Eddard
Four days of searching and finally Arya had been found. He would be sure to reward Jory for his hard work. His captain practically refused to sleep. He knew the man seemed to blame himself for Arya's disappearance, but the only one to blame was her father. Ned should have stayed with his daughters. It wasn't right for him to leave them, especially after what happened to Bran.
When his steward told him that his daughter would not be brought directly to him, but the king, he was furious. How dare the Lannisters not bring his daughter to him? He instructed his steward to fetch Sansa and bring her to the audience chamber so she could speak about what happened in the clearing. He could barely stand this morning, but now his fury filled him with the strength to march across the castle yard. Tensions were already hot and heavy between the king's party and Ser Raymun and his men. Now, add on the tension that was sure to occur exist within the party, specifically between the Lannisters and the Starks.
He entered the chamber and saw the queen with her hand on her son's shoulder. Where was his daughter? "Arya," he called loudly, who he saw standing with Jory in the center of the room. He marched to her and fell to one knee as she cried out to him and began to sob her apologies.
Relief flooded his veins. She looked unharmed but he couldn't help but ask, "Are you hurt?" He cupped her cheeks and kissed her forehead in a rare showing of public affection.
"No. Just hungry some. I found some berries, but there was nothing else," she answered while rubbing her cheeks, which caused the dirt on her face to be smudged.
"We'll feed you soon. Right after this," he promised before giving her one last hug. He rose to face his friend who appeared to be the king at this moment. "What is the meaning of this? Why was my daughter not brought to me at once?" he demanded to know.
His eyes were focused on the king but it was the queen who answered. "How dare you to speak to your king in that manner," she scolded.
The wolf's hackles rose and he nearly snarled at the lioness. The king hushed his wife before apologizing to his friend about not having his daughter brought to him. "It seemed best to have her brought here so this business can be over with quickly," he reasoned, which didn't cause Ned's nerves to settle.
"What business is that?" he asked icily.
As if he had caused her claws to unsheathe, the queen said, "You know what business, Stark. This wild girl of yours attacked my son. Her and that butcher's boy. That wolf of hers nearly tore his arm off," she claimed, tightening her hold on her son's shoulder.
"That's not true," Arya argued. "He was hurting Mycah. Then he turned his sword on me. Nymeria only bit him a little."
"Joff told us what happened. You and the butcher boy beat him with clubs, then you set your wolf on him," the queen accused.
Arya was near tears once more. "That's not how it was," she said. Ned couldn't help but set his hand on her shoulder, giving her some of his strength.
"They all attacked me! She then threw Lion's Tooth in the river!" Joffrey insisted without sparing a glance at Arya.
"Liar!" Arya cried and Ned's hand tightened on her shoulder. He believed her, of course, but she needed to keep herself in line. She needed to know that it was not wise to antagonize a lion's cub. Just as Cersi should know it was not wise to antagonize a wolf… As her son had learned rather painfully days before.
"Shut up!" the prince yelled.
"Enough!" Robert boomed, rising from his seat and appearing to be an irritated stag. When there was silence, the king instructed Arya to tell him her side of the story and then Joffrey would tell him his. While Ned thought it was an honorable approach, he also knew that it would be easy to spin a lie and claim it as the truth. By knowing his daughter, he believed her more than the boy who taunted Robb in the training ring.
Their stories were completely different reactions to the event and Ned nearly smiled when Renly Baratheon began to laugh. "Perchance later you'll tell me how a nine-year-old girl the size of a wet rat managed to disarm you with a broom handle and throw your sword in the river." If the situation wasn't so severe, Ned might have smiled and asked his daughter how she did it. For now, he just put both hands on her shoulders and squeezed.
Next, Sansa was asked to tell the king what she saw. She claimed that she didn't remember and Ned knew in that instant that Arya's story was the truthful one. If Joffrey's had been true, Sansa would not have hesitated to agree. But here she was, stuck between the truth and her betrothal. What more could she do than claim ignorance?
Arya did not see this, did not see that her sister was doing what she was limited to. His feisty child knocked his polite one to the ground while shrieking.
"Arya, stop it," he demanded as Jory pulled Arya away and Ned helped Sansa stand. If Arya hadn't attacked Sansa, he would not have done any punishing like the king suggested. His daughter was being honest, why should she be punished for it? But attacking one of her own? Yes, Arya would receive a firm talking to.
"Gladly, your grace," Ned replied, feeling relieved that his daughter was not losing a hand. He would have happily parted from the chamber if not for the queen.
"What of the beast that savaged your son's arm? The direwolf?" she questioned her king.
