A/N: Riverrun is liberated, battles are complete, and it's time for Robb to have some...final conversations before storming off to Bitterbridge for a Great Council. I might do a Stannis, Aegon, and Tywin interlude in between, but either way, we're done with a HUGE part of the arc and are now onto our next large chunk. Hope you enjoy!
ROBB VI
ROBB
"By the Gods, Robb," Margaery complained, "did you have to mark my neck so ferociously last night? I'm going to have to use a scarf as an accessory because of you! I swear, if I didn't enjoy the experience so much..."
"Sorry," Robb said somewhat insincerely, but his wife sighed at him and shook her head.
"Do you have any thoughts of who you would like to appoint as a sworn shield?" Robb asked awkwardly, trying to break the silence.
"Well, if you can wait for another moon, Brienne of Tarth may be willing to lend me her sword as my sworn shield, but other than that…" Margaery answered, trailing off at the end. "Love, why are you bringing this up, anyways? I hardly think I'll be attacked on my own in the intervening time between Riverrun and Bitterbridge anyways."
"That's what I thought too, at the Battle of Riverrun, fool that I was," Robb pointed out darkly. "Then Daven Lannister, may the Gods curse him to the Seven Hells, managed to use his forces to kill all of our patrols with stealth and attack the camp before the men were ready, nearly killing you in the process! If it hadn't been for your quick thinking and Aly's courage, you would have-"
"Robb, you'll be protecting me as our convoy travels down the Kingsroad to Bitterbridge, and if not you, I am certain we can at least spare Jon or Theon, no? Not that I don't appreciate your offer for a sworn shield, but as of right now, we have bigger things-"
"Bigger things?" Robb interjected incredulously. "After the attack, I have half a mind to keep you in Riverrun for your own safety, but I know your help with this treaty is too important for our cause."
"Oh, so now you're keeping me in Riverrun?" Margaery interrupted, her eyes furious. "Do you not-"
"Of course I understand, love, which is why I didn't do that to begin with!" Robb shouted. "But you nearly died, Margaery! If I hadn't been overconfident and stupid enough to take the majority of my forces to my side, you would have never faced battle to begin with, so excuse me if I am thinking that it is my fault that my wife nearly died!"
"Oh honestly, stop using your bleeding heart and use your head for once," Margaery griped. "This is a war camp, Robb! Newsflash, sometimes things happen and we have to deal with it! Could I have done without the nightmare of my hands covered in blood because of the man I killed? Of course I could have! But I hardly blame you for it, and I signed up for it because you happen to need me at war more than you need me in Winterfell!"
"Then let me assign you a retinue of sworn shields for the duration of our trip from the loyal Northmen, damn it!" Robb cried. "I know you don't like them, but if I end up having to rout some Lannisters, I would certainly feel better and do better if I knew you were safe!"
"...fine, I'll accede to those demands," his wife said heavily, after a long pause. "But-"
"-don't try to force you back when I need you to negotiate for the Northmen and potentially the Riverlords?" Robb said, smiling faintly. "I wouldn't dare dream of it, love."
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Margaery offered hesitantly as she leaned into her husband, and Robb nodded, kissing her temple lightly.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you too," Robb replied quietly. "But as long as you're safe, it hardly matters."
They looked at each other in a much more comfortable silence than earlier, simply staring and drinking in the knowledge that the other was still alive, before Margaery gasped.
"We better get dressed, love, we've got one final meeting before we depart for Bitterbridge," Margaery said hastily, rushing through her makeup routine and trying to cover the...markings of their victory celebrations the night before. Robb pulled on some of his standard clothes, thinking that would be enough for the occasion, but Margaery's raised eyebrow indicated something different.
"What?" Robb asked. "These clothes are appropriate, aren't they?"
Margaery strode through their shared closet and pulled out Robb's finest pair of formal clothes - a black tunic with a Stark direwolf prominently in the center, and grey and red highlights. She laid it out in front of Robb, to his confusion.
"You'll need this," Margaery declared imperiously. "It's just...a feeling I have, that this meeting is going to be important. Humor your wife, won't you? The next time you'll have to wear it is about a moon from now at Bitterbridge, so that's plenty of time in between."
"Important? How so?"
"This is a formal meeting, love, and the Riverlords and Northmen need to see you at your best before you command them down to Bitterbridge. I also suspect that Uncle Edmure is going to surprise us with a feast or declaration of some sort as well." She replied.
