Eddard III

"This chapter is told from your perspective, Ned," Catelyn said, looking over the first few words.

Sensing the impatience in the room, she began reading immediately. They were all desperate to find out what would happen next.

Four days later

"Four days later?!" Robb exclaimed.

The rest of the family looked at Robb in surprise, not having expected an interruption this early.

"Sorry," he said quickly, looking embarrassed at his outburst. "Please continue, Mother."

Ned's steward Vayon Poole tells him that Jory has found Arya.

Ned sighed in relief upon hearing this. Despite knowing that this was not real, he had still been unimaginably worried for his daughter's safety.

Catelyn's voice was noticeably less tense as she continued reading.

Ned, thanking the gods, asks for Arya to be brought to him at once. Poole replies that the guards at the gate had been Lannister men, who had immediately informed the queen,

Arya's eyes widened in fear for her future self. What would happen to her? The queen must hate her for injuring Joffrey… Would her father be able to protect her?

so Arya is now being taken directly before the king. Ned rises quickly and strides to the door, cursing that woman. He tells Poole to find Sansa, as her voice may be needed.

Sansa's face was serious as she listened to her mother. All of a sudden, she was not sure what she would say at the investigation.

'Her voice may be needed…' Would she say the truth? Would she even be able to, if she's betrothed to Joffrey? What if he tells a different story? Sansa continued listening silently, and kept quiet about her whirling thoughts for now.

Ned walks downstairs in a fit of rage. He had barely slept an hour in the last four days, and had led many searches himself, heartsick with worry, but now fury was filling him with strength.

Arya tried to keep calm. She was sure her father was not angry with her… was he? He had understood the story when they had read it in the last chapter and not been angry then. Surely, he would also understand it if she told him everything that happened as soon as she saw him.

Ned ignores the men calling out to him, walking faster; he would have run if he weren't the King's Hand. He was very aware of the eyes on him, and the voices muttering about what he would do.

Ned found them in the far too small audience chamber of the castle they were staying in. It was too crowded, Ned thought. If they had been alone, he and Robert might have been able to settle this amicably.

Ned frowned in concern at that sentence. Would he even be able to deal with this peacefully? Or would Robert be influenced by the large audience they had? Suddenly, he was slightly nervous about the outcome of this conversation.

Robert is slumped in a chair at the end of the room, looking sullen. Cersei and her son stand behind him, with Joffrey's arm wrapped in a bandage. Arya was in the centre of the room, alone with Jory, every eye on her.

Jon sent his sister a worried look, wondering how she was dealing with all this. Even just hearing about this situation was horrible enough. He sent her a comforting smile when she looked his way, and wished there was more he could do to help her.

Ned calls her name, walking towards her, and Arya begins to sob as soon as she sees him. He kneels down and holds her. She is shaking in his arms, crying: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Catelyn's heart ached for her daughter. How frightened she must have been, alone in the woods for four days straight, not knowing what would happen when she returned. Catelyn reached out and squeezed Arya's hand in support as she continued reading.

Arya had tears in her eyes, but blinked hard a couple of times to try and make them go away.

Ned tells her that he knows, and thinks again how small she is. It's hard to see how she has caused so much trouble. He asks her if she is hurt, and she says no, but she is a bit hungry, since she ate berries, but nothing else.

Her face is dirty. Ned promises her that she'll be fed soon, and then stands to confront the king.

"What will the king do?" Bran asked nervously.

"We don't know yet, we'll have to read to find out," Ned answered. "He will probably listen to Arya, Sansa and Joffrey each tell their story, and then make a decision from there."

He looks around for friendly faces, but finds none save his own men. Facing the king, he asks loudly why his daughter was not brought to him at once.

Cersei Lannister warns him not to speak to his king in that manner, and Robert snaps at the woman to be quiet.

Robb and Jon both nodded in approval of that idea.

