"We all burn.

We burn in fire. We burn in blood.

We burn in dreams and it never ends."

-Unknown

Chapter Twenty-One – Long Live The King

She could feel the damp grass through the skirt of her dress, she could hear the wind softly rustling the leaves of the trees around her, but she felt like this was a dream.

The cold air spoke to her of the North, and it was just quiet enough for her to hear faint voices on the wind from the castle.

She was home.

Caryssa opened her eyes. In front of her, the same sad face of the heart tree stared back at her as though it looked into her very soul. Her hands were clasped tightly together in her lap, as though she had been praying to the Gods, and she wondered what for.

They had not helped her father.

Why would they help her?

"Because you're an innocent girl, Caryssa, and the Gods protect the innocent."

Caryssa's whole body froze for a moment, before slowly, cautiously, she looked over her shoulder, with tears welling up in her eyes at the familiar voice coupled with the sight of him. Her father sat on his tree stump, cleaning Ice like he usually did in the Godswood. He looked exactly how she remembered him; long dark hair, brooding face, trimmed beard.

It was almost like he had never left her, never been attacked by her husband, never 'committed treason', like he had never been murdered.

He looked almost younger, like the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Are you just going to stare at me all day long or are you going to come sit with me?" Ned questioned, and Caryssa got to her feet mindlessly, not even bothering to remove the flecks of mud, broken blades of grass and old, wet red leaves from her skirts, and sat on her own tree stump.

"This is a dream, isn't it? We're not really here."

"No, we're not," Ned agreed and Caryssa felt the need to cry. She wanted home more than anything. She wanted her mother and her father and all her siblings together in Winterfell, not scattered across the Realm. "But that doesn't mean that we're not together."

"We're not. You're dead, father, and Jon is at the Wall, Sansa and Arya are in King's Landing, Bran and Rickon are at home, and Robb, Mother and I are marching to war," Caryssa pressed, trying to rein in her emotions. After all, her father was the dead one, if anyone deserved to cry, it was him, not her. "Our pack has been divided."

She watched her father sigh, as he put away Ice and turned to face her fully. He reached out and took her hand, and Caryssa nearly sobbed in relief. He felt real. She could feel the warmth from his hand, the weight of it, in hers. It meant that she could almost convince herself that none of it had happened. That they were really home in Winterfell and that he wasn't dead and he was here holding her hand.

But she had never been one for delusions.

"The lone wolf dies, Caryssa, but the pack survives. I taught you that from when you were a little girl. That same little girl who promised each and every one of her siblings that she would allow no harm to come to them, who looked after her mother and gave her father the best gift of all; peace of mind," Ned gripped her hand tightly in his, moving his free hand to catch the tears that had started to fall from her eyes, wiping them away with his knuckles. "You'll keep them all as safe as you can, and you'll never give up trying to bring our family back together again, because it is not in your nature, just like it wasn't in mine."

"Father…I don't know what to do."

Ned chuckled and gave her a soft, sad look, one he often gave her when she seemed lost or under pressure. Not that he had ever put her under any. Caryssa was the type who put pressure upon herself. She asked too much of herself, even when others asked nothing of her. She didn't even realize that she did.

"Not many do, who live to see times like these. You've always been a smart girl. You will work out the best path for you, but you must not give up hope or give up on your faith," Ned leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his daughter's forehead, and Caryssa's eyes fluttered closed at the bittersweet moment. "You have to wake up now, Caryssa. Wake up, girl."

"Caryssa, wake up! Wake up!"

Feeling someone shaking her, the young woman bolted upright, one hand curled round the handle of a knife, and blearily looked around for the intruder.

She sighed in relief when it was only her mother. Caryssa dropped the knife instantly, and dropped her head into her hands when she saw that it was dark outside. She had not intended to go to sleep when she had returned to her tent. They had spent the whole day planning their strategy; which roads they were to take, which castles they were going to visit…and they had paused their council meeting, after a disagreement between Lord Glover and Lord Umber over something inconsequential, to clear their heads.

"I'm sorry, Mother. You startled me. I didn't mean to pull a knife on you." Caryssa apologized, and Catelyn nodded, a smile spoke of her forgiveness.

In truth, there was nothing really to forgive. War did things to the young. Made them paranoid and overly cautious. Her daughter had nothing to fear while she was in this camp; her tent was in the very center of camp with Robb's right next to it and Catelyn's on the other side. No harm would come to her. Especially with the direwolf curled up at her feet.

"You were mumbling in your sleep," Catelyn said softly, her heart twinging slightly when she remembered what her daughter had said. 'Father, I don't know what to do'. Catelyn wished these burdens had never come to her children, having to fight a war to save their siblings, but there was little she could have done to stop it. "You spoke of your father."

