Chapter 3

Chapter 3

There were a few thing that Lily quickly became aware of growing up as a Tully. She and Cat and Lysa were all a similar age so their basic needs were pretty much equivalent. They were usually hungry at the same time, tired at the same time, thirsty at the same time and happy or sad at the same time.

Lily's sorrow however sometimes went deeper than theirs. She could already speak better than they could and reason and argue with a dexterity that surprised and amused both of her parents.

She was rather protective of Edmure who was the only son and heir to Riverrun, a concept which thoroughly annoyed Lily at times.

The fact that Death had sent her to an altogether backward, archaic and hopelessly oligarchical society such as Westeros was like jabbing the screw in and twisting it all the way around.

For someone like Lily who had been completely twenty first century in her thinking about the natural way of things, it was a big shock. Common women were treated like second class citizens here and the noble women like prize tools and cattle to be bought or sold. And the more powerful a man was, the more powerful a man his daughter would go to.

It was disgusting for someone with Lily's sensibilities.

Because her father had three daughters it would mean a lot of marriage alliances for him and it would no doubt be something that he would capitalize on heavily when the time came.

The heirs to the north and the south were all reasonably young as well which would easily present marriage alliances for his Hoster's two eldest daughters.

Lily was just thankful she was the third child and daughter and would be somewhat overlooked when it came to furthering Tully influence.

Having a marriage arranged for her to some old noble made the young red head feel physically ill. She knew there were some examples in which such a union worked out like her own parents but at the same time there were many examples in which it didn't work out as well.

And then there was the matter of inbreeding here.

In magical England, she had heard of cousins marrying cousins in order to keep their lines pure and had been thoroughly disgusted by the concept.

Sirius had told her that his younger brother Regulus had originally been planned to wed his cousin Narcissa before she had been snatched up by Lucius Malfoy and Lily had remembered pulling a face.

Thank goodness Sirius had left that life behind before his parents forced him into a marriage with someone like Bellatrix Lestrange. Walburga and Orion Black had been cousins as well and when Lily thought of some of the stories Sirius had told her about his harpy of a mother and her insane ideas about beheading the house elves when they were too old to serve, she was convinced that inbreeding had something to do with it.

And in Westeros it was perfectly normal for cousins to marry cousins! Inbreeding was encouraged here!

In fact the king himself was wed to his own sister as a way of keeping his own blood as pure as possible.

When Lily had read about the customs of the Targaryens and how they had wed brother to sister for centuries before they had ever come to Westeros, she had felt her stomach physically revolt.

Swallowing down the bile in her throat, she had kept reading and discovered the many years' worth of cruelty and madness that had come along with this disgusting practice.

Aegon the Conqueror had come to Westeros with his two sister wives Rhaenys and Visenya both of whom had given him two sons. One had literally inherited the title of the cruel. He had forced thousands of workers to build the Red Keep in the capital and then had executed them all so the secret of the building process would never be revealed.

He had been exiled from Westeros and then only recalled when his line was in jeopardy. The reign of the Targaryens had been marked by civil war, religious instability, the wars of their cadet branch House Blackfyre which had come when some idiot king on his death bed had legitimized all of his bastards.

The war of the Nine Penny kings they had called it.

Lily was inclined to believe that inbreeding and an insane desire for power had at least been the cause of some of it.

Granted there were a few Targaryens like King Baelor who had walked barefoot from the capital to Dorne in order to establish peace with the Rhoynar. The alliance with them had come through marriage as peace could not be achieved any other way.

Baelor had somehow escaped the strain of madness and had gone out of his way to promote peace.

But those examples were few and far between. And now after the tragedy of Summerhall that had taken place only a few years before Lily's birth, there were now fewer Targaryens than ever before.

The crown only had one heir and even Lily who had been a muggleborn before all of this had happened, understood the problems that only having one successor could cause.

For one thing it made the crown appear weak and vulnerable to outside attacks outside of the realm and opened up the possibility for the potential extinction of House Targaryen. Lines ended when few or no successors were found or born.

And right now, the Targaryen line was balanced on the edge of a knife.

