Catelyn

There had never been a worse time for Catelyn Stark than this. She'd heard what a Salt Wife was and this wasn't it. A salt wife was like a mistress from her understanding that was taken from a conquered battle. Theon may have been a conqueror but Catelyn felt nothing more than a whore who Theon fucked whenever he felt it.

"I beat off to you in the Godswood." Theon exclaimed the first time he took her. The place where her husband and children go to pray, Theon pleasured himself to her. He took her any way he wanted at any time of the day. He sometimes wore his Kraken shaped helm and sometimes made Catleyn wear it. Her cloths had been ripped once when Theon wanted her. So now all she wore was a stained white tunic.

At least her sons were not harmed; she thanked the Gods for that. When she left Prince Theon she would sit with them in their room assuring them it would be alright. But then Theon would call on her again and she began to doubt her own words.

Night was the only time she truly enjoyed. As that was the only time she could escape Theon and this nightmare. She dreamt of Ned, having returned from King's Landing and resigning his position just to be with her. Both Robb and Sansa had married fine suitors and had little children of their own. Arya had finally listened to her mother and given up the swords and spears for boys and was instead a proper lady who dressed in the finest silk, played the harp and most importantly sewed. Bran was tall and strong looking much like the man he was named after, and more importantly he was a Knight like he always wanted. And little Rickon riding his now dead Direwolf as a full grown man. She even dreamed of the bastard Jon Snow.

She was awaking from the dream because Ser Harras Harlaw shook her violently by the shoulder.

"The Prince has summoned you." He said. She knew exactly what that meant.

Robb

They had found Harrold Arryn when they reached the Trident, along with several loyal followers. Robb had held his war council with them and his own Lords Bolton, Umber, Manderly, and Uncle Brynden. And then the cry of attack went out.

That attack had been quick, and a lot of damage done. Killing men, burning supplies before retreating back into the night. Robb had gathered his men to go after them when he heard fighting on the other side of the camp. It didn't take long for the combined might of Robb and the Blackfish to realize what was happening.

It did not take them long after that to beat the enemy back and dig trenches along their camp to repel repeated attacks. Although they could stop any advance by Dornish or Sellswords on the ground, they could not stop the assault from the sky. Fiery death from above that force Robb's army back off the Trident and into the nearby valleys.

The rest of the night was spent tending to the wounded. The cost was great, greater than Robb would have liked. Roger Ryswell had his throat slit while he slept in his bed. Lord Helman Tallhart and Olyvar Frey were killed in the fighting. He had lost a noble squire but if the Gods were good Helman was with his son now. Lord Galbart Glover's brother Robett brother had been burned alive when his tent caught fire with him in it.

Robb had suffered as well, though more inside that out. He'd repelled the wildlings from the wall, the Iron men from the Westerlands but it was here in the land of his grandfather that he tasted his first defeat. And he did not like it. He'd taken a direct hit to his face by an armor plated shoulder. Luckily it did not knock out his teeth, only bloodied his nose.

"What would your betrothed think if she married a man with no teeth?" Domeric had laughed. He was wounded as well, a sword point breaking through his chain mail to stab him in the belly; a bloody mess but not enough to be fatal. Robb was grateful that his wounds weren't fatal but he did not appreciate his jokes.

"This is not the time!" He snapped at Domeric before leaving him.

Of all Robb's friends only Smalljon escaped completely unharmed, but the others looked as if they had a foot in the grave already. Eddard Karstark had been knocked to the ground during the battle where his left arm had caught fire. To save his body from infection they had to cut it off. Even Lady Dacey's looked in pain, although Robb had seen that look in her for a while. Ever since they set out from the wall the She-Bear seemed distant. She did not take her meals or drink with their group as often as she had, though she still claimed to be of Robb's guard.

The Young Wolf himself looked a mess. His beard had grown shaggy and unkempt, his hair so long it blinded his eyes. But now they stuck tight to his face in a mix of blood and sweat. It was time to cut them both down to a suitable size while fighting. He could trim his beard by himself but he always had someone else do his hair. His mother or Sansa, but neither of them were here now. So he turned to the only logical choice.

He turned around to see Dacey Mormont standing at the entrance of his tent dressed in simple leathers and riding breeches, stained in mud and blood alike. Her long black hair flowing far past her shoulders.

