Jon sighed as he leaned back into the chair he placed next to his and Myria's bed. He glanced at his wife lying in the bed, she had been sleeping most of the previous night and the day. Maester Luwin had insisted the worn out woman rest while he properly tended to Lady Stark's hand injuries, and Jon swiftly transported her to their room. He wished someone else had been there when the attacker had entered the room in the first place, but he was at least happy neither of the women were severely harmed.
"Jon?"
He lifted his head and his dark brown eyes met with Myria's violet ones. "How did I end up in bed?"
"I carried you here after Robb found both you and Lady Stark. I'm glad you are doing better Ria." He watched as she shifted her gaze around the room before she lifted up the bedsheets to glance at her legs. She raised her skirt up to her knees and both of them cringed at the slight swollen area around her left knee.
Myria shrugged her shoulders as she gently tapped the irritated skin, "It looks worse than it is." She rolled her skirt back down and started to shuffle out of bed.
"Myria, you shouldn't be moving right now," She ignored him and continued to get out of the bed. Jon lunged his arms out to catch the Dornish woman when her attempt to stand resulted in her left leg giving out. Jon lifted her up to a standing position and let her wrap her arm around his shoulders. "Guess you'll need a cane if you want to get around by yourself." She sighed, but nodded her head.
They both straightened up when they heard a knock at the door and watched as Robb and Theon stepped into their chambers, "Sorry to disturb you two, but we were wondering if you would care to take a turn through the Godswood with us." Robb raised his eyebrows with his words while Theon nodded along with a serious look etched on his face. Jon and Myria glanced at each other before Jon turned back to his brother and friend.
"Sounds like it would be just the thing to reinvigorate Ria, but she needs a cane." Robb let out a sigh of relief as he pulled a wooden cane from behind his back and passed it over to the Dornish woman. She grasped the stick and began to follow the three men out of the room. Robb led the group of four out of the Keep and towards the large and imposing forest. They passed through the woods until they reached the Weirwood tree, and Robb walked ahead of the other three to greet Maester Luwin, Rodrick Cassel, and his mother, Cat.
"Mother, why did you insist to meet out here?" Robb questioned as he and the others came closer to the trio waiting. Jon assisted Myria to a fallen log while Catelyn nodded to her son.
"No one can catch our words out here," She fiddled with her bandaged hands. "What I am about to tell you must remain between us." She waited until everyone in attendance nodded their heads in agreement. "I don't think Bran fell from that tower, I think he was thrown."
Maester Luwin chimed in, "The boy was always sure-footed before."
"Someone tried to kill him twice. Why? Why murder an innocent child?" Catelyn probed the group.
Myria shifted on the fallen tree she had claimed for a seat, "He saw something he wasn't supposed to see." The group glanced at her and Catelyn raised her brow at the solemn expression etched on the young woman's face.
"Saw what?" Theon questioned.
Cat shook her head, "I don't know, but I would stake my life the Lannisters are involved." She directed her next sentence to the Maester. "We already have reason to suspect their loyalty to the crown." Myria scoffed at the Lady of Winterfell's dangerous words. She suspected something specifically like this would happen.
"Did you see the weapon the attacker used?" Cassel raised the sheathed blade. "Far to fine for such a man." Myria tensed when she noticed the blade in the light, it had been too dark the previous night for her to properly observe it. "The blade is Valyrian steel, the handle dragonbone." The Master at Arms raised the weapon for everyone else to observe it. "Someone gave it to him."
Before Myria could comment Robb spoke up, "They come into my home and tried to kill my little brother? If it's war they want-"
"If it comes to it you know I will stand behind you." Theon cuts in to Robb's declaration.
The Maester steps forward, "War? Is there going to be a battle in the Godswood? Too easily words of war become acts of war. We don't know the truth yet." He turned back to Lady Stark. "Lord Stark must be told of this."
Catelyn shook her head, "I don't trust a raven with these words."
Robb stepped forward, "I'll ride to King's Landing."
"No," Catelyn disagreed. "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell, I'll go myself."
"I'll go with you," The group turned their heads to the Dornish woman.
"You're injured Ria, you can't."
"Jon, I must and I will," She looked to Lady Stark. "You have never been to the capital and you will need someone who knows the inner workings of the city, plus it will be less suspicious if someone recognizes us since I can claim I was heading to retrieve some of my belongings."
Catelyn shuffled her feet, "I can't ask that of you, Myria."
