Silver Stag

Walk Of Atonement

[King's Landing - Red Keep, Cersei's Cell]

Cersei was huddled in the corner. She shuddered as the door opened.

"Confess. Confess." The woman repeated, the only words she seemed to speak to Cersei.

Cersei looked up to the Septa.

[King's Landing - Great Sept Of Baelor - High Sparrow's Room]

Cersei knelt before the High Sparrow in the room where she was taken away.

"I have sinned. I see that now. How could I have been so blind for so long. I want to be clean again. I want absolution. The Crone came to me with her lamp raised high, and its holy light-" She began.

"You wish to make a confession?"

"Once I've confessed, will I be free?"

"Your Grace will be dealt with according to her sins."

"The Mother have mercy then. I lay with a man outside the bonds of marriage, I confess."

"Name him."

"Lancel Lannister."

"Your cousin. And the King's squire."

"I was lonely and afraid."

"You had a husband."

"A husband of whoring every chance he got."

"His sins do not pardon your own."

Yes. It truly was a man's world. Men could f*ck they wanted without anyone batting an eye. Yet, when women did the same, they were branded harlots, she devils, seductresses.

"May the gods forgive me." Cersei replied.

"Other men?"

"No."

"No others?"

"No."

"Speaking falsehoods before the Gods is a great crime. You understand this?"

"I do."

"There are those who say your three youngest children were not fathered by King Robert. That they are bastards born of incest and adultery.

"A lie. A lie from the lips of Stannis Baratheon. He wants the Throne, but his brother's children stand in his way, so he claims they are not his brothers'. The filth. There is not one shred of truth to it. I deny it."

"Good. But these are terrible charges. And the realm must know the truth of them. If Your Grace has given honest testimony, your trial will prove your innocence."

"Trial? I have confessed?"

"To a single sin. Others you have denied. Your trial will separate the truths from the falsehoods."

"I bow to the wisdom of your High Holiness. But if I might beg for just one drop of the Mother's mercy. I haven't seen my son or daughters... I don't know how long it's been. I need to see them. Please."

"You have taken the first step on a path back to righteousness. In light of this, I will permit you to return to the Red Keep."

"Thank you. Thank you."

"The Mother is merciful. It is her you should thank."

"I will, I will. I swear it, day and night."

"Good."

"Am I free to go?"

"After your atonement."

"My atonement?"

She was returned to her cell and stripped naked, having the dirt washed off of her by the septas. After they scrub her clean, they sit her down and begin chopping her hair away with a knife. They leave her naked, with short hair and a bloody scalp, and then shut the door on her.

Cersei was then carried to the top of the steps of the Sept, in front of a massive crowd of King's Landing citizens.

"A sinner comes before you. Cersei of House Lannister, mother to his Grace King Tommen, widow to his Grace King Robert. She has committed the acts of falsehood and fornication. She has confessed her sins and begged for forgiveness. To demonstrate her repentance, she will cast aside all pride, all artifice, and present herself as the gods made her, to you. The good people of the city. She comes before you with a solemn heart. Shorn of secrets. Naked before the eyes of gods and men. To make her walk of atonement." The High Sparrow announced.

The septas removed her robe and she stood naked before the citizens of King's Landing, who gasped. They forced her to begin walking down the stairs.

"Shame. Shame. Shame." One of the Septa's said, ringing a bell.

The septa repeated "Shame. Shame. Shame." ringing her bell as Cersei continued her walk.

The sparrows led her through the crowd of people.

It was silent at first, but once one man yells "Cunt!", she began to be heckled.

"Bitch! Whore! All hail her royal tits!" The crowd shouted.

They began pelting her with food and a prostitute ran in front of Cersei with her breasts out.

"I've had half as many cocks as the queen!" She shouted.

The sparrows forced her out of Cersei's way. A man with his penis out ran in front of her later in the walk.

"Suck me off! Suck me off, you bitch!"

As Cersei neared the end of her walk, things grew more violent.

A man spat directly in her face, and a Sparrow beat a woman with a club, as she charged at Cersei.

She was knocked to her knees at the end of her walk, but quickly stood up when she saw the Red Keep in the distance.

Reaching the end of her walk of atonement, she entered the Red Keep, sobbing.

Kevan Lannister, Grand Maestar Pycelle, Qyburn and the Lannister guards stood, waiting for her.

Qyburn rushed to cover her naked body as she continued weeping.

"Your Grace. It's good to have you back. Come. We'll take you inside. I need to have a look at those feet." Qyburn told her.

As was to be expected, her feet were bloody.

She only looked up at the sound of two giant footsteps.

"May I have the honour of presenting the newest member of the Kingsguard... Ser Robert Strong."

A hulking man, with a blue face, as could be seen through the eyes of his helm, walked over to Qyburn and Cersei. He took Cersei into his arms, and readied to return her to her chambers.

"If it please Your Grace, he's taken a holy vow of silence. He has sworn that he will not speak until all his Grace's enemies are dead, and the evil has been driven from the realm."

She had done what she had needed to do. She confessed so she could leave the cells and be near her children. Because they were all that mattered to her, and soon she would have all of them in King's Landing again.