Jaime

Jaime's eyelids were heavy, so the sight of the Twins was sweeter than freshest summer peach. Midday had been his estimate for when they were going to arrive but they had seen the heaviest snow of the winter so far and it was now late evening. The column's pace wasn't helped by having their numbers swollen by freeriders. They numbered four thousand, five hundred leaving Harrenhal – or near enough to make no matter – and now they were five thousand. They had broken off from the Kingsroad to ride beside the Green Fork toward their destination and Jaime hadn't fail to notice the layer of ice that grew gradually each day. Now a mile from the Twins, the column's outriders when riding to meet them.

"Lord Arwood is ready to meet you Ser Jaime," the lead outrider said. "He says that the men should make camp this side of the Green Fork."

"Very well," Jaime replied, curtly. The order was passed down the column.

As they drew close to the eastern Twin, the portcullis began to rise. The clatter and rattle of the steel chains could hardly be heard over the deafening wind. Jaime brough his horse to stop, as did Bronn and the other men at the front of the column. A company of ten rode out from underneath the arch, one of them bearing a banner pole and all of them dressed in thick clothes. Chief amoung the company was their leader, dressed in the finest wool of them all. He had dark brown hair, cut short & neat. A bastard sword hung on the left of his hip. The company came to a halt and the leader was the person to speak.

"Lord Jaime," he said loudly, trying to be heard over the wind. "It is good of you to be here. I thought the snow would have delayed you."

"It did delay us," Jaime replied, not unkindly. "I presume you are Lord Arwood."

The man nodded. "If you would be so good, please join me for supper. I was in the middle of cooking it when your outriders arrived to inform us you were close."

Jaime nodded. "Lead the way."

The Frey company turned their horses around. Jaime & his men followed them inside the eastern Twin, letting out a sigh of relief to finally be out of the wind & snow. The gatehouse doubled as an opening chamber for the castle, lit & warmed by many torches and braziers. Jaime could not help wondering what idiot designed a gatehouse inside the castle it was meant to defend. The whole point of a gatehouse to is to make it more difficult for attackers to gain entry, so if someone were to take this gatehouse, they would win access to the castle. Dismounting, Jaime noticed the serving women standing in line with plates of bread and bowls of salt.

"Your men can leave their horses here," Lord Arwood told Jaime, walking up to him, "but they will be served dinner in the main hall in the western castle."

Jaime squinted, tilting his head. The Lord of Crossing was shorter than him, so he had to look down slightly. "Why? Aren't you going to play the host?"

"I am playing the host," Arwood said firmly. "They will be served in the western castle by my cooks. I will be serving you personally." He gestured to the serving women. "But before any of you go further, you must eat some bread and salt. You are not guests until you do."

So that's how he's playing this.

Jaime ate his piece of bread and it was sorely welcome, even its purpose was clearly supposed to criticise what his Father had planned with Walder Frey. He'd not eaten since the morning as there hadn't been a good opportunity to stop the column in the snow. Bronn ate as well, so did the ten of Jaime's men that had come inside with them. Arwood gestured to a man with black hair and a thick beard. "Your men will be escorted over the bridge by the Captain of my guard, Ser Brendon Jyles," said Arwood Frey.

"Ser Bronn eats with us," Jaime asserted. "He is my second-in-command." Lord Arwood nodded, accepting.

Jaime & Bronn followed the Lord of the Crossing out of the gatehouse through a door in the side of the chamber, from there it was a series of corridors and staircases through the castle to Lord Arwood's solar. The corridors were decorated with the odd tapestry, rug or ornament. None lacked a brazier. Keeping the castle warm was clearly a priority to this new Lord of the Crossing and Jaime could not blame him. The Red Keep suffered from being built in the usually hot climate of King's Landing, making it poorly equiped to deal with snow.

Lord Arwood's solar proved was a decently sized room: not too big, not too small. It featured all the usual furniture one would expect – table, chairs, desk, bookshelf – but one thing out of the ordinary was a small kitchen space in the corner, a pot of stew was simmering away. The solar was already occupied by four children – two boys, two girls – and a woman with long, honey blonde hair, the younger of the two girls nursing at her breast. Upon entering, the three other children came running at Arwood and he wrapped his arms around all three.

