Nightmares and New Friends
The corridors of Winterfell were pitch dark at this hour, but for the occasional sliver of moonlight that stole through heavy wood and iron shutters, or torch left lit on the walls. This did not seem to deter the small, cloaked figure that passed through them, however. Elenei had never been a good sleeper. She couldn't count the number of nights she'd lay in her bed staring up at the canopy or sneak out to explore the keep or cuddle with her mother. But in this drab, grey Castle filled with drab, grey people, she was certain she'd never felt more restless.
This night the princess spent like many others. Exploring both the Great Keep and her mind. Elenei had spent much of the journey north peppering Lord Stark and his Lords bannermen with questions about the North. She'd been so excited listening to them; imagining all the new things she'd experience and friends she'd make. 'Father said it'd be an adventure', she thought as she climbed a stone staircase, trailing a hand over the granite wall. 'He said I'd never want to come home. That I'd love Winterfell as much as he loved the Eyrie'. But so far the King had been wrong. The little princess found she loved little and less about the Northern stronghold.
'It's too quiet here', she thought, turning down a new corridor. Kings Landing was always full of people and bustling business, the sounds and smells of the city and sea whispering on the breeze that blew through the open balcony doors of her bedchamber. Mummers put on shows in the plazas, bakers called out to passersby to buy fresh pastries, the people came in all different sizes, shapes, and colors. The court was always full of petitioners, the yard alive with the ringing of steel, the lower corridors packed with servants and merchants going about their work. Winterfell, though a great fortress, had no such city. Only the near-empty village known as Winter Town stood beneath the castle's walls, and moors and wood spread out beyond that.
The cold turned out to be an unwelcome disappointment as well; biting at her nose and cheeks whenever she ventured outside, despite it being summer. It forced her to keep her chamber windows closed in the nights, and sleep under a restrictive mountain of furs. Even the snow she'd been so excited to see, numbed and stiffened her fingers painfully after she'd played in it on the journey.
And as much as Elenei hated to admit it, she was lonely here. Lord and Lady Stark did their best to make her feel at home, to be sure, but it was not the same. She missed Joffrey. He was growing to be tedious at times, but mostly he was always willing to play with her. And uncle Renly and some of her Lannister cousins too, when they would visit the court. Elenei did not have much experience with other children her own age; the sons and daughters of the Lords and Ladies of the court that she had met were almost all twice her years or more. So Elenei wasn't completely certain if she had done something wrong when attempting to befriend Theon Greyjoy on the road to Winterfell, or if the boy was just a brat.
He had ignored most of her attemps on the road and upon arriving at Winterfell developed a habit mocking her. Teasing her about anything and everything, from her weight to her rank. Giving her cruel nicknames and excluding her as often as he could. Things had even ecalated so far as the two wrestling in the muddied slush of the training yard one afternoon; pulling at one anothers hair and hitting and kicking at whatever parts of each other they could reach until ser Rodrick tugged them apart and Lord Stark restricted them to their respective rooms for a week. Robb Stark had proved to be amiable enough, but Theon was almost always in his company so Elenei rarely saught his companionship, and Sansa Stark, was only three namedays old and no real fun for Elenei, leaving her to entertain herself for the most part.
Elenei froze, torn suddenly from her meloncholy thoughts. Tonight she wandered the uppermost levels of the Great Keep, as she had yet to find a way outside unseen. It was on the floor above her own bedchamers that she stood now. A voice called out in the still night, to muffled to understand but clear enough to be close by. Uncertain of where the voice originated, she remained still and quiet. Waiting and listening. Then the cry rang out again, clearer and louder this time from somewhere down the corridor behind her. Elenei turned and paced slowly a few steps in the direction she had come, debating whether to investigate. After a moment's hesitation, she decided there was no adventure without risk, and began following the sound.
