Simple Servant - Game of Thrones

Chapter One

Highgarden.

Nolan.

"Dawn's always been a little temperamental," Nolan said, pushing the mare's snout away as he helped the girl, maybe a year younger than himself, back to her feet.

"Well," the girl muttered, brushing off the straw that stuck to her green dress, her big brown eyes glaring playfully at the horse who had knocked her into the straw-covered stable, "I've never met a horse that didn't like me before today. I must say, it's quite discouraging."

"Have you met many horses?" Nolan asked; the girl was probably the daughter of one of the maids in service to Lady Alerie, or perhaps she was even the lady-in-waiting to the golden rose of Highgarden.

The girl seemed to pick up on his tone, put her hand on her hip, pointed a finger at him, and gave him a lopsided grin. "You think girls can ride, don't you?"

"Not at all," he defended himself. With all the surety of a ten-year-old stableboy, Nolan thumped his chest and grinned at her. "Just not as good as I can."

"Oh?" She sounded. The girl had thick, curling brown hair that framed her pretty face. "I'll have you know I have been riding horses since I was old enough to walk."

"Liar," Nolan said haughtily. "I've been working in these stables since before I knew what a bridle was, and I've never seen you here, not once."

The girl blushed at being caught in her lie. "Not here, silly," she told him. Her eyes flashed with something Nolan couldn't quite understand. "My mother and I only recently came to the castle. In our hometown, my brother taught me how to care for horses and to ride them."

"Oh." Nolan shrugged, pulling a carrot from his belt. He handed it to her. "Here. You came to see the horses, right? The dun charger? She's nice enough."

As the girl fed the charger the carrot with a beaming smile, Nolan brushed Dawn's mane — how the mare had gotten it so dirty and tangled, he would never know. "What's your name?" The question broke the comfortable silence at this end of the stables. Nolan looked over his shoulder. The girl smiled at him and giggled when the charger nudged her with its snout.

"Nolan," he told her. "That's Prancer you've got there. Out of all the lord's horses, she's the most welcoming to strangers. Carrots are her favourite treat, so I always have a few when I tend to them."

Nolan patted Dawn's neck. The mare was enormous — the biggest in Lord Tyrell's stables, but she would not let anyone other than Nolan touch her. "She's lovely," the girl said.

"She is," Nolan agreed. "What's your name, then?"

"My name?"

Nolan looked at her strangely; he was not the smartest in the stable, but he could see when people were nervous, and the girl before him was more jittery than a maiden on her wedding night. "Yes, your name," he said. "You do have one, don't you?"

"Of course, I have a name!"

"So? What is it?"

"Umm..."

"Alright, 'Umm'," Nolan teased. "Your father's not 'Ugh', is he?"

She glared at him. "Shut up," she said. Nolan laughed. "My name is Elinor. My father is Leo, and my mother is Alys. What about you? What are your mother and father's names? Hm?"

"I don't know," Nolan shrugged, "they're dead."

Elinor gasped. "Oh no!" She said, her brown eyes growing moist with tears. Nolan wondered how someone could be so kind as to weep for a stranger's woes. "That's horrible... I'm sorry for your loss, Nolan. You must be so lonely..."