Even now, there isn't a word for the feeling Robb feels every time he pulls through the gates of Winterfell. He smiles as he's seen the progress that has been made to rebuilding the south tower and pulls over easily into his spot. He gets out of the car and comes around to let Myrcella out. Tentatively, he offers her his hand, and gratefully she takes it.
As she steps out she is a hit with a pang of nostalgia. It had been a different hand that helped her out last time, and a different world that she stepped into, but it was the same Winterfell. The same towers, slightly in disrepair now, and she knows that if she turns left at the east gate she'll find her way to the Weirwoods. As she looks around she hasn't noticed that three people and three wolves each have come out of the castle's doors.
"Hey guys!" Robb says, and it is the most carefree she has heard him sound.
Grey Wind looks anxiously at Sansa and as she nods her approval he races to Robb, nearly tackling him and smothering his face. "Grey Wind! Grey Wind heel! I missed you too boy. There's someone I think you may remember…"
As if the wolf had understood him, he turns his yellow eyes on Myrcella. One would not imagine that this is the same beast who had nearly tackled Robb a moment ago as he approaches her slowly. As she had as a little girl she reached her hand out and smiled as the wolf nuzzled against it. A deep woodsy sound emanated from him as she scratched behind his ears as she used to.
The approval of Grey Wind seems enough for Ghost and Summer and soon she has three wolves fighting for her attention. She giggles as Summer licks her cheek and looks up to find Robb and his siblings laughing along with her.
Before she has time to register it, she is surrounded by a haze of red as Sansa engulfs her in a hug. "Ellie! Oh how I've missed you! I'm so glad you are here."
Without a moment's hesitation she wraps her arms around her tall beautiful friend, who still smells like lavender shampoo and lemon drops after all of these years. She meets Robbs gaze over her friends shoulder and sees that he is looking at them intently, and if she didn't know better she would swear there were tears in his eyes.
Bran is next, even now she wasn't prepared to see him in a wheel chair. But he just rolls over to her and she offers him her hand to shake. He kisses the back gently instead and says, "It's been so long since you've been back to us. Don't let it take so long again." She smiles, as it is not the reproach she had expected, but she says "I'm sorry," all the same, and they both know that it is not her absence she is apologizing for.
Next is Jon. He has grown since the last time she saw him, he is broad shouldered and trim, broody as ever. She smiles at him shyly, and he appraises her. He knows that she was innocent in the years past, even a victim, but she is still who she is. But he looks at his siblings, Sansa who is smiling adoringly, Bran, who is smiling contentedly and Robb, who is smiling nervously and he looks at the wolves, Grey Wind who has curled up at her feet, Summer who nudges against her hand even now for affection, and Ghost who has somehow got behind him and pushed his back with nose. It seems the odds are against him holding a grudge, and he doesn't fight battles that he know he can't win. So instead he looks at her and says kindly, "Welcome Myrcella, we're pleased to have you in our home again."
With that, Sansa takes her by the arm and ushers her into the warm halls, three dire wolves trailing behind the two beauties.
"They stole our wolves" Jon says incredulously which makes Robb and Bran laugh. He and Robb each grab a suitcase and follow the motley crew into their home.
Hours later Myrcella finds herself locked in a battle of wills.
"I said no"
"Come on…"
"No San! I am not wearing this with just a bra underneath!"
The redheaded beauty rolls her eyes and mutters "Impossible" before throwing a pair of heeled booties at her. "At least wear these…my god I thought Southerners were all about showing off skin."
Myrcella smirks as she pulls on the booties "I think you're showing enough skin for the both of us"
Sansa poses in the mirror and says "Thank you," ignoring her innocent blonde friend.
Sansa Stark is dressed to the nines. Wearing an ice blue bandage dress with a plunging neckline, silver heels, her waterfalls of red hair pulled up into a messy bun, and her lips painted into a perfect pout she is utterly stunning.