If Rhaegar Targaryen turned out to be the only heir the crown produced than the king would be forced to look for a bride for his son and all the other noble families would be circling like vultures for a piece of the action.

And Lily was disgusted.

That bastard really had it in for me when he sent me here, she seethed to herself as she slammed the book shut and rested her head in her hands. I'm only eight years old now and I need to worry about marriage alliances and whether or not I'll be sold to some old and decrepit fool and be forced to bear his children!

While Lily wasn't a proponent of murder, all bets were off since the war had begun and she had had to prepare herself for the possibility that she might come out of it with blood on her hands.

And while a war wasn't being waged here in Westeros, Lily was fully prepared to get her hands dirty before she would subject herself to the horror of an arranged marriage to some drunk abuser or a senile old fool.

She knew she would have no choice when the time came but the last thing she wanted to do was use Unforgivables to help her get away.

Lily had made a promise to herself a long time ago that she would only ever use Unforgivables if someone she loved was threatened.

Almost everything she did, she did for love. It was how she had ended up here after all.

And as far as she knew, there was no one else around her who had magic like she did.

She would be a complete anomaly in Westeros. She had almost unlimited power and there would be no one who would be able to stop her if she didn't want them to.

When Death had transferred the core of her wand into her by breaking it and sending the magic at her, she essentially had two cores in her body now that were perfectly aligned making her able to practice wandless magic with ease.

It was an extreme convenience and it also ensured that she was able to not have the accidental spurts of magic she had had before she had gotten a wand to control them.

I imagine that someone like Voldemort would have a hell of a time here, she thought to herself. He would have unlimited Muggles to play games with all day and no one would be able to stop him. Well….perhaps someone with a well-placed arrow from a great distance.

She shuddered as a dark memory washed over her of high pitched screaming and a bright flash of green.

Swallowing hard, Lily did her best to stop thinking about Harry and her past life as she opened up a new book that Vyman had given her.

One of the books he ahd told her to read had to do with the ancestral castle of Riverrun itself.

Lily had learned a good deal about geography from that book which told her that Riverrun was situated in the western half of the river lands at the confluence of the Tumblestone and the Red Fork rivers. It was located north of Pinkmaiden and northwest of Acorn Hall. The castle itself sat along the river road which linked Lannisport and the other crossroads.

It was a strong three sided castle which was not especially large but size was not important in this case.

It was bordered on the north by the Tumblestone and on the south by the Red Fork wile on the west side it faced a massive manmade ditch.

In times of danger, the sluice gate could be opened to fill a wide moat and leave the castle surrounded on all three sides by water which turned it into an island and made it practically unassailable.

Riverrun had sandstone walls which rose sheer from the water. It's battlements were crenelated and had arrow loops. Its towers commanded the opposite shores.

The Wheel Tower had a great waterwheel turned by the Tumblestone which led to the Water Gate, a wide and narrow arch and a heavy iron portcullis which was red with rust in its lower half.

One needed a boat to go through it and most of the boasts were tied up within the Water Gate and secured by iron rings to the walls.

There was a staircase there named the Water Stair and which led from the lower bailey up to the castle.

The keep itself was triangular. There was a large triangular stone balcony that jutted out eastwards towards the Vale that was attached to her father's solar. The great hall of Riverrun was where large councils were held and where the seat of the Tullys was located.

There was also a godswood in Riverrun. It was a bright airy garden with elms, redwoods wildflowers and nesting birds and streams. The heart tree located there was a slender carved weirwood.

The sept of Riverrun was a seven sided sandstone building amidst the gardens that Minisa loved so much. Inside, images of the Seven were painted on marble and a rainbow of light constantly filled the sept.

The dungeons of Riverrun that Lily had explored with Edmure not long ago were windowless and damp. Their doors were made of wood and iron.

But it was the history of the castle that fascinated Lily the most.

During the time of the First Men, House Tully had served House Mudd of Oldstones but King Tristifer IV Mudd was killed during the Andal invasion. After his death, Ser Axel Tully constructed the ancestral red keep at the juncture of the Red Fork with the Tumblestone on land he had been given from the Andal King, Armistead Vance.

The position had brought wealth and power to the Tullys who guarded the western river lands from the Kingdom of the Rock.

