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It was the third day at the tourney at Harrenhal. Each morning as Jaime walked out of his tent he found more and more lords in attendance. It seemed every flag in Westeros was flying, some that Jaime hadn’t even had to learn as a child (and at the time he had thought he had learned them all). He stretched his arms above his head, allowing the sun to wash over him as he yawned. His events had yet to occur. It had been three days of axe throwing, archery, and wrestling.
He made his way down the path between tents in the Knight’s camp, walking towards the food tent as he wondered if he should go to the practice yard or wait until later in the evening when it would be less likely for other knight’s to watch him. He was almost there when he saw his path blocked by a small person.
It was a girl, a young one, although Jaime could only tell because she was in a dress. She had straw blonde hair that fell dis-shoveled to her shoulders, her hands were covered in mud that she wiped on her dress, and her feet appeared to be stuck in the mud. She was whining, unable to move, although it appeared those around her were simply ignoring her. By the look of her dress she was a highborn girl. Jaime looked about him, his brow creasing before looking back at girl.
“Is this someone’s daughter? Hello?” Jaime called to the crowd who ignored him. He sighed and walked over to the small girl, bending down in front of her. Freckles coated the bridge of her nose and her mouth looked a little too big for her face but he supposed she had time to grow into it. “Who is your mother?” He asked the small girl.
“She’s not here.” The girl said softly looking up at him.
Jaime sighed and looked off to the side before looking back down at her, “Who’s your father?”
“My father…” The girl replied, her hands forming into fists and covering her mouth.
“What’s his name?” Jaime asked, his voice raising just a bit.
“Selwyn.” The girl told him.
“And what’s yours?” He asked, relieved he finally got an answer.
“Brienne.”
“How old are you, Brienne?” He asked raising an eyebrow; she seemed younger than she looked.
“Free.” The girl replied holding up a hand with three raised fingers.
“By the gods, really?” Jaime asked, he would have sworn she had seen at least five name days. She seemed taller than his brother Tyrion, afterall. “I’m Jaime, we’re going to go find your father.”
“Jamy.” Brienne repeated, “I wanna see the horsies!”
“We can’t go see the horseies, we have to find your father. It’s not safe for you to be back here anyways. Who knows what some of these knights would do with a small girl like you.” Jaime said, shuddering to think of it. He shook his head and bent down to pick her up and held her on his hip.
“Pwease, I wanna see the horsies!” Brienne whined reaching out behind Jaime towards the stables.
“I’ll let you see one if we pass one.” Jaime assured her, “Now…do you know where you live?”
“Tarf!” Brienne replied excitedly, bouncing on his hip; she was big enough he almost dropped her when she jerked.
“Tarth! Tarth…that’s an island, right?” Jaime asked, his eyes narrowing at her.
“A wha?” Brienne asked, her big mouth staying opened.
Jaime groaned and looked around. He spotted a squire leading two horses to the stables and figured he could stall to think of where Tarth was. “Let’s go see a horsey! “ He told her excitedly, which seemed to please her enough. Jaime shouted at the squire to stop and walked over, letting the girl lean over to pet the dark chestnut horse’s neck.
“Hello, horsey.” The girl cooed, pressing her cheek to the horse. Jaime took a deep breath and looked off as if the answer would appear in the sky. From the knight’s camp he could just make out the flags of the lords in attendance. He had heard of Tarth, he knew it was an island, but where it was he couldn’t say. He knew it wasn’t in the Iron Islands, those were off the coast of the Riverlands near Casterly Rock. It would be one thing if he could just ask someone, but he was a Lannister and a knight. He couldn’t belittle himself to asking where an island was.
The girl did something to make the horse neigh, which got her to giggle and clap a little out of approval. He was contemplating on just leaving the girl where he had found her when he spotted a tent with a map. He thanked the squire and turned heading for the tent. The girl made the pouting noises she had been making when he first spotted her but he ignored them.
He didn’t see anyone in the tent so he quickly snuck in and looked over the map. “Ha! There it is…stormlands, your father will be with the Stormland Lords.” Jaime told her matter of factly, which she replied to with a nod as if she understood. He glanced around once to make sure no one spotted him, even though he was in there for innocent reasons if any knight saw him in another knight’s tent it would be suspicious. He quickly left the tent and started towards the gate to the tourney fields.
“Look! The maid’s got himself a babe!” One knight called after Jaime as he walked out of the knight’s camp. Jaime sighed, rolling his eyes a bit and ignored them man.
Brienne was busying herself by running her fingers over the design in Jaime’s armor. She moved her hand from his shoulder, down to his breastplate. Her fingers traced the outline of the lion on his chest and softly she made a roaring noise that caught Jaime’s attention. He looked down at her and chuckled a little, “It’s a lion. I’m of house Lannister.”
“Lan-eater.” Brienne replied looking up at him.
“No, Lannister.” Jaime corrected to which the girl just growled at him again with a grin. “You’re a stubborn one.” He noted with a bit of a smirk.
They walked past the archery fields where the final matches were beginning. Jaime had never been one for archery. It was a cowards weapon. The girl shifted in his arms, looking over his shoulder once the fields were at his back. He felt a tug on his hair and turned his head towards it.
The little girl had her fingers in his hair that he wore down to his shoulders in waves. It was it way Cersei liked it even though his fellow knights had a habit of calling him a maid for it. He suspected it was because with it longer he looked more like his sister, but that was way he wore it that way anyways so he didn’t mind it.
“You have pretty hair.” Brienne told him lightly, running her fingers through it.
“Thank you…you have…pretty eyes.” Jaime replied, and that was about it. The poor thing.
“Thank you!” The girl smiled, looked to be playing bashful before she turned to look back over his shoulder again. She laid her arm on his shoulder and laid her head on it as Jaime finally made it to the stands surrounding the sword events that had yet to start. He tilted his head back, looking over the flags that lined the back of the stands until he spotted the stag on a field of yellow that meant Baratheon.
He shifted the girl on his hip and then walked over to the stands, walking up the short flight of stairs. There was a group of men and a couple women blocking the bottom row, all talking over one another frantically. One of the men broke from it and walked in the opposite direction off the stands. Another happened to look towards Jaime as he approached the group, a wave of relief washing over the man’s face.
“By the gods, Brienne!” The man called.
"Brienne!" A small boy called from the crowd.
“Are you Selwyn?” Jaime asked.
“Yes, where in the seven hells did you find her?” The man asked walking to meet Jaime half way and take Brienne from his arms. The boy, some years older than Brienne followed along behind the man, looking up at Jaime with wide eyes.
“She was in the Knight’s Camp, I think she was trying to see the horses.”
“She’s been chatting about those damn horses sense we got here.” Selwyn sighed and looked at his daughter, “You must never do that again, you stay with me.” He told her in a less than warning tone before looked back at Jaime, “Thank you, Ser Jaime. For bringing her back, so few would have taken the time.”
“Perhaps she’ll pay the debt someday.” Jaime replied with a smile.
“Perhaps, thank you, again.” Selwyn smiled and then looked to the girl, “Tell the knight thank you.”
“Thank you, Jamy.” Brienne told him with a smile and then covered her face against her father's shoulder.
Jaime gave her a small smile and then gave her father a nod before he turned and walked back to the knight’s camp.