Robb sighed, but he nodded, putting on his formal wear as best as he could. Once Robb was dressed, his wife gave him a once-over, pulled out a leather belt with a space for Ice, and clipped it to him, kissing his cheek as she did so. Finally, she sidled up to him, and they stared at the basic mirror together.
Robb's lean and tall body contrasted perfectly with Margaery's smaller form, towering slightly over her. With her grey dress, gold highlights, and white scarf, Margaery's dress made her look every inch the future Stark matriarch she was to be, complementing Robb's almost kingly look.
"Shall I escort you, my lady?" Robb said, grinning. His wife smirked, and took his arm.
"Escort me to the meeting, my sworn shield," she teased, something Robb knew served both as banter and as an acquiescence to the argument earlier. They walked from their rooms in Riverrun to the Great Hall, where the meeting (and presumptive feast, according to Margaery, would be held).
Strangely enough, as both Robb and Margaery entered the room, a hushed silence fell over the hall, and looks were exchanged between various lords alike as they looked at Robb and his wife with what Robb could have sworn was….reverence? But no, that must have been Robb's imagination. They had merely won a battle, what on earth would give them reason to look at us like that?
Not only that, the seats at the front of the Great Hall meant for the Lord and Lady of Riverrun were empty, as Edmure and Cerenna sat nearby, but did not claim the seats that were their right. But there were simply no other seats at the front of the table, where they would normally sit, and both Robb and Margaery exchanged looks as they hesitantly walked over to their seats, hearing snatches of conversation on the way.
"Is that the Sly Wolf?" he heard a boy whisper to his friend.
"They say he tricked the Lannisters into killing themselves in the last battle!"
"Oh, but look at the Sharp Rose!" A lady exclaimed to her husband.
"She's a tough one - I heard she singlehandedly fought off three men with her knife."
"…'look like a King and Queen, I tell you, and old Alys is never wrong."
When Robb and Margaery took their seats, the doors closed, serving as an even firmer break from tradition, and confirming Robb's suspicion that the time they were told to attend the meeting would make them the last two members there.
"Nephew, niece," Edmure began. "We are honored by your presence here. Your stalwart determination and strategy freed Riverrun from the yoke of the Lannisters, and have given the Riverlands the freedom to fight for justice and honor in this war!"
Cheers rose up from the table, but Edmure hushed them with a wave of his hand.
"My lord father was slain by the false lions, unbeknownst to my lady wife and I, and so we fought back. We will restore the legacy of the true lions in the Seven Kingdoms, and correct this injustice. Though I have a lot to live up to as the new Lord of Riverrun, but I swear to all of you that I will honor my father's legacy and fight the unjust lions to free us all from the falseborn boy on the Iron Throne!"
Loud cheers rose up from the Riverlords, who seemed to approve of Edmure's speech. Notably absent from that cheering was Cerenna Tully, nee Lannister, but Robb noticed that her eyes were red-rimmed, suggesting that she was still conflicted in fighting the Lannisters.
"But who will we declare for? Who will the Riverlands and the North support in the quest for the Iron Throne?" Jonos Bracken blustered loudly.
"There shall be a Great Council in a moon at Bitterbridge, hosted by House Tyrell," Margaery's voice, clear and strong, echoed across the hall. "But that is something we must decide in this meeting, my lords, so that we can bring our demands to the presumptive King on the Iron Throne and negotiate a favorable deal to end the war. Lady Sansa is in Highgarden, and I assure you, between my family and Lady Sansa's own cleverness, I am certain that groundwork has already been set for the North and the Riverlands."
"So once again, we have only two choices," Lord Karstark grumbled. "Both of which have not yet moved to join the fight, while our armies suffered and bled to destroy the Lannisters. Mace Tyrell may be sacking the Westerlands, but even so, he is not doing so under the purview of any King as of yet."
"Lord Karstark is right," Jason Mallister added. "As the two Kings lie in wait for their expected armies, only the armies of the North dared to free our liege lord, and save the Riverlands from the wrath of Tywin Lannister."
"We cannot fault both Kings for crimes that they did not commit," Robb pointed out. "They did not know that the Riverlands were forced to declare neutrality under the guise of a hostage situation. The Northmen did not know either, until the Blackfish explained the situation to us."
"Then how shall we decide which king to declare for?" the Blackfish posed disgustedly, his face showing visible disgust. "One, for all intents and purposes, could potentially be a Blackfyre, and the other, has, by all accounts, rejected the Seven and instead turned to the Red God like a madman. We will not swear for Joffrey the Illborn, so who do we choose instead?"
The lords nodded in agreement, disliking the notion of declaring for either of the Kings.
