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It had become readily apparent that, after years of Jaime commenting sardonically on his chances in battle, his six year old son was now capable of besting him in swordplay.
Knowing that he had been beaten squarely--by a child who still hadn't quite mastered the art of reading all his letters, no less--Jaime opened his left hand, looking suitably menaced by the wooden swordpoint pointing toward his heart, and let his own weapon drop to the ground. "My life is yours, ser."
His son looked first surprised by this turn of events, and then elated: he grinned broadly, his sapphire-blue eyes bright with victory. "I won!" Then, remembering the weight of this fact, said grandly, "I shall spare your life, Father...this time."
"How very generous of you," Jaime replied wryly as the boy lowered his sword. He could feel a dull but persistent aching in his knees and lower back--his hand was not his only liability in a fight these days, to his chagrin. It was time to divert Winnec's attention from swordfighting before the boy thought to suggest another round. "Your lady mother had hoped to return this afternoon, as I recall."
"We should greet her when she comes home," Winnec said immediately. His expressions were read on his face as easily as pages of a book, and unbridled joy had quickly given way to an almost pleading eagerness. He was not an especially handsome child, Jaime supposed, having inherited mostly his mother's features, but his exuberance made up for any plainness in his face.
"Far be it from me to break tradition," Jaime agreed, and they left the training yard.
•
At some point, homecoming had become Brienne's favourite part of journeying. She had realized it soon after the War of the Five Kings had finally ended in a fractured handful of kingdoms, and she had found refuge in the North. Free though she was to live as knight-errant in all ways but the title, it was hard to desire wandering too far when she had someone to return to.
This arrival at White Harbor Castle, like so many others in the past ten years, was marked with little fanfare. After she dismissed her company, she found her welcome in the form of a freckled young boy standing at the side of a man missing a hand and ear each, with a scar cutting a line through the yellow beard at his jaw.
Winnec scarcely managed to wait until Brienne had dismounted her horse and removed her helm before bursting out with his greetings, squirming under the hand resting upon his shoulder. (Jaime looked down at him with some bemusement, then back up at Brienne with a very different expression; Brienne felt her cheeks grow red.) "I bested Father at swords! Soon, I'll be able to best you, too."
"And what a terrifying day that will be," Jaime commented, his gaze still on Brienne. "I trust Queen Sansa successfully put off the next war for a few more months?"
"I hope so," Brienne said, and she did. And then he was kissing her, she was adjusting her hold on her helm so it wouldn't jab either of them as she leaned into him, and for a moment, the world was made up of them alone.
"You've been missed, wench," he murmured against her lips before pulling away.
She managed a "So I see, Gyles," in response; this was no place to call him Kingslayer, or anything but his assumed name. (It was a falsehood she did not care for at heart, and a tenuous one--only so many green-eyed men had survived the war with missing hands--but naming Jaime a previously-unknown Manderly bastard and officially recognizing him benefited all involved. Sansa had a Manderly in White Harbor when the trueborn Manderlys would have had to sit the castle from their graves, and Jaime had an identity that did not mark him as a Lannister.)
Winnec tugged at her hand, clearly growing bored of watching his parents' embrace. "I've been practicing my letters, too. They aren't nearly as wobbly, Maester Rollan says so."
Brienne looked down at him and smiled. "You will have to show me." As she turned back to take hold of her mare and lead her to the stables, she found a hostler already leading the horse away. Instead, she grasped her son's hand with care, and they three walked together, into the castle proper.