Robert apologises to Ned, and explains that he just wanted this business over with as quickly as possible. The queen steps forward and says that this girl and her butcher's boy attacked her son.

"What?" Jon asked in disbelief.

That animal of hers even tried to rip Joffrey's arm off.

"No!" Arya shouted.

"What is she saying? How dare she?" Robb said loudly.

The various protests in the room immediately quietened as Catelyn continued.

She disregards Arya's immediate protests and continues telling her story, explaining how Arya and the butcher's boy beat him with clubs and set her wolf on him. Arya is close to tears and Ned puts a hand on her shoulder.

Catelyn gently pulled Arya into a half hug, holding the book in her other hand, allowing her daughter to lean her head on Catelyn's shoulder.

Joffrey backs up his mother's story and Arya calls him a liar.

The king stands and commands Arya to tell her version first, and then Joffrey, once Arya is finished. As Arya is talking, Ned sees Sansa enter with Vayon Poole, standing quietly at the back of the crowd.

Sansa was quiet the entire time she was listening to this scene unfold. Dread pooled in her stomach as she grew more and more certain of what her future self would say once it was her turn to speak.

Renly starts laughing when he hears how Joffrey had been disarmed, and has to leave the hall, mocking Joffrey as he closes the door behind him.

Robb suppressed a smile at that. He had a feeling he and Renly would get on very well if they ever had a chance to meet.

Once Joffrey is finished with his very different story, Robert, tired of all this, says that he doesn't know whom to believe.

Ned frowned, worrying about the outcome of this. If Robert was already tired of this now, would he even care enough to come to a fair decision?

Ned calls Sansa forward. He has already heard her story and knows the truth.

The family sat up in interest. This entire thing was going to rest on Sansa's shoulders, it seemed.

She steps forward hesitantly, looks at Arya and Joffrey with tears in her eyes seemingly ready to bolt

Catelyn's eyes looked over the next sentence, and she hesitated before continuing to read, her heart breaking for Sansa's impossible situation.

and says that she doesn't know, she doesn't remember, everything happened so fast, she didn't see...

Arya sent Sansa a betrayed look. Sansa avoided her eyes, looking at the ground instead.

Robb sighed in disappointment.

Everyone was tense and silent as Catelyn's voice filled the room.

Arya shrieks in anger, knocking Sansa to the ground, screaming liar, liar, liar. Ned stops them immediately, and pulls Sansa back to her feet.

Catelyn looked at Sansa in concern, but Sansa wasn't meeting anyone's eyes, her face blank.

She is staring at Arya, and doesn't seem to hear his concerned questions.

Cersei says that she wants Aya punished for what she has done, but Robert quickly shuts her down. He says that Arya is a child, and children fight, and no lasting harm was done so they should leave it be. Perhaps the scars will even teach Joffrey a lesson. Robert tells Ned to discipline his daughter as he will his son, and Ned nods in relief.

A noticeably tension left the room at those words. So everything would be alright, after all.

As Robert starts to walk away, Cersei calls after him that the direwolf is still out there. What of the beast?

At that, Sansa and Arya both looked at their mother in panic. Would Nymeria be alright?

Robert stops, saying he's forgotten the damn wolf, but Jory quickly says that they had found no trace of it. The king is not unhappy as he accepts that answer

Catelyn looked at her daughters in concern before she read the next sentence out loud.

but the queen demands a wolfskin laid across her bed before the sun goes down.

When Robert angrily reminds her that they don't have a wolf, she replies that they do. Her eyes are glittering triumphantly as they all take a moment to comprehend her words.

"What?" Sansa whispered, dreading the answer. "She doesn't mean Lady, does she?"

Everyone's eyes were glued to the book in Catelyn's hands as they waited for the answer.

Catelyn sharply inhaled before continuing. She knew exactly how much her children loved their wolves.

The king shrugs irritably, ignoring Ned's protests, and says that Ser Ilyn will see to it. He tells Ned that a direwolf is a savage beast and he should get his girls a dog; they'd be happier for it.

