GoT S8E4 Ch. 05 Epilogue

***

Sorry so long. I have been working on other things. I should rename the five chapters the Ballad of Brienne and Jaime. Enjoy my ending...

***

Tyrion frowned at Ser Brienne, who stood before him in her gold armor. "Well, Ser, just spit it out. You asked to speak with me about a delicate family matter, and here we are, so speak. The rest of the small council will be here soon and then we won't be able to hear ourselves think let along discuss anything over Bronn and Davos. It's been three months since our first council meeting, but I'll be happy if we can make it a year before they come to blows at the table."

Brienne put her hand on the hilt of Oathkeeper. Her face was pale, almost green. "Nothing could make me prouder than serving His Grace, but I am afraid I may not be able to serve him for much longer. At least temporarily. Depending on your thoughts. And the king's."

"What?" Tyrion said. "The appointment to the kingsguard is for life. You serve at His Grace's pleasure. I have no say in the matter. One doesn't get a reprieve from the Kingsguard, Lady Commander."

"I understand, Lord Tyrion, and this is not about my pleasure. My appointment to the kingsguard is the greatest honor and achievement of my life. I don't want to let it go. It is just that, physically, I may not be in any condition to be protecting the king," she said. She frowned, then dashing to the small potted tree near the windows, threw up into it before Tyrion could even speak.

Samwell Tarly entered the room. "Has she told you yet?" Sam asked, pouring a cup of water and handing it to Brienne before sitting in his place.

Tyrion didn't know who to see about first. "Is Ser Brienne seriously unwell? All she got out was that she might not be able to serve the king and then - well, as you see."

"This part is never agreeable, and it's lasting longer than usual, but we have no reason to believe other than it will soon be over," Sam said. "Do you need anything else, Ser Brienne?"

She shook her head and moved to her seat at the table, pouring herself more water before sitting down. "A moment, if you please," she said, collecting herself. "I don't even know how to begin again."

Sam calmly took his seat, but Tyrion couldn't help but think something dreadful was about to be laid at his feet.

Brienne began again heaving a great heavy sigh. "I am with child, Lord Tyrion. Now you tell me if I am fit to guard the king."

The wine glass in Tyrion's hand slipped through his fingers and shattered on the floor. "With? With?" was all he got out, his mouth moving but no coherent speech coming out.

Sam rolled his eyes at both of them. "Ser Brienne is quite healthy, Lord Tyrion. Her condition is temporary, and began before she was appointed to the kingsguard. She has broken no vows, as she probably had no thought for her condition when she made them. I am sure, among us here, we can find some logical outcome."

Tyrion could not believe his brother had done it again. "Fathering children seems to be the thing my brother was best at, after all."

"This wasn't meant to happen. I have never been a regular woman. I didn't even think I could, that I was - fit - in that way," Brienne said. "I - we - we should have been more careful. I will understand if I must be stripped of my cloak and position," she said. "A Lady Commander was already highly irregular."

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves," Tyrion said, his brain now digesting the information he'd been given. "As Tarly has pointed out, we have some wiggle room, if not precedent. We've chosen our king, surly we can find room for a pregnant Lady Commander of the Kingsguard. Tarly, what - how - will she be able to do her duties?"

"I would like to read more, but both times, Gilly only got really encumbered the last few weeks. I would say what she does depends mostly on Ser Brienne, other than just after giving birth while she is healing. No different than a war wound - bleeding is bleeding. After that she should be right back to fighting shape," Sam said with a smile.

"Hmm," Tyrion said.

Brienne just shook her head. "I don't know anything about babies, or children. My mother died when I was quite small. This whole thing is not what I would have chosen. I worked to put my memories of your brother away, but the world it seems has other plans. This is a disaster on many levels."

"No. No it isn't," Tyrion said, "compared to what we have all just lived through. It's just as it should be. We have all been too long at war, have overseen too many deaths. Life must follow on it's heals if the world is to go on. Jaime supported your goals, admired them. He helped where he could. I doubt he would like being the cause of the upset of your life - any more than he'd already been. There is not a man on the council that doesn't know how hard you worked to earn it. Why should this little hiccup change anything?"

