[He looks at the girl's statue for a long moment. It's only what he can remember of the statue. He is not sure he got the face right. His father would have done a better job of it, he is sure.]
I don't know. My father wouldn't speak much of her. Everyone always said she was beautiful. A little wild -- she liked to ride. Dark hair, like most of the Starks.
[Like his. In fact, the statue shows very little, but perhaps it looks a little like him.]
I don't think it matters much what most people want where I come from, women or men, but you're right that a lot of highborn girls don't have much say. I don't know how she felt about Robert, or Rhaegar. They were both very handsome, both great warriors -- though by the time I saw him, Robert was a fat old drunkard with a cruel wife. His wife helped kill my father, she's tried to kill my sister, she's still trying to kill me. Rhaegar kept Lyanna in a tower down in Dorne -- that's way down south. He called it the Tower of Joy.
My father became Lord Stark, married his brother's betrothed. Her father's men joined his men, and Robert's men, and Lord Arryn's men. King's men began to lose, and eventually, Rhaegar's armies met Robert's armies at the River Trident. It had been more than a year since the war began, and my father had got me on some woman in that time. His wife was not best pleased. Once they knew each other, he would not look at other ladies, but during the Rebellion, they were hardly more than strangers. He'd left just after their wedding night.
Ah, well. Robert and Rhaegar met in single combat, and in the end, Robert slew Rhaegar with a blow to the chest with his war hammer.
The old Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister, he had held back his armies, not taken sides in the war, because of some quarrel he had with the Mad King, but when he saw which way the wind was blowing, he joined his banners with Robert's and sacked the capital. So my father went to the capital, found that Tywin's son had slain the Mad King and his knights had slain Rhaegar's wife and their little children. He didn't speak of that much, either, but everyone knows it happened; Jaime Lannister is called the Kingslayer more than he's called by his name. Then my father went looking for his sister.
When he found my aunt, in the tower where Rhaegar had been keeping her, she was dying of a fever. My father and his friends had to fight and kill Arthur Dayne, the greatest Kingsguard of his time, might be the greatest Kingsguard of any time, to get to her, but he did. Many of the Northmen with him were slain in the fighting. But he saw her as she died, and he brought her body home to be buried in the North. It was in accordance with her wishes. I don't think she wanted her bones to lie somewhere so hot and dry, where she had been a prisoner. She was just sixteen.
[There's her voice, at least, as far as he knows. And now his voice is a little bit apologetic, as he continues,]
no subject
I don't know. My father wouldn't speak much of her. Everyone always said she was beautiful. A little wild -- she liked to ride. Dark hair, like most of the Starks.
[Like his. In fact, the statue shows very little, but perhaps it looks a little like him.]
I don't think it matters much what most people want where I come from, women or men, but you're right that a lot of highborn girls don't have much say. I don't know how she felt about Robert, or Rhaegar. They were both very handsome, both great warriors -- though by the time I saw him, Robert was a fat old drunkard with a cruel wife. His wife helped kill my father, she's tried to kill my sister, she's still trying to kill me. Rhaegar kept Lyanna in a tower down in Dorne -- that's way down south. He called it the Tower of Joy.
My father became Lord Stark, married his brother's betrothed. Her father's men joined his men, and Robert's men, and Lord Arryn's men. King's men began to lose, and eventually, Rhaegar's armies met Robert's armies at the River Trident. It had been more than a year since the war began, and my father had got me on some woman in that time. His wife was not best pleased. Once they knew each other, he would not look at other ladies, but during the Rebellion, they were hardly more than strangers. He'd left just after their wedding night.
Ah, well. Robert and Rhaegar met in single combat, and in the end, Robert slew Rhaegar with a blow to the chest with his war hammer.
The old Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister, he had held back his armies, not taken sides in the war, because of some quarrel he had with the Mad King, but when he saw which way the wind was blowing, he joined his banners with Robert's and sacked the capital. So my father went to the capital, found that Tywin's son had slain the Mad King and his knights had slain Rhaegar's wife and their little children. He didn't speak of that much, either, but everyone knows it happened; Jaime Lannister is called the Kingslayer more than he's called by his name. Then my father went looking for his sister.
When he found my aunt, in the tower where Rhaegar had been keeping her, she was dying of a fever. My father and his friends had to fight and kill Arthur Dayne, the greatest Kingsguard of his time, might be the greatest Kingsguard of any time, to get to her, but he did. Many of the Northmen with him were slain in the fighting. But he saw her as she died, and he brought her body home to be buried in the North. It was in accordance with her wishes. I don't think she wanted her bones to lie somewhere so hot and dry, where she had been a prisoner. She was just sixteen.
[There's her voice, at least, as far as he knows. And now his voice is a little bit apologetic, as he continues,]
I have happier tales, for a crypt.