Robb
Robb Stark stood alone on the battlements of Riverrun, his heart in another place. The words of his father's letter still stuck to him.
Bastard was what it had called Myrcella. Born not to King Robert, but to the Kingslayer, the man he had just defeated in the field.
Every bit of him hoped that the letter was false, or some trick being played by Jeyne, as they had often played tricks on each other as children, but Robb knew that it was true. He could see it plainly now, how each of the Queen's children had looked golden like her, like Lannisters, and not a trace of the King.
Robb wondered what he could possibly do, knowing such a truth. An abomination was what she would be called if men ever knew the truth, yet when he pictured Myrcella all he could see was her beauty.
She was his wife, and the mother of his unborn child, surely she couldn't be an abomination. This must certainly have been what father was arrested for, he realized. Father had opposed Joffrey's rise to the throne, and failed, getting arrested for it.
There must have been more than that though he figured. If she was a bastard, then surely father would not allow the two of them to remain wed, though he wasn't sure his father had much choice now.
He had won the war after they had beaten the Kingslayer. He had freed the Riverlords and beaten the Lannisters. Now by making peace he could win his father's freedom, and surely that had to mean more.
After a while Robb seemed to lose track of time as he must have been brooding there as it was Jeyne who found him on the Walls again, now in the early morning.
"Robb," she called to him. He turned to her, and saw that her eyes seemed to be filled with pity.
He simply gave her an empty look back. Robb was tired, he realized. He had not slept in what felt like days, and after so long of riding too he was exhausted.
"You need some rest," she told him.
"I can't rest. Not now," he said to her.
"You have to Robb," she said, taking him by the arm, and starting to pull. Reluctantly he began to follow her as she walked him down from the battlements and towards the Great Keep where rooms must have been set up for him.
Robb managed to keep his composure as they walked together, as though she weren't guiding him, and kept his head up. Some men bowed as they passed and others went to their knees, calling out to him or cheering. They were brother and sister, surely none would find them to be conspicuous.
Jeyne guided him to a chamber that had a small Stark banner hanging from it, and when he entered he noticed some of his things were there too. She sat next to him on the bed, and closed the door behind him.
"What… What do you think father will do?" He asked her, his voice full of worry. "What would he do?"
"I don't know. But we must needs win him back from the Lannisters, Sansa and Arya too… And your mother," Jeyne told him.
He knew she was right, but that wasn't what he had asked her about though. "About Myrcella," Robb said.
"I don't know what he would do about her either…" Jeyne said. "The Lannisters would have peace though for our family back, and you are wed to her."
"How can we make peace with such-" He started before Jeyne cut him off.
"-I burned the letter. Father gave it to me in private and I only showed it to your grandfather and uncles as well as you. But your grandfather is dead, and a word with your uncles and none would ever need know of it," she assured him.
That made Robb feel a little relieved. He could bend the knee to Joffrey and make peace with none ever having known the truth at least, even if he knew it. It did not feel right to him to bend his knee to a usurper though.
Family, Duty, Honor, Robb reminded himself. Family came before duty and honor, that had been what his mother and father had taught him the words meant.
"Will the Lannisters truly give father back?" Robb wondered.
"They must. The Queen will want the Kingslayer back, and her daughter too. You beat them, they can't afford more war," said Jeyne.
"We will need to treat with them, won't we?" He asked. Robb wasn't sure how he could make peace with the Lannisters. He had smashed their host, and killed thousands of their men, as they had killed thousands of Northmen and Rivermen. They had killed his grandfather, Lord Hoster, and Lord Redfort's sons, and father's men, surely that had to have meant something, else their lives had been lost for nothing.
Worse was the prospect of treating with Lord Tywin. He knew the song, and what had become of the Reynes and Tarbecks. Robb supposed that neither had been wed to one of Lord Tywin's granddaughters either though.
Jeyne gave him a nod back. "Aye, but you need your rest now. Sleep now, and we can speak again later."
