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[THE RUINS OF HARRENHAL]
[JAIME and the men ride into the old courtyard. The castle is a ruin around them.]
"You went back" Myrcella said, half in surprise and half with some happiness
"I guess I did," Jaime said with a smile. This Brienne of Tarth must have earned his future self's respect more than she has his
[JAIME hears singing in the distance. He dismounts and runs towards the sounds of the crowd. "STEELSHANKS" WALTON and his men follow.]
[MEN singing]
"The bear, the bear and the maiden fair/From there to here, from here to there/All black and brown and covered in hair / He smelled that girl in the summer air / The bear, the bear, and the maiden Fair!"
[JAIME climbs some wooden steps to join the crowd on a viewing platform. The crowd yells and cheers. In a wooden arena, BRIENNE stands desperate and defensive, brandishing a wooden sword. Her dress is torn and covered in mud. Blood oozes from gashes on her neck and shoulder. An enormous brown bear lumbers and stalks her.]
"They put her in a cage with a bear?!" Sansa screeched in shock and horror.
"Worse. That's a fighting ring" Brandon the Elder said. "She has no way out until she is let out. And with her using a wooden sword..."
"The Bolton Men are just as savage as their Bolton Lord" Lyanna spat in disgust.
Jaime gripped his knee tightly as he watched in anger. Locke... He would make it a personal mission to hunt this man down.
"Well, this is one shameful fucking performance. Stop running and fight."
"She has a wooden sword!" Arya screamed in outrage.
"A wooden sword?"
[LOCKE notices that JAIME pushing his way towards him.]
"I thought you'd gone."
"You gave her a wooden sword."
"We've only got one bear."
"I'll pay her bloody ransom. Gold, sapphires, whatever you want. Just get her out of there."
"All you lords and ladies still think that the only thing that matters is gold."
[LOCKE shoves JAIME]
"This makes me happier than all your gold ever could. And that makes me happier than all her sapphires. So go buy yourself a golden hand and fuck yourself with it.
"Does this man not realise that Lord Tarth will want his head for this and Roose might just offer it without a fight?" Lyanna asked outraged.
"None of these men expect to survive the war" Rickard explained coldly, "so they are getting their entertainment before they go off to die."
Lyanna spat in disgust.
[The bear rears up before BRIENNE. She tries to hold him off with her wooden sword, but the bear's reach is too long. He takes a powerful swipe and disarms her. BRIENNE staggers backwards. The bear pounces and knocks her to the ground. JAIME jumps into the wooden arena, arms flailing. He lands behind her, and startles the bear.]
"What are you doing?!" Joanna hissed at her son.
"Saving her life probably" Jaime answered.
The mother glared at her son. It was not that she didn't care that the girl was going to get ripped apart by a bear, but she cared more that her son might get ripped apart by the bear.
[He helps BRIENNE up as the bear regroups. JAIME puts himself in front of BRIENNE. The bear swipes the ground and advances on them. Suddenly, a crossbow bolt pierces the bear's side. He turns his head towards the pain in its shoulder. It's "STEELSHANKS" WALTON.]
"What the fuck are you doing to my bear?"
"Lord Bolton charged me with bringing him back to King's Landing alive and that's what I aim to do."
Joanna sighed in relief. Good, her son stood a fighting chance at survival.
[The bear shakes its head back and forth, confused by the pain. JAIME runs to the arena wall and crouches by the wall. BRIENNE clambers onto JAIME's back. A man in the crowd grabs her outstretched hand. Two men pull her to safety. The bear roars.]
"Hold my legs."
[BRIENNE lies over the side of the platform and reaches down. The bear charges at JAIME, "STEELSHANKS" WALTON Fires a bolt that lands wide.]
Joana inhaled sharply. Gods... please...
[JAIME jumps and grabs hold of a beam that juts out of the arena wall and clambers just out of reach of the bear. The bear roars. BRIENNE continues to reach down to JAIME as he tries clumsily to scale the wall. He swings his legs up, gains some leverage and hooks his handless forearm around the beam. He then lurches into BRIENNE's reach.]
Her shoulders sagged and Joanna visibly relaxed. Jaime was safe.
[BRIENNE and the men pull JAIME up to safety. The bear pounds the wall. JAIME stands up to confront LOCKE.]
"We're taking her to King's Landing. Unless you kill me."
"She belongs to me. Lord Bolton's orders."
"What do you think is more important to Lord Bolton? Getting his pet rat a reward or ensuring Tywin Lannister gets his son back alive?"
[JAIME and LOCKE standoff. LOCKE's men prepare for a fight, but LOCKE relents.]
"This is probably the only time I'd thank Tywin Lannister and his unforgiving nature" Lyanna muttered.
Tyrion once again stood up and went back to his room.
Joanna rose as the screen darkened.
"Mother, where are you going?" Jaime asked.
"To check on your brother. I need to make sure both my boys are doing alright."
With that said Joanna went through the doors and towards the Lannister chambers.
_________________________
There was no sound coming from inside when Joanna arrived. She knocked once, and then twice before announcing herself and entering.
The room was... in pristine condition.
But her son was not
His mismatched eyes were red from crying, his hair a mess and his clothes slightly torn. The Imp stared up at his mother from the floor at the foot of the bed.
"Mother" Tyrion greeted, his voice cracking midway.
He was miserable and a part of Joanna broke hearing his tone.
She sat on the bed beside him and neither spoke for a while. Wine appeared in the plenty and Tyrion drank with reckless abandon. But then again, wine did nothing here and all injuries healed. So it was like juice, completely harmless.
"Do you know what father did?" Tyrion asked.
"I do" Joanna answered.
"And you've come to defend him, yes? That this was a lesson! A test to judge my worth! That he's seeing if I was worthy of being heir or some bullshit like that!" Tyrion said scornfully. He was not in the mood to argue with his mother, but if she said something along those lines, he would argue.
But he didn't need to.
Joanna ran her fingers through Tyrion's hair and he tensed.
"I can't defend your father, because what he did was deplorable," Joanna said evenly, "For whatever reason he may have done it-"
"Lannisters don't marry below their stations, and even if I am the scum of the lot, I am still a Lannister" Tyrion spat, as saying it from memory.
"Not good enough," Joanna said coldly. "He destroyed the life of an innocent. There is no defending that."
She pauses, unsure of how to progress with this, until she decides that there is only one possible route.
"Tell me about this girl of yours" she requested.
Tyrion tilted his head back and looked at her.
"I thought you already knew."
"I only know the story. I want to hear from you about the girl you fell so deeply in love with."
Tyrion stared at his mother for a moment before he lowered his head, allowing his mother to once more play with his hair.
"She was... scarcely a year older than I was" he began, "dark-haired, slender, with a face that would break your heart. It certainly broke mine" he choked on a laugh. "Lowborn, half-starved, unwashed... yet lovely."
He inhaled shakily and exhaled just as shakily.
"No doubt father thought she was after the Lannister wealth, after Casterly Rock! But he was wrong! She genuinely loved me. You know what she said? The day we decided to marry? She said she loved me. She said she loved my lips, my voice, the words I said to her, and how gently I treated her. She even loved my face! You remember how you reacted to that face don't she loved even that face! Who can love a face like that?!"
With that Tyrion's hold on his emotions broke. A choked sob left his lips.
"She loved me! She loved me and-"
He had broken down completely, fat tears running down his face as he sobbed and wailed. He felt his mother wrap her arms around him and he buried his face in her chest, his long arms wrapping around her.