SANSA
Her heart was heavy in her chest as she stared at the door before her. Guilt and relief swirled inside of her and she hoped that she had made the right choice in convincing her father that this was the right course of action.
Sansa raised her fist and knocked on the door but when no sound came from inside the room, Sansa spoke. "Arya, please I want to talk to you."
When no answer came, Sansa got worried that Arya might have climbed out the window and ran away. Then Sansa remembered this morning when Jorelle had told them that Arya had allowed her into her room and they had spoken but she hadn´t gotten anything out of her. The young Mormont girl had asked Sansa why Arya was feeling so devastated.
Sansa had felt horrible when she couldn't tell Jorelle what her friend was going through. She had tried to assure her that one day, hopefully soon, she would know the truth.
The feeling in Sansa´s gut told her that it would be sooner rather than later.
She had seen how much the lords of the North loved Jon, for all that he had done especially the lords, that lived closest to Queenscrown as their lands had been repeatedly attacked by raiding parties from the Wildlings until Jon had taken up rule in the Gifts.
There was a reoccurring thought that seemed to infiltrate her mind, what if they decided to hate Jon on principle?
She remembered how much the lords had disliked Daenerys Targaryen when she had arrived and how much Sansa had hated the woman as well.
No, that had been different.
Daenerys Targaryen had been a foreigner. The Dragon Queen had made no attempts to learn anything about them or their traditions. She had come to lord over them, thinking that dragons were enough to rule the Seven Kingdoms and that fire and blood were the only thing that was needed to carry the day.
But Jon was not like that and the lords of the North knew it. They had seen him make peace with the Freefolk that now lived on his lands. They had seen him help build castles, as well as making sure that the Wall was standing strong against those who would attack them from the North.
While Jon had dragons, he understood that not everyone would be comfortable with one man having so much power and how easy it would be for him to burn down castles and cities filled with people.
Sansa remembered that day in Winterfell. When the Dragon Queen had arrived and how easy it was for her to just fall back on threats of fire and blood when she was trying to get them to see her as their Queen.
A wet nose bumped her hand making her look down into the golden eyes of her beloved direwolf, Lady made her realize that she was distracting herself from her problems.
Sansa raised her hand to knock again and spoke once more. "Arya, I know you are in there."
Sansa sighed as Arya didn't answer. "Arya, I am coming in." She grabbed the doorknob and when it turned, she let out a breath of relief that Arya hadn´t locked herself in.
The room was dark but even then Sansa could see the bump under the skins on the bed and both Nymeria and Ghost were lying around the small figure that was hiding under the covers.
She felt she could breathe lighter seeing both Nymeria and Ghost lying around the person in bed, for if Arya had truly run away in her anger and melancholy, Nymeria would have gone with her while Ghost would have at least returned to Sansa or tried to follow Arya.
"Arya, please I have to talk to you." Lady walked to the bed and jumped up and started to sniff at the covers and skins that Arya was hiding under.
As the dainty direwolf inspected the bed and tried to find Arya, Sansa could hear her sister grunt in discomfort.
When Lady heard the noise from the younger girl, she immediately got excited and burrowed her nose to where Arya was hiding, then squeals and giggles could be heard. "No, Lady stop it, stop licking me, it's disgusting."
Arya´s head appeared, her brown hair messy and sticking in every direction possible, looking like she was having a hard time staying angry at the usually composed and dignified direwolf.
Lady on the other hand was looking so proud of herself for having found Arya and was waving her tail happily, whacking Ghost in the face with it.
The white direwolf, looking unhappy at the treatment, hopped of the bed and made his way to the unlit fireplace. Looking like a pale, disgruntled specter in the poorly lit room.
Sansa walked to the bed where Arya was still inhabiting, glaring at Lady, who inched closer to lick her face again. "No, Lady."
Lady stared at her mistress, almost looking hurt until Sansa scratched between her ears.
Arya stared at Sansa´s direwolf pup. "That was a low blow, ordering Lady to lick my face like that. You know that they clean their butts with their tongue."
