I really meant to get this out sooner. I'm sorry. I was mapping out some of the later parts of season 2 for the story and had to make some changes, so I simply wanted to make sure everything was well set-up.

Part 1

she wore ice on her skin as diamonds while the heat in her veins kept her from freezing

Time was a luxury, Vitoria was learning. She was running the castle with Luwin's help, while they used the opportunity to teach Bran how to deal with ruling. There were considerably less issues to be dealt with with most of the men marching south, but she was trying to make this a learning opportunity for the boy.

Yet, with the toll this pregnancy was taking on her body, she was stretched thin in trying to run the castle, care for the children and trying not to worry about Robb marching South. To top things off, the spare wolf the men had found months ago had attached himself to her and was now following her around the keep. She did not quite know what to make of her new companion.

The castle felt lonely. Months ago, it had been filled with the shrieks from the wolf pups and their owners. Her daughters and Rickon running behind their two wolves while Artos toddled behind them. Sansa yelling at Arya for one thing or the other, while Catelyn scolded Bran for climbing. Now it was quiet.

It was obvious to her that while Bran was trying to grow up too fast, Rickon and her girls were soaking in whatever time they had left to be carefree children. To her chagrin, Bran and Rickon had become fond of the wilding woman. But at the very least the woman did not seem to wish them harm. That brought her some comfort.

She had moved her children into her rooms, sharing the bed with her daughters while Artos slept in a cot next to the bed most of the time. But some nights she would feel the need to hold him close against her chest while her daughters slept beside them. She needed the reassurances that they were there, as the bed would often feel empty without Robb wrapping his hand around her or their legs being entwined with one another.

The Northern camp moved gradually, but had to stop at the Twins. Despite Walder Frey being a bannermen to Catelyn's father, he was reluctant to aid them. And the close relationship he'd had with Tywin Lannister over the years was not helping matters.

They needed a way across and they needed it now. Which was what led Catelyn to enter the Twins with the intention to broke a deal that would be beneficial to both sides. The meeting had been long and the men were becoming more anxious.

"Well, what did he say?"

"Lord Frey had granted your crossing. His men are yours, as well. He will keep a small number to hold his keep and protect the crossing," Catelyn informed them all, but she did not state the terms. She wished she could speak about it privately to her son.

"What does he want in return?"

"You will be taking his son as your squire with hopes of a knighthood." She started off with the one that was the least impactful. "Arya will marry his son when they both come of age."

"No." Her son's voice was firm.

"Robb, this is necessary."

"No. Vitoria is in charge of her betrothal and she will marry Edric Dayne and become Lady of Starfall," he said firmly. "She can't be promised to a Frey if she is already betrothed."

"If I may," cut in Quentyn Martell. "Promises made in times of war are easily broken."

"That is not honorable."

"No, but it will grant you the Crossing. If not, then we could propose a future child of mine. Don't mention Arianne nor Vitoria and their future children. Hopefully, Frey's one of the foolish lords who thinks I will succeed my father." Robb nodded in agreement, before nodding at her to continue.

"Before you married Vitoria, there were some offers from your hand by Freys. He knows you will not request the marriage be annulled, but he wishes for the hand of one of your children."

"Robb hasn't written," Bran said one day, his voice subdued.

"He's busy, I'm sure. And it's likely they've only stopped to sleep and eat, with little time for anything else," Vitoria explained carefully. In truth, that was one of the things that had been on her mind these past few days. "He'll write as soon as possible."

"You think he miss us?" Rickon asked and she had to suppress a smile.

"Of course he does, sweetling. I'm sure he would love to be here with us."

"And Mother?"

Her lips formed a thin line. "As well." Truthfully, she wasn't sure what to say. She was sure Catelyn had stayed with Robb for a reason, but she had two, younger, children in Winterfell. Catelyn might feel that Robb needed her guidance and support, but she forgot that she was not a military expert. And, having his mother with him would hardly serve to endear the Ealdormen to Robb.

"A raven came this morning," she spoke after entering the nursery, tightening her shawl around her shoulders. Tears were gathering in her eyes again and a lump rose in her throat, preventing her from saying anything more. Rickon ran at her and she knelt down to pick him up, allowing him to settle his head onto the crook of her neck.

