And here is Cassana's part! Gragh, I wish I had more time to write, I really look forward to progressing with this fic, but time is so difficult to wrangle! Anyway, hope you guys enjoy, thank you for reading, and hopefully reviewing! :)
Also! .Blank has done a lovely sketch of Cassana on her wedding day. There is a link on my profile, but I shall provide on here as well for you all to check out. You just have to take out the spaces: : / / i . . j p g

Chapter 10B: The Morning After – Cassana

Cassana's narrow silk skirts make soft whisk whisk sounds as she walked down the corridor away from Robb's room.

And mine, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind.

Not all of her things had been moved in yet, but most had been shifted during yesterday's ceremonies. It was a strange arrangement here in the North. In King's Landing many couples kept to separate bedrooms, merely sharing a suite of apartments. Some cases, such as her mother and father, let husband and wife to living in entirely separated living quarters, socialising only in the public eye.

That was not how things were here though. Here husbands and wives shared the bed every night, and lived in the same rooms as each other. Cassana's question on whether that could be changed had been met with such horrified looks from the Winterfell servants that she had decided to let the matter drop. Kicking up a fuss about sharing a room with Robb was not the best way to start using the marriage to her advantage. Her own stubbornness had already set her back.

She heard a door shut loudly behind her, and turned to look before she could stop herself. Theon and Jon, heeled by two direwolf pups, were scampering down the corridor towards Robb's room. Jon cast a look over his shoulder and met Cassana's gaze. A moment of guilt flashed across at having been caught, but he was urged on around the corner by Theon before either of them acknowledged each other.

Cassana felt a blush heating her face for the second time that morning. For something she had not so much as thought of before the wedding, the bedding was certainly making her flustered now that it had happened. They were no doubt going to go and attempt to get whatever sordid details they could out of Robb about the previous night. Cassana wondered whether Robb would discuss such a thing with them, and if he did, what he would say about her.

Would he say that it had been pleasurable? He had certainly seemed to enjoy the act, but would he comment on her own performance? What if he compared her unfavourably to another woman he had slept with? Presuming he had slept with other women. Even if he hadn't, what if he thought her poor at it?

The tumbling series of thoughts served to make her angry, jealous, and embarrassed all at once. Her face felt so flooded with red that she paused for a few moments in an alcove, pressing her face against the cool stone in an effort to calm her sunset cheeks.

Gods help her! She had never been this bad in the capital. A few days in the North and one day of marriage already had her acting like a fool girl in some bard's song. This would not do, she would not have it! Sleeping with one's husband was a perfectly natural part of marriage, and nothing to feel anything about. It simply was all part of the deal, and a part of Cassana felt calmed at the thought that Robb was unlikely to tell his friends anything. She didn't know exactly why she felt relatively sure of this, but it soothed her, and so she held on to it.

Feeling more composed, she felt her cheeks to make sure the heat had faded before she stepped out once more.

And almost ran Sansa Stark over.

"Princess, I'm so sorry." The younger girl dipped into a deep curtsy.

"Now now, there's no need for that." Joffrey lifted Sansa back upright from the elbow. "You are sisters now."

Cassana's expression soured, and from the look of unease on Sansa's face the Stark girl thought that Cassana's displeasure lay with her. She was very mistaken.

"There's no need to apologise, we are good-sisters now after all." Cassana assured, shooting a poisoned look at Joffrey when Sansa dropped her gaze for a moment.

"Sansa was just showing me around the castle, and teaching me some of the history behind it." Joffrey gave Sansa a warm look. "It really is most interesting, did you know that heat gets pumped around the castle from hot springs underneath? A genius invention in this place."

"Yes, Robb told me." She replied dismissively. If the place really was kept heated like that perhaps the hot springs were fading in their temperature, Cassana certainly didn't feel as warm as these Northerners seemed to. "Where is your chaperone?"

Sansa blushed scarlet and her expression turned almost scared as she began to stammer out excuses.

