The Young Lioness

Back on the Road

The following morning, Joanna got up and dressed herself, as always. She was wearing a dark red leather jacket above her crimson silk tunic and chainmail with a black pair of leather pants and black boots. Her hair was combed in a ponytail and she sheathed Sharp Claw at her waist on the right and the dagger on the left. Joanna knew that everything she needed would be on her horse the time they left, therefore she made her way to the White Tower to meet with her eldest brother and Brienne. She knew that Jaime would postpone the meeting as far as he could, just like she would have done it if she ever had to introduce him to Podrick, however that would not be needed by then, thanks to Tyrion. Actually, Joanna really wanted to meet Brienne, because she never had a chance of meeting other ladies that fought with a sword too.
When Joanna got to the White Tower, they were leaving. However, she got to them in time. "Jaime." Joanna called him. Shit, Jaime thought, he should have known that there was no way he could escape it. "Joanna." Jaime said. I know you too well, brother, Joanna thought, walking to them. "Well, Brienne, this is my youngest sister Lady Joanna Lannister. And, Joanna, this is Lady Brienne of Tarth." Jaime said intruducing them. "It's an honor to meet you, my lady." Brienne said. "Likewise, my lady. Thank you for saving my brother and for bringing him safe to KingsLanding. And please, if you don't mind, call me just Joanna." Joanna said. "Actually, Ser Jaime also saved me multiple times. You can call me Brienne, as well." Brienne said. What did I got myself into?, Jaime thought. "I hope my brother hadn't troubled you much. He can be a little anoying sometimes." Joanna said. "Joanna." Jaime warned looking at her with a look that said, 'stop it, right now!'. "Jaime." Joanna said looking at him smilling. "At the beginning, it was a bit dificult, but then we work it out." Brienne said. I have to get out of here soon or I'll be in trouble, Jaime thought and then he had an idea. "Umh, i-if you excuse me. I have to go find Ser Bronn." Jaime said leaving, however Joanna was not letting him get away that easy, so she said, "He is at the Street of Steel, brother." "R-right." Jaime said and left as fast as he could without running and Joanna chuckled. "I like your sword." Brienne said. "Thank you. It's name is Sharp Claw. My brother gave it to me when I was 14. He told me that you also pratice swordfighting." Joanna said. "Good name. I do. My father thaught me when I was little." Brienne said. "I learned with Jaime. It's the freedom, right?" Joanna said. "The sensation that you can be more than just you in that moment." Brienne said. "Yes, the feeling that everything is possible with a single swing of a sword." Joanna said. "Yes." Brienne said. "I'm sure we will have plenty of time to talk during the journey, but right now I still have somethings to prepare before." Joanna said. "Me too, I'll see you in the afternoon." Brienne said. "I'll see you then." Joanna said excusing herself and then left.
Joanna was making her way back to her room, she had forgoten to sharpen the blade of her sword, when she come across Lord Varys. "Lady Joanna, good to see you." Varys said in his normal tone. "Good to see you too, Lord Varys." Joanna said politely. "Rumour has it that you're going to travel." Varys said. "Nothing escapes your little birds, my lord." Joanna said. "I'm afraid not, my lady." Varys said. "My lord, for some reason, you won't happen to know where the Stark girls are?" Joanna asked trying to find information. "Well, my lady, Arya Stark is nowhere to be found, I fear. However, the rumour has it that Littlefinger helped lady Sansa Stark to escape." Varys answered. "Thank you, my lord. I have to go, now, but I hope you stay well." Joanna said. "Be carefull on your journey, Lady Joanna. Westeros will need you very soon." Varys said. Then Joanna excuse herself and left, thinking, The day that Westeros needs me, is the day that the world is ending.