"Father's dead, isn't he?" Bran's voice was hollow, breaking the silence of the room.

"Bran..."

"I dreamt it," he explained. "Last night. Is that what the raven came for?"

She sat next to him on the bed and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, curling them both in her shawl. Bran was quiet, sniffling and trying to calm his breathing and not make it obvious that he was wiping away his tears. But Vitoria knew how it felt to lose a parent, could feel the echoes of pain throbbing in her chest, so she gathered him and his brother closer as Rickon buried his face in her shawl and cried and cried.

That night, she clutched her daughters close to her. Leila had cried herself to sleep, and she was afraid that she'd wake up during the night and become distraught again. Alia had been calmer, but she had still sobbed her little heart out and went to sleep sniffling.

They didn't quite understand that their grandfather was dead, only knew that Nonno Ned wasn't coming home, but that was enough to make them upset. Alia had tried running off at first, but Rena had caught her going down the stairs and took her back to Vitoria's room very patiently, paying no mind to the fight she was putting up.

Rickon was frustrated now, angry because he didn't understand why his family was leaving him and even angrier that one of them was never going to come home even when everyone promised he would. It had been months since Ned's last letter, wherein he told the boys that he loved them and missed them and that he'd visit soon to see them again. Rickon had kept the letter and hid it somewhere, and shortly after lunch, he came storming up to Vitoria with tears in her eyes, waving the parchment in his hand and shouting, "He said he'd come back! He said!"

Papa,

I write now not as the Wardeness of the North, nor the Lady of Winterfell. I write as your daughter

And, as your daughter I ask that you support my husband in his quest for vengeance after his father's beheading. The supposed king, Joffrey Lannister, is a liability and he is not fit for the throne. This is the moment we'd all been waiting for, Papa. We can finally avenge the wrongs done to my family.

And it's not as if you would rise up with no reason to do so. The father of your goodson was outright murdered by the crown. A fellow Lord of an entire region. If Joffrey Waters is not held accountable for it, then he can do it again. And who is to say the next one to be beheaded will not be you or Tio Oberyn?

Tu hija,

Vitoria

"The proper course is clear. Pledge fealty to King Renly and move South to join his forces." A lord spoke out.

The camp had been in disarray when the letter from King's Landing arrived, bearing the news that Lord Eddard Stark had been executed on charges of treason.

"Renly is not the king."

"You cannot mean to have us pledge ourselves to Joffrey,"the Smalljon spoke up. "He put your father to death."

"That does not make Renly king." Robb stated firmly. "Robert Baratheon won his crown when he slayed Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident. Joffrey is a bastard who is not fit to be king. Robert's right passes to his oldest brother according to their laws. If my wife is not the heiress to Dorne above her older sister, the same principle applies to Stannis and Renly."

Things were different in the North, of course. They were the only ones who still kept the old ways. All sons (and daughters, if they proved capable) were the aethelings for their House, even if most of the time it was the eldest son who succeeded his parent.

"Do you mean to declare us for Stannis?"

"Renly is not right!"

"My lord, my lords," the Greatjon laughed, calling the attention onto himself. "Here is what I say to those kings," he announced before spitting on the ground, inciting rounds of laughter.

"Renly Baratheon is nothing to me. Nor Stannis either. Why should they rule over me from some seat in the South? What do they know of the Wall? What do they know of the wolfswood? What do they know of Valhalla? Even their gods are wrong!" He pointed it all out to the others. "Why shouldn't we rule over ourselves again? It was the dragons we bowed to and the dragons are gone!" He pulled out his sword from its sheath and turned to Robb, bending his knee. "There sits the only king I mean to bend my knee to! The King in the North!"

Theon followed his actions. "Am I not your brother, now and always?"

"Now and always," Robb confirmed.

"My sword is yours. in victory and in defeat, from this day until my last day."

The other lords followed their lead and pledged their swords to him. All the while he could only think about how Vitoria would react. Her family had lost much the last time one of their own became tied to a throne and he would not imagine that she would like this role being thrust upon her.

"The King in the North! The King in the North!"