"Someone's coming ashore!!"
A nearby goldcloak suddenly shouted amidst this tense atmosphere, and they all turned their heads only to see him pointing towards horizon, where they now noticed that the formation of ships that had been steadily gaining on the captial for all this while had stopped at some moment, with only the one in the lead, the so-called flagship approaching to about a quarter of a mile from the port.
And it was from that ship that a small boat had been lowered to depart for the Harbour, making towards the only few people still on the shore.
"Now, who could that be?" Robert asked with a frown on his face as he squinted his eyes to try to make out the faint silhouette standing on the small boat, but the only thing he could see from out here behind the parapets was that it was a man with black hair.
"Considering that the one waiting down there is Robb Stark, I would hazard a guess that the one coming is his brother Jon Snow," Ser Barristan replied after a few seconds of silence.
"Huh, where would that boy get so many ships from?" Robert muttered with a frown on his face, feeling not very fond of his friend's bastard at this moment, who had caused such a commotion so early in the morning, "Come, let us go meet this, Snow," Robert suddenly said with a snort as he turned around to head back towards the cursed stairs.
"But your grace, it may not be safe with all the ships still out there..." came the cautious voice of Ser Mandon Moore.
"Bah! What safety?!" The King replied with a wave of his hand, "Don't be like that fool. Those are Ned's sons out there; if I need to be careful around even them, then I may as well not leave my room," Robert scoffed, his steps not slowing down in the slightest, leaving behind a very grateful Slynt, who was happy to be forgotten.
...
"Hurry up! I haven't got all day!" Robb shouted through his cupped palms as he caught sight of the bright smile on his brother's face, as he stood on the small boat that was being rowed towards the shore at a leisurely pace by a sailor sitting behind him.
The Stark heir knew well that his brother could have had the boat travel much faster than its current speed, and was not doing so just for the sake of posing.
Jon rolled his eyes at his brother's impatience, but had the boat pick up speed nonetheless, as he felt that he had already irritated him enough for the day.
"Robb, my brother! It is so good to finally see—" Jon greeted loudly as he eagerly jumped off the boat and rushed to meet him with his arms wide open.
"Did you actually groom yourself before coming?" Robb interrupted as he placed his hand on Jon's chest and looked at his face with a strange look in his eyes.
Even though the red-haired Stark had not been out on too many sea trips, he knew for a fact that one was not supposed to look so good, and put together with clean clothes and neat hair, after such a long trip around Westeros.
"Why? Do I look very handsome?" Jon asked with a mischievous smile on his face as he raised his face to showcase his perfectly trimmed beard that he was very proud of, having finally gotten it right after weeks and weeks of patchy disasters.
"Yeah, as pretty as a girl," Robb snorted with a roll of his eyes before he tightly hugged his idiot brother.
"Thank you for the compliment," Jon replied with a loud laugh, completely ignoring the sarcasm in his brother's voice.
"Wait! What's this—Did you apply perfume too?" Robb asked with an absurd expression, his voice muffled by Jon's shoulder, as he hesitatingly sniffed only to smell a subtle fragrance that reminded him of fresh forest air in the morning, and this scent was so good that it almost subconsciously made him relax and feel as if he was back home, roaming in the Wolfswood.
"Yes, is it any good?" Jon asked with a smile on his face as he pulled, having laboured quite hard to create the perfect thing that would neither be overwhelmingly sweet like the ones that the upstart nobles like to wear, nor have that flowery smell that the young noble maidens like to wear.
"Of course not," Robb replied subconsioulsy, the words coming out of his mouth quite contrary to what he was feeling at the moment, but that was how it was between brothers, "Ugh, it is so disgusting that I feel as if I am going to puke."
"Please don't," Jon said as he hurriedly pushed his brother away, "This is a new shirt that Sansa brought for me just a few days ago in Lys, and I do not want to have to explain to her why I had to throw it away into the depths of the ocean."
"Huh? Sansa brought it for you? Where is mine then?" Robb asked with a raised eyebrow, as he knew that when it came to things like this, their sister was fair to both brothers.
"Still back with her," Jon answered with a shrug, as if it were obvious.
"And you could not have been bothered with the simple task of telling Frost to bring mine along too," Robb asked with a ticked off look on his face.
"Tsk, now, why would I do such a tiring thing?" Jon replied with a dismissive look on his face that irritated Robb even more, and suddenly the boy from the North could not quite remember why he was so eager to reunite with this idiot sibling of his.
