There was a knock at the door of Lord Eddard's solar and the balding, grey fringed head of Maester Luwin poked in. "Pardon, my lord, a raven from Arendelle... and the message is not what one would expect," he said, seeming troubled as he entered, his heavy Maester's chain clinking lightly as he did so.
Lord Stark frowned at that from his seat at his massive white desk, carved in one piece from an ancient Weirwood tree. Lady Elsa was expected in Winterfell to publically pledge fealty now that her 18th name day had passed and her regency ended. He'd only met her only once before, nine years ago during the Greyjoy rebellion, when he'd rode south to come to their aid against the Ironborn who'd laid siege to the city. He'd smashed them against the castle wall, thrown them into the sea and then based his subsequent campaign against the Iron Isles from their port. Ned remembered a quiet, shy child whom her parents seemed to hide away for no reason that he'd been able to discern.
"Is she refusing to come?" Ned asked disbelieving. Elsa's father had been as loyal a bannerman as any Lord could ask for, riding south with him against the Mad King so many years ago. It had been a truly sad day when he'd heard of his loss at sea three years ago. Surely his daughter would not throw away the good relations between their houses in a doomed rebellion.
"No my lord, she is coming." He said, then paused and folded his arms within his voluminous robes as if searching for the right words. "But she brings with her some unexpected guests."
"Speak plainly Maester Luwin," Lord Stark commanded. "Who could she bring with her that would trouble you so? Has she married unwisely?" he asked.
The Maester shook his head, "She brings the Lord of Wesselton in chains, charged with ordering her assassination. And she brings Hans Frey, Lord Walder's 13th son, in the same condition, charged with attempted murder of her and her sister."
Ned's mouth fell open in surprise, "For what reason?" he asked in astonishment wondering what they had to gain. "Were they working together?"
"No, it seems that Hans planned to seduce young Anna and once married to her arrange an accident for Elsa." The Maester's mouth tightened in a line of disapproval. "When the truth came out he tried to kill both of them."
Ned sucked in his breath, "That explains his motive at least," he said in disgust. It was an outrageous act, but not surprising for a spoiled lordling of the South, especially one of Walder Frey's get. "If true it will mean his head or the Wall and Lord Walder will not take it well."
Maester Luwin sniffed in disdain, "If Lord Frey attempts to make too much trouble over this it will just give you and Lord Tully the excuse to finally slap him down as he deserves. However it is not the Frey's motives that worry me, but Lord Wesselton's."
Lord Stark nodded in agreement. The Lord of Wesselton was an eccentric, arrogant and prideful man with a knack for negotiating trade agreements that somehow seemed to always end up enriching himself and his liege lord Tywin Lannister more than the other party. Yet despite his slimy exterior, rashly attempting to have the Lady of a noble house murdered seemed quite of out of character for him. "Indeed, what could he gain from such an act?' Eddard asked. "He is petty, but surely not so petty as to risk his own life and the possibility of war between the Westerlands and the North over some minor slight."
"Well, if this letter had not been signed by Lady Elsa, her sister, their Maester, castellan, steward, Septon and several other visiting Lords and Knights of note, I would not have given any credence to what it has to say."
And what can be so fantastic?" Ned asked skeptically. It was quite unusual for the Maester to be so circumspect when it was just the two of them.
"It something that you must read for yourself, else you will think I'm making a poor jest at your expense," the Maester said handing the roll of parchment to him.
Ned read it carefully as was his habit, going over the parts that Maester Luwin and summarized and finding it just as he'd said, yet when he came to the explanation for the Lord of Wesselton's action he had to read it twice to make sure he'd read what he'd thought he had. He truly would have thought this a poor jape had the Maestar told him.
The reason behind the Lord of Wesselton's assault was fear, a fear my parents oft warned me about when I was young. You may have wondered why they hid me away from the public as a child. It is because I have unique powers over snow and ice, being able to create and bend them to my will as Brandon the Builder is said to have done when he raised the wall during the Age if Heroes. These powers were revealed in the grand hall in front of many witnesses in an unfortunate incident. Thankfully no one was harmed, but I must confess that I have not always had complete control over my powers. This incident however was the catalyst for me to gain a full understanding of my abilities and the truth of my house words. I am confident that I can demonstrate to your satisfaction that I am in control of my abilities and am not a danger to innocent people or the realm.
I and my sister, will arrive in Winterfell as scheduled at the end of this month to pledge fealty. I bring with me both Hans Frey and the Lord of Wesselton and submit them to your judgment. Do with them what you will.
Ned leaned back in his oaken chair, unsure of what to make of it all. He shook his head in bewilderment, "Perhaps Elsa's parents had good reason to keep her out sight, it sounds like the poor girl has gone mad, yet these signatures persuade you? How sure are you that they are genuine?" he asked.
"I know many of them well my Lord, and checked them side by side with what copies I had to be sure. She would have to be a master forger or have access to one to imitate so many hands so skillfully. It seems unlikely." Maester Luwin paused and then went on, "And if the reason her parents isolated her was madness, surely the castellan, steward and her sister knew of it. How could she seize enough power to compel so many people of note to sign such a ridiculous letter in the face of their sure opposition? Especially when we will know the truth of the matter soon enough when she arrives."
"Let's have the truth sooner than that," commanded Lord Stark, "send a raven to her vassals and any Lord or Lady we have reason to believe was in Arendelle on Elsa's name day with orders to give an accounting of the day."
"Aye my Lord." Maester Luwin nodded. "It's likely some already have ravens on the way with word of that day, madness or magic, either one would merit warning us."
