Jeyne Frey was the Lady of the Crossing. She was the eldest child of Symond Frey and Cassana Vance, and became heir to House Frey following the death of her uncle Whalon. She had two late brothers, Forrest and Donnel, and two sisters, Elana and Visaera. She was the niece of the current Lord Vance.
Appearance and Character[]
Jeyne was short of height. Though still small from winter, she had the expected curves of a woman. In contrast to her ancestors, Jeyne had forgone hats and typically wore her dark, waist-length curls down. Hers was a sad beauty, pleasantness on the surface that scarcely concealed the melancholy beneath. She had a preference for embellished, jewel-toned gowns with a plunging neckline.
She aimed to be polite, but was not always successful. Her youth fed into her idealist nature, particularly in regards to matters of the heart, though she had proven herself more than capable in practical matters in the wake of the Scarlet Winter. Under her vigilant leadership, the Twins underwent a number of minor renovations and reemerged from winter stronger than before. Jeyne valued her family above all, though only two remain in her line.
History[]
Early Life[]
Jeyne Frey was born in 388 AC, the eldest child of Symond Frey, heir to the Twins, and Caasana Vance. She was delivered by Maester Bertram. At the time of her birth, her grandfather Emmon Frey was Lord of the Crossing. Though she was only two at the time of his death, all knew her from the glimmer she brought to her grandfather's eyes. This widespread adoration was seen as a change of fortune for House Frey, who had been plagued by infighting for generations. This small victory was soon overshadowed by Lord Emmon's death. Lady Cassana tried consoling her daughter, though her pregnancy left her weak. Further tragedy came still when Jeyne's baby brother, Forrest, died in the cradle in 390 AC. Her mother, while still loving, was never the same. All the while, Lord Symond made small renovations around the Twins, making the keeps more sightly. In 391 AC, Cassana gave birth to Jeyne's second brother, Donnel. His birth was marked by celebration, and the favor was quietly shifted to small but robust Donnel. In 392 AC, Lord Symond, the pregnant Cassana, and their children visited Riverrun in the midst of the Great Famine. They came with considerable rations, and some would say it was the only food they had left. Jeyne's younger sister and eventual heir, Elana, was born during their stay at Riverrun. Lady Cassana's health worsened and she was advised to carry no more children, as she'd already produced an heir.
Lady Cassana did not heed the warnings of maesters, however, and soon fell pregnant with her sixth child. Further weakened by the famine and a particularly terrible pregnancy, Cassana barely survived long enough to birth a living child. Jeyne's youngest sister, Visaera, was placed in her mother's arms and, perhaps distracted by the chaos, none removed Jeyne from the room as her mother bled to death. Memories of a gaunt woman with ginger curls and tears down her cheeks would haunt Jeyne's dreams for many years. However, the devastation of her mother's death never inspired ill will towards her baby sister. Jeyne's uncle, Whalon, used Lord Symond's grief to his advantage; as his broken brother wept at night, Whalon made moves to cement his own reign. Whalon, though ruthless, was effective in recovering Frey lands from the famine. Thankfully, they barely had a reputation to keep intact. Uncle Whalon produced more than a sizable harvest- he sired a number of bastards. Symond was too buried in melancholy to reprimand his brother for his shameful actions, for a time.
Girlhood, Standing Alone[]
As Donnel grew, Lord Symond found himself less haunted by his wife's death. He began investing more time in raising his growing son, perhaps because he realized Whalon's unsavory character would be the boy's other option in regards to a role model. This wasn't entirely true. Jeyne had taken their mother's place in young Donnel's eyes, and the two were seldom seen apart. The two often played on their family's infamous bridge, the children careful to avoid its more dangerous spots, under the watchful eye of Septa Lenore. Lord Symond allowed his daughters an education on par with his sons. Whalon proposed marriage to Jeyne in 397 AC, to be quickly refused by Lord Symond and sent away. Jeyne is sent away from the Twins in 398 AC, to serve Princess Visaera Targaryen. Both Jeyne and Donnel cried for a day when she left. While a decent handmaid in training, Jeyne's true interest lied in statecraft and scholarly pursuits. The dragon princess proved to be a powerful influence on Jeyne, in the stead of her own mother. At age eleven, on the cusp of womanhood, Jeyne was small and awkward with boys, but polite. Despite her fumbling with the opposite sex, she befriended Princess Visaera's son, Rhaegar Targaryen.