"I did not order Lady to lick you." Sansa said with a laugh as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "I have no idea why she did that."
Arya shot her a look that made it clear that she did not believe her but Sansa was glad for Lady´s actions as they had served to lighten the mood, if only by little. "Did mother or father send you to get me down to the meeting?"
"No, they didn't. I think that father is coming by later though, to try and get you down."
"Then why are you here?" Arya sounded sullen and defeated as she hugged her knees close to her chest. "Shouldn't you be entertaining the ladies or fending off the unmarried lords?"
Sansa smiled softly at her sister; it meant the world to her that there wasn't any malice in Arya´s words. In their last life, Sansa wouldn´t have been caught dead trying to speak so civilly to Arya at this age and Arya would have tried to be as hurtful as she possibly could to get her to leave.
"I got tired of fending off any unmarried lord that comes my way and I wanted to speak with my sister."
Arya didn't look at her only continued to stare at Lady almost like she didn't really see her. "Why didn't any of you tell me before?"
"I made a promise not to tell a soul. The more people who know the truth, the more probable it is that that secret will come out before we are ready and I will not risk Jon´s safety."
Grey eyes sent her a fierce glare. "But why did you know then? And Robb? Why did father tell the two of you but not me that Jon isn't our brother?"
"Jon is your brother." Sansa protested adamantly, before calming herself down, it would not work to get angry. "Jon will always be your brother; it doesn't matter that he has a different mother and father."
Tears filled her sister's eyes but Arya was refusing to let them fall. "But he isn't my brother."
"Yes, he is." Sansa spoke calmly as she tried to assure her sister and grabbed Arya´s hands with one hand and placed the other on her cheek. "He is your brother. Don't you ever say that he isn't. I don't think he would survive the heartbreak if you refused to be his sister."
"You really think that he will want to be my brother?" Arya´s voice sounded so small and uncertain that Sansa could do nothing but drag her into a hug.
"Of course, he wants to be your brother, who in their right mind wouldn't want to have you as their sister?" Sansa pretended not to notice her sister quiet sniffle and how she tried to wipe her eyes.
"But why did father tell you and Robb about Jon and not me? Why are you all deciding that Bran and I need to know now?"
"Father didn't tell Robb and I about Jon, I figured it out and Robb overheard the truth when father was talking to Uncle Benjen." Sansa stroked her sister´s messy hair, trying to be careful not to pull at it and cause Arya pain. "We didn't want the two of you to find out with the lords as we might have to tell them soon."
Arya pulled herself away a little. "How did you find out? And why did father tell Jon?"
Sansa should have expected her sister to question everything. Now that she was no longer blinded by her rage at them for lying to her about her favorite person in the world. "Father didn't tell Jon, he figured it out when he…" She trailed off, not knowing how much she should tell Arya.
There was not a chance she would be telling her that she, along with her father and Jon had memories of a former life. Where Jon had been forced to learn the truth long after her father had died. Thinking that the secret would never be revealed.
As Arya pulled fully away, Sansa saw her little sister setting her chin stubbornly as she often did when she was particularly determined to find out a truth, giving Sansa an idea. "I will tell you but you must promise not to tell anyone, this is a very dangerous secret."
Arya nodded slowly as she stared at her with wide eyes. "I promise."
"Alright," She took a deep breath as she arranged her thoughts. "I found out the truth a little after Jon, but Jon told me what happened and how he found out."
Arya sat and stared at her, waiting for her to continue. "When everyone found out how good Jon was with a sword. He went to the crypts of Winterfell, thinking everyone was mad at him for being so good at something."
"I remember that." Arya piped up. "I found him there, hiding and being stupid. Why would he think that we could be mad at him for being good with a sword?"
For as smart as Arya was, Jon leaving for Queenscrown when she had been five years old, had spared her a lot of the realities that those who bore the name Snow, were forced to go through.
"Arya, if you remember finding Jon there, you might also remember how mother acted towards him, when he was still living here in Winterfell."
"Jon isn't father´s bastard, so why should she hate him?"
