For Noemi (xv12 on tumblr, and you may have also seen her in the comments here as xvega)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you like your day :D
As a request, she only asked for third POV story, which I found really hard to do, but I hope it's not that bad.
For the theme, I was free to choose – so I went with Space AU. And I do hope this is an incentive for you to finally watch Star Wars! But this is not in any way a Star Wars AU, even if you may found touches of that and other Space shows/movies (… I did start watching Battlestar Galactica while writing this).
Once again, I couldn't proofread it as I normally do it (by printing the fanfic), so there may be a few more typos; also English is not my native language.
But enjoy! And have a GOOD day, Noemi!
The sky was vast, and the universe was bigger than the infinite the earthlings thought it was. The earthlings were wrong about a lot of things. The first one was that the world could hold on, that their wars and their actions against nature wouldn't have any repercussions – the world was destroyed, and only the richest got out. The second one was thinking that they were alone, and even in space they continued to believe it, living in a closed arc for generations. And finally the third one was believing that other beings would be completely different from them and even inferior; but now for years and generations, earthlings were mixed through the universe, learning to respect others.
But not all, some people had taken a liking to travelling, and still respected their blood – the Starks were one of those people. One of the families to come in the arc as one of the richest families of Scandinavia, one of the few countries not pushed into the war. The Starks, at least the main branch, still had mostly earth blood, only having mated with the giant people from the Frozen planet.
This generation of Starks had new blood embodied in them. Their mother was not fully earthling (still a bit, but mostly not), she was from another Stark branch, that a long time ago started living between different beings. Lyarra's skin was mostly green, and since she had lived in a planet very open to invasions, she and hers had been trained since children to kill and defend themselves.
So she was the warrior on the ship, their father was a salesmen and his giant blood made him taller than anyone had been on Earth. What he sold could differ everyday – sometimes he sold food, other times fabric, and even sometimes illegal drugs; he bought at the capital and sold in every other planet of the alliance.
From that marriage came four kids, none of them had Lyarra's green skin, even if the youngest had a bit of a green tone – just a light green, nothing like his mother's. The youngest, besides the different colour skin was skinner than his brothers, but as tall, he mostly trained with his mother and sister, being a very capable fighter (using only his hands as a preferred weapon), but he had a knack for sales as well, it was always easy to him, to make people like him. And his name was Benjen, the pup.
The family only had one girl, and while she may look like her father she had her mother skills. Lyanna was a fighter to the core, she could pick up any weapon and fight with it, and kill with it. When it was needed, she was always the one to take the arms from the left side of the ship (mother took the ones in the right, and Benjen in the back), and she had shot every spaceship that appeared in her vision range. And she was called Lyanna, the she-wolf.
The oldest, called Brandon, the wild wolf, was a salesman just like his father, he never left a place without making the sale – some said he was now better than his father. Brandon knew that when the time came he would take charge of the ship – he would be captain. He could fight as well, while he had learned from his mother, he had less grace than her, using more of his strength, much that came from having giant blood.
And then there was the middle son; Ned didn't excel at anything, but he could do anything. He fought well, favouring a greatsword, but still not as well as his mother or younger siblings – so defences and attacks weren't his job. He could sell, if the product was good enough – but he wasn't able to lie, or omit, or just sell it like it was better than it was – so most of the sells were left to his father and brother. So he was left to drive the ship, he was always prepared to hit the accelerator in case a sell went badly, but still while it was his job, he was still not an excellent pilot – pretty good, but not excellent. So the quiet wolf always doubted himself, and his place, and that was haunting his dreams during the night once again.
He woke up with the usual shock through his body, always expected at the same time for everyone in the universe that followed the laws. He looked up at his wrist, nothing out of the ordinary was appointed on the metal band that he had used since he was registered as a newborn; so he moved on with his day as normally.
Ned pushed his covers out of the way, and left his small bed – his room was small, as it would be expected on a ship, and in two steps he entered his private bathroom. It was also small – only with a showerhead – so when he took off his clothes, he had to throw them off the bathroom, he put himself under the showerhead, and took a quick a shower, and peed. He turned on the heater, so it could dry him, before he stepped out of the tile to the carpeted floor.
Naked, he walked to the other side of the room, where with the touch of a button, his closet opened and he took out fresh underwear and his clothes – he didn't differ much, and since he knew they were selling today, we put on his jumpsuit with the Stark sigil.
He was almost ready to leave the room, he just needed to fold his pyjama first, lay it under his pillow, make his bed and then push it into the wall. Finally he left the room, with his old underwear in hand, and threw it into the tube that took all their clothes to the machine that washed them and dried them, on his way to the cockpit.
"Good morning, Mom, Dad," he greeted them, and neither of his parents looked up from the map, as they greeted him. "Is that the map from the planet?"
"Yes. Come and take a look. We need to find a place to park the ship." Ned knew very little about the planet, only that it was divided by two people – the water people and the forest people – that coexisted in peace most times. "The man we're doing business with is from the water people, but we may need to park the ship in the forest – you and your sister will stay in the ship to guard it, while I, your mother and brothers go and make the sell."
