Hello! Been working away on this, trying to figure out how long it would take to travel in Westeros, as George R. R. Martin himself has not worked that out completely yet. But, by trolling around a little bit on the internet this is what I've gotten, and is the reason for the pacing in this and the chapters that follow. Just wanted to, you know, debrief on that. So…let's go!
Chapter Seven – A Gleaming Weight
After Rickon had walked back down the hall with Shaggydog, grumbling as he went, Robb held out his hand to Myra in an offer to help her stand up. Myra gently bit her bottom lip between her teeth, though she took his hand she found her eyes were looking anywhere but directly at him. She wondered about what would happen. What would he say? What could she say? A part of her was desperate to discuss what had gone on the night before. Another part trembled in fear of what could change by their talking.
"Myra..." she heard Robb's voice very close to her.
"Mmmm…" she offered, not trusting the words she may speak, her eyes were still focused on the floor.
"You are standing now…" he whispered.
"Huh?" Her eyes finally shifted and took in where she had gotten to. She was standing barely a half foot away from Robb's body, the hand that he had used to pull her up was between them, though his grip had loosened her hand held on to his tightly. He had a mildly smug, mostly amused smile on his lips.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, drawing her arm away from him. When she saw that smirk had not shifted from his face, she stopped herself from apologizing. She simply raised her chin, and almost wanting to stamp her foot she spoke. "Oh, shut up!"
She heard him chuckle as she brushed through the doorway back into her room.
"Sorry my lady, I did not mean to offend you." He apologized with scoff as he followed her through the door. Despite not being able to see his face, Myra could practically hear the self-satisfied smile in the tenor of his voice. She took a breath to reply, but found the air catch in her throat. Her legs felt shaky under her, after not having used them for weeks her muscles had become strained at crouching for so long.
"Myra?" Robb rushed forward, placing an arm around her waist to help support her. She could hear the patter of Grey Wind and Silver moving closer as well. She turned her head to face the man next to her, all of the amusement had drained from his expression. His worried grey eyes roamed her face, searching for what could be wrong.
"I am fine." She felt Silver's relatively small body rub against her right leg. She looked down at her wolf. "I am fine" Myra stated much more firmly. With each breath she felt her strength flow back into her body. Her violet eyes moved back to Robb's face, "Robb…" she grinned lightheartedly, "I am still standing."
"Oh!" His eyes widened and his arm dropped from her body, he took a step back away. Myra missed the support he provided her, she could stand by herself but felt stronger with him close by.
Now with him standing away from her, Myra could see how the tension building in the silence between them was filling his being. "We should…" he began, sighing before he continued in a less heavy tone. "We should talk."
Myra nodded her head, she knew that too much had happened in the past few days and weeks to not talk. No matter how fearful she was of the outcome of what he had to say to her. "I was just seeing if anyone was out in hall so that they might be able ask you something for me."
"Ask me something?"
"Just if I was free to go for a walk outside. I know…I know because of who I…" she coughed a little, out awkwardness. "I mean that just did not want to cause any trouble for you…"
Sliver nudged her leg, and Myra could not bring herself to look down at her. She knew how pitiful she must have sounded to her wolf.
He seemed to mulling over something in his head, his eyes full of steely concentration. "If you have the strength to go out today. I will join you, if that is agreeable with you."
"Of course." She smiled, "I have never really been enthusiastic about the idea of becoming lost." She reached for the cloak lying on the bed, but halted half way realizing that it was a piece of Robb's clothing. It was his cloak that she wanted wrapped around her as she ventured into an unfamiliar place. Her violet eyes darted around the room, searching in vain for some hidden cabinet or piece of cloth that she may have missed in all of her weeks in this stone chamber.
Robb suddenly spoke up. "I will have Mena bring you a proper dress. I have to speak with Maester Luwin for a moment, I will come back soon. Keep the cloak, it is cold out of doors." With that he left with Grey Wind at his side.
Silver bounded through the growth surrounding the godswood. She seemed at excited as Myra felt to be outdoors and breathing fresh air again. Grey Wind followed in her playful suit, happily chasing and rolling around in the dust and the dirt. The godswood sat within the fortress walls of Winterfell, on the other side of the guest quarters, the side that Myra could not see from her window. It was beautiful, filtered with rust tinted light from between the branches of the red leafed trees. Though she had never seen anything quite as large and overwhelming as castle of Winterfell, she found it difficult to compare it to these woods. Myra could sense that it was place to collect thoughts and regain strength. She wondered if she would feel quite so at peace if Robb had not been by her side.
She pushed back the piece of grey cloth she had wrapped around her head as a scarf to hide her hair to look at the grey-eyed man walking next to her. In this light she could see that he had slight tints of red like his brother to the dark hair upon his head and face. He was smiling as he watched their wolves run through the trees. "It's good to see him be so lively…" he said.
"Yes. It is nice to see Silver like this too."
They came upon a slight stone plateau, "Shall we sit?" Robb gestured to the stone.
"Thank you. I think my legs and lungs could use a rest." They took their seats while Silver and Grey Wind disappeared further into the woods.
Robb cleared his throat, running his hand through his hair he began. "I- I do not know what to say…" he took a deep breath, staring straight ahead he appeared to almost be speaking to himself. "I feel have to tell someone or I shall explode into million pieces…"
Myra was taken quite by surprise. Perhaps he was having trouble finding the words to express what was inexplicably happening between the both of them as well. But as she took in the distraught sight of him it became clear that he was obviously not speaking about the events that had transpired between them that very morning and the evening prior.
"Robb…" she wanted to reach out to him, but stopped herself from doing so. Instead she tugged his borrowed cloak close around herself as she continued apprehensively, unsure if she could handle what he might have to say. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"My mother…" he said, barely above a whisper.
"Your mother?" She asked, raising her brow in question.
Robb let out a frustrated breath and took a moment to gather his thoughts. He turned now to look directly into her violet eyes as he spoke. "News came today…she has been accused of taking Tyrion Lannister captive on her way back from King's Landing just a few days ago… you do know of King's Landing do you not?"
Myra nodded while frowning, as she was still confused by subject as well as the content of what he was saying. She knew of King's Landing as the lush land in the South where the Iron Throne sat and Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters had first landed with their dragons in Westeros. What she did not understand was why Robb's mother would take the son of one of the most powerful houses in the Seven Kingdoms prisoner.
"Why would your mother do such a thing?"
"My younger brother, Bran, was a great climber…he survived a fall from the Broken Tower in Winterfell a little over a two months ago. Well, at least he survived what looked like a fall at first…my mother found a strand of long blonde hair signature of the Lannisters' coulouring in the tower from which he fell." He must have seen the confusion on Myra's face as he explained, "You see they had been visiting here as a part of the King's party … in any case Mother went to inspect the tower following an altogether separate attempt on Bran's life as he lay unconscious and broken after his fall…" Robb had gone from looking at Myra to running his eyes and fingers over the lines on the palms of his hands.
"She had sat by his bedside for a month weaving protective charm ornaments and praying to her Seven gods… one night I went to his room and asked her to take leave of her post at his bedside. She was deteriorating day by day…when I opened the windows to let in some fresh air I- I caught sight of a fire in the hills…" he lifted his gaze to make clear his meaning "…one that had to be stopped before it reached down the slopes to Winterfell."
She was sure that the shock she was feeling had slowly etched its way across her features as she absorbed what he was telling her. Turning his eyes back to his palms he carried on. "That was the night he was attacked, her hands were completely slashed," her eyes followed his fingers as they traced over his palms, "by a knife too fine to belong to anyone but one of the Lannisters… had it not been for Summer, his wolf, Bran may have been…" he trailed off.
"But…" she tried to figure out what to say, he had given her a great deal of information to process in a short amount of time. Myra thought of what she, personally, would want to know of her family in such a situation and so she asked, "Is your brother well now?"
He nodded. "He is awake, but says that he remembers nothing from just before his fall. And… his legs are totally paralyzed, beyond any healing…" Robb continued with his intent focus on his hands as he went on. "He was so unreachable before Tyrion's return visit from the Wall." Myra felt even more lost, but Robb addressed her confusion before she could sound it. "The Lannister had heard of Bran's legs from my brother, Jon at the Wall, and had brought a design for a horse saddle on his return trip to the South that would allow Bran to ride again." He faced her grinning half-heartedly "…and the damned thing actually worked."
"Wait," Myra squeezed her eyelids shut as she tried to keep up. "Okay," she opened her eyes to see Robb patiently waiting for her to speak. "You said she was accused? Explain why a Lannister would help your brother then. Clarify that...please."
"Well, as a dwarf Tyrion gave the reason that he felt a sense of camaraderie with bastards and cripples. He also seemed to be curious as to how Bran had come to fall from the Broken Tower. As for my mother, she went covertly to King's Landing to tell my father…"
"The Hand of the King?"
"Right..." the left side of mouth quirked in a small smile "...you remembered…" she responded with a nod, as he continued. "My mother was returning from telling my father of her suspicions regarding the Lannisters, when according to several witnesses she ran into Tyrion on the Kingsroad. He was last seen speaking to her. And my mother has not yet returned from her journey, so I cannot be sure of what happened but even accusations have consequences…"
"Consequences?"
"Upon learning of my mother's supposed kidnapping of Tyrion, his brother Jaime the Kingslayer," Myra's eyes widened in recognition of the title. It was surreal to have heard of events that had occurred before her birth and study the people involved in those events and then to realize that those people were still alive. Not only that, but that those people were still actively participating in the world. Though Robb had mentioned Lord Eddard Stark and King Robert Baratheon prior to this particular discussion, it continued to be difficult for her to digest that people who may as well have been fictional historical characters were very real.
"You know that name?" Robb asked. A question to which she silently offered a nod to again "… well the Kingslayer... he got wind of the rumour of his brother being forcibly taken by my mother and saw fit to attack my father in the middle of the streets in King's Landing to get him back."
"He publically attacked the Hand of the King?"
"Well, I do not know exactly what happened, but my father had given up his position as the Hand. According to the last Raven scroll we received by his hand he seemed set on coming back North with my sisters. While Jaime Lannister, being who he is, was able to flee the city without facing any repercussions for the attack."
There was long silence that fell between them. It was not uncomfortable, but it was full of contemplation. As Myra sat listening to the birds chirp and wind blow, she wondered at how the world could continue on in this way when so much had happened. She was trying to work out how to make sense of what he was he telling her and what's more why he was bothering to tell her.
Myra exhaled a breath of air, but it did not steam in this particular land and she felt a sudden pang of longing for her simple hills. She could not decide on anything, too many matters were up in the air. She did not even know what she was meant to decide on or if she was meant to decide on anything at all.
She glanced at Robb, with all of his problems that seemed to swirl around him. Even with what he had involved her in, by just telling her of his strife, he remained to be the one person she felt grounding her. Not even grounding her to the Earth, rather providing her with a stable place to anchor herself on within himself. Myra thought once more of what would be most important to her in such a situation. "It seems I do not know what to say myself…" she took a deep breath before speaking again "… I am glad that your brother and father live…" and she truly was, she did not know if she could bear his pain at losing any members of the family he clearly held so dear.
"I am glad that they live as well. I suppose I did not need any assurances or suggestions. Having someone to simply listen is helpful," he smiled, though it did not reach his eyes.
She looked at him once again, with concern colouring her countenance. "How are you?"
"I am… thoroughly at a loss as to what to do…" he admitted, letting his head fall to look at the leaf covered ground by his feet. "Theon keeps eating my head about war, but something inside me just rejects that option…so long as rejecting it is possible. I don't want people dying for unreasonable causes because of my choices…"
Myra found her hand reaching out, pulling at his stubble covered chin so that he would face her. "As a student of history regardless of how unenthusiastic I may have been, I can tell you that statement sounds like one which marks of the makings of a great leader Robb Stark."
"Are you sure of that?" He chuckled humourlessly.
"Yes." Myra said without any doubt in her voice. She dropped her fingers from his face and asked in a half disdainful, half joking tone. "Who is this idiotic Theon anyway?"
Her attempt at easing the mood had evidently worked. Robb laughed and proceeded to describe the once would-be 'prince' Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, who he had grown up with and now that he saw as an older near brother figure. "Theon saved Bran's life from a group of Wildlings. Bran was riding thanks to Tyrion's design, and there were four of them... four Wildlings that appeared from nowhere. I had gotten there in time to save Bran from two of the men, and I had gotten hold of the girl in the group but the last man was holding a knife to Bran's throat… if Theon had not been there to shoot the man I would have laid down my sword and Bran and I may have died anyway..." his expression grew sombre and faraway for a moment, "the girl works as a servant in Winterfell now…but if Theo…"
"If Theon yes, yes…" Myra interrupted him, she did not like how he was placing and painting himself in these stories. "You do not give yourself enough credit Robb…" he scoffed as she began to list off, "if you had not been there to stop the first men who had attacked then Bran could have gotten hurt, if you had not stopped Theon that girl may have died, if you had not gone to Bran's room to speak to your mother you may not have seen the fire in time. You may not have saved me…"
Robb stared at her wearily, spontaneously raising his right hand to cup her cheek. He traced his thumb softly over the suddenly flushed skin by her lips. "Saved you, only as far as I have… as small as you may be little dragon, Tyrion will surely send word of you to his father. You will be discovered as my mother was on the Kingsroad, and I..."
"You won't be rid of me that easy." She teased, cutting him off more for herself anyone else, though his smile now lighted his grey eyes.
"No," he spoke gently. "I would not be…"
There we are for the time being anyway. As always please forgive any poor editing, did honestly try to catch it all...It's quite suddenly already February… holy moly!