"Arya, mother didn't know about Jon until recently and with our plan to declare for him. She might be afraid that Jon is waiting for the moment to retaliate against her."
Arya frowned and crossed her arms defiantly. "Jon would never do that."
"We both know that but mother has spent so much time fearing that one day he will become like Daemon Blackfyre and try and usurp Robb´s place as the heir to Winterfell. I think she will have a hard time seeing him as the person he really is."
"That is so unfair." Arya said woefully as she looked down at her hands but Sansa could still see the frown on her face.
"I know." Sansa let the silence fill the room for a few moments. "Do you want me to continue?"
Arya nodded silently; causing Sansa to resume speaking. "Well after you left, Jon told me that he found the three eggs laid by the dragon Vermax from Mushroom´s testimony which had turned to stone."
As soon as Sansa mentioned the fabled eggs, Arya looked up, grey eyes staring at her in wonder and surprise. "He found the eggs? The stories were really true?"
Sansa laughed at her excitement. "Yes, they were indeed true. While I don't know exactly how this happened, I know that Jon told father that he knew, he was Rhaegar´s son and that he planned to hatch the eggs."
To Sansa´s confusion, Arya looked crestfallen. "Oh, so he didn't manage to hatch them."
"Why do you say that?" While Arya´s policy of questioning everything was making it a little trickier for her to explain.
Arya´s untrusting nature made Sansa happy, it would be harder to lie to the younger girl, unlike how Sansa had been, who had believed Cersei´s and Littlefinger´s lies so easily.
"If Jon had hatched dragons, then everyone would know by now, they would have grown too big to hide."
"I don't know," Sansa pretended to look thoughtful as she fought a smile. "When I last saw them, they were the size of destriers but that was five years ago. They must have grown much bigger since then."
She had never seen Arya stunned into silence before. She supposed that there was a first time for everything.
Sansa was half expecting Arya to denounce her as a liar like she had always been unafraid of doing but it never came. "Jon truly has dragons?"
Arya stared at her, frosty eyes so much like their father´s filled with skepticism but there was also a hint of wonder and excitement lurking there, that she might maybe see real, living and breathing dragons with her own eyes, not just be forced to read about them from the history books.
"Yes, father was there and saw it when Jon hatched them and Robb and I have seen them as well. I am sure that when Jon returns, he will tell you all about them." Arya looked like she wanted to wallow in her misery at being lied to but it was clear as day that she was excited about hearing more about dragons.
"What are they like?" Arya asked. Her inquisitive nature getting the better of her as she ran her hand through Nymeria´s fur, who had placed her head in Arya´s lap.
"I think that they are rather sweet actually." Before meeting the dragons that Jon had brought into the world, she would never have thought to describe dragons but as anything else than angry beasts, that left terror and destruction in their wake. However now she was sure that a dragon´s rider had more influence on their mount than anyone really knew. "Especially Illyrion, he loves it when you scratch his nose."
"Illyrion?"
"Illyrion is the smallest of the three," Sansa explained to her sister, who seemed now spellbound by her words. "He is also the fastest with pale creams scales as well as golden eyes and horns."
"What are the others like?" Arya had by now forgotten that she had ever been excluded from knowing the secret about Jon.
"Well, Earendil is green, bronze and sometimes when the light hits him just right, it is like he is covered in emeralds."
"And the third one?"
"That one is Algernon, he is the biggest of them and his scales are black as a ravens wing but his eyes and horns are as red as blood."
"Just like Balerion the black dread." Arya exclaimed excitedly. "Do you think that Jon will ride him?"
"I don't know." Sansa answered honestly. "What do you think?"
"Of course, you said that he is the biggest. He is black just like the greatest dragon in history."
"In the history of Westeros." Sansa said automatically, causing her sister to send her a confused look. "Well, the Targaryens were dragon lords of Old Valyria but they were by no means the greatest family of the Freehold. They would not possess the greatest dragon ever lived."
"Well, I suppose." Arya looked thoughtful before grinning happily. "But Jon´s are the greatest living dragons."
