For the first few days of him arriving in Sunspear, she had thought of him to melt away just like Snow - not that she did ever see snow but she heard stories about it - or at least hide in cooling shadows, craving for each and every little wind. But despite her expectations, he did neither and managed quite well so far. Complaints here and there were nothing unusual, did in the hottest summer days, even Dornish themselves do such. The longer he did stay here, the more she had a chance to communicate with him, listen to his stories about the north, the more curious she got how long she would manage in the North without freezing to death.
Arianne never thought much about Winterfell and its surroundings, when people told stories about giants, walkers and walls built of ice, it was never something she could imagine nor wanted to, but it seemed as if she would soon have to. The North and the South. These two indeed seemed as if they couldn’t be any more different an
With a quick move, she shook off thoughts about the past, tried to focus on the more important matters, as her glance followed the others and pinned to its features. The act upon his face was hard to read, no matter how hard Arianne tried to interpret the dance the lines in his face did but regardless of how big her attempts grew, she barely managed to make anything out of it. Could she not tell if he did pity Myrcella in this very one moment, or try to calculate a plan to get rid her along with her mother.
Her eyes close down as amused laughter escaped her lips, followed by a slight shook of her head. « My Lord, you must forgive my amusement but you consider me being a much better person than I actually am if you think I did not already picture the dead bodies of Tywin and his children. » Suddenly, as she looked up to him again, nothing of the gentleness or feigned propriety was left in the dark depths of her eyes, was there only determined rage left.
The thought alone brone shivers down her spine, and not the good kind of it. It was clear that her body cramped, nails dug into her palm at only the mention of Tywin Lannister, as every time she heard his name, the painful memory of her aunt crawled up in her veins. Every time she was remembered of Cersei, the tombstone with her uncle’s name carved in it was back at her mind, and the latter was the final drop for her to finally start working on her own, was waiting for her father no longer an option, did she, to put it mildly, She had thought through a plan for long now — a plan she still needs to find the proper support and back up for.
« Every further breath this man does is mocking on my name, my family, my house and Elia’s name. If I have to use another lion to chop of the others head I will do so. Myrcella is no longer a Lannister, I see her as my own flesh and blood, do I love her as if she was my daughter. I will protect her like I would protect any of my kind. Tywin nor Cersei will have any chance to ever taint Myrcella, will their heads be busy rotting on a pale. »
Robb pulled his gaze away from the little lioness and turned to Arianne instead, a small smile curling at his lips. It was not amusement; it had been a very long time since life had given him any thing to be amused over. It was the same smile he’d worn the day the Greatjon had raised his sword across the table, when his heart had seemed to beat out of his chest, but he’d grinned to keep from crying, to make the room think he was as strong and brave and sure a leader as they all wanted him to--not the young boy, out of his depths, that he’d been that night. It was the smile he wore when he had sent his terms to the Lannisters through the mouth of a spy while the Lords around him looked on with weary hope. It was the smile he’d shared with his mother when they’d decided to go back to the Twins, to make amends with the Freys.
Many of his men were dead now, and his mother was rotting in the rivers beneath the Twins. Robb did not remember much of that night, but he did remember that: fighting tooth and nail against the Blackfish’s hold, trying to get to her body, trying not to leave his wife’s. It was not a popular thing--to be a Northerner who despised death and killing, who felt no great honor in putting thousands of men to their graves; as a boy, he’d never liked the sight of blood, never waited eagerly to go along with his father for a hunt (though he’d always go, always ask to go, and he never flinched when he was taken to watch the executions).
But everything was different now. He would not rest well again until the Lannisters’ heads--and the Freys too--lined the towers of King’s Landing for all the realm to see.
So her rage--more than the food and clothes and time she and her land provided--came as comfort. A rage he could understand. A rage they both could use.
His laugh was just as unamused.
“You call her kin, but you will kill her kin. I have started a war to avenge my family--you will do the same. Why should she be any different? Children who grow up away from their families do not forget what is due to their names, no matter how dishonored those names may become.” The bitter reality of it flashed clear as the Dornish sun upon his face, his mind on Theon. They had grown together, played together, cried together, loved together; he had considered Theon a Stark, had kept him closer than anyone, brought him into every council or war meeting. And in the end, he’d chosen a father who never loved him, a father who would not even recognize him as son and heir. Blood won out in the end. Not love.
Shifting wearily in his seat--his leg, arm, and chest still heavily bandaged--Robb continued, “It is admirable, your hope. And your love for the girl. But I do not think it will work.” Even just a few short moons ago, he would have; he would have agreed full heartedly, believing people could always be better than their parents before them, that they should not be judged for the sins of their families. He was not so sure anymore. This war had made him dark and cynical and someone he did not recognize. “But I also do not think we have another plan, and I will do anything to see Tywin fall.”
