The Mountains of the Moon were easily some of the most breathtakingly beautiful mountains Ashara had ever seen. This did not however, take away the pain of the biting winds that cut through to Ashara's bones and led her to shivering in her furs most nights, wishing for the warmth of the man that often slept only feet away.
With her and Ned were two of Lord Arryn's household guard, who were to ensure that the both of them reached the fingers safely and protect them from the clansmen who often frequented these mountains.
The three of them had been traveling for three weeks now, having left the Eyrie at the same time as Lord Arryn, who was marching on Gulltown. Robert Baratheon had gone with him too, though not before giving Ned another lecture on his opinion of 'the dornish wench' as he referred to her. Her thoughts soured as she thought of Robert Baratheon. He was a great fool and she worried for the state of the Stormlands under his rule.
She shivered again as the winds rose around them and held her hands out to the small campfire that Ned had made when they set up for the night. Why did it have to be so cold? The sun kissed lands of Dorne seemed a distant memory right now. She fondly remembered the days when she and Arthur used to splash and play in the Torentine. Days when the sun was so hot, you burnt your feet just running across the sand and into the cool water. She wondered where Arthur was now. Was he with his silver prince? Did he know where the girl was?
Warmth suddenly spread through her body as a pair of arms encircled her and pulled her into Ned's warm embrace. She hummed in comfort as his warmth spread through her chilled limbs. He wrapped his heavy fur cloak around them both as he pulled her closer. Whether it had been his northern heritage or the fact that he had been living in these mountains since he was eight, Ned did not seem to be as affected by the cold.
She relished the closeness of Ned and burrowed deeper into his side. He smelled of pine and snow and smoke, a smell that she had come to cherish in the time they had come to know each other.
"Is it this cold in Winterfell?" She asked as he held her hands in his, transferring his warmth to her.
"No," Ned replied "Hot water is constantly piped through the walls from underground springs making the entire castle warm. When your cold, you can go into the godswood and swim in the pool beneath the heart tree. It's fed by an underground hot spring. In winter sometimes Brandon used to get…" Ned smiled sadly at whatever memory was running through his mind and then shook his head, like a dog shaking off water. "But that doesn't matter anymore."
"I want to swim in that pool one day." Ashara said hoping to take his mind off Brandon but it didn't work.
"What did Brandon say that night?"
She doesn't need to ask what night, there could only be one night that he could be speaking of. She remembered it as if it was yesterday.
"He asked me to dance with his younger brother." She replied.
"That's it?"
"Yes. Why? Is something wrong?"
There was a pause as Ned stared up at the sky.
"My whole life I was living in Brandon's shadow. He was the heir, the confident one, the outgoing one, the apple of my father's eye. The handsome one. Everything was meant to go to him and even though it was wrong there were days when I wanted what he had. Everyone always preferred him to me and then you came along. You were the first person that looked at Brandon and passed him over for me. I always wondered if he promised you something more, an incentive to dance with me."
"You mean did I…take him to bed?"
In the starlight she could see the blood rush to his face. "Yes." He whispered back.
"No, I never did. Why?"
"I got everything that was meant to be Brandon's. I'm just wondering if it was worth the cost."
"Ned…you can't think like that."
"I know. It doesn't change the fact I do though."
"Ned if you think like that you'll get nowhere." She reached up and ran her finger along his jawline. "Ned, Brandon's gone. It's what's happened. You have to move on, you have to be there for your family and your house. You need to step up." She smiled then, "Brandon's not there to ask the pretty girls to dance with you anymore. It's all up to you now. Bear it like I know you can. I promised to stand by you and fully intend to keep that promise."
Ned smiled bitterly as his eyes continued to rove the stars above them.
"Ned." She said. "Look at me."
The stubborn fool refused to move his eyes.
"Ned. Look at me."
He still refused, so she pulled away from his embrace and grabbed his face in both hands, pulling it down until his soft grey eyes met her own. "Ned…I love you."
She watched in amusement as he blushed. She leant forward and kissed him deeply, deeper than she had ever kissed him before. Tentatively she pushed out with her tounge, and was surprised to feel Ned's lips melt away before her touch.
It was beautiful, his smell and warmth and feel invading her senses when a cough pulled her from her thoughts. Ned pulled away as though struck and inside she wanted to curse and smack whichever of the two guards had interrupted them. She turned around and glared daggers at the man standing on the edge of the clearing.
A very embarrassed man with the falcon of House Arryn stitched onto his tunic held up a brace of rabbits. "I got dinner M'lord."
"Thank you Albar" Ashara managed to spit out. "I'm sure we will enjoy it very much", though not as much as I was enjoying Ned's warmth, she thought bitterly. Next to her Ned mumbled something along the same lines and it was obvious he was embarrassed about the whole affair.
That night instead of shivering in her own furs, she went over and lay down next to Ned. To her surprise he did not protest, instead he pulled her closer. For the first time since leaving the marginally warmer Eyrie she slept contentedly.