We're the same age! {TAG: Olena }

Jeannie sat in the back of the wagon, her cat curled up on her lap. The Lord of the house was a craftsman, and he traveled quite a bit to sell his pieces. He was very talented in her eyes, given that he had carved her a personal woodharp. It was a long ride, but they had made their way to casterly rock, where he always had business. Anything with a lion carved in it was sure to be sold. When she was younger, she was never allowed to join on the journeys. She would stay home with the woman, cleaning until the lord and their son would return and tell her stories. But recently, they decided to allow her to tag along, so long as she didn't get in trouble. She enjoyed traveling with them, and loved rolling around in the hay that was kept in the back of the wagon.
Soon the cart came to a stop, and The Lord spoke with the guards for a moment before the three were let inside.
"Now Leave me while I do business. Don't get in any trouble." The lord scolded the children.
The children began a game of hide and seek within the grounds, and soon- with her cat trailing behind her- she was lost.
"Collin!" She called out his name, skipping down the halls. "Come out, now! I don't want to play anymore."

Olena was running away from Master Dalben. Again. She was driving the poor old man insane, but it wasn't her fault after all if his lessons were boring. Well, maybe not all of them, but playing was surely more fun! Beside, in that moment she was hungry and she wanted to go in the kitchen and steal something, surely they had some pies... She kept running even when she saw another little girl standing in the court: she was really curious and took a good look at her, but she couldn't stop, she needed to hide. Quickly she reached a big statue and hid herself behind it.

Jeannie continued to skip playfully, checking in every pot and behind every bush. It wasn't until she saw a shadow rustling behind a statue that she wrinkled her face and froze.
"We'll scare him!" She whispered to her cat, as if it would understand her. Quickly she scurried over on her toes. Counting to three in her head, she poised hereself for her attack.
"Gotcha!" she leaped behind the statue with a large grin, only to soon realize it wasn't who she thought it was. Her face quickly dropped and her hands found their way behind her back.

Olena was too focused on trying to understand where Master Dalben was and if he had followed her there to notice what the other little girl was doing. As the girl arrived behind her, screaming her 'gotcha', Olena jumped in fear and surprise: it was just a second of panic, just the surprise of the loud noise, cause it was immediately clear that it wasn't an adult. Master Dalben wouldn't say something like that, nor her father or her uncle, not even her sisters.
As she turned, she immediately recognized the little girl from before. She looked deeply upset as she took her wrist and dragged her behind the statue, hiding her too and covering her mouth.
"Shout up! He'll find me!" After saying so, Olena trying to carefully listen if Master Dalben was still calling for her or if he was approaching: luckily his voice was still far away.

Jeannie let out a quick yelp as she was dragged behind the statue.She drew a blank on who the girl was before, but now she was sure of it. She made some noises that couldn't be understood due to the hand over her mouth. Finally she managed to wriggle out of the tiny girl's grip and plopped to the ground.
"That's not nice." She whispered. She figured it would be best to keep her voice down- at least that wouldn't give the other girl a reason to be angry.
"Who are we hiding from?"

Only when Olena realized that the master wasn't nearby she allowed the little girl to wriggle away. At her comment she shrugged, whispering back "Yelling at me like that wasn't nice either." She didn't seem mad anymore, but it didn't look like she wasn't going to apologize either for the treatment she had reserved to the child.
"Master Dalben" she answered with a desperate expression "I'm just so tired of his lesson!" well... she was almost always tired of his lessons, but she saw no point in underlining that. "Are you hungry?" she asked then, suddenly changing subject: it didn't seem like she cared that the girl was a perfect stranger...

Jeannie cocked her head to the side, and listened as the girl spoke. She wasn't sure who this 'Master Dalben' was, but from how the girl was reacting, he wasn't enjoyable company. She scratched the top of her head, and fixed the few stray red hairs that stood out. Standing up again, she dusted off her clothes.
"Oh yes, i'm very hungry! I had a long ride." She said with wide eyes and a polite grin. She hadn't eaten anything since the beginning of their travels, where she split a slice of bread with the boy.