Ned peered over their shoulder, to a map of blues and greens; he pointed out to a yellow place in the map, probably sand.
"That would be a good place."
"I think you're right. I will pull the contacts of the owners of the place, and try to find if it's free for landing," Ned's dad said, standing up.
"Rick, you need to eat."
"You two go on. I'll meet you in a few minutes, I just want to see if I can go through. Also need to message Hoster Tully, to see if it would be a good place."
"Come on, son. Brandon and Lyanna were in charge of preparing breakfast this morning – they should be done. If they didn't burn the place down." It was always dangerous when both of them drew breakfast shift together.
"What are we selling?"
"Some food. Fabrics – that will be the big sell – the man said that his daughter likes to sew. Also he will be selling meds too, not to Hoster, his brother."
"Is he trustworthy?" It was an illegal sell, if the word got out, the Starks would be in great danger.
"Your father seems to trust him. He's good reading people. But I'm coming with him, any sign of danger – I will kill the man." Lyarra said, and her son immediately knew that was truth. Ned had seen her kill with her bare hands.
"Mom!" Brandon exclaimed when they entered the room. "Breakfast is served."
It was true, the food was on the table. It wasn't complicated to get breakfast ready; the food was all canned, but there was need to be careful, and only take the agreed quantity, so it could last until they were to stop in the capital again to refill their stocks. Brandon and Lyanna were sometimes less careful with handling rationing, especially with just the two of them and no one to enforce control.
"We followed instructions, Mom. Don't worry," Lyanna let them know.
"Yeah. Going without food for three days last time taught us a lesson," Brandon confirmed, before attacking the food.
"Where's your brother?"
"He was training when I left my bunker," the sister said, being the one living closer to the training grounds. "He's probably bathing now. Dad?"
"Trying to make contact, looking for landing space."
"Now, I'm not," the father said, coming through the door. "Hoster is breaking fast with his children as well. He said he would contact me in one hour."
"Good," Lyarra said. "He still have a long way to go." She pulled the chair back for her husband to sit, and then yelled. "Benjen!" her voice echoed through the entire ship, her vocals cords vibrating quicker than humanly possible, an essential capacity for her people, used as a warning call for when they were attacked – now Lyarra only used it to call for her children.
"I'm coming, Mom," he said, coming to the room jumping from one foot to the other, still pulling on his pants. "Sorry for the delay. I just wanted to make sure I was ready for today."
"You know I'll still be there," the mother said at the same time as her husband said.
"The Tullys are trustworthy. I don't envision us having any problems. Besides they are not violent people."
Rickard Stark must have truly believed them more trustworthy than any other people, because when Hoster called one hour later – he accepted the other man's proposal. The Starks would spend a night in a real place, with beds that weren't bunkers, with a meal that wasn't canned; but it would also mean that they would leave their ship alone. Lyarra fought him a bit on the idea, not liking the idea of leaving the ship alone, but her husband vowed for Hoster Tully again.
So Lyarra lost, and when they flied to the planet, they didn't stop on the sand they had decided on the map, but a small piece of land in the middle of the river the Tullys called home. There were people waiting, two women and one man – they all had long dreadlocks, black and brown, their skin was weird looking, and their neck had gashes, and their hands had five fingers, but not one moved independently, all connected with membranes, like they were fishes – neither person introduced themselves as a Tully, but ambassadors.
"We need to attach this to your wrist. It's air for the people of the surface – it lets you walk freely underwater. This dose will last you for three sunsets."
"Three days?" Brandon asked, as he carried part of the goods. And one of the woman laughed and answered.
"21 hours, and 26 minutes, according to earth time – why still use that ancient way to count time?"
"It's an effective way," the chef of the family said. "We'll take the air," he said, being the first one to pull his sleeve up, showing them his metal wrist band; one of the women took one of the six syringes in the box and injected it to it. The rest of the family followed, and after Ned turned on all the necessary securities on the ship, they left the land.
It was a strange feeling, walking into the water, like it was a normal environment, and that they could breathe normally. Underwater the people looked exactly like the other three, the skin, the hands and the neck – the hair sometimes changed, most men had shaved heads, and some women too, but the ones with hair was still always dreadlocks, black or brown – there were no other colours.
The walk took longer than expected, even more with the weight of the goods keeping them from moving faster. Especially after they saw the castle that could only be the Tully's – it stood so tall and beautiful in the middle of the rest of the sea - the top tower was almost out of the water.
Again, there were people waiting for them, once again two women and one man, but younger. There was one strange thing about one of the women, unlike anyone else they had seen – her hair was different, no dreadlocks, or dark browns or black, she had red hair, and hair as thin as earthlings' hair, and long, very long.
The people waiting had their own thoughts about the arrivals as well. They didn't get many guests under water – forest people sometimes came – but from outer space was very rare, and none of the three Tully children had ever seen them so close. It had been the oldest daughter to convince her father to ask them to stay – she liked adventure and seeing knew places, but she loved her family more, so she didn't want to leave them, these people could tell her stories – stories more alive then her books.