"Yet, Aegon Targaryen poses an army of at least seventy thousand swords, if the Reach and Dorne both swear to him, and there are rumors that he has the Golden Company at his back," Raymon Darry argued. "Would it not be better to swear to him, as the presumptive winner of this succession crisis?"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Darry?" Perwyn Frey asked. "How convenient, for the old Targaryen loyalists to swear for the Targaryens yet again. Stannis Baratheon has the better claim, and is a dutiful man - would he not be better as king?"
"And yet Stannis Baratheon would aim directly for the North after he is finished with the Lannisters, if we declare for him," Ser Wylis noted. "Considering that our liege lady was born a Tyrell, and we have a potential threat to his reign in the form of my future good-son, Jon Targaryen, it would be unwise to declare for him."
"Aegon Targaryen has the better claim, as the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, and only a fool would ignore the likelihood of the Reach and Dorne's declarations for the dragon." Tytos Blackwood stated. "He is the clear winner in this conflict, and we should support that."
"But a King that sits idly as the Lannisters keep young Brandon Stark captured?" Marq Piper exclaimed. "He would not bring the justice that the North and Riverlands deserve."
Margaery looked as though she was about to speak and intercede in the discussion, but she was cut off by the booming voice of the Greatjon Umber.
"MY LORDS!" the Greatjon roared, his voice carrying clear across the rooms. "We are overlooking the obvious option, sitting right in front of us!"
Oh gods, are they going to declare for-
But before Robb could yell, could interfere, could say anything to prevent the outcome he knew would happen, his wife put a calming hand on his shoulders, and he turned to her. Margaery stared at him intently with a slight frown on her face, but she shook her head anyways, and put a finger to her lips in a clear shushing motion.
"Both kings are unsuitable options, and Joffrey the Illborn, even more so. Stannis Baratheon and Aegon Targaryen have done nothing for me or mine - why should we wait for a council to declare for either of them? They will not bring the justice that we deserve. Why shouldn't we rule over ourselves again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons have done nothing for us!"
The Greatjon reached back over his shoulder to draw his greatsword, pointing to Robb.
"He devised a plan to save the Riverlands. He alone dares to storm to King's Landing and deliver justice for Ned Stark and Brandon Stark. It was he, and his lady wife, who battled for Riverrun with all of us, shedding blood in the process. He has the blood of the Kings of Winter flowing through his veins, and he is the only King I mean to bend my knee to, my lords."
Absolute silence filled the hall as the Greatjon knelt and laid his greatsword before Robb, and Robb struggled with his desire to intervene by saying something, to say anything to stop this madness.
I'm not the King you want! He wanted to say. Just wait a moon and you will have a King, leave me out of it! But Margaery's intent look conveyed to him that he could not back out now, not without spitting in the faces of his lords, and the men who had sworn his life for him, and even he knew when a battle was lost.
"Aye," Rickard Karstark said heavily. "I'll have peace on those terms. They can keep their red castle and iron chair as well." He knelt beside the Greatjon.
"My sword is, and has always been yours, brother," Jon declared solemnly, as he knelt before Robb. "The King in the North!"
"The King of Winter!" Maege Mormont exclaimed, pointing her sword at Robb and Margaery, as she joined the kneelers.
This triggered a chain reaction of Northern lords and Riverlords, including houses that Robb knew had never dared been ruled by Winterfell, to kneel alongside her.
At that signal, Margaery grabbed his hand as they stood up together, and there they stood in the hall, the only two standing in the Great Hall of Riverrun.
"The King in the North!"
"The Queen in the North!"
"THE KING AND QUEEN IN THE NORTH!"
Ending A/N: Surprise? I know some of it may be a shock, and perhaps, considering the whole everything else that has been debated about KITN, this was always going to happen - the North has been leery of Targaryens since Robert's Rebellion and Robb, so far, is the best candidate to be crowned for the Northmen, as of right now, considering that he just saved Riverrun and smashed through them in two glorious battles.
Robb and Margaery literally CANNOT turn down this crowning and spit in the face of their lords and ladies, which is something Margaery knows, and why she stops Robb from protesting.
However, this may not always be the case. We've got a Great Council with a lot of prime options for negotiation, and Robb has some interesting plans to advocate for the North for the best possible outcomes. Not only that, Aegon has declared that he wants to marry Sansa, who gets a sudden elevation to Princess of Winter.
Feel free to debate what the best options are - by all means, I'd love to hear it! Next time: Stannis, Aegon, and Tywin deal with the revelation, as Margaery and co. travel to Bitterbridge!