As the child replied, Olena nodded and took her wrist, pulling it to make the child follow her. "Then come with me, we can take some cakes from the kitchen." taking, stealing... to Olena there wasn't much difference and she didn't care either. "But you have to be quiet and do everything I say." She specified, bossy as always: after all if they wanted to manage to take some cakes without being noticed by master dalben and by the servants they had to be really careful. Sure, doing that with someone else wasn't as easy, but to Olena the fun was worth the risk. Without even waiting for an answer, sure as she was that the child would agree, Olena started moving, pulling the little girl close to her. She wasn't even too fond in strangers usually... well, she didn't like strangers at all, usually. But a child was another matter completely! She had so rarely the chance to have a playmate about her age that it didn't matter much if he or she wasn't from the castle.

When they began moving, Jeannie didn't say a word. She grinned widely at the mention of cakes! She couldn't remember the last time she had a cake. Collin would be very jealous when he found out, and it made her laugh.
"Of course." She nodded her head in a whisper as the girl commanded her to stay quiet. "My name's Jeannie, by the way." She said quietly as the girl towed her away down the hall. "What's yours?"

"I'm Olena Lannister" she answered with pride at the girl's question, still dragging her down the hall. She was very, very proud to be a Lannister: in fact, to Olena being a Lannister was one of the best things that could happen to anyone, and her feelings toward not-Lannisters usually went from hatred to pity. Well, that when she focused enough on the subject. At the moment she had no particular feeling toward Jeannie, but the girl was doing as she was saying, and that was surely a good thing.
She kept walking, still dragging Jeannie, and the two girls had almost reached the kitchen's door when she saw the shadows of some servants approaching: quickly she hid behind a big vase, being sure that Jeannie was hid as well next to her. Only in that moment she took a better look at the child: she didn't look like a noble girl, even if she displayed better manners than her "Where are you from?" she asked in a low voice, suddenly curious.

She'd heard of the Lannisters before. She'd been told stories of the house's history, but she'd never met one, and how exciting it was! She beamed a smile and continued to tag along with the girl. She hid just the same as her playmate did, not making a sound. When Olena asked about where she was from, she grew incredibly sheepish. They were very different. Olena was well kept and dressed in fancy gowns, eating fancy dinners every night. Jeannie was simple, with a homemade skirt and clothes-pins for toys. She wasn't at all ashamed of her upbringing, just nervous for a reaction.
"I live in Riverrun." She siad simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, just outside of it."

Olena didn't really noticed Jeannie's embarrassment, nor she would understand that: she wouldn't judge the girl for the fact she belonged to a lower class, she couldn't care less about that. To her the world was made by Lannisters and not-Lannisters: sure, not Lannisters had to obey to the Lannisters and weren't as lucky, but she had never thought it could be a shameful things.
At her answer, Olena blinked twice and looked again at the girl: she didn't like to study and she didn't pay too much attention to master Dalben, but she was a quick learner and she knew enough to remember that Riverrun was far enough from caste, at least for her standards. "How did you get here, then?" she asked frowning, a bit confused. She would have waited for the answer, but in that moment she noticed that the kitchen's door was unguarded and the corridor was clear. She took once again the little girl's wrist. "Come, we have to hurry. You'll tell me later."

Jeannie went to speak, but shut her mouth quickly once Olena grabbed her wrist. She scurried quickly behind her until they entered the kitchen, where she stared in awe.
"This is the biggest kitchen I've ever seen!" She whispered gleefuly to Olena, eyeing the plates of food all around them. Seconds later, her cat crawled its way in behind them, brushing itself between her legs.
"There you are." She chuckled and scooped him up like an infant. "You found us!"

