A Rest of Swords

Part six

Brienne awoke as the first rays of sunlight found their way through the window and on her face. She felt a bit dizzy. The light was warm and blinded her, so she had to squint her eyes together. She remembered that she had dreamed. It had been a wonderful dream. Jaime had returned to her, had told her he loved her and they had danced together...

Something moved at her side and she drove around, finding that it was rather someone than something. Jaime.
It hadn't been a dream. He was here. He was still here. The drowsiness in her head began to disappear at the sight of his sleeping figure and gave way to memories of the day before and Brienne felt a smile appear on her face. He stirred and his eyes opened to find hers.

"Hey", he said, still a bit sleepy.

"Hey", she whispered back.

"Are you alright?", Jaime asked when the unwelcome memory of their last time waking up beside each other found its way in his mind. "Did you sleep well?"

"Never better", Brienne replied truthfully and saw how his expression relaxed.

"But I have to get up now", she told him reluctantly, not very eager to do so, although she knew she had to.
"Lady Sansa", she explained. "She has to know you're here. And what you've done."

"Of course", Jaime agreed. "Cersei's death will have a great influence on the course of the war...", he thought aloud. That hadn't been his main intention, but that made it no less true.

"I think it would be best if you stay here", Brienne told him cautiously. "I'm not sure it's a good idea if anyone sees you before I've spoken to Lady Sansa and told her about your return."
He nodded. That sounded sensible. His leave must have caused great tumult- disapproval in the first place. Most of Winterfell's inhabitants would certainly be on bad terms with him, or even more so than they already had been anyway, including its Lady herself.

"You're right. I'm going to wait here until you're back."

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

So Jaime sat on Brienne's bed and waited. He had no idea how long it would take her to return, he was hungry and hated to sit around feeling useless, but he knew that she had been right when she had advised him to stay in her room until she had informed Lady Sansa. He hoped that the Lady of Winterfell wouldn't see the need to punish him for his leaving, it could be construed as an act of treason after all. If he was to be punished he would accept it without resistance, of course, the only thing he feared was that Sansa could exile him. He knew she had never really trusted him, the room he had been given and the hospitality she had shown him - all of it was solely for Brienne's sake, and now, after he had hurt her like this, he wasn't sure if Sansa wouldn't decide that it was best for Brienne if he was sent away. He couldn't blame her if that was the case. He had had this thought as well, many times, and maybe it was even true that Brienne would do better without him, but the more efforts he made to stay away from her, the more it seemed to draw him towards her, so that he had finally decided to give up his resistance. And now it was too late to draw back. He had made his choice and Brienne had as well, and he feared that if Sansa would send him away, his loyal Brienne would be torn between her oath to protect the Stark girls and her wish to stay with him. And if it would come to that, he wasn't sure what he would do either. Of course, he wanted her by his side, but he couldn't ask her to leave Winterfell, he couldn't ask her to break her oath for him, knowing that there was nothing more sacred to her than keeping the promises she had made.

A knock at the door ripped him from his thoughts.

"Mylady?" It was Podricks voice, Brienne's squire.

"Mylady, it's time for breakfast." And before Jaime had time to do anything, and if it was only to hide, Podrick had opened the door and stared at him, where he was still sitting on Brienne's bed.