Chapter 4

Searchinf For Each Other

Jojen fell into a deep depression following Juliette's abduction. He ate little and only slept for short periods of time, enough to dream. The unfortunate thing was, he seemed to have lost his abilities as a proper greenseer. She dominated all his dreams: memories of their time together, visions of what she and her family were up to now (her deceitful stepmother had lied about taking her to Fair Isle, and returned with her to King's Landing instead), and the dire future that awaited her.

The worst vision had been just after his sixteenth birthday. She was in an opulent room, being washed and dressed by an army of maids. At first he did not know the point of the scene before him, until Lady Viviane entered the room, casting a cold glance at her stepdaughter. "Are you ready? Lord Sebaston Farman is not a patient man."

The dream ended there. But he returned to consciousness screaming and shaking, in Meera's protective embrace. She had adopted the soothing method Juliette had used on him that first time. The memory of that day dug a pit in his heart.

"You need to move on, Jojen," she said. "I know you miss her, but you can't mourn her the rest of your life. She wouldn't want that."

"I know. I try."

"Father has heard that King Robert has died," Meera continued. "He thinks Lord Eddard Stark could be in danger. He needs your visions to know for sure."

Meera was right. He needed to regain some focus in his life. He would forget Juliette. It didn't matter that she had been the closest he had gotten to romantic love. He had his father and Meera, and that was all he would ever need.

The visions immediately returned, and he had a startling revelation about Lord Eddard's fate. The man would be executed by order of the new young king. What was more, his children would all play key roles in a war against the boy king and his family.

When he confided this knowledge to Lord Howland, he burst into tears. And he never cried.

"What's wrong, Father?" Meera asked.

"I didn't think they would kill him, And the children...three are about your age or older, last I checked, but there's two that are very young."

"Would one of them be called Bran?" Jojen didn't remember how he knew that name, but it was connected somehow to a long-ago vision he'd had about the woods. And over time, he'd come to realize there was something special about that boy. He had the Sight, though he did not realize it yet.

"Yes," said Lord Howland.

Meera stood up, a fiery look in a her eye. "They will need protection, won't they?"

Jojen nodded solemnly. "We must seek them out at Winterfell as soon as we can."

"Ouch!" Juliette yelped as yet another pin poked into her skin.

She was in the midst of wedding dress fittings in the Cromwell apartments at King's Landing. The wedding was only four months away, which she thought was rather foolish considering the court was meant to be in mourning for the King. Felled by a boar...who would have thought it possible? Would her own husband be so easy to bring down? He was nearly forty, after all.

Jojen would not be so easy to defeat. As bad with weapons as he was, his keen intelligence was sharp enough to get him out of any situation.

Why did she still think of Jojen? They would never see each other again, at least not when they were both free. She might meet him again as Lady Farman, and he would be husband to some other pretty girl, whom he did not marry simply because his father told him to.

Lady Viviane hulked over her, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Don't complain. You need to look perfect, so Lord Farman will see what a jewel he's buy- I mean marrying."

"Shall I cinch the waist a bit tighter, my lady?" the seamstress asked.

Lady Viviane gave Juliette a once-over. "It will do. But what about my children? You promised dear sweet Vivling that you would add some lace trim to her blue velvet."

Lady Viviane's daughter, Vivling, who Lady V. addressed so as a term of endearment, and Juliette in a more mocking tone, trouped in after her mother, wearing the blue velvet gown. "Could you please, sew it for me, pretty please? I've always wanted a bit of lace!"

Juliette tuned out the girl's nagging. That was the only reason she was happy to be going through this marriage. Anything was better than spending the rest of her life with bratty Vivling.

"You'll have more than a bit, darling," Lady Viviane insisted. "Didn't I tell you King Joffrey would be at the wedding? His mother may have other plans for him, but after the wedding, she will change her mind."

"There will be no wedding." She fidgeted, freeing herself from the seamstress's grip. "I refuse to marry some prig." She marched out of the room, pins and all, slamming the door behind her.

There was no way she could stay here. But she couldn't exactly walk out of King's Landing looking like she did.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She wasn't allowed time to take any of her possessions from Greywater Watch, but she still had the clothes she had worn there, along with the boots, in which she hid a small dagger, a gift from Meera. Pressing the blade against her hair, she cut it in a similar style to Meera's:, just above the shoulder. And once she put on her old trousers and shirt, her disguise was complete.

"I am not Juliette Cromwell any longer," she whispered to herself. "I am Julius."

The Reeds all went to bed with a single goal in mind. They would visit Winterfell to show their support for Bran and the Starks. Jojen might be able to get more insight into who Bran was, and find out whether his visions were developing at all yet.

But a vision that night changed all that. It was Juliette, walking north along the Kingsroad alone. But she looked different, more like she did in the dreams of his youth, predicting her presence with Bran and his protectors. Her hair was cut shorter, and her clothes, the rough shirt and trousers they had provided for her, were more form-fitting.

She was traveling in disguise, and coming to find them. But she'd have a hard time finding them if they remained in Greywater Watch, or if they went to Winterfell.

They needed to go to her.