On the Kingsroad

The departure from Winterfell happened in a cold and windy morning, with sporadic summer snows, making the whole affair as brisk as it could get. First, the members of the royal family said there farewells to the Starks that would be staying in Winterfell, and when it was Lyonel's turn, he acted as a perfect prince should. Bending down, he kissed Catelyn Stark's hand and uttered some polite drivel he is supposed to say. When he looked at her face, her smile was sad, but also encouraging and consoling. Truly a great woman, whom Lyonel couldn't wait to meet again.

Lyonel gave Robb a firm handshake, and again bent down to kiss the hand of Alys Stark, formerly of Karhold. When he looked up, her grey eyes were hungrily searching through his face for something, just like during the dance. He knew that she wants something out of him, but have no idea what it is. Well, she hesitated, and now she will have to wait until he comes back. After giving a firm pat on the head for young Rickon Lyonel stepped back with his family, so that the Starks who will leave will have their privacy to say their farewells to the ones staying behind. Soon the whole entourage was out of the great grey walls of Winterfell, and the behemoth of a castle eventually became a smudge in the distance.

Lyonel screwed his eyes shut and stifled the groan. His mother's damn carriage has become the bane of his existence. It hit a bump seemingly every two steps, and broke down in five. Lyonel was glad for the strong bearing of this new body of his, or he would have puked ten times over. This was his first time in the carriage. It's considered very unbecoming for a healthy man to go on a carriage when he could ride, but as this would be the day he and Uncle Tyrion would split away from the main group, his mother insisted that he should spend time with them.

Taking a deep breath, Lyonel opened his eyes and looked around. He was sitting on one end of the carriage and his mother on the other, meaning they were directly facing one another. Yet Cersei for some reason refused to look at him, doing her best to avoid his eyes. Lyonel sighed. Every fucking family member of his except Robert have been acting weird for these past few weeks.

To Lyonel's left was the two Stark sisters. Sansa is constantly fidgeting around while looking at him. It seemed like she had a great deal to say to him, but didn't want the others in the carriage to hear her. Arya meanwhile was clearly bored, looking out through a window with longing and occasionally chucking out pieces of whatever food was laid in front of them to the direwolves trailing their carriage. If she noticed his mother and Sansa's clear displeasure at her actions, Arya didn't seem to care.

To his right was his siblings. Myrcella was looking about even more smug than usual, while Tommen was engrossed in a book, one of Septon Barth's works. Much to Cersei's horror, as Tommen grew up he took a shining to their Uncle Tyrion and became a voracious reader himself. When Cersei tried to stop this, Lyonel came and spoke in his younger brother's defense until Cersei conceded, but he knows that she was as vary of Tyrion as ever. Lyonel knew that Tommen had inspected every library of every castle he stopped, and spent much of the journey reading (Tommen had long given up on living up to other's expectations of him.) Many in fact believed that once Lyonel had children of his own and Tommen stopped being his heir, he would choose either to be a maester or a septon. But Lyonel knew that that's not what Tommen wanted, and besides he already has grand plans for his brother.

Finally, Cersei broke the awkward silence. "I still don't understand why you have to go to the Wall."

Lyonel sighed. "I have already told you this many times mother. I want to see at least one of the seven great wonders before more and more responsibilities fall on me." Lyonel said, the lie easily coming to his lips. It would be great to see the Wall of course, but the real reason he is visiting is far more serious than sightseeing. If any place in the world has the knowledge on how to defeat the White Walkers and make sense of his visions, it is the Wall.

"I wish I could go with Lyonel and see the Wall," Myrcella muttered.

"Absolutely not!" Cersei snapped at her daughter. "Do you think I would ever allow a daughter of mine to visit that den of rapists and thieves?"

An awkward silence again filled the carriage. Arya seemed angry about his mother's words about the Night's Watch, but thank the gods she held her tongue. Finally, it was Lyonel's mother who broke the silence again. "I don't like this trip of yours. I specially don't like that you are going with that hateful little-" Cersei broke mid sentence, remembering their were guests in their presence.

"Oh of course," Myrcella said grinning. "Uncle Tyrion will gut Lyonel when he's alone and sacrifice his innards to the grumpkins beyond the Wall."

"Or," Tommen added, sniggering. "He would eat overshadow poor Lyonel when they get to the Wall with his great martial prowess."

"Oh can you imagine the horror?" Myrcella asked in mocking shock.

