Eddard Stark tried to remember the last time he had stood in the courtyard of Winterfell, waiting to greet a King and a Lannister. It had been a far different time when he had been the Lord of Winterfell and the North, and before all of the disasters that would befall his family. Now he stood in the courtyard once again, this time however, waiting not his best friend and brother, but instead his son, for that was what he was to Ned, Jon Snow. His wife and his youngest son stood by his side. Robb and Arya, with Bran in his wheelchair in front of Arya, stood are the far side of the group, with Sansa and Samwell Tarly in the middle of the group.
They could hear the procession making its way through Wintertown. It with cries of the 'It's the King' and 'The Kinglsayer!'. Ned hoped that his son was making the correct decision, allowing Jaime Lannister to come to Winterfell, the last time had had been here, he had crippled Bran. He pushed that thought out his mind, he would have to be diplomatic, as the procession entered the courtyard. Jon led them, and now he wore long scabbed over cut that ran from right above his right eyebrow to the middle of his forehead.
Right behind him, still on his horse, stood Jaime Lannister. Gone was the long hair that he had worn when Ned had last seen him, it had been replaced with a short cut, and the hubris that had dug deep into all of his features. That same hubris that had made Ned hardly stand to look at him, was gone. He snuck a glance at his wife, who was staring a head, a cold fury in his eyes, he couldn't tell if it was directed at Jon or Jaime, but for Jon's and Sansa's sake, he hoped that it was at Jaime, she had calmed down in her anger at the betrothal.
Jon had greeted his bannermen first, accepting their thanks to the gods that he had returned safely. Jon had moved on from them to his family, hugging both Arya and Bran, and Ned watched in quiet relief as Robb and Jon took each other hands in a brief handshake, it wasn't the same relationship that they had once had, but it was better than when Jon had left. He watched as Jon came up to Sansa and Samwell, he took Sansa outstretched hand and kissed it, as was befitting a betrothed couple, even though the anger and disgust had dulled, it was surreal to watch it. Jon shook Samwell's hand, who muttered something excitedly in his ear. Jon broke into a large smile, and continued his greetings, he patted Rickon on the shoulder, he spared a simple head nod at Catelyn, and she sent him a curt smile.
He came to Ned and his outstretched hand, and despite a second's hesitation, Jon took his hand. Pulling back, he turned around and looked back at Jaime Lannister, who had gotten of his horse and had come to the front, with a few other soldiers in Lannister armor with him. Without warning, Jon began to speak "Jaime Lannister has brought an army north to help us in our war with the Night King" Ned glanced around towards his former bannermen, they were regarding the Lannister's coolly "I know we have in the recent past fought one another, but that no longer matters, all of us must come together and put aside our past differences if we are to survive the coming storm" Ned watched the bannermen, Northerners had always been an untrustworthy lot, and Ned could tell that they would need more convincing, but there hadn't been any overt disrespect to Jon's authority. After that, Jaime Lannister announces that he and his officers are going to go oversee their army setting up their camp.
The procession headed inside the Great Hall after that, Ned sits at the front table as everyone spends their time talking of the unlikely alliance, the Lady Mormont, Lyanna, stands and asks "Your Grace, are you sure that this is the best course of action? We have already fought the Lannister's once, and you bring one of their armies here?" Ned has to admit, he had had similar thoughts when Arya had let it slip where Jon was going. He hears many of the Lords roar their agreement with the question.
He watches as Jon closes his eyes and reopens them, as if steeling himself for the fight to come "Yes, Lady Mormont, it was necessary, the Night King's armies are far larger than anything we can field, maybe even larger than a united Westeros can field". If the stories were to be believed, and Ned knew that Jon was not a liar, then it was almost a foregone conclusion that if the Night King got on this side of the wall, then all would be lost.
Its Lord Glover who stands next, his family had served Ned well in Deepwood Motte, and he had already thrown his support behind Ned to take the North. Ned had resolved not to, the crown either belonged to Robb or Jon as far as he was concerned. "Still though" his gruff voice rides over the large hall "We have only just liberated ourselves from the Lannister's lapdog, and you would bring a Lannister army to these halls?". The insinuation that Jon was a Lannister lapdog made Ned's blood boil, Jon may have had southern blood from his Targaryen half, but he had been raised a Stark, and was more a man of the north than most.