Ser Brienne nodded to Tyrion. "I appreciate that Tyrion, but there is more to it than just ourselves. This will be a scandal, to be sure. Men skip away from the shame of their bastards. Women carry it with them plainly, as do the children saddled with a bastard's name."

"And you, Lady Commander," King Bran said from the doorway, Ser Podrick pushing his wheeled chair into the room, "does this baby shame you?"

They all stood at the appearance of the king. Bran regarded Brienne calmly, as he always had since asking her to be his Lady Commander. "Well, does it? You closed the book on Ser Jaime rather definitively, after you completed his page in the Book of Brothers."

Brienne blushed a bit, but said, "If I closed the book harshly, it is because no good can come of crying over the past. For myself, I feel no shame. I am used to the judgment of others and care only for my own council, Your Grace's and others that wish me well. It is the uncertainty that troubles me. This child was created on accident, but with great affection on both sides, I believe. My worry is for the child going forward."

Bran nodded. "The past teaches lessons, but if we stay there too long, it could very well trap us," Bran said softly. "So what would you do - go away for a time, keep it secret, a foster in another noble house or perhaps on Tarth? Or stay and have the baby here, in view of Westeros? Understand, either way you'll still be the Lady Commander of the Kingsguard."

Brienne nodded, saying, "Thank you, Your Grace." She sipped her water. "There is much to consider, in this new Westeros. Family names, inheritances, legitimacy."

Tyrion started to blubber, much to the surprise of the council. "Lady Commander - Brienne. Please, stay here. Your child will be my family, too. My only family. We could ask the king to legitimize the child. Boy or girl, this baby would also be my heir - the heir to Casterly Rock."

Brienne sat for a moment thinking. "This is a greater matter than one Lady Commander and one bastard child. This child has a House, perhaps even two Houses, as it has two parents. A child for a woman is not like that of a man. A woman knows she is the mother of her child, and I'd wager usually knows the father too, unless she is a - paid companion. Why can the child not use the mother's name? Especially when it's a question of inheritance among noble Houses. If a woman is the heir or sovereign, as is Yara Greyjoy, why should her children be other than Greyjoy? Will Sansa Stark, Queen in the North, give birth to aught but Starks? No offense to House Lannister, but why should mine not be Tarth?" she said as if coming to a decision aloud.

Bran looked back and forth between Tyrion and Brienne. "This may be a matter for the Hand and the Master of Laws to settle, in consultation with the Lady Commander. Questions of rightful succession are what start wars, as we have seen. Many men were lost in this War of Ice and Fire. Many noble Houses are currently left with only the female line to inherit. We can set precedence with this child, and others soon to come. As for Lord Tyrion's heir, perhaps we can shape those expectations too, by naming heirs as well as birthing them," he said.

Tyrion had collected himself during the discussion. "I see no reason this child cannot be named Tarth, at its birth. The child could be made a Lannister at some later time. We can let it be known this is so, that it is my will, as encouragement to others to do the same. I am not my father's first born, after all. In fact I'm sure the man is twisting in the Seven Hells just thinking about it."

"This sort of thing has been happening all along - Bear Island, Tarth itself, all the ladies here in Westeros left in charge of Houses great and small. There's hardly a man alive between the ages of 14 and 50. Perhaps now we can find a way to codify it," Samwell said, "for the good of the Realm."

"For the good of the Realm," King Bran said. "I think you have it now, Councilors."

***

Tyrion watched Ser Bronn sparring with his young partner at the water's edge, in the same place where Jaime had tried to relearn the skill that had made him happiest. They came here to practice left-handed, as the Great Cat loved to pretending to be Ser Jaime, survivor of the Long Night, Knight of the Bells, Broken Shield of the People of King's Landing. Although, other times the Cat was Arya Stark, stabbing the Night King to save the living. Tyrion loved to tell Cat stories about Brienne and Jaime, about other Lannisters, the Targaryens, the Queen Sansa and Arya Stark - even Jon Snow. Some of the stories were even true. The tall, slim child reminded Tyrion of Jamie. Beautiful, the Great Cat was, all blond hair and fine features and impossibly long legs for a nine year old, though with eyes of Tarth blue instead of Lannister green. Tyrion loved no one in the world more. He had been honored when Brienne allowed him to stand as foster father for the child, and not only uncle. The Great Cat was his lion.

