For those curious, the actress on the cover for Cassana is Anita Breim from the Tudors. Two updates in the space of a month, unheard of!

Chapter 13: Goodbye Lullaby

In the days following Bran's fall, Cassana had taken to spending a portion of her mornings sitting at his bedside with Lady Stark, seeking to ingratiate herself with her aloof good-mother The ingratiating probably would have gone a lot better if Lady Stark would actually speak with her, but Cassana's attempts at conversation were met with a mixture of short replies or simple silence. It did rather make the mornings seem endless. Cassana soon found herself trying to start conversation as a means to pass the time, rather than with deliberate motive, but even her genuine attempts made no difference.

This morning her time there had been blessedly short. Now that her wedding was done, and Lord Stark had agreed to be her father's Hand, there was no need for the King to remain in the north. In just a couple of short hours her old life would be departing, taking with is half the Stark family.

In truth had stopped by for mere moments, enough to see that the boy's condition had not changed, before she hurried on. These would be the last moments she had with her mother, she did not want to waste them. It was not as if Bran or his mother would notice her if she was there or not.

Her path took her past the practice yard. It would have taken her onwards without so much as a glance, but hearing Joffrey's familiar shriek caused her to halt and peer at what was unfolding.

"I'm telling mother!"

Slap!

An echoing crack accompanied the slap, moving Joffrey just enough out of the way for Cassana to see that their Uncle Tyrion was the gifter of the blow.

"Go, tell her!" Tyrion was glaring at his nephew, contempt open on his face. "But first you will go to Lord and Lady Stark. And you will fall on your knees in front of them and tell them how very sorry you are, that you are at their service and that all your prayers are with them. Do you understand?"

So that's what it was. Cassana knew that Joffrey alone among the Baratheons had not passed his sympathies on to the Starks, not even to his betrothed. She had not thought it would be something her uncle particularly cared about, his own sense of propriety being what it was.

"You can't-"

Slap!

Joffrey's protest was cut off by another slap. During all this time his bodyguard, The Hound, had not made one move to defend his charge. She supposed he knew that Tyrion posed no real threat, but she liked to think that he had enjoyed seeing Joffrey slapped as much as anyone save their mother would have done. For her part, Cassana was glad she had come across this moment.

"Do you understand?" Tyrion's hand was half raised for another slap, but there was no need, Joffrey was scurrying away.

The Hound paused a moment before following.

"The Prince will remember that, little Lord."

"I hope so." Tyrion had his normal air of smugness to him. "If he forgets, be a good dog and remind him."

Only a fool would antagonise a man like The Hound, but Cassana had always thought of her uncle as a fool.

She should have left when Joffrey did, thankfully his exit had not taken him in her direction, but she tarried just a moment too long. Tyrion looked up, his dark eyes meeting her green ones steadily. He turned to face her full on, no doubt expecting her to approach and question his actions.

She would die before she would admit it, but while watching him deliver those slaps, she had felt a flicker of respect for her dwarven uncle. But he was still a fool.

She inclined her head, just the slightest twitch really, but the brief widening of his eyes told her he had seen and understood the action. Not wanting to preserve the moment further, Cassana hurried onwards towards her original destination.

Servants bustled along the corridors, carrying this and that, weaving in and amongst each other with ease. She saw Mabelle for a moment, cutting in between serving girls, seeming to be in a hurry as always. She didn't look up until her steps took her directly towards Cassana, and when she saw who she had run into, a high pitched squeak lept from her throat. The younger girl dropped a deep curtsy and had scurried off again before Cassana could so much as open her lips.

She sighed, her own fault really.

Since the day she had practically banished them, Illya and Mabelle could not bring themselves to look at her, always exclaiming the most polite and profuse apologies when their paths did cross, and somehow always disappearing almost instantly after. In part it was a relief, they could be exhausting at the best of times, but sad in part too. They were a familiarity, if not a comfort, and soon they would be gone.

Corrina maintained her dignity far better when they came across each other, as courteous as any acquaintance, and as distant. Perhaps they could have mended their friendship, perhaps Cassana could ask her to stay as her friend had said she would... but that would require an apology on her part, something as likely as the sun rising in the west.

She found her mother sitting alone in her room, belongings packed away by maids, a cup of wine in hand.

"Cassana, dear heart." Cersei smiled sadly over the rim of her drink. "Have you seen Joff?"

"No." She kept her features as smooth as the lie that slid from her tongue. No need for her mother to know what had transpired in the courtyard just yet, Joffrey would tell her soon enough, their mother did not need to know that Cassana had borne witness to the incident. "Perhaps he is with Sansa?"

"Hmm." Cersei tapped a finger against her cup thoughtfully. "So long as he is not late for our departure. Gods know the two will have enough time on the journey home."

Cassana's initial plan had been to remain calm and mature, children left their parents for marriage all the time, this was part of the natural order. The fact that she would not be returning home with her family was nothing to dwell on. The fact that King's Landing was no longer her's to call home was a thing she had long known about. No reason to let emotions she had already processed get the better of her.

One look at her mother dissolved that plan. Within moments Cassana was on her knees beside her mother, a thing she had not done since she was a little girl, and resting her head in her mother's lap. As if nothing had changed in the years between now and the last time, Cersei ran a feather-light hand through her daughter's golden hair.

"Could you sing to me?" She asked through her mother's skirt.

"Of course, my love."

Cersei began a soft lullaby, one Cassana remembered from childhood, and continued to run her fingers through her hair. For a while Cassana could forget the pain of being separated from her family. For a while she could forget the task of forging a new life. For a while she could forget everything save for the happier memories of younger days.