Sansa rises to reply, placing a calming hand on Jon's shoulder "Lord Glover, You're certainly not suggesting that His Grace, who actually fought against the Boltons" the accusation is clear in her voice, Ned knows that most the lords in the room had abstained from supporting the Starks in their war to reclaim the North, and that many of them at least claimed to be deeply ashamed of that, Lord Glover among them "Would hand the land back over to Lannister's, that's absurd" She finishes, Sansa is staring at Lord Glover, who looks down.
"No of course I wasn't Lady Stark" Lord Glover returns to his seat, as does Sansa. While her face does not give her true feelings away, he can see smug satisfaction in her eyes.
Jon has stood "I know that the Lannister army will cause tensions, I understand why as well" he pauses and he shoots a glance towards where Bran is sitting at the side "I am loathe as well to invite the man who crippled my brother and fought against us in the War of the Five Kings, but as I have said before, those past wars and grudges must be left in the past, we will need every resource available to stop the White Walkers at the Wall"
The bannermen look at each other for a moment, trying to figure out what the other ones are thinking before the conversation continues. Ned scans the crowd as well, the Lady Mormont sat and looked as though she had agreed with Jon's arguments, as did the Karstark girl and the Umber boy, many of the lesser lords, who held lands up against the Wall, also looked convinced, and Ned realized that many of those lords were the ones who had initially pledged themselves to Jon and Sansa during the War of the Bastards. The Wildl- Free Folk, as Sansa had directed that they learn to call them, delegation looks very agreeable to what their King Beyond the Wall has just finished saying.
One of them stands, a red-haired giant of a man "You bleedin' kneelers don't understand what you're up against" bleedin' kneelers Ned thinks with derision "Take it from those who have actually fight the Walkers, they're tough bastards, and King Crow is right, we need all the help we can get" He throws up his arms in an exaggerated display "Gods, I'm even standing with you kneelers!"
That gets a few chuckles out of the Free Folk group, and some more from the lesser lords. Jon mutters a thanks to his friend, and the silence continues once again. Ned notices many of the Lords stand looking at him, waiting to see what he has to say about his son, and the fact that he has brought Free Folk, Night's Watch, Northmen, Vale men and Lannisters together. He rises to his feet, and while he feels he might be overstepping his bounds, he wants to help his boy. "Lords and Ladies, know this, His Grace might have southern blood running through his veins, but he is as much of the North as you or I" he look at Jon, who is sitting, watching Ned as he continues to talk "I have fought Jaime Lannister, I know who he is and what he's done, but as King Jon has said, we must let the past be left in the past, I would rather make peace with Jaime Lannister, then have our futures snuffed out because we couldn't bring ourselves to make peace" he finishes, and while he knows that his, no Jon's bannermen will require time, more of them are nodding their heads at his words, and so he sits down.
One last person stands, and Ned is surprised to find it's Yohn Royce, the current Lord Protector of the Vale, the regent for Robin Arryn. He stands and looks around the room for a moment "Lord Eddard's words are wise, as they've always been, we declared Jon Snow King in the North, and we should follow him as he leads us into this new war". Ned still couldn't understand why the Vale had thrown their support behind Jon during the war, and he had gotten frustratingly little from Sansa when he had asked about it. Now he was grateful to see Lord Royce support Jon in this way but based on the look that Royce was giving Sansa, he wondered if he wasn't as much supporting Jon, but instead Sansa. It would be yet another thing to ask his family tonight at their long awaited get together.
The lords at least drop the subject, and they move onto more cheery conversation, as Ned thought that they would, the bannermen needed to feel important, they always had, and while they were far more loyal than any of the lords to the south, they still enjoyed politicking in their own special way. He continued through the meal with little said, and has Jon stands to leave, to either go rest from his travels, Ned gaze turns to the forming scar on his forehead, and from his battles.
