ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏᴜʀ : " ɪᴍ ᴀ ᴡᴏʟғ "

TWO WEEKS HAD GONE BY SINCE THE LIONS RETURNED HOME. The journey had taken much less time because King Robert didn't have to break bread once more, but Jaelyn, strangely, wanted to travel longer. She wanted more time to come up with a "plan".

The past two weeks had gone by excruciatingly slow. Each day, Jaelyn woke to try and talk to Sansa but failed miserably. It was actually causing her to stay in her room more often, which was the last thing she desired to do.

For the first few days after their return, Jaelyn stayed clear of the young wolves, allowing them to get settled in (though it didn't last very long, Arya sniffed her out in the gardens just on their second day). The sun and change of atmosphere was incredibly different than what they were used to, Jaelyn knew the feeling. She decided to avoid them as best she could so she wouldn't come off as overbearing.

The first few days turned into a week, that's when she noticed she had not properly spoken to Sansa. It wasn't entirely Jaelyn's fault, things didn't go as planned when she returned.

Jaelyn assumed she would be by the two sisters, seeing as she was on the far end of the castle, but Cersei moved her closer to her cousins and right next door to Myrcella. She was now on the opposite end, Arya now occupying her old room. Things just didn't seem to work out.

Each night at supper, they sat at opposite tables and Jaelyn didn't want to get up and abandon her aunt. Afterall, she was finally being seen as a lion, she didn't want to get rid of this newfound respect. Arya understood, Jaelyn had confided in her on this matter.

A week prior...

Jaelyn paced her new room, finding no comfort within the walls. The view of the ocean was new, the number of windows was new, the size of the bed was new, everything was just too new. There was nothing comforting or home-like about it. Perhaps it was the curtains? Yes, Jaelyn noted to tell Eglantine about it as soon as possible.

As soon as she began touching the curtains, studying their patterns, someone knocked harshly on her door. Her blue eyes looked over at the unexpected guest.

Arya Stark.

The small girl ran inside, a thin sword grasped in her hand. Her smile was broad and her eyes creased slightly with how much the smile took over her face. She closed the door with a kick of her heel and in just moments, pushed the sword towards Jaelyn defensively.

"'Tis I, Arya Stark of Winterfell, the best swordsman to have ever lived!" She declared proudly.

"Swordswoman," Jaelyn corrected teasingly, admiring how the sword caught the small specks of light that snuck in through the curtains.

Arya's arm fell down slightly, her smile turning into a sarcastic glare. "Not one person has ever been frightened by a woman, what makes you think using the correct term will grant me their fear?"

The older girl's smile grew as she nodded, enjoying the way Arya's Northern mind worked.

"Perhaps you must show them that women are to be feared just like men. Unlike them, we earn our fear and wield it intelligently."

This time, Arya's hand fully dropped to her side but her grin grew wickedly. The smaller girl reached up to undo her already disastrous braid and began to resemble a wild wolf. The Starks surely did have a fierceness Jaelyn had grown to appreciate.

"I like that!" She said loudly, possibly earning the attention of passerbyers. "You are going to be an amazing queen one day, Jaelyn."

She flushed at the younger's kind words, finding it hard to match her energy now. She'd never realized she was a princess, a soon to be queen, in other people's eyes. She'd considered herself a shadow in the background.

It seemed that Arya had sensed the mood change in the room. Jaelyn sat on her bed, her mind elsewhere, while Arya walked up in front of her cautiously, her sword sheathed now.

"What is it? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, not at all," She reassured her absentmindedly, her eyes fixated on the door but she wasn't really looking.

Arya bit the inside of her cheek, not knowing how to go about the situation. She decided on what kids do best, annoying someone until they cave.

"Come on, Jaelyn, there must be something wrong. You never just shut down during our conversations!"

The younger girl had talked and talked and talked for roughly seven minutes before Jaelyn took Arya by the shoulders, shaking her gently.

"Okay, I'll tell you, just please stop talking." Arya suppressed her grin of satisfaction before nodding, signalling her quietness.

"Cersei—the Queen," she corrected herself, "has never made me feel like I belong to this family up until recently. She would shoo me away and find every excuse to scream at me. I just caused her so much displeasure, I never thought I was a lion.

"I actually lived across the castle; right where you are, actually. I was isolated and I wasn't permitted to speak to my father, I hardly know him at all. All I had were books and my Uncle Tyrion, who's a drunk man but quite humorous. He seems to know exactly how I feel.

"I never considered that I could be queen one day. I knew not of King's Landing but now that you say it, I could be a queen anywhere else. It's actually terrifying."

Arya only nodded, not completely understanding her situation but understanding the latter. "I can't imagine being wedded and shipped away. I'm no lady, I'm a wolf."

At that moment, Jaelyn understood why Cersei feared the Starks so much. They had what she lacked: compassion, loyalty, fierceness, and love.

Since that day, the two had grown closer.

Jaelyn often took Arya out to the gardens before attending her classes, enjoying the way she danced with Syrio Forel. She had not actually participated in the class, finding it pointless since she owned no weaponry, but she'd occasionally practice the movements in her bedroom just before bed.

Her life began to have light in it, something she'd been missing up until then. In the daytime, she'd rush to talk with Arya in the gardens, run around until late at night, and act just as the wolves do. At night, she began making her own clothes, studying maps and banners and house words, and spending time with her family just as the lions do. She was living.

There was talk of Jaelyn receiving a septa of her very own, courtesy of Cersei, but it was simply talk. Not that she minded, she preferred Eglantine even if she was not even her own. She thought she was selfish in that way, but she was starting to believe that lions have to be selfish or else they'll lose what they have.

