Chapter Text
Brienne is a sweet child, if not a very pretty one, high in spirit, stubborn and fearless, with curiosity lighting up in her deep blue eyes, an active child always in search of an adventure.
And very often, her thirst for adventure leads the young yet tall girl astray into the woods, no matter how often her father Selwyn implores her not to go. After all, the beasts live only a stone’s throw away from the path leading into the woods, only a fragile invisible wall woven out of magic between the here of men and the there of beasts. However, young Little Blue Riding Hood knows no fear, and no matter how fiercely she loves her father and otherwise does little to disobey him, she cannot keep away from the woods, even if she tried.
For that, the task she has to fulfill is simply too important, and the adventures hiding underneath rocks and old oaks are just too tempting for her to ignore in favor of roaming through town, day in, day out. Needless to mention that Brienne is not particularly fond of the town and its people in general, safe for very few people, and her father foremost, whom she loves with a fierceness only the Gods will know.
Every day, the freckled girl with straw-like blonde hair sets out into the woods on her own, a leather pouch around her shoulder, filled with cake to the top, which is easy enough since the baker took a liking to her and hence lets her have the cakes that didn't get sold the day before.
And every day, Brienne skips down the honey-colored path made of pebbles and rocks leading into the dark, dark woods with a smile on her face, expecting her travelling companion always within a stone throw’s reach.
Some days, her friend, a glorious lion with a mane that seems to be spun out of massive gold residing on the other side of the invisible line between men and beasts, will keep her company as she skips down the road. Other days he will only walk amidst the shadows without exchanging a single word with her, though Brienne always knows him closeby as he sees her back and forth every day since she met him.
He doesn't ever leave her side.
He protects her.
Always.
Of course, the lion is today there, too. And while he cannot really smile the way humans do, though he can lift the corners of his mouth to reveal his fangs, Brienne knows it a smile when she looks into his beautiful green eyes when he catches sight of her anyway. And in fact, the lion and her father are one of the few who receive her smiles in turn because Brienne usually gets called upon it if she shows her ugly face when smiling or laughing, and hence got used to hiding her smile so not to get mocked for it. But with them, she can laugh as much as she wants and never has to fear for them to laugh at her, but only with her.
“There you are, little one,” the lion says as she approaches. "You are quite late."
Because the lion is not just like any lion, no, no. Brienne found the one lion that can speak to become her friend, and while she would never be so foolish to let anyone know her secret – her father would be so mad at her if he knew – she prides herself not just with the secret knowledge, but also by having befriended such a singular creature.
Brienne flashes a broad smile at him before she folds her hands in her back and starts to skip down the yellow, pebble-filled road that seems to cut through the woods even stronger than the invisible wall between her and her friendly beast does.
“So? To where are you heading again?” he asks casually.
While the lion always accompanies her from one point to the other, he cannot follow her past a certain point in the woods, for beasts cannot enter certain parts of the forest the same way they cannot set foot, or rather paw, on the honey-colored road leading to town. An ancient magic prevents the beasts from walking down that road.
It grew to be their kind of game that he tries to coax the truth out of her, but Brienne never tells it, only shakes her head and tells him that he has to guess it. And in years, the lion never learned her secret. Though at some point, he doesn't even have the ambition to make a correct guess. After all, that would inevitably lead to the game being over, and he can't deny that it is quite joyous to have her giggle and jump even higher when he obviously makes a wrong guess.
As always, the young yet tall girl tells him gleefully that she is supposed to bring the cake since she is “up for a visit” yet again.
The lion shakes his head, sending the silken hairs of his mane flying around as though they were waves, as he trots next to her, close enough that he can see and hear her, but far enough away from the invisible wall separating them. Though Brienne rarely feels this wall ever since she befriended the lion. At some point, she would like to leap across to the other side to touch his fur, press her nose against his mane that she imagines to be the softest of materials known to humankind, but she knows better than to break that rule. It’s one thing to steal into the woods against your father's wishes, but quite another to intrude the territory of the beasts, as both the lion and her father warn her repeatedly.
Because it is dangerous.
Because not all beasts are like her friend.
Because beasts are vicious creatures that will bite off your head if you let them.
“So? How was your day?” she asks the lion.
“As usual,” the lion replies. “I hunted something to eat and scared off some weasels. As I do every other day.”
“You never tell me anything interesting!” Brienne pouts, puckering her broad lips.
“That is because there is not much going on here on this side of the woods, child,” the lion tells her, offering a warm smile that he transmits only by matters of his emerald eyes. “And what interesting stories do you have to tell from the other side of the road?”
“I beat up one of the farm boys,” she proclaims proudly, standing a bit taller.
“Why would you do that?”
“He called me names and said that I am ugly," Brienne replies, pulling the corners of her mouth down.
“While that is most certainly unkind, do you think you needed to punch him for it?”
“I didn’t punch him first!” Brienne insists. “I told him to stop but he would not. I pushed him back to get away. He lunged at me. And then we got into a quarrel.”