After some time in her room, sharping the blade with whetstone, Joanna sheathed Sharp Claw and left to the meeting place. It begins now, Joanna thought. She had been trying to come to terms that she had to look at Podrick, every single day from then on, since dawn until dusk. After their conversation, she wanted to be as far away from him as possible and although the girl she had been might have ran away, the woman she was by then would never run again, if there was a fight she would face it, no matter if it broke her body or her heart, again. A thing that is already broken, can't be broken again, Joanna thought, when she got the first glimpse of him.
Then Joanna saw her brother talking to Pod and Bronn. She knew that she would recieve her pay back from before, because it had always been that way, one teasing and then when the chance appeared the other paid back. She would never forget the good moments or her childhood, however the fact, that the memories were further away each day, did not disappear. Joanna walked to them like nothing ever happened. "If you wouldn't mind, I have to talk with my brother." Joanna said, there was some coldness in her voice that she did not recognize and for a moment she heard her sister's voice in her head, 'show them what Lannisters are'. Joanna shook the thought away. "You arrrived, great! I was just telling Pod the plans to the journey. I think that he should know what he's getting into." Jaime said smilling. Podrick looked at her and she looked at him, for a moment she thought that she would be running back to the Keep, still she did not, she stayed and glared at him, she knew that probably her eyes were or cold or shining, if not both. "That's great. I think you're right, brother. But, right now, I need to talk to you." Joanna said, however her eyes did not look anywhere else. Jaime saw that she was serious and stopped the teasing. "Well, in that case." Jaime said and then Pod and Bronn went away. "Do you really have to do that teasing?" Joanna said. "Pay back." Jaime said. Joanna managed a small smile. "What happened? You're with the same look, you had back at the Rock, when you gave me that speech about the war. That look that tells me that you have grown up." Jaime asked. "Life happened." Joanna answered. "Don't let this world take the girl you were, like it did to me. If you have to be a different person to make it in this world, so be it. But, never, never forget that girl, Joanna. Or else it will all be for nothing. I know that sometimes, it's easy to pretend you don't care, but that's not true and it will make things even more hard." Jaime said putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll never forget her, but I'm not that girl anymore." Joanna said looking at him. "You were yesterday, in the dungeons with Tyrion and me. You can do it again, in happier times." Jaime said smiling. "We shall see, big brother." Joanna said. "I will miss you, little lioness." Jaime said. "Me too, big brother. Tell Tommen that his aunt wants him to be strong and that she is sorry for not practice with him, allright? And if you can, tell Tyrion that I will miss him and tell father that I will be safe and that I hope he'll keep his word. And, please tell all of them, Cersei included, that I love them and I'll never forget them." Joanna said trying to stop her voice from cracking. "I'll tell them, all of that. Don't worry." Jaime said. "Thank you, for everything. I hope to see you again someday, Jaime." Joanna said and her brother gave her a hug. After separating from the hug, Joanna said, "Now, go present your lady her knew squire. And say goodbye, a good one. Something like, 'I lo-" Joanna was saying with a devilish smile. "Don't you dare say it." Jaime warned. " 'Ve you." Joanna said smiling. "I'm glad you're back." Jaime said. "I never left, just grown up a bit. But really you have to say it." Joanna said. "You know the debt will be paid, right?" Jaime said with a giggle. "I look foward for it. Now go." Joanna said smilling.
After sometime, they were leaving the city behind them, Joanna did not look back, however she saw that Jaime and Brienne exchanged a look and Joanna was absutely sure they loved each other, then she glanced at Podrick, the poor lad did not know how to ride properly nor the horse was willing to help, and Joanna could not help but chuckle.
