Editing A Clash of Kings-Chapter 55 (section)

==Synopsis==
The [[smallfolk]] of [[Riverrun]] celebrate Ser [[Edmure Tully]]'s victory in the [[Battle of the Fords]] as well as [[Robb Stark]]'s [[storming of the Crag]]. [[Catelyn Stark|Catelyn]], however, sits in the [[Great Hall of Riverrun|Great Hall]] alone but for [[Brienne Tarth|Brienne]], desolate over the loss of her two young sons, [[Bran Stark|Bran]] and [[Rickon Stark]]. The [[raven]] arrived that morning from [[Castle Cerwyn]], and Catelyn is beside herself with grief, despondent at the thought nearly all her children are dead or lost to her. Catelyn tells Brienne about the terrible message brought to her by Maester [[Vyman]], that [[Theon Greyjoy]] slew her sons after capturing them at a [[mill on the Acorn Water]]. She tells Brienne that she sent a flagon of [[wine]] to [[Jaime Lannister]], the Kingslayer, to loosen his tongue. She means to question him, and is perhaps contemplating having the man killed since she has so little to live for anymore.

Catelyn visits [[Keep of Riverrun|her father's solar]], where Vyman tells her he is given [[dreamwine]] to [[Hoster Tully|Hoster]]. After telling the [[maester]] to join the celebration, Catelyn confesses her worries to her sleeping father.

At midnight, Catelyn goes to the [[dungeons of Riverrun|dungeons]], ordering [[Riverrun gaoler|the gaoler]] to open Jaime's cell and then go back to drinking his [[ale]]. She asks Brienne to wait outside Jaime's cell. Jaime, who has not touched his wine, mocks Catelyn at first, but eventually agrees to answer her questions if she agrees to answer his.

Jaime begins drinking his wine. He admits to being the father to all of [[Cersei Lannister|Cersei]]'s children, and Catelyn reveals that Ser [[Stafford Lannister]] was slain at [[Battle of Oxcross|Oxcross]] but the rest of Jaime's family are still alive. Jaime admits to throwing Bran out the window of the [[First Keep]] after the boy caught Jaime and Cersei together. However, Jaime denies sending [[catspaw|the assassin]] after Bran, saying, "if I wanted your Bran dead I would have slain him myself." Catelyn questions him about [[Littlefinger's blade|the dagger]] that [[Petyr Baelish|Littlefinger]] claimed [[Tyrion Lannister|Tyrion]] had won from him at the [[tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day]]. Jaime backs what Tyrion told her in the [[Mountains of the Moon]], that he always bets on his brother and lost at that tourney. Jaime admits that King [[Robert I Baratheon|Robert]] mocked him with the dagger at the feast the night of the tourney, and Catelyn is dismayed that Littlefinger, who was like a brother to her once, would deceive her the way he has.

[[File:MSMcatelyn jaime.jpg|thumb|250px|left|[[Catelyn Stark|Catelyn]] confronts [[Jaime Lannister|Jaime]]]]

Catelyn reveals that [[Stannis Baratheon|Stannis]] is marching against [[King's Landing]], that [[Renly Baratheon|Renly]] is dead, and that Robb has recently taken the [[Crag]] from the [[House Westerling|Westerlings]]. Lord [[Rickard Karstark]] wants Jaime dead because the Kingslayer slew his sons [[Eddard Karstark|Eddard]] and [[Torrhen Karstark|Torrhen]] in the [[battle in the Whispering Wood|Whispering Wood]], but Jaime says they were killed in a fair fight. 

Frustrated at the conflicting vows he has sworn in his life, Jaime steers the conversation to what really happened to [[Brandon Stark|Brandon]] and Lord [[Rickard Stark]] at the hands of the Mad King [[Aerys II Targaryen]], perhaps to absolve himself of having slain the king. Brandon was on his way to Riverrun when he learned of [[Lyanna Stark|Lyanna]]'s disappearance, and instead went to King's Landing with a handful of friends, all sons of prominent lords, and upon entering the [[Red Keep]], Brandon shouted for [[Rhaegar Targaryen|Rhaegar]] to "come out and die". 

Rhaegar was not there to answer the challenge, and King Aerys had Brandon and his friends arrested for conspiring to murder his heir. Aerys demanded the fathers of the men come to King’s Landing to answer the charges against their sons; when they came, both fathers and sons were murdered at the command of the king. When Lord Rickard demanded [[trial by combat]], Aerys said that ''fire'' would be the champion of [[House Targaryen]]. Brandon died of strangulation trying to reach his father while he was being burnt alive by Aerys's [[pyromancer]]s. Jaime was a young member of the [[Kingsguard]] when he saw all this, and it was Ser [[Gerold Hightower]] who told him, "You swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him", whom everyone consider a better man than him. 

Jaime, now fully drunk, angrily rants that he is reviled for what he considers his finest act and begins to mock [[Eddard Stark|Ned Stark]]'s honor, stating that unlike Ned, a man who fathered [[Jon Snow|a bastard]], he has never been unfaithful and that Ned had no right to judge him, the man who avenged his father and brother. Catelyn has heard enough, and calls for Brienne’s sword.