"I present you the Tully children," the ambassador said, bringing everyone away from their own mind. "Catelyn – she's the oldest." The girl with the different hair, came forward, and waved with an inviting smile on her lips.
"It's pleasure to have you in our home."
"Lysa." The other girl was introduced, and they noticed that her hair was different too, she had dreadlocks like all the other women, but it was auburn like her sister's. The girl didn't say anything, and she didn't seem to be happy here either.
"And I'm Edmure," the boy exclaimed, impatient of not being introduced before. The boy was still a child, but his head was almost all shaved, only a single dreadlock (auburn too) escaping, and his shoulders were rather large for a child. "We're here to take you inside," he said, running inside.
"We can walk," the oldest girl said. "And thank you for leading them here," she said nodding to the three ambassadors. And then the Starks were left only with Catelyn – Edmure had run ahead and Lysa had escaped the moment she had given the chance. "I apologize for my siblings."
"No need to, girl," the mother said.
"I will take you to your assigned rooms. My father should call for you soon, he's holding audience right now."
"Could we assist?"
"Of course. I can take you there if you want," she said looking at all the Starks, most said they would prefer the room, only Ned still wanted to see the audience. "I'll take you there after I show you the rooms. I can tell you it's not as exciting as you may think."
"Ohhh… he likes boring things," the oldest brother said. "I'm Brandon, by the way. And this one is Ned."
"Lyanna – Lya."
"Benjen. But you seem nice enough, you can call me Ben."
"Rickard Stark."
"Lyarra."
"Thank you. But I already knew your names. We were preparing for your visit. And I'm sorry to ask, but I would request that you left your weapons here – I promise nothing bad will happen to you or the weapons."
The Starks agreed, since they knew most of them were trained to kill with their own hands if needed. But Catelyn was still astonished to the quantity of weapons they had on their bodies, and strangely the three elder men had the less – one sword each, even if different between them, and a blaster – the other three were heavily armed, with swords, daggers (hidden in all kinds of places), and others that looked strange to her.
"Ohh… don't be scared, girl," Lyarra said, having noticed the look on the girl's face. "We didn't mean anything. I'm used to carrying weapons, that's all – none of us thought about attacking you."
"I've just never seen so many weapons together. We are a peaceful people – we have tried our best not to have to fight."
"A honourable idea, Catelyn. My people lived in war, and I taught my kids to protect themselves as well."
"Do you need to check the goods?" Rickard asked.
"No, we trust you don't have any weapons in there."
"We don't."
"So let's go in," she said, leading them at the front. She talked as they entered the palace, she talked about the place – its architecture and history, with love and care. She loved doing this guide visit of her home.
The parents were the first to get their room; and they left the goods there as well.
"I got you a common bedroom," she said to the younger people. "It's quite big. And if you want Lyanna, you can stay with us, or I can find an individual room."
"No, I can stay with my brothers."
"There are four beds, and then there's a living room as well, it's between your room and mine."
"That seems good," one of them said, as the other nodded.
The room was quite big, they realized the moment she opened the door, much bigger than their small bunkers.
"I made clothes for you too. I can make adjustments to your figure. I used pictures I found online, so I'm not sure how well they will fit"
"You didn't need to…"
"I liked doing it. Sew helps me pass the time," with that being said, she let them on the rooms, before continuing walking with Ned.
"Thank you for the clothes and the visit, and walking me here."
"No problem. I never have much to do here – it was fun sewing something for you." Catelyn took a deep breath and ventured asking what she wanted to ask since she heard about their visit. "How is the world outside?"
"Outside?"
"You live in a ship, you must travel…"
"You haven't travelled?" he asked – it was a strange notion to him, who had lived aboard a ship all his life.
"Sometimes I go to the forest kingdom, and since I have a friend there – I can stay. But I've never left the planet."
"Aren't there ships you could take? You could move to teach children – you're a good speaker, and you seem responsible – in many planets they don't ask for more."
"My family. I couldn't leave them."
"Ohhh… The outside depends on the place. Some planets are beautiful, they take your breath away, and they are all so different. You have eight suns; some have none and live in darkness – still with beauty. The worst are the ones far from the empire, out of the ruler's reach – those planets are poor, not getting any provisions from the capital."
"Have you sold goods in those places?" This question, if positive, would charge Starks with treason, and illegality; but Ned still answered honestly.
"We have. But only essential goods – food and meds, some fabrics (not the best ones). If you had seen the people, you would understand…"
But Catelyn couldn't understand, she wouldn't say anything either, but growing up under the words "Family, Duty, Honor" made things like breaking the law unthinkable to her.
"But I think I would like to have a home… A place for me…"
"It gets boring. Always the same routine. Have you always lived on a ship?"
"Yes, I have. My family's, and for a year I worked about Captain Cassana Estermont's ship."
"Cassana? That's a woman's name."
"Yes, it is. She's one of the best Captains in the Empire."
"I didn't know women could be captains."
"They can and they are. You remind me of her – your hair… it's different."
