Song: Way Down We Go by Kaleo

"Chroi!" The lady of Baelfort's voice cut across the open square. A few heads turned to look up at the commotion, and quickly looked away noticing it was their Lady who was causing it.

Fianna's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as she finally caught up to her dog. Chroi was 8 months old now, and she was doing a terrible job of teaching the pup obedience.

Her kennel masters had offered time and time again to train the wolfhound, but she had refused. The dog was a welcome distraction in recent times and she found comfort in him, no matter how unruly he could be.

He had grown so much since she had first laid eyes on him. Her father's last gift to her, not counting the promise of keeping her birthright and ruling as Lady of Baelfort.

She remembered it vividly, the night she was gifted with him. She awoke in the middle of the night to the unmistakable sound of horses outside, she rushed downstairs in her bedclothes with not a care in the world and flew outside to greet the carriage.

Yet it was not her father she was to greet. One of his men had approached her with a grave look on her face and it was at that point she knew.

He was dead.

She had been in a daze as it was explained to her, only hearing small tidbits of it. He had died on his travels back to Baelfort. They had kept his body in the carriage, to preserve it so they could bury him here - where he belonged.

After the servants had pleaded with her endlessly to return to her chambers and rest, to which she responded to with violence if they dared touch her - it was then another of the Bua men approached her. A small bundle in his arms. Despite the grief she was submerged in and the tears that blurred her vision, she could make out the shape of a small dog, or was it a wolf?

The wolfhound was dark grey, the colour varied in hue throughout his fur and his underneath was white. His floppy ears and large dark eyes drew her in immediately.

She could only nod her head as it was explained to her that Cillian wished her to have him, that he felt they belonged together before she
scooped the bundle in her arms and finally returned to her chambers to rest - the wolfhound in arm.

She lay all that night crying as her new pup desperately tried to soothe her sobs by licking her face.

Tensions had been high at Baelfort for the last week. Ever since that damned Stark boy had called upon his banners, Fianna was desperately packing belongings and calling upon her men.

She was Lady of Baelfort after all, and she was well trained for battle - her father had ensured that. No Bua woman ever grew up without learning how to skilfully handle a sword, save for the wives who married into the family.

She had her furs practically engulfing her body, her long, brown, curly hair was back in a braid that reached the middle of her back and she looked every bit a warrior with her family sword - Wolfsbane, at her hip.

Her and her men were almost ready to travel for Winterfell, yet her pup decided today was the day to act out.

"You stop that right now! I will gladly leave you here and the gods know when I will be back for you, if I come back at all!" She scolded the dog sternly as he sat back on his haunches. His ears flattened into his head, almost as if he could understand her. Sometimes she was sure he could.

Chroi stood and walked to Fianna's hand, licking it gently. Fianna couldn't stop a smile spreading on her lips as she patted the wolfhound's head and clicked her tongue for him to follow her to her chambers. She was setting her armour into her trunk when Tiernan had burst into her chambers, uninvited.

"Tiernan! Where are your manners, you can't burst into a lady's chambers without knocking!" Fianna shouted, her expression twisted in annoyance yet they both knew it was the stress getting to her.

"Well by the Gods Fianna, this might be the last day I see you alive! I just wanted to see you before you rode off!" He shouted back sarcastically to which she rolled her eyes to.

"If the gods were merciful they'd see to it I wouldn't have to see you again," she teased before stepping towards her cousin and lifting her arms in the air, "Go on then, bring it in."

He stepped forward and hugged her tightly, the two had always been close. More like siblings than cousins with Tiernan being two years older than Fianna.

"I still think I should go in your stead, war is no place for a lady." He mumbled as he pulled away from her.

"You and I both know I'm the better fighter of the two of us, nonetheless I am the Lord of Baelfort. If war is no place for a Lady, surely it is the place for a Lord." Fianna argued back, a rush of annoyance flooded her. She abhorred when people doubted her skills as a fighter because she was a woman.

She was a Bua. Warrior was in her blood.

"What is it your father always said? There must always be a Bua in Baelfort?" Fianna looked down at the mention of her father, the subject still sore for her. She gathered herself in a moment before looking up with a proud smile.

"There will be. You will rule as Lord of Baelfort in my absence. I'm trusting you with this, Tiernan. You may not bear the name Bua, but my blood runs through your veins. There's no one else I'd trust to rule here." She placed her hands on his biceps, her eyes watering noting the look of sheer thankfulness on his face.

"Fianna... I-"

"Don't say anything."

"Alright, then. Must you take that dog with you, though? What good will he be in a war?" Tiernan nodded his head towards the wolfhound laying on Fianna's bed.

"Are you kidding? He's a wolfhound. They're hunters and guard dogs. Besides, I couldn't part with him either way." She smiled ruefully, turning to shut her trunk of items closed.