Lady Commander Brienne came walking down the steps, watching Bronn and Cat spar, smiling. After these nine years working with Brienne, it was Tyrion's favorite smile, the one she'd given his brother, and now their child. She stood, in her tall, quiet way, and watched them finish. "Very nice. Your father would be proud. You've even gotten better about your thumb," she said.

The Great Cat leaped into Brienne's arms, kissing her everywhere. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank You! I have worked so hard on that!"

"I can see that you have," Brienne said. "And your right hand is even better. But remember, there is more to a knight than swordplay."

Cat let go of Brienne and hugged Bronn, who had joined them near the steps. "Thank you, Ser Bronn. I love fighting left handed."

"You are welcome, Lady Catelyn," Bronn said. "Never could get your father to use his left thumb properly."

The little girl straightened, at the use of her proper title. Tyrion knew Brienne liked to tell her to be her best at whatever she set her mind to, whether that be as a knight or a lady. "I try to be as good a knight as my mother and father."

"You're on your way, then," he said, still breathing heavily. "Now please excuse me, it's taking me longer than usual to get up the stairs these days."

Brienne and Tyrion nodded to him, and they both turned to Catelyn. Brienne took the practice swords and one small hand, while Tyrion took the other. They started walking up the stairs. "Mother, are you sure you cannot come with Pawpaw Tyrion and I to Tarth?" Catelyn asked. "Grandpa and Lady Seaworth will miss you."

"I cannot, as much as I would like to go. I can only go when the King travels to the Stormlands for his Progress. My duties are with the king. Besides, it is important for a young lady to have some adventures without her mother. Or what else would we have to talk about when you return?"

The little girl giggled. "You could tell me about daddy again - about when you fought the bear."

"You've heard that story a thousand times already!" Brienne smiled.

"Yes, but I can't imagine you in a dress. I think it's funny," the little girl said.

"Now you're just being cheeky," Brienne said.

"No I am not!" Cat declared. "I mean, why would you ever wear a dress? You wear a knight's cloak to state events with King Bran and you already had daddy. Dresses are only for formal occasions and catching men, as far as I can tell."

Brienne and Tyrion both laughed at that. Cat's little mind was always busy filling in gaps that the adults left for her. They had agreed to leave a lot out, rather than lie about it outright. And in this new Westeros, there were many young women at court as soldiers and knights, or heads of Houses. In this next year, at the ten year memorial, they would be knighting several new female Sers among the other festivities, in honor of Lyanna Mormont, a hero of the Long Night.

Before either parent had to come up with a better explanation, the Tarly children screamed down from the heights, calling for the Great Cat to come play. Brienne nodded at her daughter, who ran off to join Sam and Jon.

"Brienne, I am sad everyday that I didn't leave Jaime chained to that post in the Northern camp on the Day of the Bells. Great Cat shouldn't be an only child."

"What foolishness you speak, Tyrion. His living past the day doesn't mean we would have been together again," Brienne said.

Tyrion was surprised. "Would you not have taken him back? I mean, not at once, but eventually. Especially when you found out about Cat."

"I don't know, if I am honest. But even if we had - come to an understanding again - he wouldn't have been able to be a blameless knight, and he would have hated feeling like he failed again. Cat might have been the making of him, but it's just as likely he would have crumbled under the pressure," she said as they walked slowly up the steps.

"What do you mean?"

"Your brother was a brave man, and honorable when he could be, but he was also an arrogant asshole. A person he could respect on their own, but the masses - I don't think he really cared about them beyond whether they were useful to him. Broken Shield of the People of King's Landing? Please."

