The Grand Melee Of Harrenhall

Rhaegar

Another day, another evening feast. This one in his mind had been earnt after the day he'd had to endure. If it wasn't dealing with Lord Stannis' assault claims on one of his team members for the grand melee tomorrow, it was having to deal with the boisterous entrance the men of the Iron Islands had decided to make early this afternoon.

Their arrival was a shock to everybody, nobody including himself didn't think they would turn up. Lord Balon didn't make the journey to Harrenhal but he had sent his brother and daughter in his stead along with a number of colourful characters with them. When they were presented in front of the King, they were all very stiff and slow when kneeling, but they kneeled and that was what mattered.

He'd asked for some advice from his mother afterwards on whether he'd done the right thing allowing them to roam free with the rest of the lords and ladies and not keep them separated but when he did seek her advice, he was met with a very distracted dowager Queen. And when his mother was distracted, she was more than likely planning something.

He received no clues as to what that was when he enquired.

Right now, in the great hall of the castle, him, along with his family and the rest of the lords and ladies of the seven kingdoms were currently enjoying their evening meal. An assortment of everything really, no expense seemed to have been spared. Personally, he was enjoying the boar, his wife sat next to him was currently tucking in to her fish, what that fish was he hadn't asked. He was too distracted by his mother's attitude at the moment.

He lent across and whispered into Elia's ear as she grabbed her goblet of wine "Have you talked with my mother today?" He asked as he kept an eye on the crowd.

She swallowed the wine she had in her mouth before replying "I've not actually seen much of her today. She seemed rather busy when I saw her after lunch and I didn't want to disturb her when she's in one of those moods, you know what she's like." She explained.

He hummed, he knew exactly the mood his wife was talking about, the "I won't be held accountable for my actions if you distract me from my task" kind of mood. He'd learnt the hard way how wise it was to avoid her in one of those moods, but what he wanted to know is why she was in one of those moods. As far as he was aware, apart from Lord Stannis moaning and the Ironborn turning up unexpectedly, there wasn't any issues of note.

Out the corner of his eye, he caught Rhaenys and Daenerys, who were sat next to Elia, having a pretty intense conversation about something. He leant in and whispered to his Queen again "What is that about?" He asked as he subtly nodded towards the two princesses.

Elia chuckled "Don't even get me started with that, something to do with some boy and your mother." She said before tucking back into her meal.

A boy and his mother?

Maybe he was starting to get somewhere with his mother's odd mood.

"And what is this about a boy and my mother?" He asked with a raised eyebrow to his wife. Elia shook her head with a mouthful of fish before swallowing "Apparently your mother has been having tea with a strapping young man. The two girls seem obsessed with the idea of it, I for one, hope your mother has found herself a budding relationship with somebody, she deserves it after what she's had to put up with." She explained with a small grin.

"What!?" He replied almost instantaneously. What Elia was suggesting was beyond his comprehension. A few people looked in their direction at his outburst. He kept his voice down as he carried on "You can't honestly be suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" He asked in disbelief.

Elia quirked an eyebrow at him "And what's that? Your mother moving on and seeking out happiness for herself in the arms of a new man?" She asked "Good on her is what I say." She finished with a sip from her goblet.

He looked away from her in a daze before slowly looking in his mother's direction. She looked in a world of her own sat in between Aegon and Viserys, a look of indifference on her face as she looked into the crowd.

Was he in here? The man who had the gall to court his mother?

He followed her eyeline into the crowd to see if she was making eyes with this new man of hers but the only thing he could see was Lord Stark talking with his wife and the younger of the Stark daughters stabbing her dinner with a fork.

Surely not. Lord Stark is a married man, and he 's far from the strapping young man his wife had made apparent was the recipient of his mother's affection.

Then who was it?

He huffed and shook his head as he brought his goblet to his mouth and took a generous gulp.

There goes my restful night's sleep.

Jon

He moaned as he sat up from his cot, he felt like a groggy mess after that shit excuse of a night's sleep. The culprit of his early morning awakening pawing at his leg.

"What?" He said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The little sod of a wolf padding over to the sealed entrance of his tent and pawing at it before looking at him.

He rose from his pit and walked over to the tent entrance in an almost comatose state before unpinning the flaps and letting the wolf out to go piss or whatever. He didn't really care as he made his way back to his cot and collapsed back onto it with a huff. He closed his eyes in the hopes of getting maybe an extra half hour of kip but it was no use, he was up now.

Back into the real world Jon, your wacky dreams can ' t distract you now.

"Fuckin' mornings." He muttered to himself as he got up and ready for the day. The big day as some people would describe it, the day of the grand melee where many men and possibly women would battle it out for fame, glory and riches.

Jon had tarnished all that for himself, the talk and revelation with his grandmother taking front and centre of his mind ever since it happened yesterday morning.

The rest of his day after it'd happened had gone by like a blur, he spent most of the afternoon wandering through the market before remembering that he'd promised Arya a sparring session. It was probably one of the quietest spars he's ever had with her, something she was bored of after an hour before she went off with Bran, Rickon and Ghost to no doubt cause mischief to Jory's annoyance.

The rest of the evening was spent sat high up in a large oak tree he'd found on the outskirts of the God's Eye, he wanted to get on the back of Kireina and just leave but instead he just gorged on beef jerky, a treat he'd bought himself at the markets earlier in the day.

Gorging o n dry meat and feeling sorry for himself, what a way to spend a night.

He'd returned to camp late at night, well after the evening feast had ended and practically crawled into his bed. Ghost was already there laid in his makeshift bed when he arrived. He received a relentless licking from the wolf when he laid down but he had a feeling it wasn't out of affection and more to do with the taste of beef on his hands.

That all led him to now, pulling his thin, dark grey cloak over his shoulders. The weather outside felt a bit too warm for his fur cloak so he'd resorted to his thin one instead, or that's the excuse he was using for wearing a different cloak. It had nothing to do with the hood it had that he could use to hide himself away from the world.

He couldn't hide all day though, he had this bloody melee to compete in this afternoon, something he really wished he could get out of.

He huffed as he pulled the hood over his head and left the tent, Lord Umber would drag me into that yard by my ear if I told him I didn't want to compete anymore.

As if summoned by the old gods themselves, the Greatjon was already approaching him with a weird smile on his face. It was almost like the man was waiting for him to wake up or something.

He tried to pretend like he'd not seen him by walking away in the opposite direction but his efforts were in vain as the lord of Last Hearth bellowed out at him.

"Jonny boy!" He heard the man yell, a volume way too high for how early it was. He sighed heavily when he realised he would have to converse with the man regardless of the black mood he was in.

He turned around and looked at the man with a quirked eyebrow.

Lord Umber caught up with him and palmed him on the shoulder as he seemed to assess his choice of clothing "What's with the get up lad? Planning on a little sleuthing? Seeing if you can sneak into some of the sparring sessions to check out the opposition?" He asked as they both walked towards the smell of breakfast.

Greatjon had already given him an excuse as to why he was dressed like he was and who was he to deny the man's assessment, even if he couldn't be more wrong.

"Yeah, something like that." He replied without looking at the man.

Lord Umber slung his arm around his shoulders as they neared the chatter of the camp "Well don't spend too long sneaking about, we need to sneak in one more session before the big event later this afternoon." He explained.

Brilliant.

The man carried on talking without giving Jon a chance to even reply "Have you heard the teams that are gonna be fielded? They announced them all at the feast last night and I know you weren't there, something to do with feeling a bit under the weather your father said." Lord Umber said as he looked at him in concern "Really can't be doing with you not being one hundred percent, I have a feeling you might be our win condition today." He finished.

"No pressure." He replied sarcastically, more annoyed with Lord Stark's fabricated reasoning for his absence from the feast than the pressure the Greatjon had just dropped on his reluctant shoulders.

Lord Umber clapped him on the shoulder again as they entered the camp, people greeting them good morning "Ah you'll be fine lad, you'll wipe the floor with those southern nancies, I can feel it in my bones. Something special about ya." He tried to reassure.

If only he knew the first of it.

He sat down at the table and grabbed hold of the jug of ale, he poured himself a generous helping into a mug and gulped half of it in no time.

Today was gonna be a long and eventful day.

Rhaenys

The walk down to the practice yards was pretty uneventful, a few polite nods of acknowledgement aimed at the couple of people who had bowed at the King's daughter. All in the presence of her assigned shadow for the day, Ser Barristan.

And when she says assigned she means requested by her personally, all in the hopes of extracting valuable information about the liaison between her grandmother and the man who had haunted her thoughts for the past few days.

She'd already tried to extract it from the source itself in the form of her grandmother but she'd failed miserably in that conquest. The only thing she did get out of that conversation was the very ominous warning from the dowager Queen, "Something will be happening in the near future and as a princess of the realm, I expect you to act appropriately when that time comes." Was all she was told. When asking more questions about what that even meant, she was met yet again with that unbreakable royal mask.

It was safe to say that that warning had really put her on edge ever since the moment she heard it. Her grandmother didn't make serious warnings like that unless something big was going to happen, the last time was when the unexpected announcement was made about her cousin Arianne marrying Viserys. It did make her wonder though.

Is there to be a betrothal announcement? Is that what her grandmother was warning her about? Am I to be betrothed?

Fuck.

She'd spoke to a few unmarried suitors at this tourney up to now, all but the one she actually wanted to speak to that is.

One of those lords stuck out last night at the feast, Lord Edmure had conversed and danced with her with the confidence of a man who'd just single handily ended a war. The smug speech, the way he danced with her, the cocky smirk she caught when he didn't think she was looking.