"Ser Rodrik! Lord Manderly! How are the two of you finding the South?" Jon suddenly greeted, as he hurriedly walked past his brother (who looked as if he was about to hit him), towards the rest of the Stark party, who had been standing just a few feet away, "Is the air of Capital treating you well?"
"It's fine, I think I can survive a few more days here without my nose giving up," Ser Rodrik snorted as a small smile appeared on his face.
"Yes, the food is quite varied and delicious here, so I think I can also manage," Lord Manderly replied with a kind smile on his face, feeling quite glad to see this young son of his liege after such a long time.
"That is good then," Jon replied with a solemn nod, "After all, I would not want you to run away back to North before you see me thrash all those fancy knights of the South," he said with an exaggerated look of arrogance on his face, which amused the two from North more than anything.
"Sure. We shall see the one who gets thrashed in Meele when the time comes?" Ser Rodrik replied good-naturedly to the jest.
"Ah, Ser..." Jon sighed as he shook his head in disappointment, "How can you not have confidence in someone who squired for you when—"
"Ahem!" A soft clearing of throat interrupted Jon's conversation, drawing a small smile out of him, 'Finally, couldn't hold back, huh?'
Quickly hiding his smile, Jon looked up past the large body of Lord Manderly towards the beautiful visage of Margery, who was staring with a waiting expression, and her pretty brown eyes also contained a hint of annoyance in them as if displeased that she had been ignored for so long.
"Huh, and who is this?" Jon muttered with a look of bafflement on his face as he nodded to the two Northerners and began walking towards the girl standing alone, "My lady, I feel as if I have seen you before," he asked with a curious frown as he came in front of her, standing just a few inches taller than her, "Have we met?"
"I would be very cross with you, if you did not recognize me, Jon Snow," Margery replied with a pout on her face, but try as she might, the girl could not stop her lips from quirking up, feeling quite entertained by Jon's antics, because she did not believe for a second that he did not place her, especially since her guards with the large Tyrell Rose on their breasts were standing just a few feets away from them.
"Wait! Do not tell me," Jon suddenly gasped with a hand on his heart, "A-Are you perchance, Margery Tyrell? The most beautiful Rose of Highgarden?"
"Yes, finally—"
"But that cannot be," Jon continued disbelievingly, as he dramatically shook his head, "That girl was so small that she used to stand on her toes just so that she could look tall, how can you be her?"
"I was not that little," Margery immediately countered with a small blush on her face, and her composed expression immediately broke, looking quite embarrassed at having her dark past, which she had buried deep inside her memories, be unearthed like this. Thankfully, he was speaking in a low voice; none of the others should have heard him.
"You were not? Then perhaps I must have remembered wrongly," Jon answered with a slow nod, while sending her a sneaky wink, as if telling her that the secret was safe with him, "Ah, where are my manners," he said as he coughed, and his face suddenly turned solemn as he placed a hand on his chest and bowed his head with the full grace of a gentleman, "Lady Margery, It is my deepest pleasure to meet you here on this beautiful morning. It was a grievous fault of mine for not recognising you sooner, but you have become so dazzling over the years that I mistook you for a maiden stepped out of a singer's tale, so please forgive me."
"It's fine," Margery replied hastily, with a graceful bow, looking a little flustered at him being so formal all of a sudden, and the compliment also pleased her soul, even though she had thought herself immune to them, but for some reason, when it was him... "Time has also been very kind of you, Jon," she said with a genuine smile in her eyes.
"You think so too," Jon asked with a smile on his face, as he slowly rubbed his beard, "I have been hearing that quite a lot these days, but I did not believe them until you said it, My lady,"
'Flirt!' Robb snorted at the distant visage of the two merrily chatting with each other while ignoring everyone else. He then noticed the bafflement on Ser Rodrik's face, and realised that his misunderstanding had finally been cleared on whom the Tyrell daughter had woken up so early for.
But this pleasant atmosphere of theirs was suddenly interrupted by a loud bellow, "SNOW!!"
All of them turned around towards the wall, only to see the hefty figure of the King coming down the road on the back of his horse, along with his Kingsguard, looking very displeased for some reason, "You'd better have a good reason for bringing so many ships to my city, boy."
///
And you know where to go, if you want to become a little clairvoyant and see a few weeks into the future by sacrificing a little gold...
But of course, there is also a free trial available for those who are too afraid to take a direct plunge, and want a little taste of the forbidden knowledge to realise what they are getting into.