It was surprising how fast time seemed to pass. Days turned to weeks as the small company adapted to their new home. Robb's second full moon was soon upon them. Once again, Robb ventured out into the woods alone, the moon had risen in a cloudless sky and screams of agony filled the night. Once again, everyone else was plagued by a sleepless night. Only this time when the sun rose, Robb returned on his own. His clothes were in one piece, he must have removed them before he changed. He was filthy and exhausted, but in one piece. He simply collapsed on his bedroll slept for a bit before waking and going to wash in the spring. When he returned Myrcella was able to get him to drink some bone broth while the others questioned him about the transformation again. Robb was evasive in his answers. The same thing happened during the third full moon, and the fourth.

The rest of the time, life became routine. Griffin would often go hunting for game, one of the other men or Dacey would go with him, Myrcella went once. Griffin said she fidgeted too much. Every so often Griffin would take some of his kills to a small village half-a-day's walk from the caves to trade for basic goods and to listen for gossip. In this isolated part of the Vale the latter seemed to be in short supply. Toby and Jay would often take Griffin's kills and harvest the meat and other body parts that could become useful. A short way from the cave system entrance there was another much smaller cave, more of a hollow in the cliff face that the brother's turned into their workspace, they even managed to rig a space to smoke the meat. Petey and Greatjon helped when they were not out hunting or collecting wood. Greatjon had taken Petey under his wing teaching the boy whatever he could. Robb was wherever he could help. His heightened senses made him an amazing tracker, his superior strength had him splitting logs with his bare hand. Dacey did whatever she wanted, often dragging Myrcella along with her, teaching the former princess how to forage for things like berries or edible roots, how to find good firewood and chop branches, teaching her how to track game, and set basic snares. Myrcella did whatever was asked of her, always willing to learn and never one to complain. Everyone worked hard, yet there were some days, rare days, where the autumn sun would shine and warm the air. It was just too nice to spend the day working away, on those days everyone would stay around the base. Simply relaxing, telling stories, and enjoying the shortening day. It was a far cry from the life she had once lived.

One day, Dacey and Myrcella were gathering wood in the forest. Dacey pointed at a dense patch of plants.

"Tell me what plant that is." She stated. Myrcella knelt and examined the small fern.

"Is it hemlock?" Myrcella asked.

"Why do you think it's hemlock?" Dacey was smirking now, she always enjoyed testing Myrcella's growing knowledge.

"The small purple spots on the stem."

"Correct." Myrcella got up and brushed the dirt from her knees.

"Anything else?" Dacey shrugged.

"I'll think of something."

"You learned all of this stuff on Bear Island didn't you?" Myrcella asked. She knew Bear Island was incredibly isolated in the North and everyone had to share the workload needed to survive in such a hostile environment.

"Aye, my mother taught me everything I know. Before my uncle Jeor went to the Nights Watch he would sometimes teach me too. There are no gender roles there, it's a hard place that breeds hard people."

"You must miss it."

"Aye, I do. I miss helping around the Keep, traveling to the villages on the island, spending time with my people." Dacey pause and ran a hand through her shorn hair, staring off into the distance. "When Robb called the banners my mother and I had just started teaching my baby sister, Lyanna, all of this. She'll be the Lady of Bear Island now, not even ten namedays and she has to rule over the entire island." Myrcella stepped up and hugged her friend.

"If your little sister is anything like you she'll be a wonderful leader." Dacey sniffed.

"It isn't fair to her. One of us my, mother or I should have stayed, then Lyanna would still have family there with her." Myrcella let go of Dacey and the two continued walking until they came to a particularly sunny spot and sat down. Myrcella hesitated before speaking again. Dacey had never spoken of her father or what his role on Bear Island was since it was her mother, Maege, who was the liege lady after Jeor Mormont took the Black after his son's disgrace. Surely it couldn't hurt to ask especially after so many moons together.

"What about your father?" Dacey snorted.