"My mother was from the Forest. Their hair is like this, and always red, or blond or brown – never black. Why does my hair reminds you of the Captain?"
"Her hair stood out as well. Very long and thick black hair, but she could control it – her hair fought for her as well. To see her fight is magnificent."
"Is she married?"
"Yes. To the pilot Steffon Baratheon. She didn't take his last name, since she already had a reputation with Estermont. And they have three children, but only the oldest and youngest travel with them. The middle son is studying to be a law defendant in service of the Empire."
Catelyn still tried to process the news of a world where women could be captains and hold power, because while she wanted to be a wife and a mother, she liked the idea of a possibility of more.
"The hall is just around the corner. Stand at the side with me," she said, as they approached the destination. "Don't offer your opinion unless asked."
"I won't."
Catelyn opened the door quietly, and pulled on Ned's hand – he felt her cold and bit scaled skin; and they stood silently to the side.
The man who was talking now was complaining about some old feud with his neighbour.
"Don't take this too seriously. These two are here in every audience my father holds. Most times it's not that important."
Hoster Tully handled the issue well, even if it took awhile to find a compromise both would accept. Other more important cases followed: the tree from the Forest had fallen into the River's Kingdom; a young couple waiting for approval on their betrothal; and another neighbourly dispute, this one about property limits. Then Hoster Tully was done, he thanked his people and closed the audience.
The hall emptied quickly enough, but Catelyn held Ned firmly in his place; until her father was standing up, and leaving his chair.
"Little Cat," he said, noticing his daughter. "I didn't know you were here."
"Ned Stark wanted to see the audience."
"Stark… you are one of Rickard's sons. You can't be the youngest – oldest or middle son?"
"Middle son. It's an honor to meet you."
"You too, son," he said shaking his hand, which was a bit weird since his hands didn't have any spaces between his fingers. "I was just going to see your father. You can come with me." He started walking ahead of them. "Catelyn?" he said turning back to look at his daughter, and she nodded, walking next to Ned.
Reaching the bedroom assigned to his parents, Hoster invited them to his office, while Rickard requested his son to go get his oldest son. Ned was followed by Catelyn to get his brother, before they went to the office for the meeting.
Rickard and Brandon sold the goods like they always did, haggling for the better price, but Hoster Tully was a hard man as well, knowing how to haggle and he got a few good deals out of them. Catelyn, Lyarra and Ned stood to the side, seeing the back and forth between the men – only Catelyn stepped forward, to choose between the fabrics.
When they were relieved, the Tullys promised dinner soon; and until then everyone dispersed. Catelyn went to check on how the meal was going, while her father stayed in his office, looking over the new acquisitions and checking that out of the way.
While that happened, another Tully had found Rickard and Lyarra to buy the drugs and medicine – since Blackfish was the man to make illegal business with. The younger Starks were scattered through the castle; Benjen stayed with Edmure, Ned looked over the highest window over the reign, and Lyanna was still in her room, holding and looking over the dress she had gotten.
A bell rang through the palace, and the Starks wondered what it was, soon they found out that was the sign to let the place know that the food was ready.
The feast was something the Starks hadn't seen in a long time, there were people everywhere – the Starks sat with the Tullys as honor guests in a high table, but there were others in other tables. The food served delighted the guests that hadn't seen more that canned food for a long time, and then there were the courses they had never seen before, with unknown treats.
But besides food, there were other enjoyments, singers and dancers filled the dinning hall, some colourful songs and some that left half the room with tears on their eyes (including Lyanna, who tried to hide it from her brothers). Brandon took Catelyn to the dancefloor, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, but she didn't take it in big account only letting out a sweet laugh. Benjen took a few ladies to the floor as well, using the charm his brother taught him. Lyanna only danced with her family and the Tullys. While Lyarra and Rickard danced between smiles and laughed, like they hadn't in years, her fighting grace was also present when dancing.
The feast didn't have an ending time, it went as it went, and people were free to leave when they wanted. Some stayed for the entire night, falling asleep on the hall, but not the Starks – Ned was the first to retire, but then so did his siblings, even if none wanted to sleep.
So none went to bed, instead they found refuge in the living room outside their room – they sat around a small table, playing one of the board games found in that room. They also entertained themselves with the water around them – it was unbelievable how they could breathe and move freely under water.
There was a knock on the door, and thinking it was their parents they let who knocked in. But there was another face there.
"I just wanted to say good night, and see if you needed anything else."
"No, we're okay," Ned said. "I hope we're not making too much noise."
"No, you weren't. Please, have fun – don't stop on my account."
"Stay with us," Brandon asked. "You probably know how to play these games better than us. It will be fun."
"I don't want to intrude."
"You're not," Lyanna said.
"Okay, but just one game."
It wasn't just game. Catelyn enjoyed spending the evening with the Starks, playing the board games and sharing stories, and even one liquor bottle Brandon had stolen from the great hall.
They all ended up falling a sleep in that room; it would have been a night without any special importance if it hadn't been for the shenanigans of a Stark.