Robb thought to protest, but before he could, Jeyne was gone, leaving him alone in the bedchamber. He began to change into some night clothes, and when he was finished he tucked himself underneath the covers and drifted off to sleep.
His dreams were of Winterfell, though not of Myrcella, but the Crypts. Of his father's tomb. He started to walk further along, and felt all eyes were on him. What will you do my lord? They seemed to ask as he passed through their hard stares.
I'm not the Lord of Winterfell, Robb tried to tell them, but they didn't seem to listen.
After a while though, he woke, sweating in the featherbed he had been given at Riverrun. He still felt tired, but not so tired as he had, as Robb managed to rise, and looked out the window. It was night he noticed, and he decided to try and tried to fall asleep again, though sleep wouldn't come to him.
He thought about his father, what Robb would say to him when they saw each other again. And what his father would say to him too.
Soon Robb grew bored from his efforts to sleep more, and he rose, dressing himself, as a lord now, not a warrior. He found some old swaddling clothes that seemed meant for a Stark were hidden amidst the closet. He had been born at Riverrun he remembered, so he figured Lord Hoster and his uncles had snuck in some of the swaddling clothes he had worn then as a jape.
A babe was sure to await him at Winterfell too, and Robb decided that he would rather be there than to be here.
After he was dressed, Robb sat back on the bed. The sun was not like to rise for several more hours, so all he could do was wait.
After a while he heard two knocks on his door. "Come in," Robb said. He expected perhaps it might be one of his uncles or Jeyne, but to his surprise it was a woman he didn't particularly know.
She was a bit small, but she had long brown hair, sea-green eyes and high cheekbones. Her lips were full while her nose was a little small too, but from her dress she seemed to be of high birth.
Something seemed familiar to him about her, but she couldn't recall, though he noticed the merman emblazoned on her dress and realized she must have been a Manderly.
"You're awake my lord," she said, sounding as though she were a little amazed.
"How long have I slept?" Robb asked, fearing perhaps he had slept multiple days, even if it didn't matter if he had.
"Just since the morning yesterday," she told him. "My uncle sent me to check on you."
"Your uncle…" Robb started to say. "Who are you, my lady?"
"I'm Lady Wynafryd Manderly, the daughter of Ser Wylis," she told him. "I was sent to be a Lady in Waiting for your aunt, Lady Walda."
They had met before Robb remembered. Father had once taken him and Jon to White Harbor where Lord Wyman and Ser Wylis had insisted on seating him next to Wynafryd and her sister for every meal.
The two girls had made decent company, though afterwards father had told him that their father and grandfather had been hoping to secure a betrothal between him and one of them, though father had only chuckled when Robb had asked if he meant to accept.
He wondered what would have happened if his father had accepted though. How he wouldn't be wed to a bastard then. Perhaps father would not have even gone south then, and he would be safe at Winterfell.
"Thank you then. You can tell your uncle that I am well," he lied.
She gave him a smile before she left.
Being here wouldn't do him any good, he decided, and so he left. Robb didn't know his way around Riverrun very well, but from his window he was able to spot the Godswood, and he decided that was as good a place as any to be now.
It took him some time, but once he was in the Godswood, he was able to find his way following the loose path that led to the Heart Tree.
The Heart Tree was a Weirwood Tree here, though much smaller than the one at Winterfell.
He prayed for Myrcella mostly now that he was here before the gods. Even if she was a bastard, since they were wed their children would be trueborn, and she was never meant to inherit anyways.
When he closed his eyes, he could see her smiling face before him. They were abed together, and Myrcella was reading aloud, though her belly wasn't round anymore, and it was to the babe that Robb was holding, he realized.
She placed a kiss on his lips and like that the thought was gone. He wanted her though he knew, to be with her and to see her again. Yet when he opened his eyes she wasn't there, he was simply in the Godswood of Riverrun.
Robb sat there until the sun began to rise, waiting in silent prayer, hoping that it would not be long before he could be home.
It was Jeyne who found him there. "Did you sleep?" She asked him.
"Yes," Robb said back to her. He felt a little better now he realized.
