White Serpent: I would not call it hatred, it's more like resentment, Catelyn has emotionally abused Mia all her life and Ned didn't do much to stop it.

Varys: I understand your point of view but try to see it this way, if someone in your family that you live with treats you badly, not physically but emotionally and they do that almost every day of your life for seventeen years, it won't matter how the rest of your family treat you, if they don't stand up for you (Which none of the Stark family have ever done for Mia) You are going to feel like an outcast.

Long Goodbyes

Eddard Stark

Winterfell….

Ned Sighs as he holds Catelyn close to him in their bed "I'm a Northman" he says I belong here with you, not down South in that rat's nest they call a capital"

"I won't let him take you" Catelyn replies

Ned shakes his head "The King takes what he wants. That's why he's king"

His wife smirks as she looks up at him "I'll say, listen, fat man, you are not taking my husband anywhere, He belongs to me now"

Ned smirks "How did he get so fat?" he asks

Cat chuckles "He only stops eating when it's time for a drink"

Ned laughs before someone knocks on the door

"It's Maester Luwin, my lord," the voice says

"Come in"

The aging Maester enters with a grave look on his face "Pardon, my lord, my lady. A rider in the night" he says "From Lady Lysa Arryn" Cat gives him surprised look She gets out of the bed and Luwin hands her a sealed letter.

She reads the note before looks up in alarm and then throws it into the nearby fireplace. Ned looks at her in confusion "What is it?" he asks

Cat looks at him "She's fled the capital" she says "She says Jon Arryn was murdered, by the Lannisters, She says the King is in danger"

Ned sighs "She's fresh widowed Cat," he says "She doesn't know what she's saying"

She shakes his head at him "Lysa's head would be on a spike right now if the wrong people had found that letter" she says "Do you really think she would risk her life, her son's life if she wasn't certain her husband was murdered?"

Ned wanders towards the window, lost in thought.

"Maester Luwin sighs "My Lord forgive me," he says "But if this news is true and the Lannisters conspire against the throne, who but you can protect the king?"

Cat scoffs "They murdered the last Hand!" she exclaims "Now you want Ned to take the job?"

"The King rode for a month to ask Lord Stark's help" Luwin counters He's the only one he trusts"

"He spent half his life-fighting Robert's wars" Cat argues He owes him nothing" she grabs his arm "Your father and brother rode south once on a king's demand.

"A different time" Luwin states sadly A different king".

Ned sighs "Maester give my wife and I a moment please"

Luwin bows "My lord" he mutters before leaving the room.

Ned turns to his wife and sighs "I have to go Cat" he says.

"Gods be good Ned" she exclaims "If the Lannisters killed Jon Arryn, what's to stop them from doing the same to you?

"I can not leave Robert surrounded by them," Ned says "If I don't accept the badge then he will choose someone else, most likely someone with the name Lannister"

Cat drops her head in defeat "You know I will have to stay in Winterfell with the children" she says.

Ned shakes his head "Robb is heir to Winterfell and Rickon is too young" he says "They will stay with you but Bran, Sansa, and Arya must come with me"

"You would take my children from me?" Cat says in horror.

"I have no choice," he says "Sansa must wed Joffrey now, our devotion to them cannot be questioned and one day Arya will marry a southern lord, she must learn their ways"

"But why must Bran go?" Cat demands.

"He is a sweet boy" Ned answers "Let him grow up with the young princes, let him become their friend as Robert became mine, our House will be the safer for it"

Cat closes her eyes and clenches her fists "If you insist on taking my children with you, then yours will have to leave as well"

Ned's heart drops "Cat-"

"NO NED!" she shouts "They cannot stay here, they are your children not mine, I will not have them"

Ned falls silent, as he turns back to the window Cat sighs and places a hand on his arm "Your brother Benjen has said that the boy wants to take the black and join the night's watch" she says "He will be like the son Benjen never had"

"Jon is strong and even a bastard can rise high on The Wall" Ned reflects "But Mia is a girl, she can not go with him"

"Then take her with you," Cat says Icily "As long as she's not here I don't care"

"There will be no place for her at court," He says "A girl with a bastards name she will be shunned...gods Cat how can you be so cruel?"