Ned stands as well, wishing to speak with Jon before he departs, he catches him just outside of the Great Hall, in the side room where he and the rest of the revived Starks had waited to be revealed to the Lords. "I would have us all sup in our solar tonight" Ned tells him, and he watches as Jon eyes tense up in worry "We all have much to speak about, and not much time to get it done". Jon waits, and nods his head in agreement, and then takes his leave. Ned returns to the hall, where many of the lords have broken up, but his family remains seated where he left them, all aside from Sansa, who must have been dragged away by one of the bannermen.
"Jon has agreed to it" he says simply to Catelyn, who narrows her eyes as she watches Sansa come back from speaking to whatever lord she had been with. He turns his head to look at his eldest daughter, she had been doing a good job in keeping Winterfell running smoothly as Jon had been away, and he wondered if she would continue to fulfill now that he was back. He doesn't see Jaime Lannister pass the table, and it's not until he hears Bran speak that he even realizes that he's there.
"The things we do for love" Bran says in that emotionless and eerie voice of his. Not for the first time he recalls the boy that loved to climb the walls and towers of the castle, who got into all sorts of trouble doing so. Now he sits there as someone Ned just can hardly recognize; he calls himself the Three Eyed Raven.
Jaime Lannister looks crestfallen at Bran's words, "I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I want you to know that I will defend your family the best that I can" Bran just stares up at Jaime.
"If you hadn't pushed me out off of that tower, then I would have remained Brandon Stark, and not become the Three Eyed Raven, and you would have remained a man without honor" Ned didn't know if Jaime was now a man of honor, he didn't know how he could go from pushing a child out off of a tower to being a man of honor. "You would have never come here and helped us against the Night King". Bran doesn't offer Jaime absolution, which is good, and Jaime looks more upset then he had a moment before, which Ned has to admit, brings a little bit of happiness to him.
Jaime looks uncertain for a moment, and then something catches his eye on the far side of the room, and he is gone. His family breaks up after that. Bran goes to the godswood to do the things that he does there, Sansa leaves to go have Jon sign up some papers, and to go over the food supplies, which will only hasten to lessen in the face of the Lannister army arriving, and Arya says something about going to the forge, where a friend of hers has set up shop.
The day passes slowly, he and Catelyn spend time walking through Wintertown, talking with inhabitants, who were at first very confused to see them, but have since gotten used to the revived Starks, they speak of the food stores, the war with the others, and all of the other things that might be bothering their people. For a few enjoyable moments, Ned forgets all that has happened, and he can believe that he is once again Lord of Winterfell, with Catelyn has his Lady wife, and there governing the lands in the name of his brother, Robert Baratheon. That imagination is shattered upon seeing the red and gold banners of the Lannister Lion. Ned might be able to accept why Jon brought them here, but he will feel far more at ease when they have gone.
They pass into the early hours of the night quickly enough, and they find themselves in Sansa's solar once again, this place where they have spent so much of their time since their resurrection, and while Ned has finally gotten out of the habit of calling it his and Catelyn's solar, it still feels like it is. Despite being the two that arranged the meal, they are the last to enter the room. It feels tense as they enter, with Robb and Jon silently glaring at each other from the far side of the room, Sansa and Arya are sitting together behind her desk, with Rickon sitting down, a sullen look on his face. Rickon worried him, while his disposition had improved since the return, he was still quiet. Ned and Catelyn took their seats at the head of the small table.
Ned sighed, he had been dreading and looking forward to this conversation for weeks, and Sansa's repeated Not until Jon comes back, now that he was back, Ned wanted to clear the air with his children. "We need to speak and listen to one another" he sends a glare towards Robb and Jon "We have to be on the same page if we are to remain together as a family"
He waits for a moment, waiting Sansa or Jon to begin talking, but all they do is share a nervous glance with one another, Ned sighs angrily, he isn't used to this sort of actions from his children, they had always been willing to at least talk to one another. Surprisingly, it's Arya who speaks first "I killed the Freys" she says simply.
Ned frowned, he knew that his youngest daughter had been gone for a long time, it was a monstrous thought, and he had heard what had befallen the Freys, to think that Arya was capable of such actions. He hears Robb say with a grin "Good" and that makes his skin crawl, Ned knows of Talissa, and the child that she was carrying, and Ned knows that part of Robb's recent explosive anger is that he hasn't being dealing with the loss as well as he could have, but to hear is son say with such vindication that he was happy, it was unsettling.
