orders if only so that she may do the exact opposite. She calls to him, boastful, “Brandon, see how high I’ve climbed! Higher than you ever have!”
Studiously, he ignores her so that he may continue his practice, drawing the bow back and holding his arm steady to release the arrow. The shot goes awry when he hears a crack followed by a loud screech, and suddenly Lyanna is tumbling to the ground, snatching at branches to try and stop herself as she falls.
She is lying in a heap when Brandon reaches her, wailing at the top of her lungs, and suddenly they are surrounded, the blacksmith calling for the maester, the guards running off to fetch him and Lord Rickard. By the way she is thrashing her limbs, Brandon thinks she is crying more from indignity than from pain, but he allows her to bury her face in his chest, snuffling against him, and puts an arm around her.
Later, he receives a far sharper reprimand from his father than the gentle scolding Lyanna had received, and he protests the unfairness of it all, for all he had done was concentrate on his practice, all he had done was look the other way.
“She is your sister,” Lord Rickard had told him gravelly. “You are the eldest. It is your duty to protect her, even from herself.”
Even at eleven, the shame had run deep, and he had sworn to his father (and to himself) that he would never let such a thing happen again, that never again would he turn a blind eye to his sister.
The rumors that come from King’s Landing are conflicting - some say that Lyanna Stark had stars in her eyes since a crown of roses was placed upon her brow, and that she and the prince had run off together to a place where they may freely share their love. Others say that she was most unwilling, carried over the shoulder of a burly Kingsguard, kicking and screaming before being flung stomach-first over horseback.
Brandon does not care which is true. His father’s words and his sister’s tears echo in his mind, and he turns his horse to ride to King’s Landing.
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