The castle had rarely been surrendered and had never fallen by storm. The Tullys had ruled those lands for at least a thousand years.

When the Targaryens had arrived, Lord Edmyn Tully had raised the standard for House Targaryen above Riverrun beginning the rebellion of the Riverlords against Harren Hoare, the king of the Isles and the Rivers.

After Harrenhal was burned, Aegon Targaryen named Edmyn Tully, the First Lord Paramount of the Trident.

Hundreds of years later during the Dance of Dragons, Ser Elmo Tully – Lily had nearly burst out laughing when she had read that – barred the castles gates against the wishes of his father who had supported the greens while Elmo and his son Kermit – another round of laughter here – had actively supported the blacks.

Lily gobbled up all of this information voraciously, surprising Vyman with how fast she read.

Since that early morning when he had caught her in the library reading from the thick dusty tomes, he had been quietly giving her advanced lessons on healing numbers history and politics that pertained to the river lands in general.

He had explained to her parents that Lady Lilian was a prodigy who had already taught herself to read and write and understand the history books.

Both Minisa and Hoster were understandably stunned but when Vyman asked Lily to read a certain passage about the invasion of the Targaryens to them and explained what it meant, her mother looked like she was going to burst into tears and Hoster looked fit to burst with pride.

From then on, they had ensured she had private lessons with Vyman who was instructed to nurture her gifts as much as possible.

Minisa considered her daughter's sharp intelligence as a blessing from the Mother, while Hoster simply thought it good fortune. He was a little upset that all of his children did not have Lily's genius and wondered if it was a good idea for a woman to have such intelligence as it might be a turn off for a potential husband.

Lily had been appalled when she had heard that and was once more furious at the backwards society that she had been sent to.

She had never aspired to compromise herself for anyone despite the fact that she had been a muggleborn in a pure blood society when she was at school. And she didn't intent to do so here.

She was from a noble family with power and influence and Merlin help her if she wasn't going to do everything she could with wat she had not only to be herself but to help other to do so as well.

She was now eight years old and nearly a decade had gone by since she had last seen James or Harry.

The ache had dulled some…but it was still there.

It was then that an old saying of Rose Evans had come back to her as clear as the ringing of a bell.

The best way to stop feeling sorry for yourself…is to stop thinking about yourself.

And Lily grudgingly agreed.

If she wanted to push past the ache in her heart and not spend the rest of her life wallowing in self-pity, she needed to do something where she wasn't the center of attention.

She needed to stop focusing on her grief and pay attention to other things. Namely her new family.

Catelyn was a carbon copy of their mother Minisa always wanting to be the perfect lady like she was and following everything their mother said to do.

Lysa was a much more whimsical personality and Lily got the distinct feeling that she was a little jealous of their older sister.

Lily would make no bones about the fact that Catelyn was prettier than Lysa and it seemed both sisters knew it.

Lily tried to stay out of such petty intrigues even though it did make her smile to hear her younger brother Edmure say that out of all of his sisters, he thought Lily was the prettiest.

As if such things mattered.

Lily was concerned however because she could sense a rift growing between her two older sisters even now.

Catelyn was eleven and Lysa was ten and as the eldest Tully daughter, Catelyn would no doubt have the best match made for her while Lysa would probably be wed off to one of the sons of Hoster's bannermen.

Merlin she hoped it wouldn't be a Frey.

Lily for her part wasn't interested in that. She read ferociously and wasn't at all inclined towards the barest concepts of being a lady.

If Catelyn was a duty bound little automaton and Lysa was a whimsical dreamer who was slightly eccentric, than Lily was a straight forward and practical as they came.

Even back in England she hadn't been predisposed to wearing dresses only for special occasions and had preferred books to gossip.

Here she was far more interested in something that was nearly taboo for ladies to engage in….sword play.

While Catelyn would sometimes sit for hours with their mother just to hear stories of court and beg to go with their father the next time she went…Lily could care less.

Lily could care less.

The further away she was from the insane king sitting on the throne the better.

Especially as she knew he had been obsessed with magic and dragons as a way to ensure the dominance of House Targaryen.

Someone like her would have been a boon for him.