The girl now walked around the castle with her head held high as she wore new, expensive dresses. She was never one to be materialistic, but she felt that it was wrong to turn down her aunt's gifts—especially if they were decorated in her family's sigil.

Jaelyn was beginning to become a lion. She was behind on the lessons, unlike her cousins, but she was a clever girl who could catch up. Arya thought she was naive to forgive Cersei so easily and relish in the new life, but Jaelyn never forgave Cersei in all actuality. She just knew how to lie better.

With the new clothes and new friend, Jaelyn felt she was more confident than ever before.

Until she was around Sansa Stark.

Her hands grew clammy, her heart raced in her chest, she could barely stand still, and Arya always nudged her with furrowed brows, not understanding why.

"You act like a swooned boy!" Arya would tease, but she never teased her back. She was speechless each time.

Maybe she was a swooned boy, who could blame her? The girl with fiery red hair and piercing blue eyes was the embodiment of an angel. She deserved to be swooned for.

Except not by the monstrous boy in the castle. The one who wore a fake, stiff smile at all times to hide his sadistic tendencies. Joffrey Baratheon, the boy who lacked empathy and a soul, the future king of the Realm, was having Sansa follow him around like a lost puppy.

Jaelyn wanted to just steal her away to her room, or just anywhere Joffrey was too proud to be near. It took everything in her not to scoff when Joffrey pretended to be a skilled knight or pretended to be a kind man at all. Why hadn't Sansa seen through it?

She almost did, one day.

Four days ago...

Arya was fighting with the butcher's boy when Joffrey stalked over with Sansa. The two were flirting and exchanging glances while Jaelyn watched the two kids fight by the water. The commotion caught the boy's attention and the infamous smirk formed on his slender lips.

"Arya?" Sansa questioned, her blue dress contrasting against the green valley. Jaelyn looked over from behind the butcher's boy, who managed to get a swing on Arya when she turned around.

"What're you doing here? Go away." She asked, her tone a bit more irritated than she initially wanted due to the stinging sensation on her arm. There would definitely be a bruise there soon.

"Your sister?" Joffrey asked pointlessly, looking over to the red wolf and then back to the girl.

Jaelyn began to stand, making her presence known. Joffrey ignored her entirely while Sansa looked over, smiling and waving politely. The blonde girl almost froze but she refused to look stupid in front of her, and so she waved back.

"And who are you, boy?" Joffrey questioned, walking up to the boy with ill intentions. The boy also had red hair, but his was more orange in the light and resembled Sansa's faintly. The sweat dripping down his face began to ease up as he relaxed his body.

"Mycah, m'Lord," he responds, dropping his sword fearfully.

Jaelyn noticed the term he used while Sansa explained who he was, she hoped Joffrey would ignore it but she knew better than to assume such.

"He's my friend!" Arya bites back, the stream growing louder behind her. It was as if her anger controlled the current, and now it was moving at an inescapable speed.

"Butcher's boy who wants to be a knight, eh?" Joffrey mused, finding humor in it. He stroked the pommel of his sword menacingly before unsheathing it. "Pick up your sword, butcher's boy, let's see how good you are," he said before stalking over.

"She asked me to, m'Lord, she asked me to," the boy said hurriedly, Arya looked at him with concern. Jaelyn felt herself tense up at his incorrect title, knowing it wouldn't be ignored.

"I'm your prince, not your Lord, and I said 'pick up your sword'."

"It's not a sword, my Prince, it's only a stick—"

"And you're not a knight," Joffrey interrupted. The end of his sword gently met with the plump cheek of the boy, "only a butcher's boy."

"That was my lady's sister you were hitting, did you know that?" Joffrey pressed on, enjoying the fear radiating off of him.

"Stop it!" Arya commanded, her hand gripping her weapon harshly.

"Arya, stay out of this," Sansa commanded back, disliking her younger sister's meddling behavior. Jaelyn wanted to say something to diffuse the tension but instead she just walked forward, allowing the sun to really reveal herself.

Arya looked at her sister, her eyes pleading with her, but Sansa looked past her and towards the two boys.

"I won't hurt him," Joffrey says, earning Arya's attention, "much."

Joffrey began slicing into the boy's cheek. Having enough, Arya swung at Joffrey's back, causing him to fall down as Sansa screamed at her. It happened so fast that Jaelyn barely saw the boy run away before her cousin was swinging at her friend mercilessly.

"Joffrey, stop it! You're going to kill her!" Jaelyn shouted, picking up the wooden stick the boy had left. She held it up towards him and he glared at her, beginning to charge.

Jaelyn swung the object at his face, breaking the object into two pieces. She veered off towards the other two girls while Arya's dire wolf, Nymeria, rushed out to attack the boy. The snarls and growls were heard as Arya caught her breath. Jaelyn held out the broken stick towards the boy, preparing for more.

The wolf eventually stopped and ran off with Arya and Jaelyn. Before they were far enough to take a break, Jaelyn could hear her cousin scream at Sansa to leave him.

Why hadn't she just done so?

The butcher's boy was slaughtered along with Sansa's wolf, Lady, as retribution for Joffrey's injuries (and for his "fragile ego", Arya would say). Jaelyn was convinced Sansa would start to see the cracks in the golden boy's armor but she didn't, she actually seemed more interested in him. Maybe she found him courageous for taking on two girls and a dire wolf, but it was pathetic to his cousin.

Jaelyn knew she'd have to make Sansa see his true nature, even if it hurt her chances of getting to know her.