So today, it's mother's day in the country where I live (Portugal). So I thought that would be nice to write a story to celebrate it.
I don't know if this day exists in Westeros. I would believe it doesn't since I don't think they would want to celebrate women. But in this story, it's a real day there.
I wanted to write four very different Mother's Day, so it's Cersei and her kids (who represent a family where love his harder), Gendry and his mother (representing the poor people of Westeros), Catelyn and her kids (representing a highborn loving family) and Jon Snow (a motherless boy).
No beta for this one, so all mistakes are mine.
And happy mother's day to every mother around here.
I hope you like this.
And I don't own this world.
Cersei Lannister
Cersei Lannister knew that she should love her children all in the same way, that she shouldn't have favourites. She knew it because when she was little, her father barely cared for her, it was always Jaime this, Jaime that. She only came before her dwarf bother, because even if she was a girl, she had the right height and had not killed their mother.
But now, she looked at her three children, and she couldn't deny that Joffrey was her favourite, the one that looked so much like his father, tall with his blond hair. Tommen… he made her scared that Robert's seed had quickened and some way got inside her belly (she wished that his blond hair was not only hers but also Jaime's). And Myrcella was born a girl, when Cersei was suppose to be a mother of boys, she knew really well that in that world, a woman was only good because of what's between her legs could attract.
Mother's day, a holiday nobody cares, a day to celebrate woman and who would in their right mind would want to celebrate woman. When she was little she would close herself in her room, and not cry, because Lannisters don't cry, and Jaime had always stayed with Tyrion to tell him the few stories he remembered about their mother (and then she wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the week).
But another year had been gone, and another mother's day had arrived, Robert would ignore her, but he did acknowledge the day, he would go to the sept, before the drinking began, and pray for his mother's soul (and Lyanna's, of course, always Lyanna), but never said a "thank you" to her for the kids she bore him, he would thank his whores easier than her.
And her sweet boy, Joffrey, wasn't that different from Robert, she couldn't remember when was the last time he gave her something or told her something for mother's day. But she ignored that. Because he still looked like Jaime.
Myrcella had bought her a book full of beautiful songs, and Cersei, for one time in her life, didn't have the heart to tell her that those were all lies, that there was no one who was going to save her, that there were no real knights.
And Tommen had named his new cat Cersei (like that was a big honour, but he thought so; and the smile in his face warmed her heart) and he had also gone to the garden and cut the most beautiful flowers to give to his mother.
And that night, only that night, she would let herself be happy, forget the intrigue on the court or how she would always be left behind and let Myrcella and Tommen cuddle with her in her bed.
Gendry
Gendry was seven for the last mother's day with his mother alive. His mother had worked late on the day before, and he knew that she only had to go back to the inn when the sun set, but he had to work in the market that morning in exchange for some fresh fruit and vegetables.
Gendry quickly got up from the bed he shared with his mother every day, trying not to make any noise. He dressed in breeches and a tunic and kissed the top of his mother long yellow curls. When he got out of their room, he could see that a lot of the people with who they shared the small house were already up.
In the streets of King's Landing, the day had started a long time ago (or for some it had never ended), he could see drunken men walking down the streets, while in the other side he heard people yelling the name of everything they had to sell.
"FRESH FRUIT!"
"THE FINEST SILK FROM ESSOS!"
"FRESHLY BAKED BREAD! FRESHLY BAKED BREAD!"
"HOT PIES! HOT PIES!" From a boy who could not be that much younger than him.
And Gendry run down the streets, jumping over people lying on the floor, trying his best not to be late for his job. When he reached the stand at time, the seller gave him an apple.
And when he finally had a break, he run back home, even more quickly. He took the longer path, through The Street of Flour, catching an orange cake along the way (and he could feel how close a rock had to hit his head). He run up the stairs, when he was approaching the door he could hear his mother singing in her beautiful and melodic voice.
He entered their room, his mother was cleaning the old and dirty clothes he had.
"What are you doing back so early?"
"I came to give you this." He put the cake on the table, it wasn't in his original form anymore, his little hands had mashed it in the run down the street. Everyone said his hands were made to hold a hammer.
His mother didn't ask how he got it, because she knew how and she knew that her boy knew that steeling was wrong, and that he only did that because he thought she deserved her favourite cake.
"Happy mother's day!"
"Thank you, sweetie." She started dividing the cake in half, preparing to share it with her son but Gendry stopped her with his hand in a way that told her that the cake was all hers.