That was another reason she was eying the swords of Riverrun with interest.

As soon as she saw the master at arms at Riverrun teaching the squires on how to use a sword, she wanted to learn how too. She wanted to use a sword and ride a horse and shoot a bow.

Severus had always told her that she had been appallingly feminist when they were in school, insisting that girls could do everything boys could and then some. She had proven it by being the top in her class every single year for all seven years she was in school.

And here it was very much the same. Dresses were inhibiting and restrictive when all she wanted to do was to run, climb trees and do all the sorts of things that boys could and girls couldn't.

When she would complain about this Edmure, he would tell her that she should come and watch him practice with his wooden swords. She might be able to learn something then.

Edmure was only six but he was already learning how to use a short wooden sword with the master at arms of Riverrun.

Lily had voiced her desire to learn as well more than once but her parents had just ignored her, claiming that ladies didn't use swords.

Lily would then grumble that maybe she didn't want to be a lady.

Hoster would laugh and saw she was just like her Uncle Brynden. He had never ascribed to what his family thought he should do either and thus had earned the title of the Blackfish.

Lily had heard incredible stories about her uncle and had been longing to meet him but he hadn't been back to Riverrun since before she was born.

Until she was eight years old however.

It all began one morning when she was avoiding her embroidery lesson with her septa and instead choosing to watch Edmure at his lesson. He was heavily padded and swinging about a wooden practice sword as that was all Minisa would let him touch at the moment.

As soon as Lily had seen him from the window of her mother's solar where she had been stabbing at her embroidery with a needle and pretending it was a sword, she had made up some excuse that Maester Vyman wished to see her and scooted from the room before the septa could ask where she was going.

Once she was free, she had run down the halls of the keep to Vyman's study and told him in no uncertain terms that if her mother asked where she was then to please say he had sent her to the library.

The red head had then run off, forcing the aging maester to chuckle and think that Lady Lilian was the most rebellious Tully daughter that he had ever seen.

Lily had then snuck out to the training yard and leaned against the post watching her heavily padded six year old brother swing his sword at the master at arms.

"You need to plant your feet Lord Edmure," the master instructed. "A strong stance is crucial in a fight. If you are unbalanced on your feet it will be that much easier to knock you into the dirt."

Edmure huffed. "It's hard to be balanced when I feel like a stuffed pig with all of this padding. Why does mother make me wear so much anyway?"

"Because you're her only son Ed," Lily called out causing her little brother to start in surprise and whirl about. "And she doesn't want you to do yourself injury."

Edmure grinned upon seeing her. "Lily! I didn't know you would be watching me!"

She smiled back. "I wouldn't miss it for the world Ed! Plus its as close to a sword as mother will let me get."

"Don't worry," her little brother said in a whisper as if what he was about to say was a secret. Whatever you learn, I'll teach you."

"Lily winked conspiratorially at him. "I'll hold you to it. Now get back to your lesson. I'll stand here and watch."

"Okay."

Edmure turned around and trundled back over to the master at arms who nodded at her.

Desmond Grell was a quiet man who spoke more with his sword than his tongue but Lily liked that about him. He rarely joked and when he did it was only about something that was exceptionally funny.

But he was a little too loyal to er father and Lily had stymied her desire to ask him to train her for fear that Hoster would find out.

No doubt if she did ask, it would be something that was reported to him and she would never be able to set foot in the training yard again shy of magic use.

So for right now she decided she needed to bide her time. It was a sneaky thing to do and something she didn't altogether like but her desire to learn how to use a sword was greater than her thoughts of honor at the moment.

She watched Edmure plant his feet more firmly, gripping the hilt of his wooden sword in both hands this time, a determined expression on his little face.

And then all of a sudden there was a shout from the walls and the busyness that seemed to surround the courtyard of Riverrun increased by three times.

Desmond Grell lowered his own practice sword and glanced at Edmure for a moment before bellowing something to one of the footmen that was hurrying past.

"You there! Who comes to Riverrun?"

The footman slowed to a halt and seemed to be disgruntled in his task.

He nodded at Grell. "Begging your pardon Ser Desmond but Ser Brynden Tully and a small party are approaching. Lord Hoster was made of aware of the sighting of his brother's banners an hour ago."

