ROBB

He stared at his father as the lord of Winterfell looked back at him with horror written all over his face. It was clear that Robb had interrupted his talk with uncle Benjen, and the man who had dedicated his life to the watch was staring at Robb with equal horror in his grey eyes.

But Robb hadn't been able to keep quiet anymore, as he had listened to their conversation, Robb had gone through so many emotions that he was feeling slightly dizzy.

But anger, surprise and horror had been the main emotions that he had felt and could still feel. The very fact that his father had wanted Jon to take the black and serve for the rest of his life here at the Wall in these circumstances that the watch was now in, was something that Robb was sure that he would never forgive the man for.

But when they had said that Jon was the son of Rhaegar and Lya, and that they were planning to place him on the throne, Robb´s world had come crashing down on him.

He had believed his entire life that he and Jon were brothers but now he was learning that it had all been a lie. It was then when he had stepped forward and asked his father what was going on.

His father and uncle were still standing there staring at him like they were frozen and the surprise and horror in their eyes was apparent to him.

"How much did you hear?" The lord of Winterfell asked after a moment of silence, and Robb felt the anger burning in his veins.

"I heard everything." He stated, he wasn't sure if it was true, but he didn't really care if he was lying to his father or not, not when the man himself had been caught lying to him for so long.

Robb clenched his fist and he wanted nothing more than to hit his father, but even in his anger, he knew that it would be too much. Whatever the man had done, he was still Robb´s father and the lord of Winterfell.

His father closed his eyes and said nothing for a moment. "We should all go down and talk." The lord of Winterfell stated in a tired tone, as Robb´s uncle nodded at him.

His father tried to put his hand on his shoulder to steer him to the iron cage, but Robb shrugged it off and stormed ahead of them. He may not have punched the man like Robb felt he deserved, but he knew that he had to make his rage felt somehow.

Robb could feel the cold wind claw at his face as they traveled down the Wall in the iron cage in silence. He wanted to glance at his father to see if there was remorse on his face, but he didn't want to give the man the satisfaction to see that Robb cared. The betrayal cut too deeply for him to want to stop being angry just yet.

But Robb wasn't just angry that his father had kept something so important a secret, but the anger burned hottest when he thought on his father´s words that he had wanted Jon to take the black.

When the cage got to the bottom, his father asked Benjen to take him to the room, Jon and Robb were sharing and wait for him there, then the lord of Winterfell hurried away.

Benjen sighed. "Come on, we should wait until your father returns." The Stark who had dedicated his life to the watch, steered Robb to the King´s tower where they would wait for his father´s return.

When they entered the room, Robb sat down on his cot and crossed his arms and waited in silence. Uncle Benjen tried to initiate a conversation with him, but Robb didn't answer, but only glared at him in anger.

When Benjen sighed after failing for the third time to start a conversation, Robb started to feel a little guilty at not responding. Uncle Benjen had always been kind to him and all his siblings, but it had been clear to him that he had known the entre time that Jon wasn't his brother.

They didn't have to wait long for his father to enter the room, but now the lord of Winterfell was followed by Jon who was looking very confused as he glanced between them, as if he was trying to figure out what had happened.

"What is going on?" Jon asked as he glanced at them and there was a suspicion in his voice. Robb glared at his father, waiting him to come clean and tell Jon everything that he had heard him and uncle Benjen talk about.

His father sighed before he spoke. "Robb overheard Benjen and I talking." Ned Stark took a seat on the other cot. "He knows."

The last statement made Robb´s eyes widen in surprise, did Jon know that he wasn't the son of Ned Stark and that he had intended for him to take the black?

Before Robb could spiral more into his thoughts, Jon cleared his throat. "Alright then." The darker hair boy shrugged his shoulders and clasped his hand together behind his back like he didn't care one bit if Robb knew or not, and Robb could see no signs of anger or disbelieve, which only meant that he must have known for some time.

"You knew?" Robb asked the other boy who he had grown up thinking that was his brother, and Robb hated how small his voice was when he asked his question. He couldn't help but to feel a little betrayed that Jon had known and hadn't told him.

Jon nodded. "Aye, I found out around nine months ago, when I found three dragon eggs in the crypts under Winterfell." Robb stared at Jon in surprise as did uncle Benjen, it was clear that he didn't know about the dragon eggs like him.

