House of Metal 55
Not for the first time, was Robb rendered speechless by the contents of a letter. He did not enjoy the sensation that came over him whenever it happened. There was always an odd mixture of dread, incomprehension, and moderate to massive levels of horror.
Today, his level of horror was somewhere in the middle. After all, it was not every day that you learnt that your youngest sister was wed and you had not been invited to the wedding. It was not every day that you learnt that your sister was no longer a full member of your own family, and that she was now in fact a member of a far different family.
It wasn't every day that you learnt that your sister married a woman, either.
Setting the letter down at his desk, he blinks at it, then looks up at his wife, uncle, mother, and other sister. They all wait patiently for him to tell them what he had just read, and from simply observing his expression, they were not very excited to hear what he had to say.
He licked his lips, sipped some wine, played with the letter, and did everything her could for more than a minute to try and avoid telling them, until finally his mother spat out, "Oh for gods' sake, tell us!"
"Arya has been wed," He whispers
"What?" Catelyn Stark really had not expected that. She couldn't articulate or even think of what she had been thinking the news might have been, every option and no options were whirling through her head before he demanded answers, but amongst the myriad of choices of bad news, her youngest daughter getting married had never even entered the painting.
"Arya has been wed, to Daenerys Targaryen," Robb reiterates, adding the identity of her bride as well.
"Arya has married a woman?" Sansa asks
"Yes," Robb nods, "The Mother of Dragons, and at the moment, what is believed to be the Empress of the Free Cities."
"She's Empress now?" Edmure Tuly, his uncle asks
"It is amongst the declarations made in the letter," Robb informs him, "The free cities have surrendered to the Dragon's fire, and Arya Targaryen has been declared Queen Consort of the Targaryen Empress. Details of her wedding are included, apparently it was a rushed affair."
"Well they must have been deeply in love then," Talisa sighs, a small smile tugging at each end of her lips
The assembled Westerosi all look at the Volantis born Stark with varying degrees of incomprehension, Catelyn being the one to finally point out, "My daughter married a woman."
"Yes, I know," Talisa nods, "Why, is that an issue for a second daughter to follow her heart?"
"Are such things acceptable in Volantis?" Edmure asks, more curious than upset
The Lady Stark nods, "Indeed, the second born sons and daughters are not needed to continue the family name or act as brides for familial alliances, and so they are encouraged to follow their hearts. This was why I was allowed to go to Westeros myself and act as nurse."
"You are a second born daughter?" Edmure asks, having until this point thought that his nephew had simply married a briliant peasant woman from across the sea.
"Third born," Talisa tells him, smiling.
"So… what do we do about Arya getting married?" Sansa asks
Then her mother adds, "And us not being invited!"
