At just sixteen years old Nieva was tall for her age. Her long brown hair was braided down her back, the tip of it reaching just above her waist as her blue eyes gleamed in delight as her cousin loaded another arrow onto his bow.
Her mother and Father had been slaughtered by the mad kings men before he died, she had been bundled in blankets and sent immediately to a safe house with a wet nurse before being brought to Winterfell where her Uncle Eddard Stark and Aunt Lady Catelyn of house Tully were waiting upon her arrival.
Her mother had also been the sister of the new King of Westeros, Robert Baratheon who to this day still sent money to the Starks for her keeping.
A soft smile graced the lips of the eldest Stark girl as she watched her younger cousin attempt to hit the bulls eye with his arrow, failing each time.
But once again it sailed over the target and hit a barrel just behind it. Her cousin stomped his foot on the ground in impatience making her smile grow.
Her younger cousin Jon moved closer and placed his hands upon the young boys shoulders. "Go on, Father's watching" Jon said softly.
"Oh yeah cause that won't make him more nervous" she chuckled feeling her youngest cousin playing with the tie that kept a section of her braid in.
She glanced up to see her aunt and uncle smiling down at them. She turned as she heard the shaking of a string and turned just in time to see an arrow sail way above the target and hit a tree on the other side.
She had to fight her own chuckles as all three of her cousins began to laugh. She could sense Bran's frustration and disappointment in himself
"And which one of you was a marksman at ten?" her uncle chuckled from above them. She went to raise her hand but the look in her elder cousin Robbs eyes dared her not to. "Keep practising Bran. Go on" her father encouraged.
She turned back to her younger cousin as he once again loaded his bow and pulled the string taut to rest his hand upon his cheek.
"Relax your bow arm" Robb said scanning Bran's posture and stance.
She jumped as the whirring of an arrow flew past her ear, it seemed to dodge each of her cousins until it found the bullseye in the centre of the target, she could hear the wood splintering as the arrow pierced it.
Noticing that Bran still had his arrow nocked she turned with her brothers to see her younger cousin Arya standing behind a barrel, bow in hand, without an arrow.
A loud laugh escaped her as Bran ran after his older sister, obviously wanting to get her back for upstaging him in front of their parents.
"Quick Bran, faster" Jon laughed out.
"Looks like you're not the only one with great marksman ship" Robb smirked looking over at Nieva as Bran began to chase Arya around the stalls.
"Ah but how well will that develope" Nieva smirked as she and Robb moved to the different objects Bran had hit and pulled the arrows out of them before handing them to a six year old Rickon who ran and gave them to Jon to put back in the quiver.
"Can you show me how to shoot an arrow?" Rickon asked looking up at his older cousin with intrigue, he'd always been fascinated by the way she could swing a sword like it was an extension on her arm or hit a target from meters away. Her uncle always joked by saying she was a direwolf personified.
"Not right now little pup, no" she grinned looking over Rickon's head to see Robb grinning at her.
Her aunt used to say that she and Robb were almost identical looking as babes, they both had the same dark hair as their fathers but had inherited their blue eyes from House Tully and House Baratheon while the others got the Stark greyness in their eyes.
"Starks" her Uncle's second in command called out as he walked towards them. "You have each to prepare your horses and meet your father at the gates, that includes you Bran, and you Nieva"
"What about me?" Arya asked.
"Not this time mi'lady" he smiled apologetically before he walked off to the stables.
"We'll get the horses, you console little wildling over there" Robb grinned glancing over at a now sulking Arya.
"Wish me luck" Nieva sighed as she made her way over to her little cousin. "Don't worry about it Arya, I used to be the same when Uncle Ned wouldn't let me go to anywhere"
"It's not fair, I'm only a few years younger than you" Arya sighed kicking the mud at her feet.
"You know it is not to do with age Arya, if it were then Sansa would be coming with us." Nieva explained leaning against the barrels beside her cousin. "Your Father needs me, otherwise I would be made to stay here with you"
"You still get to go" Arya snapped.
"Yes and I wish I didn't" Nieva said. "It's not a nice thing to see a man beheaded, I hope you do not have to see it until you are much older. I know I was far too young when I saw my first execution, I was barely older than Rickon. But don't worry. Your father will need you one day, as he needs me"
"Why?" Arya asked.
"Well I hope to be married someday and unless I marry within Winterfell, I will need to leave for my husbands homeland, and you will have to help look after those idiots" both girls chuckled where Rickon was trying to fight a bannerman who effortlessly threw him over his shoulder.