"You found dragon eggs? Like in the stories?" Benjen gasped out and his eyes were the size of plates.

But before Jon could answer Benjen´s question, Robb angerly growled out. "And why didn't you tell me? I thought that you trusted me?" He could feel the anger surge in his gut at the fact that Jon didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth. Had Jon never really thought of Robb as his brother?

"Of course, I trust you." Jon stated and there was hurt in his eyes. "I just can't go around telling people that I am the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark." Jon rubbed the back of his neck and turned to their…no, Robb´s father.

"Tell him the truth, he deserves to know." Jon stated and the lord of Winterfell stared at Jon and there was doubt in his father´s eyes, that irritated Robb more than he could say.

The room was filled with silence before the lord of Winterfell nodded and told Robb the story of what had happened at the tourney of Harrenhall and Robert´s rebellion and the aftermath.

When his father finally stopped talking, Robb sat there on the cot, trying his best to come to grips with the fact that the boy who Robb had believed to be his bastard brother was really the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark and the rightful King of the seven Kingdoms.

When Robb had heard from his father that Jon was the son of Rhaegar and Lya, he had suspected that Lya was in fact Lyanna Stark, but the fact that he really was a trueborn was the most shocking part of the story.

Rhaegar had set Elia Martell aside and married his aunt on the isle of faces, making Jon the only living heir to the Iron throne.

But Robert Baratheon was his father´s best friend, and now the lord of Winterfell wanted to declare for Jon instead and make him King. "But you said that you wanted Jon to take the black at one point."

When he said that, he could see that it was something that Jon hadn't know about before this, as the dark-haired boy looked at the lord of Winterfell with a frown, as the older man closed his eyes in expiration.

"Aye," The lord of Winterfell admitted, and his voice sounded like it belonged to a much older man than his father. "I didn't want to have to decide between my friend and my nephew." He looked up and Robb was sure that he had seen the ghost of a tear in his eyes.

"I was a coward, and I thought it was better if Jon took the black before he found out the truth about his parents, so that if he ever found out he couldn't lay claim on the throne." Robb felt the horror mount in his stomach at hearing his father´s confession, but Jon looked like his face was carved out of stone and he gave nothing away.

Silence filled the room again before it was broken by Jon. "It doesn't matter." Robb knew Jon well enough to know that he was holding in his temper at their fath…Robb´s father.

But Robb wasn't willing to let the man of the hook so fast, Robb stood up and turned to Jon. "How can you say that!? He was willing to let you exile yourself here and let his friend steal your birthright?"

As soon as Robb said the word birthright, Jon closed his eyes and let his arms fall to his sides. "A man gets what he earns when he earns it." He said quietly and Robb had a hard time hearing him.

"What?" Robb asked him not entirely sure if he had heard him.

Jon looked at Robb and gave him a small smile. "A man gets what he earns when he earns it." He repeated and there was a faraway look in his eyes, like he was remembering something from a long ago.

"Wise words," Their uncle Benjen stated as he rubbed his breaded chin. "Where did you hear them?"

Jon smiled at the man. "Some old man said them to me once." There was so much laughter in his eyes that for a moment Robb felt like they weren't talking about how his father was planning to dethrone his old friend and place Jon on the Iron throne, and how Robb´s father had at one point planed on sending Jon here to take the black so that Jon couldn't claim the throne that was his birthright.

Robb sat back down on the cot and stared at his hands. All his life he had expected to rule the North with Jon by his side, but know he was hearing that not only wasn't Jon his brother but cousin and the fact that his father was planning on reclaiming his birthright and making him King.

He didn't know how long he sat there, thinking how everything had turned on its head, when he felt someone sit down beside him. Robb looked up and saw it was Jon, who was looking ahead.

It was then when Robb realized that both his father and uncle had left the room, leaving Jon and Robb alone.

"I know that it is a lot to take in, when I found out I thought that I was going insane." Jon said as he leaned his elbows on his knees. He then glanced at Robb with his dark grey eyes. "We didn't keep it from you because we didn't trust you, but the more people who know, the more dangerous it is."

