[Musebox] - Honor Before Honors

[widow_of_the_crag]

"This is the price that traitors pay," Jeyne's mother had told her shortly after the raven from the Twins arrived. It had been too horrific to contemplate, the news seeming like a nightmare, rather than reality. Yet her mother had found the means to drive the point home, to make it clear that Jeyne had not misheard and that Walder Frey had not lied.

Robb was dead, butchered at his uncle's wedding and savagely maimed. So the reports went, that is. Her mother had spared her the details, one of the few mercies she offered, as she would not cease her callous comments about the man that had been her good-soon. In her eyes, it was a means to an end and now she could have the marriage she always wanted for her daughter, but had been denied because of birth.

It had been arranged so quickly, Jeyne had little time to think beyond her grief. Around her the world moved, but in her heart there was nothing but the emptiness that Robb's death had left her. She was a specter, roaming the halls and waiting for her own demise. Her mother tried to cheer her, attempting to talk of weddings, but after being met with stony silence one too many times, she simply gave up.

Jeyne fought what little she could, no matter the passage of time or the years she suffered. She tore her gowns and struggled to keep her crown, the one Robb had made for her (yet failed to keep). Even on the day of her wedding (two years after Robb's death), she contemplated throwing herself from the cliffs of Casterly Rock. As though knowing this, her mother kept a sharp eye on her and practically dragged her to the sept.

Once it was all said and done (the bedding ceremony being the worst of all), she was settled in her new home and wed to some man that she didn't know or cared for. Martyn Lannister, a high marriage and one her mother had coveted for her. Yet it was nothing in Jeyne's eyes. She wasn't his wife, no matter how much he attempted to please her. She was Robb's and always would be.

Death changed nothing and did not free her from her vows.

It was only when Martyn received word to travel to King's Landing that Jeyne felt she could breathe again. Alone in her home, she could give way to her sorrow and sit by the sea, as she often did. Sometimes, she believed she could hear Robb or thought she saw him in the distance.

It was an illusion. Robb was dead and the gods were not kind enough to bring him back.

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[widow_of_the_crag]

She expected another protest or an outright refusal of what she offered him. She had grown used to disappointment, having suffered enough heartache after her second marriage and the rude awakening that was her mother. But, as she should have done in the beginning, trusting Robb was not a foolish thing. In the end, his affection for her won out.

"We will then. I have some jewelry as well. It should fetch us a fair price." She had no desire to keep it. They had been given to her at her wedding and as gifts from Martyn, trying to win her affection and thaw her heart. At least now, it could serve a better purpose. "Keep your hood up and allow me to see to selling them."

She would take charge in this, sparing Robb from facing others until he was ready. She knew he was afraid of being recognized. None would know her, a noble girl from a minor house. She was nothing. As it was, she couldn't hide behind someone else anymore, she had to take charge of her life.

"I saw a stables close by. They might be willing to purchase the horses."

[kingofbadlifechoices]

"It is not wise to sell your jewelry here... Keep them on you." Robb shakes his head underneath his cloak. "I fear it will not take long before they manage to track us."

Selling the horses to a trader might be quite a risk and he slowly moves to reach out for her, fingers brushing her shoulder lightly.

"Sell them to a butcher. The price might be lower but it will erase our tracks...buy us some time. Your lord husband...or his men might recognize them." He is not even realizing that the way he speaks has become a little less soft and somewhere in his voice there is a hint of the king he once was.

[widow_of_the_crag]

"Martyn is rather ineffectual as a hunter. He will first try to find me on his own, rather than risk embarrassment. We have at least come to the Reach for a ship. That buys us enough time." But he was right. It wouldn't be long before the Lannisters were involved as well as her mother. Across the sea, she would be safe, but it was a matter of getting there first.

She smiled sadly, letting her hand brush against her horse's neck. It was heartbreaking to consider giving her to a butcher, knowing what might come of her, but it would be safer. Steeling and shutting away her heart had become easier since the Red Wedding. Swallowing her emotions, she lead the horses to a nearby butcher and sold them for a tidy sum. It would be enough for passage.

"We will save my jewels until we reach Essos. It should be enough to help us survive the first year there, so long as we are careful." Neither of them would be able to live the life of lords, but she wasn't afraid of the hardship.

"Did you find a proper ship?"

[kingofbadlifechoices]

There was something sad about selling good horses to a butcher and he watches silently when she takes them away. And finding a ship isn't difficult in a harbor full of them, it is about finding the right one. One that does not sail under the flag of one of the Great Houses, or one that is not a war galley on its way to King's Landing. Eventually he speaks to an older captain whose accent obviously does not belong to someone who is from Westeros who allows them on his ship.

"Well, it is not a proper ship. But it will take us to Essos."

Robb is quite sure that he does not need the luxury anymore. He had never really cared for silks, cushions and over-the-top dinners. Still, his family was an entire different thing. He had tried to ban them from his mind and hope that the guilt would stop.

"We will not have separate rooms... But I will keep my eyes on you."

[widow_of_the_crag]

He was more discerning than she was when it came to these details. She was far more thrilled to be free of Lannister control and reunited with Robb to think about being wary. He would keep her grounded during this journey and remind her to consider everything. Her naivety had cost them before and she had little intention of letting it harm them again.

"It doesn't need to be lavish. So long as it will survive the journey." The time for thinking about finery or anything else was done. She simply wanted to be on their way. She carefully concealed her small bag of jewels in a hidden pocket. So long as no one accosted her, they would not find their last resources.

"Do we need separate rooms?" She hadn't even considered that. She had simply assumed that they would be together. "Do they believe we are husband and wife?"