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Chapter 17: The New Stands for the Old

Catelyn

The funeral feast for her father was in full swing, she only hated that she wasn't here to say her goodbyes.

Looking across from the table, she saw Robb and Arthur walking away, she knows what is to be said and she doesn't very much like it, to be completely honest.

Arthur Stark? It sounded irregular to her, foreign, even. She didn't approve of Robb deciding on legitimizing Arthur, she didn't like that he had broken his vow to Walder Frey and the Twins.

Walder Frey is many things, but forgiving is not one of them and they need his bridge to go home. Home, it is good to finally say it. She has had her fill with war and death, and she will soon have her other child back, then she will be taking all of her remaining children home to mourn for her sons, for her husband.

Tonight, however, she is mourning the passing of her father.

Not since her wedding to Ned, and after the Rebel victory at the Trident has Riverrun been so upbeat. Men were drinking and laughing. Women were singing and dancing, it was all so comforting for her in this hour of sorrow.

Alas, this is fleeting. Tomorrow they send her father on his way, and her sons go back to their war. What did I just say? She stopped all movements when she thought that, shocked into silence but eventually, she calmed and continued eating.

She was reminded of the time one of her husband's sons became sick, Jon Snow. The last Winter was cold, and Jon had caught the pox. During those days she was angry at Ned, it was in the early years of the Rebellion and she disliked the fact that her husband had another woman's twins and brought them back.

She isn't naive, she knows some Lords seek comfort in times of war, and sometimes, these times of comfort end with the birth of a child, or in Ned's case, two son's. Yet these Lords don't bring them home, nor do they raise them amongst their trueborn children.

As she heard Jon whimper, seen Arthur cry for his baby brother to heal and defeat the fever, she wished that the boy would perish and for the gods to make him dies. She felt horrible as it got worse, and she found herself in the small Sept that her husband made for her, she knelt before all Seven and prayed for forgiveness.

She prayed for Jon to get well, then she would forget all of the scowls and raise these boys as her own. She would ask her husband to request for the King to give them a new name, to call them Stark because that is what they are, Starks of Winterfell.

I couldn't keep my promise, I made them more outsider than I had done already.

"Mother?" She turned right and smiled as Arya took a seat next to her, at least she has one girl that isn't trapped by lions and schemers.

"Yes, child." She seated closer, Arya was a little nervous.

"I... I want to talk to you about, about what you agreed to with the Old Weasel." At that, she sighed. How did she know this was going to happen.

This wasn't going to be a good talk, it will be full of much discussion on the pact with Walder Frey.

Robb

Away, he pulled Arthur into a hug. Pulling away a moment later.

"Defeated the Mountain. Pushed the Lannister force back to hide in Harrenhal, you've impressed everyone." He praised his brother as they walked to a quieter spot.

"I only did what I could, I should be ashamed, really. I used some rather dirty tricks, tricks that got innocent people killed by those we were supposed to protect them from." He understood where his brother was coming from, such as when he sent 2,000 men to die at the start of this war.

He put both hands on Arthur's shoulders, making him look at him and smiled.

"As leaders, we have to make decisions to bring victory to our cause. It isn't your fault." He told Arthur, his brother and cleared his throat, "I should be the one to be ashamed, it was I who broke my vow to Walder Frey- " This time, it was Arthur who stopped him from saying something stupid.

"Don't talk like that! I would have done the same, and my new sister seems like a nice girl." Arthur said, gesturing back at the funeral feast where Jeyne is.

Looking back, he saw both Jeyne and Mya speaking to one another. It was also the first time he noticed, Mya's stomach bulging a bit, pregnancy is fast with this one. It reminded him that he's been trying the same thing, but Jeyne never felt any change quite yet and he started becoming worried.

It's bad that he married Jeyne, out of honor but dishonoring his word to the Twins. It will also get worse if he cannot produce a child, and he has tried over the nights they'd camp before getting to Riverrun.

Jeyne knows this, even blames herself, more than once he had to comfort her as she cried.

It takes time, that is what his mother said to him. He just needs to be patient, he can't rush things like this.

"Speaking of new family, have you thought of a name for my niece or nephew?" Arthur chuckled lightly at his question, turning to him after glancing at Mya.

"No girl names... But I have a boys name." He nodded for his brother to go on, "... I was thinking about Eddard." He stopped and looked at his brother.

