Benjen desperately wanted to sleep. He'd ridden hard from King's Landing to get back in time for Harvest, and he'd just made it. His bones were sore, and his mind weary. But he knew he had to inform the people in the room with him, about what had happened in King's Landing, and so he fought back tiredness. He took a clear breath and spoke.
"I met with Ned." Catelyn, Robb and Maester Luwin all looked at him intently. "He and the girls are well. They send their love." Catelyn smiled at that, he knew she missed them. "I told him about what happened here, and at first he wanted to return immediately."
Catelyn leaned forward then, clearly about to protest that. Benjen held up a hand to forestall her. "I told him that would be foolish and instead told him about our suspicions."
"And?" Robb asked, the boy was growing quickly, there was a faint trace of stubble on his chin now.
"He will look into it in more detail there." Benjen said.
"How?" Robb demanded.
"My friends in the city will assist him, and he already has a line of inquiry that he's following." Benjen answered.
Robb went to ask another question, but Catelyn spoke. "That is good."
Benjen nodded, and then asked. "How have things been here?"
"Tyrion Lannister came and visited on his way back from the Wall. He brought a contraption for Bran to use when he wants to ride horses." Catelyn said. Her tone suggested that she was both happy and suspicious of what the imp had brought.
"That was kind of him." Benjen said.
"I thought it might be a ploy to distract us from what happened to Bran." Robb said.
Benjen looked at his nephew and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, everyone here saw how close he was to his brother, the Kingslayer. If the Kingslayer pushed Bran, then it's likely that Tyrion Lannister knew about it." Robb said.
"And you think he'd be foolish enough to try and visit, knowing this as he does?" Catelyn asked, sounding as if she couldn't believe her son's foolishness.
"He's a Lannister." Robb said stubbornly. "They're arrogant enough to do so."
"I'm not so sure. If he knew about it, then he'd more than likely want to avoid coming here. In case we were suspicious." Catelyn replied.
"Not necessarily." Benjen said. Catelyn looked at him then. "How did you treat him when he was here?" People could always tell if there was something wrong if they weren't treated how they expected to be treated, his father had taught him that.
"With all due courtesy." Catelyn said, she shot Robb a pointed look, which suggested that the heir to Winterfell had perhaps not been quite as good in that regard as he should have been.
"Then he likely would not have suspected anything." Benjen said. At least, not if Tyrion was as arrogant as his siblings seemed to be.
"So, what do we do now?" Robb asked.
"We carry on as before. Winterfell and the North still need to be run, and Bran will need his family around him more than ever." Benjen said.
"And the Lannisters?" Robb asked. "Will they get away with this?"
Benjen wanted to tell his nephew that the Lannisters wouldn't get away with this. But, he was also old enough to know that justice did not always come immediately. It hadn't for father and Brandon. "Ned knows what he is doing." Benjen said, and he prayed fervently that Ned knew what he was doing. Otherwise, he'd have to go south again, and do things that would completely screw up his plan.
Robb didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but a look from his mother silenced him. For now, that would have to do.
