12th Month of 287 A.C. Winterfell

Benjen Stark

To be back in Winterfell was nice, it had taken sometime but he was finally back. Seagard had been an interesting sojourn. The place was brimming with activity, filled with tradesmen and workmen determined to do their craft and earn their keep. Even in the middle of winter, they were working from sunrise to sunset making their purses fill to the brim and constantly doing something. That was the one thing that Benjen had enjoyed about Seagard, the people never seemed to stay still there was always something to do, or someone to see. He found that he enjoyed the place and was thankful that he had managed to get a lot of things done, he had sorted out trade contracts for timber and silver between the two places. He felt as if he had fulfilled his obligation which he had done, and he had also had a lot of fun in the place. He had gone around with Jeffory Mallister drinking and wenching, Lord Mallister's brother had also given him some useful instructions on how to get to know Jocelyn Mallister and to woo her as well.

Jocelyn Mallister was an interesting woman, she was slightly older than him, she was a strong woman, someone who knew how to speak for herself and knew things that would make a maester blush with shame. She was definitely a smart woman, and Benjen had found himself having many engaging conversations with her, in some ways Jocelyn reminded him of Lyanna in how strong and determined she was in sticking to her ways and what she believed to be right and wrong. Their conversations had developed into something more over the time that he had spent in Seagard, from being merely acquaintances they had become friends and from there something more had bloomed. Whether or not he was in love with her he knew not, but he did know that he found her attractive, and who would not with her chestnut hair and her beautiful eyes and pale skin. She was smart and beautiful, and he was deeply fond of her, and she was of him, at least it seemed that way. He had asked her cousin for her hand and when Jason Mallister had accepted, Benjen had then gone to Jocelyn and asked her, and he had honestly been quite relieved as well as happy when she had said yes. They had gotten married in the Sept of Seagard with his father present as well.

Their journey to Winterfell had be pleasant, travelling by land from Seagard they had stopped at several places and explored the sights around the Riverlands. Stopping at the twins had been an interesting experience to say the least, it seemed Walder Frey was finally on his last legs, and was growing more and more irate with age. He had made several japes that had been in poor taste and Benjen had made note to ensure that the man did not survive for much longer. From the twins they had travelled long and hard and had finally arrived in Winterfell some three days ago, before their arrival, Jocelyn had told him the good news that she was with child. His happiness at this news was consuming, for once it seemed he was making up for the mistakes he had made with Lyanna. His past was being wiped clean.

And now it was time for his conversation with Ned, a conversation he had been looking forward to for some time. As always Ned took some time to speak once they had sat down, when he did his voice sounded tired, as if the weight of holding Winterfell in their father's absence was beginning to weigh on him. "Benjen, as always I am glad to see you back home, safe and secure. I have heard many a good tale of what you managed to achieve in Seagard, you have done House Stark and the north proud. Trade between us and the Riverlands shall flourish in the years to come because of your efforts. That you are now also married is something of a surprise but a welcome one, and I congratulate you on that."

His brother paused then and Benjen took that moment to speak. "I thank you Ned, and before we go on I wished to say that there is more good news. Jocelyn informed me before we returned to Winterfell that she is with child. I am to be a father."

Silence follows his statement, as Ned looks at him and then his brother gives one of his too infrequent smiles and raises his glass. "Well congratulates again brother. To you, Lady Jocelyn and your unborn child. I am sure you will make a great father." Benjen raises his glass as well and drinks, once they have both put their drinks down, Ned continues. "There is one main issue that I wished to speak with you of. It concerns Wolf's Port, the town that you shall be Lord of when all is said and done."

Benjen nods and asks. "How goes the construction of the town? When last we corresponded it was some two quarters of the way complete. Is that still the case?"

"Word has come from Ser Davos and Ser Wendel, the keep is complete and should be liveable. The town and the port itself is some three quarters down to the original specifications that we had planned. So realistically if you wish to move to the keep now you may, but if you wish to wait until the town is complete then I shall not stop you." Ned responds.

"Progress has come on quite some way then in the time I have been gone. Ser Davos and Ser Wendel have truly done their jobs to perfection. How depleted are our resources with the completion of the keep and the town?" Benjen asks.

