Lady of the Ironoaks/

POV Anya Waynwood

I served my house almost 20 years as it's head ,And I served it splendidly . I was the only child my father had and after my mother died and he did not remarried .

I was raised to rule my house , not to sold out as a broodmare to another house. And I married to my cousin Hother . It was no political marriage and there was no advantage in it , Still we loved eachother and our family approved it too . He was basically the second in line for the inheritance. He fought in the nine penny war with my father as his squire . My father died in that war and Hother gained his knightwood . My uncle Rober and also my goodfather married us after that to secure the line of succession . I did my duty and the fruit of our marriage brought me Two sons .

But nothing lasts forever my husband died In a ambush on road the by one of the notorious mountain clan's 'The Howlers' along with ten good Knights . We also lost the Valerian steel sword that our ancestors left behind with him.

I asked lord Arryn for the retribution of my husband .But we know that our knights could defeat those savage in open battle but they have no power deep in those mountain. So all I could do is mourn his death .

And because of my duty I could not properly raise my son's , And the distance between us grow farther and farther.

Then a new crisis emerge in our mining village , They caught some nasty plague and because it all it's Miners and there family died . We also had some hand in there deaths , But i also know that we can't let it spread .

And that pandemic gave my family a grave blow . The iron mine is where the most income of our family came from. So without the miner's that served my house for generations it became a very dangerous financial situation for us. That's not all , because we can't simply hire some farmers to do the job ? Mining is no simple matter and not everyone can do it . And the neighbor lords won't give up there one either , Because they have no benefit in it . Only the westerland have greater number of them in all the kingdoms , With correct price I can be arranged . Though slavery is ban in westeros but this kind of relocating of the small folks is legit , And they are still free and could leave anytime they want .

So I needed to hired some of those miner's from the westerland and contacted lord Tywin Lannister will give some of those miner's that he is no need for . But I know he will only give us those that worked under house Reyne and Tarbeck . But the price of that we had to pay was like a cutting an arm from our treasury.

So I married again, and this time for some political reason . So my uncle arranged my marriage to a Gulltown Arryn , And they will provide us the amount of coins we needed . How ironic that is , a woman getting a dowry .

But Those marchant Arryns did fulfill there promise and I married to the sickly man Artos Arryn. Who just died next in the morning of our bedding night, But he did his duty before dieing . He was a kind man i hope we had more time.

But his death gave me and my family a horrible rumors ,And cut of any other marriages for me .But I was fine by that but the rumors are not something really good for any house . And Lord Arryn did helped me and my family with his othority and crushed them before spreading farther that's why he has my households eternal loyalty.

Time passed away and similarly I have to leave my son's to my uncle Rober and he just basically raised them and did all the work . But I know he's not getting younger and his age is catching up to him . He does basically everything of my house except the paperwork . And most of my time passed away attending Lord Arryns court . And I did gained lots of influence there and not only that, I could be said a close friend of Jon Arryn .

Then a new crisis emerge , my son my hair who just married only a year later started to overthrow me ? I know this is because that whores whispers . It's not like I'm ruling my house forever . I was going to step down and in a year . But my house is now reduced to it's weakest in the eyes of all the lord's after the death of my husband ,So I needed find some loyal and worthy knight that can replace uncle Rober .

So to find a new captain of my household guards I attended the tourney of harranhall with lord Arryn . And we could surely find a worthy knight from a tourney this big.

I just wanted to find a good swordsman because against the those mountain clan's, horse do not hold any advantage. And a good swordsman could become a great master at arms and can traine my household guards .

So I watched the melee and already found a perfect knight worthy of my house . He was like the legendary winged knight himself and how perfectly his knocking out opponent after opponent, Even mighty lord Yhon Royce lost against him.

But I lost my interest when the violent brawling match that knight started with Lord Bratheon.