"So what will you do now Robb?"
He considered the question for a moment. It depended on how their host out east had fared, whether Jon had given battle to Lord Tywin or not. "We need to see the maester," he said after a little while.
They left the Godswood together, holding hands again, as they began to look for where the Maester was.
Robb wasn't sure where it was, and he didn't know if Jeyne did either, but eventually he heard the sound of ravens cawing from a tower, that he judged to be the rookery. "Corn!" He heard one of them calling as they got closer, and he spotted there was a new raven flying into the tower just before they entered.
It was bigger than the maester's tower at Winterfell, though when Robb walked in he realized it must have been because it was both the library and maester's tower.
Inside the tower it was warmer, and he hadn't realized just how cold it truly was, even this far south. At Winterfell the castle was always heated by the hot springs the were pumped through the entire castle and kept it warm even in the cold of Winter, but here there wasn't one.
A fire burned in the hearth though, which filled the room with a smell of ash, and the room was lit with many candles.
Eventually Robb caught sight of a maester, an older man with a lined face and the color had long fled his hair.
"My lord, my lady," he greeted her when he saw them, and came over to them. "Please be seated."
Robb and Jeyne took his offer, and seated themselves at one of the tables together, when Maester Vyman produced two letters and gave them to him, both of which had their seals broken.
At first he was confused as the first letter had his seal on them, and was addressed in his name, but it wasn't his hand.
As he read the letter he realized what the letter was. It was Jon's letter from out east, telling of how they had beaten Lord Tywin in battle along the Green Fork.
"What?" Jeyne asked confused when she had finished reading the letter.
"Jon wrote it," he said. "I gave him my seal and told him to write to Riverrun with word of the result of his battle as though I were writing the letter so that if the letter would fall into the hands of our foes they would think I'm still there."
"Oh…. Jon, he…. He beat Lord Tywin," she said, her voice filled with some excitement.
Robb gave her a small smile. She didn't know how he and Jon had parted on bad terms. If Jon had humbled Lord Tywin, that would make this much easier.
Jeyne took the other letter from Robb's hands, and opened it. He was more surprised to see who had written this one, as it was Bran's writing, though not with a seal Robb recognized.
"What is Bran doing with Renly?" Jeyne asked him, and Robb began to read the letter for himself.
When he had finally finished, Robb looked up confused. "What… What claim?" He wondered.
Joffrey wasn't the true king he knew, but surely it would be Stannis then who would crown himself, not Renly. Even if Lord Renly knew the truth, that wouldn;t make him a true king, that would make Stannis the king.
"Ambition," Jeyne said. "He wed Lady Margaery before he crowned himself. Lord Tyrell must have put the idea in his head to crown himself, even if he doesn't have one."
It didn't make too much sense to Robb, though he supposed he was not one of the Tyrells. Whatever game they were playing at, it was different from the game Robb knew, something he didn't understand.
Jeyne put the letter down on the table before them. "We need to treat with Lord Tywin," he decided, and he called the maester for a piece of paper.
When he finally had one and a quill and ink in hand, Robb began to consider what to write. The hardest part was thinking where they could treat with him. Now that Lord Renly was crowned, and Jon had beaten him, Lord Tywin was not like to be willing to ride to Winterfell for it when he had matters to attend to in the south.
"Where should I treat with him?" Robb finally asked Jeyne, who was still sitting next to him.
Jeyne considered the question for a moment. "Not in King's Landing… Some place where you hold power," she said.
"Here?" He suggested.
Jeyne shook her head. "Invite Lord Tywin here and you only give him leave to bring his host too and try to gather the scattered remains of the Kingslayer's host and raise more men."
Robb wasn't so sure that he feared the possibility of that. He and Jon had beaten Lord Tywin and the Kingslayer each, they could beat them again, especially now with the Kingslayer in a cell, but he didn't think Lord Tywin was like to treat with him there.
"Harrenhal," Robb decided. It was the seat of Lady Shella Whent, and close enough for the both of them, and to King's Landing too.