"Nieva, it's time" Jon called out from the stable doors, the reins of both her horse and his own in hand.
"Don't worry, your Father will let you go some day, I promise" she smiled kissing her younger cousin forehead before she rushed over and with Jon's help mounted her horse.
She smiled towards her uncle as he pulled himself up into his horses saddle, she could tell how much he was dreading this, he always hated having to execute deserters but they both knew it had to be done.
Once he was in his saddle he turned and gave her a small smile in return before he began to move his horse towards the gates. Nieva glanced behind her to make sure that Bran was alright, she could see the uncertainty in his eyes.
The sound of the metal crunching against stone as the gates were lifted caught her attention she turned back just in time to see her Uncle kick his horse into a gallop, Ser Roderick and Robb fast on his tail. She took off after Robb, her stomach tied itself into knots as she heard Jon order Bran to follow her out and stay close.
The Northern winds blew Nieva raven hair around her face from where she stood just a few paces behind Robb and Bran, Jon even further behind.
She looked over to where her Uncles men were dragging the deserter towards the block. Her stomach was filled with sympathy for the poor boy, after all he did not look much older than herself, she could almost feel the fear radiating from him.
"I know I broke my oath, and I know I'm a deserter. I should have gone back to the wall and warned them. But I saw what I saw...I saw the white walkers." the young man said. "People need to know"
A chill went down Nieva's spine causing her to inhale suddenly, both her uncle and her cousins heard this gasp and turned towards her.
Her Uncle frowned towards her in questioning.
She glanced towards Bran and saw him still staring at the man before she nodded to her uncle signalling she was alright, trying to shake the cold feeling that had now spread to her limbs causing her hands to shake.
"If you get word to my family tell them I'm a coward, tell them I'm sorry" the boy said before he was forced onto his knees, his neck bare upon theblock.
Nieva looked over as she heard the familiar sing of her Uncles sword as he unsheathed the valarian steel beauty Nieva had both admired and feared for as long as she could remember.
"In the name of Robert of House Baratheon, first of his name, king of the and the first men, lord of the seven kingdoms and protector of the realm. I Eddard of House Stark, lord of Winterfell and warden of the North sentence you to die" Her uncle muttered staring down at his sword handle.
"Don't look away" Jon said quietly to Bran. "Father will know if you do"
With one swift motion of the sword, the man's head tumbled to the grass below, his body still rested upon the block.
Nieva had to fight the retch that came with seeing the boys eyes staring aimlessly up to the sky above them.
She felt Robb's hand upon her shoulder, turning her away from the decapitated body. She reached out and done the same to Bran, forcing him to walk beside Jon as Robb kept an arm firmly around her shoulders.
"Nieva, was he right...was the boy lying?" Her cousins voice had her turning round to face him.
"Come on Robb, we both know he was" Nieva tried to grin but she still couldn't shake the dull ache at the top of her spine. "None of what he said made any sense"
"But your face..." Robb said until he saw his father making his way towards them. "Never mind" Robb hurried back to his horse as his father approached Nieva.
"Are you alright?" Ned asked looking down at his niece in concern. He noticed the way her face had paled when the boy mentioned the white walkers.
"I'm fine" she tried to smile but she knew her Uncle would see right through it, and he did.
"White walkers have been gone for hundreds of years, everyone knows that" Ned
"But that boy..." Nieva whispered.
"That boy was probably driven half mad from starvation and he believed what he saw was real but I can assure you, it was probably nothing more than a hallucination" Ned Stark said putting a hand upon her shoulder. "Never listen to the ramblings of a mad man, it could get you killed one day"
"Yes Uncle" she nodded.
"Look at me" he said as he placed his finger gently under her chin and lifted her head to stare at him. Her light blue Baratheon met with his stern Stark grey. "Once someone is mad, there's nothing on this mortal earth that can save them. That boy had to die, you know that right?"
Nieva nodded quickly, of course she understood, didn't mean she had to like it.
Ned leaned forward and kissed her gently onto the forehead. She waited until her Uncle began to move back to his horse before she climbed up onto hers, the chill of the boys words biting harsher into her skin than the crisp air around her.
Nieva rode along behind her Uncle, beside Robb after switching places with Ser Roderick, when suddenly the banner men before them slowed to a stop. She could see Jon's horse already a head of them, but Jon was no longer in the saddle.
Seeing her Uncle dismounting from his horse, Nieva done the same with help from Robb before she moved to help Bran down from his horse.
