The missive arrives on a snowy morning. King Robert Baratheon, it says, followed by all of his titles, and then, summons the Lord Hand Eddard Stark's wife and bastard son, Catelyn Stark and Jon Frost, to court in order to testify the latter's parentage and true bending powers. Jon Frost is accused of hiding his Avatar status and, alongside House Stark, of hiding his Targaryen blood. Lord Stark and his daughter are already held prisoner. Failure to answer this missive will be regarded as treason against the Crown and punished accordingly.

Although the handwriting is clearly not the king's, it carries his signature and seal, so there is no question whether this is real. The lack of letters from Ned, Sansa and Arya also confirms this—their correspondence came to a sudden stop not long ago, which is easily explained if they were in danger.

She calls for Robb, Rodrik and Maester Luwin to discuss the matter. What should we do? Jon isn't here, and we haven't heard of him since he, Ygritte and Lannister left Winterfell. How are they? Where are they? What happened that made Robert guess the truth?

Her son is as distressed as she is when he reads the missive. "How did they find out?", he wonders aloud. "Clearly, this wasn't by our family's word. Father would never tell, and neither would Arya and Sansa. It can't be Ser Jaime's fault either. He'd never do anything that could compromise his life, or his children's." He starts to pace around the solar. "Maybe Jon did something stupid and outed himself to the world. All he had to do was bend two elements with witnesses."

"Perhaps his trust was betrayed", Ser Rodrik offers. "We know he would have to reveal himself to whoever would train him. My lady", he turns to her, "where was he headed to, at first?"

"The Eyrie", she replies easily. "He'd meet my uncle, the Blackfish, and my sister Lysa, who would direct him to the best airbending teacher in the Vale to train him." She assumes it'd be someone from House Royce, since they have a history of master airbenders that rivals House Arryn. "I doubt either of them would betray Jon, especially if he gave my name, but the household…"

Maester Luwin frowns. "But who would a member of the Arryn household talk to, in order to have their word reach King's Landing?"

And isn't that the golden question!

"I'll write to my sister", she declares. "I'm sure she knows something."

"But what will we write to the capital?", Robb asks in return. "We cannot let this go unanswered. Father, Sansa and Arya will pay for our silence!"

She goes to him and places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We must reply to the summoning, not necessarily follow it." She sighs. "We don't know how things are going with Jon, so it's not a good idea to tell them he's with us. We'll tell them part of the truth: he's been in the Wall for sometime, left recently, we've had no news of him ever since. Tell him we don't know why he left, only that he did when we paid a visit and did not find him. As for me, tell him I fell ill. He has no way of knowing the truth of it."

Her son nods, his mouth in a thin line, indicating his tension. "I fear for our family", he says quietly.

Not caring if there are other men to see it, she hugs him tightly. "So do I, my darling." With Ned, Sansa and Arya imprisoned in King's Landing, Jon endangered gods know where, and Bran and Benjen wandering beyond the Wall, there is much to worry about—enough that she's been finding grey hair amidst the red more often than not.

They can only pray their family is safe, and take care of each other in the meantime.


She's putting Rickon to sleep when Robb comes to her. "Another raven came from King's Landing", he tells her when they are in the corridor. "I haven't opened it yet, but it can't be a reply to my letter. I've just sent it."

They go to his chambers, and she opens it. It's from Sansa—she knows her eldest daughter's by heart. Father is under arrest, forbidden from leaving his chambers, it says. I've been dismissed from my role as Queen Margaery's lady-in-waiting, but she still considers me a friend. In fact, she's the one helping me write and send this in secret (which means you must burn this after reading it). Arya is not here anymore. Margaery arranged for her to sneak in a ship to White Harbor. She should arrive at any time now; she will tell you all details. Don't come to King's Landing; it is most likely a trap. Don't trust Lord Baelish if he writes to you. We suspect he's behind this, which means Aunt Lysa is not to be trusted either. We have no news of Jon, but I doubt he's still in the Eyrie. Please take care. We don't know what the future has in store for us.

"Have you sent your letter to Aunt Lysa?", Robb asks after they finish.

She nods, closing her eyes. Of course, Sansa does not say why they suspect Petyr, but there must be a good reason for it. Thankfully, she didn't disclose too much on her letter; only asked after Jon.