His king stopped and turned with a frown. "I forgot about the beast," he admitted.
Jory answered with, "We found no trace of the direwolf, your grace." Ned, however, did notice how his daughter tightened just a little in his captain's arms. He would speak with Jory later about the young Nymeria.
The queen offered golden dragons for Nymeria's skin, which caused Ned's stomach to twist. There were men in this room who were stupid enough to take the woman up on her offer. Some who could probably track wild animals.
The lioness taunted the stag before triumphantly saying, "We have a wolf."
It took Ned a moment to comprehend what the queen was suggesting. His friend agreed with the woman's word and Ned nearly lost his breath. He had dodged one blow only to have another strike him. "Robert. You cannot mean this," Ned protested, fearing the moment when his delicate Sansa would also understand the situation at hand.
The moment came and crystal blue eyes looked at him, searching for the truth. "No," she stated firmly when she understood. "Lady didn't bite anyone. She's good!" Sansa argued, tears filling her eyes and breaking Ned's heart.
"Lady wasn't there!" Arya protested, defending her sister's wolf. "You leave her alone!" she cried angrily. Hopefully his daughters would remember how they protected and fought for one another.
Sansa erupted into a babbling babe. At first he had been a little hesitant about his children having direwolves for pets, but he knew that each child had forged a bond with their wild pets. Did he still worry that one morning he might find a child of his without a throat, yes, but the wolves had yet to act up. Nymeria's actions were the first truly rebellious ones that he had encountered.
"Please, Robert. For the love your bear for me. The love you bore my sister. Please," Ned pleaded, hoping it might sway his king to refuse his wife's demand. But no words could sway Robert's decision not even with Ned requested that the king look into Lady's eyes as the stag swung the sword.
"Where is the direwolf?" the queen asked as if she had just won a great battle.
"Chained up by the gatehouse, your grace," Ser Barristan the Bold answered rather reluctantly. At least another man saw the injustice in this moment.
"Send for Ilyn Payne," the queen instructed, which was the last straw for Ned. He would not allow some butcher to take the life of a northern child. He would do it, even if it meant that his daughter would look at him with wounded eyes. At least he respected the wolf.
"She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher," he stated, hoping the answer would cause the queen to let him be.
As he left the room, he noted that his eyes were burning. They were either burning because of the betrayal that Robert had allowed or because he could hear both his daughters wailing. The direwolf pup was sitting where they chained her. "Lady," he said, tasting the name. While he hadn't paid attention to how his children named their wolves, he realized that Sansa chose a name that fit her wolf perfectly. The smallest pup in the litter was by far the most delicate and most beautiful, just as Sansa was in the Stark litter.
He smiled regrettably as he touched the wolf's gray fur. The queen wanted this fur for herself. Gods help him but she would never have Lady's pelt. Her bright gold eyes looked at him with so much trust that it would have brought him to his knees if he weren't already kneeling near her.
Jory brought him Ice, but he still couldn't swing his sword. Not with those gentle eyes looking at him. This wolf would have never hurt his child. As he lifted the sword, he noticed something peculiar. Frost was forming on the wolf's chain.
"My lord…" Jory started before staring at a face peeking around the corner of the gatehouse.
The white woman moved silently to them, a bag being pulled behind her. She knelt, setting the bag at Ned's feet. Based on the smell, he would guess that it was a carcass of some animal. What animal, he couldn't be sure. Watching him, she touched the chain holding Lady.
To his amazement, the chain broke apart and Lady was freed.
Ned studied the stranger, the one who was probably seen by Bran that day the Starks found the pups. Her eyes were a calming gray. He would say they were like the eyes of the Starks but there was something different about hers. Perhaps it was the red lining that framed her almond shaped eyes that made him realize that she was more than just flesh and blood.
Her pale hand found Lady's shoulder. The wolf went to the woman without question, no doubt because of her trusting nature. Ned's hand tightened on his sword. If this woman sought to take his daughter's wolf…
She touched the bloody bag she set before him. "The Lannister woman shall never have this skin," she stated, echoing his earlier thoughts. The woman turned and Lady trailed after her. Before he could even question her, the woman and wolf seemed to disappear.
Glancing around, Ned looked to see if anyone had spied the exchange. When it was clear that no one had seen them, Ned lifted the bag and gave it to Jory. "Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell," he instructed, knowing that if anyone was around they would hardly think anything of it.
Playing along, Jory asked, "All that way?" as if he were astonished by his lord's order.
"All that way. The Lannister woman shall never have this skin."
