The children of the forest stood around the weirwood tree, the ice-cold air around them biting against their skin. They normally would not venture out of the cave this late, but they knew this had to be done. The time of the birth was approaching.
"Are we sure this one will be her?" One of them asked.
"She's right, what if it's another boy!" a voice called through the thick blizzard that swarmed around them.
"It is her! The three-eyed raven has foreseen it, she is coming" Leaf snapped back at her companions.
Suddenly the temperature of the air around them dropped immensely, even more so than they were used to.
"It is time"
They each placed a hand upon the weirwood tree and began to chant in a language that was too old to be known by any man.
"Two houses join together as one, to rid the evil that must be undone, a girl born of Storm and Snow, shall fight the true evil when the coldest winds blow"
The snow began to whirl around them, the freezing wind blowing it in every direction. The sky began to grow white with snow clouds that thundered more snow down upon them, they had never had this reaction before. Leaf closed her eyes in smiled, this time it had worked. In the dead of the night at the Ancestral home of Winterfell, the cries of a newborn baby girl rang through the air. Lyra Stark was born.
(16 years later)
At just sixteen years old Lyra was tall for her age. Her long, dark hair was braided down her back, the tip of it reaching just above her waist as her blue eyes gleamed in delight, they were a similar shade to her mothers, or so she had been told, but they held the wildness that was once seen in her fathers.
Her lips pulled into a smile as she watched her cousin nocked another arrow onto his bow.
Her father Brandon Stark had been arrested by the mad King Aerys Targaryen II for attempting to kill the crowned Prince after he abducted her Aunt Lyanna. The Mad King demanded that her mother and brothers were also brought down to Kings Landing alongside her Grandfather Rikard Stark. The mad king had her mother slaughtered the moment she entered the capital as a lesson to her father. Then he had her brothers and grandfather burned alive while her father was tied up with a leather cord around his neck that strangled him when he tried to reach for his sword to save his sons which had been placed just out of his reach.
The abduction of her aunt Lyanna and the deaths of her mother and brothers sparked rage between the lord of the Storm Lands and prompted her Uncle Robert, her mothers eldest brother and Lyannas betrothed, to rebel against the Targaryens with the help of her Uncle Eddard and the rest of the North, who were also enraged about the death of her Grandfather, father and brothers. This war led to her Uncle Robert becoming King of Westeros after he killed the crowned prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Lyra had been fostered at Last Hearth, the most Loyal Northern house with a wet Nurse until her Uncle Eddard returned to Winterfell.
A soft smile graced the lips of the eldest Stark girl as she watched her younger cousin attempt to hit the bullseye 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 because 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 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 the brothers to see her younger cousin Arya standing behind a barrel, bow in hand, without an arrow. A loud laugh escaped her as Arya did a small curtsy, a large smile across her face. 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 the gift of archery" Robb smirked looking over at Lyra as Bran began to chase Arya around the stalls.
"It's not a gift, it's practise" Lyra 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 teach me how to shoot like that?" Rickon asked looking up at his older cousin with intrigue, he'd always been fascinated by the fact that she could hit a moving target effortlessly, it was very rare that she missed her chosen prey. Elegant and fierce, her uncle said she was a direwolf personified.
"Not right now little pup, no, but one day when you're a bit older" 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, that was until Robbs Tully auburn started to take over, but they still had inherited their blue eyes from House Tully and House Baratheon while the others got the Stark greyness in their eyes.
She moved across the yard to hand Jon the final arrow when she saw him staring up at the walkway above. She glanced up to see her Aunt Catelyn glaring down at him, her eyes narrowed in distaste. Her aunt caught her eye and slowly began to make her way along the bridge. Jon turned his head slightly to give her a grateful smile which she answered by placing a comforting hand upon his shoulder.
"Starks, a deserter has been caught" her Uncle's second in command called out as he walked towards them. "You have each to prepare your horses and meet Lord Eddard at the gates, that includes you Lyra, and you Bran" Lyra glanced across the yard at Robb who returned her panicked look, they both knew Bran was far too young to be seeing such things, but neither of them could argue against their liege lords orders.
"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 miss over there" Jon grinned glancing over at a now sulking Arya.
"Wish me luck" Lyra 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, I'm older than Bran and he gets to do" Arya sighed kicking the mud at her feet.
"You know it is not to do with age Arya, you're the daughter of the liege Lord of Winterfell, like it or not. You're a lady" Lyra explained leaning against the barrels beside her cousin as Arya glared up at her with the famous Stark grey eyes. "Your Father needs me to watch over Bran, otherwise I would be made to stay here with you"
"You still get to go" Arya snapped.
"Yes, and I wish I didn't" Lyra 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 I had to be there for Robb. But don't worry. From what I saw today 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. "
Lyra, 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. Lyra 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.
