𝑺𝑯𝑨𝑫𝑶𝑾 𝑶𝑭 𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑴𝑬𝑺 -𝒂𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒚𝒆𝒏

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑶𝒏𝒆 ~ 𝑨 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈

The halls of Harrenhal were filled with endless secrets: hidden rooms, back stairwells, and even what seemed to be a long forgotten crypt. In her time spent living at Harrenhal, Ilyna Strong had discovered most of them. Her nights were spent exploring the mostly abandoned castle wondering what new room or passageway she could use to evade the Septa in the events of another embroidery lesson. Ilyna was not one to shy away from her studies, at ten years of age, she knew that in order for her to succeed in life as a woman, a wife, and a mother she must learn these skills to aid her future husband and children. However, she was not sure if she wished for her life to be like her mothers, endlessly waiting for her husband to return. In the years since her mothers passing Ilyna had only seen her father a handful of times. He was too busy within the walls of King's Landing to attend to his only child, unless one listened to rumors. She had first heard it in the hallways towards the kitchens; several of the maids had heard from knights coming from King's Landing that Harwin Strong, her father, indeed had other children, and with Princess Rhaenyra nonetheless. Ilyna had stopped in her tracks when she heard the maids utter those words. She had almost walked up to them to yell at them for saying such lies within the walls of Harrenhal. However, she stayed in place and waited for the maids to leave. How could these women speak these words about their princess or their future lord? While her father was not lord of Harrenhal yet she knew not one person would say such nonsense had he been within the castle.

She tried not to think of such things as she crept through the castle. Exploring at night had always been one of her greatest pleasures and was how she kept her mind of worrisome things. Most people within Westeros knew of the curse that hung over Harrenhal's history. Though as far as Ilyna could tell, the previous Houses that had secured the ruins just seemed to have bad luck. Though this curse was the reason for the small number of people who resided in Harrenhal.

"Ilyna." She jumped as a voice came from the darkness of the stairwell. A figure emerged with a torch in hand, Pyrs.

"Pyrs, how did you get in?" asked a bewildered Ilyna. Prys was the youngest son of Ser Ales Tully, younger brother to Lord Edmond Tully and a close friend of my grandfathers.

"I've been waiting for you to figure out where this passage was. I've been using it to get into and out of the castle for ages. Come on, I want to show you something." Pyrs smiled at her and held his calloused hand towards hers. She grabbed it, the callouses upon her own hands scratching against his. The two normally met outside the castle at night to practice fighting together. Pyrs wanted to become a knight so his father was teaching him how to use a sword. Illyna never understood why no one would teach her how to wield a sword or bow or even a polearm. She knew that women weren't made to be warriors but they should at least learn how to protect themselves. Even though Ilyna was very young she still wished that she could learn the same lessons as the boys her age. Her favorite weapon that Pyrs had been helping her with so far was the bow. She loved the feeling of anticipation right before she loosed an arrow. The feathers that grazed her face, the string her fingers gripped, they excited her.

"I think tonight we will work on the sword, I'm tired of you being better than me at archery." Pyrs was pulling her down the long stairwell. He was right, she was a lot better than him at archery. On nights when Pyrs could not meet she would sneak to the range and practice alone, perfecting her favorite craft. She followed the blonde haired boy with a smile on her face; she was excited. Pyrs was two years older than her but he was her closest friend; Ser Ales had visited Harrenhal for as long as had been alive. Ilyna and Pyrs grew up together and hopefully, if she had any say, she would marry him instead of some stranger. She knew ten was too young of an age to think about things such as marriage however, she knew that talks of it would come soon rather than later. She did not want to be stuck with a man in a political marriage and doomed to live a life of misery and loneliness only to die while giving birth to a child. Ilyna knew that some of her fears of marriage stemmed from her own parents but how could it not. She only had a few examples of married couples in her life and none of them were ideal. She knew that if Pyrs and her were to marry later in life they would be happy and have fun.