Have I been betrothed?

The rest of the journey to the yard was quiet as she went over that possibility in her head. Over the genuine possibility of her father announcing it to the masses making it nigh impossible to get out of without causing a massive slight to one of the great houses of the seven kingdoms.

She huffed to herself as she lifted her skirts and walked along the stands and towards where her mother's side of the family were sat. She needed a distraction and Arianne's invitation to join her and the rest of the girls in watching the dornish contingent practice in the yard was the perfect thing to help with that.

It was either this or joining Dany and Marge on yet another picnic. She liked picnics but she could put up with Marge's dull cousins only so much.

She might get to see a certain someone in the practice yard as well, that bonus was too hard to pass up on.

"Rhae!" She heard Ari almost shout as she approached the group. Ari, along with Ellaria, Nym, Tyene, Sarella and the four youngest of the "Sand Snakes" , Elia, Obella, Dorea and little Loreza were all sat in a group watching the action. A large dornish guard surrounding them was enough to keep people away from their group.

She smiled at Arianne before being pulled into a hug, she received a cheeky squeeze on the bum by the older girl before being crushed to death by an embrace by the three youngest girls. She looked towards Ser Barristan and noticed how uncomfortable he looked as he watched his charge be manhandled.

After breaking from the younger girls and giving Nym and Tyene a hug each, she turned to Ellaria and hugged the older woman last.

"Glad you could make it dear." She heard her aunt say before breaking way from the hug and sitting back down, patting the space next to her for Rhaenys to sit down in.

"I'm surprised to see you arrive alone Rhae. I thought aunt Elia and Ashara were joining us?" Arianne said to her from where she was sprawled out in her seat, lazily popping grapes into her mouth and looking on at the yard.

She thanked Tyene as she handed her a goblet of dornish red and replied to her cousin "She told me she wouldn't be long and to go without her. She was with my father when I spoke to her." She explained. She took a sip from her goblet and let the liquid slide down her throat rather pleasantly.

"I hope Ashara brings Clarissa with her, I enjoyed her company the last time we spoke." Sarella said as she looked up from the journal she had rested on her crossed legs.

"She was nice wasn't she Sarella, thank you." She said as she smiled at her younger cousin before looking at Ari and lifting an eyebrow at her.

Arianne rolled her eyes and sighed "I didn't say I didn't like her, I said she was a bit dull that's all." The Princess of Dorne tried to explain.

"Everybody is considered dull to you Ari, what's new?" Nymeria replied. She looked a little sullen compared to her normal self as she sat there polishing her knives.

"You alright Nym?" She asked as she cut off Ari's no doubt, snide reply to her cousin. She saw her huff from the corner of her eye as she returned to lazily popping grapes into her mouth.

It was Tyene's turn to interrupt as she answered for her sister "She's been miserable ever since she found out Obara was competing in the melee and not her." She said as she shot a cheeky grin at Nymeria.

"I'm not miserable." Came Nym's stubborn reply.

"Tell that to your face." Ari said quietly but everybody heard her, especially Obella who couldn't resist giggling.

She smiled at her cousin's antics before attempting to prevent the situation from getting out of hand "Where's your brother Ari?" She asked as she took a sip from her goblet.

Arianne chuckled "Which one? The frog or the little one?" She replied before dropping a grape into her mouth.

She closed her eyes and looked down as she smiled, she regretted the thought of knowing exactly what her cousin was talking about. Not so much "the little one" as she liked to put it because that was true in a sense, Trystane was her baby brother. No, it was more to do with the frog comment used to describe her other brother, Quentyn.

She knew if Dany was here, she'd be high fiving the Princess of Dorne right now. Quentyn was quite low on Dany's list of favourite people.

"The little one as you like to put it. I know Quent is with Viserys right now." She eventually replied.

"When isn't he." She heard Tyene say before Ari replied to her question by nodding her head towards the practice yard. Out on the yard she could see her uncle drilling Obara and Ser Daemon with Trystane trying to keep up.

"Did uncle Oberyn decide on a fourth member for Dorne's team?" She asked Ellaria.

"Gerold Dayne." She replied.

Now that was a surprise, from what she'd heard from Ser Arthur, his cousin was not favoured by many. Ellaria must have seen the look on her face as she thought about that.

"In the words of your uncle Oberyn "Ser Gerold is a bit of a cunt, but he can fight and that's all he needs for the melee" . " Came the woman's no-nonsense explanation. She heard Ser Barristan's armour move as he squirmed on the spot due to Ellaria's choice words in front of her, her aunt just fired a wink at the veteran knight.

Arianne butted in "Quentyn talking about him as if he's god's gift to Dorne might have helped as well. I do question if my brother is interested in your aunt as much as he likes to say he is, being practically attached to my husband's hip doesn't help him at all in that regard." She said.

She did have a point, her cousin spent an unhealthy amount of time following Viserys about.

And at the moment, you're doing the same thing with Jon Snow. She thought as her mind betrayed her.

The same man she'd been quietly aware of at the other end of the yard, practicing with what looked like the unmissable Lord Umber and a few other lords. With the number of eyes that were around her, sharp eyes that rarely missed a thing, she only snuck a couple of looks his way. She didn't linger on his powerful form as he avoided strikes with ease and returned them twice as hard.

She closed her eyes and looked down at her lap to collect herself, she hated how much he affected her.

She opened her eyes and looked around at all of her cousins, most of them had their eyes on her uncle and cousins in the yard.

Most of them...

All except one...

Arianne looked back and forth between her and the northern group at the other end of the yard. Her eyes narrowed her way and a dirty smirk emerged on her face.

Fuck.

Ned

"I'm not wearing that!" He heard Arya say as he entered the girls tent. Stood in front of her was Catelyn who was holding up a dark grey dress.

"Yes you are young lady. I won't have you turning up to today's events with the rest of the lords and ladies wearing a tunic and a pair of breeches like some common street urchin." His wife replied with determination.

He knew this was gonna happen, he hoped it wouldn't but it had.

Arya stood there with her arms crossed and a very unimpressed look on her face. She was also the first one to see that he'd entered the tent. Before he knew it, his daughter was throwing her arms around him.

"Hello father!" She said as she looked up at him. She was doing that thing again with her eyes where she tried to make them look bigger but he knew exactly what she was up to.

He hugged her back "Hello little wolf." He said before greeting Catelyn and Sansa after. "What's happening here then?" He asked to nobody in particular.

Catelyn huffed as he felt Arya's grip around him tighten "I'm attempting to get everybody ready for this afternoon but this one here," She said as she nodded towards Arya "...is being nothing but difficult."

Arya turned and looked back up at him "Do I have to wear a dress?" She asked as she blinked her glassy eyes at him.

As hard as it was, he wouldn't be falling for her little games. She made a habit of using him as a buffer against her mother.

Before he could answer, Sansa was taking the dress from her mother's hands and walking towards them.

"Please Arya, I made it for you especially. I tried to keep anything flowery off of it because I knew you'd hate that and look," She said as she showed Arya the embroidery around the neckline "...I sowed little direwolves on it as well, all six of the pups that were found." She said as she pointed out the little wolves on the dress.

Arya looked down at the dress and ran a finger across the wolves, seemingly deciding whether or not to actually wear the dress she'd just this minute been complaining about. One thing he was sure about, he was happy the two of them were no longer at each other's throat anymore. Whatever it was that caused such a thing, he was grateful.

"Can I wear my breeches underneath?" Arya asked as she looked back at him, subtly avoiding asking her mother.

He sighed but nodded.

He looked towards Catelyn and noticed the way her face morphed into a look of annoyance but surprisingly, kept quiet.

"Okay, I'll wear it." Arya said. Sansa looked at her sister and smiled before dragging her to the back of the tent and behind the dressing screen.

He sat down on one of the chairs at the side of the room and sighed, Catelyn looked at him as she went around the tent folding garments that were strewn about the place.

"Where are the boys?" She asked without looking up from her task.

"With Jory. They were playing with Ghost the last time I saw them." He explained as he leant back in the chair.

He heard her hum as she carried on with her task.

"That thing should be on a leash, I'm not comfortable with it being allowed to roam around doing whatever it wants." She said before moving across the room and placing the clothes down in a chest. All without looking at him still.

Here we go...

"That thing is the living embodiment of our House, the sigil of the Starks. Putting a leash on such a creature would be wrong, and besides, Ghost is well trained. I've not seen him misbehave once." He explained, slightly annoyed with her thinking a direwolf was some common dog you could chain.

Catelyn still didn't look at him as she moved back across the room and tidied up the remnants of somebody's lunch.

"Letting it socialise with the nobles is inappropriate and dangerous." She replied without taking any of his words into consideration.

Socialise?

He let out another sigh and shook his head as he looked at the ground "I don't think we're talking about Ghost anymore are we?" He said as he looked her way.

"Say your piece Cat and let's be done with this already hmm?" He said as he prepared for yet another tirade about Jon.

She was eerily calm as she replied "Does it matter? Whenever it comes to that boy he can do no wrong in your eyes. At this point, I'm just wasting my time trying to explain myself." She said as she placed a couple of empty plates on the table next to him and looked towards the dressing screen where the two girls currently were.

She was too calm. Whenever the subject of Jon was brought up, he was normally faced with anger and pettiness.

But not now, now she was quiet. It felt wrong.

The girls emerged from behind the screen and made their way towards the two of them.