"How?" Catelyn croaks out beside him, a look of concern on her face and mourning in her tone as she asks it. And Arya launches into the tale, a tale that breaks Ned's heart. How she had watched Ned be beheaded, how the Kingsguard had tracked their away north and found her and killed the Night's Watch men who were being taken to the wall, how she had traveled with two other survivors for a while, and then traveled with the Hound, how she watched Robb and Catelyn die, and how she had ended up in Braavos, and became tried to become a Faceless Man, and while the attempt failed, she still had the abilities, and that's how she managed to kill the Frey's.
It explains why Arya always seems to know the gossip around the castle, which lord to look out for, and things like that. Despite that, trying to become a faceless man is a terrible thing, and he hopes that Arya's thirst for vengeance has been sated, but he doesn't think so, he's heard of the way she talks about Cersei, and he worries that she will be consumed in her thirst until she kills her.
It's Rickon next, who starts speaking of how Maester Luwin and Osha had hidden them, he and Bran, during Theon's attack on Winterfell. How after traveling with them for a short while, he had been sent to the Umbers, who had kept him safe until Smalljon Umber killed Shaggydog and he was sent to the Boltons. Ned spares a look at Jon and Sansa, who have both paled at Rickon's tale.
Rickon looked at Jon and Sansa "I know you tried to save me, Ramsay became more and more crazy as you moved on Winterfell" his face darkens, as he remembers the terrible things that happened to him in the days leading up to the battle.
It's Sansa who speaks, through barely kept tears "We tried, Rickon, we tried so hard to get you away from him", Ned glances at Jon, and he sees that Jon wants to go and comfort her, but Arya has placed a hand on her shoulder.
Rickon has fallen silent as his story leads to it's end, with Rickon running towards Jon, and getting just close enough that they could touch each other, just for an arrow to snuff his life out. Catelyn lets out a shaky breath holds Rickon. He turns and looks at Jon and Sansa, who have been largely silent tonight. Robb has emptied his tankard of ale and pours more into the cup.
Jon tells them of the Night's Watch, the battles he fought, how he went north on a ranging that ended with him falling into the hands of the Free Folk, he infiltrated them, went south went them, and ended up getting back to Castle Black, with just enough time to help hold the Wall in the Wildling assault. Jon had known then of the threat the Other's posed. "I couldn't let them kill all of those people, so I brought them over the wall, my brothers were not happy, they were angry enough that they killed me soon after" Jon finishes with the bitterness obvious in his voice. The pang of sorrow rams it's way down Ned's heart, as he watches Jon fall into silence, the mutiny bothered continued to bother him, nearly two years after it had happened.
Sansa begins speaking and it looks like it troubles her greatly to do so "Littlefinger took me to the Boltons" What? She had told them that they had remained in the Vale until Jon had waged war on the Boltons. "I was forced to marry Ramsay" if it was sorrow Ned felt before, not it's dread as he fears to know what happened to her. Ned hears Robb gloves whine under the pressure of his closed fist, and Jon looks angry as she continues "Things" Sansa says unclearly, and it looks like she can only continue talking for much longer "Theon, Brienne and Podrick saved me from him, they took me to Castle Black where I found Jon" she turned to look at him, and while there is still pain in her eyes, there's also something else, and Ned recognizes as the same look he and Catelyn shares. "Jon protected me with the Night's Watch for a few weeks, and then a letter from Ramsay arrived"
Jon interjects quickly "With nothing worth repeating" there's such a resoluteness in his nephew's voice, that it makes Ned wince.
"I lied about the letter being about Arya" she told them all the first night that it had been Arya, who the letter had been about Ned remembered slowly "It was about me"
While it had made perfect sense that Jon would march south to protect the Free Folk and his closest sister from Ramsay, everything clicked into place in Ned's mind. The closeness that Jon and Sansa shared, so unlike the two had been before, it was because when push came to shove, Jon had started a war to kill the man who had hurt a member of his family, and not just any member, the member that had spent her childhood reminding Jon that he was a disgrace on her mother's honor, that he was a bastard, and he had still dropped everything to stop Ramsay.