She didn't seem certain for a moment before she nodded. "Yes, there would do," she decided, and Robb began to finish the letter.
He took another piece of paper and began to write a similar letter, this one to the Queen in King's Landing. It came easier than the one to Lord Tywin, and when he had finished with that, he started writing a third one for Winterfell for Myrcella.
They had found a letter in the camps from Maester Luwin that must have been intercepted on it's way to Riverrun from Maester Luwin who said Myrcella was due to birth any day now when it had been written. She might have already done so by now too.
She would wait for him there at Winterfell with their child, as his own mother had waited for father at this castle when he was a babe. It would not be long now he hoped, as he finished writing the letter.
He didn't have a seal with him he realized though, nor even any wax though, so he kept the letters on the table in front of him.
"When this is over…" Jeyne started to say shyly. "Will Jon come to me?"
"Yes," Robb said. "I know that he would rather be here now than there."
Jeyne's face seemed a little happier when he told her that. "How would I keep him close?" She wondered.
Robb considered the possibility for a bit. "Stonehedge is not far from Raventree Hall is it? Lord Bracken had mentioned he had daughters, perhaps one of them would be of suitable age," he offered.
Jeyne gave a laugh. "You would put a river and an ancient feud between us," she said.
"It is closer than you would be otherwise," he told her. "Perhaps you should speak to him."
"Me? A bastard? You should Robb, Jon is just as much your brother as he is mine," she said. "And I do not think Bracken will take kindly to one of his daughters marrying a bastard."
"Perhaps… Though I remember Lord Jonos had said he lacked any sons, which meant his eldest girl was set to be his heir. With Jon as her husband their children could still take the Bracken name," Robb said. "And Jon has proven himself in battle too."
Jeyne seemed to like the notion a little now. Things would be better soon he realized, after he had finished this business with the Lannisters.
But their moment was interrupted by the Maester who came again, this time with a new letter. "I am so sorry," he said to them, before he gave them the letter, his hand trembling.
Robb took the letter from his hand. Dark wings, dark words he thought. It was from King's Landing he saw, though the seal had already been broken.
He felt Jeyne tensing up next to him as he opened it. He already knew what the letter would say before he opened it, yet he forced himself to read it anyways for perhaps some good news that could be found.
When he was done reading it, he looked up and saw Jeyne with tears in her stony grey eyes. "Is... Is it?" She began to ask and Robb nodded his head.
Robb felt lost though more than anything. Father was gone now, and he was the Lord of Winterfell for true now. Gods give me strength, he thought bitterly.
He should have seen this coming earlier he realized, Myrcella had warned him that the Queen and Joffrey were cruel in nature. Yet it was Myrcella he worried for the most. He had left her behind in a land she would be hated in. Some may even wish her dead in revenge for father's death, he realized grimly, and her every action and word would be closely listened to.
And there was the matter of her bastardy too. If men should ever learn of that, it would be even worse.
With a word, he had lost the war. He couldn't save father anymore, or make peace now.
They sat together for a moment, while Jeyne cried into Robb's shoulder, and he hugged her closely.
The letter hadn't been written by mother of Sansa this time. It had been written entirely by Grand Maester Pycelle. It said father was executed as a traitor upon the Sept of Baelor after he had proclaimed Joffrey to be the rightful king.
He wondered how that could be, how father had given a letter to Jeyne saying that the Queen's children were not of the King's Body only to then proclaim Joffrey to be the rightful king. They had threatened mother and the girls, he realized, or worse, father had feared for him leading men to war.
Robb felt that there must have been tears in his eyes that he didn't wish to be seen, but he couldn't do anything about it now.
When he and Jeyne finally let go of each other, he saw that tears still glistened from her eyes.
"We need to get our sisters back, and Bran too," Jeyne told him. Robb realized he must have had a lost look on his face now, and so he nodded.
"With what though? I can hardly trade the Kingslayer for two girls and a woman, mother and sisters or no. I can't turn over Myrcella, either." He said.