"What do you think?" Sansa said as she seemed to present Arya to them. Arya looked a little uncomfortable in the grey dress she was in but to her credit, she kept still as her two parents looked at her.

Catelyn made her way towards Arya and smoothed her hand down the front of the dress to rid any bits off it before replying.

"Beautiful." She said with a smile as she looked on at her daughter and he agreed as he nodded. At least the two of them could agree on that even if it was a little hard looking at his wilful daughter dressed up in a gown in the colours of their house.

It brought back too many memories.

He jumped when Cat clapped her hands "Right, you're up next Sansa. Go and get that dark green dress you've been working on would you dear, I think it will go nicely with the shade of your hair." She said as Sansa moved across the room towards the chest.

"Can you go and see if the boys are ready to leave soon and aren't just rolling around in the muck my lord?" Cat said without looking at him.

He knew a dismissal when he heard one and, in all honesty, he embraced the chance of getting out of this uncomfortable situation he had with his wife at the moment.

He nodded as he rose from his seat. Arya was quick to give him a hug before he made his way towards the tent flap.

"Isn't this all exciting? I for one can't wait for the grand melee to begin." He heard Cat say to the two girls. He turned around and looked at her with a furrowed brow since that didn't sound like something she would ever say.

His eyes locked with Cat's from across the room and the way her smile dropped when the girls weren't looking disturbed him. He didn't know what that was about but he didn't stick around to find out as he exited the tent with an unnerving feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Daenerys

They were gonna be late if Rhae didn't hurry up and the way Ser Oswell's foot tapped on the floor where he was stood next to her, he was aware of that fact as well.

"Is she going to be much longer your grace?" The knight said to her a few minutes later when her niece still hadn't emerged from her room.

She huffed as she went to knock on her door again, this time with a little more aggression. Fortunately for all of them, Rhae opened the door as Dany's hand rose to go knock.

"Finally." She said as her niece walked out of her room with a smile on her face.

"Sorry." Rhae said to them as they made their way to the rest of the family who were waiting for them in the entrance hall of the castle. A tongue lashing from her mother was almost guaranteed due to their tardiness but it was safe to say that she'd be pointing the entire blame on Rhaenys if she was dragged into it.

As expected, the rest of the family were waiting for them in the entrance hall, everyone apart from Egg, Ser Arthur, Ser Jaime and Ser Loras since they had already left earlier to prepare for the opening event of the tournament, the grand melee.

She had to give it to her brother, the melee was nowhere near as popular as the joust but ever since his announcement of the grand melee, it was all anybody spoke about. Even she'd forgotten there was a joust near the end of the tournament and she had a feeling she wasn't the only one.

Jon Snow's addition to the north's melee team was also another talking point amongst people as well. Not many had seen what had happened between him and the two Kingsguard knights he'd beaten but the word had gotten out regardless. People were genuinely excited to see what the man could do, she'd even heard Ser Oswell and Ser Jonothor having a wager with each other, one of them believing Snow would get found out in the melee, the other believing that the man's list of defeated Kingsguard would grow by the time it was over.

Problem was, there were three Kingsguard competing and two of them had already made that list. The remaining one was regarded as the best in the realm.

She'd not seen what he'd done to Loras so she couldn't really judge his abilities herself. Unfortunately, she didn't fancy Jon Snow's chances against The Sword of the Morning.

No, you don't fancy his chances, but you fancy other things about him. Her mind betrayed.

She shook her head as the three of them approached the group, her brother Rhaegar noticing them over the shoulder of his wife.

"Here they are." He said as Elia turned around and frowned at the pair of them, probably annoyed as much as she was with having to wait around.

After apologising for their tardiness, the group made their way out of the castle and made the short walk towards the yard where the melee would be taking place. Margaery, who was holding an excited looking Alysanne, moved across to her and Rhae after politely excusing herself from whatever conversation she was having with Ser Jonothor.

She looked around at their group and noticed her mother walking along with Ser Barristan. She'd expected to receive an earful from her about her and Rhae being late but it looked like she was too lost in a world of her own to do such a thing.

She's been like that ever since that morning she spent with Jon Snow.

She didn't know how to feel about that, and neither did Rhae.

She felt a bump against her shoulder and looked to her right at Marge who was giving her that smirk of hers.

"I'm surprised your mother hasn't said anything to you and Rhae. I think we were all expecting it to be honest." She said as she held onto Alysanne securely. The little girl getting to that age where she wanted to crawl everywhere now.

She hummed as the stands around the yard came into view "Trust me, I'm as baffled as you are." She replied.

She refrained from gasping as she saw the sheer amount of people who were stood and seated around the outskirts of the yard, the heralds horn announcing their approach making her jump.

Their whole group was ushered into the main stands and up to the seats that were reserved for the royals, rather hastily ushered she might add. It would seem they were the last ones there, something she would've felt guilty about if it was her fault in the first place. She looked to her left at Rhae who was smiling out to the masses as she waved, the rest of the family doing the same thing before taking their seats, everyone apart from her brother, the King.

Rhaegar held his arm up high and the whole yard slowly quietened to hear what their King had to say to them.

"Citizens of Westeros! I will keep this short due to everyone's eagerness to get this event started." Rhaegar said with a smile as a few chuckles could be heard throughout the crowd. She kept her regal mask on and smiled as she looked around the crowds, noticing important lords such as Lord Tywin and Lord Stark. All of them clearly sat with their respective men.

The sense of sport and competition was thick within the stands, looks of pride on the faces of on lookers as they looked upon their champions stood inside the yard waiting to get started. From where she was sat, she could already see men and women exchanging notes and coin, all with the hope of walking away with a winning bet.

The buzz in the air was exciting and contagious, she for one couldn't wait to see what this competition would bring. She loved her brother but he couldn't half speak when he got going. When he said he would keep it short she was expecting him to keep it short.

"...and finally, I would like to wish these brave men and women all the luck in their quest for glory! Over to you." Rhaegar finished as he held both of his hands out towards the herald stood in the middle of the yard holding a large scroll. The man bowed deeply towards his King before turning to the crowd.

"Citizens of Westeros, allow me to announce the teams that will be representing their Kingdoms." The herald announced as the crowd listened on.

"Representing Dorne, Ser Gerold Dayne, Ser Daemon Sand, Obara Sand and last but not least, the Red Viper himself, Prince Oberyn Martell!" The herald announced as Prince Oberyn walked forward and twirled his blunted spear rather impressively before bowing at the applauding crowd.

Prince Oberyn moved back to his spot with his group and waited like everybody else for the herald to name the next team.

"Representing the Reach, Ser Tanton Fossoway, Ser Arys Oakheart, Ser Baelor Hightower and the gallant Ser Garlan Tyrell." The herald announced next. The four knights waving at the clapping crowd. She could see the Reach group looking on proudly, Margaery pointing down towards her brother and whispering into Alysanne's ear about her uncle.

"Next up, representing the Stormlands, Ser Cortnay Penrose, Ser Balon Swann, Lord Beric Dondarrion and due to a last minute change, Lady Brienne of Tarth." Came the next announcement. The lady in question waving along to everyone just like her teammates but with clear discomfort on her face due to the stares she was getting. She looked at the Stormlands group and noticed Lord Stannis and his wife Lady Cersei sat together but separated by their three children. The Lord of Storm's End glared into the yard, a cold glare that was aimed at a group in there.

Dragging her eyes to where the stern lord was looking, she noticed it was the northern group he seemed to be having a problem with.

I wonder what that's about?

She couldn't think any more of it as the herald was announcing the next group of competitors.

"Representing the Crownlands..." The herald said before the crowd erupted with cheers "... The Knight of Flowers and member of the Kingsguard, Ser Loras Tyrell!" He announced as Loras stepped forward and bowed to the crowd, the grin on his face telling everybody that he'd noticed a few of the girls near the front swooning at him.

If only they knew.

"Next up, member of the Kingsguard, The White Lion , Ser Jaime Lannister!" The herald announced and again, the crowd cheered the knight. Jaime waved at the crowd and winked at a lady stood near the fence, the poor woman looked on the brink of fainting as she fanned the blush on her face.

Jaime stepped back before the herald announced the next man, the man everyone was excited to see compete.

"Next up, member of the Kingsguard, The Sword of the Morning , the one, the only, Ser Arthur Dayne!" Came the next announcement before the crowd cheered yet again. She caught the knight's eye roll at the herald's antics before stepping forward and waving before moving back to his group.

"And finally, last but certainly not least, the Crown Prince and our future King, Prince Aegon of House Targaryen!" The herald shouted before bowing to Egg.

The cheers were the loudest for her nephew, her nephew who was soaking it all up as he waved at everybody. He gave them a dazzling smile before moving back to his group and entering an intense looking conversation with his knights.

It was obvious to everybody in attendance that Egg and his Kingsguard were favourites to win this. Unfortunately, you couldn't write off any of these groups, especially with the second favourites being announced next.

The crowd quietened down as the herald held up his hands "Next up, representing the Westerlands, Ser Lyle Crackhall, Ser Addam Marbrand and none other than the Clegane brothers, the Hound , Sandor Clegane and the Mountain , Ser Gregor Clegane!"

This was the group many expected to give problems to the Crownlands team, mainly the Clegane brothers.

Ser Lyle and Ser Addam smiled and waved at the crowd but they were the only two. Both of the Clegane brothers just stood there looking cold and ready for a genuine war. The way they were side eyeing each other, one would think it was each other they were ready to fight.

