Leon sat in silence and ate his food quietly as Lady Stark spoke with her husband. Across from him on his left and sitting next to him was Robb and Jon with the former being on the other side and the latter being right beside him. He had a brief conversation with the two earlier, but the liveliness they usually had wasn't there, and it was because of that their talk was brief.
What was the cause of their energy to be so low?
War.
The Seven Kingdoms were at war again.
After following Robb into Lord Stark's solar, Leon was met with the sight of a number of people. He saw Ser Rodrick and his nephew, the Captain of Lord Stark's guard Ser Cedric Holt, Maester Luwin, Jon, Lady Stark, Lord Stark, and a few others whose names he couldn't recall at the moment.
Once they were in and seated, Lord Stark let out a sigh and said in a somewhat grim tone. "Apologies for calling you all here, I know most of you had planned on retiring for the evening, but what I have here is important and something you all need to hear."
As he told them this he lifted up his left hand so that they all could see the scrolled up piece of paper he had in his hand.
Leon remained silent and frowned at this. He obviously had no idea what was on the letter, but judging by Lord Stark's tone it was nothing good.
"What is it, my lord?" Asked Ser Cedric with curiosity as Leon glanced at him. The dark brown-haired man could be seen scowling, which made it clear that he was not happy about whatever this is.
At this, Lord Stark lowered his hand, unrolled the parchment, and began to read out loud. "Ned, my dearest of friends, while I wished this letter came with good news it comes with terrible news only. The Seven Kingdoms are at war again. Balon Greyjoy of House Greyjoy has declared himself King of the Iron Isles and has burnt the Lannister Fleet to the ground at Lannisport. He and his Ironborn now begin to reave and raid as I write this, so gather your army and come quickly for we have another war to win. Signed, your friend, Robert Baratheon."
A silence ensued once he was done reading, but after several seconds, Lady Stark spoke.
"No." She said in a tearful manner as she started to shake her head slowly. "No, I will not lose you to another one of Robert's wars. You have done enough for him, refuse this."
"My lady, he is our king-"
"He didn't send him that letter as King of the Seven Kingdoms, Ser Tristan!" Interrupted Lady Stark as she glared at the bearded man that spoke. "He sent him that letter as a friend, so Ned can refuse it if he wants."
"My lady that is not wise." Began Maester Luwin in a serious filled voice as he looked at her, his hands clasped before him as they usually were. "If he were to refuse His Grace there would be many repercussions. There could even be more rebellions should Lord Stark refuse."
Leon watched as Lady Stark looked away from the old man. He didn't know if what he had said was true, but he assumed it was since some of the men voiced their agreements with him.
"Cat." Said Lord Stark in a solemn tone as he looked at his wife who looked at him. "I have to go, I'm sorry, but I have to."
At this, she said nothing and looked away once more with tears slowly trickling out of her eyes.
Lord Stark frowned a little at the sight of this before looking at Leon and the others and saying. "Can you give us the room? I'd like to be alone with my wife for a few minutes."
"Leon?" The boy heard causing him to finally blink and snap out of his deep thought state and see Robb staring at him with a bit of a concerned look.
"Hmm? What is it?" Questioned Leon as he looked at the auburn-haired boy.
"I was just wondering if you would like to accompany me and Jon to the Godswood?" Asked Robb as he continued to stare at him with the concern no longer being there. "I'm not really hungry anymore and would like to go to the Godswood to pray for our fathers who are going to war."
"Thanks, but I actually need to write some letters for my family." Said Leon with a sad smile. "One for my father and one for my mother and sister."
Robbed nodded at this before frowning and asking. "And your brother?"
"Me and him aren't really close so I didn't plan on writing a letter to him." Said Leon in response before taking a small bite of his food, which he barely had been eating.
"Why not?" Inquired Jon with curiosity laced to his voice as Leon looked at him. There was a bit of confusion in his voice as well, and the expression he wore made it obvious that he did not understand why they weren't close.
"We," started Leon who had drawn out the word before pausing and eventually shrugging his shoulders. "We just aren't."
He had said the words helplessly for he didn't really know why they weren't close. It wasn't like they were several years apart or spent little to no time with each other, they in fact spent plentiful time together. He just didn't feel that strong of a connection between them as he did with his sister. Maybe his brother felt like there was a strong connection between them, and believed they were really close but Leon did not.
"But shouldn't you write one for him regardless since it is possible he could be involved in this war?" Questioned Jon who had frowned slightly. "He is old enough to b be someone's squire if I remember correctly."
Now that Jon mentioned it Leo was indeed old enough to be someone's squire, but that did not mean his father would allow that. If he knew his father, which was something he believed he did, then his brother would remain at Adamant with his mother and sister while his father fought in this war.
