Disclaimer: I own none of Game of Thrones. Only Erin is mine.


Chapter 2

Arrows, Ladies and Direwolves

Erin's dream ended abruptly thanks to the incessant knocking on her door. She lay in bed for a few seconds trying to remember what her dream had been about. Fire was all she could remember. The knocking got louder and louder until she couldn't take it anymore. She pulled her bed sheets around her body and didn't bother to change or fix her hair. She didn't need to. She knew who was knocking.

She swung open the door with and angry swing. "What is it Robb?" She grumbled darkly.

"It's almost midday and you're not up yet. It's unladylike." Robb responded not even slightly thrown by her appearance.

"Eat dirt and die." Erin barked before slamming the door in his face again. She could hear him laughing on the other side of the door and walking away. He'd only woken her up to annoy her but she decided to get ready. It really was unladylike of her to sleep until so late and Lady Stark would surely not be happy with her if she found out, nor would Septa Mordane for that matter. She dressed in a dark blue longdress and dark brown overcoat with fur lining. It was a skimpy outfit for their cold summer snows but she was a northerner, born and raised, so she was used to the cold. In fact she hardly ever got cold but she knew if she wore any less than that, she'd be getting an earful, if not from Septa Mordane then from Robb or Jon.

She glanced at herself in the mirror and flinched. Her hair was everywhere. She'd gotten her mother's brown hair color and flawless olive skin. She'd also gotten her father's huge blue eyes and, unfortunately, his unruly mane. Her hair curled at the ends and around her face no matter how much she combed it so she opted for braiding it down her back. She gave her reflection a once over before heading down to the yard.

On her way she encountered many servants and Winterfell residents, all who greeted her familiarly. She looked around until she found one of the people she'd been looking for. Theon Greyjoy was also a ward of Lord Stark's. He'd arrived at Winterfell a few years after her, as punishment for his father's rebellion. Neither of them were Starks, but they were still treated like family. Theon was like a brother to her. An annoying, perverse and often embarrassing brother, but a brother nevertheless.

"Theon." She called out to him. He turned from whatever he was reading and smiled at her.

"Morning sunshine. I see Robb got to you."

"Yeah, thanks for stopping that by the way." Erin begrudged, making Theon laugh loudly.

"It's midday Erin." He told her.

"So I've heard." Erin rolled her eyes. "What are you doing?" She asked him, eyeing the scrolls he had in his hand.

"Maester Lewin found some scrolls regarding the Greyjoy's family history so he gave them to me as a read." He grinned proudly.

"Let me read them once you're done?" Erin asked. She wasn't as interested in Greyjoy family history but she knew asking would make him happy. Besides, there was nothing wrong with learning more about the families of Westeros.

"Definitely." He beamed at her. "I'll take it to your chamber once I'm done." His eyes flashed with a look Erin recognize immediately.

"Come within five feet of my room and I'll plant an arrow between your eyes." She threatened happily. She could do it too, he knew. She was the best marksman…woman in all of Winterfell.

Theon frowned for a second but then smiled and shrugged. "Your loss."

Erin turned to leave but stopped "Oh, where are…?"

"Outside." Theon answered without looking up "watching Bran shoot."

"Thanks." She waved and ran off outside. They were where he said, watching as Bran missed the target with his bow and arrow. They laughed loudly every time he missed the painted hay target.

"And which one of you was a marksman by ten?" Erin whispered next to Jon. He smiled and turned to look at her.

"Robb woke you up?"

"Would I be here if he hadn't?" she said making him laugh. Robb noticed she was there and walked towards them.

"Hey there sleeping beauty." He gave her his annoying grin.

"She's chastising us for laughing at Bran." Jon told his brother with a smile.

"You've no right to laugh at him. He's much better than either of you at that age. If I remember correctly you could never hit the target Jon and you Robb, well you almost killed Ser Rodrik that one time."

"You're never going to let that one go are you?" Robb sighed.

"No." She smiled "and neither is Ser Rodrik."

Jon looked somewhere and walked towards Bran to whisper something in his ear. Erin looked at where he'd gazed and spotted Lord and Lady Stark watching Bran from the balcony with huge smiles. Bran breathed deeply and pulled at his arrow, missing again. Jon and Robb laughed once more when Lord Stark's voice echoed across the yard "And which one of you was a marksman at ten?"

"Try again Bran." Erin spoke as Jon and Robb's laughter died down "Release your breath when you release the arrow."

Bran nodded and positioned his bow. He took a deep breath and was about to release when another arrow whisked by him and hit the target, dead center. Erin turned to see a smug Arya smiling and bowing at Bran. Bran threw his bow to the ground and started chasing after her. Robb and Jon's laughter resounded around the training yard. Erin laughed as well. Arya reminded her so much of herself; she'd done the same thing to Robb once when they were ten.

Jon, always helpful, started putting the bows and arrows away. He was smiling but one glance up made his smile disappear. Erin turned to look and spotted Lady Stark giving him a murderous stare. Jon gave a little bow with his head and looked down. Erin frowned and bit her tongue. She liked Lady Stark. She'd always been kind to Erin, but she had to continuously remind herself to keep her cool when she was being rude to Jon. Many were the nights she'd found Jon crying because of Lady Stark's harsh words. If there was anything Erin couldn't stand, it was people ill-treating Jon.

"Hey." She stood next to him, helping him put the arrows away "Want to have race later? My Rooney against your Shipra." She said, referring to their horses. Jon smiled and opened his mouth to say something when Lady Stark's voice called out from the balcony.

"Robb, they found a deserter of the Night's Watch. You should join your father. Bran will be going as well." She walked away not saying anything to Jon but they all knew he'd be going too.