"Up next, representing the Riverlands..." The herald said with a few people cheering, no doubt locals from the surrounding lands of Harrenhal "...Lord Tytos Blackwood, Ser Jason Mallister, Ser Brynden the Blackfish and the future Lord of Riverrun, Ser Edmure Tully!" Came the announcement. The men, like the rest of the competitors smiled and waved at the crowd. One thing she didn't miss was Ser Edmure looking up at Rhae with a smirk on his face.

Fighting a losing battle there buddy.

One thing she did miss was the man's uncle glaring at the northern group as he moved back to his spot.

The herald cleared his throat and made his next announcement "Representing the Iron Islands, Lord Andrik, Ser Harras Harlaw, Asha Greyjoy and Lord Victarion Greyjoy!"

There were a few courteous claps from the crowd but the main noise was coming from the ironborn, the group everybody was sat the furthest away from.

The boisterous group calmed down enough to allow the herald announce the next team.

"Representing the Vale, Ser Mandon Moore, Ser Lyn Corbray, Ser Andar Royce and last but not least, Lord Yohn Royce, more commonly known as Bronze Yohn !" The herald declared as the group stepped forward and waved to the crowd, Lord Yohn sticking out like a sore thumb in his bronze armour.

The crowd settled down and the herald cleared his throat for the final team to be announced. A member of said team a lot of people had an interest in.

"And finally, representing the Northern kingdom, Jon Snow, Ser Rodrik Cassel, Ser Jorah Mormont and the unmistakable, the Greatjon , Lord Jon Umber!"

The crowd cheered after the final team was announced, Lord Umber seemingly the only one enjoying the attention whilst the other three men stood more towards the back out of view. The crowd quietened as Lord Umber moved back towards his group and clapped Jon Snow on the back, doing nothing to disrupt him from the cold dead stare he had on his face as he looked towards the RIverlands group.

She had a feeling somebody in that group would be eating it rather soon if the determined look Jon had on his devilishly handsome face was anything to go by.

She looked down at her folded hands laid across her lap to refocus herself, it wouldn't do her any good staring at a single individual for the entire event.

Who was she kidding? It was hard not to look when he's stretching the way he's stretching right now.

The herald's horn made her jump as it disturbed her from her ogling, a sign that the competition had officially begun.

Rhaella

Her regal mask was firmly in place as the herald's horn blasted to begin the melee, it hid the mixed emotions that were quietly affecting her as she sat in her spot with her family. None of them aware that there were two Targaryen boys of theirs in that yard as opposed to one.

She looked on at her two grandchildren as they circled around the yard along with their own respective groups, everybody in the yard waiting for somebody to make a move. She wouldn't lie to herself, she was slightly worried for her two boys, yes, everybody was using blunted tourney swords but one wrong move and one could easily lose a full set of teeth, break a nose or even crack a skull open.

Jon looked calm, taking instructions from Lord Umber as all the groups carried on circling around the yard, none of them wanting to be the first ones to make a move. Aegon looked primed and ready for an attack as he too moved with his group, the three Kingsguard forming a personal shield wall for the Crown Prince. Even in a mock battle they were still well aware of their duty.

Ser Arthur twirled his tourney blade in his hand, seemingly choosing to only use one sword instead of the two she knew he was capable of, hopefully that wasn't a mistake on his part.

The Crownlands team were situated in between the Reach group and the Iron Islanders, it was safe to say that with Ser Loras the only one keeping his eyes on his brother's team that the group from the Iron Islands were definitely the ones they were more wary about.

And with good reason.

Within a blink of an eye, all hell broke loose, Sandor Clegane seemed like he'd had enough with waiting as he grumbled out something inaudible before hefting his sword into the air and aiming it at one of the Vale knights to his right. The knight saw it last minute and only just managed to recover from the hit.

The crowd roared into shouts and cheers, the fight officially was underway as the sound of dulled steel clashing filled the yard. Men shouting instructions, yelling and grunting as they traded blows with the man next to them. The word hectic was the only way to describe the situation in front of her.

Her eyes instantly hunted for her blood amidst the carnage.

She instantly spotted the white capes of the Kingsguard as they held men off. Her grandson, Aegon, fighting against one of the Reach knights, Ser Tanton by the looks of it. The Crown Prince was holding his own against the knight as they traded blows, from the returning strikes, it looked like Aegon would be successful in that match up. She was comfortable enough to seek out her other grandson to see how he was getting on.

Her eyes roamed the small battlefield, looking for that head of raven curls but failed to spot where he was. She instead looking to see where the giant form of Lord Umber was, that didn't take her long as she spotted the man overwhelming Ser Mandon Moore. The Vale knight was in nothing but survival mode as the hulking frame of the Greatjon came down upon him.

Behind that fight was something that almost made her rise from her seat in anger but instead she remained in her spot and quietly stewed at what she was seeing.

Jon was, to his credit, handling the situation he found himself in with grace. The way he manoeuvred around the two knights as they continued to fight an uneven contest was like watching flowing water, the fluidity in his movements were surprisingly calming to watch. She could even feel the ire that had built within her slowly ebb away as she carried on watching the fight unfold.

It would seem that Lord Edmure and his uncle, the Blackfish already had a target from the moment the horn was blown, the other two Riverlanders battling it out with Ser Rodrik and Ser Jorah.

They had a plan, and it was to single out Jon, the pair of them.

Now, she would think it was a smart strategy for the two men, to attempt to eliminate the man who people have been whispering about ever since the rumours about his spar with Ser Jaime came out. But she had a strong feeling this wasn't to do with Jon's skill with a blade, an attempt to eliminate a genuine threat in this melee, no, she had a feeling this was personal.

It would seem Jon was having none of it though, smartly singling out Lord Edmure and using his body as a shield as he traded blows. It was a smart move to separate himself from the Blackfish. A frighteningly quick counter riposte caused the future lord of Riverun to lose his grip on his sword and drop it into the dirt.

Jon took the opportunity in an instant, pushing the unarmed lord into his uncle with such force that it sent the two of them to the ground. Lord Edmure with a scowl on his face rose up to his hands and knees but before he could even react, Jon was smashing his knee into his face, her grandson putting his whole weight into the strike.

The Blackfish was a little slower rising from his spot in the dirt, no doubt due to his advanced age, but it was all too late. Jon taking a small run up and kicking the older knight in the gut before he could get to his feet, the force sending the man onto his back and ridding him of his grip on his sword. Jon's knee's pressed down against Ser Brynden's shoulders as he sat on him to prevent him from rising and he held his blade to the man's neck. The knight closed his eyes and nodded, seemingly yielding to the younger man.

The Riverlands knight slowly rose from his spot, Jon not offering him a hand to help him up which she couldn't blame him for. Ser Brynden bent down and heaved Lord Edmure's shoulder over his and helped him out of the yard. The younger Tully's face was a mess from Jon's knee strike and it would seem, with the way he was barely able to walk out of the yard, Jon had straight up knocked the man out cold.

Serves him bloody right. She thought proudly as she watched her grandson help put away the last two members of the Riverlands team with ease, the man she believed to be Ser Rodrik patting him on the back and Ser Jorah nodding at him in thanks.

Arya

Serves them right.

That's what she thought to herself as she watched her mother's brother and uncle leave the yard. Watching the two of them ambush her brother almost as soon as the fight broke loose left a bad taste in her mouth.

They planned it, they must have. She mused.

She looked to her right and noticed that she wasn't the only one who wasn't impressed with her mother's side of the family, her mother was almost red in the face with such a display.

It's a good job Jon is the best. She thought proudly as she looked back into the yard.

Energy thrummed through her veins as she watched the clashing of steel between two competitors who were rather close to where they were seated. What was even more exciting to see was the number of women competing at the moment, it held promise for herself when she was old enough to compete in such a thing.

One of them specifically drew her attention, a tall, majestic woman with blonde hair, moving around the yard in her full plate. She looked like she was unstoppable with the way she clashed with one of the Reach knights.

I'll never be that powerful.

But I can be quick. She thought to herself.

She smiled as she watched Jon move around the yard with his team, there she was, having to settle to being a quick fighter over a powerful one due to her size, and her brother was there right in front of her proving that you could be both. It spoke volumes of how good he was at what he did.

And what he did was fun to watch.

"C'mon Jon!" She shouted as she stood up from her seat and clapped. Bran and Rickon to her right joined in with her clapping as the fight went on. To her left she caught the look of annoyance on her mother's face.

I'm cheering my brother on in the greatest melee to bless this realm, I'm not gonna pass up on this opportunity even if her behaviour annoyed some people.

"Oh no!" She heard Sansa say to her right from where she was sat, Jeyne had a hand over her mouth where she sat next to her sister.

She looked where Sansa was looking and noticed what had made her say what she did, Ser Rodrik by the looks of things, had been caught out by one of the Vale knights and currently had a blade held at his throat from behind.

She saw the old knight's lips move, probably yielding she imagined, and soon after, headed for the exit of the yard.

One down, three left.

Lord Umber had eliminated a Vale lord earlier on when Jon was fighting his two on one and by the looks of things, the Vale team had returned to get revenge for their teammate.

One of the men she recognised was Bronze Yohn, unmistakeable in his breastplate of bronze. Next to him, sizing up the northern team was his son Ser Andar and stood where Ser Rodrik last stood was the man who had eliminated the old knight.

"That's Ser Lyn Corbray. It's a pity they weren't allowed to use their own weapons, I would have liked to have seen his valyrian steel sword, Lady Forlorn." Bran whispered to her as they looked on. Thankfully her brother was a fountain of knowledge when it came to knights, wanting to be one when he was older would do that.

