The Crow & The Little Bird
SyntheticProduct

Chapter One

"Little bird, little bird, come out from behind your Mother and curtsey like a little lady, just like the Septa taught you." Avery hid behind her Mother's skirts, burying her face into the folds of the velvet material and looking up just enough to meet the eyes of her Father. His kind blue eyes reflected her chubby, red face and he extended his hand towards her. Timidly, she took hold of it and he pulled her forward. She was intimidated by the older man that stared down at her, but his smile was as kind as her Father's eyes.

"Hello little one," the man spoke softly and knelt down so his eyes met hers evenly, "you must be Avery, it is a pleasure to meet you m'lady." He captured her tiny hand with his much larger one and placed a kiss on the back of it, the hairs of his beard tickling it slightly. She smiled, "it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Lord Stark."
Weeks before coming down to Winterfell her Father quizzed her several times over about the Starks; their colors, their words, sigil, and even the names of each family member. She knew Lord Eddard Stark from the description her Father gave, from his kind eyes and brown hair to his small smile and genuine words; she knew without a doubt it was him.
Next to him stood his wife, the Lady of Winterfell - Catelyn of House Tully. Her beautiful crimson red hair was braided perfectly and her dress was pressed for the Gods. She was introduced to the Lady of Winterfell and she saw Lady Catelyn's eyes swell with kindness and happiness.

"Let me introduce you to my son," Lord Eddard pushed himself up and gently brought her over to the boy standing beside Lady Catelyn; he had a head of red curls and sharp eyes, much like his Father, "Robb meet Avery Coldstone, Avery this is my firstborn Robb Stark." Avery collected her skirts and curtsied while Robb simply bowed whispering a humble, "a pleasure to meet you."

Next was his daughter, who was four years younger than herself, Sansa Stark with her beautiful hair just like her Mother and her round, youthful face. Avery looked out of the corner of her eye and saw two young boys standing behind the Stark children.

They were introduced as the Stark's ward, Theon Greyjoy, and Jon Snow, which Avery knew was the last name given to the Bastards of the North. She smiled politely and curtseyed, which her Mother scoffed at.

The rest of the introductions went by in a flash since her older brothers, Anders and Gregor, as well as her older sister, Lena, had previously visited the Starks. There were laughs and lots of talks which Avery found herself very lost in. She stood beside Gregor, who had slung his arm over her shoulder and was leaning on her, while she played with her fingers.

"She's not really a little bird is she?" She could hear Theon whisper to Robb quietly, but it was loud enough for her to pick it up, "her name might be Avery, but she looks more like a very-hefty." Avery's ears burned with embarrassment as she twisted her fingers together, wriggling them together and picking at her nails. Robb elbowed Theon but laughed anyway. Avery knew she was of bigger size, but her Mother reassured her that she'd grow into it. Robb and Theon constantly made snide remarks about her weight until finally she couldn't take it anymore and she excused herself, but not before she heard Anders snort, "don't worry she won't eat your entire larder."

The next few days were dreadful for Avery, she even begged her Father to send her home early. With the constant remarks about how much she ate, or how out of breath she got, it made her want to run away; she knew her Mother wouldn't be too pleased about that one though. Today she was taking a walk through the Godwood, smelling the fresh but chilled air, and hugging her cloak tight against her body. Finery, the town where she lived and where the Coldstone's originated, was farther up north but the hills and almost mountains surrounding them acted like a barrier around the town. The breeze that seeped in through the cold, dreary mountains was like frozen wind, but it didn't happen very often.
She did love the trees here in Winterfell, the trees in Finery were sparse, few and far in between, and burnt down, chopped down, and dying. In Finery they out ported their trees for firewood or they were used in melding swords and shields. In Winterfell however, the trees stood tall and proud, and Avery found herself very willing to walk around the grounds only to look at the high trees and sit upon the green grass.

The air was fresher here in Winterfell than in Finery as well, there was no smell of burning steel or iron, there was no smell of chopped trees, and there was no smell of death that hung so highly in the air of Finery. Finery was a town, a keep, that housed people of all statuses from the runaway whores or petty criminals - it was a small community filled with people from both peasant and highborn status. It was home.

But here? Avery could breath easily, she could wander the grounds without an escort even though her Father warned her about the wildlings that might traipse from beyond The Wall. Avery could climb the trees if she so wished to, but she found herself very much out of shape. Instead, she laid down with her back firmly pressed against the dewy grass of the forest, staring up as the birds flew past and sang their sweet tunes. Closing her eyes, Avery could distinctly hear the far away sounds of the keep's hustle and bustle. It all seemed so far away. Everything did.
Until a twig snapped nearby.

