The heralding of Alyssandra Gris' arrival was not, as would have been expected, by young Bran Stark after climbing atop the battlements. Instead it came from an out of breath guardsman who interrupted the family's breakfast. The guard told of three riders, one of which carried the Gris family crest, riding hard for Winterfell and would be there in an hour. The family flew into a flurry of activity, finishing their food and rushing to ready themselves to greet their guests.

Once the family was dressed to receive guests they rushed to the courtyard. They only had to wait a few minutes before three people, on foot and leading their horses, came through the gates. The first thing anyone noticed about them was that all three were dressed in trousers, boots, and long sleeved tunics. They were flushed and it stood out vibrantly against pale skin.

Catlyn felt her lips curl in a sneer as she spotted the first person to have entered the gate, dressed as a man while clearly being a woman. She was tall but not nearly as tall as Ned, and her hair was pulled into a tight braid but some of the wild curls had escaped to frame her face, her deathly pale cheeks were flushed from the hard ride. Catlyn felt jealousy spike through her; despite being dressed like a man and looking like a barbarian, Alyssandra Gris was still very pretty to look at. Behind her, two young men, taller than her by quite a bit, taller even than Ned, laughed and shoved at each other like children and Catlyn prayed they were only reacting to the hard ride and were not like this all the time.

Jon was transfixed; this was his mother. His mother. She was taller than him and her hair was an abundance of wild black curls, like his, her eyes we a pretty purple color, her skin as pale as the snow and as he looked her over several times he kept picking out things he thought were indicators of her being his mother.

As Alyss approached them, Ned felt the need to roll his eyes; it appeared Quinlan and Bryce would never grow up. At 23 and 22 they still seemed intent on acting like young children. He turned his attention to Alyss and nearly winced: she had become quite the beauty for a woman of 31 name days and she held herself with the bearing of both a woman and someone aware of everything happening around her. She and Jon did look similar enough that he could very well be her son. He imagined the boy had a bit more growing to do too and might even overtake Alyss in height in the coming years.

Finally, the three reached the family and Alyss bowed respectfully to both Ned and Catlyn, her younger brothers following her lead. "Eddard, Lady Catlyn, thank you for receiving us into your home," she said, her voice was lower than it had been when he'd last heard her speak when she was 17, and she made eye contact with both himself and Catlyn.

"Welcome Alyssandra, Lady of house Gris, to Winterfell," Ned said, knowing full well that Catlyn would not say it. Alyss looked at him and nodded in acceptance before she turned the full force of her gaze onto Catlyn.

"Lady Catlyn, I want to thank you personally, " She said, sounding so sincere and with the softest of smiles. She ignored Catlyn's briefly confused look. "Thank you for looking after my son and providing him with a home. My siblings and I were once foreign fosterlings and we remember the stigma that came with that. Thank you for being above the pettiness of others and taking care of my child in my place. I'm sorry for the pain and upset it must have caused you to find a child not your own in your husband's arms."

Ned wondered if Alyss had planed to make his wife uncomfortable with her thanks and apology; a young Alyss may have done so if she felt she or her family had been slighted. But this was not the young girl he once knew and she sounded completely sincere so Ned wouldn't say anything until he could determine for himself. Still watching the shock and other emotions roll through Catlyn at an alarming speed made him worry for her. He would have a talk with Cat later over it all.

After her words with Catlyn, Alyss looked at the quintet of children that were very clearly beloning to both Ned and his wife, two children just off to the side, one a dark haired boy with amethyst eyes. He was practically radiating excitement and caution. The other, equally dark haired but with a smirk playing about the corner of his lips and eyes too dark. She knew, without having to guess, which one was Jon, though she would not call him such often. It was the name he bore here in the home of his uncle turned father, not the one gifted him by his true mother, and Alyss, in her agreeing to claim him as her own would be adding an additional layer of protection to him by giving him a name of her own choosing (with suggestions from her brothers).

She gave the violet eyed boy a soft smile, the one she typically reserved for her brothers and younger cousins. She looked him over and knew, from the ghost of his mother shooting daggers with her eyes at Catlyn, that her thanks to the woman had been premature. She refrained from sighing, having hoped that the woman would have been a better person, in disappointment. She would talk about that with him later, for now he needed to know that she knew him. "Hello, Jon, it has been far too long since last we saw each other." Her voice hitched over the words. To the outside observer it was appear she was overcome with emotions at meeting her son for this first time since his infancy. Her brothers and Ned knew better, they knew the hitch was her anger at Ned and the situation as a whole. Lyanna, dead as she was and holding her son's shoulders tightly in her hands, sent Alyss a look, one that promised retribution if she so much as took one miss step with this young man.

Alyss gave an imperceptible bow of her head to Lyanna and held her arms up, "May I?" She asked, making it his choice if he accepted a hug from her or not.

The boy hesitated for a moment, glanced from her to Ned, to his siblings, and then refocused on her. He swallowed hard and took the few hesitating steps to her and she closed her arms around him. His own arms circled her waist and Alyss could feel him tremble with suppressed emotion and it ate at her that he felt the need to keep his feeling quiet. She tightened her hold on him as her heart pounded rage into her blood, he was a boy, little more than 14 name days and he didn't feel he could express his emotion. Her house, her people, believed that emotions were to be acknowledged, experienced, and felt, not repressed unless absolutely necessary. Alyss herself was beginning to shake with rage and sorrow and she knew she would be having rounds with her brothers in a sparring ring later. Still she hugged the boy tighter and let her sorrow take center stage. Gently, softly, she leaned over to press a soft kiss to his head and whispered in his ear, "You are a son of House Gris, and you are allowed to feel."

She had said similar things to her brothers when they had first come to Westerose and people had tried to force them into controlling their emotion in the same ways as the people here did. Jon shook harder and Alyss held him as tightly as she dared as he sagged against her. There was a sound of footsteps hushed whispers. Apparently her brothers had decided to try and convince Ned to usher everyone away. She was great full to them for that, she could feel the neck of her tunic becoming damp. There was the noise of people moving, someone protested loudly only to be shushed, eventually there was a tap on her shoulder, one of the boys letting her know they had cleared the people off as much as they could.

She began to hum softly, bringing one hand up to run through his curls gently. Eventually he calmed enough to look up at her with eyes rimmed red and full of relief. Alyssandra Gris felt her heart crack into pieces and swore to herself she would do her damndest to ensure this boy felt any and every bit of love she could give him. "Mother," he whispered.

She gave him a mischievous smile and said, "Mother makes me feel old, but yes." She pulled back and made a deliberately exaggerated look of worry appear on her face. "I'm going to pray that you grow taller, gods only know how you'd cope being as small as me," she said, letting a teasing smile slip onto her lips.

Jon gave her a small smile in return and said, "I wouldn't mind all that much."

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Well… here it is.