He was right though, it was a pity they weren't allowed to use their own weapons. If they were, this whole competition might have been over already if Jon had been using his own swords. Those blades were no joke, to the point where Jon had even shouted at her when she started messing with them. He later explained to her that he only shouted because he was scared, the pitch-black steel the swords were made up of looked impossibly sharp and he was afraid she was gonna badly hurt herself.

If Jon was scared of how sharp they were then she couldn't imagine how devastating they were.

The sound of clashing steel near them broke her from her thoughts, she looked back where the Vale team were squaring off with her brother's team and noticed they were already going at it, Ser Jorah was holding his own against Ser Lyn, the Greatjon was battling it out with Bronze Yohn and Jon was...already making Ser Andar yield!?

She laughed and shook her head in disbelief, she couldn't believe how good he'd become. She'd listened to his story on how he trained with his "Master" as he liked to put it, how he was given almost insane tasks to complete, even told to climb a mountain at one point. She didn't understand how such things would help him learn how to swing a sword better but clearly it had. He even told her that before he left to return back home, he'd managed to defeat his teacher in a spar for the first time in the years he knew him.

The work and effort he'd put in was repaying him tenfold.

The sight of his son being beaten so swiftly must have breathed new life into Bronze Yohn, because one minute he was giving as good as he got against Lord Umber, the next, he was pushing the Lord of Last Hearth on the back foot. Jon primed himself as he stalked his way towards the two of them.

"Don't you dare, boy! This is our fight!" She heard Bronze Yohn cry as he swung his sword against the Greatjon's own. Jon didn't have time to even respond to the Vale lord as he was avoiding a bulk of clashing steel approaching him from behind his back.

"Fuckin' move you dumb cunt!" She heard a gruff looking man grunt towards Jon as he parried hits from whoever he was fighting against.

Or whatever he was fighting against, the man was enormous!

"This doesn't make any sense." She heard Bran say from his seat next to her.

She managed to draw her eyes away from the pure carnage the two large men were creating together and looked at her brother with a furrowed brow.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Bran huffed "Well that's the Hound fighting," He said as he looked on.

"Yeah, and?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"...and, he's fighting against the Mountain, Ser Gregor...his brother." He explained. He shook his head in disbelief "Why would they be fighting each other? They're supposed to be on the same team." Bran said, mainly to himself by the looks of things.

She looked back at the yard and carried on watching the two brothers hack chunks out of each other's swords, it honestly looked like they were trying to kill each other.

And for some reason, Jon was following them around the yard, albeit from a safe distance.

Oh Jon, what in the world are you thinking? She thought to herself.

Jaime

"Ser Jaime, watch your back!" He heard his prince say from his left. He looked over his shoulder and noticed the bulk of the Mountain moving backwards with no care in the world. If you were in his way, you were getting knocked over.

Him and Aegon moved to the side away from the giant but found themselves separated from Loras and Arthur, who were across from them fighting against three of the ironborn group.

Two against three, they should be fine.

His sword was back up in position in preparation for their next encounter but failed to notice the hulking figure approaching them from his right. Before he could even notice the man, the Mountain's bulk was smashing into him and knocking him to the floor. The man that Clegane was fighting against looked familiar from his spot on the floor and at a closer look he realised that it was the other Clegane brother.

Father is going to be apoplectic. He thought amusingly to himself as he slowly rose from his spot in the dirt. The prince's hand shot out to help him up even faster.

He nodded at the prince "Thank you, your grace." He said as he gave Rhaegar's son a grin. What he expected back was something witty or charming from the ever-joyful prince but instead all he saw was the lad's eyes widen.

"Watch out!" Aegon shouted as he nudged him out of the way and readied his weapon. Jaime stumbled but not without looking to see what had spooked the prince enough to shove him out of the way.

It was his turn for his eyes to widen as he saw the sprinting form of a man nearly the size of Lord Umber, two blunted hand axes in each hand primed to strike the crown prince at full tilt.

Shit.

Aegon can put his sword up all he wants but he was gonna end up knocked to the floor with some force with the way the other man was moving.

He told Aegon to move to his right and Jaime took his left side, both of them prepared to brace for impact in the hopes of catching the man out with his recklessness.

But it was for naught.

His sword lowered slightly as he watched someone come out of nowhere and two foot the oncoming brute in the side with such force, it sent the man flying to his left and into the dirt. The growl that emitted from the brute as he rose from the ground promised blood.

He turned to his prince to check to see he was still okay, a nod from him confirmed so. He noticed both of the Clegane brothers still hacking at each other as they moved around the yard before turning his eyes back towards the man, who he'd now worked out was one of the ironborn competitors.

Aegon looked at him with a quirked eyebrow when he caught him letting out a small laugh. The cause of such a reaction standing toe to toe with the ironborn monster.

"Something funny, Ser Jaime?" Aegon said as he looked around checking their perimeters before looking back at him.

He shook his head as he eyed the new acquaintance he'd made since they'd arrived at the tourney. The lad was bonkers with the way he was dancing around the ironborn warrior, poking and prodding him in the side with his tourney sword as he avoided every swing.

"C'mon your grace, let's go help Ser Arthur and Ser Loras out." He said as he turned away from the scene in front of him.

"Shouldn't we at least help him? I mean, he did stop an ugly fight between us and that beast." Aegon said as he looked on at Jon, an impressed look on his face as he watched the young northerner put on a clinic against the big man.

Jaime looked over his shoulder and towards Jon, he'd just landed a nasty looking elbow against the iron islander's jaw.

"Nah, I think he'll be fine." He answered simply. Aegon nodded as they both moved to help out the rest of their team.

Arianne

Oh Rhae, sweet sweet Rhae. It would seem you do have good taste in men after all. She thought to herself as she watched the roguishly handsome northerner slowly and methodically dismantle a truly off-putting looking man.

She sighed, unfortunately he was off limits according to her cousin, and what a tragedy that was for her. She could already tell she'd have had fun with him, the way he moved in combat spoke volumes, especially if they translated into moves in the bedroom like her uncle Oberyn would always say.

She sipped from her goblet as her eyes moved over to where the dornish team were, already a member down. Her cousin Obara had well and truly been caught off guard by some blonde knight, and whatever the knight had said to her after seemed to have caught her even more off guard if the comically confused looked on her face was anything to go by.

I wonder what he'd said to her? Maybe her cousin was affected by a member of the opposite sex for the first time in her boring life. She chuckled to herself at the mere thought of such a thing.

"Anything to share Ari?" Her aunt Ellaria said from her seat next to her, a small grin on her beautiful face.

I hope I look that good when I'm her age.

The lie came easily as she eyed the yard and nodded in the direction of the two idiotic Clegane brothers "Just find it positively hilarious that Lord Tywin's team has imploded in such a way. Them two hacking bits out of each other left their other teammates with their trousers down, something the Reach group took full advantage of." She explained.

Ellaria hummed "Not to mention Ser Jaime fighting for the crown instead of his father, to be a fly on that wall when that was announced to the man." She said as she sipped from her own goblet.

Arianne sniffed "Not to worry, it's not our team who is falling apart. In fact, I'd say we're doing just fine." She said as she witnessed her uncle force Ser Garlan to yield the same way Ser Arys was to Ser Gerold shortly after.

The dornish group in the stands clapped and cheered in applause at their team's success, all of them aware that the competition was thinning and they were in a good spot.

"Well that's the Reach out, your cousin's team dealt with one half, and we dealt with the other." Ellaria said to her. Her eyes immediately looked towards where the Reach attendees were sat and she wasn't disappointed to see the gutted look on Mace Tyrells fat head.

"Who's left then?" She asked as she finished the rest of the wine in her goblet before handing it off to a steward to refill it. She winked at the young man as he handed it back to her, making him shyly look away from her.

She smiled to herself at the effect she sometimes had on men.

Ellaria coughed as she noticed her making the boy nervous "Well, the Riverlands were knocked out early and now the Reach have been fully eliminated." She said.

Ellaria then laughed to herself "Make that the iron islands fully eliminated as well." She said.

Arianne looked towards where the ironborn scum were at, the last she saw of them they were fighting the Kingsguard and it would seem they'd been knocked out by them as she watched three of them walk out of the yard.

"Wait, all of them? Even the one Jon was fighting?" She said and instantly cringed when she realised what she'd said.

Ellaria turned to her with a raised eyebrow, mischief written all over her face.

"Jon?" She said in a light voice.

She sighed and decided to look for herself, instantly noticing him move around the yard with his sword in hand.

So he had beaten him.

"Are you gonna ignore me or am I gonna have to ask Tyene who Jon is?" Ellaria said. She fully expected her to follow through with her threat.

"Fine." She said. Last thing she need was big mouth knowing. "Jon Snow, Ned Stark's son. Rhae is quite interested in him and has personally told me he was off limits." She explained.

Ellaria hummed and nodded to herself "Is he the pretty one that's been skulking around the yard?" She asked as she nodded towards Jon who'd just found his next fight in the form of one of the Stormlands knights. Her uncle's team was currently fighting the fighters from the Stormlands and Jon had taken the opportunity to fight their fourth member, almost siding with the dornish team temporarily.

"Yes that's him." She nodded.

Ellaria sighed "What a shame, me and Oberyn could have had a lot of fun with that one." She said as she smirked to herself. Arianne daren't imagine what type of scenario's Ellaria was creating in her mind at that moment.