"So this is it? Little Fianna is away to war?" She turned to her cousin and nodded solemnly.

"This is it. Pray for me, I beg you. I'll bloody need it." She raised her eyebrows causing him to let out a laugh, wrapping his arm around her again and squeezing her in a bone-crushing hug.


"Are you nervous, my lady?" Ser Mick's voice sounded next to her, lowly to avoid embarrassing the girl. They had been travelling for a few days now and were due to arrive at Winterfell soon.

Fianna wasn't accustomed to travelling by horse, she absolutely refused to ride in a carriage since she was a child. But the last trip she had made had been to the Umbers when she was all but 14. Her ability to ride all day clearly had left her, her thighs ached terribly.

"In truth, I am. I've never even been to Winterfell, nor even met Lord Stark's son. He never visited Baelfort. We're not riding to see the castle walls, Ser Mick. We're riding for war." She said grimly, although she couldn't deny the knot in her stomach. A knot of pure excitement.

Fianna had heard all the war stories from her father as a child and secretly wished she had been a part of it all. To fight for a cause. She was never going to be a typical lady, laying down for her husband to impregnate and then focusing on raising that child. She wanted to stretch her legs, she wanted songs to be written about her - the Lady of Baelfort, a female warrior who fought with men.

"Don't worry my lady, these men behind us, they respect you so they do. They'll follow you into any battle, they've known you since you were a babe and they know how honourable your father was. Whatever happens, these men are here for you. Not for any Stark boy." She looked to him, her eyes glistening with gratitude as she nodded her head once, a soft smile on her lips that rarely appeared on Fianna Bua's lips at all as of late.


To say that Fianna was pissed off was an understatement, she was sure her face had to be as red as the Lannister sigil by the amount of anger fuelling through her.

She had made the mistake of arriving at Winterfell the same time as the Karstark party. Immediately, the young lord Robb Stark had requested to see Lord Karstark. More than likely to express his gratitude for the 5000 men he had brought with him.

Fianna had brought a measly 900. They weren't a large house by any means, but she deserved respect none the less. The respect an Umber or a Karstark or a Glover would receive.

The evening was falling now, the feast was about to start and Fianna could care less. She was known for her stubbornness, as many Northerners were. If Robb Stark didn't see it fit to greet her party, she didn't see it fit to arrive on time to the feasts.

She was currently trailing through the castle grounds, whistling loudly and calling for her wolfhound who had unsurprisingly run off again.

She stopped in her step when she heard a low, guttural growl from around the corner. Recognising it as Chroi's, she darted forward to find a slightly terrifying sight.

Chroi was growling wildly, his back was stiff and his teeth bared. To any mere person he'd look terrifying but what he was growling at was perhaps much more so.

A wolf, not a wolfhound, was in a stand off with Chroi. It was covered in fur in variations of grey, much like Chroi. It was already larger than the average wolf, and had a few inches on Chroi. But she could tell this was a pup, he hadn't even begun to reach his maximum size. Because it was a direwolf.

"Chroi," she called nervously, clicking her tongue to get him to return to her. The dog refused, too busy growling at its opponent.

Instead the direwolf turned his head to her, growling at her instead and beginning to stalk toward her slowly, menacingly.

Chroi reacted immediately, snapping his jaws in warning.

Fianna was frozen with fear, she heard the stories of direwolves when she was little. She knew they were ferocious beasts, but they were beyond the wall. Far from her.

She wasn't entirely sure Chroi could even save her here.

"Grey Wind, to me." A deep voice called out, the direwolf immediately backed off, growling once more to which Chroi returned. She kept her gaze on the wolf until it returned to its master, her eyes flitting up to see his face.

He was not a man she recognised, a dark head of curly hair sat atop his head. He was tall, and about her age if not slightly older. He stood with a vigilance that suggested he was a Highborn. But at this point, Fianna was beyond the point of caring.

"You should have that thing fucking chained up!" Fianna couldn't help herself shouting, her chest rising and falling as the adrenaline still rushed through her body.

"And what of that mutt of yours? He hardly looks safe." She was surprised when the man bit back. Her jaw falling slack.

"He's a trained wolfhound, I'll have you know. The best of all dog breeds, and he'll attack that beast of yours should he lunge at me." She was even more shocked when he actually let out a laugh.

"And what? What does a dog have on a direwolf?" He said in a teasing tone.

"I'm sure your lady wife would be more comfortable letting your babes around a wolfhound than a bloody ferocious direwolf!" She began to shout, her anger reaching the tipping point for today.

"I don't have a lady wife, yet. And judging by your manner I would say that you're unmarried yourself!"

"That hardly surprises me. Why would I want a pigheaded husband when I'm Lady of Baelfort? To bring ruin to my house? I don't think so!" She started to step towards him, thankful that the square was empty. She didn't want word of her and a Northerner fighting at Winterfell to reach Lord Stark. She was trying to prove herself, after all.

