Mira stood still for a long moment and did not know what to say or where to look, because the woman in front of her was a princess and every lesson she had learned in her life told her to bow and keep her head down, yet her body did not move at all as Rhaella waited with that beautiful but unreadable expression she had. The night air carried the sound of the feast in faint waves that rose and fell behind them, and the torchlight reached only far enough to paint a glow across Rhaella's face as she stepped nearer. As she stepped nearer it was clear to see that Rhaella was a Targaryen and in fact one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen.
"You do not have to bow," Rhaella said quietly.
Mira straightened bit by bit, uncertain. "Princess..." she said in a quiet voice as she did not trust herself to speak normally.
Rhaella gave a small exhale, almost like a sign of relief, and she looked toward the hall rather than at Mira. "I came out to breathe," she said. "The men are unbearable tonight."
Mira blinked at that, unsure she had heard correctly. A princess complaining about lords felt like almost confusing. "You... do not enjoy the feast?" she asked carefully.
Rhaella's eyes slid back to her. "You left it," she said. "So I thought you might understand."
Mira hesitated, her hands clasped together against her stomach. She did not know if she should speak the truth, yet something in Rhaella's posture, the way she kept her shoulders square but held a tightness in her jaw, pushed her to answer honestly. "I could not stay," Mira said. "Every time I looked up someone was staring at me, and not in a kind way. The knight on the floor touched me, and many others thought they had the right to... look." She swallowed. "It felt like I was standing in the middle of a market with the butcher choosing a cut of meat."
Rhaella's mouth tightened. "That is how they behave," she said. "They think a woman is there for their amusement if she is unmarried or if they think she is beneath them. You are not the first they have treated so, and you will not be the last."
Mira looked at the ground for a moment. "I expected that from soldiers or drunk farmers," she said. "Not lords and knights."
Rhaella gave a short nod as she walked toward the low stone wall by the hedge and rested her hand on it. "That is the truth I'm afraid, the tales you heard of Lords and Knights are only tales," she said. "The clothes are finer, the words are polished, but the behaviour is not so different. They just hide it better using honeyed words."
Mira followed a step behind, although she still kept a respectful distance. "And for you?" she asked before she could stop herself. "You are a princess. Surely they act better around you."
Rhaella let out a slow breath through her nose as she looked over the garden. "If by better you mean quieter, then yes at times," she said, "but the eyes are the same. The intentions are the same. They study me and think of marriage contracts, and they imagine what they could gain by putting a ring on my finger, and they take it as an insult when I refuse to entertain their words, the higher their station the more childish they seem to be. Some of them stare as if they believe the royal blood in my body belongs to them if they have enough gold."
Mira raised her head slightly. "Gods," she muttered. "I thought nobles would at least have it a little better."
Rhaella turned enough for Mira to see a faint, tired smile. "No. We all deal with it. Though I suspect they were bolder with you because they thought you had no protection."
The answer made Mira's stomach twist because it was true and because hearing it aloud felt worse than she expected. She took a slow breath and stepped a little closer, not fully at ease but no longer frozen. "I cannot say it makes me feel better," she said. "But it makes me feel less alone I suppose."
Rhaella gave a small nod. "Good," she said. "And if it eases you at all, I left that hall for the same reason you did. If I had to hear one more man speak to me as if he were offering me a gift by standing near me, I might have thrown my wine in his face."
Mira let out a short laugh before she caught herself. "Forgive me," she said quickly.
"Do not apologise," Rhaella said, waving her hand in a loose gesture. "It is nice to speak to someone normally."
Mira's shoulders loosened, and she let the breath out slowly. "If you think that is bad," she said, "you should hear the way men in Harrowfield talk. They do not offer marriage contracts. They do not even pretend. They tell you loudly what they want and think you should feel grateful."
Rhaella giggled. "In the hall they would call that crude," she said. "Yet I sometimes think I would prefer crude honesty to the games they play here."
Mira let the edges of a smile form. "Then we both suffer," she said. "You deal with lords who think gold and status gives them the right to undress you with their eyes. I deal with men who think they can grab whatever they want."
Rhaella sat on the stone wall, gathering her skirt so it did not drag on the grass, and she lifted her chin slightly. "The problems of women seem to be universal," she said.
Mira tapped her chin before shaking her head. "Oh I still believe being a princess is much better than a peasant."
Rhaella raised a brow. "You'd be surprised at how difficult a royals life can be, perhaps I should tell you of my many woes."
Mira laughed properly then, and she felt the knot in her chest loosen. She sat a small distance away, still leaving space because she did not want to overstep. "Very well and perhaps I shall do the same," she said. "You start."