Return to the Twins[]
News of her father Symond's death in 400 AC summoned Jeyne back to the Twins, at first to attend his burial. In truth, her grief ended any interest in continuing down the path of a handmaiden, though she continued to regard Princess Visaera highly. She wrote to her regularly. With winter coming, Jeyne helped and- when the boy favored playing- lead her House's underlings in preparing while her uncle Whalon took hold of the daily activities of the Crossing. Symond never invited his younger brother back to the Twins, but he was a touch too dead to stop him, and none of his children saw their uncle for what he was. Jeyne resumed her role as a motherly figure to her siblings, though her youngest sister Visaera was sent to serve Lady Bethany Blackwood in Rivverrun in 400 AC. Whalon refused both Jeyne and Elana the opportunity to leave, and refused any would-be suitors.
Married, Buried[]
In 401 AC, on the cusp of winter, Lord Donnel anticipated his upcoming name day. Their Uncle Whalon refused the boy's request for a tourney in celebration, perhaps wisely so. Nevertheless, young Lord Donnel grew increasingly sick of his uncle's presence and that of his bastards. He became the subject of much debate on Donnel's small council, which had come to include Jeyne. To make things more embarrassing, Whalon sat on the council as well. On Lord Donnel's name day, Jeyne presented him with the best gift of all: a chance to free himself of a Lord's responsibilities for a day, and play as he wished. She took over in his stead. While she sat before the table made of a dark, heavy wood in one of the stone rooms constructed by her late father, she heard it; a thick, sickening thump.
Lord Donnel Frey lay bloodied and broken on the bank of the Trident.
Jeyne rushed out of the keep as quick as she could, ignoring her cramping stomach and breathlessness and screaming like a madwoman. Pushing away any who stood in her way, with Maester Bertram and Septa Lenore rushing behind and her uncle nowhere to be found, Jeyne was determined to save her baby brother. Or, as she later resolved, save him from dying alone. When they came upon him, Jeyne collapsed at her baby brother's side and held him against her chest. Ignoring even the cries of her sister Elana, Jeyne sobbed and clutched her brother's broken body, pleading with the Stranger to take her instead. Truly, she felt more like a mother clinging to her dying child than a distant sibling. It took a small score of servants to pry the boy's body away from her. Maester Bertram silently sought out her uncle to break the news whilst a septa, the same one that had delivered her and her brothers, held the crying girl. As the septa now lost both of the sons she delivered, she knew she'd lost the girl, as well. An encounter with Maester Bertram confirmed her thoughts, and they agreed that the House would be going to a wolf who didn't have the decency to wear sheep's clothing.
It was resolved that Lord Donnel had fallen while climbing a high tower.
Time had come to pass, though Jeyne never recovered from her brother's death. Where she once looked after her siblings, the sparkle of her eyes and the last remnant of her parents, she found herself having to care for bastards when her uncle ascended to Lord of the Crossing. Whalon proposed to Jeyne again in 401 AC, though his was more of an ultimatum: she would be his bride, or he'd find another and she and her sister would be sent to a brothel, or the Ironborn, whichever proved more amusing. If Jeyne hadn't loathed him before, she did now, albeit in silence. She agreed to his proposal, and found herself pondering if the brothel would've been much worse.
Her betrothed was no more gentle than a pimp; where once a reprimanding look was all the punishment Jeyne had to fear, her uncle would swing at her roughly. She feared her face would remain discolored on her wedding. During the day, she did what she could to avoid him and never provoke him. She reared his bastards in lieu of her siblings, but they were nothing like her siblings: they were cruel, ill-mannered, and seldom listened to her. She distanced herself from Elana for her own good. At night, she curled up in her blankets and cried, imagining the gallant Prince Rhaegar landing atop Nightwing and spiriting her away.
The day of the wedding came later in 401 AC, and Jeyne was sorely tempted to throw herself from the keep and land broken as Donnel had. But she had Elana to think of, and too many guests were in attendance for her to dwell on her thoughts. Including, to her surprise, Prince Rhaegar himself. She dreamed of telling him all the awful things her uncle had done, that maybe Whalon's legal wrongdoings would bring punishment if she meant as little as she felt she did; in the end, she spoke nothing of it. Jeyne went through with the nuptials, spending the feast to follow celebrating with a sinking feeling growing inside her. Nevertheless, she was eager to reunite with many she hadn't seen in ages- including Lady Berena Tully, with whom she spent a long time gleefully chatting- and her baby sister, Visaera. She hugged her, and wanted to cry. Jeyne was tempted to drink as Whalon did, but Septa Lenore reprimanded her, claiming it would be a poor way to start a marriage on her part. She danced with the handsome Prince Rhaegar, and reminisced over their childhood memories. She also danced with Jacaerys Targaryen and Aegon Targaryen. Prince Maekar Targaryen was also in attendance, as was Prince Laenor Targaryen. Jeyne did what she could to avoid the attention of her uncle, and his bastards. But the bedding ceremony commenced, and the men carrying her to the chambers she'd share appeared more to her like the Stranger guiding her to death. Her eyes became misty, but no tears fell.