"My Lord." She said.

"Lady Dacey." He said standing up." I, I have a favor to ask of you." She stood there silent as she looked him up and down.

"I will do as you command, My Lord." Though her voice didn't sound as confident as she seemed.

"My hair has gotten very long." Robb pointed to it." I wonder if..if you could shorten it for me?" Dacey looked at the shears in his hands to the hair on his head.

"As you wish." Was all she said. So Robb sat himself down with Dacey standing behind him cutting his hair. There was silence at first, silence Robb didn't like. She used to me one of the more out-going of their group but now she seemed as cold and fargone as the wall they'd defended.

"Are you hurt, My Lady?" He asked her, hoping to start conversation.

"No, My Lord." She cut another patch of hair away.

"Are you sure? Some wounds may be internal and-"

"I am fine, My Lord." She said once more in a strict voice but she did not stop her work. She pushed her fingers against his scalp, turning her where she wanted him. In a few more quick cuts that last of Robb's long hair was gone and he looked at himself in the mirror. He looked every bit the boy that had marched out from Winterfell those few months back. All except for the red beard on his face.

"Thank you, My Lady." He said turning back to her as he stood up." I am most grateful." She nodded back to him.

"Do you mean to shave your beard as well, My Lord?" she asked him. He looked back to her with a quizzical look.

"I did. Or at least to trim it down, the blood is starting to stick to my beard during battle." She nodded.

"I suppose Southern Women like men with clean, smooth faces." He titled his head to and raised his brow at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Your betrothed. No doubt she'll want your face smooth as a baby's ass." She reached up and ran her hand along his beard. "Not Robb Stark the warrior, Robb Stark the boy." There she was for the first time in a long time. Dacey Mormont heir to Bear Island confident, bold and alluring. Robb shook his head from her touch.

"I do not know Lady Margaery's preference in men." He turned his back to her,

"Oh? Well how about Cersei Lannister?"

"Lannister?" He quickly shot back to her.

"The most beautiful woman you've ever seen? How do you think she'd have preferred you?"

"You use my own words against me, why?"

"My cousin married a proper southern lady once with hair like gold just like Lady Lannister." Robb continued to look at her confused." I forget sometimes that you are not all Northern." She continues." Your mother is a Tully, another Southern woman." Robb face flashed with anger and he rose to his full height, although he still shorter than her.

"Do not speak ill of my mother, Dacey." He threatned." Do you not also have your preferences of the South?" He quickly spat." Choosing to dance with Tyrion Lannister over I, your Liege Lord?"

"We did more than dance that night." She smiled. It took only a moment for Robb to understand her meaning.

"You slept with the Half-man?!" Robb almost yelled." A little man?"

"It's wasn't so little." Robb suddenly felt his face becoming hotter.

"Why are you telling me this?" And in one moment he saw all the fire leave Dacey's eyes and she shrunk down before him.

"It doesn't matter now." She said. She looked up and their eyes meet. In that moment he saw a vulnerability in her that he had never seen before." By your leave Lord Stark."

"Stay!" He called stretching his hand out to her back. She did as he said." Please. Stay and talk with me."

"It doesn't matter now." She repeated. She had been by his side since the very beginning. She pledged to fight for him, to die if necessary. She marched with him, obeyed him fought with him, killed for him. All for Robb Stark. She loved him all this time. And that night at Casterly Rock when she'd overheard him was more hurt than any sword could have done to her.

"I don't want to marry her!" Robb announced." My heart is not pledged to her. How can my heart be pledged or promised to someone I have never meet?" He turned to face her fully. What would she know of the North? Or the Wall or the Godswood? What would she know about battles and dragon fire where friends and family are lost like a candle in the night?" Dacey knew, she knew all of it. Robb now suddenly found himself overwhelmed with a strange sensation, the sensation he felt the first time they danced together at the wall.

"My Lady." He reached out his hand for hers." May I have this dance?" She was silent, speechless as he stood there before her. She owed him from their missed opportunity at Casterly Rock. She smiled and took his hand in hers. He put his other hand around her waist gulping as he did.