"My Septa, Septa Mordane, she is with us. She only went for a moment to check on Arya, then she is coming back to continue escorting us. She will only be a moment."

Joffrey only chuckled. "We won't tell if you don't."

Watching him flash Sansa a charming smile to ease the young girl's nerves, and hearing his voice drop with false honey, Cassana found herself feeling ill. She was glad she had declined breakfast with Robb, lest she have ended up vomiting it all back up now.

"Be careful, Sansa." She said, then turned away from the couple to continue on her way.

She had barely gone down one more corridor before yet another Stark came across her path. The baby, Rickon, appeared at the other end of the hallway she was walking down, his black pup at his heels. He skidded to a stop as soon as he saw Cassana, then prompted turned his heel and began running in the other direction.

Cassana suppressed a small smile. Maybe if all the Starks reacted like that, living here wouldn't be so bad after all.

That dream died when she reached the corridor upon which her mother's room was situated. Coming out of her own rooms, shared with Lord Stark of course, was Catelyn.

Seven hells, she thought to herself, am I going to run into every Stark in Winterfell?

"Cassana." Lady Stark greeted, no longer inclining her head or dropping a curtsy. "Where is Robb?"

The lack of titles and greetings grated on Cassana, as she was re-reminded that she had no need for them anymore.

"He is in our rooms, Lady Stark." She replied. "I have come to breakfast with my mother, as we have so few days left together."

"So you do…" a sympathetic look showed on her face for a moment, before disappearing once more. "Have you seen Sansa anywhere?"

"I saw her and Joffrey a few minutes gone, she was showing him the castle." It wasn't that Cassana wanted to get the Stark girl in trouble, far from it, she couldn't really care less. But Joffrey on the other hand, seeing him in the pot would be more than enjoyable.

Catelyn Stark's mouth thinned. "Were they alone?"

"Sansa assured me that her Septa had left them for a moment, but would return shortly." Cassana replied honestly, before adding not so honestly. "I would have stayed with them, were I not already running late for my mother."

Motherly concern warred with something else on Catelyn's face. She glanced in the direction Cassana had come from, sighing tiredly.

"Thank you, Cassana." She said politely. "I hope you enjoy breakfast."

As Catelyn walked away, Cassana heard her muttering to herself.

"I suppose I did walk with Brandon at Riverrun..." Followed shortly by, "That fool girl!"

Cassana made a silent prayer to the Seven that Joffrey got caught, before finally reaching her mother's door without any more appearances from any Starks.

The maid who answered the door dropped a curtsy as soon as she saw who it was.
"Princess." She murmured, stepping out of Cassana's way.

Cassana felt a smile on her face as she moved into her mother's warm rooms. At least some people were not so quick to forget her former place as Lady Stark was.

"My daughter." Cersei rose from her seat by a table laden with food as the one in Robb's room had been. "Cara, you may leave us now."

"Her, Your Grace." The maid bobbed a final curtsy before retreating outside.

"How are you?" Cersei hugged her daughter tightly. "Are you in any pain?"

"No." Cassana assured, squeezing her mother tightly, before pulling away a little. "I ran into three and a half Starks on the way here."

"A half?" Understanding overrode the confusion on Cersei's face, and her nose wrinkled delicately. "Well, at least your father doesn't keep his close."

"There isn't enough room in the Red Keep." Cassana quipped dryly, regretting it instantly at her mother's harsh bark of laughter. She hastily changed the subject. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No, dear heart, don't worry." Cersei's smile was back as she settled her daughter into a chair, and poured her some hot, sweet, tea. When she had settled into her own chair, she gave Cassana a level look before asking: "How was it? He didn't hurt you?"

Cassana spluttered a little in her tea, and took a moment to recover herself.

"You don't waste any time do you, mother." She said weakly, throat still a little sore from the choking.

"I'm sorry, darling. But I've been worried about you all night, and I just want to make sure that you weren't ill-treated on your first night." Cersei reached out to take one of Cassana's hands in her own. "How was your first bedding?"