Ned hears Robb shoot to his feet, and while Ned can see that he's in his cups, and so was Jon now that he looked at him closely. "I would speak with you, alone" Robb says with clear and concise words that betray northing of his drunkenness. Jon stands as well, paying no attention to the concerned looks from Sansa and Arya
"I would speak with you as well Robb" then without speaking the two are out the door.
Robb doesn't know where his feet are taking him, he just follows, he may have drank a bit too much for him to have this conversation, he's just so … upset, he doesn't know what to do, he had this plan to apologize to Jon for his actions, but the stories about Arya and Sansa have only increased his anger, he doesn't know if it's anger at himself for failing to save them, anger at Jon and Sansa for agreeing to this ridiculous match, he just doesn't know any more. They make their way to the Godswood, to the Weirwood tree in the center of the woods.
Robb turns around, Jon looks just as much in his cups as he is, and a dull anger hangs between them. "You wanted to talk in private then?" Jon asks as he comes to a stop behind him.
The two of them stare for just a moment, what are we waiting for? We should just get this over with so we can be brothers again. Jon looks down at his boots, apparently finding them far more interesting than Robb. Robb rolls his eyes and finally breaks the silence "You know that wedding Sansa will mean bedding her right?" his own words surprise him as much as it seems to surprise Jon.
Jon shakes his head rapidly, but the drink has slowed his movements "I won't do anything that Sansa doesn't want to do" Jon says as he does so "I would never hurt Sansa" he mutters more to himself than to Robb.
"But the lords will demand an heir, a Stark heir has you have promised them" Robb puts as much edge to his voice as he can in his inebriated state, he is desperate for Jon to see what this marriage to mean and what will be expected of them. "When I married Talissa, even though they thought it was a mistake, they still asked daily about an heir"
Jon looks back down at his boots but repeats "I would never hurt Sansa"
Jon's non answer only angers Robb more "You would bed our sister? It's not the honorable, brotherly thing to do." He lets out quickly.
Jon shoots gaze shoots up from his boots, pure anger in his gaze as he fires back "Don't you dare speak of me of brotherly duties, I have performed mine far better than you have."
Robb bares his teeth and breathes out "What is that supposed to mean?". Robb knew what it meant, but he needs to hear Jon accuse him of failing Sansa and Arya.
"You had Jaime fucking Lannister" Jon says with such vehemence, that Robb thinks the sacred Godswood might have been a bad choice for this meeting. "And you let her rot King's Landing while you fought your war"
No, no, no, that wasn't what happened, he had wanted to trade Jaime for Sansa and Arya, but the necessities at the time demanded that he continue fighting for Northern independence, his reign was still so new, that the lords who had named him King in the North, could just as easily have taken it away. "I had a war to fight, she was a needed prisoner, they wouldn't lay a finger on her" but based on what he has heard, the argument rings hollow to him.
Jon bites back a bitter laugh "Are you serious?" he pauses and asks, "You do know that this was Cersei Lannister were talking about right?"
Robb looks down, is this why Sansa had been so cold to him? He had felt immense guilt for failing to save Sansa from the Lannisters, but Jon was King, he had to understand that sacrifices have to be made for the good of the people that he was leading "You are King, you know I couldn't of risked a war over Sansa or Arya or anyone of my family" he points at Jon "You would make the same decision!"
Jon looks unconvinced "I dragged the North into a war with the Boltons over Sansa" he says darkly, himself point a finger at Robb now "Don't think to tell me what I would or wouldn't do Robb"
Robb can't help himself; he doesn't know if it's the ale that he's drank, or if it's the grief coming to the surface, but he wants to hurt Jon for what he is doing to Sansa "You would bed your sister for the good of the realm" Jon looks to say something back, but he doesn't get a chance as Robb continued "How Targaryen of you"
He doesn't even see the fist hit him, and before he knows it he's sprawled on the ground as Jon lunges at him. Jon gets a few good more hits on him before Robb is able to grab a hold of Jon's jerkin and force him off, Robb hastens to his feet as does Jon. The two regard each other a moment, and then charge. Jon throws a punch towards his face, which Robb goes under as he tackles Jon. Jon is able to stop him before he falls to his back, and there soon on their knees, wrestling, both of them trying to force the other one to the ground. Jon gets a good punch on Robb, and he is forced to the ground, but he pushes himself up, and using that momentum, gets through Jon's defense and punches him. Jon rears back up and does the same. Robb doesn't know how long this goes on for, seconds, minutes, hours? He doesn't know, but by the end of it, they are both on sprawled out on the snowy ground, mud and blood covering them.