"I wonder if he's as useful with his other sword as he is with the one in his hand right now?" Ellaria said to nobody in particular, a smirk still on her face.

Okay, this conversation needs to end.

"Alright, you've had your fun. What would uncle Oberyn say if he heard you?" She said as she witnessed Jon drag the Stormlands knight over his shoulder by his arm and hold him on the floor with his blade held to his neck.

That was quick. She thought.

"Oh darling, your uncle would be saying the same things as I am if he was sat here with us." She replied.

She rolled her eyes, deep down, she knew Ellaria was right.

She felt Ellaria shuffle in her seat next to her "Who knows, he might be saying these things to him that I've been saying as we speak." She said as she nodded towards the yard, her uncle and Jon talking to each other as they held their weapons primed in front of them, her uncle with his spear and Jon with his sword.

Her uncle had eliminated his foe shortly after Jon it would seem, Ser Daemon and Ser Gerold were still battling it out with their adversaries, one of which was the blonde knight that had eliminated Obara earlier.

Daemon seems to be struggling against the same knight Obara had as well. She thought as she saw Daemon narrowly avoid a strike.

"Ooo, here we go. This should be interesting." Ellaria said as she stood from her seat and clapped for Oberyn. She looked back towards her uncle and Jon and saw them clap each other's hand before backing up and circling each other.

Interesting is an understatement dear aunt. She thought to herself as she looked on with genuine intrigue, just like everybody else in the dornish section of the crowd.

Elia

"That's Lord Stark's son is it not?" She heard Rhaegar say next to her. Rhaenys seemed to shuffle in her seat next to her.

She looked at the scene in front of her, the boy was doing well for himself in the competition, even giving Aegon a helping hand against one of the ironborn, although she wasn't too sure if it was done for the sake of her son or something else entirely.

Now though, now he was facing off against her brother, the Red Viper of Dorne. She didn't fancy his chances.

"Correct." She said to her husband. "I've seen glimpses as to why Lord Umber thinks he's their "secret weapon" but I think he might struggle against your brother in law." She explained as she saw Jon Snow comfortably avoid a strike from Oberyn's spear.

The crowd seemed torn on what to watch inside the yard. One half were watching her brother come together with Lord Stark's son and the other seemed to follow the mess that the Clegane brothers were causing to each other. One person who wasn't witnessing any of it was Lord Tywin, the man looked beyond angry when he witnessed what was happening with his team, so much so that he left the stands.

Probably to prepare himself. I wouldn't want to be one of the Clegane's when this was over.

"I'm sure Oberyn will deal with him, I imagine that will wipe the smile off Lord Umber's face." Rhaegar said as he lifted his goblet to his mouth.

She was about to reply to him but their daughter butted in.

"I wouldn't be too sure father. You don't take a man who has defeated two Kingsguard whilst sparring lightly. Isn't that right grandmother?" Her daughter said as she involved Rhaella into the conversation as well.

Rhaegar's goblet stopped on its journey to his mouth and he looked at Rhaenys in shock. He then looked at his mother to see what her take on it all was.

Personally, she was kind of surprised at what she'd just heard. The two Kingsguard that he'd apparently beaten had kept it very quiet to say the least.

These are the kind of situations where I miss Varys' skills. She thought. Although, Varys wasn't the only one with his own personal network of informants she remembered as she eyed Rhaella. The Queen mother definitely knew the identity of the two Kingsguard.

I wonder why neither of her or Rhaegar knew about this then? She thought. Something felt a little off.

She caught Rhaella looking at Rhaenys before looking at her son and answering "I'm sorry, what was the question?" She asked. To be fair, she did look like she'd been caught in her own world when Rhaenys had asked her.

"Rhaenys said Lord Stark's son beat two of our Kingsguard in the practice yard, is that true?" Rhaegar asked, his eyes still on the action in front of them. There were a few gasps around them when Jon Snow managed to drop Oberyn with a leg sweep and a couple of murmurs when her brother got back to his feet before Jon could capitalise on the situation.

Nobody just drops Oberyn like that. It would seem Rhaenys' story was true after all.

Rhaegar glanced at her quickly before looking at his mother.

Rhaella nodded with a tiny grin on her face, so subtle you'd miss it at first glance "Yes he did, Ser Jaime and Ser Loras were the casualties." She said as she lifted her goblet to her lips.

Rhaegar's eyebrows rose at that and she felt the same shock as he did "Ser Jaime AND Ser Loras?" He said "Two of the four members of the crowns team?" He finished.

"One. Ser Loras has just this second been knocked out." Rhaenys interrupted as they all tore their eyes away from the battle Oberyn and Jon were having and looked to see where Loras was.

She noticed Lady Brienne slowly backing up towards her teammate who was still battling it out against the Darkstar. It would seem she'd beaten Ser Daemon and decided to move onto to better competition.

"What happened?" Rhaegar asked. Rhaenys was the one to fill them in.

"Lady Brienne had just finished defeating Ser Daemon, Ser Loras decided to go rogue and take advantage of the situation. Safe to say it didn't turn out well for him." She explained.

She shook her head.

"Don't worry your grace, we'll hammer that out of him, he's still young." The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Gerold added. She turned and gave the knight a smile.

"I hope to be there to watch that happen." She replied. Ser Gerold smiled and nodded his head before moving back to his position behind them.

"We should be fine, we've still got three members remaining." Rhaegar said as he surveyed the yard. The groups had really thinned out.

"Who's left then Rhaenys? You seem to be keeping a keen eye on the action." She said as she eyed her daughter. She'd not missed how her eyes followed Lord Stark's son around the yard whenever she sneaked a look at her.

The situation was less than ideal, if only her daughter had shown this type of interest in the trueborn son of Lord Stark. A match between her and this Jon Snow would have consequences even if he was legitimised. A legitimised bastard being chosen over a trueborn heir to a great house would definitely create more problems instead of fixing any.

She was broken from her thoughts as Rhaenys replied "Well, we've still got Egg, Arthur and Jaime. Dorne still have uncle Oberyn who is still fighting with Jon Snow and Ser Gerold Dayne who is fighting Lord Beric. The Stormlands have Lady Brienne and Lord Beric left, the Westerlands somehow still have those two idiots left, though I imagine people are just waiting to take the victor of that." She explained.

"And the North?" She asked, already knowing that Jon Snow was still competition.

"Jon left Lord Umber and Ser Jorah to face Ser Lyn and Lord Royce earlier, Lord Umber was the only one to walk away from that fight." Rhaenys explained as she pointed the large lord making his way across to where his last remaining teammate was who, to everybody's shock including hers, was tiring her brother out and forcing him on the back foot.

He's gonna beat him. She concluded, and what a hard conclusion that was to come to.

"Coming down to the last few competitors then. Still, I'm confident in our team's chances." Rhaegar said as they looked on. Egg's team were at the other end of the yard to everybody else, waiting to see how the situation at the other end of the yard ended whilst keeping an eye on the two Clegane brothers who were at that very moment, slowing down in their quest for destruction.

"Looks like the Mountain might be winning that one." Rhaenys said as the Hound struggled to parry each of his brother's strikes before falling into the dirt. The Mountain was on top of him shortly after, it was only then that people realised what was happening.

"He's choking him to death!" Rhaella exclaimed as she pointed at the two brothers. Thankfully, Ser Arthur and Ser Jaime were on Ser Gregor in a flash, just about pulling the man off of his brother and preventing a public kinslaying.

Rhaegar stood from where he was sat and called some guards forward to enter the yard. "Get him out of here!" He said to them.

It took nearly ten guards to get him out of the yard but eventually he was escorted out to a chorus of boos from the crowd, and rightfully so.

Sandor Clegane was helped from the ground by the two Kingsguard but he didn't look a single bit appreciative of the two men as he stormed out of the yard without a single look to anybody else in that.

Lord Tywin has his work cut out with those two.

In the midst of all that happening, the Darkstar had defeated Lord Beric and had moved on to Lady Brienne, Prince Oberyn was on the cusp of defeat and Lord Umber was watching his teammate with a smile on his face.

Catelyn

The northern section of the crowd erupted with shouts and cheers as Prince Oberyn yielded.

To that boy.

How had it all gone so wrong?

How had her brother and uncle failed so miserably?

The answer was clear, the evidence had been out on that yard defeating men left, right and centre.

She'd greatly underestimated the boy, and she hated that simple fact.

And now he was one of the very few combatants left.

She ground her teeth as she witnessed the Prince of Dorne laugh as Jon helped him from the ground before clapping him on the shoulder and whispering something into his ear, whatever was said made the two of them grin. Prince Oberyn bowed and waved to the crowd on his way out of the yard, turning around one last time and winking in Jon's direction.

The way the boy had integrated himself with the nobles during their stay at this tournament had made her anxious to the point where sleep would allude her some nights.

This should have been what her son should've been doing instead of the bastard. He should be here creating friendships and alliances with some of the current and future lords of the great houses.

Not him.

She knew this was going to happen, she'd told Ned time and again that something like this would happen. That his bastard son would gain a bit of popularity and a bit of influence over some of the lords, that as soon as something like that happened, he would climb the social ladder and garner more interest than their trueborn children did.

And then that would be the beginning of the end, an end where she envisioned Jon Snow sitting in Winterfell as the ruling lord, taking everything from her children and proving her fears to be true.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she drowned out the clapping and shouting around her as she calmed herself. She was getting carried away, that's all it was.