The shenanigans were certainly not found the next morning, when after a quick breakfast, the Starks boarded their ship and left the planet. It actually took thirteen earthling years, until the shenanigans showed themselves, but not even then, they knew the consequences.
The Starks were again on one of their tricky business trips, selling medicines to one of the planets out of the empire's jurisdiction. Ned had stayed behind, on the cockpit, taking care of the ship, and prepared to make a quick getaway if it was needed. Through the window, he could see a desert like planet, there were strange and colourful plants growing, and he thought back to Catelyn, and her dreams of seeing the world.
And then she appeared out of thin air. Neither of them new what happened, only that for some reason it involved their wrist bracelets – which before had only given sign for their families.
"Catelyn…" he called for her confused.
"Ned?" she asked just as confused. "Where are you? Where am I?"
"I'm in one of the outer planets."
"Ohhh…" she sighted, and he turned his wrist showing her the view. Ned could see her smile in amazement. "It looks beautiful… there's so much sand…"
"There's more in Dorne."
"The Martell's planet. I've heard about them."
"Yes."
"Why am I here?"
"I don't know…" he answered, before admitting. "I had been thinking about you, and telling me that you wanted to see the world. And then you appeared…"
"Can it work only like that, I think of you and we appear… why does that happen?"
"I don't know…" Ned answered, and they stayed in silence for awhile wondering what they should do about this.
"Can you show me around one more time? I have to leave soon."
Ned moved closer to the cockpit, so she could see better through the window.
"This is all I can show you. I'm guarding the ship, this kind of sells are never completely safe."
"Ohh… okay… just a few more minutes." Ned sat back down, resting his arm on the dashboard, seeing Catelyn looking very attentively through the window, resting her head on her arms.
She disappeared without saying goodbye, or at least Ned didn't notice, since he was turning on everything on the ship to be ready to take off when his parents and siblings came in. And he did he have to speed up when they came in, since someone had ratted out that they were doing a illegal sell in here.
The next time he contacted her, they were in the capital – they stayed there for three days. And he decided to go for a walk alone, he thought of her and she appeared.
"Ned… I haven't heard from you in so long," she said with a smile.
"Ohhh… I'm sorry I didn't call earlier. I'm in the Capital; I thought that maybe you would like to see one of the museums with me."
"Yes, please. Just let me get to my room."
She was a bit more than five minutes away, and she once again gave him a guide visit, this time of the way back to her home. When she was back in her room she sat on her bed, and asked.
"So where are you taking me?"
"I don't know… what do you want to see?"
"Art."
"You have the Empire Museum, with many different things – art and nature, animals, plants… – from all over the empire. And then there's another that keeps the only pieces of earthling art that still exists."
"Ohhh… I've never seen art from Earth."
"So I guess that's the one," he said, standing up, and taking course to there. The capital held all type of beings – everyone was so different from the others. It was hard to find two people that were from the same species, unless they were family, of course.
"There are so many beings, Ned. And they look nothing like me or you, or even the forest people. How can everyone be this different?"
"I don't know, Cat…" he said, while she still looked with wonder at all the people around.
Getting into the museum, he bought a ticket for himself, and then led her inside. He had been here before with his parents, so he knew what to tell her about the pictures and the statues.
"All of this was saved in the arc that carried the survivors from earth," he started. "Most of it was books, some in strange languages nobody can read now. And the papers are ruined. And we don't have the type of technology they used in there."
"But technology… I thought we were more advanced than Earth ever was."
"We are, but we can't reproduce their technology."
"Ohhh… Are their pictures of the books? Or titles?"
"Of course. Do you want to hear them?"
"Please…" He read a long list that was at the exposition's entrance – some books were so old, that they couldn't even imagine that time. There were so many strange titles – the names of the authors were mostly lost, but he was certain it was equally strange; and so were the plot of most books, and with the ones that endured, there was not way to say if they were truly the truth.
"Why is an alien a bag guy?" Catelyn asked after he read Harry Potter's description. "And have you seen any alien without a nose?"
"No, not yet. But there's a lot of unusual stuff."
"Am I unusual to you, Ned?" He thought on that, trying to not sound rude.
"At some extent, I think so… but you're only different. Not worse, not better."
"You're different too."
"People didn't like different on Earth," he whispered, moving through three rooms without stopping.
The room they found themselves in had the walls filled with pictures and drawings, but none of that was considered art.
"What's this?"
"Proof of the injustice on Earth."
They looked around, and there were images of people with chuckles on their necks – and it was easy to recognize that the prisoner had darker skin than the one holding the chain.
"It's like the Slaver Planets, before the Empire liberated them," Catelyn said. "Was colour their only difference?"
"I think so… but there's more."
Once again the people had a darker skin, with a reddish tone - the drawings showed them being killed, and some even flayed.
"And them?"
"People wanted to settle on their land, so they killed them…"
Catelyn still couldn't believe it, and they walked through, she saw more – a man who tried to kill an entire religion on the excuse he would build a better world; groups of people who attacked others, and then their crimes were blamed on a entire religion; bombs and wars – how the world ended, because it never learned to deal with difference.
