Cassana Vance

''"This is a matter between a Lord and another that owes him fealty, no more, no less. Lady Bracken, your presence here in Harrenhal is welcome indeed, but do not overstep your boundaries, as a guest, or as another who owes Riverrun deference." -Cassana to Dacey Bracken'' Cassana Vance is the granddaughter of Queen Visaera Targaryen's former Hand, Perceon Vance, and his wife, Shiera Velaryon. After the death of her grandfather, she was wed to a distant relation from House Vance of Atranta, Bryndemere Vance, and became the his lady wife. She is the only surviving child of Elana Frey's union with her father, Preston Vance. She is the last in the original line of House Vance of Harrenhal save for her aunt Minisa. Cassana is the mother of the Heir to Harrenhal, Daeron Vance.

Appearance and Character
Long legged and slight of frame, Cassana is a petite woman; she is thin and narrow-shouldered, with long brown curls and a heart-shaped face. The Lady of Harrenhal dresses in only blacks chased with gold and silver in mourning for her grandfather, who was her main role model and parent throughout her youth. Despite her melancholy reputation, she carries herself with an air of elegance and poise, a relic the sharp expectations of her grandmother, Shiera Vance, who raised her with extremely strict expectations for how she ought to live as a highborn lady. She wears little other than various gowns of shades in black and grey, occasionally with a cloak tailored to match Bryndemere's signature silver and black one.

Recent Events
In the Eighth Moon of 439 AC, Cassana bore her first child with Bryndemere named Daeron Vance. The birth was a difficult one that had threatened to take the young lady's life, luckily, however, she survived and Daeron was born a healthy boy. The new heir to Harrenhal takes after his father far more than his mother, with a head of messy black hair and dark murky eyes. While Cassana recovered from the delivery, Bryndemere expelled the wetmaids from Harrenhal, intending for Cassana to nurse the babe herself.

Background
Cassana was born in 418 AC, and is the only surviving child of the former heir of Harrenhal, Preston Vance and his widow, Elana Frey. She was primarily raised and mentored by her grandfather, Perceon Vance, who had long served Queen Visaera Targaryen as Hand, as well as for her husband before her.

As a child, Cassana was tutored by the highest of scholars beneath the close scrutiny of her grandmother, Shiera Vance in King's Landing. Born a Velaryon, Shiera was the daughter of a Targaryen princess and the former Hand of the King herself, Lord Vaemond Velaryon; she allowed Cassana no room for failure and assured each day and night that her husband's heiress would be well-groomed for ladyship. She was always a sad girl, as one of her tutors once remarked "She is just as like to burst into tears as most children are like to burst into giggles."

Ofttimes, her books were her only escape from the pressures of duty, and remain so still. Cassana proved sharp of wit as a girl and seemed only to sharpen as she grew. She flourished at the capital, delving far into her studies and becoming formidably well-versed in histories and laws, as well as the economic state of the realm. Her grandmother chose to harness her mind rather than her social influence, understanding well that her husband's name could very well depend on it, despite that her way of birth had already cruelly separated her from her mother and half-siblings, and her vigorous education seemed only to further isolate her from society.

Her strict lessons made Cassana to feel as though the walls would close in around her, even within a most cavernous keep such as her home of Harrenhal or King's Landing, the sprawling city of her youth. For what reprisals and disciplinevehas had to be taught to her, Cassana teems with an unthinkable measure of anxity, and has been known to immerse herself all the more fully in her studies to better preoccupy her mind, rather than dwell on her most nagging thoughts and mental afflictions. A girl prone to her weeping, she was encouraged by her grandmother to hide her tears and never show a wet face at court. Cassana would become all the more closeted and reclusive for it, still, despite that she had become lovelier as she grew older.

She was twelve when Shiera left this world for the realm of the Gods. Left alone with only the guidance of her grandfather, Perceon, Cassana grew even more melancholy, even more reclusive, and was subjected to frequent solitude between the Lord Hand's many political transactions, much to her own chagrin. When the two did spend time together, her grandfather labored from dawn till dusk to instill his values within her, mentoring her as his heir and future Lady of Harrenhal should she be forced into such a situation. Though she gained a measure of his compassion, his morality, his piety, and most of all, his wisdom, her tendencies to retreat within often overpower her teachings and lessons.

Seven years later, her aging grandfather too would pass. Cassana stayed by his bedside for the full turn of day and night that he was bedridden, before he died of a burst belly on the morning after he first complained of a stitch in his side. The maesters announced his departure in 437 AC, following The Bleeding, when the Four Year Winter proved its coldest and most disadvantageous for his health and livelihood as an elderly man.

With a succession crisis upon them, as if by sent by the gods themselves, an unexpected intervention saved House Vance of Harrenhal; that of the Lord of Atranta, Laswell Vance. He attended her grandfather's funeral and lit the pyre personally, and afterwards, gave her an offer that would come to save her house. Upon the urging of Lord Laswell, as well as that of her aunt Minisa, Cassana married Laswell's second son, Bryndemere Vance. The two were wed within a fortnight of the agreement, and he ascended to Lordship of Harrenhal and it's surrounding holdings and lands, with her at his side as his wife and Lady of Harrenhal.

More tragedy would strike the new couple when Cassana's mother, Elana Frey, passed. Despite not knowing her as well as her half-siblings in the Crossing, she mourned the loss of the last of her direct family. Around this same time, her husband's brother and father died, leaving the two with only each other in the great halls of Haren the Black. A small bit of luck would emerge when Cassana met her bastard cousin, Tansy Rivers, the Lady of Harrenhal desperate for a family, took in Tansy as a servant. The two have since become close friends with Tansy being Cassana's closest confidant.

Family
''Foreword: Bolded names indicate those that were lord of their respective house at some point or another. Italicized names indicate that the character is now deceased. (m.) denotes a marriage into the family.''
 * Perwyn Vance, the late Lord of Harrenhal b.344 AC
 * (m.) Roslyn Tully, wife of Perwyn Vance b.346 AC
 * Perceon Vance, the late Lord of Harrenhal b.346 AC
 * (m.) Shiera Velaryon, wife of Perceon Vance b.371 AC
 *  Preston Vance, knight and heir to Harrenhal b.388 AC
 * Petyr Vance, stillborn son, b.415 AC
 * Cassana Vance b.418 AC
 * (m.) Bryndemere Vance b.416 AC
 * Rhialta Tully b.389 AC
 * Paxter Vance b.395 AC
 * Tansy Rivers, alleged bastard born to a common woman in Maidenpool
 * Minisa Vance b.399 AC
 * Pollux Vance b.371 AC
 * Cassana Vance b.371 AC
 * Mellara Vance b.374 AC
 * Pearse Vance b.376 AC