Benjen sees his brother look down at the note before him before he looks up and responds. "Let us just say we shall need to wait for another decade or so before we can use as much wood as we have done in the past three years. As to the matter at hand, what will you do Benjen?"

Benjen considers his brother's words for a long time, and in that time the silence stretches on as it was like to do between him and Ned. Eventually after weighing everything up he responds. "I would like to see the keep and the town before I make a decision Ned. Ultimately my family and I will live there, so I would like to get a firmer understanding of the place before committing to living there. For the time being we shall live in Winterfell, but once I have seen the town and the keep, and am satisfied, as I am sure I shall be, we shall move there."

His brother nods. "Very well. Now let us move from the seriousness of that, to more light hearted matters. How are father, mother and King Jonothor doing?"

Benjen smiles then. "They are all well, mother and father are revelling in King's Landing and the opportunities it presents them. Mother dotes on King Jonothor and father is a stern task master as he was with us all and yet he is kind in his own way. As for the king, well he is like any other child, he is full of questions and mischief. You would like him Ned I am sure."

His older brother smiles at that notion but then his face turns somewhat sombre. "I know that father did what he thought was best, but perhaps he would've been better coming to Winterfell. There is so much going on here that I am not sure I know how to continue. They want their lord, not some boy pretending to be lord."

It was rare for Ned to ever speak of what he was feeling and so Benjen was somewhat taken aback but he said the only thing he could think of. "Ned, father entrusted you with the running of Winterfell and the north because he knew you would do a good job. And from what I can see and from what I have heard, the lords here have nothing but respect for you. As for father, he is doing what he does best, ensuring the house is in a position of strength."

Ned seems as though he does not truly believe this but he says nothing, and for another long period of time they both sit in silence, and then eventually Ned speaks. "I do not know whether father truly remembers why he did what he did anymore. From what I have heard it seems as if he is simply playing the game of thrones now. It is as if he is simply using the king as a tool to fuel his own ambitions."

"As would anyone else who was Regent Ned. At least father is doing what he is doing to fulfil his own ambitions but also to protect the king from those who would use the king for bad." Benjen responds.

His brother still looks unconvinced. "There has been talk here, amongst some of the lords that father has forgotten his roots. They say that he is too busy trying to prove himself to the south that he no longer cares for the north. They ignore the fact that we have never been as secure during a winter as we are at this point in time. And the fact that many of their kinsmen are growing in power in the south. But at the same time I can understand where they are coming from. Already there are lords whispering in my ear about having one of their daughters wed to Robb or Rickon."

"They are merely disgruntled because they are no longer the only ones demanding the attention of the Lord of Winterfell Ned. Sooner or later they shall see the benefits of what father is doing. We are already seeing the benefits, as can be shown by the port town and the developments around Winterfell." Benjen said reassuringly.

His brother merely nods then. "Aye that is true. That is very true, still I do not appreciate having Roose Bolton speaking to me of betrothing Robb to his daughter Lynessa. There is something strange about that man, something very strange indeed."

"Aye, remember when we met his father once? What was his name? Jonnel? I couldn't sleep for a week after seeing that damned shrine in the Dreadfort." Benjen responds.

His brother looks at him then and asks. "What shrine? I never knew there was any shrine in the Dreadfort brother."

Benjen shivers slightly at the memory and says. "Well you remember how I, Brandon and father went to the Dreadfort to speak to old Lord Jonnel Bolton on a return visit." His brother nods and so Benjen continues. "I was bored during one of the many meetings that father conducted and so went exploring and found this building within the godswood, deep within the godswood, and so I went into the building and found this shrine. There was barely anything there, but an altar and a statue, and at the altar there was a body, bleeding out, a woman, her eyes pale and lifeless. And then there was the statue, gods I will never forget the statue."

His brother is looking at him with some concern then. "What was the statue brother?"

Benjen does not respond immediately as the horror of seeing the statue comes back to his mind, and the feeling of that woman's skin beneath his hands, how cold she was to touch, the lifelessness of her skin and her eyes. It was all so unnerving, he does not know if he should speak of it, but perhaps he should to warn Ned away from Bolton. "The statue….was that of a beast, with the horns of a bull, the face of a demon, the body of a man and the legs of a goat. And its eyes, the eyes were the worst thing brother, they were pale blue, and they… they were moving."