"Come on, come on!" Cate grit her teeth, urging her horse to ride faster.
She was late.
Really, really late.
Seven hells, she could see the banners approaching Winterfell faster than her stupid horse could gallop.
Father was not going to be happy.
Finally, she burst through the gates of the stables, to the shock of a passing maid, and slid off the horse before it even came to a full stop. Cate threw the reins to a groomsman.
"I'll be back!" She called, racing to the courtyard.
Her braid was a frazzled mess, her gown had a mud stain on it, and she smelled like wind and sweat, but there wasn't time to change. The royal entourage was here.
Passing through the Great Hall, she was greeted by a dark grey ball of fur that for the past three weeks had been rapidly growing.
She gave her direwolf a quick scratch behind the ears. "Not now, Moondancer."
She paused right at the doors to the courtyard, peering outside. The knights were arriving first; she had time. Quickly, she shook her hair out of its braid, smoothing the top down and arranging the curls around her shoulders. The mud couldn't be washed from her dress until later, but she grabbed a dove-grey cloak lined with rabbit fur and tied it over herself. Satisfied, she stepped into the courtyard and took her place with her siblings.
"You're late," Robb whispered as a member of what must have been the Kingsguard, dressed in silver armor with a white cloak, rode past. "Later than Arya, which is saying something."
Sansa glared at the two of them. "Shh!"
Cate ignored her. "I was out riding. Lost track of time."
Robb snorted. "Story of your life."
She landed a soft kick to his shin as the next rider entered - a golden-haired boy, almost as old as Robb, though the self-important smirk on his face hinted at immaturity. He was cloaked in lavish black fur and red leather, and rode between the first soldier and a second, enormous soldier with a hound-shaped helm.
Sansa nudged Cate's side. "That's him," she all but squeaked.
"Who?"
Sansa shot her an incredulous look. "The crown prince!"
Cate looked back at the boy, who was leering down at her and Sansa. His smirk grew wider. She scowled back.
The monster-sized red and gold wheelhouse came lumbering through the gateway and into the courtyard, followed by more white cloaks surrounding King Robert Baratheon, the first of his name, ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, and the man who had killed Prince Rhaegar at the Trident over fifteen years ago.
Gods, he's old, was all Cate could think. His arms, which once wielded war hammers with ease, could barely fit around his bulging stomach. He didn't look like a man who fought and killed, like a man who could be slain in war. He's more likely to die from choking on a chicken bone.
She felt sorry for his horse.
But, she knelt with her family as he totered from his horse, traded jokes and insults with Father, and greeted Mother.
It was then the queen finally emerged from the wheelhouse, wrapped in furs like her son and looking as if she would rather be anywhere else. Which was a shame because if it weren't for the scowl on her face, she'd be the most beautiful woman in the kingdom - abundant gold hair, gleaming unblemished skin, emerald eyes visible even from Cate's distance.
In front of the queen was a much younger boy, somewhere between Sansa and Arya's age, blonde-haired and green-eyed and plump with baby fat. Prince Tommen, she guessed.
Emerging from the wheelhouse after them was a girl - fifteen, perhaps sixteen, a lady flowered like Cate herself - who, except for the sweet, wide-eyed countenance on her face, was the spitting image of Queen Cersei. She had to be Princess Myrcella.
"Who have we here?" King Robert turned his attention to the Stark children. "You must be Robb." He grasped Robb's hand in his, and Robb shook it firmly. The King waddled down the line and stopped at Cate.
He seemed to hesitate as her grey eyes met his, and she could only imagine what, or who, he was thinking of. "My, you're a pretty one." He turned to Sansa. "And you're her twin?"
Sansa blushed like a rose. "No, your Grace, I'm younger."
The King nodded. "Pretty, both of you."
Sansa smiled, but Cate just stared back at him with unsettling gray eyes. Pretty, she knew, was dangerous. Aunt Lyanna had been more than pretty, and everyone knew what Prince Rhaegar did to her.
The King looked over to their youngest sister. "Your name is?"
"Arya."
Clearly disinterested, he turned to Bran. "Show us your muscles," he ordered. Bran happily obliged, and the King wheezed with laughter. "You'll be a soldier!"
Arya's arm snaked around Sansa to tug on Cate's cloak. "That's Jaime Lannister, the queen's twin brother." Cate glanced at the knight shaking out his head of golden hair.
"Would you shut up!" Sansa scolded.
Cate swatted at Sansa's side. "Both of you, quit it!" The Baratheon princess was staring at them.
"Take me to your crypts," Robert suddenly bellowed. "I want to pay my respects."
Queen Cersei finally spoke. "We've been riding for months, my love. Surely the dead can wait."
Robert turned back to his foster brother. "Ned!"
With a nervous glance towards the King, Father went after Robert like an obedient dog.
The courtyard fell into an awkward silence as soon as Lord Stark had swept out of sight. Mother stared apologetically at the queen, who's frown had only grown deeper.
"Lady Stark," Princess Myrcella suddenly spoke up. "We can't thank you enough for your hospitality."
Mother smiled graciously. "Thank you, my princess. I hope the North doesn't disappoint. I know many find it too wild."
The princess smiled, and if Cate thought she seemed warm before, she was wrong. That was a mask, a sweet one but a mask all the same, hard and unbreakable as ice. But suddenly the ice cracked, and the smile Myrcella gave was soft, like a hazy ray of sunlight shining through the trees, making the snow beneath it glimmer.
And she said without guile, "I think the wildness is beautiful."
Hi readers! Thanks so much for checking this out, hopefully that means my summary wasn't too bad. Some events may follow the book timelines, but everyone with the exception of Myrcella will be their show age.