Elenei made it half-way down the corridor with ears peeled and mind racing through possibilities. Perhaps it was a ghost; Winterfell was thousands of years old, believed by some maesters to be one of the oldest continually occupied castles in Westeros. If there was any such thing as ghosts Winterfell should have at least one. But that had been what she thought when she found a guard and one of the servant girls, (what was it her mother had called it? "Rutting like swine") in a storage room near where some of the Targaryen relics were kept. All thoughts of past disappointment were forgotten when she heard a quiet moan from beyond a door just ahead of her on the left. Pressing her ear to the door she could hear more mumbling and the faint rustle of sheets. Too curious to turn back, she gently pushed open the door open a crack and peeked inside.
The room was lit in a pale blue glow from the moonlight seeping through a window she could not see. A fire burned low in the hearth, with a thick grey fur covering the floor before it. Daring to open the door a little further, Elenei stuck her head into the room to get a better look. The outer wall was semi-circular and the lower half of the grey stone was paneled in pretty chestnut like in her own chamber. To the right of the door stood a desk under a diamond-paned window, and to the left, a hand-carved wardrobe. The chamber was smaller than any Elenei had ever stayed in but reasonable enough she supposed. The bed is what drew her attention after the quick, cursory glance about the room, for that was the source of the noise. The furs and a pillow had been kicked to the floor and the sheets tangled about their inhabitant like some giant snake.
With another little moan, the small figure rolled over onto its side, curling into a ball. Elenei finally understood; It was one of the boys having a nightmare. She gently closed the door and moved to the boy's side. Now that she could see him properly, Elenei recognized the bastard; his curly black hair was mussed and sticking to his pale, sweat covered skin. He whimpered and recoiled when her hand touched his shoulder but she ignored that, running her hand up and down his arm soothingly as she had done to Joffrey numerous times. When that did nothing to smooth the pinched expression from his face, Elenei gripped his shoulder firmly and shook hard. Two dark eyes popped open, immediately connecting with her own; It was a bit unnerving to Elenei as if the twin abyss' stared more into her than at her. Then, with a gasp, the boy blinked rapidly, as though despite his eyes being open he had only just awoken.
"It's alright, it was only a bad dream," Elenei whispered, giving the boy's shoulder another little squeeze, not wanting to startle him any further.
He only stared back at her with wide eyes and labored breathing.
"Do you want me to call for Lord Stark? Or something to drink? You look like you could use some water or tea, or... something..." Elenei trailed off as the boy just continued to stare up at her with an expression she couldn't quite name.
"What are you doing in here?" He asked, his voice a bit hoarse from sleep.
"Do-do you want me to leave?" She asked, quickly pulling her hand back from his shoulder and nervously tugging her dressing gown and fur stole tighter around herself.
"No," He answered quickly.
The children lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Elenei glance around the room once more in an attempt to escape the boy's unwavering gaze. Spotting a wash basin and water jug by the fireplace behind her, the small girl moved briskly toward table they sat upon and set about wetting and ringing a washcloth. When she returned to his bedside, the boy was sitting up, his face molded into an inscrutable expression; Elenei thought it was something akin to surprise and disbelief. He accepted the wet cloth and dry towel with a nod and Elenei once again turned her back and began puttering at the fire.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked once Elenei had the fire going strong again.
Elenei wasn't sure how to answer that question. She hadn't thought before acting, simply responded to the situation on instinct. But she wasn't sure she should tell him that. Princesses, after all, were supposed to be poised and proper and responsible; not uncertain, impulsive, or adventurous. At least that's what her Septa was always telling her.
"It's what I do for Joff when he has bad dreams," Elenei answered, rising from the floor and turning back to the boy. "It usually helps."
A partial truth; she often woke her brother when he had nightmares, but he usually wanted their mother to comfort him, and servants did all the things Elenei had done for this boy. And for all she knew, that was the reason she reacted as she did to his nightmare. The boy looked as if he was going to say something more but must have thought better of it because he only nodded his understanding.
"Thank you," He said.
Suddenly his eyes went wide and he blushed from his neck to his ears; the boy nearly fell out of the bed, he moved so fast to give her respectful bow.
"My Princess," He added.
