Chapter Text
Arianna saw the man sitting on the side of the road, his head down, long strands of greasy hair falling to cover his face. A tall woman dressed in knights amor stood by his side, holding the rains of two naggs who stood calmly by thier side. She stopped a safe distance away, frowing.
"What are you doing there?" She asked, shrinking back into her cloaks hood, eyes roaming to the forest around them. She didn't want to be ambushed by owtlaws, but the man infront of her seemed to be much to tired to be a treat in and of himself. It was impossible to see what color his clothes had been at home time, they were so dirty with road dust. Dark patches on his pants may have been dried blood, but she couldn't be sure. She didn't move closer - Aria hadn't survived this long on her own by being trusting of strangers.
"We could use some help, actually." The man replied, his voice strangly familiar. He raised the hands he's been holding in his lap and Aria saw that his left arm ended in a bloody bandage. "Do you have any training with amputations?"
Aria shook her head. "I only have tended to those with cuts, some broken bones and the like. I doubt that I would be much use to you."
The man slumped back agsint the woman standing next to him. "Never mind then." He said, almost cheerfully. "I was hoping that I would make it back to the Red Keep alive, but it seems that is not my fate."
Aria tilited her head to the side, eyes narrowed. His filthy appearance and the fact he was missing an hand made her think that he wasn't dangerous. She had an instinct for danger, and nothing about the stranger before her made the small hairs along the back of her neck raise. She moved forward, slowly, her eyes trained on the man's face. When her shdow fell across his face, he opened his eyes. He had green eyes, emerald bright, surrounded by thick, blond lashes.
Face contorting in confusion, Aria stooped down, ignoring the female knight as she drew her sword and frowned. " . . . Jamie?"
The man smiled, and his face crached into many lines. His teeth were suprisingly white agsint his dirty and sunburt face. Scars ran across his nose and she realized that they were fairly recent. "And why would you say that?" He asked, staring at her closely for a moment before his jaw fell slack. "Aria . . . It can't be. You're supposed to be with my father, at Castlery Rock."
"Jamie!" She cried, lunging forward to throw her arms around his neck. "You're alive!"
She didn't realize she was crying till she pulled back to run her hads over his face, the world before her blurring. "Thank the Gods, your alive! Your alive! Your alive!"
"Shhh," Jamie soothed, eyes wide. "I'm only missing a hand, I'm not dead."
Still crying, Arianna didn't even notice Valiant and her mate approching, both the Shadow-Lions as large as the two horses standing close. The woman knight tensed at thier side, drawing her sword and branishing it at the two felines as they approched. When Valiant caught wiff of Jamies sent she bounded forward, a strangled yawl emerging from her throat. Just before the knight brought her sword down, Valiant ran full force into Jamie, nuzzling his neck fondly.
"It's rather nice to see you too, but you're rather heavy." Jamie crocked.
"Valiant, back." Arianna commanded, pushing agaisnt her Shadow-Lion's mind slightly to make her move away and sit calmly next to her mate, Eon. "Jamie, we have to get you off the road." She said quickly. "I just past a host of Northern knights. We can't let them see you." She moved quickly, reaching down to grab his hand and haul him to his feet. He was taller than she remembered, and thin. "We have to hurry, do you think that you can jump on Valiant or Eon? It looks like your about to fall over."
Jamie nodded weakly, and they rode double for the rest of the afternoon and on into the night. The woman knight, Brianna, rode Eon and Arianna allowed the Shadow-Lions to negotiate thier way through the undergrowth of the surrounding forest. They stopped when the rush of the river was heard, and Aria whistled softly, calling the Shadow-Lions to a hault.
"We should rest." She said, sliding down from Valiants back. She stood in the cool night air, resting her hand on Valiants shoulder, staring at Jamie as he moved to stand on the ground. She felt dizzy. After so many months of searching, to finally have Jamie standing before her, it was like a dream.
"Do you have anything to eat?" Jamie asked, wobbling slightly. "I'm starved."
"Eon carryes the food bags. The right side. Smoked rabbet and fish." Arianna said, moving to start a fire. She noticed the knight moving to stand at her side, eyes narrowed, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. "Who are you?"
"I am Jamie's wife, Arianna." Aria said softly, shaking her hair from the tie, which held it back from her face. She had allowed it to grow out during her travels and it hung near the bottem of her shoulder blades now. "I've been surching for Jamie for a long time. How did you come to know him?"
"It is a rather long story." The knight said. "I swore felity to Lady Catelyn and when she orderd me so smuggle Jamie from the camp where he was being held prisoner, I acted immeditly. The plan is to exchange Jamie for Lady Stark's two children. We've been traveling for months now and Jamie, being malnourished after spending the past year chained in a cell -"
"A year?" Arianna interuped, eyes wide. "It can't have been a year. "I've only been searching for Jamie for . . . "
"A year." Jamie confirmed. "Time seems to pass strangly when you are constantly on the road, it would seem." Sitting by his wife's side he threw his arm around her shoulders, leaning into her with a sigh.