When Robb speaks again, it's about another subject entirely. "I'll write to Lord Manderly and ask about Arya. Thank the gods she's not in that city anymore."

She nods again, this time humming in agreement as well.


Two ravens arrive on the same day; one from King's Landing, another from the Eyrie.

The king wishes Lady Stark a smooth recovery, the one from the capital says, and orders her to come as soon as her health allows it. There is nothing regarding what Robb said about Jon, which may be a sign that they at least believed him. Hopefully, their silence also means he hasn't been found by them.

His sister's letter is as grim as she feared. Your husband's bastard, you say… Don't you mean his nephew, instead?

She inhales sharply. This is why Sansa told her not to trust Lysa or Petyr… She keeps reading. Oh, no, he told me nothing of his true parentage; he told me what you've said: the bastard son of honorable Ned Stark, whose mother is a nobody, most likely dead by now. But he also told me stories about growing up with his uncle Benjen in the Wall, training under him and, look, Maester Aemon Targaryen.

Oh, no. Jon spilled his backstory to her sister. Of course, neither him or his travel companions could have known the information would be used against him. He conveniently omitted the order in which he began his training, only that his third element was metal, at the hands of the Kingslayer, and his fourth is air, which he learned here, depriving my Sweetrobin of many training days. But everyone knows that the Avatar has been prophesied to be born as the Warrior. A firebender. It soon dawned on me that Jon Frost should be named Jon Fyre.

Catelyn shakes her head, despite having no one around to see it. Lysa may have her talents, but this line of thinking doesn't suit her. It does suit Petyr, though—and the two of them always kept a close relationship; he rose to Master of Coin per her suggestion to her late husband, after all.

The story forms in her mind: Lysa likely wrote to Petyr about Jon. In turn, he did his research and figured out his parentage, and wrote to Lysa about it.

Oh, but you asked for news of him, the letter continues, and she can almost hear her sister's sarcastic voice. Well, a moon ago I confronted him about his lies. He, his wildling whore and the Kingslayer denied vehemently, but then they fought against my men when I told them they could answer for their charges in King's Landing. After harming numerous Valemen, they fled from the Eyrie with Jon's newly learned airbendingthough some soldiers reported to have seen his eyes glowing, unlike anything we've seen in his stay. I know he escaped with the Kingslayer, but his whore is said to have fallen from the Moon Gate. She's most likely dead, her broken bones spread across the forest under the castle.

A sob escapes through her lips. Ygritte has always been a good girl to Jon and her children; Arya and Bran are particularly close to her, and her nephew loves her. Losing her may break him, and Ser Jaime may not be enough to help him move on. She sends a silent prayer to the old gods and the new for the three of them. I won't despair now. Jon may have used his airbending to rescue her.

Wiping a tear from her eyelids, she finishes her reading. The Crown has been made aware of the threat against it. A price is on the Targaryen boy's head. Admittedly, not everyone in the Vale agrees with justice; some have been enchanted with the Avatar and his troupe, and think I went mad. They seem to have forgotten what we endured under the dragons' reign, but I haven't. I won't let another of them roam free.

Tears fall, and she doesn't hold them. Some unknown time later, Robb finds her, reads the letters, and hugs her. "Everything will be alright", he tells her. "I'll find a way to send a party in search of Jon, or at least reliable news of his whereabouts."

"Please do", she replies. "If you find that Ygritte is truly dead, we must find a way to retrieve her bones. She'd want to be burned."

He nods. "I fear we will have to take a side sooner or later, Mother. We won't be able to keep up this farce of your illness, and if Jon is in hiding… We may have to choose between him or the Crown."

She raises her chin. "What will you choose?"

"Jon", he replies without hesitation. "It's what Father would want me to choose, regardless of his own situation in King's Landing. And Jon… he's like a brother to me. You know that. And he's the Avatar. We need him to fight against the Others, whether the king believes the threat or not."

She nods. Even though she can't bear to imagine what Robert might do to Ned and Sansa should Robb declare against him, it is the right decision. And pray as she might, chances that this decision will have to be taken grow higher every day.

They may have to prepare for war.