"Never met him." Myrcella paled and began to apologize for making such a private assumption when Dacey stopped her. "Life is very different on Bear Island, even different from the rest of the North itself. Sometimes the Wildlings or Free Folk as they like to call themselves would come and do trade with us, sometimes they raided it just depended on the tribe. It's a rocky relationship but necessary when you've got to fight against nature itself to survive. Anyway, my mum met some wildling bloke, Gormun or Ormun or something like that. I don't know if he was there to steal and pillage or if he was there to do actual somewhat civilized trade. They fucked, he left, nine moon turns later I came screaming into the world, Mum declared me a Mormont and that was that. He came back years later squirted my sister into Mum and left again." Dacey stated. She looked over at Myrcella and frowned. "What's with your face." Myrcella was grimacing.

"That word I think it's gross."

"What?"

Myrcella grimaced and shivered slightly.

"Squirt." Myrcella didn't know why but she just didn't like the word squirt. Dacey stared at her, then burst out laughing. Myrcella couldn't help but laugh too. She playfully shoved Dacey, who toppled into a pile of leaves.

"Squirt!" She shouted clutching her sides. Myrcella buried her face in her hands and waited for Dacey to stop laughing at her. Finally, Dacey's laughter died down and she wiped her eyes and turned to Myrcella and grimaced.

"Moist."

"What?" Myrcella asked.

"That's the one word I can't bloody stand. Moist." Now it was Myrcella's turn to lose it.

Their laughter died down and Dacey grew quiet. The two women simply enjoying the peace of the forest. After a while Dacey turned back to Myrcella.

"What was Robert Baratheon like?" She asked out of the blue, Dacey had told her about her sire, Myrcella didn't mind sharing about the man she had use to believe was her's. Myrcella leaned back against the tree sighing heavily. What had Robert Baratheon been like? He was a whoremonger, a drunk, he was an horrible husband and absent father. A sad, sad man who was lost in his own past. But, Myrcella still held love for him in her heart.

"I was his favorite out of my brothers and I." Myrcella finally said. "He always paid the most attention to me, but even then that was a rare thing. I guess he either saw me as a political tool or he liked to imagine that I was what his daughters with Lyanna Stark would have been like. He lived in the past and I think that's what decided his fate in the end." Myrcella found herself lost in memories she had long pushed to the back of her mind. Thinking about Robert Baratheon, sometimes it hurt and sometimes it didn't. "Thinking about him. It's… difficult. When I was about four name days old, he once spent an entire afternoon hiding in the Godswood of the Red Keep making mud pies with me. But he was also a man who would strike my mother and dishonor her daily."

"That sounds…" Dacey trailed off.

"Confusing." Myrcella stated. "As a child it was confusing. Now… it's… it is what it is. The past cannot be changed all I can do is look back with the wisdom of a woman grown. I think I will always love Robert Baratheon but I know his faults and I will never excuse them."

"Would you forgive them?"

Myrcella shrugged.

"I don't think so."

"I don't think you should." Dacey replied. Myrcella nodded. Emotion welled in the back of her throat and her eyes began to sting with unshed tears. She blinked rapidly and turned to Dacey.

"We should probably head back." Dacey nodded, understanding Myrcella was at her limit.

"We should, who knows what trouble the others have gotten into." They walked back to the camp mostly in silence when Dacey grabbed Myrcella's elbow and stopped her.

"Squirt." She said. Myrcella stared back at her.

"Moist." The two dissolved once again into a fit of giggles.

Several days later, Myrcella was sitting with Griffin at the cave watching him oil his bow. Recently he had befriended a widow from the nearby village by the name of Cass. She had given him her late husband's bow with the promise that she would get first picks on anything Griffin brought to the isolated village. Griffin seemed more than happy to make the deal. The others had taken the piss out on him and his new lady friend. Griffin had claimed it was nothing but Myrcella had sworn that the older man had blushed when he spoke of miss Cass. Even now as he tended to the new bow he seemed to handle it with much more care than the old one. As Myrcella watched him work an idea struck her.

"Griffin?" The older man hummed in response, not taking his eyes from his work. "I think I would like to learn how to shoot." Now Griffin looked up at her with a raised brow.

"Really?" Myrcella nodded.

"Dacey taught me how to use my dagger. Perhaps it would be wise for me to learn how to use a bow as well." Griffin was silent for a minute then seemed to see something behind her and smiled.

"Well Myrcella, I not much the teaching type, but perhaps his Grace here can give you a few lessons." He nodded behind her, Myrcella turned to find Robb stepping out of the cave. Robb frowned at the two of them, confused.