Sansa's eyes are frightened as she finally understands. She turns to Ned and says no, not Lady, Lady didn't bite anybody, she's good…

Tears entered Sansa's eyes as she started shaking.

No one in the room dared to break the silence.

Arya shouts angrily that Lady wasn't there! They should leave her alone!

Sansa starts to cry as she continues pleading and begging her father not to let them do it.

Catelyn swallowed. So, they were really going to do it? She could not even imagine the pain her child would have been going through - losing their direwolf must be unimaginable for them.

All Ned can do is take her in his arms and hold her as she weeps. He looks across the room at his old friend, closer than any brother, and asks Robert to change his mind, for the love he bears Ned, for the love he bore Ned's sister. Please.

A tiny flicker of hope entered Sansa's face. Maybe the king would change his mind after all?

The king looks back for a long moment and then damns his wife, voice full of loathing.

Sansa sank back into her seat, heavy with disappointment. She didn't want to listen to this anymore.

Ned stands, disentangling himself from Sansa's grasp as the weariness of the past four days returns to him. His voice his hard as steel as he tells Robert to at least have the courage to do it himself. Robert's eyes are flat and dead, and he leaves the room without a word.

No one could say anything to that. By now, everyone was just eager to get this chapter over with.

Prince Joffrey is smiling as Cersei asks where the direwolf is and sends for Ilyn Payne. Ned says no, and tells Jory to take the girls back to their rooms and bring him Ice. He'll do it himself, he says, bile rising in his throat.

"What does that mean?" Sansa asked hoarsely. "Will Father - will he -" her voice broke and she could not finish her sentence.

Ned looked at his daughter seriously. "You must understand, Sansa. What the queen says is the law. If she decides that your Lady must die, there is no changing that."

"But I don't-"

"I will do everything in my power to keep all this from happening, alright? I promise you," Ned said. "Your wolf is safe here; this won't ever happen."

Sansa didn't respond to that.

After a few seconds of silence as everyone reflected on this, Catelyn kept reading.

Cersei Lannister suspiciously asks if this is some trick, but Ned explains that she is of the North. She deserves better than a butcher.

Ned nodded softly, agreeing with that decision. His stomach was still churning at the idea of killing his daughter's innocent wolf, but if this truly had to be done, it was better that he do it himself.

He leaves the room with his daughter's wails echoing in his ears, and finds the direwolf pup chained up outside. Ned sits beside her for a while and says Lady's name.

Sansa was now starting to cry in earnest, and could not stop shaking her head. She truly did not want to listen to this. She did not want to listen to her father - She stopped herself before she could finish that sentence in her head. Trying her best to think positively, she resolved to go and find Lady as soon as they were finished here and give her a hug.

He hadn't paid much attention to the pups' names, but looking at her now, he knows that Sansa has chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most trusting, with bright golden eyes and grey fur.

Catelyn's voice broke slightly as she read the next sentence:

Jory brings him Ice.

When it's over, he commands Jory to have her buried in Winterfell. The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.

On his way back, he comes across Sandor Clegane, who has the butcher's boy, Mycah, hanging over the back of his horse. The boy had been cut almost in half from some terrible blow struck from above.

This was just one more blow of tragic injustice. No one had any words to say to this.

Ned says that they rode him down, and the Hound's eyes glitter as he laughs and answers that the boy ran, but not very fast.

Catelyn swallowed harshly as she said: "This chapter is finished."

She laid the book onto the table, and immediately pulled Sansa into a hug. Everyone else looked at her with sorrow in their faces.

They had all only just found their wolf pups, but had already built up such a close bond… no one wanted to imagine what it would be like to lose them now.

Clearing his throat, Ned suggested: "Let us all take a ten-minute break, alright? I believe we need it."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Sansa gave her mother a grateful smile and immediately rose to go find Lady and give her a hug.

A few moments later, the rest of the family left as well, taking a much-needed break.