Robb's doesn't feel the tears in his eyes to know that he's crying, and unlike all of the other times he doesn't understand his emotions, he does now. He's crying for failing Sansa, Arya, his mother, and his father, Jon, and of course Talissa and their child. If he had just not gone to the Twins, he thinks he could have avoided all of this. He needs to apologize to Jon for being such an ungrateful ass. He has a chance that most other will only ever dream of, and he's squandering it by fighting with his family. "Jon, Jon" he repeats. He hears his brother mutter a response "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it Jon, you're not a Targaryen, no matter who fathered you" he leans up to look at his brother, who remains laying out on the snow, his scabbed over gash on his head is bleeding, and he has a few bruises on his face "I, I, I legitimized you, I named you my heir to the North, you are just as much of a Stark as the rest of us, if not more" he adds.
Jon continues to look up at the dark sky. Robb doesn't think Jon going to grace his apology with an answer, but he does with a small shake of his head "You're right though" right about what Jon, he thinks has he brings his gloved hand to wipe away the blood from his burst lip. "I'm not sure about my feelings for Sansa, they're not what they should be" he admits.
Robb is loath to admit, but that was part of the reason he had been so angry, but now that anger is gone, and Robb hopes it never returns "I don't care, Jon, I just want my brother back" he stands and holds out a hand to Jon, who after a second hesitation, takes it and gets up. Before Robb let's go of the hand, he takes Jon's forearm in his left and asks, "Am I your brother?"
Robb's afraid that Jon will say no, not after all of his failures, and with everything else that he has said, but Jon confirms with a nod of his head "Now and always"
"Then from this day forth, I pledge to fight by your side, to protect you and my family for the rest of my days, from this day until my last day". He can feel the mist in his eyes and the blood running down from his nose and his lip. Jon's battered face turns into a very small smile, and he takes Robb in his arms for a moment.
"Thank you, Robb," he says, and then looks down at himself and then looks over Robb "What are we going tell the others?"
Robb takes a moment to look at Jon, a bleeding forehead and nose, and bruises forming all over his face. Robb can't help but laugh "I imagine we should probably tell them the truth, don't you?"
Jon chuckles, this time lightly "What and tell them that you hit your King? That's treason you know, I should have your head"
"Oh please, you hit me plenty growing up, and I was the heir to Winterfell" They continue like this for their trip back to the solar. They only pass a few servants, who all seem to be shocked at their state, but they continue like nothing is amiss. When they get back to the solar, Brienne stands guard.
To say she is shocked at their condition is an understatement "Your Grace, what's happened, have you been attacked?" Robb and Jon share a knowing glance between them, and with Jon's assurances that he is alright, he pushes the door open and enters.
Robb sees that Rickon has fallen asleep on the lounge on their side of the room, while Sansa, his mother and Father, are reading over some missive on the desk. "I hope you two worked out your problems" He hears his father say, and their mother looks up and she lets a surprised sound escape from her lips.
She runs over to Robb and runs her hands over her face, and he is vaguely aware that Sansa is doing the same for Jon, which seems odd, but then Jon's admission comes back to him, and he wonders if Sansa has developed the same feelings. They both demand at the same time "What happened?"
Jon walks over the pitcher of ale, and seeing that there is some in there, pours out two tankards, and hands one to Robb, they both drink and Robb answers "We reconciled"
Sansa looks between her betrothed and her brother a few times "You mean to tell me that you went outside, talked and came back looking like this"
"Look, we don't have to speak about what happened out there" Robb says, and he admits to himself he's not eager to, it had been a bad deal all around, and he was lucky that Jon was so quick to forgive him "Jon and I are brothers again, and nothing will change that"
Sansa looks happy at that, as does Arya and their father, while Bran simply gazes upon them with a knowing look. Her mother purses her lips but says nothing.