"But I don't understand." Robb said and he could feel his voice start to break, he wasn't ready to let go of Jon. As he stared at the other boy, he didn't see a Kingly cousin, he just saw his brother who had always been there for him and getting into trouble at his behest.

Jon looked at him for a moment with his Stark grey eyes that had always been a source of envy for Robb, as he had always wanted to look more like a Stark than he did. "I know, it will take some time to get used to."

"I don't want to get used to it," Robb stared at his hands and clenched his fists. "I just want you to be my brother again." He knew that he was being selfish, but he didn't want anything to change. All Robb had ever wanted was to rule the North and have Jon there with him to help him, but now Jon would have to go south and rule all the seven Kingdoms one day as the King.

"I am your brother." Jon stated firmly, and as Robb glanced back at him, he could see that he eyes looked like the rippled steel of his father´s sword, Ice. "I may be your cousin by blood, but you will always be my brother, whether you like it or not."

Robb did his best to push down the tears that were threating to come, he was so relieved that Jon still wanted him as a brother, so he decided to hug him as hard as he could so that Jon couldn't see the tears of relief in his eyes.

As they hugged, Jon spoke up again. "Sansa knows." This made Robb push Jon away from him to an arm's length while still holding him still at the shoulders.

"What!?" Robb hissed before he could stop himself.

"We didn't tell her." Jon stated firmly and shot him a look that said, do you take me for an idiot? "She figured it out by herself sometime after we started to spend some much time together." He looked a little embarrassed by that and rubbed the back of his neck again as Robb let his arms drop back to his lap.

That did make sense to Robb, Sansa was quickly becoming the smartest person he knew, aside from maester Luwin. So maybe it shouldn't have been such a surprise that she would figure it out after spending so much time with Jon.

"But I still don't understand, how can you forgive father for what he almost did?" Robb bit his lip and stared at Jon. If Robb was in Jon´s position, he would never forgive the lord of Winterfell for intending to send him to the Wall just so his friend could remain King when in fact it was Jon´s birthright. "Why aren't you angry with him?"

Jon looked at him with his dark grey eyes, and for a moment Robb thought that they had flashed indigo. "I am angry at him, I will freely admit that, but it is not because he didn't declare from me right away."

Robb stared at the other boy as Jon looked at his hands sadly. He could hardly believe his own ears at what he was saying. He couldn't imagine the feeling of having the North and Winterfell being ruled by the man that had killed his father, and having his own uncle keeping it all from him by lying and telling everyone that he was his bastard son.

He opened his mouth to say something be Jon continued talking. "I am mad that he didn't tell me the truth that my mother is really dead, when I lived all my life believing that she could be alive and wondering about me."

Robb had never seen his brother, for that was what Jon really was no matter who he called father, looking so sad before and his heart went out to him.

Jon looked up from his hands and to Robb. "I am mad that he intended to have me take the black and dedicate my whole life to the watch without telling me the whole truth, but I am not mad that he didn't immediately declare that I am Rhaegar´s and Lyanna´s son, because in my heart I don't want to become King, even though I know that I have to be."

Robb continued to stare at Jon. "But if you become King, you would be the most powerful man in the Kingdoms, and you could avenge your father."

Jon gave a small sad smile at his words, much to Robb´s surprise. "A King is a servant to his people, and I will have to spend the rest of my life in King´s Landing while the rest of my family is here in the North." Jon interlaced his fingers and sighed. "As for avenging my father, Rhaegar was slain in battle, and he wasn't exactly blameless in what happened."

Robb frowned at his words. "But your mother was in love with him and ran away with him so that she didn't have to marry Robert Baratheon." He tried to reason with Jon, but Jon just shook his head.

"My mother was a girl of fifteen years when she ran away with Rhaegar, that is how old Theon is now, and Rhaegar was a man of twenty four years of age with two children and a wife, and as far as I know, he knew that my mother didn't want to marry Robert Baratheon, so I think that he may have taken a little bit of advantage of her." Jon fell silent for a moment before he spoke again.

"Not that I think that she was blameless, but she was just a scared fifteen-year-old girl that didn't want to marry a man like Robert, and they could both have handled the situation better than they did, especially when Rhaegar knew what kind of man his father was." There was no anger in Jon´s voice, only sorrow and regret.