"While you are correct, I do not think my brother will be going to war alongside my father." Said a somewhat hesitant Leon. "He is heir to Adamant, and will probably remain there while my father goes off to this war."
At this, neither Robb or Jon said anything, they just looked at one another. Leon didn't pay much attention to this and glanced to his left and took notice of Lady Stark no longer speaking to her husband and looking at the three of them, or to be more specific, at Jon and him.
The expression she had was hard to describe, but if he were to try describing it then it would be displeased or agitated. This of course was understandable given the circumstances going on, but because the stare she was giving them was more so directed at Jon and him, it made him uncomfortable and fidget a little. She obviously noticed his squirming and had offered him a friendly smile, which he quickly returned, before almost instantaneously turning his attention to his plate.
"Why did it feel like she was looking at me the same way she looks at Jon?" He wondered as he stared at his food. It was no secret she would look at Lord Stark's bastard with discontent, but for some strange reason he felt like she was also looking at him with those eyes.
This wasn't the first time he had experienced this feeling in fact it was the second. The first time he felt like she was looking at him with annoyance was just after his first sparring session with Robb.
Letting loose a sigh, Leon slowly pushed himself away from the table and said before getting up. "Sorry, I'm not really hungry right and would just prefer to be alone right now."
He then looked at Robb and said to him while ignoring everyone's gazes. "We'll talk later, Robb."
Ned did not know what exactly to make of Leon's behavior at breakfast. He could understand his and his sons' lack of excitement, but what he couldn't really comprehend was Leon's lack of appetite and desire to be alone.
"Maybe it's the thought of his brother and father going to war that troubles him?"
He could understand then if that were indeed the case, but something told him that was not it, so what exactly was it that made him act like that?
Furrowing his brows, the Lord of Winterfell contemplated the possibilities before hearing a knock on the door.
"Come in!" He commanded as he looked up at the door.
"Apologies, my lord, I know you are very busy, but I have a list of all the men we can spare to the Iron Islands without making us vulnerable and the amount of supplies we can take from Winterfell." Spoke Ser Cedric as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
"Already? I haven't even given you instructions to do so yet." Said Ned in a bit of a surprised manner as he took the parchment his Captain was offering him.
"Aye, that is true, my lord." Affirmed Ser Cedric with a nod of his head as he pulled his hand away and put it behind his back along with his other hand. "But I figured I might as well get it done as soon as possible, so I spent all of last night and this morning figuring that out."
Upon hearing this, Ned tore his eyes away from the paper he was holding and said to the older man. "Have you at least eaten yet?"
"No, my lord." Answered Ser Cedric with a shake of his head causing Ned to frown.
"Go get yourself some food, and some sleep." He ordered after a while as he rolled up the piece of paper. "And good work, you did well."
At this, the bearded man smiled. "Thank you, my lord."
He then left the room leaving Lord Stark alone who had exhaled sharply while setting down the piece of paper on the desk before him.
"Wars can really bring out best the best in us and the worst in us."
Leon stared helplessly at the blank parchment in front of him before closing his eyes and sighing.
"Why did the Greyjoys have to start a war?" He inquired as his lips arched downwards. He had several things he wanted to talk to his father about, but since the man was going to war, Leon was unsure if his father would want to talk about them.
One of those things wanted to ask was about whose daughter he might be getting engaged to since there were apparently several other candidates for him that were better than Roslin Frey. Now though, he thought it might be best to broach this subject with his mother, but he doubted she'd know exactly which one his father was thinking of marrying him off too since she was not him and he was not her.
With another exhale, Leon lifted his writing hand up and had started to write something down before abruptly pausing and crumpling up the piece of paper.
"I should start it off in a more uplifting manner like the ones for my mother and sister." He thought as he pulled out another paper and started to write once more.
He wrote for a couple of minutes with a few breaks here and there before thinking about how exactly this would be given to his father.
"This is probably something I should have thought about sooner." He muttered with furrowed brows and a scowl. He was initially going to send it by raven with the letters to his mother and sister, but now that he thought about it, he doubted his father would be at Adamant to receive it.
"I could-" Thought Leon before widening his eyes in realization. "-that's it! I could ask Lord Stark to give it to him!"
This train of thought of course was under the assumption that Lord Stark would be traveling down South to meet with the King before going to the Iron Islands. He figured his father would be with the King and that Lord Stark could hand it to him so that he could write back to him before the fighting starts.
Of course, for this to happen that depended on Lord Stark's willingness to deliver it for him, but he was confident Lord Stark would be willing to do that.
And Cut. I don't have much to say, but I think Act I will be a total of 6 chapters, which means it could have 24 parts in total and be about 54-72k words long? I don't know how long this story will be, but we'll just assume it'll be a decent number, yeah? Now, with nothing more willing to say, I take my leave.