Kapitel 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The presence of Brynden Tully in Riverrun alleviated some of the pressure on Lily from her mother's part. Having her uncle in her corner to go to bat for her when he felt that Minisa wasn't letting her have the time to be a child and have fun and pursue her own interests was a great relief to Lily.
Uncle Brynden understood her in a way that her sisters and most certainly her mother didn't understand.
Hoster was too busy with the running of the Riverlands to pay too much attention to what his four children were doing and Minisa had hooked her claws into Catelyn so deep that Lily had a sinking suspicion that her and her sister's relationship would forever be different because of their interests.
Catelyn wanted to be just like their mother while Lily would have liked nothing better than to be like her Uncle.
He was wild and fierce and loved to laugh. He brought a sunshine to the dreary halls of Riverrun that Lily didn't even realize had been missing before.
While both she and Ed loved to play and laugh, their uncle had a deep booming voice that filled the halls with his storytelling and laughter causing the countenances of others to light all the way up.
Lily found herself neglecting more and more of her sewing lessons and spending time with her uncle and brother in the sparring yards of Riverrun, learning as much as she could about how to ride a horse, shoot a bow and use a sword.
Her uncle declared that she had the build for more of a Braavosi water dancer than that of a typical broadsword. He declared her fast and agile on her feet, saying her speed would aid in her a fight more than her strikes would.
She would tire somebody out enough to deliver the fatal blow.
He didn't know that Lily's speed was attributed to her magic. Somehow it had made her slightly faster than before, something she was convinced had to do with when Death had broken her wand in half and had her absorb the magic that was flying at her from it.
There really was no other explanation as to why magic was so easy for her now. When she had still been in England she had had a lot of time on her hands. Towards the end of her life, she and James had never left Godric's Hollow and so Lily had taken to reading up on rare magical practices that took a lot of time and effort to accomplish.
One of them had been wandless magic.
She had gotten to the point where she could perform a few simple charms without the help of her wand but it had always drained her.
And then she had died and it hadn't mattered anymore.
Now all she had to do was think about something happening and it was done.
Lily found she didn't even have to speak the words aloud, she could move her lips or whisper them under the breath and suddenly a book was flying across the room towards her or she had conjured a quill out of thin air when she couldn't find the one she had last used.
This was especially helpful when sewing as Lily could merely blink and the needle would dance on its own.
She had to be careful during this time however because Minisa and the septa would watch her like a hawk to see how she was doing.
Catelyn was increasingly frustrated that her sister's stitches were neater tighter and faster than hers and her glare was indicative of emerald envy every time the septa would praise Lily's work in an extremely baffled manner.
Lysa….well Lysa barely noticed anything about her surroundings these days. Lily's second oldest sister had always been a whimsical dreamer off in her own little world dreaming about things like romance and true love at first sight.
Given the fact that Lily didn't believe in love at first sight at all, this notion was truly ridiculous. She had hated James Potter for years before she had loved him and more than anything else, Lily was convinced that love was a choice more than it was a feeling.
Infatuation and lust were only a few things that happened in the beginning stages of love. But after a while those things went away and then what were you left with?
Divorce wasn't something that was unheard of in Westeros and out of all the things that Lily disliked about this world, that wasn't one of them.
In a way, divorce was an easy way out. Loving someone was hard and continuing to choose to love that person day in and day out when you made a promise to do so wasn't easy. Sometimes it took a herculean effort.
Lily understood this because she had made a choice to keep on loving Petunia even after her sister was consumed by bitterness and didn't want to talk to her anymore.
It would be far easier to shut that door emotionally and keep it closed, but Lily still wrote letters to her sister up until the day she had died and asked friends to pass them along so that they would arrive to her.
Lily would never know if she had read them, but she hoped that if she did Petunia would know that the door had been open up until the day she died and that Lily had continued loving her despite all they had gone through.
Just thinking about Petunia made the red head emotional and she would scrub furiously at her eyes to blot out the tears.
During those times it was often best to throw herself completely into whatever she was doing, whether that was play with Ed, talking with her uncle or simply going for walks about Riverrun.
Often times she would sit in the godswood and simply absorb the silence.
It was there in which her Uncle Brynden found her around a moon into his stay in the river lands.
"There you are."
The red head looked up from her clasped hands to find the deep blue eyes of her uncle staring at her. He was dressed in a casual blue doublet and trousers with a black pin of the Tully trout clasped to the breast pocket. His hands were folded behind his back and there was a slight smile on his face that made the lines around his eyes crinkle.
"I'm sorry Uncle, were you looking for me?" Lily asked as she unfolded her hands from atop her knees.
"I was," the older man replied. "I was going to ask if you wanted to get a little more practice in, but now I find myself wondering what you are doing in the godswood."
Lily pursed her lips and searched for how to answer. While she didn't care one whit for the religions of this new world, she appreciated the silence and tranquility and the non-fussiness of the faith of the north.
Those who worshipped the Old Gods were quiet about their faith and their beliefs, they didn't force them on anyone and they didn't act as if their faith was the only way to attain some sort of eternal afterlife.