Then the feast in Lord Walter Whents castle we meet again with the winged helm knight , but he could be said a different man in the night. He was elegant as any nobleman in the feast, Tall handsome and strong .So i asked my eldest son who is seating with bored expration to meet the man . Well he doesn't have many friends so maybe he could make one . And I started collect some information about him ,and which house he serves . But I could not find many information on him , because the competition just grown ten fold, And everyone started to the same .

Because he's currently a hedge knight and not bound by any house . And because of that lots of lord is trying to recruit him . Even my lord paramount is showing some interest in recruiting him.

But i when watched that my lonely son joined in the drinking competition with ser Winters and Lord Bratheon . I was happy that he's making some form of friends .

But drinking and fighting is not the only thing that the foreign knight is capable of doing . His singing voice can match even the prince Raegar Targaryen , How can man have mastered that many skills ? an interesting person indeed .

When I was dancing with lord Arryn, ser Alan Winters come to us and asked for a dance . I was surprised by it, but accepted nonetheless. I know I already passed the prime of my beauty , but it felt good that someone is actually giving some attention . That moment I felt that I was young again .

My son Morton did joined the jaust and got defeated by a knight from house Bracken . But for some reason ser Alan Winters did not joined the jaust . But what I learned from Ollena Tyrell that he was the champion in the recent tourney in highgarden . I was a little disappointed by the news .

Interaction with other ladies was fine but the lady of Highgarden is something that not actually great. And for some reason my dislike of her grow by every hour . Ollena Tyrell spoke as she's the queen of seven kingdoms herself or better. All because she one's rejected a Targaryen marriage , And now rulling one the greatest kingdom. Well it's technically true, because we all know that the actual queen Rahella targaryen have no power at all . And there is another powerful woman The ruling princess of dorne lady Meria Martell, but she did not attend here . And so because of her little high standing she treated other ladies beneath her and that did irritated lot of us and her moniker 'The queen of Thorns'. Gave her a terrifying reputation .

Next was the tourney, but that ended in a horrible fashion . But nothing serious happened but Lord Arryn for some reason wanted to hurriedly return to his land ,And rest of the Lord and ladies of the Vale, And surprisingly Ser Alan Winters as well joined us. And I inquire about him to my son and he told me that our singing knight wants travel to Vale and wanted to see it's wander . My son spoke very high of the man and how he gave my son some advice on how to make friends. I was really happy to hear it that my son is making some connections .

And also quite greatful that ser Winters join our contingent from Vale. By the Gods .... the man knows how to entertain . Be it his remarkable voice or the new tale's of far away land that we learned from him.

The story's he told us are both fascinating and enjoying. And he's friendship with lord Bratheon is also fun to watch . And what I observed that Ser Alan love's to entertain people with his various kind of skills.

But we ladies were irritated when the young lord and knights dragged him to sparring when he was singing to us some good songs . But he did find some times to entertain us in the castle.

I never spent this much time with a man for a long time . But spending time with him and learning about the world is very fascinating. You can't learn them from books or the Maesters . It was good time indeed ,I also thought that what if I met him Ten years ago .

I know there's something else is going on with my Lord paramount's mind when he ordered some of us to make a survey of our levy's and knights we could master .

Other Lords already left the castle with there horse but we couldn't because of my luggage and the carriage, And for that an arguement broke out with my son . And what my son said is true , it is becoming very dangerous on the road now a days, because of those mountain clan's are getting very active. And we currently have small amount of guards and servants with us .

So I somehow formed a brilliant plan and told my son that we should invite Ser Alan Winters to our castle , My son beamed with the idea and agreed . So we both asked the Man with no room for retreat .

And the gallant knight accepted and replied in a poetic manner " I shall escort the mother of my lordly friend , And I'll let no harm come to the beautiful Lady ".

Traveling in the road could not make me bored because of my new brilliant ascorts . Ser Alan Winters have not only one but six squires now . He had two at first but he had them knighted in Harranhall for defeating other opponents . And sended them to their house , And now he took six of them ? But what I observed that this young squires have enough strength to best even the veteran knights . And in pure sword fight my son could not defeat three of them . And that is truly impressive how much better he could traine his subordinates.