He hurried off and Lily stared after him in amazement. Uncle Brynden was here? The knight she had heard so many stories about?

Edmure hurried over to her, padding and all looking for all the world like an overgrown marshmallow.

"Uncle Brynden is here?" he asked in excitement having also heard the stories.

"It looks like it Ed," Lily muttered back.

The words had no sooner left her mouth when there was a horn blast and then great gates of Riverrun opened to allow a small party astride horses through.

They all carried the banners of House Tully, the silver trout on a field of red and blue. Lily wondered to herself why they hadn't chosen a more imposing creature to be the sigil of their house. A fish was hardly something to inspire fear.

You're still a lion at heart, she thought with a grim smile. All animals look weak in comparison.

Her eyes zeroed in on the man leading them and Lily knew right away that this was Brynden Tully.

He was tall and lean as he saw astride his horse. He was clean shaven but his face appeared almost craggy and was wind burnt like he had spent far too much time in the open air.

His auburn hair was fading slightly and Lily could see the beginnings of salt and pepper coloring around his temples. He had bushy eyebrows and bright blue eyes that were sharp and snapped as they looked about.

He was dressed in grey armor with a black sort of collar about his neck and she could see the engravings of a trout upon it. There was a long sword at his waist and the standard of House Tully flapped and danced about in the wind.

"Is that Uncle Brynden?" Edmure asked Lily in a rather loud stage whisper.

"I think so," she whispered back.

She grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's go meet him."

Edmure nodded and the two children hurried over to where the men were dismounting from their horses before the main hall of Riverrun.

Vyman in his long robes was hurrying down the steps of the keep trying not to trip as he hurried up to the Blackfish.

"Ser Brynden!" he called and their uncle looked up from where he was removing something from his saddle bag. "Welcome back to Riverrun. It is indeed good to see you again."

The auburn haired knight offered the aging maester a smile. "And you as well Vyman. Is my brother in?"

"He should be along any moment now," Vyman offered.

It was then that Ser Brynden caught sight of Lily and Edmure standing off to one side and watching the proceedings.

He smiled slightly. "These must be my youngest niece and my nephew."

"Indeed," Vyman replied. "They are. These are –"

"We can introduce ourselves Maester Vyman," Lily interrupted looking up at her uncle that she had never met with no fear. "My name is Lilian but you can call me Lily."

She nudged her brothers arm for him to do the same and he started. "And my name is Edmure. I'm the heir to Riverrun."

Brynden stared at Lily for a long moment before tipping his head back and bursting out laughing. "Oh by brother will have his hands full with you little one! He wrote to tell me that his youngest daughter was a spit fire and I knew I had to meet her. How old are you child?"

"I'm eight," Lily said proudly even though her mind was twenty one. "And Ed here is six."

Her little brother nodded eagerly.

Still chuckling Brynden knelt down so he was eye level with his niece and nephew. "Is that so?" And I can see by all the padding you have on you were having a sword lesson weren't you boy?"

"Yes uncle Brynden," Edmure replied eagerly.

"Good!" the Blackfish barked before straightening up. "Every boy should begin learning how to use a sword as early as possible. You are the heir to Riverrun boy. You need to learn how to defend her from her enemies. Will you promise to do that?"

"Yes uncle," Ed replied with as much seriousness as a six year old could muster.

"Good," Brynden barked again. "Then as a sigh of that promise, I have something for you."

"He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a short sword that was as long as Edmure's practice sword but the only difference was that this one was metal. The blade itself wasn't enormous or fancy but at the same time there was a leather wrapping around the hilt which made for a better grip and the ends of the crossguard were twisted into a spiral sort of pattern.

Edmure's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Is that for me?"

"Aye," Brynden Tully replied. "Once you master the wooden sword, you will master the one of steel. I'll give it to the maester for safe keeping for right now and when he thinks you have advanced enough, you will practice with this one alright?"

"Alright," Ed replied his blue eyes shining as bright as two stars.

Brynden turned and handed the sword to Vyman who carefully ensured that that the blade was wrapped in a cloth so there weren't any accidents.