"Keep talking, little girl. By the looks of things you'll last an hour in battle. At most. Maybe then you'll wish you had a husband to protect you!" He threw back in a cold tone, before stalking towards the entrance to the main hall where the feast was being held.

Desperate to have the last word, she shouted back, "If he's anything like you I'd rather die in battle!"

But he closed the door behind him, not listening to her rants any longer and taking that direwolf with him.

She took a whole five minutes to calm down before she decided to enter the hall, bringing Chroi for moral support. Her nerves were shot with anxiety as she stepped inside. Thankfully, the crowds were loud and the noise of the door opening was drowned out.

She looked around for an empty seat and spotted one in the table next to what she supposed was the head table, judging by the fact she could see Lord Glover and Lord Umber in her peripheral vision.

She sat down at a free chair and let Chroi come under the table, he lay on his stomach to wait for his master to leave.

"Woah! That's the biggest dog I've ever seen!" A small boy sitting across the table from her called out, catching the attention of a few Lords.

"He's a wolfhound, he's the biggest of all dog breeds." She said politely back to the small boy. He was rather young to be riding for war, perhaps he was a Lord's son. Or his father had died and he was the new Lord.

"It's nothing on my direwolf though. But it's still impressive." She lifted her head at the mention of direwolf, how many Northerners suddenly came into possession of a direwolf?

"Wait, who are you, my lord?" She asked, fearing the answer all of a sudden.

"Ah, Lady of Baelfort. Nice of you to join the feast." A familiar voice called out, Fianna's head snapped up fast to see the arrogant prick from outside sitting at the head of the highborn Lord's table. Her expression froze in shock.

Lord Stark, she presumed.

She had only been able to nod her head in greeting when she finally identified her liege lord.

Her heart was thumping as she stared at her plate for a long time after, refusing to look towards the Lord. She felt humiliated to the point she could have cried right there, in front of all her fellow Northern Lords.

Fianna came to this war with one objective in mind, to gain respect. She had heard the whispers throughout the kingdom, of the Northern girl only but seventeen years who was now the lady of her house.

Maege Mormont was a fierce woman who commanded respect, Fianna Bua was to many, a mere child sitting in her father's chair.

She came to this war well aware of her skill set and her strategic mind. Her father, Cillian, had a commander's mind. It was well known his battle strategies had probably been behind Robert's success in the rebellion. Since Fianna's youth, he had tried desperately to teach his only heir his tactics and sharp mind.

She had been here not even a day and already she had shown her quick temper, and to her liege Lord no less. Robb Stark was a boy himself, not much older than Fianna. He himself had much to prove, yet nowhere near as much as Fianna. He was a man at the end of the day, and unless Fianna suddenly sprouted a cock and balls, she had to work extra hard to gain respect.

Fianna didn't lift her head again from her plate until she heard the booming voice of Greatjon Umber start to evade her ears.

"The bloody wall will melt before an Umber marches behind a Glover!" he shouts loudly, capturing the attention of not only Fianna, but every man in the room, "I will lead the van or I will take my men and march them home!"

Fianna sneaked a peak at Lord Stark's expression, his rage was obvious from where she had been sitting. He hadn't looked at her like that outside, and she insulted him personally then. Her eyes widened as he stands up and speaks his next words in a chillingly calm voice.

"You are welcome to do so, Lord Umber. And when I am done with the Lannisters, I will march back North, root you out of your keep and hang you for an oath breaker."

Everyone quietened then, looking to their liege lord with an undercurrent of fear. Almost as if remembering the power he had over them.

"Oathbreaker is it?" Greatjob shouted in response, unsheathing his sword causing a few to stand up quickly, drawing their sword and ready to defend their liege lord. She didn't know why, but she stood too, ready to involve herself if needs be. Perhaps she was still trying to prove herself.

"I'll not sit here and swallow insults from a boy so green he pisses grass!" Greatjon continued, this actually amused Fianna, who looked down quickly to stop any giggles that threatened to bubble up. His next words eliminated that completely.

"I'd sooner take commands from little Fianna Bua over there and she probably hasn't even bled yet!" Everyone's head snapped to her then, Fianna glowered back and felt her anger building up again.

"Mind your tongue Umber! My wolfhound has taken shits more honourable than you!" She shouts back, which encouraged a laugh out of a few men. Lord Stark kept his glare on Lord Umber.

She tenses as Chroi stands up and bounds over to Lord Umber, growling all the while. He approached the Lord from the side, ready to attack at his masters word.

"You say I have no honour yet you and the green boy over there hide behind dogs like cravens! Since when have children been on the battlefield?!"