The very obvious conclusion Jaime came to was that these were the Lord's wife & children. All of the children took after Arwood in hair colour and the two boys were clearly twins. Arwood stood after embracing his children then told Jaime & Bronn to sit at the table. They did as they were bid, albeit awkwardly. Jaime sent Bronn several glances as they avoided Arwood's children playing on the floor while their father saw to the stew simmering in the corner.

"How was the journey up here?" Lord Arwood's wife asked once the pair were seated. Out the corner of Jaime's eye, Bronn was trying not to stare at the woman's chest where her daughter was feeding.

"Miserable," Bronn managed. "Snow fell on us all the way and wolves snacked on the edges of our camps. Fifty two men as of last night."

She frowned. "That's awful."

Jaime nodded, agreeing, but those wolves had not bothered him as much as the one in his dreams. Jon Stark's white direwolf was still visiting him, telling him every night to head north when a raven speaks of doom. He had come to the conclusion that the raven that had initially visited him in his dreams was the one the wolf was speaking about.

Jaime leaned forward, arms resting on the table to get more comfortable. "Forgive me, My lady, but what is your name?" he asked. It was all he could do to not complain about the aches plague his body because of the day's riding.

"Ryella of house Royce." She jostled the babe in her arms slightly. "This little one is Hostella," she nodded at the two boys then the older girl, "those two are Androw & Alyn and that is Ryella, she is our eldest."

"Beside the hair, she is the image of you," Jaime commented. Ryella, the adult, smiled warmly.

"I'm sure if ever had son, Lord Jaime, he would take after you."

Suddenly her smile looked fake.

Before long, Lord Arwood announced that the stew was ready. His children abandoned their toys to seat themselves at the table, clearly well accustomed to doing so when supper was about to be served. Ryella placed Hostella in a fenced off section of the room to free her arms. Seven steaming bowls of stew were place on the table. Swimming in the broth, Jaime saw chunks of pork, broccoli, radish, turnip and potatoe. Ryella poured wine & ale for the adults; warm water for the children. The last thing dished out were heels of golden brown bread that looked freshly cooked and were still warm.

Before anyone could eat, Ryella led a prayer to the Seven. Her children joined her with high-pitched voices, speaking more quickly and jumbling words, so the prayer became difficult to listen to. Only once the messy prayer was finished did Lord Arwood say, "Tuck in." Jaime gripped a wooden spoon and scooped up a piece of potatoe. It had cooled enough that putting it in his mouth didn't burn his tongue. He smiled, finding the taste pleasant.

"So how has your search for Arya Stark been going, Lord Arwood?" Jaime asked.

"Horribly," the Lord of the Crossing replied, bitter. "My men are stretched thin across the Riverlands. Some of the river lords have taken up the search, but I expect it is so they don't look like they aren't taking orders from the liege lord. Most of them are still bitter about the War of the Five Kings and the Red Wedding. Even letting Edmure Tully return to Riverrun has not appeased them."

At that, Jaime raised an eyebrow. "You let Edmure Tully have Riverrun when he was stripped of it as punishment for aiding Robb Stark."

"He was helping his nephew, what else did you expect him to do? Besides, Riverrun belongs to me to do with as I will and I do not like the idea of keeping my uncle locked up while he has a son to look after. If you must know, Edmure is not Lord of Riverrun, my Uncle Ser Whalen is."

Jaime squinted. "How old are you, My Lord? If you don't my asking."

"Twenty five. If my being a lord at such a young age is an issue for you, Lord Jaime, then I'm afraid you will just have to suffer it with grace. Arya Stark took the liberty of killing a large number of my kinsman who were ahead of me in the line of succession. Yes, I have family still alive that were ahead of me in the line of succession, but they weren't at the Twins the night of the poisoning or are much younger than I am. My being here the night Arya Stark killed my family members is the reason I am Lord of the Crossing. Someone had to take initiative. I had men out looking the little she-wolf before first light."