"Why are you showing me this? This is so sad… how could they do this? Why do they keep these images around?"
"As a reminder, I think… so we don't forget that we shouldn't judge anyone on their differences."
"But the outer planets…"
"I guess they forget the reminder when it's useful," he told her, quiet enough so other people won't hear her. "But there's another reminder to take from this."
He moved to the next room, and again photos were all around once again. The walked and looked at the walls – a woman sitting on a bus, a man who had a dream, two men shaking hands, crowds walking caring a colourful flag, treaties and laws,…
"A reminder to keep fighting," he said stopping, on many pictures of people with dark skin waving banners with three words they now couldn't read, they all dated from the start 21st century. "Even if the Earth lost at the end, these people won some battles."
"Thank you for showing me this. I had no idea… Do you think we could do anything about the people in the outer planets?"
"I don't know, Catelyn," he told her, before moving to another room.
In that one was mostly filled with statues, naked men mostly. Ned explained that those were the oldest to be found on the arc, and that it said that they were Greek or Roman.
"Most are supposed to be Gods, or Heroes, from some of the books."
He moved slowly through the many statues, and as he walked into the other room, he did the same, very slowly. She was amazed at the many paintings, the styles were so different – she couldn't believe that an entire species thought of so many different things.
"Some paintings seem sad – do you ever feel that?"
"A bit. I like those…"
"Me too. I liked the one with the stars on the blue."
"It's beautiful… It's sad the name was lost…"
"We know very few names – it seems…"
And nine rooms of paintings, they came to the last one, which talked about other forms of art that couldn't live through today, but that we know it existed. Animated images – a big success from the 20th century on; music, where you could try some of the instruments – Catelyn insisted he played each one of them.
It was with that room, they ended their visit and said goodbye… at least for a few hours. Ned joined his family for the time being, and Catelyn went to play with her younger brother.
That same night, she was the one to call him – they were both already in bed.
"I had fun today," she told him. "Thank you for showing me around."
"I had fun too," he admitted. "Maybe someday you can see it."
"Maybe… but until then, maybe we can do this more," she suggested. "We don't know for how long this connection will last." Ned smiled at the thought of talking to her like this more times.
"I will call you every time I am on a new place. Every planet."
"I want to see the stars too, Ned."
"I can show you those too," Ned told her, just before they felt the usual sting at the same time. "Good night." There was nothing else he could say; when they both clearly knew that the sting was the tranquilizer that put each person of the empire asleep at the same time.
"Good night, Ned," she said, with her eyes already getting sleepier.
They kept this plan up, she called him every night, and he called her every time they stopped on a new place.
Today, he called her from the Stormlands, later than usual, since he had gotten to spend the afternoon with his childhood friend.
"I was wondering where you were."
"I was with Robert."
"I thought he wouldn't be there."
"Captain Cassana heard we would be here, and she decided they could come home earlier. We're spending the night here; and I'm sharing the room with Robert, so…"
"So… it's better I don't call."
"I've thought about telling him, you know… Have you told anyone?"
"No. I've thought about telling my sister. I've never hidden anything from her before, but I just don't know."
"You've got time. Now I've got stuff to show you." He wanted to show her the sea, she knew rivers, but it was impossible to compare to the sand and water storms in here.
He sat on the rocks, high on the beach and once again turned his wrist to the sea, so she could see what he wanted her to see.
"Isn't it dangerous?"
"As you can see there are no houses around here."
"And you? I don't want you to get hurt."
"I promise I'm in a safe distance. Now listen to the sea hitting the rocks." And so they listened.
Once again, Catelyn had an amazed look on her eyes as he showed her the wonders of the world; and they were in silence for a long time, until Ned had to turn off the call abruptly when Robert showed up.
So that night, like they had agreed, Catelyn didn't call him. And Ned didn't tell Robert about his weird calls with Catelyn, instead Robert, Ned and Brandon did what they always did together, trying to fight the tranquilizer – this time they stayed up for almost one hour and a half, with the help of some powerful drinks and drugs. And Catelyn didn't tell Lysa that night either.
The next night, the nightly calls started again, they went on as normal for the eight following days, with eleven extra calls for Ned, so he could show her other wonders crossing on his path.
But on the ninth day, he got an unexpected call. Catelyn called him in the middle of the day, while he had been getting the clothes out of the washing machine.
"Ned!" she exclaimed as she appeared.
"Hello, Catelyn. I'm surprised you're call-"
"The empire has come, Ned! Our communication is-"
But before Catelyn could finish, Ned heard his mother's yell, echoing through the entire ship.
"I think my father has caught your father. I'm sorry… Ned…" she said, before Ned's mother yelled for him again, to hurry up.
"Mom, Dad," he called for them, as he reached the communication post on the ship where they both stood with angry looks on their faces. "What happened?"
"Did you and Catelyn Tully marry?"
"What?!" he exclaimed surprised. "No. Catelyn and I… we… we didn't do anything…"
"The Empire is at the Tully's door asking why you haven't announced your marriage to the government."
"We didn't…"
"Are you talking to her?"