After some time riding, Joanna almost felt sorry for Podrick, because while she and Brienne could ride as if they had been doing that for their entire lifes, what was likely true, Pod could barely ride two steps without the horse begining to stop. Joanna knew that, eventhough he was taught how to ride a horse when he was younger, he had not needed much of that while squiring for Tyrion and that led to the lack of practice, that was by then showing. However, Joanna was upset with Pod, for their last conversation, therefore she decided to let him embarass himself, also she had hope that he would learn, eventually. The time until then, had been spent in silent. Joanna and Brienne were in their thoughts and were trying to ignore the failed atempts of riding that Pod was making. And Podrick was too focused on not falling from the horse to talk. After some time the silence became ridiculous with the sound of the horse complaining and Brienne finally asked, "Didn't they teach you how to ride a horse?" "Yes, my lady. When I was young. Wasn't much call for that at Lord Tyrion's service though, he preferred litters." Podrick answered. "My brother never did well while riding." Joanna explained. "Perhaps you should have stayed with him." Brienne said to Pod, and Joanna knew that it was what she had been thinking all the journey. She knew that he was not safe in the capital, however this was not much better either. "It's not going to be a pleasent journey for you. It could take weeks to get to the Wall, depending on the weather." Brienne said. "She's right." Joanna said. They both knew that they would moove faster without him and that they were far away from the capital, therefore he was safe. If he does not get better at riding, it will take more than weeks to get to the Wall, Joanna thought. "It's a long way off." Pod said and Joanna remembered the night they met, she did not say a word though. "Lady Sansa's brother is at Castle Black, if I were her that's where I'd go." Brienne explained. "I hope that Littlefinger had the sense to send her to the Wall, at least." Joanna said. "Me too. If not the man is a fool." Brienne said. "The man is a viper, but he loved her mother, so..." Joanna comented. Then Podrick almost fell from the horse again, Joanna rolled her eyes and Brienne said, "You're free to stop anytime." Joanna had to stop herself from chuckle. "Never, my lady, I'm your squire." Podrick said determined. Joanna knew that the honor with which most knights held their names was the same with which Pod would held his position as a squire, she admired that. "I've made it this far in the world without a squire, I don't see why I need one now." Brienne said. Joanna knew that she was right, however she felt that it was better not say anything. "All knights have squires, my lady." Pod said. "I'm not a knight." Brienne rebutted. "Neither am I, but we are better than most of them." Joanna said smiling and she saw that both of them also smiled. "And I'm not a slaver either, I don't own you." Brienne continued. You can keep trying, but I don't think he will go away, Joanna thought to herself. "I swore an oath, my lady." Podrick said. Is that your excuse, really?, Joanna thought. "I am releasing you from that oath." Brienne said. However, Pod was still there trying to ride. "That means you could leave." Brienne explained, hoping that he would. "I know." Pod said. "I mean you really could." Joanna tried. "I know." Pod said again, for her suprise, not angry. "What do you think will happen if you leave?" Brienne asked. "They'll say I wasn't a very good squire." Pod said with that honesty he had. "Of course." Joanna muttered. Then she looked at Brienne with a look that said, 'we will never be rid of him', the nod that Brienne gave her, told Joanna that it was more true than she had even thought.
"When did you learn how to ride?" Joanna asked Brienne, she was tired of the silence. "I think I was four." she answered. "I was five. My father did not want for me to start until I was ten, but I could convince Tyrion and Tyrion convinced Jaime and then he convinced my father." Joanna said with a giggle. "I didn't give my father much choice, because I learned for myself before he could think about it." Brienne said. "Luck you, I had to praticaly begg Tyrion, because I was already tired of sweeing and learning fancy words." Joanna confessed. "I know the feeling. Eventhough, I could never do it right." Brienne said. "Me neither, I preferred drawing and everything that related to swords." Joanna said. "I never learnt how to draw." Brienne said. "I didn't learn, though. I just started." Joanna said. "I did that with sword fighting, until my father agree to teach me." Brienne said. "It worked, for both of us." Joanna said with a giggle and Brienne smiled. Then Podrick almost fell from the horse again, and Joanna could not stand it any longer, "For Gods' sake. We better stop before he breaks a leg.". "I think you're right, we can made camp here." Brienne said.
They dismounted the horses and Joanna tied them to a tree, before Podrick could. She would never again be without a horse out there, not after last time. Podrick was able to make a fire, however there was not much logs around, therefore Joanna and Brienne went to find more wood to keep the fire, while Pod stayed in camp.