Myrcella is wearing black booties, sheer black tights, a black leather mini skirt that is miles shorter than she usually wears though still miles longer than Sansa's dress along with a cream colored sheer blouse with a black tie at the collar. Underneath she wears a cream camisole. The presence of which they had been arguing about for the past ten minutes. She decided to appease her friend, coming up behind her and nuzzling her ear, "I'll let you use kohl eyeliner on me."
At this her friend clapped her hands and set "Sit sit sit" always bossy. Myrcella sat on the edge of her bed, Grey Wind collapsing at her feet and Summer placing his head in her lap. Sansa dug into her curiously large make up bag (she was the most beautiful girl in the north without a touch of make up, Myrcella thought to herself, what does she even do with all of it?) and pulled out the dark kohl liner.
To pass the time while Sansa carefully applied the kohl, Myrcella stroked Summer's head confident that she had made a new friend.
It was odd, the last time she had been here Grey Wind had followed her around, escorting her through the castle and guarding her at night. Summer, so much smaller then had always been sweet but disinterested. This made her pause quizzically, which Sansa immediately noticed.
"He's different right? More attentive now."
"Is he with you as well?," Myrcella asked.
"Yes, has been ever since I got back. I asked Bran about it once and he smiled and said 'Summer has adopted a fondness for cripples, bastards and broken things. As if that explained everything."
"Doesn't it?" Myrcella asks quietly. "Yes," Sansa affirms.
Not wanting to let the darkness settle, Myrcella asks, "How do I look, daaahling?"
"A mastrapiece a mastrapiece to be sure!" Sansa returns giggling, quoting a dancing instructor they had had in the capital years before.
Myrcella extricates herself from the wolves gently and goes over the mirror. She had been worried that Sansa would overdo it but she needn't have. She had used the kohl to outline her eyes, shading towards the end. Rather than focus on the liner though, all you could focus on was the brightness of her green eyes, radiating heat from within.
Sansa and she met eyes, and she wondered how she had gone so long without seeing her friend. She had been ashamed and afraid of what it would be like to see her. She hadn't expected that even now that they were safe, they could still draw the same strength from one another. She hadn't realized how much she had missed it until she felt that strength once again.
She turned to grab her clutch, getting her ID and money, and her cell phone, the things she would never leave the house without in Wintertown.
"Oh you don't need any of that…"
"But…"
"Ellie…we own the club and there isn't a soul in there who would hurt us."
"You mean you."
"No I mean us. You know the North, these people would follow my family to the ends of the earth, many of them have. You'll find that most of them would sooner hurt themselves than lay a finger on you. Whatever has happened in the past, you are under our protection. There isn't a safer place in the world…unless of course, Jon convinces you to take a shot from the Summer Isles."
Myrcella is warmed by her words and giggles at the end, "That bad?"
"I couldn't eat for two days. You've. Been. Warned."
With that the two girls walk out of Sansa's bedroom and go to find her brothers and cousin downstairs. The wolves trail predictably behind.
Even though one of them is their sister and the other is a girl they knew when she wore pigtails, there is something that puts the three men on edge when they see the girls before them, their own direwolves lending them a certain menacing quality. That is of course until Summer waltzes over to Bran and sits down on his haunches, his tongue hanging halfway out of his mouth as he begs for a bite of pork.
Robb clears his throat. Usually his first thought would be to scold Sansa for what she is wearing, but he finds he is at a lost for words looking at Myrcella. She has always dressed so primly, that even this touch of leather and bit of make up is enough to make his eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets.
She smiles at the boys, Bran and Robb in their dark jeans and crisp shirts, Jon all in black and says, "You all clean up nicely!"
Robb stutters and so it is left to Bran to say, "As do you."
Robb is hoping that Jon can talk some sense into Sansa, at least make her change her shoes, but when he looks over to plead with him, he finds Jon just as speechless. However, Robb knows that it isn't the blonde he is looking at. By the gods…it's going to be a long night.
Desperate to move along he grabs Myrcellas coat and holds it open for her. She eases herself into it and looks at him over her shoulder, offering him a smile that finds its home somewhere down in his ribs.
"Shall we?" he says to the larger group, "Aye!" they all shout and pile into his car.