Nobody would allow any of those things to happen. Her father wouldn't let something like that happen and if she asked, Lysa wouldn't let something like that happen. The combined might of the Vale and the Riverlands wouldn't allow anything like that to happen.

That calmed her rising anxiety.

Her eyes shot open at the sound of Arya cheering from where she was sat, the losing battle she was fighting to get her to act a little more sensibly in public was always tiring.

She looked back over to the yard to no doubt see Arya's annoyingly favourite brother doing something else extraordinary, well in Arya's eyes it would be extraordinary, her daughter practically worshiped him.

Instead, she witnessed the final member of the Stormlands team eliminate the final member of the dornish team, Lady Brienne holding the point of her tourney blade at the neck of Ser Gerold Dayne.

The Stormlands section of the crowd look both shocked and amazed as they all stood and cheered for the only representative of the Stormlands left in the bout. The dornish looked gutted but seemed to appreciate the Lady's skill as they polite clapped at what they'd just witnessed.

She'll never hear the end of this from Arya, it will most likely fuel her want to become some type of knight even more.

She looked to the two remaining members of the northern team, fully expecting them to take advantage of the two on one situation. But instead of striking while the iron was hot, both of them lowered their weapons and seemed to have a conversation with Lady Brienne, all whilst pointing in the direction of the other three members left of the melee.

The Crownlands team.

Ser Jaime, one of the best knights in the realm, Ser Arthur, considered to be the very best and the Crown Prince himself, Prince Aegon, a man who's been trained by the best in the realm.

This was surely where it ended.

Rhaegar

It would seem he'd underestimated Lord Umber when it came to Jon Snow, the Lord's trust in the boy's abilities had not been in vain. The information he'd received from his daughter, coupled with the fact that he'd seen him go toe to toe with the Red Viper proved the boy's worth.

Ser Gerold may have a new Kingsguard on his hands if the boy was at all interested. He thought to himself as he watched him, along with his teammate Lord Umber and Lady Brienne.

Smart. It would seem the three of them had come to the agreement that for them to even stand a chance of winning this thing, they needed to work together to get rid of the biggest threat.

It would be for naught though, he had belief in his men, he had belief in his son. His son at that moment in time had stepped forward and was saying something to the makeshift team that was approaching, unfortunately, it was too quiet for any of them to hear. It didn't help that the crowd was getting pretty loud with excitement.

Regardless of whoever wins this bout, he could safely say this had been a major success.

Well, apart from those Clegane brothers. Lord Tywin could sort that mess out, he wasn't getting involved.

"Looks like they've decided between them who would face who." His Queen said from her seat next to him. He looked at her and nodded before looking back to the yard. It would seem that Lord Umber had drawn the short straw and was paired up against Arthur, Jaime looked like he was attempting to redeem himself against Jon Snow and Aegon would have to deal with the warrior lady from the Stormlands.

He heard his mother tut from her seat next to his "I think Egg is going to struggle against her." She said as she looked on at the scene. He noticed her eyes bouncing back and forth between her grandson and Jon Snow.

Ser Barristan was stood behind his mother and he decided to ask his opinion on the matter, the veteran surely had a good idea as to why his mother thought such a thing.

"What do you think Ser Barristan? Is my mother correct?" He asked as he looked at the knight.

The knight seemed to prepare his answer in his head before answering moments later "Unfortunately I have to agree with her grace, your grace. Lady Brienne's fundamentals are almost perfect, something Prince Aegon has regularly struggled with and against whenever we've drilled him. It's the main thing Arthur gets on his back about your grace." He explained.

"A good test for him then, wouldn't you agree Ser Barristan?" Elia said as she gave the knight a kind smile. The knight nodded and replied.

"Correct. It would be impossible for him not to learn anything from this encounter your grace." Ser Barristan replied. Him and Elia both nodded at the knight before turning back to the yard, just in time to see their son squaring up against Lady Brienne.

"She's a bit bigger than him isn't she?" Elia seemed to say to nobody in particular as Aegon moved forward and made the first move between the two, Lady Brienne parried the strike easily before returning her own to which Aegon parried himself.

He didn't miss how much easier it was for Brienne to parry his son's strike compared to his son parrying her strike. He knew they were just testing the water against each other but it didn't fail in emboldening the Stormlander who parried another strike and returned a strike herself harder than the last.

The clashing of steel between the other two bouts didn't distract him from watching his son in his attempt to best the admittingly, fantastic fighter he was paired with. They went back and forth with each other striking and parrying each other's hits with precision, to anybody without an ounce of military background, the two of them were on an even playing field but to anybody with a little bit of knowledge about sparring, they could see that the Crown Prince was tiring as he blocked the heavier hitting strikes.

The sound of the crowd cheering and the groaning from the northern section of the crowd made him tear his eyes away from his son's bout and dart across towards the bout between Ser Jaime and Lord Stark's son, fully expecting to see the boy finally yielding after biting off more than he could chew. Instead, his eyes were treated to a beautiful looking riposte from the boy that almost disarmed Ser Jaime.

Okay, he's good.

So if wasn't Jon Snow being eliminated then it must be...

The sight of Arthur helping Lord Umber off the floor must have meant that the giant lord of Last Hearth had finally been defeated. The lord seemed to take it well as he laughed and smiled at the Sword of the Morning. He looked towards his teammate and seemed to think about yelling something at him but, as if realising it wouldn't do the lad any good with that sort of distraction, decided to stay quiet as he turned and waved at the crowd before making his way out of the yard.

Three against two.

C'mon Egg, you can do it. He thought to himself as he watched his son block a heavy strike. The hit looked like it almost sent him to the ground. It was clear to anybody that he was struggling against Lady Brienne.

The swords clashed again, this time locking in place against each other. The bigger frame of Lady Brienne was helping her out as she slowly pushed Aegon backwards, his boots scrambling for some sort of grip in the dirt as he dug them in. Out the corner of his eye, he noticed Arthur moving towards the pair of them, more specifically, behind Lady Brienne, with his sword primed to attack.

"No, don't!" He heard his son grit out through his teeth as he slowly succumbed to Lady Brienne's strength. Ser Arthur listened to his Prince and backed off from the two of them.

Everybody in the crowd seemed to deflate when one of Aegon's knees dropped to the dirt under the pressure, well, not everybody, the Stormlander's were ecstatic.

And they were even louder when his son begrudgingly yielded to the heir of Tarth.

A valiant effort Son.

Lady Brienne helped Aegon up from the ground and nodded at whatever he was saying to her, a smile lighting up her face then instantly giving way as she turned around and looked at Ser Arthur. His son smirked and patted her on the shoulder and with that, walked out of the yard, not without waving and bowing to the clapping crowd. The audience seemingly appreciative of their Prince's efforts.

"He did better than expected, your grace. You should be proud, one of the final five out of the many great fighters we've had is nothing to be embarrassed about. And he lost with dignity instead of taking a cheap victory." He heard Ser Gerold say from behind him. He turned and gave the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard an appreciative smile.

"I'm very proud of what he's achieved," He said as he looked back to the yard "...I can't imagine what Lord Stark is feeling though, I mean look at him Gerold." He said as he nodded towards the fight between Jaime and Lord Stark's son. His mother shuffled in her seat.

"Hmm, his fundamentals seem spot on from the glances I've been taking, and his swiftness makes little sense given his frame. A natural talent if I've ever seen one, your grace." Ser Gerold replied.

He turned and looked at him again "There's potential there, wouldn't you say? A future brother of the Kingsguard maybe? You and Barristan aren't getting any younger." He said as he chuckled at his little jape. Ser Gerold obviously didn't find it funny, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

It was at that moment he heard the crowd go quiet and group further away from him cheer. His head swivelling back towards the yard, the reason for Ser Gerold's surprised look helping Ser Jaime up off the floor with a big smirk on his face.

A funny feeling in his gut took root for a split second before dispersing.

"What happened?" He said, still shocked to see one of his best walking out of the yard, waving to the crowd as he exited.

"I think you need to invite him back to the Red Keep Rhaegar. If Lord Stark agrees and the boy is open to the idea, I think we might have a future Kingsguard on our hands." Elia said to his left, his question completely forgotten about. He didn't miss Rhaenys and Daenerys fidgeting in their seats as they pretended like they hadn't heard what his Queen had just said.

He looked at the yard, still surprised at what had occurred "How old did you say the boy was, your grace?" Ser Gerold said from behind him.

He shook his head "I didn't. But if I'm not mistaken, he's around the same age as my sister." He replied as he watched the boy walk around the two other fighters left in the yard. The way he watched them it was like he was trying to learn what to expect when he eventually faced one of them.

It'll be Arthur by the looks of it. The dornishman's superior skill slowly becoming too much for Lady Brienne.

He heard Ser Gerold clear his throat "Well in that case, I would have to agree with her grace. Inviting him to the Red Keep so we can assess him personally would be in all of our interests." The old knight replied. Rhaegar nodded without taking his eyes off the yard.

The crowd cheered, Ser Arthur holding the edge of his sword under Lady Brienne's chin. The woman had fought like a champion throughout the whole competition but it would seem that she'd met her match, something she shouldn't be disappointed about in the slightest, Arthur was the best of the best after all.

She's gonna inspire a lot of girls with that performance, it was almost a given. He thought.

He stood and clapped as she walked off the yard, everybody joining in when they saw what their King was doing. It wasn't long before Lady Brienne was out of sight and the applause came to a stop and was replaced with an excited murmur.

There was a buzz in the air, that was something he couldn't deny.