“If that is so… I hope you got him well," the lion chuckles.
“He cried for his mommy once I was finished with him,” Brienne says with a grin. “It was a tough struggle, but I won. I even chipped a tooth. See?”
She opens her mouth with her fingers to show the lion, who tilts his head at her, “Why would you be happy about chipping your tooth?”
“He lost two in turn,” Brienne tells him gleefully. “And those are my battle scars! They show that I fought bravely!”
“You shouldn’t get yourself into such a trouble,” the lion reminds her, as he often does. "If you end up getting hurt."
“You needn’t worry. I am strong enough to defend myself,” Brienne argues. “And for when I am on the road, I have you to protect me, right?”
The lion chuckles as they go on walking.
That child...
“I need to ask you a question," Brienne says after a while, craning her neck.
“Then go ahead and ask.”
“How comes that you always see me safely down the road? The people in town say that you should keep away from the beasts because they are of evil spirit and just wait for a chance to devour you whole," Brienne questions. "Just the other day, the smith's said that the beasts are vicious and that they are all the same, possessed by the evil spirits and devils looming in the woods. Yet, you are different. How is that?"
She looks at him with her big blue eyes, begging for an answer to appease her thirst for knowledge.
“Well, if the people say so, then why do you keep waiting for me to arrive to accompany you, you tell me?"
“I trust you,” is her simple reply.
That is the one thing that she knows.
She trusts him.
And will always.
“Why? I am a beast, right?” He smiles. "With thick paws and sharp claws, and even sharper fangs, hm?"
“You saved me before, remember? And you make sure that no other beast comes to eat me,” Brienne replies.
“That I did,” he agrees. “And what tells you that I won't devour you one day nevertheless?”
“You would have done that the first time around already, of course,” Brienne replies with a shrug of her shoulders. The lion shakes his head. The child is far too kind-hearted for this world which is full of lingering beasts.
Though the problem is that not all of those vicious creatures reside on his side of the invisible wall, but roam around the towns, wearing human skin. But no matter how many times he tells Brienne to stay out of the forest, he knows he will see her waiting by the crossroad the next day anyway.
Stubborn child, really.
“Did you hear?” Brienne asks, pulling the lion out of his thought as she keeps stressing the e-sound.
“Hear what? There aren't as many beasts who speak the common tongue, you foolish thing. If it's news from the towns, I can only have heard them from you.”
“The Red Hood was seen again.”
“Nonsense.”
“It's true! I've heard the people talk about him," Brienne insists.
“The Red Hood doesn't exist. It's a story people make up because they like hero's tales.”
In a world as unforgiving and dark as this one, it's hardly a miracle that people like to retreat into the realm of tales, where heroes are there to slay the vicious beasts instead of having to fear that they come across the barrier anyway.
“He is real and one day I will be his apprentice!” Brienne pouts, stomping her feet for emphasis.
“Which is why you wear your blue hood, I know,” he rolls his eyes. Ever since he got to know her, Brienne wears this hood as though it was her lucky charm, dreaming away from her small town, into the world of heroes and dragons and other creatures residing between the pages of children’s books and fairytales. The girl has too many dreams inside her head, for all the good it does her.
“And once I am his apprentice, he will show me around the woods. And then I can go visit you, too!” Brienne goes on, her eyes almost overflowing with excitement as those ideas keep forming solid pictures inside her childish mind. “The Red Hood lives in the woods, the smith's said it.”
“He probably doesn't. People don't live with the beasts,” the lion scolds her. “What reason would there be for this wall if everyone would cross it at his or her will?”
“He is no ordinary people. He is the Red Hood!” Brienne insists.
“And underneath the Red Hood is likely just a normal man like any other, or perhaps a lesser man, even.”
“You are wrong! He is a hero! And he will kill all the awful beasts who mean others harm! And the day will come that I will prove it to you,” the girl vows.
“Little one, you won’t, because I know for certain that this is just a tale. And you'd do better chasing another dream than that of a dream of a dream. The Red Hood is no role model for you. If he existed for real, he is one reckless fellow, and you should not seek travelling down his path.”
“A reckless fellow who will kill the big bad wolf!” Brienne shouts.
She knows it.
He will slay that vicious beast that terrorizes towns big and small.
She is most certain of it.
The lion looks at her. “Who's told you that? The baker?”
“The butcher,” she corrects him.
“Because he's got to know,” the lion snorts.
They walk on a while longer, talking about some other matters, until they come to the point both know the lion cannot follow her across. Brienne thanks the lion for the safe passage, as she does every day, and tosses a bit of ham to him, for there is no trouble for objects to travel across the magical barrier, before skipping off again, to where he can’t follow her.
The lion sighs before eating the piece of ham, and venturing around the woods until she comes back again, to see her back to town.