Caryssa wondered for a moment if she should tell her mother of her dream, to ask her if the things she had dreamt her father had said would have really been said by him if he were there with them now or if it was just her mind telling her things it thought she wanted to hear.

Looking at the pain in her mother's eyes, she decided not to. Talking about him hurt them both.

"It was just a dream," Caryssa replied, turning away from her mother as she climbed off of her bed, earning herself a huff of annoyance from Rhaenyra whom she had disturbed with her movement. "Come, Rhaenyra. The meeting has begun again?"

"Yes. Your brother asked me to come fetch you. I think it comforts him to have you by his side. Makes him…braver."

"We all need someone who makes us feel brave," Caryssa cracked the slightest of smiles for her mother, and her mother did her best to return the favor. Smiling was incredibly difficult during times like these, now more than ever, but they had to try, for each other's sake. "Some who makes us feel strong. Robb needs someone like that, and, if I can do that for him, it would be my honor."

Catelyn's smile came easier then. She may have lost Ned, the backbone of their family, at least she still had Caryssa, the heart.

They walked in silence from then on, the only sounds came from Rhaenyra, who panted alongside her companion. Robb and all his men rose as the two women approached, honorable as ever, but the first one who spoke was Theon, and Caryssa wished he hadn't.

"Lady Lannister decides to join us once more."

Caryssa glared at him, as she took her seat on one side of Robb, and waited until all the men sat down before she responded.

"Names mean nothing, Theon. For instance, the Kingslayer may be my husband but that doesn't make me a Lannister. Just like Balon Greyjoy is your father, but it doesn't make you his heir," Caryssa knew it was cruel to pour metaphorical salt on Theon's wounds, but, after what the Lannister's had done to her father, she was in no mood to be associated with them, not even in jest. "I am a Stark. First, last and always, and no one is taking my name from me, but I believe that we actually had things to discuss, did we not?"

"She's right. We have yet to decide on where we stand on the three kings who claim right to the Iron Throne." Robb stated, pushing the small argument between his sister and his friend aside for more important discussions. Decisions that needed to be made, and quickly.

"The proper course is clear," Lord Bracken announced, and Caryssa and Robb exchanged an amused look as he moves into the center of their little gathering. House Bracken was a small house in the Riverlands, the South, and everyone in camp knew where he sided on this issue. "Pledge fealty to King Renly and move south to join our forces with his."

"Renly is not the king."

"You cannot mean to hold to Joffrey, my lord. He put your father to death."

"That doesn't make Renly king," Robb declared, his voice sure and unfaltering. Caryssa watched with pride in her eyes as Robb continued. His men hung on his every word, she could see that. They really listened to him, even though he was younger than all of the Lords and most of their soldiers, and it made her proud to see that Robb was so respected already. "He's Robert's youngest brother. If Bran can't be Lord of Winterfell before me, Renly can't be king before Stannis."

"Do you mean to declare us for Stannis?" Lord Bracken questioned, and other men started to talk over each other, shouting out their opinions and their desires.

Caryssa looked at her brother, an ache in her head starting to form at all the voices overlapping and turning into nonsense, and he smiled at her, and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently in comfort. He always knew when she was even mildly distressed.

"My lords. My lords!" Lord Umber rose from his seat and stood in front of Robb and Caryssa, in front of the circle of all the lords gathered there. "Here is what I say to these two kings."

Caryssa chuckled as Lord Umber spat on the floor, the cheers and laughter rising up from the other men, clearly pleased with his stance on the issue.

"Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither. Why should they rule over me and mine from some flowery seat in the South? What do they know of the Wall or the Wolfswood? Even their gods are wrong!" Caryssa felt dread seep into her heart and panic prickle her skin, even as everyone laughed around her. If Lord Umber was going where she believed he was going with his speech, then she was afraid. Not for herself or for their family or their home, but for her brother. "Why shouldn't we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we bowed to and now the dragons are dead!"

Lord Umber withdrew his sword from its scabbard and pointed it in Robb's direction.

Caryssa felt all her breath leave her.

It was happening.

By the Gods, it was happening and she couldn't do anything to stop it without belittling her brother and his standing amongst his men.

"There sits the only king I mean to bend my knee to – the King in the North!"

Lord Umber went down on bended knee, and Robb climbed to his feet, leaving his sister and his mother to stare up at him in mind-numbing shock.

"I'll have peace on those terms. They can keep their Red Castle and their iron chair too," Lord Glover agreed, and Caryssa watched with wide eyes as yet another Lord declared her brother a king. He mimicked Lord Umber, his sword being pulled from its scabbard, him kneeling before a somewhat stunned Robb. "The King in the North!"