"I am doing her a kindness," Catelyn says "At the capital, she will be able to stay close to you, gods know that's all she cares about"

Ned shakes his head "How did it come to this?"

Mia Snow

Mia lets out a moan of pain as she stumbles from her quarters, the sun, even though it was covered by clouds, seemed to burn into her head. She continued to stumble towards the stables, holding her throbbing head, she never usually drank this much, but after the events yesterday she needed a comforter and now she paid the price.

Eventually, she managed to make it to the stables, somehow through the thumping in her head she managed to hear a voice ask "Tough night milady?"

"I'm not your lady Fishface" Mia groans, she grabs a bucket full of water and drenches her head with it. Her vision clears enough for her to be able to see the stable boy giving her a toothy smile, he was a boy of twelve, with short messy red hair, his blue eyes were too big and too far from his which was very small.

"Your father is Lord Stark Isn't he?" Fishface asks "That makes you his lady daughter"

A slight smile spreads across Mia's face "You're sweet" she says patting his shoulder "But you're not very smart"

A loud howl gains her attention, she waits for a few moments before it howls again "Which direwolf is that?" she asks.

"I think It's Summer" Fishface answers "I saw Bran climbing the walls earlier"

Mia nods "I should check on him," she says, she follows the sound of Summer's howls, to an area empty in the courtyard, where she finds the young direwolf standing over someone who was not moving"

"OH GODS!" Mia gasps, she sprints over to the broken, unmoving body of her younger brother. "Bran?, Bran?" she exclaims tearfully as she cradles his body in her lap "Ca-can you hear me?"

She looks up to the large decrepit tower above them, realizing he must have fallen, her eyes snap back to him as she hears him breathe "Oh thank you!" she gasps "Thank you, thank you thank you!"

She turns to see Fishface standing in horror "FETCH MAESTER LUWIN!" she screams.

The boy jumps into action and sprints towards the castle, Mia turns back to Bran and strokes his face "You'll be okay" she says as tears run down her cheeks "I promise you'll be okay"

A Week Later….

Mia climbed the steps slowly, Dusk padded silently beside her. Outside the yard was all noise and chaos, but inside the thick stone walls, it was still warm and quiet. Too quiet for Mia's liking.

It had been days since Bran fell from the tower and she still didn't know if he was going to be okay, her father and Maester Luwin would not give their time to speak with her and Robb refused to tell her anything, she was almost tempted to ask Lady Stark, even though she knew that would end badly.

But now the day was at hand, she would leave Winterfell and only the gods knew if she would ever return, she needed to see him. She took a deep breath and petted Dusk on the head, then she entered the room.

Lady Stark was there beside his bed. She had been there, day and night, for an entire week. Not for a moment had she left Bran's side.

She looked over to Mia and for a moment she did not seem to see her until her sad grief-stricken face hardened into the same unwelcoming look Mia had always known "Why are you here?" she demands.

"I came to see Bran," Mia says avoiding the woman's eyes "I came to say goodbye"

"Go away Snow" Lady Stark orders "You are not wanted here"

Mia refuses to move "He is my brother," she says "I will see him"

The woman steps to her feet and steps defensively between Mia and Bran "If you do not go, then I will call the guards and make you"

"You can call them" Mia replies calmly "But I will fight through every man in the North if that's what it takes to see him"

She walked past the woman and crouched beside Bran, the color had disappeared from his flesh, his skin stretched tight over bones like sticks. Under the blanket, his legs twisted and bent in sicking ways.

Mia places a gentle hand on his stomach "I have to leave now Bran" she says quietly, not sure if he can hear her or not "I'm sorry that I won't be here when you wake up….and you will wake up Bran I promised you that didn't I?"

She brushes the hair out of her brother's eyes as caresses his face "You won't die Bran and If you do I swear by all the gods I'll walk all the way back to Winterfell and kick your boney ass back to life" she then places a soft kiss on the boy's forehead.

She stood and went to leave but as she reached the door Lady Catelyn called out to her "Mia" she says.

Mia turned around in surprise in all her life Lady Stark had never once called her by her name "Yes?" she asks.

"You were the one to find Bran were you not?"

Mia nods sadly "I was," she says.

