Fianna Bua, Lady of House Bua, never thought that she'd be riding off to war for the liege lord she hadn't even met.
But oaths are oaths, the Buas have fought alongside the Starks for centuries and she wasn't about to be hailed an oath breaker.
So w...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Tiernan
"We need to increase the food supply to twice the amount it is now, we've been cut off from the imports from the South because of the war, and with winter coming we need to start stocking up," Tiernan Brady commanded, which he received a respectful nod and departure in response.
He would never get used to that, he speculated. It had been months since Fianna's departure, and being the appointed Lord in her absence, Tiernan still wasn't accustomed to the new accommodations he was granted with due to his position.
He wasn't necessarily from a poorer background, rather from a poorer name.
His mother had been a Bua, tall and strong and she bore the name with pride until it came to the day she met Tiernan's father. It had been the truest of loves, she always swore to him before he slept each night.
His father, may the gods rest his soul, died fighting valiantly in Robert's Rebellion. He was from a lowborn family, but a family pledged to serve the Buas none the less. So when the war began, they too were called upon to join it under Cillian Bua's command.
His mother, Bronagh, had fallen in love with the man, although marriage had been offered to her by Robett Glover, a higher ranking and more suitable match.
Robett was old and a widower, and Cillian did not try to force her to marry the lord. There was no persuading Bronagh Bua to do anything, much like Fianna in that respect.
It had been a small insult to Lord Glover when Bronagh married the lowborn Nicholas Brady, despite her insistence that they had married for love, that titles bore no heed to her.
Tiernan had only been a babe at the time, so the wound of losing his father had been no love lost on his behalf. He was often told though, from his uncle Cillian, that Bronagh had never been the same since the loss of Nicholas. That there had been a light in her that died when he did.
Out of familial loyalty and respect for Nicholas who died for the rebellion, Cillian had insisted his sister and nephew stay at Baelfort - so that Fianna and Tiernan could grow together and that they would be safe and well protected. Especially since Bronagh had no intentions of ever marrying again.
Because he wasn't a Bua, he wasn't treated with the respect Fianna had from a young age - and that, for a while anyway, made him resent her deeply.
But that was years ago, and Tiernan had grown to love her again like a sister he was raised with.
Much like Fianna had been desperate to prove herself at war, Tiernan had been desperate to prove himself here at Baelfort - prove that he was a worthy leader and to repay House Bua for the many luxuries they had gifted him with.
