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Chapter 1:

As she walked around Winterfell with her Dire wolf which she'd named Kahlan the oldest Stark child smiled as the pup stayed close to her feet. She almost felt sorry for the poor thing, so bending over Alys picked up the scrawny little pup, thinking of the pups that belonged to all her siblings. Though Bran hadn't named his yet, the rest of them, including Jon already had gotten around to it.

Smiling she thought about how only her pup and Rickon's pup looked almost the same, only though Kahlan had the same black fur, she had the same yellow eyes as all the others.

Stroking it's fur she thought for a moment, questioning where her siblings were most likely to be until she walked outside, hearing laughter and small barks, a grin spreading on her face as she quickly ran over the pup held tightly in her arms before she put her down softly on the ground, watching as it immediately ran over to its siblings to join in the play, it's intrusion on things alerting her presence to her younger siblings.

"Alys!" Rickon called running over to the 15 year old girl, hugging her leg tightly as she laughed, picking him up in a hug as she pulled him close, kissing his forehead as she normally did, fulfilling the role of the doting older sister as she'd done since she was a little girl. In a way she was already excited for a marriage of her own, to have children that she could raise, some that may or may not look like her. The entire idea seemed lovely to her... though truth be told she was wishing she could marry for love, not politics, the chances of that happening were beyond slim though.

"Rickon, nice to see you... you look like you've had a lot of fun" she said laughing as she noticed that he was covered in dirt, that was now also smeared on her dress. Though her maid would have a heart attack she couldn't care less, though she knew they were going to get her redressed for dinner now!

"We have! All the puppies are playing together, and even Sansa is joining in!" the boy continued, excitement in his voice evident as it grew louder and louder, only causing Alys to laugh.

"Well that's a start" she replied, winking at her little brother. Though she loved all her siblings, and loved taking care of them all, listening when their mother or father were busy with other stuff, it could still be said that it was either Rickon, Robb and Jon that were her favourites, though she still found her other brother and sisters adorable and loved them all. Simply growing up with Jon and Robb there as long as she could remember she remembered playing games when they were little, and later began trusting the two of them with everything.

Even if her mother still hated Jon because of the fact that their father brought him back...

But then there was sweet innocent little Rickon, the youngest most naive of the Stark children... except perhaps Sansa who still believed in fairy tales but he was the one who came to her crying because of nightmares, later falling asleep in her arms in bed while she lay awake all night after singing him to sleep.

Perhaps it was moments like that that ended up causing their close bond, or maybe it was the fact that he never seemed to ignore her like her other siblings occasionally did, she doubted that any of them did it purposely but still, it happened.

As all of them spoke Sansa still continued dreaming about the visit from the Kings party that were expected by tomorrow, leaving Jon, Alys and Robb to exchange looks. They knew of their father's dislike of the Lannister family, and for good reason, and if rumours were to be believed Cersei, the Queen hated Winterfell simply because the Stark children's aunt, Lyanna the woman that the King truly loved lay buried in the crypt here.

None of the eldest children knew what to expect but playing it as well as they could they laughed along with their other siblings trying to keep calm, and keep a clear open mind about everything. They'd still be on their guard, but beyond that there was not much that they could do.

Laughing at one another she found herself occasionally scolding the younger siblings as they too occasionally struck up arguments chasing each other to the point where Alys was quite sure that they'd hurt themselves.

Soon enough as the sun came close to setting Alys Stark let out a high pitched whistle, the only thing she knew could catch her sibling's attentions, and now even the pups paused for a moment.

"All of you need to get inside, dinner's going to be soon and all of you need to be cleaned up!" she exclaimed, looking at all her mud and dirt covered siblings.

"Yes mother" Robb replied mockingly, leaving her to lash out elbowing his side as he jumped. "What? You are sounding awfully like mother, clean yourselves up, your covered in mud, dinner's soon, it's getting dark" he continued in a higher pitch continuing to mock her. Rolling her eyes she picked up Rickon carrying him inside, all the pups just following them, almost falling in their rush.

Cersei was less than happy about the trip to Winterfell, she had a feeling she knew what this was about. That blundering fool that happened to be her husband wanted to ask Lord Stark to be his new hand, something that didn't please her at all.

On one hand though she was glad that they were close to Winterfell, which would mean that she could once again spend some more... time, with her brother Jaime, on the way with all the people and the carts it was impossible to not be found out, though it kept her husband in check, ending with him lying with her rather than one of his whores for once.

Still she would have preferred her brother, still pretending it was him every time Robert touched her, if it were up to her he'd be dead already, her son Joff on the throne.

'Soon enough' the told herself, feeling angry as she felt his arm around her bare waist, hearing the way he snored so loudly. It was times like these she couldn't pretend he was Jaime, Jaime didn't snore, if he did it meant he'd caught a slight chill and even then he didn't snore loudly though that wasn't the only thing on the Queen's mind, though she didn't even know if Robert would succeed in this plan of hers.

It seemed he wouldn't... she hoped he wouldn't!

Finally the day had come, Alys stood next to her siblings annoyed at how over the top she found anything. Still she stood there patiently as it was expected, a mask on her face like with all her siblings only they all had smiles painted on these masks for at least the introductions. There were so many golden banners, so many people that were wearing armour in different shades. Though Alys couldn't recognize anyone, she couldn't help staring at the occasional person.

The women were adorned over in a rather over the top fashion while the men seemed arrogant and full of themselves but still there was something about them that captivated her. Probably the over-confidence and Alys had a feeling she'd be fed up with it soon enough. She couldn't imagine ever living alongside people like that.

The King suddenly jumped off his horse, hugging Ned Stark as he loudly greeted him, moving on to hug Catelyn, who barely disguised her distrust while Ned went on to kiss the Queens hand softly before he straightened himself up.

Finally all the Stark children stepped forward, much like the three children of the king and queen. Both sides of children looked each other over, introducing themselves before they finally figured that at very least they'd... force themselves to get along with each other.

Alys watched quietly as her father then led the man to the crypt, surely to pay respects to her aunt. She figured that the stories about that were true about how they should have been joined in marriage, and then she figured that the stories about Cersei hating them for it as well, especially as she watched as the Queen was pulled away by the man she assumed held the title Kingslayer.

Smiling she followed her mother, guiding the Queen to the room she'd be residing in, in perfect silence of course, being as gracious as she could.

Meanwhile Ned was down in the crypt with Robert, talking to him in a way finding it strange that there wasn't too much that the friends were talking about after all these years of not seeing each other. Finally there was an offer of Sansa marrying Joff, something he hadn't expected before the King suddenly went silent before he continued.

"There's one more thing though Ned" he paused again and Eddard Stark knew that he probably wouldn't like it at all. "I wish that your eldest to marry Jaime Lannister, to bond your house to the Lannisters as well"

"You can't be serious Robert" he answered immediately. "Firstly she's young and you're suggesting we marry her to Jaime?"

"Ned, they're thinking of an engagement to one of the other families and in my preference I'd like it to be you, you are one of my allies, you always have been and always will be I trust you. With the Lannisters I can't let this get out of control!" Robert ended his rant as he looked at Ned almost pleadingly still with that sense of authority.

"Before I give you an answer I think I need to discuss this with Catelyn"

"Understandable" Robert agreed as he clapped Ned on the back as they started making their way out of the crypt. Ned knew that Catelyn wasn't going to like this.