4 | THE TOURNAMENT.

Upon arrival to the setting of the tournament, Karsi was received with a thunderous applause. Hundreds of guests were present, all family members of the noblemen participating in the joust, and were standing up clapping as soon as they spotted the princess. Karsi smiled small at the crowd and courteously waved in return, and with a small nod she indicated for them to take a seat. Karsi found her seat amongst her own family, right beside her father, who already had a large cup of mead in hand while sitting cozily in his enormous chair. Once she finally situated herself, her eyes roamed over the contestants to see all who would be participating. In actuality, she was looking for one particular contestant— Cordin. She spotted him soon enough and saw that he was to fight toward the very end of the joust, as only two men could fight at a time in such an event.

Soon enough, Jon stood up, half drunk, to announce the commencement of the tourney. "Thank you all for participating to win the affections of my daughter, Princess Karsi. We are honored to have such noblemen fight for her honor. Let the jousting begin!" Jon sputtered out, then plopped himself back into his seat.

Without hesitation, the first two men lined themselves up across from one another. And with the sound of a whistle, they began charging at one another with their sticks and horses. Karsi found the game barbaric. But she had little say on whether this was all moral or not. It was a traditional tournament. Though, her father did change it up a bit to make the prize of winning an engagement. Typically, a joust was not to be fatal. But, they thirst  Karsi saw in the participant's eyes made her fear that they were willing to kill in order to be married to the princess.

She thought little whilst watching the game. All she saw were heavy set, bulky, dingy men on equally dingy horses throwing themselves at one another until one of them fell off of their horse. All the men looked like strong men that were well trained for war. Then, there was Cordin. His shining silver armor did nothing to disguise his fairly thin frame. And his white horse made him look like a romantic knight rather than a bloodthirsty soldier, like the others.

It was the very last round, and it came time for Cordin to finally joust; Karsi sat up straight in her seat, anxious to see the results. The winner of the previous round lined himself up across from Cordin, and his horse dug its hooves into the mud— as if it knew that he was fighting for something greater than a mere joust. Cordin looked equally courageous, his helmet was placed on his head and his horse stood strong and still before its competitor.

The screeching sound of the whistle rang out and Karsi's heart tightened as she listened closely to the thumping of the the horses' hooves pound against the mud. Once the two men neared, Cordin was easily flung off of his horse. Karsi's heart dropped. But, Cordin wasn't willing to give up. He sprung up to his feet and charged at his opponent from behind, with his sword now unsheathed, to unmount him as well. Everyone in the crowd gasped. Cordin succeeded in dismounting his opponent once he swung his sword high and hit the back of his opponent's armor. The opponent jumped to his feet, an angry demeanor washing over him— as he had justly won that round, and thus the entire competition. Cordin held his sword close as his opponent, now looking like he wanted to kill Cordin pulled out his own sword to wield.

Karsi gasped and stood up. The opponent knocked Cordin to the ground by sweeping his foot behind his knee, leaving Cordin in a vulnerable state as his opponent now hovered over him was an iron sword. Karsi turned to her father and reached for his sword, the Longclaw, and swiped it from him before he could stop her. Karsi bolted over to the scene, and ran up behind the man that was about to swing his sword down on the love of her life. Without hesitation, Karsi swung her sword at the back of the tall man's neck, feeling the Valyrian steel slice effortlessly through his spine. His head fell to the ground, then his corpse followed a few seconds after.

Karsi's breath was heavy and uneven. She was shocked at what she had just done in the heat of the moment, but, now, it was too late to take back. Panicked screams came from women in the audience, and Karsi turned around to take a look at all the shocked and disturbed peering eyes on her. Ironic wasn't it? That they were entertained by men brutalizing one another a few minutes ago, but when a woman did it, it was a horrifying scene. Karsi gulped down her spit as her throat had just went dry. She looked over to her father, who had his mouth dropped open in surprise.

Before Karsi could tolerate anymore humiliation, she ran off back inside the palace to seek refuge in her room. Cordin sprung to his feet to run after her, but stopped when he saw Jon beginning to approach him.

Jon walked all the way up to Cordin and eyed him down with an angry expression for a few seconds before finally speaking. "Congratulations, Cordin of house Lannister," Jon stuck out his hand for Cordin to shake. Cordin graciously accepted the offer, but when his palm connected to Jon's, Jon yanked him forward so that he could mutter something into his ear. "If you hurt her, I'll do the same to you as she did to him." Jon pointed to the fresh corpse laying on the ground without a head.

* * *

Cordin cautiously knocked on his bride's door later on that night. He knew she must've been so embarrassed at what she had done since she hadn't poked her head out of the room since the tournament. "Go away!" She shouted. Her brothers must've came to bother her before, too, in hopes to cheer her up.

Cordin ignored her request and opened her door anyway. He spotted her, sitting in her bed with a sad face. "I said—" she began.

"Go away. Yes, I know. But I'm not going anywhere." His face was unwavering, knowing if he showed any sign of weakness to the Stark girl, she'd trample all over him and send him away. She nodded curtly and allowed him to crawl into her bed with her. They both laid their backs down and stared at the ceiling of her bedroom.

"You were so brave today. You saved me. I know your mother would've been proud." Cordin hit her right in the feelings by mentioning her mother. Karsi allowed a few tears to slip past her face as she thought of her mother. It was sad she wouldn't be around to see her get married to the love of her life, but she also knew—somehow— she was watching over her and was glad Karsi wasn't going to be stuck with someone she hated for the rest of her life. Reyanna herself had married the love of her life, Jon, and their lives—despite the hardships—seemed to be melded together as one unit... it was truly beautiful to see.

"She would've done the same, wouldn't she?" Karsi chuckled at herself.

Cordin smiled small, glad to hear a laugh erupt from the girl. "Now everyone will know to never disobey the Queen." Cordin slipped up his words.

"Queen?" Karsi turned her head to the blond boy.

"Sorry, I—uh," he scrambled to find the right words, "you are my queen so I accidentally called you the queen of the entire kingdom. I meant princess." He corrected himself.

Karsi hummed in amusement, and she seemed to accept his words—for he hadn't revealed too much just yet. "I love you, Cordin. I'm glad we don't need to be together in secrecy anymore." She placed her sweet hand on his cheek.

"The things I would do for you, Karsi." Cordin sighed.