But he wasn't done. "But I think that perhaps we shouldn't judge them too harshly, they had no idea that Uncle Brandon would charge to the capitol to demand Rhaegar´s head and that it would start a war."

They sat together for a moment, just thinking about everything that had transpired before Robb asked Jon his final question that had been burning on his mind. "But if you don't want to be King, why are you going to claim the throne?"

Jon looked a little started at that question for a moment before he recovered. "Sooner or later people will find out the truth and when that happens, Robert Baratheon will do everything in his power to kill me, and most likely all of you as well for having allowed me to live, and I cannot let that happen, and the safest place for us is with me on that damned throne. And maybe I can actually do something good on that iron monstrosity."

Robb wanted nothing more than to assure him that Robert was his father´s friend, and that he wouldn't do that, but then he remembered the stories of little Aegon and Rhaenys who had been killed by the Lannisters, and now Robert had a Lannister Queen so that he couldn't be that horrified by the fact that Tywin Lannister had a hand in the deaths of children.

Robb also remembered how Robert Baratheon had refused his father when he had asked for the funds to help the watch restore the castles of the wall, and it was then he made up his mind. "I will help you Jon." Robb sat up straighter and he put on his best determined face that he could. "I will help you reclaim your birthright and help you to become the best King the seven Kingdoms have ever seen.

He could feel a sense of pride when Jon gave him a small smile as he thanked him for his support.

"There is also something else I should tell you." Robb stared at Jon, it couldn't be that he had more surprises in store, as today it had been revealed to him that Jon wasn't his brother but a hidden King. "I have three dragons hidden away and the sword Blackfyre."

Robb stared at Jon. "I am sorry, what?"

SER BRYNDEN

He tried his best to tone out his nephew´s voice but he was sure that no amount of patience could keep him from going insane in the long run. Edmure Tully was one of the most irritating people that he had ever met, excluding the man´s sister, Lysa of course.

Lysa was in a class of her own, but Brynden hadn't seen her for some time now, but he doubted that she had changed in the time he hadn't seen her. Especially after what he had heard about what she had done.

Her actions were the reason he was traveling to the heart of the north. Brynden knew that he had to talk to Jon Arryn after his niece´s indiscretions, so he had left the Vale and stopped for a few days in Riverrun before heading to Winterfell.

He now regretted stopping in his childhood home, Edmure had been just as dimwitted as he remembered and Hoster had been wroth with Lysa for her actions. That Brynden could understand well but refusing her blameless son hearth and home was spiteful, even for Hoster.

All his life, Hoster had been a proud man, and being the heir and future lord of the Riverlands, it was expected that he should be proud, but this was too much. The boy, Robert Waters was still family even though he was a bastard, and he was Hoster´s grandson.

Even the dimwitted Edmure had been angry at his father for that decision, so to spite his father and to make sure that Hoster knew what he thought of this matter, he had followed Brynden north to Winterfell and was now trying to chat his ears off.

Edmure´s friends Marq Piper and Patrek Mallister had decided to come along with them north, much to his irritation. Brynden had intended to go alone, but now he was in the company of knights and squires and servants.

Edmure and his friends had been loud and annoying the entire trip and Brynden couldn't be happier now that they were finally arriving at Winterfell and he didn't have to spend all day with those three.

Marq Piper was a lot like his father in character, but nothing like the man in appearance. While his father was short and fat, the heir to Pinkmaiden was average height and rather handsome.

But Patrek Mallister was just like his father who was tall and rode a horse like he feared nothing, and he was apparently a fearsome jouster.

But Brynden found them all to be silly children who liked to play at being warriors, but he had to respect Edmure´s stance against his father.

Edmure was a blithering idiot, but he was a good gentle soul, which is something that he must have inherited from his mother, as Hoster had always been rather opportunistic like how he had married both his daughters in the rebellion for his armies.

Sure, that was good for house Tully to have their blood in the ruling houses of the Vale and the North, but it made house Tully look desperate and like Hoster was trying to get rid of his daughters.

Then again perhaps he was trying to get rid of his daughters. Petyr Baelish had been made to leave Riverrun in quite a hurry, sure challenging Brandon Stark to a duel for Cat´s hand was serious, but was it enough to make the son of Hoster´s friend leave in such a hurry?