Soon, both siblings were laughing their heads off. Lyonel joined them, but it was halfhearted, more to keep up appearances than anything else. As Lyonel and his siblings got older, they noticed the seemingly unfounded paranoia their mother have for their Uncle Tyrion, and started cracking jokes about it. But now Lyonel doesn't find them funny anymore, knowing the cause behind it; a prophecy his mother received as a child, which made her feel an immense sense of doom all her life. This is one of the many problems he now has to solve. Will his dear Uncle Tyrion one day try to strangle his loving mother? Or is the younger brother in the prophecy Jamie? Or maybe it shouldn't be taken so literally and the valonqar in the prophecy is meant in a more looser sense? Is it a self fulfilling prophecy and could be avoided if he got his mother to treat her uncle better? Is the prophecy still true, considering that Cersei doesn't have three gold haired children in this timeline, or was the prophecy in this different world stated two gold haired children and one black haired one? Lyonel rubbed his forehead. This is getting too complicated, so he spent his attention to matter he can actually help with; consoling his mother.

"I won't be away for too long, mother," Lyonel said. "We will be spending a week at the Wall, at most. Afterwards, I'm planning to go to White Harbour and take a ship down south. That'll be much quicker than the road, specially since I won't have to stop at every castle and holdfast to have supper so it's lord can feel important. I'll wager that I may even be able to get to King's Landing before you do."

Cersei gave a non committal 'humph,' but Lyonel knew she was somewhat happier at the news.

After a moment of silence, the carriage slowly came to a halt. It was evident that the time of shared journey is at an end. There was a palpable air of sadness in the air, but the people inside the carriage dutifully went out. Outside, the well paved road was split in two; one leading north to the Wall and the other to the South. Most of the entourage is slowly turning south, though a small group of men in horseback, wearing Lannister red and Baratheon yellow, were patiently awaiting in the road to the north, Lyonel and Tyrion's guard.

On the side of the road was King Robert and Lord Stark, inspecting the procession on horseback. When Robert spotted them, he called out to Lyonel. "Well boy, time to say goodbye."

Lyonel turned back. His mother was the first to embrace him. "Be safe, my son," she whispered, while stroking the back of his head. A group of young knights and squires who were passing down the road at the moment snickered at the apparently unmanly display, but if they knew how it felt to have the most beautiful woman of the seven kingdoms lean on your body, they would be weeping instead of laughing.

Afterwards, it was Myrcella's turn. Just like the last time they hugged, she pressed her whole body against Lyonel's. Her firm tits squished against Lyonel's toned stomach, while Myrcella's abdomen nestled his crotch, her swirling dress concealing the lewd acts from others' eyes. This time though, Lyonel didn't jump away, but rather, just enjoyed the feeling. Eventually the princess had to pull away. She looked at him with her mischievous smile, knowing he too fully enjoyed what she did. Then, pressing her hand firmly on his chest, she raised herself by her toes and kissed Lyonel's cheek, though it was very close to his mouth. "Come back to me soon, brother. May the Seven watch over you in your travels," she said in a very pious tone, though her wicked grin conveyed anything but piety.

Afterwards, it was Tommen's turn. Lyonel wouldn't mind hugging him too, but it would hurt whatever little reputation his younger brother has left. Instead he firmly grasped Tommen's hand and patted him on the arm, saying "I'll bring you something from beyond the Wall, Tommen." Tommen gave a sad, understanding smile and nodded.

When Lyonel came in front of her, Sansa did a perfect curtsy, though it looked like she wanted to do much more. Once Lyonel kissed her hand and looked up he said, "There's a lot more I wanted to say to you, my lady. But I suppose we will have our entire future together for that, huh?"

"Yes your Grace," Sansa said breathily as she blushed.

When Lyonel got close to Arya, she gave a fake, polite smile, while muttering under her breath, "Remember your promise."

"Sword fighting lessons, I know," Lyonel whispered back as he kissed her hand as well. "I can't wait to spend my time with such a beauty."

One good thing about the Northerners; their skin is so pale that it's easy to see them blush, no matter how hard their try to hide it.

Finally, Lyonel walked over to Robert and knelt in front of him and patiently waited as he climbed down of his horse with some struggle. Finally he walked up to Lyonel. "I'm not going to weep and hug you like a bloody woman," King Robert said gruffly.

"That would be horrifying your Grace," Lyonel replied.

Robert roared with laughter as he jerked his son to his feet and put an arm around him. "Now you be careful, boy. I know you won't be able to resist going beyond the Wall, but I've instructed your guards that the moment you go so far that you can't see the bloody thing, they are to drag you back into the Wall."

"I thank you for your concern, your Grace."

"CONCERN? I just don't want your ass to get frozen in a blizzard north of the Wall!" Robert thundered before laughing off, while Lyonel smiled indulgently. Whatever fault Robert has, he does love his eldest son.

Lyonel watched patiently as the others bid their farewells. Myrcella and Tommen both got down onto their knees to hug Uncle Tyrion, much to their mother's disapproval, though thankfully she didn't make a scene. Jon Snow spoke some brisk words to his father before shaking his hand. Arya hugged him tightly, though Sansa only said some necessary polite words.

Afterwards, the three climbed on to their horses and, surrounded by their small group of guards, began to ride up the Kingsroad, deeper and deeper into the wilderness.