Ned watched from the balcony above the stables as Robb talked to the girl from the blacksmith. He seemed quite taken with her; he had been talking to her more and more often over the past two moons.
"Who is Robb speaking to?" Catelyn asked from beside him.
"Cassianna I believe her name is. She's Mikken's granddaughter."
"And she works in the smithy?" Catelyn asks.
"She's a hard worker. Skilled at metal work and she has a strength that no woman – let alone a girl her age – should have. She's smart too."
"You've done your research." Catelyn said.
"I take an interest in all the comings and goings of our children. Especially when they involve the opposite sex." Ned and Catelyn smiled at each other and looked back at the young couple as they spoke again. Cassianna reached up on tiptoe and kissed Robb on the cheek before ducking back into the smithy. Robb blushed, staring in the direction that Cassianna had just left in. "Well, that's new."

The Starks were eating dinner together and Catelyn was feeling welcome enough to allow Jon to sit with them. There wasn't much talking except for the odd mention about the weather and the summer snows.
"You seemed to have made friends with Mikken's granddaughter Robb." Ned said suddenly and everyone looked up at the oldest Stark son as he blushed slightly. "Cassianna."
"Cassie." Robb corrected quickly before blushing even more deeply. Ned and Catelyn exchanged a look.
"She seems like a nice young woman." Catelyn said.
"Best person I've ever met." Robb said, more to his dinner plate than his parents. He looked up and looked at his youngest sister. "You'd like her Arya. She works in the smithy all day long, making swords and hammers, axes and armour." Robb smiled as his little sister's eyes lit up with wonder.
"She sounds savage." Sansa said.
"She sounds smart." Theon said harshly.
"She sounds strong." Bran interjected. "Is she very strong Robb?"
"Very. She asked me to test a war hammer the other day. I had to use two hands to lift it and she only used one." Robb blushed again. "I'd never felt so inferior to a woman in my life. She laughed and said that we can't all be like King Robert. So then I laughed and it just made me feel better. Like the whole thing with the hammer hadn't happened." He shook his head. "It was bizarre." Ned smiled at Catelyn who responded with a knowing look. "I'm going to see her tomorrow. She offered to teach me how to make a sword."

"It's definite. He's in love with her." Ned said as he and Catelyn prepared for bed. "He wouldn't willingly skip a meeting to spend time with a girl he's made friends with."
"He's supposed to go to a meeting tomorrow? Ned, why didn't you say?"
"He looked too happy at just the thought of being with her." Ned smiled as he shook his head. "I decided to leave him be."
"He won't be happy he forgot the meeting."
"Leave him be." Ned said, pulling his wife to him and kissing her on the mouth. "I want to see how things pan out between them."