Had something else happened to make Hoster so furious that he had not only kicked Baelish out of Riverrun, but also sold Lysa off to a man who had lost half of his teeth and was decades older than her?

He would find out when he arrived at Winterfell or so he hoped.

Brynden watched the castle of the Stark´s grow taller on the horizon. It didn't take a long time until he could see riders leave the castle and come towards the Riverlands delegation. The Blackfish could see the snarling grey direwolf on the banners of the riders.

As the riders got closer, Brynden recognized Ser Rodrik Cassel who had fought alongside lord Stark in the Greyjoy rebellion.

The man was a good fighter from what the blackfish could remember, and completely loyal to lord Stark. "Greetings my lords." The northerner said and bowed his head in respect. "I have been sent to escort you the rest of the way by lady Stark."

This made Edmure laugh jovially. "That is my sister for you, always courteous and proper." Edmure wasn't wrong, Cat had always been proper and courteous, even as a little girl. Brynden had always thought it was an attempt to win the approval of her father, and an attempt to remain the favorite child of Hoster Tully.

Brynden had noticed the same behavior in Hoster when they had been children, the two brothers had always been fighting for their fathers love and acceptance, and as Hoster was the elder and the heir, he almost always won.

He shook his head of the thought as they approached the great stone keep of the Starks. As they rode thought the gate, he could hear Edmure chat with Ser Rodrik, and he was thankful that his ears weren't being assaulted by the younger man.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Brynden could feel the heat rise considerably, and he thought that it must be because of the hot water than ran through the walls of the castle.

In the courtyard, all the Starks that were in the castle were in attendance, as was Lysa Arryn. But Brynden couldn't see her son anywhere.

He could see that Lysa had seen better days, as it was clear to him that she had lost much of the weight that she had gained and there was a pale-yellow spot around her eye that was almost healed.

Catelyn however was looking beautiful but for the healing scratch marks on her neck, almost healed split lip and it seemed that she was trying her best to hide the fact that a patch of her lovely red hair had been pulled out of her head.

Brynden stared at the two women as he dismounted his horse, the two of them had clearly gotten into a fight, while Brynden didn't have a hard time believing Lysa to lunch herself into a vicious fight, as to him it seemed to fit her character quite well, he had a hard time seeing Cat in a fight.

All her life she had been raised to be the perfect lady and she had faithfully maintained that idea as she grew up as far as Brynden could tell. So, it was quite a shock to see her like she had been in a tavern brawl.

But while Lysa´s son wasn't amongst the crowd that had gathered, Catelyn´s children were there, she was holding the newborn Rickon and little Bran was clinging to her skirt while her two girls, Sansa and Arya were standing tall beside her.

Brynden had heard that lord Stark and Jon Arryn had gone to the Dreadfort and then to the Wall to assess the situation and that lord Stark had taken his heir Robb and his bastard son with them.

Brynden had been surprised to hear that lord Stark was heading to the Dreadfort and the Wall, but Hoster had assured him that it was the truth, apparently lord Bolton had been murdered by his bastard son at the gathering of the Northern lords at Winterfell, after some horrible accusations.

Brynden had to admire Ned Stark for going to the Dreadfort even though the lord was dead to see if the accusations were true or not, Brynden had a feeling that if it had been his own brother, he would have just swept the whole thing under the rug as it were, if the man was already dead, as it didn't really serve any political purpose other than smear the memory of another lord.

Then again most of the other lords would have done so as well, as it was much easier and convenient to do so.

"Cat." Called his nephew and rushed of his destrier, effectively pulling Brynden out of his thoughts. The red headed man rushed over to his sister and pulled the woman into a hug, not giving her a change to hand her babe to a nursemaid.

"It is good to see you Edmure." Cat said with a laugh, and Brynden felt relief that her babe wasn't hurt by Edmure´s rush to hug his eldest living sibling.

Brynden walked over to them as the heir to Riverrun let his sister go to greet his other sister. Cat turned to Brynden with a smile and gave him a hug as well, making Brynden a little uncomfortable, as he never really liked receiving hugs.

