Chapter 7 Brianne the Beautiful
Two weeks after the Black Lions came to Tarth
Brienne got to the yard before most of the Lionesses had finished breaking their fast. The dirt was still cool under her boots. She set her sword against the post, rolled her shoulders, and tried not to think about how many times she'd already lost to Diana this week.
Diana was already there, sitting on the low wall with her legs stretched out, eating a strip of dried meat. She didn't look up right away.
"You're early again."
"I don't sleep well if I haven't moved," Brienne said. She started stretching the way Diana had shown her the first morning — slow, deliberate pulls across the shoulders. "Father says the king and his brother will be here soon. Before the month ends."
Diana chewed, swallowed. "Robert and the pretty one?"
Brienne's mouth tightened. "Prince Renly."
"Mm." Diana wiped her fingers on her trousers and stood. She picked up a practice blade and gave it a short, testing swing. "You going to hide in the yard the whole time they're here, or are you going to let them see you?"
Brienne didn't answer right away. She took her own sword and stepped into the ring. "I'm not hiding. I just… don't want them looking at me the way the others do."
Diana circled once, slow. "And how's that?"
"Like I'm a joke that hasn't finished telling itself yet." Brienne raised her guard. "My father stopped bringing marriage offers to me. He still gets the letters. He just doesn't show me most of them anymore."
They moved. Diana came in low and quick, the way she always did when she wanted to test Brienne's feet. Brienne met her, gave a half-step, then planted and pushed back with her shoulder the way she'd been taught. The blades rang. For a little while that was the only sound.
Then Brienne's eyes slid sideways.
Vaelorion stood near the edge of the yard with Khoro, talking while one of the younger boys from the camp showed him a stick he'd been pretending was a sword. Vaelorion crouched so the boy didn't have to crane his neck, said something quiet, and the boy laughed. Araxos lifted his head, huffed, and went back to sleep in the shade.
Diana's blade swept her feet.
Brienne hit the ground hard enough to knock the air out of her. She looked up and found steel at her throat and Diana's face above it, not angry, just steady.
"Again," Diana said. She didn't move the blade yet. "You keep doing that. Eyes on him when they should be on me."
Brienne's face went hot. "I wasn't—"
"You were." Diana stepped back and offered her hand. Brienne took it. Diana pulled her up and didn't let go right away. "It's not the worst thing you could be doing. He's not cruel to the ones who can't fight. Most men who look like that still manage it. He doesn't. I get why you'd look." She let go. "But if you keep looking while I'm swinging at you, I'm going to keep putting you on your back. That's not a threat. That's just what's going to happen."
Brienne brushed dirt off her tunic. Her ears still burned. "He talks to the children like they're people. Not like they're in the way. I… I like that."
"So do I." Diana reset her stance. "That's part of why most of us stayed. Doesn't mean you get to stare at him while we're working." She tilted her head. "You fight like someone who already decided she's not going to lose if she can help it. I like that. Don't waste it."
Brienne lifted her sword again. The heat in her face hadn't gone, but her grip felt better. "My ancestor was Ser Duncan the Tall. People laughed at him too. Until they stopped."
"Then stop giving them reasons." Diana moved first this time. Brienne met her. She didn't look toward the shade. When Diana pressed, Brienne used her reach instead of folding in on herself. The clash of steel was sharper. One of the Lionesses watching from the wall made a quiet sound that might have been approval.
They stopped when both of them were breathing harder. Diana lowered her blade, not sheathed, just resting against her shoulder while she caught her breath.
"Better," she said. "You're not trying to make yourself smaller. Most people never figure that part out."
Brienne wiped her brow with the back of her wrist. Her arms burned in a clean way. "If I win the next one, will you stop knocking me down every time I look at him?"
Diana almost smiled. It was small, but it was there. "No. I'll still knock you down. But I'll be nicer about it." She lifted the blade again. "Come on, knight. Show me you meant that."
Brienne set her feet. She didn't look toward Vaelorion. She watched Diana's shoulders, the way her weight sat, the small shift in her stance before she moved. When Diana came, Brienne was already there.
-- hello people and a big sorry I am finally been able to shit this one out I'm hitting a very big rock right now like I keep constantly bringing something up with the silver and bronze them it gets I keep getting other ideas that just flowing faster than the ones that I'm already working on like the Harry Potter one that one is this all the ideas for that is just coming out so much more smoother and the one for the great bastard that's one is moving out as well so I'm sorry for the people who are expecting to have this the bronze and the silver is going to be a little bit longer I'm not giving up on it but until I get like inspired I'll break this writer's block--