You're Still My Sister

"Anna, I need to tell you something, but you can't tell anyone else." Elsa took a breath. She was about to break the promise she'd made years before, but she couldn't hold this back. Not from Anna.

"Of course." Still the Anna she remembered, before they'd been separated. "You can tell me anything."
"I'm-" She paused. This was hard to say. "I'm not your sister."

"You're my half-sister, but you're still my sister, Elsa. You know this."

"No, that's not what I mean." She turned away and looked up at the statue of her mother. The first time she'd seen it since finding out about her real parentage. The first time she'd been back to Winterfell since finding out. "My father… my real father… was Rhaegar Targaryen." Elsa waved to the statue. "And my mother was Lyanna. We're cousins, Anna. That's why father had to send me to be fostered with Lord Reed." She pointed to her hair. "And why I had to dye my hair to come here. I inherited Rhaegar's" – she couldn't think of him as being her father, that slot was already taken by the man who raised her – "hair. Not initially of course, but it started to change when I was ten, which is why I was sent away... if word got out about me being a Targaryen, King Robert would have me killed. Just like Aerys tried to do to him and father."

"Oh." Anna reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. "Okay, but you're still my sister."


Nowhere Safe For Dragons, Even Those Of Ice

"Elsa, there's something I have to tell you." Ned began. He'd hoped this conversation could be put off for a few more years, but with her hair changing… "It's about your mother." He steeled himself. "And your father."

Elsa's confusion was clear on her face. She'd been waiting for a while to hear who her mother was, but this? "Father? But… you're my father. Aren't you?"

He sighed. "As far as anyone believes, yes – and it has to stay that way. You can't tell anyone. You are of my blood, but you are not my daughter." Deep breath. "Your mother was my sister, Lyanna. Your father- your father was the man who abducted her. Rhaegar Targaryen."

Her head was spinning as she tried to process this news. She always knew she wasn't a trueborn daughter (not that anyone reminded her; Catelyn for one treated her no differently to Anna or Arya) but to find out she wasn't her father's daughter at all? She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

His face was grave. "You must promise not to tell anyone about this." She started to protest and he cut her off. "Not even Anna. If Robert knew I had taken in the daughter of Rhaegar – even the daughter of Lyanna – he would demand your head." Ned shook his head sadly. "He isn't the man I remember growing up with in the Vale. Something broke in him. Maybe when your mother was abducted, maybe at the Trident. Whatever it is, he cannot learn who you are"

Elsa chewed this over before giving her reluctant and quiet answer. "I promise."

"Thank you." He paused. "There's something else we need to talk about. Your hair."

"My hair?" She looked at her braid, the little strands of white mixed in among the black, growing more and more prominent as she moved up it. "Is… is this from my… Targaryen side?"

Ned nodded. "Yes; and because of that, Winterfell is no longer safe for you. Whilst your hair was dark, I could pass you off as my daughter. But if word gets back to King's Landing about your appearance…" He spread his hands in resignation. "I've decided to foster you with Howland Reed. He was with me at the Tower of Joy, he already knows who you are. I can trust him. You will be safe at Greywater Watch. He has a daughter around your age, you know, and a son a little bit younger. You won't be on your own there."

She sat and processed this. "But I won't be able to see Anna." Not a question, just a statement of fact.

"I'm sorry." He pulled her into a hug. "It's for the best."


Oh Anna, If Only I Actually Loved You

"Anna, my…" A smirk formed on the new King's face. "Well, I guess I can't called you beloved. If only I actually loved you."

"Wha…" He'd been so nice before, she was sure there was something there, sure of her betrothed's love. She felt her heart freeze inside her at his words.

"You really couldn't see it? Of course you couldn't. A silly little girl, raised on stories of romance and chivalry who believes in 'tru wuv'." Hans Baratheon, first of his name, King of the Andals and would-be King of the First Men, started pacing. "The North cannot be held by an outsider. Once we've dealt with your traitorous brother and the rest of your family, you will be the heir to Winterfell. Which is to say, whoever we marry you off to will hold the North." He chuckled, a sound she had once found endearing that now grated on her soul. "Oh there's your sister, the bastard girl, but no-one's going to follow her, not when we have the trueborn daughter of Ned Stark."

Anna thought fast. Alysanne. Her direwolf. He'd kill her. "You're going to need proof. You know the power of rumours. What are you going to do if someone says you've just found a redhead girl from somewhere and tried to pass her off as me?" She let that hang for a moment. "You need my direwolf. You don't know the North. If they see me with her, they'll believe."

Hans paused at the doorway, thinking over what she'd said. "Okay, your beast can live." With that, he turned away and closed the door.

Anna slumped against the wall. At least Alysanne was safe. For now.


Waking Dragons From Ice

"I have decided to legitimise Elsa," Robb began. Not I am considering legitimising Elsa. The decision was already made. "With Anna and Arya missing, she is the only sister I have left." The reason – with which to make marriage allianceswas left unspoken.

She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. She weighed her words. "Robb, there's something you need to know about Elsa." She'd promised Ned she wouldn't speak of this, but Ned was dead. Robb was the Lord of Winterfell now. "Your half sister… is not your sister. Elsa is your cousin."

Her son – her King – looked up. "Explain."

"Your father was an honourable man. He never fathered a bastard. But Rhaegar did, with your Aunt Lyanna."

"Elsa."

She nodded. "Robert would have had her killed had he known. He didn't care that her siblings were babes when they were killed." Nothing but dragonspawn. That was what Ned had relayed to her, those years ago when he'd come home with a daughter in his arms. That was their new King's reaction to the death of innocent children. "Your father claimed her as his bastard to protect her."

"But now Robert is dead, and the North is independent." He paused, thinking through the implications. "The risk to her life is not so much to worry about – everyone one of us is now the target for Hans' rage, whether legitimate or not. On the other hand, if word gets out about her parentage…"

She saw where he was going with this. She'd thought the same many times over the years. "A Targaryen princess would be valuable indeed for the family she marries into. If you do marry her off, you will have to think very carefully about who you marry her off to. A house like the Freys would stab you in the back for a chance to advance their status. If they felt they had a shot at the Iron Throne itself…"

He mused. "The South is full of dragonseeds. Perhaps people will think her mother was one." He shook his head. "Regardless, the mere prospect of a marital alliance should be a helpful enticement for my bannermen. I shall proceed with the legitimation and arrange for her to return to Winterfell."