Sansa purses her lips, and she says in a tone so much like their mother that it almost physically hurts Robb "Well, no matter how happy I am to hear that, I will not have you two tracking mud all over my castle, so I'll arrange a bath for the two of you"
Robb waits for a few minutes as Sansa arranges it, and while he is happy to simply spend time with his family, a family that has come back together, he does admit that Sansa does have a point, it won't do for the King in the North to track mud all over his betrothed's castle, and while it might endear him to his Free Folk subjects, it wouldn't endear him to the others.
When it's announced that his bath is ready in his rooms, he bids his family a goodnight, and goes a cleans the mud and blood off of him, and then after he's clean, he goes to bed and for the first time since his resurrection, he sleeps a full night's sleep.
Sansa smiled as she saw her parents out of the solar, tonight had gone unexpectedly wonderfully well for the Starks, and for the first time since she, Arya, and her father had gone south to King's Landing she felt as though they were a family once again. She smiled as she went back to her desk and went through the grain missives that she had been going over. It was better than expected, the arrival of Jaime Lannister's army had brought with it food from the south, and while that would mean that they would be able to feed themselves, it would eventually run out, and it would be a struggle to feed the whole army that Jon had brought North.
She sighed, her previous good mood forgotten as she went through the rest of the missives and requests on her desks, none of them too important. She's about to finish up and go to bed when there's a small knock on the door, with Jon slowly entering it. He looks better than when he left, his forehead had stopped bleeding, but it did look like the bruises were there to stay for a bit. She bites back a small laugh, he looked ridiculous, and so unkinglike that it wasn't funny. Jon stops in front of the door and asks "Do you mind if I sit in here and get some work done?" she glances at his desk, where papers and requests lay all over it. She nods her head.
He takes his seat at his desk, and starts reading the papers, most of them are undoubtedly old and out of date, and she can tell that his attention is elsewhere. She stands and goes to the hearth, where her knitting materials wait for her, with the excitement of the last moon, she hasn't had much of a chance to knit, and with her work got up reasonably well, she thinks she can spare the time tonight. Her mind starts to wonder as she knits, this takes her back to right after Jon had been named King in the North, they had sat in these exact same spots many times at the end of the night, both just happy to be the presence of family. And then Arya, Sam and Bran came, and the news of Jon's parentage. She sighs quietly as she turns to look at him, he still has the same paper in his hands as he did when she started knitting "Jon, you can't get through all of that without actually reading them"
He blinks a few times, as if he is realizing where he is. "Oh, yeah you're right" he sets the paper down and picks up another.
He looks like something is bothering him, and while she is loathe to press too hard onto her betrothed, she knows he needs to talk "What is it, Jon?" he looks at her with a puzzled look "Something is bothering you, you are broodier than you've been in a while, so what is it?"
He looks down at the paper, and without looking up he answers "Nothing", but he looks so much like the old Jon they had grown up with, the broody and the one who was just as willing to be left in the corner than be noticed, that's not the Jon she had spent so much time with.
"Jon, I know you better than that, something's bothering you and you're not going to leave before you tell me what it is"
There's a long deep sigh, before Jon replies "Do you think I'm a Targaryen for agreeing to marry you?". Anger begins to form in her gut, who had told him that? She had gone to great lengths speaking with the lords to keep this accusation from being thrown his way, she knew his parentage bothered him, as it would anyone else. Rheagar Targaryen and Aunt Lyanna had thrown the Seven Kingdoms into a war that had killed thousands, and caused much of the heartache of the last few years.
"No, Jon we have discussed this before" she says, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. She's not angry with him, she couldn't be, but she is angry with the person who had told him that "Who told you this?"
Jon shakes his head and looks up and smiles at her ruefully "It's just something that I have turning over in my head since it came out is all". She can tell he's lying, but Sansa is afraid that if she pushes any more, then he will clam up, and it will be weeks before they are talking again.
"Jon, you know that I don't blame you for this" and she doesn't know why she adds the following, but she does anyway "marriage to you might not even be all that bad". Jon knows her feelings on marriage, and she doesn't mean this has a barb against him, but a compliment, and based on the way his face relaxes, she can feel safe knowing that that was how it was taken. "Are you going to be okay tonight?"
Jon doesn't immediately answer, which she had expected. And she sighs, she knows this isn't a good idea, what she's about to suggest, but she can't quite find it in her heart to care "Do you want to stay here tonight?"