Rhaella tapped her fingers lightly on the stone. "I cannot choose my own husband," she said. "I cannot decide where I walk or who walks with me. Every step is watched. Every word becomes talk by morning."
Mira nodded. "Many peasants do not choose their husbands either, but I will grant you that we have more freedom to do so," she said. "My turn. I have worked from dawn to nightfall every day since I could stand. I've only eaten simple meals and usually not much of it, in fact the food in the hall is so foreign to me it could've been from Essos. If it rained we prayed the roof did not fall on us."
Rhaella tilted her head. "I suppose that would be difficult to become accustomed to," she said. "Another. Every time a lord looks at me I must pretend I do not see what he is thinking."
Mira lifted her hand. "Oh I win that one," she said. "They do not pretend in the villages. They stare openly. And they think touching is allowed if you are walking without a family member."
Rhaella gave a small huff that almost became laughter. "It seems we are evenly matched."
Mira nodded. "It seems so," she said, and silence settled again, though it was comfortable this time and not tense.
Rhaella looked at her with a softer expression. "I am glad you came outside," she said. "I needed someone who was not trying to please me or gossip incessantly about the other ladies of the court."
Mira lowered her gaze for a moment. "I'm glad too, you're the first person I've met here who I enjoy the company of."
Rhaella held Mira's gaze for a moment and then spoke again. "Tell me about yourself," she said with a smile on her face. "Tell me where you come from and who waits for you when you return."
Mira shifted her weight from one foot to the other and she felt her fingers move against each other nervously, she did not know why she felt the need to answer, yet the words sat in her chest and wanted to leave. "I am from a place called Harrowfield," she said. "It is a small village, most people do not know it exists. I have a mother, a father and three brothers."
Rhaella tilted her head and watched her with care, she did not speak at once, giving Mira time to go on
"I did not have many friends there," Mira added and she let out a slow breath. "Women did not like me and men watched too much so I learned to stay close to my home."
Rhaella studied her and then asked, "And your family. Were you close with them."
Mira looked at the stone at her feet and she let her hands fall to her sides. "No," she said. "Not with most of them."
Rhaella's eyes softened and she stepped a little nearer and asked, "Why not."
Mira folded her arms and she held them tight to her body and for a moment she did not speak, then she lifted her face again. "I have a twin brother," she said. "He was born with me, we were the same age and shared the same room and spent everyday together. But he was different from the rest. He was weaker, quieter and he did not like the same things they liked and... they hurt him for it. They spoke to him with harsh words, they beat him, they insulted him and they let him work until his hands bled."
Her voice shook but she kept speaking. "I hated them for it. I tried to stand between them when I could. I tried to take his work when I could. It did not stop them. It only made them laugh more."
Rhaella did not interrupt and she stepped closer until she was near enough that Mira could feel her presence at her side without being touched, she let her hand hover near Mira's sleeve and then she let it fall.
"I never forgave them," Mira said. "I do not think I ever will."
Rhaella nodded. "I understand that," she said.
After a pause Rhaella spoke again. "How did you come to this city?" she asked.
Mira's lips pressed together and she felt her shoulders draw up, she did not answer at once, she looked away toward the hedge and the dark beyond it. Rhaella saw her movement and she reached out and rested her hand lightly against Mira's arm, her touch was gentle and felt nice. "You do not have to be afraid," she said. "Whatever you speak will not leave this garden. I give you my word."
Mira looked down at the hand on her arm and then back up at Rhaella, she felt a strange calm move through her chest. She took a slow breath. "My father tried to marry me to the tanner's son," she said. "He was a vile man with an even worse family." Her jaw tightened and she went on. "I said no but that didn't matter, my father said yes and began to speak as if it was decided. My brother... he came to me the day of the wedding, he had taken a horse and had snuck me out of the house where we rode out of Harrowfield. That is how I came to this city."
Rhaella's mouth lifted, there was a change in her eyes that showed relief. "That is nothung to be ashamed of, it is commendable of you to take fate into your own hands," she said.
Mira gave a short sound that was part breath and part laugh. "I was only following him," she said.
Rhaella shook her head. "He sounds brave, like a knight from the tales," she said. "Tell me where he is now."
Mira opened her mouth to answer but the sound of steps on stone reached them and she turned her head. Willem came from the path near the hedge, he held a cup in one hand and his coat hung loose at his shoulders. "There you are," he said and he lifted his hand as he spoke though his tone held a slightly unllessed tone. "I have been looking for you all over and wondering where you ran off to."
Then he noticed Rhaella and his posture changed and he stopped in his step and lowered his head, he moved forward and bent down to one knee. "Your Grace," he said. "I did not know you were here. Forgive me."
Rhaella looked at him though her face showed little. "You may rise," she said.