"Aye. Jamie has saved me from being raped, and killed, more than once, although the last was done with that mutilated stump." The knight continued. "We were captured by those loyal to the North and because of his arrogance, the leader choose to cut off his sword hand. I think that he wanted to die after that, he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't drink, he only sat infront of the fire and stared, muttering your name, over and over."
"I did want to die. Swords have been my life since I was a boy, nothing more. The only thing that made me start eating again was the thought of you being angry with me for allowing myself to die." Jamie murmmered softly, turning to kiss Aria on the cheek. "Only you."
"I would have been mad." Arianna said, eyes narrowing. She took Jamie's stump into her hands and unwound the bandage, gasping at the sight of the blackened, infected flesh. "Your arm . . . "
"I told you that I did not think that I would make it to the Red Keep." Jamie said softly, shrugging.
"You will." Arianna said, closing her eyes and drawing on the power that flowed through her veins. She had practiced with it through out her journey through the North, learning how to control it, as well as learning how to enter the minds of animals around her. Focusing, she allowed her magic to enter Jamie's body, directing in toward the ruined stump, and began to heal his, from the inside out.
Opening her eyes, Aria saw that the stump was still nothing more than a stump, but it was healed, the skin pink and fresh.
The knights eyes were wide as she stared between Arianna and Jamie. "So, you didn't lie when you said your wife had magic." Brianna said.
"I didn't." Jamie said. "By the by, this is Brianna of Tarth. Brianna, this is Arianna."
Arianna nodded, ears popping as she yawned widely. "Thank you, for taking care of my husband." Standing, she moved to set more wood on the fire and then unpacked the sleeping furs she kept packed away on Valiants back and handed one to Brianna, the other she kept for herself and Jamie. She slipped the packs from Valinat and Eon's backs then petted them both lightly between the eyes. "Go, hunt, I know that you are both hungry."
Turning, she saw that Brianna had already lain down, but Jamie continued to sit, his eyes following her ever movement. "When did you get the male?" He asked, nodding toward Eon as the two Shadow-Lion's moved to dissapear in the forest.
"Shortly after I started to look for you." Arianna said softly, slipping beneath the furs. "It is late, Jamie. You should sleep."
Nodding, Jamie slide under the furs as well and drew Aria close, buring his nose in her hair. "God's, I've missed your warmth. I've missed the way you always smelled of roses from that sand-soap you use, and I've missed the way you've smiled, and your eyes . . . I've missed you."
Closing her eyes, Arianna nodded. "As I've missed you, my love."
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The late afternoon sun on her face woke Aria the next morning, and she rolled to her side and sat up to quickly. Shaking her head, she wated for the spinning to stop before she allowed her eyes to focus. She looked over and was relieved to see Jamie still in the same spot, laying on his side, curled toward her body like a plant curls toward sunlight.
She got up, feeling sore and heavy and slow. She shook her head to clear the fuzz, stretched her arms and moaned as she felt her joints pop. Leaning over she nudged Jamie's shoulder with the heel of her hand, "Come on. Up. We need to get going." Aria murmmered, looking over to see Brainna staring at her strangly. "What?"
"I've never seen Jamie look so at peace with himself." She said as Jamie moved to rubb his face. "You are good for him."
Aria did not know what to say in response, so she stayed silent. Jamie cracked his eyes open then and peered at her. Under the mask of dirt and he looked pale, the thin scars not only crossing over his nose, but his cheeks as well. His eyesbrows were straight and dark, although he had a scar that cut the right inhalf. His eyes were still the same startling green that she remembered from thier first incounter.
Arianna smiled. It took nearly an hour for the three to have a quick wash in the river, eat, call up the two Shadow-Lion, and reload everything into the packs that Aria carfully threw over the felines backs. Aria led the two down to the water's edge so that they would drink. Jamie followed after, eyesing the two Shadow-Lion's carfully.
"Valiant has gotten big since the last time I saw her." He commented, scratching the Shadow-Lion behind her ear, where he remembered she loved it. "Eon is nearly as big."
"You've been gone for a long time." Arianna stated, shifting her wrist slightly, drawing Jamie's attention to the shining braclet that circled the slim limb.
"You still have the lion." Jamie said, his voice soft with awe.
Aria noded. "Oh course I do. When I was scared, or worried that I wouldn't find you . . . this is the only thing that kept me going."
Jamie's eyes became sad then but he moved forward, swooping down so that his lips quickly pressed agasint hers. "I will never leave you again."
Looking up with wide eyes, Aria couldn't help but ask: "Promise?"
"Promise."