Everything was good but all is ruined when those mountain demons attack us in the night . Morton is injured and little Donnell is is physically fine but gone the naive boy he was. He did not took any words from me instead stayed at his brothers side. My trusted maid and servants are now gone . All because of those savages , but there are all gone now and Ser Alan made sure of .

And I personally watched the death of there chief , how he's limbs were cut down and how he died from losing his blood. This savages deserve more than simple death but it will do for now.

I was truly surprised when ser Alan presented me the sword that he had taken from that ugly monster . I was brought to tear because it was same sword that my ancestors used and the last person of my family that used it was my husband,The pride prestige of my family . A valyrian steel sword is priceless because no house would ever sell it , they would rather part with there daughter but not a family treasure like this.

Ser Alan could keept it with him because he earned it through right of conquest , but chose to return it ? So I asked him and he just laughed and said " My Lady that sword is belongs to your house it has been carrying the history, pride and the legacy along with it . I feel I do not have the right to openly use a famous sword like that . And also to me friendship of Morton has more value than then some sword." It was very naive but a natural answer that came out of his mouth . I did not have the words to reply .

I felt little guilty about myself as well , because how I schemed to recruit him . And he just saved not only my life ,but my sons as well and returned a priceless artifact . How can i repay him ? the amount of debt is truly high. I should discuss this with my uncle he might know some answers ,he always does.

I was little happy that two of my son's guards survived and with Ser Alan's advice I sended them to Ironoaks to inform uncle Rober to bring Maester lumas and more guards.

So some more preparation we resumed our travel . I cannot travel in my carriage so the kind knight offered me to ride with him , And how can i dicline such offer? any woman would liked to ride the handsome white mount of Ser Alan. And brought some old memories when I was little , The last time i rode a horse, it was with my father.

I was truly worried about my son's health but ser Alan told me not to worrie too much , but still a mother's hearts always stays restless when lives of her child is in danger .But how well Ser Alan bandage the wound of my son it can put a well trained Maester to shame . And what Ser Alan told me that my son's main injury was that he was hit in the head with a stone hammer . And that's why he still unconscious, "after some good rest he'll be running in no time " is what he said to me..

I am truly grateful for those comforting words even if there untrue . But the way said those words does gave me more strength then anything .

I sometimes question myself that how can a man be this naive ? But maybe that is his strength, being honest with every person he meets does gained him lots of friends and allies .

I just leaned against his broad chest . he kept one of his strong arm gently on my abdomen to keep me safe from falling . The manly smell of his body came to my nose and I forget which world I was in , what thinking ? he's just a little older than my son.

Then I felt that he was not wearing his armour , why ? I know he didn't have the time to wear it last night , though he did managed kill half of those without one .And not getting a single scratch , I'm afraid even ser Barristan selmy can't do the same . Hm .... maybe he forgot , So I asked him " Ser Alan why is that your not wearing your armour ? we can wait for you to fully armoured and resume our travel ." He did not looked surprised , so he did not forget then, but why is it ? he replied with a smile " My Lady it would be truly uncomfortable for you If I wear my armour it will poke your back in every bump on the road." I blushed from that answer , and the next moment my hand lost its grips from the horses mane .But Ser Alan did grabbed me before I could fall from the horse. And one his hand accidentally gone to my breast .I thanked him for saving me again but He just apologized multiple time. And the look of his face was priceless so I started to tease him . " Well Ser if this is how I must pay my debt to you then I have no choice but to accept my fate . you can have this old woman's body at your mercy." The look of the mighty knight could be described as a big tomato . Well if I had a daughter I would give her to hand to him .

But unexpectedly he told one of his squire that he will be riding a little ahead and spanked his horse to go faster . Then he wisper in to my ears " Well my lady I'll at least check out what are you willing to offer ".

(AN) Give your opinion guys should I proceed with the Mature stuff or not .