“And you are certain that there is no way I can go off the road to come with you, if only just once?” she asks with a sigh. Brienne keeps bugging him daily that she wants to see his cave, and for him to show her what is in the woods in general. Which seems to have inspired her fascination for the Red Hood, who is rumored to be the only living man to survive in the realm of beasts as he is out to find and kill the big bad wolf.
“You are a human child, are you not?” he asks her in turn, looking her deep in the eye.
“I suppose.” She shrugs her shoulders.
“Do you have fur?”
“No?”
“Do you have paws and claws?”
“No?”
“Do you have teeth as sharp as mine?” the lion asks, flashing his enormous fangs at her, though Brienne does not even flinch.
“I have a chipped tooth! See?” she replies, baring her teeth at him another time.
“That doesn't count,” he chuckles softly.
“Aw. Then no.”
“Then you are no beast, you silly thing. And that means your place is on the road while mine is here, right beside it. Some rules are there for a reason. Even your precious Red Hood will know the rules, and only breaks them because he must.”
“But we can still meet at the crossroad, no?”
“For as long as you do not cross it, yes.”
Brienne smiles at him, glancing down as she sees her feet have crossed the honey-colored path and stepped onto grey pebbles again, leading back to her small hometown.
“Oh.”
“What is it?”
“I thought we’d have a little more time,” she says, her features dropping. "The way always seems so short when we walk side by side..."
She’d rather stay here all day long, skipping up and down the road. Brienne doesn’t like the town itself. The woods have something peaceful about themselves, something mysterious, the unspoken promise of adventure and acceptance at the same time, where her smile is hidden while she doesn't have to hide it.
And the lion is there, of course.
And the lion never calls her names in mockery – and means them. He may call her silly, but he does so the same way she knows it from people who care about her, like her father, or Goodwin while he was still alive.
That is why she likes to take little steps every now and then, if only to let that stroll last a little longer, to stretch out the last few seconds on the road made of honey.
“Well, you will be here tomorrow again anyways, right?” the lion tells her.
“Of course I will!” Brienne says, a small smile creeping back up her lips and freckled cheeks.
“Then you need not worry."
“And you will be there, too?”
“What else would I have to do but to escort you from one point to the other and back again? After all, I have nothing much to do but scare away the weasels.”
Brienne grins at him, baring her chipped tooth at him another time before she walks down the road. She turns around another time in the hope to see the lion once more, but as always, he has disappeared back into the shadows of the forest, out of her view and out of her reach.
The young girl lets out a small sigh as she fixes the hood around her shoulders before rushing back into town, into the arms of her father, who, of course, tells her yet again that she must not visit the woods though both know that she will tomorrow the latest.
And that is how the two spend most of their days. The lion makes sure that Brienne doesn’t get lost in the woods when she is “up for a visit”, while Brienne comes to serve as the only thing the lion finds himself looking forward to during the day. For truth be told, there is not much light in the dark part of the woods wherein the beasts reside.
But there is bright light in her big blue eyes whenever she speaks with a hope in her voice that the lion long since gave up on, and almost forgot, until she brought it back to life.
Time passes, days stretching into months, extending to years of walking back and forth upon or beside the honey-dipped road leading through the darkness like a single beam of light. Only just a stone's throw apart, yet an impossibly big distance between them.
However, after some time, the lion finds himself waiting by the crossroad without catching sight of the familiar thatch of blonde hair spun out of rough straw or the blue hood flapping in the breeze. The lion waits for hours, but no sight of the young girl dreaming away of becoming the Red Hood’s apprentice, showing her chipped tooth to him, proud of her battle scars.
And more than once, the lion feels tempted to dare to cross the road or steal into town, but he knows he cannot, or rather must not, for beasts will end up being killed and chased back into their realm lying beyond the visible wall, deep in the woods where light is as rare as a harvest feast.
Eventually, the lion resigns himself to the idea that the freckled girl grew out of her childish mind, filled with enthusiasm, lacking a knowledge and understanding of the boundary between men and beasts, and integrated into the town’s life after all. Or at least finally listened to her father’s pleas to stay away from a place as dangerous as the forest. And while the lion knows he should be glad for it, because that means the girl should be safe, he can’t help but feel a pull in his heart.
The lion had hoped that, at least, he would get to tell her properly goodbye before their paths never crossed again, or rather, never crossed but only almost touched, but then he reminds himself that he is a beast, and that beasts do not have the luxury of demanding such things.
She never should have talked to him in the first place, he keeps telling himself.
The lion knew it would only be a matter of time until she would grow out of those shoes, but a selfish part residing deep within his heart had dared to hope that it would extend a while longer, that he would get to speak the common tongue a while longer, that he would have a purpose a while longer.
He simply thought he would have a little more time.
But so be it. For as long as Brienne is happy, he should be glad for her.
And if anything good comes out of the end of this arrangement, then it is that this gives him more time to dive deeper into the woods, far away from the honey-dipped road he cannot cross.
After all, there is still a big bad wolf he has to find.