"Do you think it's possible," Ned asked, leaning forward. "Magic that is?" He himself doubted it. The Dragons were dead, and the Children of the Forest long fled. All that remained were the Old Gods, nameless spirits of woodland and stream that watched and waited.
"I believe what I can see my Lord," the Maester answered in a melancholy tone as if he wished it could be otherwise. "I have seen the dragon skulls in King's Landing and the pale green flame of wildfire. But that and a few other paltry remnants seem all that is left of the great magic of old." His grey eyes gazed off in the distance as if he was looking upon them once again.
"Valyrian steel taunts even the greatest smiths with its secrets and they can barely manage to even forge it anew. The spells written down in the Library by the great Archmaesters of old work seldom and weakly, if at all, for even the most learned of men. Even in the earliest of records men have lamented the lessening and loss of magic. From the time when the first of the First Men stepped foot in Westeros it has been so, and with the passing of the Children and the Dragons, magic has all but faded from this world."
Maester Luwin blinked, and seemed to come back to the present, looking over to Ned. "Perhaps the girl has been born with some small spark of sorcery; such things happen, albeit rarely, even in this age. But power to be mentioned in the same breath as Brandon the Builder, I think not. Still even some small ability could provoke a man like the Lord of Wesselton to lash out. He seems a man who would fear what he does not understand."
"Yes," Ned nodded his head, "I can see that happening." He stood and walked over to the window looking out to the Southwest toward far off Arendelle. "We have much to plan for Maester Luwin. If she does not arrive I will have to raise the banners and hope that Anna is not complicit in nor harmed by her sister's madness. If she does come, yet is unbalanced, we will have to take her into custody for her own safety. If she comes and proves to have some minor powers then I'm sure we can smooth things over with everyone." Then he frowned, and amended himself, "Aside from Hans Frey and Lord Wesselton of course. The former will go to the wall, while the later..." he rubbed his chin in thought. "I may have to write King Robert on this. I cannot deal with him as he deserves without enraging Tywin and destabilizing the realm, yet I cannot let him go and maintain the respect of my vassals."
"Perhaps the Lady might be convinced to request you deal with him mercifully." Maester Luwin suggested.
"The very least I could do is levy him with a heavy fine to be paid to the victim," Ned turned to Maester Luwin and grinned in understanding. "The gain of which people would assume was the reason for her request."
The grin did not last, the solemn face Ned Stark was known for outside the North, the one his son Bran called the Lord's face quickly returned. "Tywin Lannister is not what worries me the most however. He's a man of great ability and stunted morality, efficient and ruthless, but for all that he's a known quantity. Elsa is not. We know virtually nothing about her. How she thinks, what she wants or what she's capable of. That she brings her assassins before me rather than executing them out of hand speaks well of her, but beyond that..." he shrugged. "There are just too many unknowns. If she truly does have great power, it changes everything. It would be like dealing with the Targaryens and their dragons all over again."
"Even in that unlikely event I think it would not be as bad as you envision my Lord." Maester Luwin replied. "Aegon bequeathed a legacy of madness and dragons upon his heirs, while Lady Elsa if she has told the truth in this letter, shows no evidence of being unbalanced; and such a rare power, unseen since the Age of Heroes, is unlikely to be seen again for an equally long while, certainly not in her own children." He came to a stop as Ned raised a hand to forestall him.
"Children, that's the key." Ned said, a bit surprised they'd both overlooked something so obvious, but then they had been discussing an incredibly bizarre scenario. "Lady Elsa's rebuffed many a request for a marriage pact with the other Lords of the North. Most thought it because she wanted to reign as Lady in her own right first, what with her family inheritance law being passed down from the Andals of the Eyrie and their requirement for a longer regency for women than men. But it was not that, she was protecting her secret."
"And now that secret's out," Maester Luwin murmured. "I see where you're going with this."
"Yes, House Aren was founded when Randyll Arryn fell in love with Lyra Stark and managed to put an end to centuries of war over The Three Sisters. If what Lady Elsa says is true, than perhaps it is time for House Stark and House Aren to join themselves in marriage once more." As he said this the words of House Aren's drifted through his mind, 'Love Thaws Even Winter', and Ned wondered what Elsa had meant when she wrote that she now understood their true meaning .
The Maester nodded in contemplation, "She'd be a good match in any case, her house stands among the first rank of your vassals, and choosing her as Robb's wife would suggest continued vigilance against the Ironborn."
"All true," Lord Stark agreed "and if she has powers, such a marriage would bind her interests to those of House Stark. No temptations to go her own way, and no reason for others to believe they can manipulate her into doing so."
"You seem to have things well in hand my Lord," Maester Luwin replied. "If I have your leave, I have many letters to write and ravens to send."
"Of course," Ned nodded his ascent and the Maester scuttled off to the rookery. Then turned back to the window and looked out over Winterfell. "Love Thaws Even Winter" he murmured. 'What did she mean by that?' he wondered. 'Perhaps her mind is in tune with mine and she is hoping for an Aren-Stark marriage'.
He shook his head, trying to make out the mind of a woman he did not know was an exercise in futility. He walked back to his desk and sat down. He had lots of different plans to make. Plans to deal with a rebel, a madwoman, or a witch, whether weak or great, whatever Elsa turned out to be. He expected the second, and hoped for the third, but he'd be prepared for the first and the fourth. 'Well, as prepared for magic of the likes unseen since the Age of Heroes as one could be,' he thought wryly. Then he bent his head and dipped his quill and got to work.