Sansa smiled at her sister even though her words made the elder Stark sister feel a familiar chill in her belly. "It is easy to have the greatest living dragons, when you have the only living dragons."
At hearing those words, Arya looked deep in thought. "But it won't be a problem for Jon to take the throne, since he now has dragons."
"The dragons certainly are a boon for us but I wouldn't bet on Robert Baratheon rolling over and give up the throne in favor of Jon."
"But Jon can just do the same thing as Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters did, burn those who defy him."
Sansa fought the urge to start a longwinded lecture on how burning people who disagreed with you may not always be the best policy and sometimes building was better than destroying to get people to side with you.
Even though she hadn´t been present when the Dragon Queen had burned the capital to the ground. She had seen the aftermath and how Jon had been haunted by it.
She turned to look at her sister and smiled. There would be time to explain to her that one shouldn't solve all their problems with violence. "Alright, let's get you ready to attend the meeting with the lords."
Arya let out a groan and fell back on her pillows before attempting to burrow herself under the mountain of covers and pelts.
ROBB
Robb bumped his shoulder to Bran´s who was staring ahead of himself with a pout on his face. "Stop it." His younger brother sent him a glare as his unnamed direwolf mirrored his annoyance.
Robb had known that when Arya and Bran had found out the truth about Jon, that they would be angry and sad. Despite knowing that, he was surprised just how angry they were even though he found himself thinking that he shouldn't be.
Bran had only been four-years old when Jon had left for Queenscrown and most likely didn't have any vivid memories of him but the young boy had been writing to Jon with such devotion that it rivaled Arya´s.
Robb leaned in and whispered into Bran´s ear. "He is still your brother. He will always be your brother." For a moment he was worried that his younger brother hadn´t heard him over the clamoring of the lords that had settled in the great hall. The second youngest Stark glanced at him and he could see the anger on his face receding, if only by a little. "When this meeting is over, you and I will go somewhere and talk, I promise."
"Even if the lords want to talk to you?"
"I swear it." Robb glanced at his father, who was talking to the Greatjon and Lord Rickard Karstark. "We will just make sure to sneak away and have them harass father instead."
Bran let out a small giggle, probably imagining their father in his mind being surrounded by the lords as they all tried to get his attentions.
Robb ruffled his brother´s hair, smiling fondly at him as their mother, granduncle Brynden as well as Rickon came into the hall. The youngest of the Starks made his way to the seat next to Bran as he was followed by the black direwolf. Rickon appeared a little confused and tired as he took a seat next to Bran.
Rickon had not been told that Jon wasn't their brother by blood. Both their parents thinking, he was a bit too young to keep it a secret. He had been warned that he might be learning something very soon that would be shocking. They all had tried to reassure him that they all loved him and nothing would ever change that.
"Robb." He turned and looked at his mother, who was sitting on the left side of his father´s chair. "Where are Sansa and Arya?"
"Sansa went to get Arya ready. I am sure that they will be down soon." The Lady of Winterfell nodded, looking nervous.
Robb turned to his uncle and started up a conversation about the lands around the Dreadfort, hoping to get Bran to ask questions about the lands that he was going to rule when he becomes of age.
It worked like a charm, Bran started to ask their uncle about everything that came to his head even Rickon started to ask questions as well.
As they talked to their uncle, Robb could feel Greywind´s head lean on his calf as he somehow slept, even through the din of the hall.
Then the large wolf suddenly awoke and stared at the door to the hall from under the table.
Robb looked up, he could see what had drawn Greywind´s attention. Sansa and Arya walked side by side into the hall with the other three direwolf pups by their side. Robb was relieved that Arya was looking less melancholy than the day before. When she had been told the truth about Jon.
Sansa had even managed to coerce her into a dress and braid her hair.
As she was sitting down, Sansa looked up and their eyes met. Robb normally had a hard time reading his sister´s face but now, there was a flicker of nervousness in her blue eyes.
Robb shared in that feeling, knowing that the hour of declaring for Jon was rapidly approaching as it might happen while the Northern lords were here in Winterfell.