Theon stood next.

"Am I your brother, now and always?"

"Now and always." Robb answered, and though Caryssa wanted to argue against trusting Theon, she knew her brother wouldn't listen.

He never listened to her when it came to his friend. He only saw Theon, but Caryssa saw what her mother saw. Balon Greyjoy's puppet in the North. Her mother had warned her many years ago to not trust the boy her father had taken on as a ward, and she hadn't. She honestly hoped that the kraken would prove her lack of trust to be unfounded, but only for Robb's sake.

Theon moved to kneel between the two lords already on their knees and took out his sword, staring up at her brother.

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

"The King in the North!" Lord Umber yelled, and Caryssa closed her eyes as it echoed around their gathering, men, and women in Maege and Dacey Mormont's case, taking up the chant and declaring their independence from the Iron Throne.

Caryssa felt her hand being tugged at and her eyes shot open, seeing Robb looking down at her and smiling. He pulled her to her feet and closer to him. If he felt her trembling, he said nothing, but grasped her tighter as they both looked out at the sea of faces, still chanting his new title.

She was afraid for her brother, more than she had when she discovered that he was riding to war with their family's bannermen at his back.

Being declared king, it painted an even larger target on his back. It made him an even bigger threat to Joffrey's rule, and she knew that Tywin Lannister would not take this larger threat to his power lightly. She knew where the true power behind the throne was, it wasn't Cersei, as the lioness believed. It was the old lion, and he still had razor sharp claws and a bite far more worse than his bark.

She was afraid for her brother, but she knew that she had to hold onto hope, like her father had said.

The hope that the rest of her family would make it out of this war alive, that they would all return home and that things would turn out alright in the end.

Gods, she hoped that.

Once the chanting had stopped, Robb dismissed all the lords for the night and decided to escort Caryssa back to her tent.

She didn't know what to say to him.

He was clearly pleased that his men had so much faith in him, so much respect for him that they wanted to be ruled once more by a Stark instead of a Southern king, as it had been for hundreds of years since the Targaryens had conquered Westeros by dragon fire and Torrhen Stark became the King Who Knelt. Yet she had so many doubts.

Not in him. Never in her brother, but mostly in herself.

How was she supposed to protect him when he was so intent on making himself a bigger and bigger threat? How was she supposed to bring her family together again if she wasn't sure if they would make it home again? What if they didn't survive this war? What would happened to sweet, ladylike Sansa and wild, untamable Arya and broken but brave Bran and precious baby Rickon? And Jon! Jon, all alone on the Wall, with no real clue as to what was happening to his family in his absence, what would happen to him?

What would happen to the ones they left behind?

When they were inside her tent, Robb pulled her into his arms and she held him so tight she was almost worried she would strangle him.

"I know that you are worried-"

"I was worried when you started to raise an army, I am terrified for you now, brother," Caryssa admitted, and she cupped his face between her hands, forcing his blue eyes to focus on hers. "I made an oath to you once, do you remember?"

"You promised to always protect me. You swore to the Gods, but, Ryssa, we were just children-" Caryssa cut Robb off once more by covering his mouth with her hand and he huffed behind her palm but didn't try to speak again.

"Not once have I ever broken an oath I swore to you, and I don't intend to," Caryssa removed her hand from his mouth and wrapped her arms around him instead, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Gods do I wish none of this had happened. That things were as they were before King Robert came to Winterfell. Back when things were simpler."

"Things aren't as they were before, but that doesn't mean they can't be that way again." Robb answered, one of his hands moving from her back to smooth down her hair.

Caryssa allowed herself that moment of comfort, of being soothed by her brother, of allowing herself to believe that perhaps things could get back to how they used to be once they had fought and won this war, but the moment ended far too soon, with her head winning the battle of rational versus irrational against her heart.

"No. Nothing will ever be the same again." She whispered.

A/N:

Hi guys!

So chapter 21 is here!

It's another short one, I know, I'm sorry, but I've had no time to write really for the past three weeks. My family all went on holiday without me and I've had to run the house on my own. I never really realized just how much work goes into looking after a house until I had to do it alone.

But, plus side, we're out of Season 1 and into Season 2, and I am excited because now we get to see other sides of Caryssa and her relationship with her family and Jaime.

So, I want to thank all of my reviewers for the last chapter;

DarylDixon'sLover, NicoleR85, MADStar529, 0netflixme0, Arianna Le Fay, , 00, eyann85, mystic twilight princess, velvetSunset and Jess.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next one will be up on September 14TH,

SophStratt.