REWRITING! REWRITING! NO ONE FREAK OUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO READ THE STORY AFTER THIS CHAPTER! ALL CHAPTERS THAT HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY REWRITTEN AND UPDATED WILL HAVE ~~~~ (REWRITTEN) ~~~~~ ON THEM!
Winter Is Coming
Chapter Four
Eyes to See
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
-Carl Jung
She swung at the top of the world.
It rolled and shook and spun. Blue met green. Foaming and twisting. They seemed to be locked in an eternal battle. Lyanna ran her palms seemed to hang on the top of a large limb. A large tree seemed to have sprouted from the top of it. It loomed above the world.
"Beware", it cawed, smashing it's wings together.
The air rippled around her. She felt her hands started to loosen from the branch.
"Beware who!?", she yelled over the wave.
"Beware", the crow said again, smashing it's wings together.
She watched the world begin to shake and her eyes flinched as the air seemed to push down on her.
"Beware the Lions With the Golden Manes!"
And then she fell, screaming as blood ran down her body and eventually covered her face.
Robb's first thought was, "Why wasn't I there?"
His second was, "Will Bran live?"
Robbert Stark had always been rational by nature. He hadn't been there because the men needed help in the city. He hadn't been there because that Joffrey kid was making him go crazy. He wasn't there because he had gotten into a fight with Jon about him leaving for the Wall. There were a lot of reasons. And what would he had done if he had. Caught him? Worried for longer?
As for the second reason he prayed and tried to quiet the part of his mind that honestly wanted to just curl up in the bed with Grey Wind and hide. It was probably why he could not bear to look, let alone talk, to his father at the moment.
Because Lord Eddard Stark was quiet and cool. As stern as ice and as cold as the summer snow. He only nodded at the Measter when he delivered the news about the worsening condition of Bran. He had not been to Bran's side in the hours he'd laid there. Robbert questioned whether his father truly cared for any of them at all in that single moment before squashing the thought under his heel and leaving it in the hall.
Bran would be fine. Everything would be fine.
Everything.
Rickon's first thought was,"Why can't I see Bran?"
His second was, "Is he mad?"
Rickon was selfish by nature. He was a baby. He knew that Bran was sick but surely it wasn't that bad that he couldn't play? Bran was his brother. When Robb and Anna and Jon were too busy to play, Bran was there. When Sasa knitted and sewed and Arya was trying to, Bran would be the one to pat his head and make a game out of stones and rocks. Bran would make stories and make the toy soldiers talk.
So where was he!?
"Why cawn't Bran talk!?", he whispered, smashing the soldiers together.
He threw them then and smiled at the resounding crack as they broke.
Lyanna's first thought was, "Gods above let him live"
Her second thought was, "He'll never be a knight"
The Day Before
The morning Bran had fallen she had been walking the streets with her maid, listening to the birds as they flew to avoid the upcoming storm. The King and her father had left for the shades of the woods to hunt hours ago. Jon had disappeared into the library again and Robb was helping their people prepare for the storm. The clouds had turned as gray as their cloaks - their long fingers enveloping the sky.
"It looks like snow, m'lady", Tila had murmured.
Lyanna nodded, eyes following the women and knights as they climbed the walls and closed the shutters to the windows - stuffing them with rags and mud.
"Poor little darlings", Elena said, watching the abandoned children run and whisper to one another. They were incredibly skinny - their hair stringy and dirty. She watched them for a moment, wondering about them. These were the bastards of the knights and lesser lords, the babies whose mother couldn't or wouldn't keep them. As she continued to watch them - they watched her. A little girl, about the age of seven, stared at her with large eyes and hollow cheeks.
"Let's go, Elena", Lyanna whispered - turning for home, her dress sweeping the ground.
Her chin tucked firmly between her neck and chest.
"Oh, my lady!", Tila whispered, pointing.
If she had been faster she would have seen it. A body falling...falling...crashing.
Her first instinct was to run, her second to run away. She had seen men fall from the walls and towers of Winterfell before. A misplaced step. An act of suicide. Their bodies twisted and broken - barely able to stand. Many had died soon after they fell. All prayed for death.
Cripples were just above bastards. They were birds with crushed wings - forever banished to the ground.
She ran though - knowing her abilities as a daughter of the Warden of the North.
Daughter or not, she was respected by most of her father's men.
She saw the group and fought inside, hearing Tila and Elena call out for them to move. His body, his legs. And when she reached his face all she could do...was scream.
Present Day - The King & Lord Stark Prepare to Leave Winterfell
Bran had fallen. It still amazed her that after years of sure footing, carefulness and warnings Bran had fallen. She bit her cheek as she remembered finding his body. She fisted her hands and rubbed her eyes. She had barely slept. Had eaten this morning...or maybe this afternoon? Her mom had been by Bran's side all night. Lyanna had been in her rooms with Arya and Rickon since the fall. She was now in Bran's room trying to get her mother to eat.
"Fine!", she shouted, standing up
"Starve yourself for all I care!"
Master Luwin went to grab her shoulder. She roughly shook it off - tears burning her eyes as she remembered her mother being unperturbed.