Erin sighed, both disappointed that she wasn't going to get to race Jon and worried that his already dampened spirit would have to be worsened by watching an execution. "Later?" He asked her.

"Sure." She smiled and nodded. He started walking away when she grabbed him by the hand. "Hey" she said as he turned to look at her "be careful."

"Always am." He responded, interlocking her fingers with his for a few seconds.

"Don't worry." Robb said "I'll watch over him." He grinned at her but his eyes were serious. Heading off to witness an inevitable execution did that. Jon released her hand and tried ruffling his brother's hair. "Oh you'll protect me won't you? Rodrik slayer." Erin watched them as they walked away, half-wishing she could join them.

She headed off to eat. She always missed breakfast so the cooks were kind enough to prepare a midday breakfast for her in the kitchens. On her way there, she found Arya who had been hiding from Septa Mordane behind a giant wine barrel.

"Can I come with you?" she'd asked, looking around the corners for any sign of Septa.

"Of course." Erin agreed and they headed down to the kitchens.

Erin scarfed her food down in a way that would've given Septa Mordane a heart attack and listened to Arya rant about Sansa.

"She's so perfect it's annoying. She's perfect Sansa with her perfect hair and perfect coloring and perfect stitching. I'm the only bad root in the female side of the family tree." Arya whined.

Erin laughed at the young girl's frustration. "You are not. The female side of the tree would be incredibly dull without you little lady."

"I'm not a lady" Arya said, "I don't know why they're making me try so much to be one."

"They're not trying to make you a lady, Arya." Erin explained, finally finishing her plate and handing it over to the wash maid "You are a lady. Have been always, since the day you were born. As such, there are certain behaviors expected of you."

"I'll never be as good a lady as Sansa." Arya frowned.

"Maybe not," Erin said "but Sansa will never shoot an arrow as good as you." This made Arya smile "I wish you were my sister instead of Sansa," she said.

"Don't say that." Erin scolded her, secretly please as she always was when the Starks spoke of her like family. "But I wish I was too. Now let's go. Your brothers will be back by now and I want to see how things went.

"Yes." Arya nodded and jumped off her stool and together, they walked off to the main gate. Jon, Bran and Robb had indeed returned and they'd done so with a surprise for all the Stark children.

"Direwolves." Erin gasped when Jon showed her his newly acquired white ball of fur.

"I've decided to call him Ghost." He told her. Jon, Erin, Theon and all the Stark children were again in the kitchen again with the six newfound direwolf pups, debating names for each of them.

"Shaggydog!" was all Rickon was saying over and over as he hugged his pup.

"Ghost." Erin repeated, grabbing the albino wolf and putting it in front of her face. "Hi Ghost, nice to meet you." The wolf stared at her with red eyes before licking her once on the nose.

"I think he likes you." Jon smiled and retrieved the wolf cub. Robb then gave her his direwolf.

"I decided to name him Grey Wind." Robb said, rubbing his head.

"Hi." Erin told the small wolf who growled and snapped at her.

"He likes you too." Jon said sarcastically.

"About as charming as his owner." Erin said handing the growling wolf back to Robb.

"I don't know what to name mine." Bran said.

"What was the name of that warrior queen you told me stories about Erin?" Aryas asked.

"Is having wolves for pets a good idea?" Sansa said while cuddling her small pup.

"Nymeria!" Arya remembered.

"Shaggydog. Shaggydog. Shaggydog." Rickon repeated.

"Help me Robb." Bran begged and Robb started firing names at him. Each one was more and more ridiculous than the last. Theon laughed idiotically at all his suggestions while Bran frowned, not liking any of them.

"Let's go." Jon whispered behind Erin's ear, making her skin crawl with goosebumps. She followed him and Ghost out of the kitchen. They sat in one of the openings of the yard and Jon tried to get Ghost to roll around in the snow but the wolf did nothing except cuddle up to Jon and occasionally lick Erin.

"I can't believe you have direwolves. They haven't been seen for thousands of years." Erin rubbed Ghost's fur and used the cold breeze as an excuse to sit closer to Jon.

"The man that was executed. The deserter?" Jon spoke, in a tone that let Erin know he'd wanted to talk about this with her for a while. This was why he'd asked to leave the kitchen.

"Yes?" She urged him.

"He said something. Before he was killed, I mean."

"What did he say?" She asked quietly.

"It's nothing. It's ridiculous…." Jon started to sputter.

Erin placed her hand on top of his "What did he say Jon?" she repeated.

"He said he saw Whitewalkers." Jon said quietly.

Suddenly, the yard got much colder. Erin stared at Jon, not knowing what to say. Growing up in the north you were taught to fear two things: Winter and the monsters that lived north of the wall.

"What did your father say?" She asked.

"That he was lying." Jon replied.

"And what do you think?" She asked him.

"It didn't look like lying to me." Jon sighed.

"Maybe…" Erin was about to speak but was interrupted by Robb, Theon and Grey Wind.

"Hey you two." Robb said, making them both stand from the ground they'd been sitting on. It was improper. "We have work to do." Robb said as he eyed them carefully.

"What work?" Erin asked.

"Clean your chambers and lay out your best clothes. The King is coming to Winterfell."

Theon grabbed Grey Wind and headed inside. Erin frowned and said "I understand laying out my best clothes but why must I clean my chamber?"

"The King is coming." Robb repeated, agitated.

"And will he be dining in my room?" Erin snapped back.

"Don't start you two." He said, walking back inside "Why is the King coming?" He asked Robb who answered that apparently John Arryn, the king's hand, had passed away. Erin listened to them, wrapping her coat tighter around herself. For some reason the words 'The King is coming' sounded in her head like 'Winter is coming.'