Jeyne pondered that for a moment. "We have other hostages." She offered. "Some lesser cousins, Myrcella's companions, maybe they could be traded?"
He thought about that for a moment. Only one of Myrcella's companions was a Lannister, and a distant one at that, while he doubted the likes of House Royce would be eager to thank him for turning over one of their members to be a hostage for the Crown. "We need a council." He decided. "We can sort things out then."
"But Sansa and Arya," she said again.
"We will," he promised. One way or another they would get their sisters back, he hoped. Unless they meant to take their heads too. If they had killed father now, perhaps they would kill the girls now. "Come one," he said and he began to lead Jeyne away from the tower towards the Godswood, stopping only first by the Fire to burn the letters that he had written.
They were the first to arrive, but some of the other lords began to come to join them, each of whom bid them their sincerest condolences.
Even Lord Tytos, who was Jeyne's good father, had come despite not being of the North.
They sat before the Heart Tree for hours it felt, before Robb decided to leave, this time going without Jeyne.
Robb didn't keep track of the next few hours until the council. He must have talked with Aegon at some point, while most everyone he saw bowed their heads as he passed.
Eventually they met in the great hall of Riverrun. The Northern lords took one side while the Riverlords took the other, though Robb sat next to both Jeyne and Aegon in the middle of the Northern Lords, while to his right sat Lords Bolton, Karstark and Ser Wendel Manderly and to his left were the Greatjon, Lady Maege Mormont and Lord Galbart Glover.
Across from them, Lord Tytos Blackwood, Ser Raymund Darry, Ser Marq Piper, his uncles, Ser Edmure, Ser Elmar and Ser Brynden, the new Lord Karyl Vance of Wayfarer's Rest, Ser Roland Vance, the heir to Atranta, and Lord Jonos Bracken.
And there with others too, the knights who had once been members of the Mad King's Kingsguard, Ser Barristan and Ser Oswell, the Lightning Lord, Beric Dondarrion, Ser Morton, and Maester Vyman and many from the household as well.
They spent half the night arguing, as the lords spoke and spoke, each in turn being able to speak their mind. Jon and his host sat along the Kingsroad, having beaten Lord Tywin who was quickly retreating to Harrenhal with a nearly broken host, while Ser Helman and Lord Walder held the Twins and they had freed Riverrun. Ser Forley Prester was gathering the scattered remnants of the southron host somewhere south of them, while Ser Stafford Lannister was raising a new host near Lannisport.
Ser Marq Piper encouraged them to strike west for Casterly Rock, while Lord Jason Mallister and Lord Roose Bolton encouraged them to bide their time to gather more forces and strengthen defenses whilst they remained a foil to Lord Tywin's supply lines.
Lord Tytos urged them to march on Harrenhal and join their strength with Jon's so that they might put a swift end to the war, only for Lord Bracken to oppose him and say they ought to seek the help of Lady Lysa in the East first.
It had all been giving Robb a headache, and he could not stand for it.
"Renly is not the king," he interjected, making himself heard for the first time since the meeting had convened.
"Surely you cannot mean to remain loyal to Joffrey, Robb. He killed our father," Jeyne said. Her place among the council was one of courtesy, and he had not been expecting her to speak, yet she had.
"My lady speaks truly. He put your father to death, surely you do not mean to support him," Lord Galbart Glover said.
"Yes, but that does not make Lord Renly king, can it?" Robb asked. Stannis was the true king he thought to himself. "I mean to see that Joffrey's head rests on a spike, but that will not make Renly's cause true."
"If we kill the boy it will be his brothers who take the throne after him," Lord Roose said. "And they will be no less Lannisters than Joffrey."
"I do not mean to see one of Joffrey's brothers onto the throne though. Lord Renly would still come after his brother Stannis, not before," Robb told him.
Robb noted Lord Glover nodding in agreement, and one or two of the Riverlords, before Ser Elmar Tully spoke again. "Renly has been crowned though. Behind him are the might of Highgarden and Storm's End, and we would deliver him Winterfell and Riverrun. Surely the Dornish would rally to his banners as well, and should Lysa bestir herself we should have this war won within the year I vow, with the strength of House Lannister destroyed for all time. Why should we oppose that?"