Avery's eyes flew open and she sat up from her spot on the ground, finding her eyes meeting someone else's. Two sets of bright blue eyes and a pair of warm brown eyes made Avery stand up as quickly and as fast as possible, her hands brushing off the leaves and dried dirt from her skirt. The three boys looked just as surprised as her, if not more so.

"Looks like we found a pig rolling around in the mud." Avery's eyes snapped open wide, looking over to the shorter of the three boys and she jogged her memory for his name - Theon. The Stark's ward, Theon Greyjoy was smirking at her with such gross intent that Avery felt her eyes glossing over like a thin mirror. She didn't respond, but she saw Robb thrust his elbow into his friend's side and Jon looked away, "I was just enjoying the woods." It was less than a whisper, but Avery knew Theon had heard her by the way he scoffed.

"Enjoying them too much I see, you've ripped your dress, or was that just your stomach breaking its way from it's confines?" Avery's face flushed from embarrassment and all Avery could do was twirl her fingers, play with her skirt, and bow her head. She had never been spoken to this way before, and it made her think of what her sister would do. Would she just stand there? Laugh her pretty laugh or say something back?

"Theon." Robb's voice was a warning enough, but the way he said his friend's name made it even more so.

"What? Does Lady Piglet not like the way I speak? She should speak up, c'mon little piggy why don't you squeal for me?" Theon took a step forward and Avery found herself taking a step back, her eyes wide with fear and shock. Her stomach churned and boiled, she was certain that she was going to be sick. Robb thrust his hand out, grabbing a hold of Theon's forearm to pull him back, but Theon shook him off.

"Come on piggy, squeal. Let's hear it, c'mon don't keep us waiting."

"Theon." Robb tried again as Theon took another step towards Avery who quietly ducked to the side, taking a step back from the intimidating boy. Theon outstretched his arm, grabbing a hold of her arm and tugging her forward. Avery let out a gasp as Theon pushed her back, shoving her to the ground and into the mud. Avery screamed as her back end slammed against the ground, tears ripping from her eyes as she looked down as her pretty blue dress and dark wash grey cloak were soaked in mud. She sobbed, tears cleaning her face of mud and dirt. Robb grabbed Theon by the arm, ripping him away from Avery's sight, "why did you go and do that you idiot?!"

Her crying drew from the woods her older brother, Gregor, who took one look at the scene and snarled at the three boys, "who did this?" His eyes narrowed into blacken slits as he marched over to the three boys, grabbing Robb by the furs of his cloak and pulling him forward, "who?" Gregor's face was millimeters away from the Stark's and Robb was flustered, looking over to Theon. Gregor snorted, dropping Robb and pushing him back into Jon who easily caught him. "Of course it's the little Greyjoy fuck," Gregor snarled once again, "stupid little prick, what didn't your Father teach you anything? Oh wait, he's as much of a fuck as you are, you cunt." Gregor extended his arm back, curling his hand into a fist and as he went to attack Theon, there was an appearance of several men that entered the clearing.

"What is going on here?" Avery sobbed her face hot red and Gregor was just as much in a tizzy as their Father spoke, "Gregor lower your hand before you hurt yourself, and for all the Old Gods and New, help your sister out of the mud." Theon shook with anger and Robb looked down as Jon simply stared at his half-brother, then at the Greyjoy boy with disgust clear in his eyes.

"What happened here?" Lord Stark commanded looking over at the boys then at Gregor who was helping his baby sister out of the wet mud. Her face was bright, stinging, red and her eyes glistened softly as she hiccuped. Not paying any mind to his own clothing, Gregor scooped Avery out of the mud and coddled her close to his chest, "those boys of yours were tormenting my dear sister, what does it look like to you?" Formalities were momentarily forgotten as anger swallowed Gregor. His Father peered at Gregor, "now you're both dirty."

"We were playing and Avery fell into the mud, I swear Father. Gregor came in ready to hit Theon, but we didn't do anything - we were just playing." Robb lied easily, sweat dripping down as neck as he looked into his Father's eyes. Eddard glanced over to Jon, "is this true Jon?"

Jon looked over at Robb then at Theon, but not once at Avery as he only lightly nodded his head, "yes." Eddard looked over to Darien, who was busy looking over his children for marks of any kind, "Avery?" Her Father asked and she only shook in her brother's arms, crying and all she could do was just that. Gregor snorted looking over at the boys, "a bunch of trouble making pricks is what they are."

"Gregor!" Darien shouted loudly to his son, "go take your sister back, your Mother will take care of her. You and I will talk about this later."

"But Father - "

"Later Gregor."

Gregor took his sister in his arms and walked back to the keep to his Mother while the rest of them stayed in the woods, Darien apologizing to Eddard as Theon smirked in the background.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be up soon; this is considered a prologue or chapter one, I just didn't know what to name it. Hope you don't mind! Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, alerting, and anything else!