"I love you, mama."
"And I love you too, sweetling."
Catelyn Stark
She woke up with a knock in the door, and she could feel that Ned was not next to her anymore.
"Who's there?"
"It's us." She could hear Bran and Arya excited voices.
"Can we come in, my lady?" She heard Ned's voice behind her children's screams.
"Come in."
The door opened, and both Arya and Bran run and jumped on the bed, and just behind them, Sansa and Robb entered caring two trails full of food, that they lay on the bed. And Ned came next, caring a sleeping Rickon on his arms and a bag which looked pretty full.
"Give him to me." She said to Ned, while he said next to her, and he gave her Rickon.
"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!" Her children screamed, kissing and hugging her. And waking up Rickon in the middle of all the screaming.
"Thank you." She said kissing her children. Robb blushed when she kissed him like he was too old to be kissed by his mother, Sansa smiled like a perfect lady, Arya cleaned her face (she could be covered in mud but not kisses), Bran kissed her again and Rickon smiled and started making bubbly noises. "It looks like a have the right to breakfast in bed."
"We have lemon cakes!" Sansa exclaimed happily.
"I see. All for me, right?!" She asked Sansa, and she looked sad immediately, but she quickly recovered and said.
"If you wish, mother."
"NO. I want lemon cakes." Arya fought back.
"But it's mother's special day. If mother wants it, let her have it."
"I'm only kidding, girls. I think there are lemon cakes enough for all."
"First, presents." Robb pointed out. He stood up and went to pick up the bag. Her firstborn was so tall, he was so grown up.
The first present was from Robb, he apologized and said he didn't know what to get her, and that he was sorry if she didn't liked. But it was beautiful, a necklace with a blue stone, a blue just like the blue of Tully's eyes. And she couldn't resist but to kiss her son's cheek again.
The second present was from Sansa, a dressed made by her, in the Tully colours blue and red, but with a hint of grey. Just like a Catelyn, a Tully born, but a Stark made. She smiled at her daughter and squeezed her hand.
The third one, was from Arya, a little piece of fabric with the word Cat stitched on it and with a fish on the side (she supposed it was a fish, it was very hard to figure out what it was), and she couldn't help but smile. The work was not perfect, far from it, but she knew how hard it had been for Arya to do that, to sit quite and do her needlework (and it's true that Sansa had sewed her a dress but Sansa loved needlework; Arya despised it), and she could see that Arya's fingers were full of little holes. Arya said she was sorry that it was not much, but Catelyn only said it was perfect.
The last present was from Bran (and Rickon), it was a flower, not any flower, it was a rare one that only grew on the top of the highest tower of Winterfell (but she knew now was not the time to give him a speech on how dangerous climbing could be). So she just smiled and kissed him.
Soon they were all eating, while she rested against Ned's chest, she looked upon her family and she couldn't help but smile, this was home, this was happiness, this was love. Her husband, her firstborn, her perfect lady, her wolf girl, her smart boy and her wild baby, and she loved them all.
Jon Snow
Jon Snow woke up like it was any other day, like this day wasn't different from others. When he walked down to the Great Hall and didn't found his father and his siblings, he wasn't surprised, sometimes they liked to break fast in Lady Stark's bedchambers. But when he looked around and saw everyone surrounded by their mothers. He remembered what today was.
It was Mother's day, a happy and joyful day for the ones who had one. But for the ones who hadn't one, it was a dreadful day. He supposed he had a mother, he just didn't know who she was, if she was a whore, a highborn lady or a fishermen's daughter. His father wouldn't talk about her, every time he had asked the answer had been "I tell you when you are older", but he was older now but he still didn't know.
So after he ate breakfast, he did what he always did on this day - he left. He thought it as his own present to Lady Stark, a day without him, a day in which she wasn't reminded that her husband broke his vows to her.
As soon as he left the castle, he could feel Jory behind him (even if Jon wasn't supposed to know), but he just ignored him and run, the faster he could.
Soon he was in the middle of the village by a lake, and he stood there for hours just throwing rocks to the water. Around him, there were other motherless boys, orphans from the inn. But no one he knew.
The night soon fall and he made his way back to the castle. He stopped by the Godswood, there he stayed until it was time to go to bed. And he prayed to the Old Gods, that whoever his mother was, she was safe, either she was alive or in heaven, either she was a whore or a highborn lady. That she was safe…
Hope you liked it.
And your reviews make my day.