Ugh.

"Yield! Yield! Yield! I yield!" Leon yelled as he let go of his sword and held up his hands.

Robb smiled in response to this before moving his sword away and offering him a hand up.

"Good fight, shame it didn't end in your victory though." He proclaimed as Leon accepted the help up.

"Am I sensing sarcasm there, Robb or are you being serious because I honestly can't tell with that grin of yours." Leon stated as he gave Robb a somewhat annoyed look.

At this, Robb shrugged. "Could be both."

"Yeah, could be, but highly doubt." Responded Leon with a frown. "It doesn't matter in the end though because next time I'm going to win."

"Oh, are you sure about that?" Robb inquired as his grin widened.

"Yeah, I'm certain of it." Leon affirmed with determination in his eyes.

Robb laughed heartily at this before saying after calming down. "Well we can find out tomorrow if you want, but for now we have to call it. My lesson with Maester Luwin is going to begin soon, and I don't want to be late for that and have him come looking for me."

Leon frowned upon hearing those words, but didn't put up any attempts to stop him. Instead, he simply said, "alright, but just know that tomorrow won't be the same."

Robb merely smiled at this and said, "we shall see," before going to put his sword up.

Leon didn't give him any sort of response, and simply watched Robb walk away when it suddenly dawned on him that he now had nothing to do.

"I could practice by myself, but..."

The thought of training like how he did at his ancestral home honestly didn't sit very well with him. He had understood that there would be times where he would have no choice but to do that, but today wasn't one of those times.

Right now he was wanting to train with someone, but the only other person he could train with that was his age and on the same level as him was Jon and he had no idea where he was.

Making a thoughtful look, Leon began to contemplate on whether or not he should look for Jon when he heard a familiar feminine voice call out to him from behind.

Curious as to who it was, he turned around and saw no one directly behind him, but above him on the walls.

"Lady Stark!" Leon greeted as he bent his body forward a little into that of a bow. He hadn't been aware that she had been watching his duel with her son, and was wondering if she was going to comment on it.

"If you are not too busy right now and are free, then come see me in my husband's solace, there is something important we need to discuss in private." She told him with a bit of sternness as she stared down at him.

At this, he furrowed his brows a little before giving her his response.

"Of course, my lady, give me a few moments sword and then I'll be there."

She merely nodded her head at this before turning and walking away with the guards escorting her following right behind her.

After putting away his sword Leon arrived at Lord Stark's solace where he was met by those that were escorting Lady Stark who allowed him entry. Upon entering the room he was greeted by a standing Lady Stark who had on a serious look.

"My lady," he greeted back. "Apologies for making you wait, I hope I wasn't too long."

"There is nothing to be sorry of, Leon. You did not make me wait long, and even if you did I would not be mad at you. You have had a tough time these past few weeks." She told him with the smallest of smiles.

Leon merely nodded at this and frowned slightly. Truth be told it had been more than a few weeks, but that was not what caused him to frown. No, what was causing him to do this was what Lady Stark had to say.

He had no idea what it was she was going to tell him, but the last time they had spoken in private she told him about the death of his father, so he honestly didn't know what to expect.

Nonetheless, Leon asked the obvious question. "You said you had something you needed to speak to me about?"

"Yes, it's about your family, Leon." Lady Stark affirmed as she pulled out a piece of paper she had hidden on her person and offered it to him. "We received a raven from them today asking if it's alright for you to return home so that you can pay your respects to your father."

As she told him this, Leon took the piece of paper from her and gave it a quick read. His expression didn't change much as he read it, but Lady Stark had noticed the small movement of his lips curving downwards. She of course did not know why he looked a little displeased, for she had thought he would have wanted this, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

Once he was finally done reading, Leon took a few seconds to gather his thoughts before looking up at her and saying. "Have you given them a response yet?"

At this, Lady Stark shook her head. "No, not yet. Why?"

"I um, well, I don't know why, but for some reason I kind of don't want to go back." Leon admitted somewhat hesitantly. "Like I do because I miss my family and want to pay my respects to my father, but at the same time I also don't want to go back."

"I see," was all Lady Stark said in response to this.

"Yeah, can you just give me some time to think about this, my lady?" Leon asked sheepishly. "I'm just unsure what to do and would like some time to think about this."

"Of course." She affirmed with a smile as she nodded her head.

To which Leon smiled and said, "thank you."

A few moments passed after that, and after realizing that Lady Stark had nothing else to say, Leon decided to excuse himself. "Well if there is nothing else to be said, I think it's best to take my leave. Thank you once again, my lady, and I promise to give you an answer on this within the next few hours."

After getting a response from her on how he should take as much time as he needs, but not too much time, Leon left the room.

Once outside, he began to roam the castle with no particular place in mind all while thinking about what it is he wanted to do.

He wanted to return to Adamant, but at the same time, he also wanted to remain here at Winterfell with Robb and the others. The reason why was mostly because he doubted that he would come back should he return home. He believed that once he was home and with his family, he would want to remain with them and his mother would allow it.

Obviously, there was a chance none of that would happen and he was just overthinking it all, but in his young mind there was a high probability that it would, and that was something he didn't want.

"It shouldn't really be this complicated." He thought to himself. "Like it honestly shouldn't be, but it is."

Leon could only sigh at his indecisiveness before beginning to wonder what his friends and family would do if they were in this situation that he was in.

If it was Robb he believed that he would stay here and continue being a ward whereas with Jon he thought the opposite. He figured if Jon were in his position, then he would want to go back to his family and pay his respects to his deceased father. He didn't know why he thought this, but he felt Robb was the one that put duty over his family and Jon was the one that put family before duty.

Meanwhile, if it was his older brother here and not him, he assumed his brother would return to Adamant to simply pay his respects, and that be it. Leo wouldn't want to stay like he would, and would most likely return to Winterfell so that he can continue being taught by the Starks.

There were a few more that came to mind besides these three, but in the end, it didn't really matter what they would probably do for they weren't in this position.

It was just him that was in, which meant he needed to make the decision for himself.

Return to Adamant, and risk the possibility of not returning to Winterfell.

Or stay at Winterfell and have a raven be sent telling his family that he was doing okay and that he'll be remaining at Winterfell until he came of age like how it had been planned from the start.

It wasn't an easy no matter how he looked at it, but the choice he was leaning to was the one he believed to be the right one, and one his father would do if he were in his position.

I know I have said this before and some might say that I'm doing a good job, but I just want to say that I honestly do not like writing kid scenes. Like, I truly feel limited because I gotta remember that children do not talk like their adults. Their vocabulary and knowledge isn't that vast, so I gotta be careful. Long story short, I just can't wait for when we get to adult age part for when that happens my motivation will increase tenfold and so will the word count. Until then though, slow and short updates.