Fianna had been so tempted to give the word and let Chroi devour him, yet she didn't need to. Robb Stark's direwolf, the very one she had glowered at only an hour before, leaped up onto the table and lunged at Lord Umber. He took two of Greatjon's fingers and she knew that was probably just a warning even at that.

Fianna's lips lifted into a smirk as the Greatjon writhed on the ground in pain, crying out. She didn't even look away as Robb started to speak.

"My Lord father taught me it was death to bare steel against your Liege Lord, and dishonourable to publicly embarrass a lady of a great household," Robb began as Lord Umber started to rise, clutching his bloodied hand that was absent of two fingers, "but doubtless, the Greatjon only meant to cut my meat and give Lady Fianna the opportunity to insult him."

She furrowed her eyebrows at Lord Stark, she hadn't expected him to condemn his words against her - she had half expected him to agree.

"Your meat," Greatjon began, looking between Fianna and Robb, "is as tough as that little lady over there."

They weren't looking at each other when he said it, but Fianna and Robb burst into laughter at the same time, easing the tension of the room as everyone else joined in on the laughter.

Northerners were rare folk, guaranteed no ill feelings would come out of this situation.

As the feast ended, Fianna left the great hall, with Chroi at her side. She felt a little lonely, all the great lords were either walking out with friends or their sons. Yet there she was, alone with her wolfhound.

She was making her way towards the chambers assigned to her when she was stopped by a voice calling to her.

"Lady Fianna!"

She turned around quickly and her expression twisted in confusion at the sight of Robb Stark. He was jogging slightly to catch up to her, a breathless smile on his face.

"Do you still have a hatred for Grey Wind after he took two of Greatjon's fingers in your honour?" He asked, a teasing undertone to his voice which baffled her entirely.

"My lord, I must apologise for my behaviour earlier. I was in a foul mood and you were forced to bear the brunt of it. I had no idea-"

"That I was your liege lord? Would you have acted differently if you knew I was?"

"Of course!" she nodded her head quickly.

"That's a shame, I was hoping you'd provide some much needed entertainment on the journeys ahead." He smiled brightly which made her narrow her eyes.

"As I said, my lord. I am profoundly sorry and ask for your forgiveness." She clasped her hands together in front of her, her expression neutral.

"Consider yourself forgiven. May I walk you to your chambers, my lady?" He asked, a small smile gracing his lips.

"You may, as long as you intend to leave at the door." She joked, instantly biting her tongue when she remembered who she was talking to. This was one of the most powerful Lords in the country, she couldn't share her humour with him as she had with her cousin and knights.

He seemed taken aback by her comment, yet not at all displeased. He held his elbow out to her after approaching her side, to which she placed her hands on for him to guide her to her chambers.

It didn't look that out of place, she was not wearing her armour and instead she wore a lavish Northern-style dress in dark blue for the feast. To a stranger, they'd look like a lady with her suitor. Or perhaps a married couple.

"I must apologise myself, my lady. I recall I didn't greet your party today, I had many matters to attend to I simply didn't have the time. I thank you humbly for the men you have brought to my cause." He said in a firm tone, that gave Fianna the idea that he wasn't all as formal as he acted around his fellow Lords. Merely a boy, pretending to be. Much like she herself was.

"Didn't have much of a choice, did I? I didn't want to be, as you say, rooted out of my keep." She teased with an easy smile, recalling his earlier words to Lord Umber.

"I'd have to get past that dog of yours first."

"Knowing Chroi, he'd probably get distracted chasing a rabbit and not bother with his master being hung as an oathbreaker mere feet away."

He laughed at this, which made her smile. She felt a tinge of guilt for judging him so quickly earlier. Their fathers had been best friends, she owed him the benefit of the doubt.

They had finally reached the door to her chambers, and thus had to part ways. Fianna let go of his arm.

"This was my sister Sansa's room, before she left for King's Landing." He said, with a low voice and a sad smile.

"We're going to get your father back, my lord. I know how you feel, if it were my father... let's just say I'd have every man, woman and child in the North at the gates of King's Landing within the hour."

He nodded his head, a mutual understanding between them.

"I must leave, my lady. We ride out before dawn, I hope to see you soon." He backed away, his eyes checking her over once before leaving and heading off to wherever he was headed.

"And I you." Fianna replied after he was out of hearing distance, opening her door and going inside, desperate to get at least a few hours of sleep before she had to start her journey


As you can see, Fianna's a little hot-headed. I just want to emphasise that Fianna isn't going to be a stereotypical Lady in the GOT universe, but she isn't going to be perfect either. She can be flawed and childish at times. She acts much like a Northern lord, stubborn, and outspoken.

I hope you like it so far!

Thanks so much to those who followed and favorited the story! It means the world to me! And thanks to Jessie for your review! I was a little nervous about posting my first story on here so this really encouraged me!