Tywin Lannister || Taken || Game of Thrones

Be Grateful

Alanna was in the mist of combing her hair when Sansa had charged into her room, startling the older woman. She turned and looked to her sister, seeing the the girl had been crying.

"Sansa? Whatever is the matter?"

Alanna questioned watching her sister rush for her and embraced her.

"I-I'm to be -- I'm to be wed to Lord Tyrion!"

The news shocked Alanna greatly. She cradled her sister in her arms while still seated at her small beauty table.

"Why? When did this happen?"

She questioned as she rocked her sister back and forth, holding her so close that her face was buried in Alanna's neck. Sansa pulled away, only crying harder as she sat kneeling before the elder.

"Tyrion informed me today, while I was changing. I was going to come see you, but he caught me before I could leave my room."

She sobbed. Alanna sighed as she held her sister's face in her hands, causing her to look up at her.

"Sansa, I can promise you that Tyrion is not a bad man. Odd, yes, but not bad."

"You -- you're okay with this!"

She sobbed more. Alanna pushed her lips together and sighed deeply.

"Would you rather have your hand be taken by Lord Tywin? The man who is prepared to slaughter every last one or us Stark's? Or maybe still be wed to Joffery, the boy who took our fathers head and had you and Arya watch?"

Sansa didn't say anything for a moment. Her body just quivered and shook as she sat there wiping her eyes clean of the tears. Alanna sighed deeply, her chest rising slow and falling just the same.

"Tyrion isn't bad, Sansa. He's the nicest of his siblings, and he has a... he has a good personality."

"He's a dwarf!"

"Your point? Sansa, look how tall I am, everyone is a dwarf compared to me."

Alanna chuckled, she was extremely tall for a woman. The top of her head came to Tywin's eyes and the man was over six foot.

"What I'm trying to teach you, Sansa, is that you could have it far worse. And besides, Tyrion is heir to Casterly Rock since Jamie is part of the King's Guard. You'll be well taken care of and comfortable."

"But... But I don't want to marry him!"

"Do you think I want to marry Tywin!"

Alanna snapped causing Sansa to gasp and shut her mouth. It wasn't often that her sister was seen angry by her siblings, so the blow back was ten times than it was with anyone else.

"You think I want to marry the man who is trying to kill our brother, mother, who allowed for our father to die? You think I want to marry a man that slaughtered his own family because all they wanted was to be seen as equals -- but he wouldn't allow it? For God's sake Sansa, have you never heard of the song Reins of Castermere!"

Alanna cried out as she stood up from her chair, causing Sansa to quickly climb to her shaken legs as she watched her sister's once pale face turning beat red.

"I remember father coming home after the war and telling me that Tywin Lannister had killed women and children, chopped off their heads, and presented their bodies rolled up in Lannister banners and presented them to King Robert. You know why he used Lannister banners Sansa? It was to hide the blood that was seeping from their dead bodies!"

"Sister -- I -- I'm sorry! I didn't -- I didn't mean to -- "

"Upset me, yes, I know, but the fact of the matter is you did upset me. And the other fact is that you shouldn't complain about Tyrion, because at least he's not power hungry, and thinks that he's the king of Westros."

Alanna's voice quivered toward the last which caused her to clear her throat. Her back was turned to Sansa after the fact that she had been pacing around the room, yelling, now she stood facing toward her window and looking out upon the sea.

"I know that Tyrion is repulsive to you, but be grateful you did not end up with someone worse than he."

Alanna said softly as she heard Sansa's retreating from the room, closing the door behind her.

That's when Alanna's legs gave way to her body and she collapsed to the floor. She slapped a hand over her mouth and lowered her head. Her breathing irratic as she tried to shove aside all the bad things she had just said.

All the truth.

She was marrying Tywin Lannister who was anything but a good man. He was vile and the villain that she would read in her story books as a child. He was the type of man people told their children stories of at night so they'd behave.

And yet here she was, falling for that monster of a man. She was slowly finding herself overlooking the fact of everything he had done from her kidnapping to the knowing that Tywin wouldn't let Robb live after this war.

She was - dare she say - falling in love with a crule and venomous man.

The type of man that hid away the sinister persona behind the fake affections that he presented, the small kind gestures, and his words that were laced with everything but the truth.

This was the man she was falling in love with. This was the man she was going to marry. This was the man that would father her children.

Alanna started crying as she sat there on the floor of her chambers. Lifting her head, her blue-golden gaze set outside the window, seeing the bright blue sky and the birds that flew free.

Free; unlike her.