"It is good to see you as well, uncle." Cat adjusted the babe in her arms, as she turned a little to her other children. "Allow me to introduce my children, these are Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon." As she named the children she pointed to each child, confirming Brynden´s guesses which ones were which.

Brynden greeted them all and he couldn't help but to smile at them, they all took after the Tullys in looks except for little Arya, who was more like Ned Stark than any of the others.

After greeting them, he walked over to Lysa to greet her, but their greeting was much colder than the one he had received from her sister.

Luckily, the greetings were over soon, and Cat had them all shown to their rooms, and informed them that a small modest feast was being held in their honor, making Brynden inwardly sigh.

After getting ready, Brynden exited the room he had been assigned too and asked one of the servants to show him to the great hall, were he would be meeting the rest of his family.

As he neared the great hall, both Edmure and his friends caught up with him and as they entered, Brynden tried his best to ignore them.

The hall was already filled with the knights and squires that had followed them from the Riverlands, as well as many of the Stark guards.

His niece had made room for all the nobles of the Tully party at the high table together, as they were so few and this way they could all talk and catch up, Brynden really needed to hear Lysa´s version of the story as he had only heard the vile rumors and the story from Hoster, who was furious, so Brynden didn't exactly trust him to be objective.

But he knew he had to wait until he could get her alone, as he didn't think she would be willing to talk about what had happened in front of the Mallister and Piper heirs.

Brynden was seated between Cat and Lysa, normally Lysa would have been seated beside her sister, but Brynden could see that something had happened between the two of them. Both Tully sisters were sending each other angry glares.

In front of him was little Bran who was seated beside his sister Sansa who was keeping an eye on her little brother.

They sat and started their dinner and Edmure started immediately talking to his sister Catelyn as he sat in her other side. "So, sweet sister, where is your stoic husband again and when will he be returning?" He said with a smile as he took a bite of venison.

Cat sent him a small smile. "My lord husband will be returning with in the week, and he will be delighted to find you all here." Brynden had to force down a snort at that, he had fought with Ned Stark in Robert´s rebellion and in the Greyjoy rebellion, and that man wasn't often delighted.

In fact, he couldn't imagine Ned Stark to be delighted to have unannounced guests in his home, but Brynden was also sure that he couldn't be angry at it either.

"Well I will be glad to meet him again; I haven't seen the old man since he stopped in Riverrun after the Greyjoy rebellion." He said with a laugh and winked at the children in front of him, Arya and her friend grinned at Edmure and little Bran giggled.

But Brynden saw Sansa discreetly roll her eyes at her dimwitted uncle, and for a moment Brynden thought that the little eight-year-old child knew how foolish her uncle was. But that couldn't possibly be as she was meeting her uncle for the first time.

"So, uncle Edmure," little lady Sansa spoke up as she picked up a cup of watered-down wine. "How is grandfather and the Riverlands faring?" She took a dainty sip. "I heard that grandfather is quite happy with the new trade agreements with the North, and that commers are already picking up."

Brynden just stared at the young girl as she spoke, and he had a hard time comprehending that a girl of seven or eight years had said them. Edmure and his friends Marq Piper and Patrek Mallister were all staring open mouthed at lady Sansa was she waited for her uncle to answer her question.

"I…um…" He gave Cat a look of surprise as he tried his best to find his words. "I hear that everything is going very well, father is in good health, but I must admit that I haven't had much time to acquaint myself with the trade deals that your father and mine have been making between the Riverlands and the North." He gave a nervous laugh to try to cover up the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about the trade deals.

Lady Sansa gave a warm smile. "Of course, uncle, I am sure that you must be very busy with getting to know all your future vassal lords," She put the cup down on the table. "It is a shame that so many heirs don't go touring around their future lands and to get to know the people that they will one day be ruling." Brynden had to hold down a snort once again, that was a polite way to describe what Edmure was doing.

But lady Sansa was right, many of the lords didn't go around their own lands to get to know the people, Lord Renly Baratheon had gone around the Stormlands last year to get to know his lords, but Brynden had also heard that he, like Edmure was spending most of his time feasting and rolling around in the bedchamber.