"And don't think I've forgotten about you Lilian," Brynden replied turning back to Lily. He pulled something else out of his saddlebag and then knelt back down before her keeping it hidden behind his back.

"In your father's letter's to me, he informed me that you remind him a lot of me when he and I were younger…stubborn…fiery and not wanting to do things the conventional way. He also told me that you never wanted to sit and learn things like embroidery but that you would rather watch the squires practice archery or fight or ride their horses."

Lily made a face. "Sewing is stupid. Why can't I learn to fight with a sword?"

Brynden threw back his head and laughed uproariously for a moment. "Oh aye, you are most certainly like me! And that is why I brought this for you."

From behind his back, he brought forth a small dagger. It was encased in a leather scabbard that was red in color and attached to a belt that could be used to wrap around her waist.

With her eyes almost as wide as Ed's had been, Lily reached for it and pulled off the strap that was keeping the dagger encased in the scabbard.

As she pulled it out, there was a small metallic screeching sound as if the blade was rubbing against another piece of metal.

When Lily pulled it out she was pleased to see that the dagger was the length of both of her hands placed atop the other. The blade was curved on one side almost like it was meant for carving meat off an animal and the other side was perfectly straight.

There was a small red colored gem embedded in the swirled pommel at the base of the hilt and the blade was clear enough that Lily could see her reflection in it.

It was perfect.

"Thank you Uncle Brynden," Lily said in a hushed voice.

"Use it well girl," Brynden replied with a twinkle in his eyes as he watched her. And then his voice lowered exponentially. "And when you want to learn how to use it…come find me and I will teach you."

Lily's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.

"Brynden!"

Lily swung around and hid the blade behind her back as she did so and saw her father hurrying down the steps of the keep towards the three of them. Her mother was behind him and Catelyn and Lysa were trailing behind her.

The Blackfish winked conspiratorially at the both of them and got to his feet in time to clasp hands with his brother.

"Good to see you again, you made good time," the Lord of Riverrun said.

"Aye we did. It is good to be home again."

It was only when they were standing close together that Lily could see the sharp similarities between both Tully brothers. They both had deep red curls and striking blue eyes. Their builds were similar, both strong and lean and they had weathered faces as if they had spent a lot of time beneath the sun toiling and fighting in their youth.

"It will always be your home Brynden," Lily's mother said with a smile before stepping forward.

The Blackfish bore a fond smile. "Minisa you look as lovely as ever."

He bowed formally to her and then kissed her hand causing the Lady of Riverrun to smile.

He then greeted Catelyn and Lysa in the same manner, causing both of them to blush.

"Mother! Edmure interrupted as the adults began to converse about adult things. "You should see what Uncle Brynden brought me and Lily!"

"Oh Minisa asked raising an eyebrow at her good brother who simply smiled. "And what was that Edmure?"

"A practice sword!" Ed burst out before Lily could stop him. "And it's a metal one too! He says I can practice with it when I get good enough with the wooden one."

Lily sighed and wanted to smack her forehead with her hand. Ed was many things but subtle was not one of them.

"Is that so?" Minisa asked eyeing Hoster who looked as if he were trying not to laugh and failing miserably. "Was that such a good idea Brynden?"

"Oh Minisa, the lad is going to be the Lord of Riverrun one day. You must let him have his fun now before he forgets what it is like. Is that not right Hoster?"

Lily's father bristled slightly and the red head narrowed her eyes as she looked between her father and her uncle.

She knew that they loved each other but at the time of her grandfather's death and Hoster's ascension to Lord of Riverrun, he had tried to betroth Brynden to Bethany Redwyne to which her uncle staunchly refused.

It had caused enormous strain on their relationship and they hadn't spoken for some time since. It had been some time ago though and they were well on their way to mending their relationship since then.

But to this day, Brynden had never married and no one knew why.

Lily had learned all of this from Maester Vyman about a year ago when she had studied with him and learned about the ancestry of her house.

"Why don't you come in and rest Brynden?" Minisa broke in to interrupt what might have been an awkward silence. "You must be tired."

"Actually I feel well rested Minisa, thank you," the Blackfish replied easily. "I would actually like to see Edmure's lesson."