"And you've come up with nothing."

"No. Ser Brendon came upon her in the afternoon of the following day but the outlaws known as the Brotherhood without Banners intervened and ran off his company. She has eluded us ever since."

Bronn sipped his wine. "How do you know it is Arya Stark who you're looking for?" he asked. "This could be some commoners get or the daughter of some river lordling who was killed in the camps during the Red Wedding."

"The serving women described the girl who claimed responsiblity as brown haired & long faced and said that she referred to Lady Catelyn as her mother and that the North remembers. Believe it or not Ser Bronn, I am not a half-wit. I can put pieces of information together and come to a reasonable conclusion."

"Where do you expect that the Brotherhood took Arya Stark?" Jaime asked.

"It's anyone's guess but I would expect that she'd be heading north." His mouth twitched. Jaime noticed.

"What is the matter Lord Arwood?"

"I sent a raven to Jon Stark asking him to come to the Twins and answer for his sister's crime. I apologised for the Red Wedding and told him I'd set Edmure Tully free and all I have received is silence."

"What did you expect? And why did you not go to Her Grace with your request to make King Jon answer for the crime?"

"Because Lord Jaime, pardon me for being blunt, I did not trust her to take me seriously and I was bloody surprised to hear you would be coming north at all. Your sister is an incompetent ruler who I have no respect for. Call that treason if you wish, but its the truth. The only reason she is on that throne is because no body was in King's Landing to challenge her. It is her own fault that the faith reached such levels of power which lead to her humiliation with that walk of atonement they put her through.

"Besides, she is a Queen only in name. Ravens have been sent and received. Everyone is waiting for the Dragon Queen to take King's Landing so that they can swear fealty to her. They won't take their men to fight for her only because winter is here and they are more worried about keeping their families and smallfolk alive and warm. I'm not going to fight for her until I've found Arya Stark."

Jaime looked down at the table, almost shamefully. "I will not call it treason," he said. "Even I do not want my sister on the throne." Ryella looked shocked at that, despite being occupied with her three children. Arwood was unphased.

"If when you return to King's Landing, you decide to remove her from the throne, I will support you Lord Jaime."

"Are you sure that you want the son of the man who helped plan the Red Wedding as a king?"

Arwood smirked. "So you picked up the true purpose of the bread and salt I had you eat."

"It wasn't exactly subtle."

Arwood laughed. "I thought as much, but it needed to be done. House Frey's reputation needs to be repaired. I may hate your father, but that doesn't mean I hate you, Lord Jaime. I will not blame the son for the sins of his father and I am on of the few people who will not call you Kingslayer."

"That is good to hear." By now, they were mopping up the remaining broth with their bread. "So where do you want me to take my search, Lord Arwood?" Jaime asked. "You've had my men camp on the eastern side of the river, so I can only guess you want me and men to patrol the Kingsroad."

"Yes. My own men will be brought back south and focus on the Kingsroad south of the Trident. I believe it unlikely that the she-wolf would want to travel south, but I have neglected to send many men in that direction. I don't supposed you remember encountering anyone that could be her or the Brotherhood without Banners on the journey here?"

"Beric Dondarion is too smart to travel the Kingsroad when he knows he's a wanted man," Bronn answered. "The only wolves we met on the road were the ones who made dinner out of our men."

There was that girl on the side of the road, Jaime remembered, but she had red hair and looked a commoner.

"What else did your serving women say of the Stark girl?" Jaime asked.

"She supposedly removed a perfect mask of a different face, changing her voice as well. Any mummer can manipulate their voice but we did find two leather masks, the one she removed and another she'd thrown on the dais. The serving women said the mask she removed looked like a normal face while she was wearing it." Ryella removed the children from the table, leaving her husband, Jaime & Bronn to speak as she cleared up the bowls.

"A mask that looks like a normal face?" Bronn repeated.

Arwood nodded. "Hair, eyes, everything."

The girl could have been Arya if she can change her face.

"It doesn't matter," Jaime asserted. "I assume you want me and my men to begin our searching tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Then that is what I'll do."