Ser Tallahar's Bedroom

[The Raven]

The former bedroom of Ser Simon Whent is austere and orderly, like the man himself. The sole hints of his trusted position are the magnificent view and the massive bed.

[The Raven]

Tallahar wakes up in his bed to see a beautiful woman. Wrapped in silks, her hair like the sunset, staring out the window at the moon. Her hands and feet are a different shade of red. She has been bathing again. The Knight of the Wailing Tower wants to take her regardless, but he won't. Not until she says so.

"Do you love me?" She asks without looking at him.

Tallahar responds without hesitation. "You know I do, my lady." And he does. He has never been a great favorite with women. He has many memories of great ladies comparing him to a dog. (Or was it a horse?) He remembers the sight of his younger brother charming so many who would happily pretend the Knight of the Wailing Tower was but another footpad, their old Lord treating him like a brother. But none of that mattered when Danelle Lothston looked at him.

Tallahar rose to his feet and approached her, but did not attempt to touch her.

"I need more children, my beloved. Younger ones. I can feel the life beginning to return to my womb with each effort."

"I am told the smith's child is only a year and a half, my lady. Might that suffice?"

"I think it might." She turned to face him. Her eyes are red. He remembered they were blue the night she was born, and green as she grew into womanhood, but tonight, they are a dark red like fresh blood. Like the pale conjurer's had been...

***

The little girl's eyes are blue. She looks up at him with a curious sort of innocence that is alien to Tallahar. Innocence might as well be the Eight Kingdom to the knight. Beneath him, his horse seeks out what grass there is to be found in winter. The little girl playing with her doll looks up at him.

"Do you know your name yet, child?"

One of the adults who should be protecting them says something, but a look from the Knight silences her. When the child merely stares at him like a puppy, Tallahar reaches down with his long arm, almost sliding off the horse itself, picks her up like a coinpurse he found in the street,and rides with all haste to the castle, ignoring the screams behinbd him. With the Seven's blessing, his own child will make up the difference.

***

Tallahar has no need to watch the ritual. The girl is too small and weak for his lady to require assistance with her. She screams just as loudly as the older ones though.

***

Tallahar is crying. He did not cry when his brother died, but now he is weeoing tears of joy. The pale conjurer was right. The Seven have finally blessed Harrenhal again. For his lady is with child. His child. He kisses her naked belly while they lay in his bed, still slim but carrying his entire world.

***

Tallahar awakes in his own bed, in his own body, in his own time. The other side of his bed is cold, leaving no sign of his lady love.