The three of them walked forward until they say what was delaying their trip home
She grimaced as she saw the dead stag a head of them. Its stomach was torn, entrails spilled over onto the mud below, maggots wormed their way into the warm carcass. Instinctively Nieva reached out and grabbed the back of Bran's cloak and put him behind Robb to shield his eyes from the horror in front of them, much to her younger cousins dislike.
She frowned as she saw the stag only had one antler.
"Mountain Lion" Theon questioned.
A whining from the trees caught her attention. It was far too high pitched to be anything big.
She began to walk towards the trees at the side of the road.
"Nieva?" Jon questioned following his cousin.
His father and brothers soon followed behind them.
"Nieva what do you hear?" her uncle asked looking at the concentration on his nieces face as she led them further into the wood.
"That" she said pointing down at the mound of fur and blood a head of them. She rushed forward and saw a large grey direwolf laying upon it's side. An antler forced into it's neck. Six pups scrambled around their mother obviously trying to get a feed.
"It's a freak" Theon said causing her to glare up at him from her kneeling position beside the body.
"It's a direwolf" her uncle snapped in retaliation as he knelt down beside her. "Tough old beast" and with that he yanked the antler from the beasts neck.
"And it's beautiful" she smiled stroking the coarse fur with the palm of her hand.
"But there are no direwolves south of the wall" Robb said in confusion.
"Well now there are six" Jon proclaimed lifting one of the pups into his hands and handing it to Bran
"Where will they go?" Bran asked looking up at his father. "Their mother is dead"
"They don't belong this far south" Ser Roderik spoke up
"Your right, give them a quick death" Nieva gasped in horror at her uncle's words. "They won't last without their mother
"Right give it here" Rage filled Nieva as Theon grabbed the pup from Bran, pulling out his dagger.
"No" Bran cried out reaching for the pup but was held back by Jon.
"Put away your blade" Robb growled.
"I take orders from your father not you" Theon snarled back.
Before anyone could blink Nieva had unsheathed Jon's sword and had it's blade against Theon's neck.
"Release that pup or I will kill you" She growled. Theon looked up at Eddard.
"Please Father" Bran pleaded but his father only shook his head.
"I'm sorry Bran" Lord stark sighed.
"Lord Stark" Jon interrupted glancing between his father and the direwolf. "there are six pups here, one for each of the Stark children. The direwolf is the sigil of your house, they were meant to have them"
"It would be seen as disrespectful to our banner and Winterfell if we killed them" Nieva said backing up Jons claim.
"Not to mention the gods" Robb chimed in.
"You will train them yourselves, you will feed them yourselves, and if they die you will bury them yourselves" Lord Stark sighed knowing he wasn't going to win this battle.
Nieva pulled the sword away from Theon's throat as he handed the pup back to Bran. She turned and placed Jon's sword back in it's sheath.
"Do not ever do that again" Jon warned fastening the metal buckle around the handle of his sword before he reached down and grabbed two pups which he handed off to Robb.
"What about you?" Bran asked looking towards Jon.
"I'm not a stark" Jon replied.
"Technically neither am I" Nieva shrugged.
"Your father was a Stark, you share the name, you still get one" Jon said with a hint of resentment in his voice.
Nieva moved back to the wolf to see Robb extending two pups out towards her.
"I think you should be the one to give Arya hers don't you think" he smiled as she took both pups from him before he leaned down and grabbed another two, handing them to Theon before he grabbed his own.
"They are adorable" Nieva giggled as one of the pups nuzzled against her cheek while the other nipped agitatedly at her hands. She knew instantly which pup would belong to Arya.
She grinned keeping both pups held tightly in her arms as she began to make her way back to her horse.
However Robb stopped dead in front of her forcing her to halt. She turned back to where Jon was standing looking down at something.
"What is it?" Robb asked as Jon bent down.
As he stood, he lifted up another small pup, it's fur was white as snow, its red eyes striking out against its bland colour
"Ah the runt of the litter, that one's yours Snow" Theon smirked.
"A snow white pup for a Snow, perfect fit" Nieva grinned before she turned and made her way back up to her horse.
"Uncle Ned, do you mind?" She asked holding out the direwolves for him to take. With an irritated sigh Ned Stark leaned down and took the small pups from his niece. Once Nieva was comfortably in her saddle she took the pups back with a grin. She could not wait to see the looks upon her younger cousins face when they saw the puppies.
The one she held under her right arm was all black with frost like blue eyes that seemed to stare up at her in wonder before it licked gently at her hand.
A wide smile brightened her face, she had found her pup.