Brynden however wasn't interested in Edmure and his travels around the Riverlands with his friends as they went looking for trouble and adventures. He was more interested in lady Sansa´s interest in the Riverlands and the trade deals. "So, lady Sansa what is your interest in the trade deals?" The Blackfish said as he rubbed his chin and waited for an answer.

Sansa looked at him for a moment and he could see the intelligence shine in her bright Tully blue eyes, it seemed that all the wits and intelligence that had been denied to Edmure and Lysa, had been given to the young lady before him.

His niece smiled at her uncle. "Father has been asking both Robb and I to attend when he is seeing to his lordly duties, and he has been asking us to help with the research."

Brynden was impressed, it was rare that a lord would take any interest in the rearing of their children, aside from the heir, and the fact that Ned Stark was training his daughter to rule a lordship was something else entirely, but Brynden couldn't help but to like it.

But it was clear that Edmure and his friends weren't as impressed. "Lord Stark has been teaching you how to rule like a lord?" The future lord of Seagard asked with a horrified tone in his voice.

"That is not the only thing that he is teaching her," Lysa said with a smirk as she swallowed a large amount of wine. "Lady Sansa has been learning how to play with swords." Edmure chocked on the wine he was drinking, and Cat closed his eyes in horror at her words.

Brynden wasn't surprised that he could see the horror in her eyes, Catelyn of house Tully was raised to be the perfect lady, and perfect ladies didn't intrude on the affairs of the masculine world.

After her mother had died, Cat had been mostly raised by the septa at Riverrun, as her father was always so busy with the ruling of the Riverlands, and to be perfectly honest, he thought it a crying shame as she had been such a promising child when she was young.

"Of course, father is letting Sansa learn how to learn to swing a sword, she´s a Stark." little Arya piped up with a grin as she shoved a bite of baked potatoes into her mouth. "And she is getting rather good, not as good as Jon, but good enough to give Theon a thrashing one day for sure."

Sansa blushed a little at her little sister´s praise. "Well, not all of us can be as good as Jon."

The young girl in the colors of house Mormont beside Arya, snorted. "Nor as handsome, Alys said that she would marry him in a heartbeat if he would have her." Brynden could see fear in Catelyn´s eyes at the girl´s statement.

Her words made Arya make a noise of disgust. "That is my brother, you are talking about." Brynden felt a laughter bubble in his gut and he hid it behind the cup of wine he was pretending to sip out of.

"Jon?" Edmure asked. "Jon Snow, the bastard of Winterfell? Is he really that good with a sword?" The heir to Riverrun asked with a look of surprise.

"Yes, he has been thrashing the guards of months now in the training yard and one day Jon will be the best sword in all of Westeros," Arya stated proudly as it were her own accomplishment. "And I will be his squire."

This earned her a few laughs from Edmure and his friends. But Arya didn't see what they were finding so funny. When she asked them why they were laughing, they seemed a little embarrassed, but Lysa wasn't.

"Girls, don't become knights." She said snidely and took another swallow of her wine.

"Technically they can." Sansa said as she took a small bite of her meal, and now it was everyone´s turn to stare at her again. "All they need is a knight with an open mind."

Brynden could see the love Arya held for her sister in that moment, as the small red head defended her dreams of becoming a knight.

"But you would be hard pressed to find one of those." Marq Piper spoke up as he took a bit of his venison.

"No, I won´t," young Arya stated firmly. "Jon would take me as a squire, I know he will."

"Enough." Cat spoke up for the first time in a while. "Enough of this nonsense, or I will put you to bed young lady."

As little Arya pouted, Edmure frowned. "Wait, Lord Ned had the boy really knighted?" He looked between Catelyn and the children.

Brynden could see Catelyn once again close her eyes, but this time in frustration as Edmure continued talking. "I thought that it was just some rumor that he had earned a knighthood."

"It´s true," Piped young Brandon up, startling Brynden, as he had almost forgotten the young boy as he had been co quiet. "Jon saved Robb and Sansa from the Bolton bastard."

"So, it´s true," Patrek spoke with the astonishment clear in his voice. "The bastard brother really saved his trueborn siblings from certain death."

"That is commendable of him, and it seems that his knighthood is well deserved." Brynden said. He was impressed with this young Ser Snow, and he was looking forward to meeting him.