"Yes, but…"
"How did that happen?"
"We don't know."
"You can only talk with family. You can add a wife in the occasion of a wedding."
"So if I can talk with Catelyn… we…"
"Yes. So we see our problem – you are facing a heavy sentence, my dear," his mother finally spoke.
"We're going to Riverrun, right now. Your brother is cancelling our sell, hopefully we won't loose the client," his father spoke.
Ned stayed on the cockpit for the rest of the trip down, they parked it on the same place as last time, but this time the ambassadors weren't as nice. After injecting the air supply, the Starks were almost dragged in front of the Tullys.
The hall was empty compared to the last time – only the Tullys and the Empire men. Catelyn was in handcuffs, and as Ned entered he was taken immediately.
"Please, stop. This is a misunderstanding," Rickard Stark said, facing the officers.
"Your son, and this girl were playing with Empire property. And unless they sign the matrimony papers – they are both going to jail."
"We didn't touch anything. It must be an error or something."
In that moment, Brandon coughed, he had never thought of this outcome of his little trick.
"It was me, actually," he admitted scratching the back of his head. "I didn't know it was illegal or anything." And in that moment another officer took Brandon's hand, and handcuffed him as well.
"So you'll be facing charges as well. Unless your brother and the miss marry… we could forget your little transgression for the right price."
Ned and Catelyn shared a look, before they both nodded – it was the only choice. The Empire was severe, there's no idea of what sentence they would face for this crime.
"Ned and I will sign the papers."
"Little Cat…" her father whispered, trying to make her think twice about this. While the Starks had the same surprised look on their faces.
"The papers, officer," Catelyn asked. "I'll need you to take off the handcuffs." They did, and she immediately signed the papers, and put a drop of her blood where they told her to put.
"Eddard Stark," they asked turning to him, as he offered his hands so they could take off the handcuffs too. He signed and dropped a bit of blood. "Thank you. This is done. We still have the matter of your other son, Rickard Stark." But the Stark man was already getting his money out, and paying the officer enough to free Brandon as well.
But the problem came when the officers left. Lyarra Stark was yelling at Brandon in full speed and strength. Ned and Catelyn were standing awkwardly next to one and other. And their parents were arguing as well.
"I think I would like a real wedding," Catelyn whispered.
"A wedding?" Ned asked.
"We're married," Catelyn stated the obvious. "I just… do you want to pretend this never happened?"
"No… I…" but before he could finish his thought, the older men had finished speaking.
"We'll have the wedding here in a few weeks," Hoster Tully stated. "The Stark can live here."
"No, no. My son is not living here," Rickard Stark spoke again. "We didn't agree on that." And then they started arguing again.
"Why don't we let them choose?" Lyarra suggested. "They are the ones to be married, and live after the wedding."
"Okay. You can have the hall for sixth of one sun."
"Six minutes," Catelyn said, after making the calculation on her head.
The Tully, and the Starks paced outside the door, waiting for some answers. And when the six minutes passed, Hoster Tully threw the door opened.
"So…"
"I'll talk to the Forest people, about building us a small house on the beach. I will be a few minutes from here, but I can't just make Ned live with false air for the rest of his life," Catelyn started.
"Dad, I want to know if I can take a few of your deals in this quadrant. I'll get a small ship for Catelyn and I, and we can come and go."
"Yes, I have a few deals around here. And I think you can handle them. We'll get a ship."
"I have money saved, enough for a ship for us two," Ned suggested.
"Okay, we should go to the capital to go look for one," his father agreed.
"No, you're not leaving! How do I know you're not running away?!"
"We're not," Ned gave his word.
"Can you leave your daughter as assurance?" Before answering, Rickard looked at his daughter who nodded. "Catelyn will need help preparing the wedding. Also I would like someone to give her some self defence classes if she may travel with your son. Your daughter can do that."
"I will stay," his mother spoke.
"Why?" Hoster asked suspiciously.
"Do you think my husband would run away leaving behind his wife, but not his daughter. I'll be a better teacher than her…"
"Isn't she a good fighter?" Hoster asked, and Lyanna looked expectantly at her as well.
"She is. But she doesn't have a patience to teach."
"Okay," Catelyn's father said. "But I would request you teach her to use a trident. We're not fighters, but that's the chosen weapon of my people."
"I can do that. I haven't fought with a trident since my training years, but I can still teach her. But I will teach her to use a blaster as well."
"Agreed." Hoster said, shaking Lyarra's hand. "Your family can leave tomorrow. You will be back in one week."
"We can be here in five days."
"Okay, we'll have the ceremony ready for the day after that," her father promised, and Catelyn looked a bit scared with both the thought of getting married in six days, and of having to prepare it in less than a week. "You can have the same rooms has the last time."
"You're married now, you could share the room," Brandon said, winking.
"No," they said, and the three parents seemed to finally agree on something. "They can wait until their wedding."
Ned and Catelyn didn't get to spend much more time together, especially with a well placed chaperone at all times; but he sure didn't need a chaperone with Brandon, and when he finally caught him alone – they talked.