"He was gentle. It did hurt at first, but after that… it was… that is to say…"Cassana found herself stammering and blushing like an innocent. The secrets of the marriage bed had always been frankly discussed between mother and daughter, but now that it came to describing her own she felt remarkably strange about it.

"You enjoyed it?" Cersei smiled over the rim of her cup.

Grateful for her mother saving herself from further bumbling, Cassana slumped against the back of her chair with relief. "Yes."

She really had enjoyed it, which had come as a surprise to her. Robb had been gentle from the beginning, and slow, and calm. Cassana had done her uttermost to show no nerves, and treat the experience as something that simply must be done. However, after the initial pain had faded, her body had begun to feel… pleasure. That was the only word she had for it.

Remembering the feel of Robb's lips, his hands, when they-

"There is no shame in enjoying the marriage bed daughter." Cersei assured, cutting into Cassana's train of memory. "In fact, it is a blessing! I only hope that it remains pleasurable for you, especially with this Northern custom of sharing rooms."

"Does this make me in love with him in some way?" Cassana questioned. She certainly felt differently about him since the bedding. But was that due to any sense of emotion? Or simply because of the physical closeness they had achieved? Cassana had nothing to compare it to. She hoped it didn't mean love, she didn't believe it could happen that quickly. She did like Robb, even if his attentions could feel smothering at times.

Her mother's laugh dissipated her fears, and she helped herself to one of the pastries laid out on the table.

"Enjoying the marriage bed does not equal love any more than marriage does. But what do you think of him? I haven't asked you this question yet, I wanted to wait until after the ceremony."

Cassana considered the question for a moment, taking the time to delicately bite at her pastry.

"I didn't want to." She admitted. "But I think I do now. I haven't spent much time with him, I haven't wanted to, but he hasn't shown me anything as of yet to dislike about him. He is thoughtful, more so than most men, and attentive. Perhaps that is one thing, I find him a little over attentive at times. I can tell he wants to get to know me more, but he seems to want it all now. I'm not ready for that, I certainly haven't been over the past few days, and I don't feel that much more ready now."

"You will have to be ready sometime." Cersei warned. "But it is a good start that you like him, and a good sign that you are cautious. Too often young women take a man on his first appearance, throw their hearts at the man's feet, only to later have them trampled in the dust."

"He ordered a breakfast for us this morning, and he has asked to spend time together later." Cassana admitted.

"He does seem keen." Cersei took a sip from her cup. "But that won't last forever. The longer you put him off, the less effort he will be inclined to make. Once he thinks there is no point, he will stop, and your marriage will grow cold, and when that happens it will be harder for you."

"But mother, everything you've raised me to mistrust in the Starks, you want me to just throw that aside and embrace them?"

Cersei made a vexed sound in the back of her throat. "I told you all of those things because I wanted to safeguard you, and because I was angry about the situation. However, more than I distrust the Starks I want what is best for you. I want your happiness and wellbeing above all else, Cassana. In King's Landing I could ensure it for you, but soon you will be on your own. You cannot let how you feel now get in the way of what could be your future."

"But I'm not ready to open up to him." Cassana said.

"You can wait your entire life and never be ready. You said that you wanted control, you said you wanted to make this benefit you. You must set the terms of your getting to know each other. Don't let him always be the one to move this forward. If you want control, you will have to simply take it."

"I know." Cassana sighed heavily. "I know. What I don't know is how. Give me political intrigue over courtship any day."

"You never have been a girl prone to flights of fancy over men." Cersei stated with a smile. "I fear Myrcella might be…"

"Teach her." Cassana implored. "Don't let her end up like me. Too old and stubborn."

Cersei threw back her head and laughed at that. "Too old? At sixteen? Oh my daughter, how young you really are. Let me give you the advice I should have done so long ago, and see if you want charm Robb Stark around your little finger."