Lady Stark takes a shuddering breath, "Why did you not find him sooner?" she demands "Why did you not stop him from climbing? Why did you not save him?"

Mia struggles with words "I-" she is cut off by a sharp slap across her cheek, Mia looks at the Lady in shock and pain, only to find Lady Stark avoiding her gaze.

"Just go," Lady Stark says quietly, her eyes filled not with hate but shame "Leave Winterfell and don't come back"

Mia turns and leaves the room holding her stinging cheek, all her life that woman had tortured her, all her life she had made her cry but this time Mia refused to let the tears fall, she made a silent promise to herself that she would never let someone see her cry again.

Outside she finds Talisa and Fishface loading one of the wagons "You're coming with us?" Mia asks.

Talisa smirks at her "My father and brother are, so I figured I would as well" she says "I have no husband, no reason to stay in Winterfell, and besides you wouldn't survive a day without me"

"And someone needs to tend the horses" Fishface explains "Who better than me!"

Talisa notices something behind Mia and smirks "I think we better give you a moment she says.

Mia turns to see Robb standing a few feet away from her, with Grey Wind by his side, Dusk seems excited to see his direwolf brother and runs over to play.

"You've said goodbye to Bran?" he asks.

"I did" she answers.

"Jon's up there now," he says "Was my mother…"

"She was grieving…." Mia told him.

Robb nods sadly "I wish I could go with you," he says.

Mia smirks "No you don't," tells him "From what I hear the capital is full of self-loving arrogant little shits"

Robb smirks back "Then you should feel right at home then," he says, she gasps and tries to hit him, but he catches her by the wrist and smiles at her "Come here," he said.

He pulls her into a tight embrace, she hugs him back, resting her head on his shoulder, as they pull away he gives her one last smirk and ruffles her hair as he always did "farewell little sister"

Mia smiles at her brother one last time before turning away from him.

Later on the King's Road….

The Household of Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark March slowly, as hundreds of people stand with it, Servant, knights, guards, cooks, and Stewards make up the majority of it, the highborn ride horses, the royals ride in carriages and the commoners walk, finally they make it to a fork in the road, one way leads South to King's landing, and one leads to the wall, where her brother would travel with the night's watch to take the black.

Mia rides ahead on her horse with Dusk running by her side, she finds Jon talking to their father, which causes her to halt, she watches them talk for a few moments before her father notices her and gives his bastard son one last nod of goodbye before riding off.

"What did he say?" Mia asks Jon

Jon turns to her "He told me that we'd speak about my mother the next time we saw each other"

"You've waited for that a long time," Mia says.

"I still don't understand it," he says "Everyone knows who your mother was, why don't I know?"

"My mother was highborn and cared for me for a year" Mia explains "Everyone in Starfall knew about me, father couldn't have kept it secret even if he tried"

"Is it easier?" Jon asks "Knowing where you came from"

Mia shakes her head "It only raises more questions"

Jon sighs "You think we'll ever see other again?"

Mia smirks "Of course we will "Except you will be dressed as a crow"

Jon "And you will be wearing southern dresses and jewels"

"Not even if the gods themselves commanded it, Jon," Mia says. Before patting his shoulder, he gives her one last nod of goodbye before parting with the rest of the Night's Watch"

A rider strolls up next to Mia as she watches her brother leave, she turns and is startled to see that it is her father "My Lord" she greets.

"The Night's watch is a difficult life," Lord Stark says "But he is a strong lad, I believe he will thrive on the wall"

He turns to face her, "I fear your journey is even harder," he says "The south will not be easy, It will shun you for what you are" he reaches out a hand and gently touches the bruise that had started forming on her cheek from when Lady Stark had struck her"

"You don't deserve this," he says sadly "You never deserved any of this, It is my doing"

Mia flinches away from his touch "You love Robb" she says quietly "You love Bran and Rickon, Arya and Sansa" she takes a deep breath and meets his eyes "Do you love me...father?, because if you do I need...I need to hear you say it"

Ned averts his eyes and looks down in shame when Mia realizes that she's not getting an answer she sighs sadly "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything" she says "My lord"

She rides away from her father leaving him to his thoughts.

More soon my friends :) :) :)