Betrothals: Ned mulls over marriage offers for Lyarra.

If it was possible for Ned Stark's face to look like a stone, he pretty much put all the statues in the crypts to shame as he glared coldly at the pile of betrothal offers that were made to his eldest daughter Lyarra Stark. He figured most of his bannermen would offer their sons, or even themselves, as perspective husbands to Lyarra Stark the moment the young girl reached maidenhood. But he never expected Houses south of the Neck to literally dump their hopes for a beautiful Stark bride onto his desk via ravens.

The young girl already reached five and ten, and though she was still a child, she held a beauty that rivaled Lyanna Stark and drew many stares from nobles and common folk alike. Her beauty earned her the title Winter Rose of the North. But it wasn't just her beauty that attracted people, it was her selfless gestures in healing, comforting, singing and her skills in swordsmanship, archery, and horseback riding.

Eddard picked up a random betrothal offer, saw the sigil for House Frey and immediately tossed it into the hearth's fire with a sour look on his face. That's ten levels of 'fuck no'.

The golden rose of House Tyrell caught his eye as he read over the offer from Mace Tyrell for his eldest son, Willas Tyrell, to have one of his two eldest daughters as a bride for the heir to Highgarden. In his mind, he saw his little Sansa smiling among the Southern ladies. The girl inherited her mother's Tully features and is already dreaming of knights and true love in the South. She would no doubt love Highgarden for it's beauty and splendor. Lyarra on the other hand, with facial expressions similar to his own, preferring to remain stoic in the face of battle and blatant insults, detests the South and its politics. Far too honest and Northern to thrive in the South. It would also not be a good idea for the Winter Rose to meet Highgarden's Golden Rose, Margaery Tyrell.

He placed Highgarden in the "Sansa Pile" as he called it.

He thought over the possibility of Theon marrying one of his girls. Though the boy did show interest in Lyarra, the girl literally beat Theon to a pulp for believing he could make her his salt wife. Also given the boy's perverse activities at brothels...well his hope for having the boy as a son-in-law is definitely off the table if he's not gonna commit.

He stomach dropped when he saw the flayed man of House Bolton as he skimmed over the message. Though Roose had a trueborn son, he died of illness some time back, but he had a bastard he hopes to legitimize if the boy proves himself a worthy heir. In Roose Bolton's words he suggested, 'Only fitting for my bastard son to have a bastard bride.' He crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the fire. Not even if the boy was the last man on earth.

He read through his bannermens' offers and sorted them into Lyarra's or Sansa's pile. He didn't bother to make one for Arya since she was too much like Lyanna to ever want to be forced into marriage.

His eyes widened at the lion sigil from House Lannister. After all these years he still felt sour at Tywin over what happened to Elia and her children. He opened the scroll and was surprised to see it was from Tywin's younger brother Kevan Lannister who is hoping for his son to be given the chance to meet beautiful Lyarra Stark in person and build an alliance and good relations with the North. Though Ned never met Tywin's younger brother, he glimpsed him from a distance and saw none of the proud lion's ruthless nature. He wouldn't mind his company, his son on the other hand, well from Robert's description he wasn't exactly making good headway towards becoming a knight. Chances are, Lyarra would most likely dislocate his shoulder and break his ribs the moment he says something stupid. Into the fire it goes. Sorry Kevan.

He opened his good-father's letter who offered to foster Lyarra at Riverrun and introduce her to his loyal bannermen in hopes of finding her a good match with a loving husband. Hoster took a liking to Lyarra when she was only a child and no longer minded that she was evidence of Ned's 'dishonor'. The Warden of the Trident could not resist the girl's innocent charm either. That went into Lyarra's pile.

Next was the stag of House Baratheon. He opened it without hesitance and saw it was for both Sansa and Lyarra to marry into the king's family. Sansa for Joffrey, and Lyarra for Renly. He knew his friend would want to join their Houses through their children, and since his younger brother Renly is still unmarried and without an heir for Storm's End, he hoped for Lyarra to be the one to continue the Baratheon blood line. It wouldn't be a bad match, except for the open secret about Renly and Loras being involved with each other. Though Lyarra was logical and never expected romance in marriage, Ned would not want his daughter to spend the rest of her life watching her husband with another man. She doesn't deserve to be lonely. That letter went into Sansa's pile. The girl dreamt of being queen.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts to see Maester Luwin with another raven scroll in his hand.

Ned groaned out, "Please tell me it's not another betrothal offer for my daughters." He still had to sort out the offers from Jon Arryn's bannermen.

"It's from House Reed my lord." Maester Luwin said as he handed the scroll to Eddard. The Stark Lord took the scroll and saw the symbol he dreaded to see, the same one he received years ago when he had to tell Cat the truth. He swallowed his saliva as he opened the parchment and read the contents in his friend's familiar handwriting.

'Ned, you can't betroth her to anyone.'

Ned paused to sigh in frustration, he had a feeling Howland would use his greensight when it came to Lyarra. He dreads to know what her future would hold, but Howland will present his vague information to Ned no matter what. He braced himself as he looked at the scroll again,

'No matter how many offers are presented to her, you cannot accept them for no man in Westeros would make a worthy husband for her. But fear not, he will come in due time, he just needs to get across the water.'

When he finished reading and rereading it, he tossed the scroll in the hearth for safety measures and sighed. He appreciated Howland's help, but he hates prophecies, they give him a headache. He looked at Lyarra's stack of betrothal offers and thought about this suiter Howland wrote about. He wanted all his children to be in love with their marital spouses and comfortable for the rest of their days. Lyarra's case seems a bit more complicated. Whatever or whoever Howland saw marrying his daughter, it could alter the future's course and Westeros'.

With a resigned sigh, he pushed Lyarra's betrothals aside. He just hopes the husband Howland wrote about won't give him trouble.