Jon's face scrunches up in what she can only think is confusion and revulsion at her suggestion, and she realizes that he must hate her, he comes to her and asks her about being a Targaryen, and then she asks him this, how stupid of her. He looks at her "It wouldn't be proper, Sansa"
"Jon we are going to be married, and it's not like anything is going to happen" she narrows her eyes at him "Is it?"
Jon shakes his head quickly "No of course not but are you sure?". Jon doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, which she appreciates, but after reliving the horror that was her marriage to Ramsay earlier in the night, she doesn't want to be left alone either.
"Yes, I'm sure Jon" she stands as does he, and they go into the chambers together "Besides, I don't think I want to be alone tonight as well" she adds almost as an afterthought.
Has it had been for the last few days, since he had arrived at Winterfell with nothing on his back, but a sword and that horned helmet of his, Arya went to visit Gendry Waters at the forge. When he had arrived, she hadn't believed it, but now Gendry was here and still alive. She had been relieved and excited about it. She found Gendry at the forge, working on forging the dragon glass weapons that would be necessary for the upcoming war with the White Walkers. His hammer banging on what looked to be a Warhammer. She walked up and took her normal place on an empty set of crates.
He didn't immediately acknowledge her presence, but then again, he never did. She would be surprised to know if he even knew if she was here or not, he had been so consumed in his work that he hadn't spared a lot of time to speak with her. But it didn't matter, it felt good to be back together again.
Unlike other times, Gendry did talk to her "So, your King has returned from the North" he said as he put the Warhammer into a bucket of water. She watched him for a moment, Gendry was a bastard of Robert Baratheon, and she wondered if he felt a kinship with Jon, who had also been raised a bastard.
"Aye, he has" she replied simply.
"How do you feel with the Lannister's being here" his gaze had turned to a group of Lannister men, who stood in the middle of the courtyard, talking with another group of men from the Vale. When she didn't answer, he continued "I know the Lannisters was on that list of yours, what do you plan to do with them after the war?"
What did she plan to do? She wanted to go south and kill Cersei and the Mountain for one, they were some of the only ones left on her list. But with her families return, did that change anything? She had lived so long for vengeance, she didn't know if she could live without it. With a sigh, she said "I'm not sure, but I won't do anything until the war with the White Walkers is finished". She had a duty as a Stark to protect the North, and one to her family as well.
Gendry smiled at her, why was he smiling, and why was she smiling back at him? she didn't understand these feelings she had towards Gendry, but she wondered if this is how her parents felt towards each other, that thought both excited her and worried her at the same time. She was pulled out of her reverie at the sight of Theon.
Theon angered her, he had sacked Winterfell, and had killed those two boys in the place of Bran and Rickon. But she hadn't killed him because of what he had done for Sansa. Gendry followed her gaze towards Theon, who had moved to man one of the soup lanes for the people of Wintertown. He sighed as he went back to the forge and went back to the work, and she stood, muttered her goodbyes to him and took off.
She found herself in the Great Hall, where there was not nearly as many people breaking their fast, as there had been in the day before. Her parents and Robb sat at the front table, Jon and Sansa missing. Of course, Jon and Sansa hardly ever broke their fast in the Great Hall, instead they had their morning meeting like they usually did. She took her seat next to Robb, who had healed quite nicely from his fight with Jon. They may have not come out and said that they had been fighting, but it didn't take a genius to know what had happened.
Robb turned to her and asked "Where have you been?" he asked her and then he leaned in with a smile "Have you been with that boy at the forge?"
She tensed and fought the urge to wipe that stupid smile off of Robb's face "I was" she says simply, and while she is sure that eventually that she will have to figure out her feelings for Gendry and what she planned to do later, but for now, it was enough that she was with her family.
A/N: Here's an extra long chapter. I decided to split this chapter and the next one up into two, as I think that might work a bit better. Also for those of you saying that Ned was only the Warden of the North, you are correct. The reason I called him a Lord Paramount was because that is one of his titles on The Game of Thrones Wiki, but when I checked the A Song of Ice and Fire wiki, he wasn't. So from now on, I will refer to Ned as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.