sixthiterationlogs | "The Only Home I'll Ever Know"

WHO: Margaery Tyrell
WHERE: The Woods
WHEN: Shortly After Specimen Room
OPEN TO: Robb Stark
WARNINGS: Nothing so far

She walked the forest in a daze, her headache long gone, but replaced by a different sort of pain. Somewhere along the way back from the canyon, she and Jude parted. The news of what they found was not something she wanted to share, as she didn't understand much of the technology or what it meant completely. She only knew what the vials had left her feeling and that was lost. Hair and blood, not only of the villagers but of the animals they received. Even poor Gilbert was among them and that frightened her most of all. What was real? What was true? She had memories of Westeros, she still felt the warmth of the sun and the lush grass of Highgarden. She remembered how the Black Cells smelled and the sight of Loras huddled in the dark. She could simply reach back in her memories and she was there again, the weight of the Lannister cloak on her shoulders as she wed Joffery and Tommen's boyish eagerness during their wedding night. Was she real or created? Was something implanted in her or stolen?

All of the sweetness that she found in the village had become ash against her tongue and the beautiful sounds of the wood were dead against her ears. Only Gilbert caught her attention as he stopped and lifted his head to the wind. With a small excited bark, he raced through the underbrush and away from Margaery's side. Numb, she followed after him. Even if he wasn't real, even if he was created, he was hers and she couldn't bear to let go of the only thing that was holding her together.

It didn't take her long to find him, yipping and circling around the one person that could chase away all of this insanity. Robb. From the look of things, he was hunting. It should have occurred to her that it was early morning. The night in the canyon had not been pleasant and time had slipped away from her. Of course he would be hunting, as he did every day.

If Gilbert was holding her together, Robb was the foundation that kept her standing. He was home, the only home that could ever be hers. She looked ragged and exhausted, but her face and frame lightened as she approached him. She didn't say anything, only fell into his arms and clutched him tight against her. How could this not be real? She had never felt love before, but she knew it was strong and fierce within her. If they were created, they were created for each other. Others take the Observers, she needed and would guard this with all of the strength she could muster.

"I'm glad to see you."

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To Robb, it sounded like some manner of sorcery or witchcraft, their hair and blood collected for a complicated, unfathomable ritual. His immediate impulse was to seek out the room and witness the contents himself, but Margaery was a more present concern, trembling and afraid as she clung to him.

"Shh," he soothed, holding her close as he stroked a gentle hand over her hair. "You're real and I'm real, and the rest of it is real enough. It will be all right."

She wished she could take comfort in that, but it felt impossible. Until she understood what the room actually meant, she would always wonder, a doubt lingering in her mind. But it wasn't a fear she needed to inflict on Robb. There were so many sick in the village and so much hardship already after the earthquake. This wasn't the time to voice her concerns. It was best left to the night when she couldn't sleep.

"Jude was there as well." She said, remembering what he intended to do. "There is supposed to be a town meeting where this is discussed." While she knew she should attend and answer questions, she had no great desire to. She didn't understand the technology and she wished to be alone to process it. Robb, however, might wish to go. "You can learn more than what I can tell you."

The clear implication was that, whether because she was upset or simply from pure exhaustion, Margaery did not intend to attend the meeting with him. What she'd told him had been so strange and vague, Robb hardly knew how to properly reaction, if there even was a proper reaction, but he could not deny wanting to know more.

Still, he could not simply leave Margaery alone like this. He supposed he could track this Jude down later, or perhaps just find someone else who had attended to fill him in.

"First, we see to you," he said, giving Margaery a reassuring squeeze. "Come on, then. Let's get you home so that you can eat something and rest."

There was a selfish part of her that wanted him near, just a moment alone with him while she processed everything. She didn't have Stark honor, but she recognized what was the right thing to do and what was the more selfish desire. She should simply say she wanted to be alone, allowing him to learn more. The truth was, she didn't want to be alone. She had been alone for too long and Robb's presence was comforting.

She pressed a hand to his cheek, giving him a soft, small kiss. There was a silent thanks in her eyes, grateful that he would be willing to see her home and look after her. Exhaustion had a firm hold on her and she wasn't sure how much further she could have walked alone, weighed down by so many thoughts.

Turning towards the village, she linked her hand with his, able to breathe a sigh of relief. "I don't know what these Observers have in mind for us, but I won't ever let them touch you." If the hair and blood was his, and if she ever found the Observers, she would let her thorns emerge. "You are mine and I am yours. They can't take that away from us."

"I didn't realize you were so fierce," Robb replied with a faint smile, and pulled her under the shelter of his arm as they walked. "Have you always been this way, or is it only for me?"

In truth, it was a bit unnerving -- Not that Margaery was concealing a secret fire, but that whatever had happened to her had prompted such a reaction. The need to tromp off through the forest and confront this room for himself was a strong one, but he instead continued to move them both calmly back toward the village. Margaery must come first; there was no question.

"I am fierce when it comes to my family." She had raged at Tommen when Loras had been put in a cell. She had risked her position and deception to remove her grandmother from King's Landing. Neither of them were here now, only Robb, who had come to mean so much. She wouldn't let him fall in harm's path and she couldn't fail to protect her loved ones again.

The entire experience had shaken her. While she had heard of the pods, it was this room that left her certain of Finnick's belief that someone was toying with them. She shook her head, as if to banish the thoughts that had shadowed her return to the village. She would lock them away and bring them out only when she was alone that night.

"The Only Home I'll Ever Know"

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