While collecting wood, Brienne said, "You know, you didn't have to help with the wood. You could have stayed with him. I apreciate it, though." "I don't mind it, besides I'm glad to not be alone with him in that stupid awkward silence." Joanna said. "Something happened between you two?" Brienne asked. "Short version of the story, we became friends, I fell for him, Tyrion sent him to the brothel, I got mad and left, but before that we kissed, then he told me we should remain friends, like before." Joanna explained. "Allright...now it's awkward and you're upset with him?" Brienne asked. "Pretty much that, yes." Joanna said. "I'll let you two solve things between you. As long as, it won't disturb the journey." Brienne said. "In what concerns to me, it won't. What did you tell him to do, anyway?" Joanna asked. "Cooking dinner." Brienne answered. "Dinner? What kind of dinner?" Joanna asked. We won't eat tonight, Joanna thought. "I asked him to cook rabbit." Brienne answered. "I'm going to try to find something else to eat. I'll meet you in the camp." Joanna said. "Why?" Brienne asked confused. "I don't have much faith in the cook and I'd like to eat tonight." Joanna answered. "Don't go too far, we still have suplies so if you don't find anything, come back to camp. It's getting dark." Brienne said. "Allright. Don't worry, I'll be right back." Joanna said and then she went to find dinner.
After sime time searching, Joanna finally managed to catch another rabbit. It was night already, therefore she went as fast as she could to camp. When Joanna got there, she comfirmed her expections, Pod did not know how to cook rabbit.
"You didn't remove the skin?" Joanna asked. "I didn't know I had to...my lady." Podrick said. "Well, now you know." Joanna said trying not to sound angry, she knew that Podrick had to call her 'my lady' from time to time, but the words were like a knife in her heart, they had spent so much time toghether and they knew each other, however, by then, they seemed to be strangers. "Yes." Pod said. Joanna gave him the rabbit and said, "Try not to burn this one, allright?" "What if I burn it again?" Pod said worried. "Do you perfer to be at guard?" Joanna said. "No." Pod said. "Then don't burn the rabbit." Joanna said and then, carefully, Podrick managed to remove the skin and cooked the rabbit and they finally ate.
After sometime, the boy was already asleep, however neither Joanna or Brienne were. "Why did you tell him to cook the other rabbit?" Brienne asked. "He would not learn, if he didn't. Besides he would not make the same mistake twice and he is hopeless at fighting, so he could not stay at guard either, or he would end up hurt or getting us caught." Joanna explained. "So that had nothing to do with what happened between you two?" Brienne asked. "I know I was a bit mean to him, but no. It didn't have anything to do with that." Joanna answered. "Good. I think he is a good lad, despite all." Brienne said. "He is. He might be the nicest boy I've ever met. And I know you probably think that I did that out of anger and I won't blame you, I'm a Lannister after all. We have bad reputation." Joanna said. She knew that most people compared herself with Cersei, however they could not be more different. "I thought that, but if you say you didn't, I believe you. And after the time I spent with your brother, I realized that his father legacy did not define him. I imagine it does the same to you." Brienne said. "Thank you and you're right. I just want to say that, I don't know if you ever talked to my sister, but I'm not Cersei, just like Jaime is not my father, actually I always thought that Tyrion was more like my father than him. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that me and Cersei can be sisters, but we are as different as the sun and the moon. I know that there will be times that I will sound mean, but that's because I can't hide my emotions too well or at all sometimes, so I kinda sound a bit cold if I have to hide them. I'm upset with Pod, and what happened with the rabbit, it was because we knew each other so well and I told him to not call me lady a thousand times, so he used to call me Joanna. And then when I heard him calling me 'my lady' earlier, it was like it all fell apart again. I know that he has to call me that from time to time, but...Besides that, I can be a little hot headed sometimes." Joanna said. "That explains things. Thank you putting it into prespective, but why are you telling me this? It's not like you have to." Brienne said suprised. "Because, I know many things were done wrong in my house's name and at my father's and sister's orders and