It brought all the emotions back, the hurt of seeing his father's dead body being unearthed to the day they sent it back to Winterfell, so that he may be interred with his uncle Brandon, aunt Lyanna, and grandfather Rickard.

"It's a very good name for a Stark," He uttered, Arthur agreed with a chuckle before stopping and turning to him with the look of confusion, and shock on his face.

"I'm not a Stark, I'm a Snow... " He cracked a small smile and placed a hand back on Arthur's shoulder, giving a good squeeze.

"Not anymore... You are my blood, so is Jon, and when he or she is born, so will your child. You three will be Starks from now on."

Arthur said nothing, but let the proud tears fall from his face and embraced him.

Qarth

"Will you betray her, again?" The voice of a woman asked Jorah the Andal, the knight looked at her with a hard stare.

"... Never!" She smiled within her mask, telling him that dangerous men surrounded his Queen and the knight left without hesitation.

Quaithe finished readying this man for safe passage through Valyria, took his gold for payment and sent him to his ship which awaited at the docks.

Turning away she walked into her home, entering her chambers and reaching under the bed and pulling a long object from the shadows and cloaked in purple. She placed it on the bed and unwrapped it, revealing a blade of pure starlight, pale as milk glass. She ran a delicate finger across the steel as it reminded her of the past.

The past of who she was, and of the day that Ashara Dayne ceased to be.

Long ago, in the Kingdom of Dorne, there was a young woman. She had given birth to a boy and a girl, sorrow and death rung in the room as the daughter did not survive.

This girl wept, and cried, and wished for her pain to be relieved from her heart. It wasn't until she was told riders were seen not far from her home, bringing with them the man she fell in love with, Ned was his name, and he was here to see her.

"You came here? So far from the North." She was glad, of course, but as she recalled... A war was being fought.

Ned looked at her with the same eyes she had seen in their night so long ago at Harrenhal, a tourney that seemed like a dream to her now. He reached to stroke his cheek, he melted into it as he had done when they first danced, alas, he opened his grey eyes to stare into her purple ones.

"Ashara, I wish this was nothing more than a visit to see you. I am sorry." He said to her and she felt her heart drop, what does he mean?

"Ned, you are not making sense... I must tell you- " She tried to tell him, to show him the son she bore and that brought the heartache of the daughter that died.

"Listen to me. I came here to Dorne, to find my sister. I found her... Defended by your brother and his fellow knights." He would go into detail, of how her love and her brother fought for entrance into the Tower of Joy, soon enough, the tears followed when he revealed that her brother fell and died as he desired, as a knight.

She remembered the fond memories, about her, and Arthur, Allyria their older brother. Fond tales about how four children ran or rode on horses, chasing each other or watching the sunset over the Torentine. Eddard told her that he was sorry, that he could not bring her Arthur's body back to be interred into the crypts.

"I brought his sword, Ashara, I brought Dawn." She couldn't see any blood, Ned cleaned it well. She took it and placed it on the hearth, for the next Sword of the Morning to rise.

She turned and looked at Ned, wondering how much longer can these tears fall.

"Come with me, Ned. There is something you must know before you leave." She started walking, looking back so that she knows Ned was following her, he hesitated before walking with her.

She took him atop the tallest tower, the Palestone. She opened the chamber doors and let Ned go in first, watching him look at her with confusion. His question was interrupted by the cries of a babe, nearest to her bed and she frowned, taking Ned's hand and escorting him to the cradle where her son lied.

"I haven't named him, that honor should be his father's." The revelation came as a shock to him, Ned wasn't one to hide his emotions well, even with the name of the Quiet Wolf.

"I... He is mine?" She didn't need to say anything, her eyes told the truth of it.

"I would like you to take him, raise him beside your own children by Lady Stark." She told him, and it hurt to say such things because she didn't want to let him go, and Ned neither.

She was going to ask him to take her with him to Winterfell when their son and daughter were born, she was going to give him her heart but she'd found out from a deserter of the Trident that Ned had married Catelyn Stark. She knew then, that there would be no future with her and Ned or their son.

Was is callous and selfish to want them both, yes. She couldn't bear to live in this castle alone, with the son who will remind her of the man she loved so dearly, and now the man she loved... And the one that killed her brother whether it was in battle or not.

Ned looked at her for a long time, she asked him again and he only stared in silence.

"Come with me." He finally said to her, and she wanted to say yes, by the very gods she wanted to say it.

