Oaths and Vows {Jaime Lannister}

Chapter 9

Megara woke before dawn, her hand firmly clasped around her runes as a nightmare startled her out of bed. She dressed in her blue shirt and black pants once again, it felt good to be in her old training clothes again. She was once more given pause by the bear fur arm guards. However, this time it was not unpleasant, she just felt a surge of sadness due to missing her father. She didn't let herself dwell on it for too long before she braided her hair and laid back down, waiting for Jaime to fetch her for their sparing session.

She wondered just how good he was. Based on his cockiness, the fact that he's a member of the King's Guard and the fact that he was considered to be one of the best fighters in Westeros she could only assume he was fairly good. However, she knew that no matter what, speed would be on her side.

The sun was just barely peeking over the waves when there came a knock on her door. Quickly getting up, she opened the door just as Jaime was about to knock again. "I suppose you are ready, Cersei normally isn't ready until midday." Megara laughed, but wondered why he knew, or cared, about that.

"Do you have blades or -" she nodded, leaving Jaime to stop short. "Very well, let's go then." He led the way as they left the Keep and made their way towards the beachfront. Apparently, she was allowed to leave if her betrothed was with her, just not alone, of course. She was still annoyed about that. Jaime led her away from the main beach where they people fished and got water, to an alcove hidden from sight.

It was a beautiful place, however, she was not thinking about that as she and Jaime were readying to spar. They lined up on opposite sides, he drew his great sword and she drew her daggers. He eyed them for a moment, but it seemed that was a discreet distraction as he attacked first.

The first few times he advanced, she remained on the defensive, simply denying him a hit on her as he tried. She could tell he was holding off, and decided to antagonize him. She dodged his next strike and swiped a kick at his lower legs, knocking him off his feet. She wasn't one to strike while someone was down, but if she wanted him to honestly spar with her, she would need to push him.

As he was trying to get up, she knocked his sword away and held a dagger near his neck. "Well done," he remarked as he got up. 'Round 2' she wrote in the sand. After four rounds of getting his arse handed to him, Jaime finally caught up on the fact that he was not facing some kind of meek little girl, but rather, someone who could fight him as an equal.

She could tell, as during their fifth round of sparing he was not pulling back. There were even one or two swings that almost hit her, but she was fast. She was keeping on the defense for the most part, letting Jaime burn out his energy before making any attacks, but when she attacked it was ferocious and she took Jaime down quickly. By midday, Jaime no longer saw her as anything other than an equal opponent as they spared.

Somehow, Jaime had found a way to land a few hits, but nothing substantial, and when they finally finished fighting in the late afternoon, they were tired, hungry and bruised. Jaime had more bruises, and, as Megara realized she was very hungry as she hadn't eaten since the feast.

'Hungry?' she wrote in the sand as the two worked on catching their breath. Jaime was washing out an open cut on his arm with sea water, which was a questionable decision, as he read it. He nodded. After he had patched himself up, began making their way back in the direction of the Keep.

"I feel I must apologize," Jaime said after a long time of silence (By the time he had spoken, they were already inside the Keep). "I assumed you would be unable to fight because you're a woman. I was wrong."

"There must be a blizzard in Dorne!" Tyrion gasped as he revealed his presence nearby to them. The man had been talking to a servant, but had abandoned the conversation to speak with them instead. Megara sniggered as Jaime gave his brother an icy look. "What possessed you to apologize, brother?"

"Several bruises, and a long morning." Jaime answered. "Come on brother, you know you're supposed to wait until you're married." Megara sniggered as Jaime went red. "Nothing that fun, Tyrion. We spared. And she kicked my ass." Megara nodded in agreement to his statement.

"Well, I'm fairly surprised. I am also fairly hungry, so if you two will excuse me..." Megara nudged Jaime's shoulder, and he seemed to get the message. "We were going to get food as well, brother." He said. "Brilliant," Tyrion grinned.

Tyrion was hilarious and great company, Megara learned that day. She also learned a great deal about young-Jaime. Of course, she had no way of talking to them, but it had led to an agreement between the three of them. Jaime wanted to learn the silent language so there would be no barrier between the communication between himself and his betrothed, while Tyrion wanted to be able to show off to Varys and Petyr that he could speak it as well. So, they agreed that every night, they would work on learning it.

They started that night, in the Garden, and they got through some basic phrases. She didn't tell them, but their hands moved about as well as young children's, but they seemed to get it well enough for a first lesson. They would've learned a lot more, had it not been for the mirth that filled the night, as they had spent more time messing around than they had working on learning the language.

Megara wouldn't be complaining, though. The night she spent with Jaime and Tyrion had been good for her, and she managed to actually sleep. The Dragon Gull had been wiped from her mind as she spent a night with people she'd like to call friends. If this was what her time in King's Landing... her life, in King's Landing, would be, then Megara wasn't complaining.