Willem stood and brushed at his knee with one hand.
Mira turned to Rhaella and said, "This is Willem. He is a friend and he is the one I am staying with for now."
Willem gave a small bow and tried to straighten his clothes. "Willem of King's Landing," he said, and then added, "I deal in trade goods, small business matters and courier work when it calls for it." He had a huge proud smile on his face, clearly expecting the princess to be impressed.
Rhaella gave a smile that did not last long. "How interesting," she said.
Willem nodded and looked pleased.
He then turned to Mira and said, "The carriage is here. We should go soon." His eyes moved from the path to her face and then back again.
Mira gave a small nod. "I understand," she said.
Rhaella stepped closer and turned back to Mira. "I am glad that I met you tonight," she said. "And I would like you to come again. Come to the Red Keep in the afternoon and have tea with me and with some of the ladies."
Mira stiffened. "I do not know if that would be right," she said. "I am not a noble and I imagine they might take issue with that."
Willem opened his mouth and spoke before Mira could continue. "She will be there if that is what the Princess wishes," he said.
Rhaella did not look at him. She kept her eyes on Mira. "Do not worry about them," she said. "No one will question me. You will be welcome."
Mira felt her hands come together, she thought of the village and of her brother and of the way the air felt in this garden when she stood beside Rhaella. She hesitated.
"Please," Rhaella said.
Mira let out a breath and nodded. "I will come," she said.
Rhaella's face changed. "Good," she said. "I will be glad to see you again." She had a pleased expression on her face.
They spoke their goodbyes, Rhaella stepped back and Mira dipped her head and turned to walk with Willem along the path that led away from the garden. As they walked Willem leaned in. "How in all the hells did you start talking to the Princess," he said, then stopped himself and began to talk faster. "Do you know what this could mean. The doors that could open. The deals that could be made. The work I could find!!"
Mira did not reply.
She watched the stones in the path listened to the sound of their steps and she thought of the hand on her arm and the way Rhaella had listened, the way the night had felt less awful beside her, she felt a small part of herself ease for the first time since Arthur had been arrested.
...
Rhaella remained in the garden long after Mira and Willem had gone, her hands resting on the cool stone of the balcony as she gazed across King's Landing. She drew a slow breath, the jasmine scent soothing her frayed nerves, her mind lingering on Mira's words. "You can come out now," Rhaella said quietly.
A moment later the sound of footsteps on gravel echoed through the garden.
A very tall man in silver armour and a white cloak stepped from behind a hedge. Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, with his salt-and-pepper hair cropped short under his helm, emerged fully, his greatsword sheathed at his back looking almost small against his frame.
Rhaella turned slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips. "For such a tall man, you are very silent on your feet."
Ser Duncan chuckled, a low rumble as he approached the balcony, leaning one gauntleted hand on the stone beside her. "That's usually the case when you grow up in Flea Bottom."
Rhaella fell silent for a moment, her gaze drifting back to the city lights. "You don't need to babysit me, Ser."
Duncan sighed, his white cloak shifting as he straightened to his full height, towering over her even as she stood tall. "It's my job to babysit all of you, Princess."
Rhaella wasn't happy about that, her lips pressing into a thin line, silence stretching as she stared out over the gardens. She looked up at the Kingsguard after a moment, her violet eyes searching his face. "Will you tell my family?"
"Tell them what?" he asked, his brow furrowing slightly.
"That I was being friendly with a commoner," she said quietly.
Ser Duncan chuckled again, the sound warm and reassuring as he shook his head. "You'll find your grandfather and grandmother don't care about such things."
"I know," Rhaella said, her tone softening a bit. "But my father and mother... they do. If they had their way, I'd only ever spend time with Aerys."
Duncan sighed, his massive hand resting on the balcony's edge, the metal of his gauntlet scraping stone. "Family's complicated, Princess. But no, I won't say a word. Your secret's safe with me."
Rhaella smiled at him, her earlier tension easing. "Thank you.. Dunk."
Duncan smiled back, his weathered face crinkling at the corners. "Anytime. Now, shall we return to the feast? Or do you fancy standing out here freezing all night?"
Rhaella glanced toward the hall, her expression turning unenthused, the thought of more leering lords making her stomach twist. But Duncan added with a grin, "I'll stand close and scare off any of those fools who get too bold."
Rhaella giggled, the sound light and free as she took his offered arm, her small hand resting on the white cloak. "Lead on, Ser."
(AN: Thus concludes the small side story of Mira meeting Rhaella and her eventual inclusion into the story. Anyway after this we'll be going back to Arthur and focus on him getting better and blah blah blah you know how it goes. Anyway hope you enjoyed.)
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