He turned to Ser Gerold "This is the big test for him, wouldn't you say Ser Gerold? How long can Jon Snow last against the Sword of the Morning." He said as he turned and looked back into the yard, both men slowly circling.

"The ultimate test your grace...especially now." Ser Gerold replied from behind him. The knight's belief reinforced as Ser Arthur picked up a discarded tourney sword left in the dirt and began swirling the pair of them hypnotically. An intimidation tactic if he's ever seen one.

To Jon Snow's credit, he didn't look too worried about the famous knight arming himself with a second blade. Rhaegar knew if nobody else did that Arthur arming himself with a second sword was his way of showing respect to his opponent's skill.

He could count on one hand the amount of times he's faced off against an individual with two blades outside of real battle.

Jon Snow had just joined that illustrious group.

"Arthur must rate his skill Ser Gerold, when was the last time you saw him do that?" He said as he nodded into the yard, Arthur still trying to intimidate the younger man.

Jon Snow looked cold and unaffected as the two of them carried on circling.

A quiet thumping grew and grew in volume as the crowd stomped their feet in rhythm, almost like they were trying to coax the two men to strike. The sound of clapping added to the stomping as the crowd grew louder and louder. It was starting to get deafening as the rhythm grew in tempo.

And then it stopped.

And replaced with murmurs as Jon Snow picked up a second sword out of the dirt himself.

"Surely not." He heard Elia murmur to herself as everybody looked on to see what the young northerner would do now he had a blade in each hand.

The silence in the yard was deafening as Jon Snow tested the weight of his second sword, seemingly identical to the one in his other hand. Gasps emerged all around the stands as the young man replicated the twirls that Ser Arthur had exhibited just before. He looked around the crowd, at his own family, all of them equally amazed at what they were witnessing right now.

He'd never been this interested in the outcome of one of Ser Arthur's fights in all his life.

He almost felt like a child again.

The two men slowly circled each other again when Snow eventually stopped with his own display, almost taunting the older knight as he grinned at him.

There's that funny feeling in his gut again.

He never had the chance to dwell on it because before anybody was even ready, the two of them were clashing in a dance of steel and power. It was almost like looking at art.

He's definitely coming back to the Red Keep with us, talent like that comes once in a lifetime.

He looked at Arthur as the two of them traded blow after blow, neither of them budging for the other. He couldn't imagine what was going through his head, this was probably the first time he's ever fought against someone who seemed to be able to stand toe to toe with him.

Arthur

Oh he was good, he was very good.

One of the lad's strikes nearly landing a hit on his arm if he hadn't twisted his body away from it.

Back and forth they went, clashing steel against steel without any breakthrough. He was very impressed, right about now he would be looking to take advantage of the glaring weakness of his opponent and ending this bout round about now.

But he couldn't. He thought, gritting his teeth as he blocked a heavy downswing. Any normal opponent would have left themselves wide open for the counter but not this one, the lad's second blade covering any sort of reply Arthur could muster.

The worst thing about it all was there was no talking, no taunts, no japes, nothing. The boy was cold, determined and uninterested in any sort of verbal competition. It made it hard for him to get a measure of the lad's temperament.

Focused would be one way to describe him. He mused as he just about avoided a lighting quick leg sweep, his trailing foot still getting caught but not enough to send him into the dirt. He stumbled a little as he rebalanced his stance, just in time to spin away from another downward swing.

Gods he's quick.

Who was this man? He thought. His blades flurrying against his opponent's, each jab and slash avoided or blocked. The only positive was the backfoot he'd put the lad on.

His offense is good and it would seem his defence is exactly the same.

I wonder if this is how Aegon feels when we spar?

Frustrated, that would be the word he'd describe what he felt right now as Snow saw every single one of his strikes coming every time without fail, each one hitting harder and harder against the dulled steel of his tourney sword as his frustration built.

Even under the relentless punishment he was dealing out against Snow's blades, he still didn't budge. Block after block as he moved backwards in an attempt at creating some space for himself.

All I need is one opportunity, because this isn't working.

The look in Snow's eyes was calculated and it filled him with dread when the lad repositioned himself. He favoured his right side as he blocked the strike from Arthur's righthanded sword, using his own strike to do so. It sent an uncomfortable jolt up Arthur's arm from the collision.

That's when Snow's eyes lit up, darting to the lefthanded strike Arthur had automatically decided to try in an attempt to catch him out.

He'd been read like a book.

Jon had recovered from the right sided blow a lot quicker than he had, thus giving him the ample time to block Arthur's lefthanded strike and lock it in between his crossed swords. The sword in Arthur's left hand was scissored between the two and ripped away from his hand deftly.

Fuck. He thought as the crowd around him gasped and muttered.

He didn't get chance to go back and wonder when he was last disarmed because as soon as the sword in his left hand hit the dirt, Jon Snow was on him like an opportunistic wolf. Left, right, left, right, he had to work twice as hard to block the dual onslaught of the two blades.

This was exhausting. He thought as he attempted a riposte against the lad's left strike, anything to even the playing field. But it was for naught, Snow had an iron grip on his hilt.

And an iron grip on this bout.

The effort he put in to disarm one of the lad's swords left him open for a strike in the midsection, the blunted steel clashing against his breastplate with force, sending shockwaves through his ribcage and producing an awful ringing noise in his ears.

I can't break through...

I'm gonna lose...

Snow stuck a foot out and forced him backwards with a push of his boot, if anything, he appreciated the chance to catch a breather.

Unfortunately, Snow had other ideas. The moment he was forced back with the kick, he was swiftly attacked again with another flurry of strikes coming from both sides.

He was relentless.

The only way he could scrape a win here would be due to an error, something Snow had shown little to no sign of.

He'd like to meet the person who'd trained him, congratulate him on creating a monster.

The strikes weren't letting up, he was exhausted, he could feel his tunic sticking to his skin, drenched with sweat. If he was going to make his move it had to be now or never.

There! The subtle lowering of Snow's left sword every time he struck with his right. He blocked the attack and waited for the strike from his right sword again to see if it was exploitable.

There it is again! The left sword lowered as he struck with his right again. All he had to do was pick his time...

Which was now! The right strike was blocked, a burst of adrenaline giving him the energy to twist his sword against the one in Snow's left hand. The contact held true as he twisted his wrist to rid the sword from the lad's hand, the sword was released from Snow's grip with ease...

Released...

Snow didn't even attempt to grip the blade as it was ripped from his hand...

He watched the sword fall to the ground but before it hit the dirt, he looked up at Snow's face...

He was smirking.

...He'd been played.

His free arm was dragged forwards, pulling him towards Jon before a knee was smashing into his chest and sending him backwards into the dirt.

His back collided with the ground and knocked the air out of his lungs. Muscle memory working overtime to right him back to his feet was futile, the weight and pressure of Snow's knee pressed against the Targaryen sigil on his breastplate spelt only one thing. He closed his eyes and came to terms with it.

He'd lost.

The cold steel gently rested against his throat, his eyes slowly opened as he let out a tired sigh. Snow didn't even speak, he just raised an eyebrow at him.

"I yield." He begrudgingly answered.

The crowd exploded with sound. The majority of the sound coming from the far end of the yard, where the northerners were situated.

The pressure from his chest subsided as Snow stood up and held a hand out, he grabbed it and was helped up to his feet by him.

"Well fought Ser." He said, the first thing he'd said to him, his northern accent lacing each word.

He gripped the lad's hand and gave it a solid shake whilst nodding "You fought brilliantly, the truest competition I've had in a while." He said. Snow looked down and smiled.

At least he's humble.

"Thank you Ser Arthur, means a lot coming from you." He replied, barely audible over the sheer noise that had took over the stands.

He nodded and grinned as Jon looked around the crowd, the lad sighing to himself "I think you might hate what comes next." Arthur said to him.

Jon huffed "Do you mean the attention? Yeah, I probably am." He replied, a little grin on his face. Arthur's own grin slowly fell from his face.

That grin...

Before he could over think anything, the herald's horn was blowing to announce the ending of the melee. The two of them turning to look up at their King as he stood up from his seat. With a wave in the air, the crowd quietened down to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, I think I speak for everybody here when I say I didn't see that coming." Rhaegar japed as the crowd chuckled.

His King held both of his arms out and pointed them both at Jon "The victor of the first Grand Melee of hopefully many to come, The North! And their champion, Jon Snow!" He announced as he began clapping, the rest of the royal family rising to their feet and joining in.

He held the lad's wrist and lifted it into the air, the crowd joining in with their King's applause. A couple of "Snow" chants heard from the northern spectators as the lad threw a thumbs up their way.

A weight had been lifted off of his shoulders in a funny way, the pressure of being one of the best fighters in the realm now shared with the man next to him. He just hoped the lad was ready for the kind of attention you got for having such a reputation, her remembers it taking him a few years to get used to it.

He smiled at the royal family as they looked on, Aegon's future Queen politely clapping with a smirk on her face as she nudged Daenerys in the shoulder. The King's sister was too busy beaming in their direction to even notice the nudge, so too was Princess Rhaenys. His Queen looked impressed by what she had seen and so too did the King as they nodded in their direction, Viserys was Viserys with his lacklustre applause but Arthur could see an almost shocked look on his face.

It was the Queen mother though, her reaction somewhat confusing.

Her chin held high with her royal mask well and truly in place as she clapped, what concerned him was the crack in said mask.

The sunlight illuminating her face, light bouncing off the moisture on her cheeks.

She'd been crying.