The Stags and The Fool

Jacob stepped outside for a moment into the barren outside of the island, as is greyness and dreariness made him feel a bit sad inside.

As a young child, Jacob was always curious of the stones dragons that were above the stronghold and never moved a muscle.

Whilst studying under the guise of Maester Lomys of Highgarden, Jacob had learned a lot about the history of how this stronghold was made, for the surviving Valyrian people, who had escaped from the Doom, that ruined their civilisation.

"Strange, as I have a bit of Targaryen blood tracing back to Princess Rhaelle, the daughter of Aegon the V." Jacob through in his mind.

Targaryen history and the history of Valyria has always intrigued Jacob, as the stories of sorcery and dragons enchanted him, as he needed an escape from the mundaneness of everyday life.

Being a highborn man in a constricted role of becoming a lord and running a castle in his name.

Sometimes, Jacob wished he was someone else and didn't have to worry about finding a suitable woman to marry because he didn't want to anyways.

Those of the opposite gender frightened him, because Jacob was never good at talking to girls, like Robb was and didn't have the charm Theon had, as much as he hated to think that.

Jacob managed to scare away any woman in the South from wanting to marry him because of his gruff, humourless and blunt nature, which made him unlikeable in the eyes of women all over the Seven Kingdoms.

"I don't care about what some silly girl thinks, as the only one I will care for will be the one, who will be my unfortunate wife."

At the corner of his eye, Jacob saw his little sister Shireen playing a game with the fool Patchface, as his presence made Jacob's skin crawl.

The young lord didn't trust him, as he knew the fool had unknown intentions, which were dangerous and he was a foreigner from Volantis, a city from the far East of the world.

It must be because the fool saw Shireen as a person, not the greyscale that covered half her face.

Jacob got off some of the rocks, to see what was going on and how he could get to know the fool a bit better, if he had stepped out of line.

Then, he will put the fool to the sword.

"Jake…." Shireen called out, as she rushed to hug her big brother, as the two siblings had the same look of black hair and blue eyes, more Baratheon than the royal children.

"Little sister, it's nice to see you and your friend." Jacob replied, seeing the fool fight behind her.

Patchface was dressed in a green and red motley, as his face was painted in the two colours, which made Jacob shiver a little with quickened fear.

Jacob saw the half of his sister's left cheek covered with greyish, flaking black skin, as a result of her disfigurement from the greyscale.

He didn't care what anyone said, Shireen was still his sister and he loved her, even if he had to kill a few people to defend her honour.

"I thought you got lost at sea." Shireen said.

"The sea made me feel a bit sick, especially Lord Manderly's pies." Jacob replied, not wanting to remember the fat merman lord, who was fatter than Uncle Robert.

"Did you have fun?"

"The North was cold, but the people were pleasant, better than those in the South."

"It's not fair, you are always away and never come to see me."

"Little sister, I don't trust the fool, he scares me and I don't like his intensions." Jacob placed a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Patches is good; he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"I hope you are right, Shireen. What have you learned from Maester Cressen, since I was away."

"The names of the Great Lords, the sigils, words and their histories." Shireen replied.

The fool Patchface appeared from behind, as Jacob was close to reaching for his sword, not liking that surprise and would have killed him.

"Gods, the fool could have killed me by shock." Jacob gasped, with his heart racing through his body.

"Don't worry, Jake. He always does that, since we play a lot together."

"I'm not sure about this."

"Don't be grumpy, Jake. The cold of the North must have gotten into your bones."

Jacob ignored that, as his sister was right, the chills of the North has made him a bit unpleasant at the moment, but he was glad to spend this time with her.

Aegon's Garden was quite barren and wasn't too pretty. Jacob had learned of how this place was where the Conqueror came to when he needed time to himself.

Patchface's half green and half-red checked face was behind the two siblings, as he waved to Shireen with a smile.

Jacob's eyebrows arched, at the gesture of the fool, as he didn't trust him and had to keep on his toes and watch out for the clown.

"How was your time with the Starks?" Shireen asked, curious on how her brother's visit was.

"Cold, but comfortable." Jacob replied, as he rubbed his hands to warm them up.

"Mother and I missed you."

"It's alright now, little sister. I don't be going away anytime soon." Jacob placed a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Mother and Father have been talking about finding you a wife."

"Oh….you listened, weren't you supposed to be in your lessons with Maester Cressen."

"He let me go early."

Jacob stopped walking, as he kneeled down to get on Shireen's level with a sullen look in his sapphire blue irises.

"Shireen, even if I get married. I will never leave you, you will always be my number one lady." He said solemnly, brushing strains of his sister's hair away from her face.

"Did the Onion Knight enjoy the North?"

"Ser Davos is losing his touch, his horse riding prowess is not as good as I expected."

"He doesn't have many fingers to hold onto the horse with."

"True."

"Why are there so many guards outside of the island?"

Jacob didn't know how to answer Shireen's question, as she was only ten years old and was too young to know about the dangers of war and the game of thrones.

"The guards are there to protect us, as times are becoming dangerous." Jacob answered,

"Is there going to be a war?" Shireen questioned.

"No…..but you never know when a war will come, some come unexpectedly and some wars are deliberate, as some lords start them for petty reasons."

"I hope you never go away to war." Shireen said, as Jacob gulped, swallowing uncertain feelings down his throat.

"I hope so too, little sister."

Jacob didn't know how to explain things to his sister, as she was only a child and didn't need to know about the horrors of the battlefield yet.

The young lord strolled through the gardens with his sister and the mad fool in tow.