Olena smiled, unable to hide the pride: having a big kitchen was part of being a Lannister, of course. They had everything bigger and better! But she couldn't her her pride distract her from her task: finding and stealing cakes. She dragged Jeannie under a table, and from there she looked around, spotting two maids and a chef. It was still early so the kitchen wasn't full of people. She even wondered if it was too early for the cakes...
She started checking the room: there was meat waiting to be roasted, many vegetables that were ready to be put in a stew, some pigeon pies, sausages, many loafs of bread, there were eggs and cheese, she even spotted some bowls with cookies and a strawberry pie. She could take that, but then the crime would become too big and too evident. She was ready to give up on her mission and retreat when a maid opened a oven and took from it some freshly made lemon cakes. A wide smile appeared on Olena's lips, but she had to turn immediately toward Jeannie, covering her mouth. "Shhhh!" she whispered to the child, pushing a finger from her free hand on her own lips. Her giggles could be easily heard, that would mean no cakes!
She looked at the cat with a displeased expression: she usually liked cats, and that cat was no exception, but they couldn't have him with them during that risky mission! "Send him outside! He can't stay here."

She nodded as a sign that she understood. When Olena let go of her mouth, she said: "Oh, okay...", she put the cat back on its feet and it ran to the exit of the kitchen right away. "See ya later, Kitty!", she whispered after it and then turning back to Olena. "So... what is the plan?", she said with a low voice and smiled.

When the child nodded, showing she had understood she needed to be quiet, Olena let her go, staring a her s she sent away the cat, still with a frown on her face. Her frown, though, turned into a mischievous smile as soon as the other girl asked about the plan. She turned once again toward he maids and the chef who, luckily, had noticed nothing, then she stared once again at the lemon cakes that had been put on a not far table. "Easy", she whispered turning toward the other girl "we get to that table without letting them" she pointed at the servitude "see us and we grab as many cakes as we can. Then we run away."

Jeannie nodded again. "So we have to be really fast if they mustn't see us..", she said and looked at the working people and then at the cake. "Are you sure they won't see us?", sha asked a little scared. Getting yelled at was the last thing she wanted. And she didn't live here, she was just a guest. And shouln't guests behave instead of stealing cake? But when she looked into Olenas face, she thought that it would be dangerous, but maybe a lot of fun, too. She smiled shy.

Olena shrugged at her question, she really didn’t care much: sure, it was better not to be seen, but she didn’t care much if they were found out, it’s not like she could end up in troubles! But she did want to leave with some cakes, so it was better not to be seen. She smiled back to Jeannie, a mischievous smile, before se turned toward the maids and cook again: they were finally all distracted “Now!” she whispered to Jeannie before she quietly ran toward the cakes, took two, one in each hand and hid again under the table.

Jeannie needed a second to get that it was the perfect moment, but after it she quickly followed Olena and took two cakes, too. Then she ran back to the table and hid under it, right beside Olena. That was so exciting and she chuckled very low. "We made it!", she whispered with glossy eyes and bit a piece of the cake.

She followed Jeannie's movement as she came back under the table, next to her. At her whisper she shook her head "Not yet." she whispered back "we need to get out now". She took another look at the chef and the maids, they were still busy. She grinned, that was too easy! "come on, let's go." she whispered again to Jeannie before she moved silently toward the door

Her mouth was still full of cake so she just nodded as an answer. She looked around the kitchen and then ran after Olena out of the kitchen, still having one cake in each hand.

She ran out of the kitchen and then she kept running: she didn't stop until she reached the garden. She didn't turn around to check if Jeannie was following her, she just assumed she did. Beside, she wasn't really used to do such things in company, the concept of cooperation was still was hard to catch for her. Once in the garden she hid behind a bush, turning around only then to see where Jeannie was.

When her glance came back to Olena, she saw her already started running out of the kitchen so she hurried and follower her. She wanted to tell her to wait when they were not longer near the kitchen, but she still had cake in her mouth, so she let it be. When Olena ran into the garden, she lost her. She came into the garden too and looked around. Where did she go? "Olena?", she whispered.