Whalon entered the bedding chamber, and Jeyne wished she could die. She wished Whalon would not have been so vulgar in his drunkenness, so that she would obliviously fall into her fate like a pig to the slaughter. It was in the moments immediately proceeding their consummation that the Mother showed her mercy to Jeyne. Whalon's grip on her froze, then trembled. Jeyne thought it a cruel prolonging, and buried her face in the white sheets until she heard trickling on the stone floor. Staggering off of her, her husband collapsed onto the ground while his insides emptied, a mixture of stool and blood. She screamed, running into the waiting arms of her septa. She was still a maid.
Lady of the Crossing[]
With the death of her uncle, Jeyne became the Lady of the Crossing in 401 AC. Her experience with the Princess proved useful, or at least saved her House from immediate doom. Her first order of business was to deal with the children Whalon left behind. Against initial advisement, Jeyne didn't send her uncle's bastards into the Trident, where she was told they'd float downstream until winter froze their corpses. It would've brought her relief, and possibly saved her tears at night, but she relented. Instead, thinking of positive figures in recent years, she sent the boys to Oldtown and the girls into the silent sisters.
Septa Lenore died from a winter chill in 402 AC, and Maester Bertram seemed not far from it.
Whalon, though a sub-par human, prepared the Twins for winter as best he could; especially considering now there were significantly fewer mouths to feed. But House Frey wouldn't have dealt with winter as gracefully if it weren't for Jeyne's leadership. Heads of would-be thieves and deserters were taken and placed upon spikes lining the bridge. By upping the toll and putting on tariff on goods passed through the Twins, House Frey didn't suffer as bad as some houses. In a way, they prospered. The hardships of winter left Jeyne small and sickly for a time, and took about all the color from her face. The Riverlands would be slow to recover; however, she left her girlhood in winter and bloomed with the spring.
She would honor her father's memory and the opportunities he granted her by removing herself from her shell and repairing their lands with a vigilant eye, become both a charismatic and capable Lady. She even resumed her letters to the Princess. Her sister Visaera went on to serve Berena Tully following the death of her original mistress, though they too resumed contact. Jeyne named Elana her heir in 403 AC.
Recent Events[]
Jeyne and her sisters attend the tourney at Harrenhal in 407 AC. Despite her love for the Twins, Jeyne found herself enthralled by the Tourney's festivities. Here, she shared a flirtation with Aegon Targaryen who took her maidenhead the night of the first feast. Their courtship was short-lived and Jeyne found herself in the arms of Jacaerys Targaryen and later Loreon Lannister. The latter saw a betrothal, a marriage Jeyne anticipated with silent glee- a princely husband she consented to. She would be the princess of the rebuilt Winter Palace and bare the Prince many children. Her plan, like Jeyne herself, was short-lived.
Death[]
Jeyne died in 407 AC at Harrenhal, at the hands of her betrothed, Jacaerys Targaryen.
Family and Household[]
Current Members[]
- Elana Frey, Lady of the Crossing b. 392
- Visaera Frey, Heir to the Crossing b. 393
- Melinda Frey b. 369 AC
- Alessander Rivers b. 387 AC
- Ryman Frey b. 389 AC
- Ryella Frey b. 389 AC
Past Members[]
- "Black" Walder Frey b. 260 d. 325
- Tywin Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 287 d. 339
- Walda Frey, Lady of the Crossing b. 290 d. 366
- Walder Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 300 d. 369
- Emmon Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 325 d. 390
- Symond Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 360 d. 400
- Donnel Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 390 d. 401
- Symond Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 360 d. 400
- Emmon Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 325 d. 390
- Walder Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 300 d. 369
- Whalon Frey, Lord of the Crossing b. 369 d. 401
- Jeyne Frey, Lady of the Crossing b. 388 d. 407
Household[]
- Maester Bertram