Robb Stark might have been a skilled sword and a successful battle commander but he was still in green boy in the ways of women. He never felt this way about any other woman. Not Alys Karstark, not Cersei Lannister, not Margeary Tyrell, only Dacey Mormont right here and now. She was still a few inches taller than him and his senior by over ten years, but none of that seemed to matter now. It didn't matter that she was too old or he too young, he was her Liege Lord, she was his bodyguard. They were only a man and a woman that night. They were only themselves.

"Lord Stark –"

"Robb." He corrected." Call me Robb."

They moved back and forth, their shadows hovering across the ground with them. They never spoke a word but their eyes did all the talking as they never looked away from one another. Her face suddenly started getting closer to his but Robb did not stop her. But he froze still as stone when her lips touched his, but still he did not stop her.

When he looked upon her face afterwards she smiled down at him and he returned it with the same. But his hands had been trembling that was the wildest sensation he'd ever felt. Many times more exhilarating than killing men.

Dacey noticing his silent excitement took his took his shaking hands and guided them up her body. From her waist to her chest. Robb gulped down nervous once more as he felt her. She bent down to kiss him once more; this time was more fiercer than the last.

The sparked the fire in Robb and he returned her passion. Taking his other arm and wrapping it around her. They stumbled about the tent for a few steps, knocking over a small table as sharing sloppy kisses until at last they ended up on the bed.

And that night Robb forget his promise to a Margeary Tyrell who was far, far away down South in King's Landing. Highgarden's prized flower he'd heard her called. But the Rose could not trap the Wolf in its vines not when a Bear had already done the deed.

Eddard

Ned had just sent the letters to both Wyman Manderly and Tywin Lannister. With any luck they'd reach their destinations in less than a fortnight and the fleets would be here sooner than that. But that was wishful thinking. If there was war on the Iron Islands not doubt Tywin had gone to meet them himself and he would not dedicate his fleet to this cause without payment. Aegon wanted all of them dead, Lannisters especially no doubt.

Perhaps he'll want Jaime out of the Kingsguard, Ned thought. An idea Ned accepted. For the past sixteen years Tywin pleaded to Robert for Jaime's dismissal and the Mad King before him. Maybe now he'll get his wish. Besides with Jaime out that left room for Jon to join. Though he did notice that Jon spent a lot of his time training with the Kingslayer; something Ned certainly did not approve of. But he was spending too much time with his daughters to say anything to him yet.

His left his solar to join his daughters in the Red Keep. The siege had been a frightening thing to go through, especially for little girls, and especially after what they'd witnessed. Sansa took it harder than Arya. His youngest daughter had taken off to explore the Red Keep some more, wanting to see the aftermath of the battle. But Sansa confined herself to her room.

As Ned mused over these thoughts he suddenly heard his name called.

"Lord Stark!" He turned to see Mace Tyrell moving as fast as he could towards him. Thinking something was wrong Ned walked several steps away from his daughters and meet with Mace.

"Lord Tyrell." He greeted.

"My most sincere apologizes Lord Stark." He said when he got closer to him." For your nephew, the Prince. I weep for you, I deeply sympathize."

"You have my thanks." Ned said with a slight nod. "Thought my sister would rather hear your prays I'm sure."

"I am at the King and Queen's service of course. And I am grateful for what they have given me." Ned had heard about all of Mace's gifts and the dinner he had with Lyanna and Robert. And Ned knew it did not go as Lord Tyrell had planned. And by the sound of Mace's voice Ned could tell he was up to something." But I must apologize to you as well my Lord Hand. For I have wronged you on many accounts." Ned raised an eyebrow at him confused, but then he remembered. Mace had promised to wed his daughter Margeary to Ned's heir Robb. But that was many months ago and hardly worth troubling over now.

"Water under the bridge my Lord."

"You know." Mace continued despite Ned's comment." We are both of Great Houses you and I. Look at the good we've done already. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Starks and Tyrells could do this more often?" Ned understood him now. He was now trying to get the greatest prize of all, perhaps the one the King had denied him again." The marriage with Renly was never consummated. Margeary remains a maiden." She would bring no dishonor to your house or your son. Please allow this as a symbol of my apology to you and support of the crown." Ned however looked at Mace with a plain face. They'd made this deal once before only last time their roles were reversed. And Ned knew Mace had tried to offer Margaery to Edric, but once again was shot down by Lyanna and Robert.

"I'll think about it." Ned finally answered.