"You're welcome,..." Elenei paused, "I'm sorry, I don't think we've been properly introduced."
The boy, still red, cast his eyes down to the floor as he spoke.
"Jon Snow, if it pleases you, Princess,"
Elenei frowned. She liked it better when he had been speaking to her as if she was any other girl wandering about a castle in the night, it remined her of home.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Jon," Elenei returned as she had been taught to when meeting someone new and held out her hand.
Jon hesitated before taking her hand as he'd seen Robb do when introduced to the princess in the courtyard the day she arrived with their father and placing a quick kiss on the back.
"I'm not a Lord," Jon corrected her quietly.
"Clearly," Elenei giggled.
Jon's pale skin flushed with color again in the moonlight as he ducked his head once more.
"Your father is a Lord, however, and sons of Lords are often given such honorific titles." Elenei continued hoping to lessen the boy's embarrassment. She had after all been trying to make new friends until very recently. Perhaps this was a new chance. "Perhaps it would be better if we called each other by our names instead of titles. I'm Elenei, well... except to my Uncle Gery, he called me Len."
Jon eyed her a moment with the same unnamable look before nodding, the ghost of a smile breaking across his lips.
"You're not wearing any shoes," he said, eyes darting to her feet then back to her face. "You do that alot, do your feet not get cold?"
"Yes, but I-" she replied, caught off guard by the drastic change of subject. "I prefer to be barefoot,"
"Is that a Southern thing?"
"No, not that I'm aware of," Elenei answered, taking a seat on boy's bed. "My septa says 'it's not befitting of my station', that 'a proper lady doesn't run about like a shoeless urchin'," she rolled her eyes. "But I'm a Princess, not a lady or an urchin so I don't see what it matters," she finished with a little shrug.
Jon accepted her answer with another quiet nod and sat down beside her. The children sat in silence for only a moment before Elenei broke it.
"Do you have them often?" she asked quietly.
It took Jon a moment to answer, and when he did it was only a shake of the head. Elenei studied the boy, who stared down at his dangling feet next to her own (though her toes reached the floor), trying to decide if he was being honest.
"I used to get them all the time. My uncle Stannis told me 'nightmares are to teach us how to face our fears'"said Elenei. "If that's true, I figure people who have lots of nightmares are the bravest,"
Jon's eyebrows drew together briefly in contemplation, before smoothing out into another barely-there smile, but Elenei saw it and smiled back.
"Why were you up here?"
"I can't sleep. It's too cold and the sounds are all different. When I can't sleep I usually get in with Joff, or mother, or go exploring. Since their not here I've been wandering around the keep where the guards aren't patrolling," Elenei explained.
Jon nodded in understanding. "Robb and I share sometimes when Old Nan tells us a scary story and he doesn't want to alone,"
"Scary stories don't make you too frightened to sleep alone?" Elenei questioned with a small smirk.
"Of course not. I'll be a man grown soon," Jon answered.
"No you won't," Elenei scoffed and moved to lie down and pull the discarded furs up to her chin. "You're how old? 6? 7?"
"7 and a half," Jon shot back.
"Exactly," Elenei smirked again and closed her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Jon asked, staring down at the girl snuggling into his bed.
"Going to sleep,"
"Yes. But why here?"
"Because" Elenei opened her eyes and spoke slowly and clearly as if to an idiot. "I can't sleep alone, and you don't like to be alone when you're scared."
"But, we'll get in trouble if you get caught in here," Jon warned.
"I won't get caught,"
"How do you know,"
"I just do. Now go to sleep,"
"But-"
"Goodnight Jon,"
"Elenei...Elenei..." Jon called the girls name three more times and shook her shoulder to no avail.
Elenei simply rolled over so her back faced Jon and pretended not to notice him. She was fairly practiced in ignoring things she had no wish to acknowledge. Elenei was half asleep when she felt the bed dip slightly under the boy's weight and the furs shift to cover him, his shared warmth lulling her into dreams of the warm summer breeze and grass between her toes.