I just want you to know that I'm not like them. If it were up to me, none of that would have happened. I'm not ashamed of being a Lannister, quite the contrary, I'm proud of it. However, when I was younger, I made a choice, I decided that all the horrible things that happened in the Lannister name would not define me or what my house meant to me. And that it were the past, so I would decide how my house would be remember by, in my mind and in the minds of the people I cared about. I'd do that myself. I said that I would bring honor again to my house and that I would stop the talk about wit and lies and I'd do it all to honor my mother." Joanna explained. "That's very hounorable. Also, I understand how you feel, not the part of the past, but the hounor part. I am the heir to my house and I always felt the duty to bring hounor to it. Gladly, my father is still alive, because if he was not, I wouldn't know how I would manage." Brienne said. "You would manage it great. I mean, you could see Jaime past the word of Kingslayer and there's few to none people who can do that. You have a good heart, besides he told me that you could beat him in sword fighting. Which is awsome, because I never could." Joanna said. "I only did that when he told me the story and when we fight he had been in chains and in captivity for almost a year, so it wasn't exactly a fair fight." Brienne explained. "Even with the story nobody would believe him, you did. Also, there are just two more people who know that story, which are me and Tyrion. As of the fight, he knows what he is saying and, with full strenght or not, you would beat him." Joanna said. "If you say so. He told me, you could be better than him now, because he hasn't see you fight for some time now." Brienne said. "That I don't know, because I haven't fought him in 4 years. Can you not tell him I told you what he said about the fight, please?" Joanna asked. "Sure, why?" Brienne said. "Because I already have to recieve a pay back from him and I don't need another." Joanna said with giggle. "Pay back?" Brienne asked. "Well, me and Tyrion and Jaime, we have this game or dynamic, like we tease each other and then the other given the chance, pays back with another tease. It's kind of fun, because we always end up laughing." Joanna explained. "That sounds fun, well, between brothers and sister." Brienne said smiling. "Yes, we only do that between us, because we know each other and we know about what we can tease and what we cannot. The last round was a lot of fun, but I got the pay back this turn, so they better watch it." Joanna explained. "What did you tease about? If you don't mind me asking." Brienne said. "Well, I found that Tyrion is in love, so I worked with that, but I forgot that he knew about Pod and I didn't know he knew about the kiss. I didn't want to tell Jaime about Pod, because I didn't knew how he would react and because I wanted to use it as a trade coin. So, after Tyrion meantioned Pod, it was two against one and I lost. What is so annoying is that Tyrion can make Jaime go along with him even when he doesn't have any idea what Tyrion's teasing about. Like Pod has this...skill...in the bed...it was a rumour, because Tyrion sent him to the brothel and my brothers knew that I was never with him or anyone, so Tyrion kinda teased about it and Jaime just went along, even not knowing what he was talking about. I tried but I couldn't do anything against that." Joanna said with a giggle. "You have to give them the pay back for that. That was hard from them. Wait, are we talking about that lad?" Brienne said. "Yes, we are, I don't know how. And yes, it was hard from them, so I will delivered an hell of a pay back. I mean to Tyrion, because I already paid back to Jaime." Joanna explained. "How's that went?" Brienne asked. "It went really well, because after the first tease he was already telling me to stop it." Joanna said with a giggle. "That sounds fast. What did you tease him about, for it to go that fast?" Brienne said. I can't tell her, it has to be him, Joanna thought and then she had an idea. "I- uh. Did you hear that?" Joanna asked changing the subject. She could not tell what she teased Jaime about, because it had to be him to tell Brienne that he loved her. "No. What did you hear?" Brienne asked. "I don't know, it may just be a rabbit, but I heard something. I can take the watch, you can go sleep, if you want to." Joanna said. "You can go to sleep too, if there was anything it would have stroken by now." Brienne said.
With that they went to sleep. The night passed without trouble and at the break of dawn they resumed their journey to the Wall.