Arianne of Tarth
Alysanne took a while coming back from her outing with the other girls, and she was sure her minder would get a stern talking to given the state Lord Selwyn found himself thinking they'd be late for the tourney.
Considering the finals were a few hours away and they still had plenty of time to get to the grounds, it told her clearly enough that her parents were in on it with Galladon.
The official excuse Galladon used to the rest of the household and anyone who asked had been that he'd gone ahead to watch the tourney with some of his friends, which almost made Arianne laugh.
She was pretty sure she was his only friend, which was pretty sad considering she was two-and-ten and a girl besides.
True, there were those boys back in Tarth, but considering they were lowborn they hardly counted as appropriate friends.
Their bannermen had sent some of their children to squire to Lord Selwyn or simply serve as companions to Galladon when he was younger, and while they all left completely charmed by her brother, she knew he never considered them real friends.
He would always nod and ruffle her hair when she complained about them, so she knew he agreed with her low opinion of them.
Her lord father paced around their sitting room, openly chewing on his nails, sometimes pulling her mother up to whisper fiercely at her ear. Somehow, he was more frazzled than his lady wife, who seemed more excited than afraid for the coming joust.
Arianne even asked what was going on, acting as innocent as a dove, but her father expertly wove around the topic with talks of trade and other lordly matters.
She rolled her eyes. Could they be any more obvious?
She was probably sick in the head and had seizures sometimes, sure, but she wasn't blind. She was pretty sure she could see things that no one else could, actually. Which should count for something.
When Alysanne finally arrived, they all quickly swept out of the room, moving as a group toward the entrance with a few guards serving as an escort.
At the Lion's Mouth, a tall cavern accessible via a great set of stone stairs, other nobles had already gathered below waiting for a coach. She was no great student of all the realm's standards—their maester could attest to that—but she swore she saw the colors of houses from all of the seven kingdoms, even the black sickle of House Harlaw of the ironborn.
From their position at the top of the stairs, Arianne thought the line of horses, wagons, and carriages seemed endless, stretching from the bottom of the stairs where a small party of ladies was boarding an ornate coach, to the furthest stretch of road she could see heading south toward Laninsport.
Soon enough, her mother, sister, and she were all bundled into a modest carriage, while her father rode at their head on his trusted stallion.
The road out from Casterly Rock was cobbled and well-maintained, and the cushioned seats combined with the beautiful forested hills visible through the open shutters made for a comfortable time.
A few minutes into the ride, she noticed her sister whispering on the other side of the carriage, her hands clasped on her lap.
Arianne was not overly fond of septs and praying herself, especially now that she imagined her special vision would not be well seen by the Faith. There were too many mentions of witches and sorcery in The Seven-Pointed Star for her to think otherwise.
And considering how different they were, she could say much about her younger sister that she didn't quite like, but not that Alysanne was a devout believer in the Seven. The little hellion had the focus of a clown fish and could not sit still in the Sept despite their septa's best attempts.
Arianne's eyes narrowed. With a sideways glance, she confirmed her mother had taken one of the windows for herself, engrossed in watching the terrain go past with a soft smile, so she slid closer to Alysanne.
"Are you praying?" she hissed.
Opening her ocean blue eyes, the same as Galladon's, the girl looked at her and huffed. She kept her voice as quiet as Arianne's own. "I was, yes."
"Why?"
"Galladon's victory, obviously."
She gaped. "You know?"
Giving her an impish smile, Alysanne shot her a wink before she went back to her praying, and Arianne spent the rest of the hour-long carriage ride reevaluating everything she thought she knew of her sister.
xxx
It was more than an hour after they arrived at their stand overlooking the tiltlanes that the event truly began.
That is to say, King Aerys Targaryen finally made his appearance, said some words Arianne couldn't hear considering how far away their family's seating box was to the royal stand, and the lots were drawn and announced by the tourney crier.
Ser Arthur Dayne would ride against the mystery knight first, with Prince Rhaegar Targaryen facing Ser Barristan Selmy soon after to decide the two men that would go to the finals.
Cheers burst out all around them, but a nervous hush settled over their box. Lord Selwyn Tarth, usually a composed and stern man, became even more anxious than he'd been earlier. If he was trying not to show a connection to the Sapphire Knight, then he was failing terribly at it.
Arianne couldn't quite understand why her father seemed so reluctant to see Gal ride against Ser Arthur. It wasn't as if the other options in the draw would be any easier for him. Even she had heard of the Prince's prowess with a lance, and there wasn't much that need be said about Ser Barristan Selmy.
But she shouldn't have worried about Lord Selwyn's disquiet attracting attention. The crowd's eyes were not on her father. When Ser Arthur Dayne rode out on the other side of the lane, white cloak flowing behind him like a banner, huge roars rose up from the commons. Their own stand seemed to shake with the noise.
Beside her, Alysanne gripped the sleeve of her dress, and for once Arianne didn't have it in her to scold her sister.
xxx
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