Some time later, most of the castle inhabitants were again assembled in the courtyard of Winterfell, the only difference this time was the side Cassana stood on. Most everyone had made their way to mounts and carriages by now, the only ones remaining were the Baratheons and those Starks who were leaving.

Her final goodbye to the other House was with Sansa Stark, who Cassana couldn't help but feel a small pang of guilt on behalf of. She stepped a little closer to speak softly to the other girl.

"Have a care with him, Joffrey can be-" Cassana bit off what she was going to say as the devil himself came closer. "Just have a care, Sansa."

"Lady Sansa, please allow me to escort you to the wheelhouse." Joffrey swept a gallant bow.

"Oh, thank you." Sansa blushed and dropped a final curtsy to Cassana. "I hope you shall come to like it here."

Cassana set her lips in a tight line. Gods help her, the girl was already besotted.

"Brother." She greeted Joffrey icily.

"Sister."

And with that they parted, him drawing Sansa's arm through his, all smiles and charm.

As fervently as she prayed to see her mother and siblings again, she prayed even harder that she never laid eyes on Joffrey after this day. Ah...Tommen and Myrcella, for all their annoyances Cassana would miss them. With their mother's attention so often focused on Joffrey, she had rather become a second mother figure to them, and she prayed that they would not be ignored when they arrived back home.

Here they were now, having finished their goodbyes to House Stark, and looking up at her with their little chins quivering. She held out her arms to them and held them close, feeling their hands fisting inside her skirts to grip her tighter.

"I will write." She promised, memorising the feel of them. "I will see you again."

"When?" Tommen asked in tremorous tones.

"I don't know." She admitted, smoothing their hair back as she encouraged them to look up at her. "But I will."

"I love you." Myrcella was blinking away tears.

"I love you." Tomen echoed.

"And I love you both." She stroked their cheeks, still round with baby fat. "Now go on with you, no tears today."

They nodded, looking on the verge of crying anyway, so she turned them and gave them a little push towards the wheelhouse. She did not get a chance to see them enter, her view was blocked by her mother pulling her into a tight embrace, reflex causing her to bury her face in her mother's shoulder.

"My beautiful, strong, clever, daughter." Cersei murmured. "I love you, dear heart."

"I love you too, mother." Cassana clung tightly for a moment, before forcing herself to take a step back. "I will make you proud."

"You already have." Cersei cupped her cheeks, warmth and love spread over her features, and pressed a kiss to Cassana's brow. "Farewell."

"Goodbye." She whispered.

Her mother turned and made her way to the wheelhouse without a backward glance, leaving Cassana's heart aching for just one more look. And then, with one foot on the step, her hand being held by the waiting footman, Cersei turned. She smiled a small smile, pressed her fingers to her lips, and stretched them out towards her daughter; only then did she allow the footman to fully hand her into the wheelhouse.

Once the gilded doors closed on her mother's back, Cassana thought that would be her goodbyes done. Yet when she turned around her father, and his considerable bulk, had somehow materialised before her.

"Father." She was unable to fully keep the surprise out of her voice.

"I trust I am leaving the North in your capable hands."

Cassana blinked a couple of times, trying to fully discern the shrewd look in his eyes. For all his faults, and they were many, her father did have the odd moment of astuteness.

"I shall try to make you proud." The words were hollow. She would try to make her mother proud, if her father found himself with the same sentiment it was nothing more than a byproduct of her goal.

"Cassana…" He brushed a gloved hand against her cheek. "You remind me so much of your mother. I named you so that you would remind me of mine, but you don't, you're all Cersei."

He draw back his hand, leaving Cassana gaping, and made to turn away.

"Are those your final words to me?" The question left her lips before she could call it back. Distant as they were, he was still her father, and she did not want that slap in the face to be their parting note. Certainly it had nothing to do with her dislike of her father feeling as though he had scored a point over her.

His dark eyes, so like his brothers', so unlike hers, assessed her levelly. She drew her chin up, not knowing what to expect, but wanting to steel herself just in case. He sighed, a flicker of sadness crossing his features, then pulled her into an embrace.

Cassana stiffened automatically. This was certainly not something she had ever expected. She could not recall the last time her father had held her in his arms.

"My eldest." He pulled back to hold her at arm's length. "Take care."

With that he was gone, not giving her a chance to say the same, knowing that she wouldn't.

The party began to make its way through the gates as soon as the King was mounted and settled, banners making a rippling procession as their bearers trotted their mounts away, leaving the courtyard emptier by the second. In no time at all they were gone, and most of the onlookers too.

"Would you like to return to the castle?" Robb had come to stand at her side.

"Not just yet." She shook her head, eyes trained on the empty gates.

"I understand." He said kindly, if not accurately. "Would you like me to remain with you?"

"No, thank you." She couldn't tear her gaze away from the last sight she had had of her former life.

"Very well, but please let me know if there is anything I can do for you." He put a brief arm around her shoulders and brushed a kiss against her brow, just as her mother had done earlier. "I will miss my family too, take whatever time you need."

Then he was gone, taking his war presence and kind words with him, leaving Cassana as she felt; alone.

Tomorrow she would start a fresh. She would finish procrastinating her task. She would begin her task as she had promised her mother and herself that she would. She had been all talk or thought and no action thus far, that would have to change.

Tomorrow she would begin her life as Cassana Stark.

But today?

Today she would allow herself to remember Cassana Baratheon, Princess of Westeros, a girl who would soon be no more.