[ Better to sell one's self short than to oversell and leave a person wanting. By being modest Alayne found it possible to take certain people off-guard and to jog them (oftentimes pleasantly) into a disarmed state of surprise. Beyond that, it often won her praise and encouragement the likes of which Lara offers now readily.

And what teenage girl — medieval, fantastical or not — didn't long for praise in one form or another? ]

I've no doubt you would have faired better. Necessity has been my only teacher; in Westeros I would, to this day, have remained painfully ignorant of such things.