"... No." Ned looked crestfallen, "I would like to, but how would that look like to him, being seen as a nuisance by his father's wife, a child needs one parent if he cannot have two." She explained to Ned, and he finally saw her view on it. "Tell him I died, threw myself from this tower over my grief for Arthur, and maybe, someday... I will see him again." She added and he asked her what she was going to do, she didn't answer him, but she did kiss him goodbye.

"Remember that I love you, Ned. I always will."

She left that very night she watched Ned ride off with their son, whom he named after her brother, Arthur. She turned from the gate and looked at Dawn on the wall, first she removed it and packed a single horse before telling Allyria that she is leaving.

Her little sister didn't want her to, and neither did her older brother but they knew that she had to leave, they just didn't know she would be taking Dawn with her, after Arthur she knew that no Dayne will be worthy enough to wield it.

Years later she finds herself in these chambers, thinking about her son, and beloved Ned who passed from this world.

The Seven Kingdoms find themselves at war, and her Arthur is right in the middle of it. He needs Dawn, I know if. Alas, her vow would keep her away for five years after her 'death', her older brother died and not because of a sudden illness.

So perhaps she should go, find her son who she let go many years ago. Yes, that was the thought as she picked up Dawn and held its edge pointed to no one in general, using her other hand to remove the mask which revealed her long black hair and haunting eyes, she's going home.

Only the one most worthy can wield Dawn, my son... Arthur.

Arthur

Him... A Stark?

It felt like those fairytale imaginations his brother had, that their father would have them legitimized and they would grow to rule castles and be Lords of the North, marry fine maidens and not fear to father a bastard of their own.

Yet, it happened, it actually happened and his brother would be laughing at him, telling him that he was wrong about his dream being anything but a dream.

"Are you sure, Robb. We don't truly know if these boys Theon killed are actually Bran and Rickon." He said and Robb shook his head, holding him steady.

"Lord Bolton's bastard sent a raven once he took Winterfell, it was the boys. Hey, listen to me!" Robb stopped him, keeping him still with all the emotions spilling out, "I need an heir, and you deserve the position as a Prince of Winterfell, Jon, too." Now he's a Prince, why is this even happening if Robb is married, shouldn't Jeyne already be heavy with child.

"What if the Lords don't accept it, Robb, you can't anger them further." Robb just shook his head, cracking a small smile at him.

"I already spoke to them beforehand, Arthur. Some disagreed, obviously, yet most agreed, such as Lord Umber, Glover, Cerwyn, Lady Mormont and Dacey, even Lord Bolton, they all agreed to it. They want you to be my heir. Until Jeyne can give me a son." Until this moment, he would have laughed and past this as a joke.

Up to a year ago, he was just a bastard. No one knew about him other than the fact that he and Jon were bastards of the Honorable Lord Stark, none would spare them the time of day until the King chose him for a spot on the Kingsguard. And Robb became a King, another impossibility if anything counts. His brother should have made Arya his heir, she is trueborn and has Tully and Stark blood, his is Dayne and Stark, and it is mudded by his status.

"Brother. You are my blood, it doesn't matter who your mother was. It only depends on who we were fathered by." He looked up to Robb, the man suddenly feels taller than him, it must be the iron crown he wears on his head.

"... Alright, I will do it. I will be your heir."

The next morning, everyone within the castle said their farewells to Hoster's body, setting him free on the river.

Afterward, he knelt before his brother in the great halls and heard Robb say the words, legitimizing him.

He knelt a Snow... But rose as a Stark, a Stark of Winterfell.

AN: In this chapter, we had a PoV of Cat lamenting on her treatment of Jon and Arthur, Robb telling Arthur he wants to make him and Jon a Stark, and the full conversation I withheld from the first chapter between Ned and Ashara.

Uchiha Naruko, Aye, She was very unbearable in season one through three.

ZabuzasGirl, Thanks hope you enjoy the rest of it.

Pyre101, Robb came to legitimize Arthur and Jon, also plans on returning home. Theon has been captured since this, and Roose will be in charge of taking Harrenhal from the rest of Gregor's men and the Brave Companions. The real change with Jon's character to him having a brother won't start until season 5 where he gets a visit from a Northerner.

Marvelmyra, Yeah, she can be a dolt but she will grow and learn from her mistakes.

Radio Free Death, Thanks for the feedback, I will make sure to edit those out.

So ends chapter 17, will be glad to hear from everyone and will see you all in the next update on The Dawn of the Dread Wolf!