To him it was the best course of action as his father would have an opportunity to explain everything to them, face to face. It would go better with the lords if they found out the truth without any prompt from his father.
The trouble was that Jon wasn't here and they didn't have time to wait for him. Now that the Greatjon had arrived. The lords were getting anxious to begin the meeting.
Finally, their father moved to the head table with a stoic look on his face as he took his seat between Robb and the Lady of Winterfell with Frost laying down by his feet.
"My lords and ladies, thank you all for coming and for your patience. I know that traveling to Winterfell on such short notice could not have been easy. Nevertheless I felt that it was necessary for us to discuss the recent events."
"You mean the one about Cersei Lannister, fucking her brother the Kingslayer and that the children are all bastards born of incest." Greatjon Umber roared out with a large grin hiding under his beard, causing laughter inside the hall.
"Aye, that is one of the things that I wanted to talk about, Lord Umber." His father quieted the hall down. "I received a letter from Robert not long ago, he has ordered me to call my banners and march south to Casterly Rock to help him bring down Tywin Lannister."
"Who does he think he is?" Rickard Karstark jumped to his feet, his face turning reddish-purple with anger as he shook his fist. "When we asked him for help, he denied us and told us that we were to rebuild the castles of the Wall by ourselves. Now he is demanding that we march south and fight another one of his wars for him."
His words were met with agreements and hollers, the increasing anger could be felt in the air around them.
"My lords, please." His father bade them to calm down. "In this letter, Robert also has demanded that I bring my daughter, Sansa with me south, so that he can marry her."
The reminder of Robert Baratheon demanding his sister´s hand in marriage caused his rage that once had burned like dragon fire to turn to ice in his belly.
Greywind growled beneath the table, responding to his ire and it seemed that their sentiments was shared by lords like Greatjon Umber and Rickard Karstark, they looked offended at Robert´s demand.
He was glad that they were proud. Robb was sure that they felt slighted by the man who had refused to help them with rebuilding the castles on the Wall. The very same man who now demanded the hand of their liege Lord´s daughter.
He was also thankful that his father had taken Sansa´s advice and phrased it this way. The lords of the North didn't like it when things were demanded of them.
"I have already sent him a letter, stating that we will not be marching south and that I will be marrying my daughter to someone who was raised valuing Northern traditions."
His father´s words were met with cheers and hollers of approval however he noticed that Lady Dustin was watching everything with a cold look in her eyes, the Lady of Barrowton seemed neither angry nor joyful at anything that was being said.
Sansa had told him that she didn't trust the woman as far as she could throw her and she knew that she was angry with her father after the rebellion.
There were rumors that she was angry after their father had come back North and had left the body of her husband in the south, while he returned with his sisters' bones and give her a proper burial.
He could understand that the Lady of Barrowton was angry that her husband´s body had been left in the south, it was by no means unusual for the bodies of the slain to be abandoned but at least his father had buried the bodies before he traveled back home.
The Lord of Winterfell asked the lords to quiet down again after allowing them a few moments to cheer. "I told him that we have concerns about Mance Ryder who has been gathering men around him for some time now and that he might attack the Wall."
"Aye." Lord Umber called with a frown on his face. "I have been hearing about him for quite a while now, I am sure that it is only a matter of time before he attacks the Wall."
"There are Wildlings living in the Gifts, aren't there?" Lord Ryswell asked. "They will surely want to aid him."
"I doubt it, even if they did, it is mostly women and children." Lord Karstark snorted at Lord Ryswell´s words. "If they were warriors, we would still crush them if they were to attack us."
"They might make it so that Mance Ryder can break through the Wall, it is possible to take Castle Black from the south." The Lord of the Rills argued.
Lord Umber didn't seem swayed by those words. "The Wildlings that live on the Gifts aren't a threat, they follow the laws and those who don't are punished like anyone else."
It stuck Robb how calm Lord Umber was about the Wildlings as he had hated them for so long. However in the last five years there had been a few Wildlings living on the Gift and there hadn´t been any real problems between them and the Northerners or not any problems that Jon hadn´t been able to solve.