"Very well," Minisa replied. She turned to her youngest daughter. "Come along Lily, your embroidery lesson was not finished when you snuck out to watch you brother."

Lily's cheeks turned red but she decided she wasn't going to back down this time, and felt strangely confident with her formidable uncle beside her.

"The only good thing about embroidery is getting to stick things with the needle," she all but snapped. "I want to watch Ed."

Minisa looked disapproving and cast an eye about the courtyard but no one was paying attention to them as Brynden's men had all gone to brush down their horses.

"Now Lily," she replied, "if you don't learn your embroidery how do you expect to be a proper lady?"

Lily narrowed her eyes, her inner feminist boiling over. She had come to a backwards society which was worse than the magical one in many ways as arranged marriages were a dime a dozen, women were ornaments and men did everything.

This was what they had fought against Voldemort to end, prejudice, blood supremacy and oppression.

She may have died in that world by the mad man's hand but that didn't mean she had to take it here!

"But I don't want to be a lady!" she said stamping her foot. "Ladies are boring. They do nothing but sit in rooms all day sewing and learning how to dance and play instruments. What's interesting about that? I want to be like Uncle Brynden and learn how to fight and ride a horse and shoot a bow!"

She did her best not to sound like a petulant child as she really wasn't. But Lily had had it with her mother's ideals in this world about what a woman should be.

As far as she was concerned, a woman could be anything she wanted to be.

Neither James nor Severus would have stifled her like they were trying to do here. Both men treated her like she was her own person and she had loved them for it.

Here she was expected to be some sort of glorified doll who would gossip with other women and be expected to be seen and not heard.

And that was not something that Lily Evans Potter Tully was going to gods damn it!

Minisa's eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to rebuke her daughter but thankfully Brynden chose that moment to jump in.

"I'll keep an eye on her Minisa. Edmure's lesson shouldn't take long and I'll bring her back after."

Minisa Tully pursed her lips for a moment and then gave a tiny nod before whirling about and striding back to the keep with Catelyn and Lysa following.

Cat cast a reproachful eye back over her shoulder at her sister and Lily had a feeling that her older sister would want to talk to her later.

Hoster sighed and ran a hand through his hair, muttering something about how having in a keep with four women was going to be the death of him.

He exchanged a look with his brother and must have agreed with what he had seen because he strongly charged Lily to stay with her uncle and then turned around and followed his wife back to the keep.

"She was really mad," Ed whispered when they were gone. "I hope you don't get in trouble Lily."

Lily shrugged. "She's always trying to make me do things I don't want to do. I don't want to learn how to dance and I don't want to learn how to sew. I like to read and I want to learn to fight. Why is that so hard for her to understand?"

Brynden Tully sighed before placing a hand on his niece's shoulder. "Sometimes people are afraid of things that are different lass. Your older sisters follow your mother's every word and action but you don't so that makes you different. It makes you stubborn and fiery and ambitious. And that difference is what makes you unique. No matter what happens…don't let anyone take it away."

Lily looked up at her uncle who had pulled her to a stop in the middle of the courtyard while her little brother ran ahead chattering away.

He looked down at her, his blue eyes seemingly becoming even sharper. "Do you understand Lilian?"

"Yes Uncle Brynden," she replied, her own large green and blue eyes narrowed in her little face. "I do."

"Good," he replied. "Now come on. Let's see what your brother can do with a sword."

Ω

So I know Desmond Grell wasn't made master at arms at Riverrun until Cat married Ned, but for all intents and purposes he is the master at Riverrun now because I don't know who was the master at arms before him. Also Brynden is going to be a very big part of Lily's support system and one of the first to learn about her magic. The second will be Edmure who Lily is going to be more close with than Cat or Lysa. She will still love them and care about what happens to them but since Edmure is her only brother and she's never had one before the experience is all very new to her. Petyr Baelish will make an appearance in the next chapter and we will get the ball rolling with his story at Riverrun. Also it sort of makes sense to me while Lily would bite so hard at the bit of what gender roles were in Westeros. She's a twenty first century female with a fiery temper and an attitude that girls can do everything boys can so I tried to capture that here. Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter. Don't forget to review and happy reading everyone!