Tyrion smirked. "That one was a stretch, but it's possible. The bells rang, as we had planned. The city surrendered. Daenerys razed it anyway. Cersei was bad, the Dragon Queen was worse. Jon Snow saved us from her and was punished for it - the man who should have been King of the Seven Kingdoms. The best of us, truly. But Bran the Broken saw us through the end of the war, the Uprisings, through the Great Rebuilding, and into what I hope will be the Age of Laws. These tales are fundamentally true, but no more true than those that come to us from the Age of Heroes, nevermind what they'll be in one hundred years time, or a thousand. If the people love a story, why not one about my brother? The tales say he went into the city as an unarmed noncombatant to plead with our sister to leave, or at least ring the bells in surrender - he saved the city from Targaryen madness before and got only derision. Why should he not get a little credit for trying to save it again? Normally, you're more supportive of his memory."

"Normally, yes. Catelyn will hear enough truth about her father, she doesn't need to also hear it from me. He had his good points. But I wouldn't want her to put him beyond reproach. No one should be beyond reproach. No one can be that good," she said.

"This from you, Ser Brienne? Who is better than you?" Tyrion said, stopping to look up at his tall companion.

"I am not that good, Tyrion. I feel wrath and jealousy. I judge where perhaps understanding and mercy might be better. I am only human. And Cat should know this about both her father and myself."

They walked along in quiet, as they often did. Tyrion liked this about Brienne. She wasn't chatty, but the conversation was still good - better - from it being less but of more import.

The children came screaming down past them, Gilly and Sam behind. The children were stripping off clothes as they went - they were going to go swimming. The four greeted each other warmly, but then Sam and Gilly went down.

They watched the children swimming and laughing, and Sam and Gilly too, wading at least, near enough to grab the children if need be. Tyrion and Brienne went down to the little bench a landing below them. Swimming made Brienne nervous, but she didn't want to hover.

After some time, Tyrion asked, "Brienne, did you love my brother? I have never heard you say it."

Brienne didn't look at him, only at Catelyn. "Of course I loved him. But it was never worth talking about while she was alive."

"I know he loved you, in whatever way was left to him after Cersei," Tyrion said.

"We were equals and friends. I had the best of him, even if I didn't get to keep him, in the end. I don't regret being second best," Brienne said. "We don't choose who we love."

"You really are too good. You can't tell me you weren't a little jealous," Tyrion said.

"Of course I was. Hopelessly jealous. But then I realized three things. First, that he could have had many other women, despite his vows, but that he chose not to break them. Yet he pursued me, made love with me. If he had been able to choose, I was his choice. Second, our child was made in celebration of life, in an open attachment and with the approbation of our family and friends. I may look like a monster to many, but our child is no abomination in either sept or godswood," she stopped and smiled at the shrieking beasts below them.

"And the third?" Tyrion asked when she didn't continue.

"And third," she said slowly, seriously. "And third, if being Cersei Lannister was what it took to be Jaime's only love - well - I believe it's very easy to not be Cersei Lannister," she said with a wry smile for Tyrion. "I should never want to be Cersei Lannister."

"Good point," Tyrion said. "I should think Westeros has had its fill of mad queens, excepting Queen Sansa, of course. You're still willing to allow our Great Cat to foster at Winterfell for a time once she is old enough?"

"I am. She should know the North, where she was made, and Queen Sansa is what is best in a sovereign. Not to mention the queen's mother was Cat's namesake. Catelyn Tully Stark was not my own mother, but she was the first woman to believe in me and depend on me as one would a knight."

"Queen Sansa has proven a most capable ruler," Tyrion said with a wistful smile. "It is possible for a woman to make the better ruler. I have no doubt queens can be strong and kind, demanding and just. Shrewd but honorable. After our dear childless king, a woman may just be what the Six Kingdoms need, I say."

"Tyrion Lannister, I will make you a Quarter Man and feed you your own testicles if you even try to put my daughter on the throne after Bran, as I live and breathe."

"Ah, Brienne of Tart, I have missed you," Tyrion said.

***

Thanks for reading the Ballad of Brienne and Jaime.