"No, it is Mance and his army that I am worried about." The Greatjon finished gravely. The leaders of the mountain clans nodded their agreements.
"Aye." The Lord of Winterfell agreed with lord Umber. "However not too long ago I received another letter from King´s Landing and again Robert is demanding that we ride south and that I take Sansa with me so that he can marry her at the first opportunity."
Silence fell over the crowd and the rising anger filled the hall, then like someone had given them a signal, the lords erupted with righteous fury.
He could feel his heart beating faster and it was like he had eaten a plateful of butterflies that were now trying to escape from his belly.
Robb had expected them to be furious of course but their rage seemed to grow stormier than he had expected it.
The Greatjon had jumped to his feet, towering over the others around him as he grabbed their attention. "MY LORDS, ever since Robert Baratheon took the throne, he has done nothing but disrespect us even though it was only because of his friendship with our liege lord that he came to that throne."
The man turned, looking over the hall, reminding Robb of an angry bear. "Robert Baratheon would never have been seated on the Iron throne if not for the mad King murdering our liege Lord and his son Brandon Stark. After having fought in the two wars and without any acknowledgement or honors, he refused to help us strengthen our defenses to the North so we wouldn't be attacked by the Wildlings, he is ordering us to abandon our defenses and ride south to defend his throne from Tywin Lannister?"
Robb stared at what was happening before him, he could see that the lords of the North were nodding in agreement and many of them seemed to be swept up by the Greatjon´s speech. "While the Wildlings living in Queenscrown are peaceful and obey our laws and I have uttermost faith in Lord Snow´s abilities to make sure that they keep doing so, we have to be ready to protect ourselves if Mance Ryder plans to attacks."
He could feel his heart start to beat faster as the Lord of Last Hearth was speaking. Robb´s father made himself likely to try and interrupt the other man, he could see that Sansa leaned a little forward to get his attention and shook her head at him.
Robb watched as their father frowned at her while she mouthed at him to wait. The oldest child of Ned Stark didn't know why Sansa wanted the Lord of Last Hearth to continue and he could feel a sliver of worry in his chest that maybe, the lords were aiming to declare the North an independent nation, free from the Iron throne.
The Lord of Winterfell gave her a little nod and they both turned to Lord Umber who was still speaking. "It was because of us that Robert Baratheon got the throne and he doesn't even want to help us protect ourselves?"
The lords made loud noises of an agreement and out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the Lady of Barrowton was no longer with that impassive look on her face, rather there was a glint of excitement in her eyes.
Then like a thunder crashing down from clear skies, Sansa slammed her hands to the table and rose to her full height. Everyone whipped their heads towards her in surprise, the sudden noise had clearly startled Lord Umber, stopping him in his tracks.
"You are absolutely right Lord Umber." Sansa spoke calmly and Robb thought that he could see a hint of a smile flash across her face. "Robert Baratheon has done nothing for the North in the years that he has sat on the Iron throne, rather he has disrespected the men and women who helped him take it."
Not even the loud and boisterous Lord Umber looked ready to interrupt her, as everyone continued to stare at her with wide eyes. "For years Robert Baratheon has sat on the Iron throne and played at being a King, when the rightful Lord of the Seven Kingdoms has been refused his birthright."
"Lady Sansa," Lord Manderly spoke up, his shrewd eyes staring at her with uncertainty. "You don't mean that we should declare for Viserys Targaryen, he is said to be mad as his father."
"No, of course not." Sansa denied hurriedly, standing tall, not allowing anything to knock her off her feet. "There is another, with a better claim on the Iron throne, who will rule the Seven Kingdoms and fight for the North."
"The only one with a better claim than Viserys Targaryen to the Iron throne was Prince Rhaegar and his son Aegon." Rickard Karstark said as he crossed his arms. "Tywin Lannister murdered the boy as well as his mother and sister."
Now there was no questioning it, Robb was sure he saw a hint of a smile on her face as his heart hammered in his chest, knowing that the moment was finally here.
"Yes, you are right. The only one with a better claim to the throne would be Rhaegar himself and his son but that is not the son I am talking about."