"What?" He asked.

"King Robb, the princess would like you to teach her how to shoot a bow." Robb glanced between Myrcella and Griffin, Myrcella felt her cheeks begin to heat when Robb shrugged.

"I suppose. I helped teach my younger brother, Bran, after all." Griffin grinned.

"Excellent." Then he picked up his old bow and tossed it to Myrcella, who fumbled to catch it.

That was how Myrcella found herself where she currently was standing with Robb in the clearing outside the cave, using a grove of trees at the edge as her target. Robb had just finished showing her how to string the bow.

Robb handed her the weapon, then gently took Myrcella by the shoulders.

"You need to keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Create a solid stance, while keeping your core strong, it's going to be the center of your strength, not your arms." He slid his hands down to Myrcella's waist. Her heart rate sped up. Robb stepped up behind her, her back pressed against his chest. His body radiating warmth that seemed to calm her racing heart. "Focus on your breathing." Robb stated, "You'll want to hold your breath when you pull back, don't." He released her waist and placed his hands over hers on the bow. He guided her hands, raising the bow and pulling back the string of the bow. "In and out, don't spend too much time aiming." Robb stepped back and Myrcella released the string. The arrow sailed through the air, yet Myrcella wasn't paying attention to where it went she was too consumed at the loss of Robb's heat. Myrcella hadn't realized that she had shut her eyes until Robb spoke. He seemed unaware of the effect he had on her.

"Good first shot," Robb was walking over to the tree she had been aiming at. She had missed the tree; the arrow was laying in the dirt several yards to the left. "You missed. But you weren't as bad as Bran was when he started learning."

"Really?" Robb grinned at her with that handsome, smile that made her weak at the knees.

"Aye. He shot his first arrow so wide it somehow managed to hit the side of the stables right next to where several horses were getting shoed don't know who was more spooked the horses or the blacksmith. Father made us move the target to the outer courtyard after that." He handed her the arrow. "Try again." Myrcella resumed the position Robb had shown her, aware of how he stood several paces behind her, watching her. It was much easier to concentrate without him holding her. Myrcella took a deep breath and fixed her stance, raising the bow she tried to focus on her breathing, she drew back the string, the fletching from the arrow brushing her cheek, inhale, exhale and release. The arrow flew through the air and embedded into one of the branches of the tree next to the one she had been aiming at. Myrcella lowered the bow and turned back to Robb, he walked up to her and reached out brushing his thumb across her cheek. Myrcella felt like her heart was about to stop and when had it gotten so warm? Robb drew back his hand and Myrcella's eyes widened at the streak of crimson on his thumb. She reached up and touched her cheek, feeling the small cut that lazily bled.

"A common injury, from the fletching. I did that to myself several times when I was learning." Robb nodded at the tree, "Get the arrow and try again." Myrcella nodded and turned to fetch the arrow only for Robb to stop her, he pulled on the edge of his sleeve and wiped the blood from her now throbbing cheek again. "You're doing really well Ella." Myrcella couldn't help but grin up at him.

"Thank you Robb." A scoff came from behind them, Myrcella and Robb turned to find everyone sitting around the campfire watching the two ex-nobles with amusement. Robb rolled his eyes.

"Don't you lot have things to do?" Robb growled at them. Greatjon lifted up his chalkboard, Nope. Was written in large blocky letter. Petey and Jay snickered again, something was clearly amusing them but before Myrcella could ask what was so funny, Dacey dragged the two up by their collars.

"Thank you both for volunteering to help me check my snares." And then she was forcing the two into the woods in the opposite direction from where Myrcella was practicing. Robb shot another glare at the remaining men who all suddenly found other things to do. Myrcella smiled up at Robb again before running to retrieve the arrow.

Robb watched her as she went and felt the wolf within him stir. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the thing. Instead trying to focus on Myrcella and her practice instead, yet it didn't work and he remained constantly aware of the thing moving under his skin and inside his head.

It's been a hot minute since I updated. But I've been working nonstop and just didn't really have time. The moist/squirt scene is based on an actual conversation I have had with friends before. Griffin has a crush and plays matchmaker for Myrcella and Robb, got to love it. Hope y'all stay healthy remember to social distance and wear masks in public!