Lily wasn't sure if there even was an afterlife in the religion of the Seven. She had heard the seven hells mentioned a lot but in terms of eternal rest, no one knew.
She probably had a better idea that most what to expect when it came to an afterlife because in a way Westeros was her afterlife.
All these philosophical questions Lily tried not to contemplate because they made her head hurt.
It was just better to assume that this was her second life and leave it at that.
"It's peaceful here," she said finally. "There aren't any ruddy great enormous statues leering down at me like there are in the sept. I don't know how mother likes to pray in there all the time. Their eyes are…"
She trailed off and shuddered. "It's like they're judging me for everything I've ever done. Here among the trees and nature….well even though they have faces I don't feel uncomfortable sitting here. Sometimes I even talk."
Brynden was quiet for a moment before he exhaled and slowly sat down on the bench next to her. "Your mother prays in the sept as often as she can because that's how she has been raised. And she wants her children to have the same faith she does."
Lily barely suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "No offense Uncle Brynden but mother thinks that praying all the time will make someone into a more devout person and thus more of a lady. And I don't want to be a lady. I understand family is important but if they are so important they will not force you to do something that you fundamentally don't believe in doing."
Her uncle was silent for a long moment. He appeared both amused and thoughtful.
"Then let me put this question to you," Brynden said. He seemed the most laid back about Lily's hyper intelligence. He didn't question it or wonder about it, he accepted it and that was that. It was why he was so easy to talk to all the time because he didn't judge anyone.
"Suppose you were asked to do something by your entire family that you weren't sure would be to your happiness but you also knew it was the right thing to do because if you didn't do it something terrible might happen. Would you do it?"
Lily paused for a moment and thought briefly about her old life. Sacrifice was something she knew about whole heartedly. She hadn't wanted to die but if giving up her life meant that Harry could live well it wasn't something she had thought twice about.
"It depends," she replied. "If it meant someone was going to get hurt if I refused or if it meant something or someone evil was going to do something that I could stop….well then it would be a sacrifice…but I would do it."
Brynden nodded. "Good. I'd like you to keep that in mind as you get older because as you age more and more choices are going to come at you that might make you uncomfortable, they might put you in tight circumstances with your family or with places around you. Sometimes doing what is right is what will make you happy and sometimes it isn't. And then there are times when doing what is right will make you happy not now….but later."
His voice had taken on an almost nostalgic hue as he spoke and Lily frowned to herself, knowing something was going on that she didn't fully understand. It almost seemed as if Brynden was speaking from experience.
She opened her mouth to ask questions but in second the moment passed and Brynden was back to his jovial self.
Just then Lily became aware of her name being called. She glanced up in time to see Trina one of the maids step through the trees. She bowed when she saw Brynden Tully and then turned to Lily. "Forgive me my lady, but Lady Minisa has been looking for you. She says it's time for your lessons."
Lily groaned and Brynden laughed before thanking the maid and dismissing her.
Her uncle chuckled. "Come on then. We have lingered for too long in these trees. People are beginning to wonder where we are."
Lily rolled her eyes. "And by people other than mother I assume you mean Baelish?"
Her uncle raised an eyebrow. "He's not as bad as all that is he?"
Lily snorted. "He asks far too many questions, he stares at me and Cat all the time and he acts like a know it all. I don't even know why he's here."
"He's here because he and your father became friends during the war of the Targaryen pretenders and he hopes that his son will learn something that he cannot be taught in the Fingers of the Vale."
"Like how to not be creepy?" Lily muttered under her breath.
Brynden coughed but it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "You may just find that you might like Petyr. He's just a little…rough around the edges that's all."
Lily grimaced, suddenly remembering someone else she knew that was rough around the edges who had become a good friend of hers. He was hard to get to know at first but he had proven to be a very loyal friend. Up until the point where he had….well never mind.
There had been a darkness in Severus that her friendship couldn't fix.
But maybe that wasn't true with Petyr. Maybe she did need to make more of an effort. She had been burned by her friendship with Sev….but that didn't have to be the same in this life did it?
"Alright Uncle Brynden," she said with a sigh. "I'll try."
"Good girl," he said getting to his feet. "Now come on. It's time we see what your brother's up to."
Ω
I'm sorry about the shortness of this chapter guys but I'm getting ready for exams and between studying and homework there just hasn't been time to write more. It's my last year of university and top grades are a priority. I promise the next chapter will be more interesting. However in this chapter, Baelish has arrived and he plot will be discussed more fully in the next chapter. In the beginning, Lily and Petyr are going to be friends and then later on when things begin to happen well then they will begin to pull apart from each other. You might be shocked at the mention of Brynden's wife as well. I know that he is portrayed as being quite asexual in the books and the show but I thought it would be interesting for him to have rejected his brother's marriage for him because he was already in love with someone else. That storyline will come into play further on. Also in the next chapter, we will be going to a time jump of about two to three years and that's where the real meat of the story will begin. I hope you liked the chapter, don't forget to review and happy reading everyone!
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein