Queen of The North
Chapter Seven
Lyanna's eyes shot open as woke to the cool darkness of her room. She groaned softly and pushed her covers down before sitting up and getting out of her bed. She couldn't have been asleep long as it was still as dark as when she went to sleep.
She walked over to her chamber window and took a deep breath of the cool night air. She looked up at the sky and watched the stars. She sighed, there was no way she would be able to get back to sleep yet but she couldn't think of what she could do, she could finish her letter to her Aunt but she couldn't find it in herself to be bothered to finish the letter.
Her attention was drawn by the sound of a loud bark, she gazed out of her window and across the courtyard to where the kennel stood, a small wooden building around the size of a peasant's house.
Her father had forbidden her from seeing her pups but she had to see them, she was the closest thing that they had to a mother and they were the closest things that she had to children. She had to see them, that was the end of it.
And she wasn't going to wait until morning.
Lyanna quickly took of her dress and walked over to her dresser before pulling it open and pulled out a pair of leather pants, a doublet and a jerkin which she kept hidden in a secret compartment in the back from her mother because she knew that her mother would confiscate them if someone told them she had them and she knew that her mother's servants regularly searched her room on her orders.
Once she was properly dressed she walked over to her windowsill and sat on it before swinging her legs over and used one of her hand's to feel the castle walls to find something that she could use to grab hold to.
Once she found a slightly raised brick in the wall that she could use to climb and then noticed a few others she could use for her feet and her other hand. Lyanna swung off of the windowsill and slowly started to scale down the wall.
The trick to scaling a wall at night was not to look down and to go slow and steady. So long as you had vague idea where you're next step had to go then you would be fine. Despite that Lyanna knew that if her mother caught her doing this she would kill her, her lady mother nearly had a stroke every time she caught Bran climbing and he was a boy, most people thought that it was natural for a boy to climb if her mother caught her doing it her heart would probably give out.
Lyanna was near the ground when she reached out for the next stone when her hand brushed against something that was definitely not stone, it was to warm and smooth it was skin. Lyanna let out a cry of surprise and her feet slipped from the stones and she fell to the wet sod below.
As Lyanna landed on the ground she let out a soft groan, it didn't actually hurt she wasn't that far from the ground but it was still a shock. As Lyanna sat up she heard someone call her name. "Lyanna!" Lyanna looked up to whoever was calling her name and smiled softly as she saw Bran running over to her.
Bran wrapped his arms around his sister's middle. "Are you alright!? You fell and though you must've hurt yourself and I was so scared and I didn't know what do and then I saw you moving so I climb down to see if you were okay, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay?"
Lyanna smiled warmly, touched by Bran's concern. She reached out her hand and gently rubbed the top of Bran's head before standing up and smiling down at him. "I'm fine Bran don't worry about me. Anyway, what are you doing out this late and climbing no less, mother will throw a fit."
Bran smiled sheepishly at his older sister. "What Mother doesn't know can't hurt her, right?"
Lyanna smiled and nodded. "Right but you didn't answer the question little brother, what are you doing out this late and while I wouldn't stop you it is more dangerous to be climbing at night than it is to be climbing during the day."
Bran looked up at his sister incredulously. "You were climbing at night as well!"
Lyanna grinned and nodded. "Yes I was but I am your older sister and that means I can do what ever I want while at exact same time criticize you when you are doing the same thing, it's a little thing call older sibling privilege."
Bran pouted. "That doesn't seem fair."
"That's life." Said Lyanna with a shrug. "Now to get back to the point as you didn't answer my question the first time why were you climbing on the wall, come on little brother, talk to me."
A heavy frown spread across Bran's face. Such a serious expression did not belong on so youthful face and Lyanna did not mind admitting that it unnerved her slightly. "I wanted to come and talk to you because we didn't get to talk at dinner."
"Okay." Said Lyanna with a nod as she got down on to her knees so she could be on more of an even level with her little brother. "What do you want to talk about?"
Bran's frown deepened and he looked around the dark courtyard as if he was checking that no-one would suddenly come and find them talking. When he was certain that no-one was coming and that he could speak freely he looked back towards his sister and took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm really mad at Robb."
"Why?" Lyanna asked, she wasn't going to press Bran to answer her, she knew Bran well enough to knew that she had to wait for him to answer her in his own time but still she couldn't help but hoped he answered her soon. She really wanted to get to the kennel to see her pups.
"Because of what he said to Jon." Admitted Bran with a sigh, he knew that his mother hated Jon and was trying to keep him and Rickon away from him but Bran loved Jon and he couldn't believe what Robb had said to him this morning, he never would have believed his eldest brother would ever be so insensitive.
Lyanna nodded and gently took Bran's hand. "That's good Bran, you should be very, very angry at Robb for what he said to Jon, because what he said to Jon was utterly unacceptable and the way Mother treats Jon isn't fair at all, Father shouldn't have cheated on her and if she was angry at him then that would be fine but Jon has done nothing to her and Jon didn't ask to be born, do you understand what I am trying to tell you?"
Bran nodded with a small frown. "I think so, so I shouldn't forgive Robb and maybe I should talk to Mother about how she treats Robb?"
Lyanna shook her head. "No Bran, you shouldn't talk to Mother about Jon, it is wrong the way she treats Jon but sometimes people can't help hating other people despite the fact they have done nothing to them, it's not right or fair but it is what it is."
Bran looked at Lyanna with sadness in his eyes. "But it's not fair to Jon."
With a sad smile Lyanna brought Bran into a gentle hug. "Life isn't fair, remember?"
Bran nodded and continued to hug his sister for what seemed to be a very long time. He pulled away before rubbing at his eyes. "So what are you doing out here? I've told you why I was it only seems fair that you tell me."
"There's that word again but alright I'll tell you, I'm on my way to the kennels because I found a pregnant direwolf outside in the woods and it died giving birth to seven direwolf pups and I brought them back to Winterfell so I'm going to go and see them because I haven't seen them since I came back last night." Lyanna told Bran.
Bran looked up at his sister in disbelief. "You can't be serious." He said flatly.
"Why not?" Asked Lyanna with a raised eyebrow.
"When we were on our way back from the execution and we found a dead direwolf that had been killed by a stag and there were six dire wolf pups left alive and now we've all got one we thought you were the only one who didn't have one. I called my pup Summer I can go and get him and the pups you got can play together!" Bran turned on his feet and started to run off towards the castle but was stopped when Lyanna put her hand on his arm.
"Hang on a minute, these pups are newborns and are far, far too young to play with anything yet. Let's let them grow up for a little bit and then they can play with Summer, all right?" She asked gently.
Bran sighed and nodded. Lyanna returned the nod before glancing up at Bran's dark window. "You should get back to bed now Bran, don't argue with me because I'm going to bed as well I just want to check on my pups and then I will be back in my room so off you go." Command Lyanna as she gestured with her hand towards the wall that Bran had been climbing.
Bran sighed before skulking off over to the wall and slowly but steadily started to climb it. Lyanna waited as she watched Bran slowly climb the wall and didn't move until she saw him climb through the window.
Once Bran was safely through his window and back inside Lyanna spun on her feet and slowly creped towards the kennel, she didn't want to alert any of the guards after all as despite the fact that she was on first name basis with many of the guards she knew that none of them would hesitate to report to her father that she was out of her bed.
When she reached the kennel she slowly pushed the door open and silent slipped in before closing the door behind her. The kennel master, a large man well past his fiftieth year with hair the colour of a rusty sword was sitting in an old wooden chair snoring loudly, an empty flagon of wine laying next to the chair.
Lyanna shook her head and her attention was then drawn by the sound of a small cry, she walked over to an open area where the ground was covered in soft hey and there laying on top of the hay the pups were laying. Lyanna knelt down next to the hay and reached out to pick up one of the larger pups gently. The pup's little eyes opened and he stared up at Lyanna.
Lyanna smiled. "Hello there little one, I wonder what I should call you, you're going to need a name after all aren't you? How about…Winter's Breath, do you like that?"
The direwolf as expected did not actually respond to her and simply kept staring up at her, perhaps in curiosity or perhaps because it had nothing else to do. Lyanna put the wolf back down and picked up another one to give it a name. "I think I will call you…River's Run!"
Lyanna placed that wolf back down next to his brother and set to naming the other five. The third was the only girl in the bunch and unlike all her brothers who had grey eyes this one had blue so Lyanna decided to call her Elia.
The next one who seemed to be the runt of the litter she decided to name after her father and so little Ned was placed next to his brothers and sister.
The next wolf had a coat that seemed to be so much darker than any of the others and so she decided to name him Bael before putting him down next to the other pups.
The sixth put seemed to fight her as she picked him up but he didn't bite her so Lyanna decided to name him Warrior, through she couldn't deny she did brefily consider naming him Robb but she decided against it she didn't want to give her brother the owner or the wolf the insult.
The seventh and final wolf was much more welcoming of her touch and almost seemed to relax into her touch. Lyanna thought long and hard about his name and then it came to her, it was so simple really she had already named one after her father so why not name one after her brother and so with that Jon joined the rest of his siblings.
Lyanna yawned loudly and then spun her head around to see if she woken the kennel master up but the man simply grunted in his drunken sleep. Lyanna slowly got to her feet and slowly walked over to the kennel door and creapt out.
She didn't want to leave the pups but she knew that if she was found out of her then all the gods wouldn't be able to save her from her Mother's wrath and so she slowly made her way over to the wall and slowly climbed it up to her window and climbed in to her room.
Lyanna didn't bother taking her clothes off she simply walked over to her bed and pulled down the covers and crawled into her bed, sleep taking her not a minute after her head hit her pillow.
End of Chapter Seven