The four siblings were in the room, lying down when Ned asked.
"Why did you do it?"
"Hey, I never knew it was a crime or anything. You were hitting it off, and everything… I thought it would be fun."
"How did you learn to do that?" Lyanna asked.
"A girl taught me."
"Please tell me you aren't married too."
"Of course not, the girl was too annoying to make a permanent connection."
"How do you feel about getting married?" Benjen asked.
"I don't know… I like Catelyn – she's fun and smart..." Ned started, and then whispered, "…and beautiful."
"I knew it," Brandon said, with his cocky smile.
"Shut up!" Ned said, making his siblings laugh. They mocked him a bit more, but then the tranquilizer hit, and they had to fell asleep.
The next morning the Starks left, and Lyarra and Catelyn started the training on that same day. Firstly Hoster took Catelyn to the armoury alone, giving her the Tully trident – it had blue and red stripes, and it felt good on her hands.
Lyarra told her it fit her, but in that same afternoon, she took the trident away and gave her a simple stick.
"First you learn to fight with this. Then, we add the sharp point."
Catelyn was quick on her feet, Lyarra pined it on her dancing and swimming abilities. The older woman fought harder each battle, trying to push Catelyn to her limit.
She taught her the right strength and place to hit to send someone down, or at least disrupt their balance. And how the most important for her was to defend herself, and for that she should use both hands – for that she put herself behind her, and took her hands on hers.
That was only the first day. She relied everything to Ned when she called him, just like his mother had already told him everything. And the next morning they started again.
Catelyn would train in the mornings, and then after lunch it was time to plan her wedding. Firstly she arranged to get her wedding dress, she asked to have it decorated with seashells and seaweed, and other things that could be caught under water.
The place wasn't a big question, she would use the Hall, but she couldn't start decorating it until the day before, since father still need it to hold his meetings.
The food and the guests was the hardest. She and Lyarra ended up deciding that it would be better a small and intimate wedding since they didn't have the time to invite everyone, from both sides, with such a short notice. But the food was harder, especially because her father insisted to have everyone for a feast after the ceremony, Catelyn went over all the cooks around her house, to see if people would help with the feast.
The next afternoon, she handled on actually looking for a small house on the beach. Lyarra went with her knowing what Ned liked. Catelyn didn't plan to buy the house without Ned being present, she wanted his input – but it was a good idea to have an idea, to know if they would have to build a house from scratch or not.
And that same morning, before looking at the houses, they trained some more, Lyarra truly believe she was getting better, and that maybe Catelyn would now have a chance.
"I know you're not a killer, Catelyn. So I think it would beneficial for you to get some poison, your can put it on the trident's blades."
"Poison?"
"The Dornish used it a lot. You've heard of Oberyn Martell?"
"The Red Viper, yes."
"He always has his lances poisoned – very deadly. I could get you the poison. And it doesn't even need to be a killing poison, just to put the person a sleep – you just need to get through skin."
"Okay…" Catelyn answered uncertainly.
"Good. And here's a blaster too," she said getting it from her back.
"How do you have that here?"
"I asked the guards for it, this morning. Your father approved. We'll train shooting now."
Lyarra said coming to stand behind her again, teaching her how to aim, and also how to protect herself from the draw back of the blaster.
"I'm going to step back now. Five shots without my help. Go, Catelyn! But take your time."
With the first two shots, she took very long to visualize the target, but by the last one she tried to shot at first look – she failed.
Lyarra congratulated her for at least trying, and of course for getting the premeditated shots right. And then told her to try again, so for the rest of that morning, that was all they did.
Catelyn could hit targets if she had the time to point, and then shoot; with the others it took longer for Lyarra to teach her, the only advice she could give her was to follow the shot with her eyes, the rest was just practice.
So by the end of the five days, Catelyn wasn't a great fighter, but she at least could handle herself now, and if she and Ned ran into trouble, she wouldn't have to hide in a corner.
Ned came back on the end of those five days, with his father and siblings, ready to get married on the next day and permanently move away from his parents. He definitely wished he could see Catelyn on the eve of their wedding, but it was forbidden – he couldn't tell why, after all they were already husband and wife.
He slept in the same room as the other two times, with his three siblings mocking him the entire time. Luckily they had already thrown him a last night party the night before, thankfully because of Benjen's young age, there were no ladies of the night present, much to Brandon's chagrin.
The wedding was in the morning of the next day. And while mother had told him Catelyn had a beautiful dress, Ned still planned to wear his ship uniform – it was tradition between pilots and ship crews. While his siblings and parents were in their best civil clothes.
The bells rang through the entire planet – River and Forest Kingdom heard that Hoster Tully's daughter was getting married. The Hall was filled with only the family of the bride and groom, and the man to officiate the ceremony; Ned stood at the altar when they heard the door open.
Catelyn stood alone at the door, looking at the floor, and then she took a deep breath and started her walk down the aisle. She looked up, and her eyes crossed with Ned and the sane thought crossed their minds – maybe this wouldn't be that bad, just a rocky start to tell their chil- (no... it was too early to think of that).