The sounds and hustle and bustle of packing almost halted her storming off. The King and Queen left for King's Landing today. The new Hand, Lord Eddard Stark, and his daughters would go with him. Jon was headed for the wall. The choice had been made for him. It was the Stark way she knew. Injuries, sickness, emotion. Things to run from. These things were for the other lords. Not them. Not the Kings In The North.
She didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay. She was weak.
The Night Before
"Let me stay - at least until Bran wakes up"
Eddard Stark looked at his daughter, knowing his words would hurt her.
"You are needed at King's Landing, Lyanna, besides the Maester himself doesn't believe-"
"DON'T SAY IT!", she yelled, standing up so fast that Rory had scampered away, growling.
"He's your son!"
Eddard steeled his heart, following his daughter's example.
"And you are my daughter", he replied, voice cold, "Your brother is not dead - we'll have to contend ourselves to that."
She looked at him in shock, her change in mood making Rory rush to her side.
"You cannot be serious", she whispered, disbelief painted across her face.
Her father had long since turned away from her - staring out the window of the room, his hands locked firmly behind his back
"I am very serious Lyanna, that being said, go to your room and pack. We leave first thing tomorrow."
Lyanna pinched her wrist, remembering the feelings of disappoint and dismissal. Her father had never acted that way before. Never spoke to her without any care. Her father had not even looked at her when she left. Lyanna continued this train of thought, squeezing her hands.
She looked up at the sound of flesh hitting flesh, blushing when she saw the Hound, Joffrey and Tyrion Lannister. Apparently the Uncle had been scolding his nephew. She was close enough to hear their next few words.
"-you will get to Lord and Lady Stark, and you will fall on your knees, in front of them, and you will tell them how very sorry you are and that you are at their service and all your prayers are with them. Do you understand!?"
"You can't-!"
She heard a resounding slap.
The sound made her jump.
"Do you understand!?"
She watched Joffrey storm off - his feet stomping on the dried mud.
"The prince will remember that, little Lord", the Hound murmured, fingering his sword.
Tyrion only nodded, eyes twinkling.
"Hope so, he replied, nonchalantly, but if he forgets be a good dog and remind him"
Lyanna had been planning to sidestep him, knowing only trouble could come out of them meeting after the incident but either she was too slow or he was too fast.
"Lady Stark", he said, wonder in his voice.
She tried to smile, and feared that it looked more like a grimace.
"We really must stop meeting here My Lord", Lyanna said, trying for humor.
It fell flat.
"I - I heard about your brother's accident-", Tyrion started.
"Yes", she interrupted, waving it aside.
The pain of the last few days had offered her enough torment. She did not wish to drag it into this one too.
"Would you walk with me, Lord Tyrion?"
"Me?"
"Yes, well, I suppose you could come too sir", she said, offering the invitation to the Hound.
Unlike her brother's who were weary of the man Lyanna was just plainly curious. Her brother and father had always warned her that this would be the thing to get her killed.
The man only shook his twisted face.
"I'll find the Prince, my lady, little lord."
The titles were all offered with sarcasm. As if he was both disgusted and wondrous about them.
She watched him leave.
"Friends?"
"Mhm", Tyrion said.
They began to walk, Elena stay a bit farther back than usual.
"So your brother?"
"They told my father that if he doesn't wake soon they don't know if he'll wake up ever", she replied, her throat closing with every word she said.
Tyrion noticed her expression and led her into the small garden just below her home. The flowers had bloomed slowly yet large this year, their buds falling to the ground from the weight. Tyrion had been intrigued by the girl ever since they had first met in the stables. He wondered if she had kept his secret for him or was their insane meeting going to be the talk of Winterfell. But he had heard no words from the housemaids, or from the whores he slept with. No angry father arrived on his doorsteps or brother's with swords drawn. Nothing.
She had seemed to have hidden it very well.
"Why don't we sit my lady?"
He gestured to a small stone bench, ignoring the piercing gaze of the nurse.
"Don't worry girl, he thought, your mistress is safe with me"
They sat, silent for a few moments - tapping fingers.
"So, are you excited to be going back to King's Landing?", she asked.
Tyrion gave a small shrug, "Just a bit"
"Is is because of your sister?"
He looked at her for a moment - smiling when she blushed.
"That was a bit forward, I apologize", Lyanna said, the words rushed and hurried.
Tyrion only laughed.
"Yes my sister can be a bit bitchy sometimes"
The curse and the tone made her even redder, although she smiled when he smiled at her.
They continued to stare at eachother.
Tyrion soon grew very uncomfortable. The young girl before him was beautiful, however, compared to other women he had met she barely held a candle. But there was something strange about the girl. Her eyes. Her care. She wanted to know about him. Who he was. Why he was himself.
And it scared him.
Who was this girl who hid his secrets and knew more about him in a day than most did in a month of knowing him?
"My Lady!"
The girl from the other day came from the entrance to the garden - breathless and red in the face.
"You must hurry My Lady", she said, gasping for air.
"What is going on Tila?"
Lyanna stood, her entire demeanour and attitude had changed. This was Lady Stark, the eldest daughter
"Robb & the Prince are fighting in the courtyard"
REWRITING! REWRITING! NO ONE FREAK OUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO READ THE STORY AFTER THIS CHAPTER! ALL CHAPTERS THAT HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY REWRITTEN AND UPDATED WILL HAVE ~~~~ (REWRITTEN) ~~~~~ ON THEM!