"The right." He told him. "Even if we oppose Joffrey, Renly cannot be the king."
"Are we to declare for Stannis then?" Uncle Edmure asked him.
Robb thought about it for a moment. Even with Joffrey and his brothers out of the way, he wondered how Stannis would like the fact that he is wed to Myrcella. He had sons of his own who could follow him, which he wasn't sure if that would make it better or worse.
"Stannis has not crowned himself," Lord Karyl Vance pointed out. "He may mean to hold loyal to Joffrey, and if he does then we will be sworn to him. Until we have word that he has crowned himself it would be best not to."
He realized the man was right. Lord Renly may simply have been trying to take the throne because he could, but even if father had uncovered the truth, that did not mean Lord Stannis knew it.
"Then what are we to do, my lord?" Lord Tytos asked.
Robb spoke up before Lord Karyl could answer. "I do not know. I had hoped something would present itself. They killed father for a traitor, though I would not believe for a moment he would have commited treason, but.."
"My lord, you are wed to Princess Myrcella. After Joffrey is dead, and his brothers are removed you could crown her and rule as her husband." Ser Wendel Manderly offered.
"Aye." Lady Maege Mormont said, giving a nod of approval.
Robb also did not fail to note the Greatjon seemed to agree as well, and if he spoke up there was not like to be anything he could do.
They would have me be a king, he thought with dread. "I know that Myrcella is not particularly fond of Joffrey, but she will not take too kindly to being made a queen, nor her brothers losing their heads." Robb prayed that he had put an end to that notion, though he could not be certain.
Ser Stevron Frey spoke next. "My lords, if he were here, my lord father would urge us to be cautious. We let the two kings fight their war, while we take no part, and when they are done, we may bend the knee or oppose as we choose. Lord Tywin would surely welcome a truce for the nonce to deal with Renly, and we would likely get good terms, and when they are done we would have been better for it, having stayed out..." He suggested before a chorus of opposition silenced him.
The Greatjon, Lord Rickard and Lady Maege Mormont were the most prominent among them. When the shouting stopped, and men were no longer pounding on the table, it was Lord Roose Bolton who spoke up.
"Mayhaps we need not make a truce. Stannis and Renly will see our fighting of the Lannisters and come to our aid even if we do not give them homage, and even offer generous terms for our fealty, and we can resolve this later," he said, cooly. The whole room had gone quiet when he spoke, even the Greatjon.
Robb was inclined to agree with him, and he looked around to see none had any particular opposition to it, save Ser Edmure. "My lord, this is all well and good, but we do not know what we will do next anyways."
A silence hung over the room for what seemed an eternity. Nobody had anything to offer that had already been said, and so they would just continue going in circles, until Ser Raymun Darry stood up.
"My lords, why must we bend our knees to either of these fools who would name themselves king, or Lord Stannis? None ought to be a king, I say, when a far better one sits among us." He said unsheathing his sword and pointing it at Aegon before he bent the knee. "The dragon freed us from tyranny once when King Aegon conquered Westeros, what's to say a sixth cannot do as the first once did?"
Before anyone could object, both Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Barristan Selmy were on their knees as well, before Lord Karyl Vance spoke for him as well, and Robb himself bent the knee, and was followed in turn by all the other Northern Lords and the rest of the Riverlords took a knee as well, each in turn swearing their sword to Aegon.
Each man said their own vows, and when Robb spoke his, he tried his best. "My sword and loyalty are yours, your grace," he said, not sure if there was much else to say. They had rolled the dice, he realized, and he prayed that Aegon would be able to rally the realm against the Lannisters.
Author Notes:
Well I left my little mystery on AO3 about it not being who follows Robb but about who Robb follows, and well… The answer was Darry, which rhymes with Barry.
Thanks for reading, as always, and I don't own ASOIAF.