"I will be going, because I have a feeling about who hired that man." Everyone tensed. "I know that blade, I watched the King lose it in a bet a year ago at a jousting tournament."
Rodrick Cassel glanced at the blade and the woman, "And who did he lose it to."
"Lord Petyr Baelish."
Catelyn tensed at the name of her childhood friend, "That's absurd. Why would Lord Baelish hire someone to kill my son? He has been my friend for years."
Myria rolled her eyes and raised herself from the log, grunting as she stood. "I have spent my whole life in that cesspool called King's Landing, and I know who can be trusted. Baelish is not one of them. He will do anything to better his own standing in the world." She limped over to the older woman. "And with the information I learned not long ago most of this makes sense."
"Information?" Catelyn asked.
"Prince Tommen told me he heard someone speaking before Bran fell, I doubt he understands the ramifications of what he heard, but it definitely means someone else was there."
The mother ran towards the other woman and gripped the front of her dress, "Why did you not tell me this sooner? That man may have not even reached Bran's room!" Robb and Jon rushed over to pull the auburn woman off of the young Dornish.
Jon let go of the Lady of Winterfell and came to his wife's side, "You would've reacted just like this!" Myria exclaimed at the mother. "Enraged and irrational. This is an extremely delicate situation and if you just start pointing fingers with no definitive proof you will get some innocent person killed."
"Then we go to the King and tell him the Lannisters paid Baelish to hire the assassin, they would be properly punished." The Southern woman scoffed at Robb's optimistic tone.
"There is no proof the Lannisters paid Baelish at all. And the man himself is a lord of the King's council. He can simply state the attacker stole the blade from him and the King will wholly believe that."
The young lord deflated at her harsh statement. He knew her words rang true, they were claiming a man almost a continent away wanted a 10 year old boy dead. It was a preposterous statement when he thought about it more, and to any outsider the Lannisters would have no reason to harm the family one of them was marrying.
"Perhaps, the young Lady Stark has a point," Maester Luwin interjected softly. "We must wait and discover more proof before we bring this egregious event to the King himself." Myria sighed and leaned into Jon's body as the rest of the group let the wise man's words wash over them. "But we should send someone to King's Landing to inform Lord Stark of the plot against Brandon."
"While Myria has made a logical offer for her guidance, it is unsafe for two women to travel the King's road alone." Theon muttered out and the woman in question rolled her eyes, but held her tongue.
The Master at Arms straightened his back, "Lady Stark," Cat tilted her head at the older man. "I will proudly and safely lead you to the capital, if you agree."
The Tully woman stiffly nodded her head at his offer and turned to face the four younger members of the group. "It would be useful for Myria to come as well, but with her injured leg…."
"I can accompany her along the travel," Jon stated. "Nothing odd about a husband and wife traveling together."
The older woman hardened her gaze, "Quite, I suppose it is the best plan going forward."
With her final words the group dispersed with many of the members wandering back to the Keep on their own to avoid detection, but Jon stayed back when he noticed Myria had yet to leave her spot near the Weirwood. He cupped her chin and brought her head up to meet her eyes and frowned at the sadness pooling in her amethyst orbs.
"What's wrong Ria?"
"I'm scared of what's to come in the future."
"You would be a fool if you weren't."
He offered his arm for his wife and let a soft grin form on his face as he led her out of the holy forest, but he missed when she glanced back for a second to meet the crying sap eyes of the sacred tree. The couple quickly returned to their room and found Willow folding Myria's clothes and placing them carefully into a small suitcase for travel.
"Gods, word travels fast." Willow turned and blushed at her lady's cynical tone.
"Lady Stark found me in the hall, she wishes to depart as soon as you are able Myria."
Jon helped his wife sit in a chair by the fireplace, before moving over to the desk and bringing the sheathed Dawn over to the sore Dornish woman. "You will take this with you I hope," She shook her head when he presented the rare weapon. "Ria, I want you safe. You know how to use it. I know Lord Cassel and I will be there, but just incase."
"Alright," Jon smiled as she carefully grasped her ancestral blade. "I hope no issues will amass on the road."
Willow spoke up from the bed, "I doubt anything will go wrong my lady, the King's Road has been quiet lately." Myria gave the handmaiden a strained smile and waited until she had left the chamber before she exhaled a large sigh of relief.
"Everything's happening so fast," Jon poured wine into two cups and passed one over to Myria. "How long have you suspected Bran's fall was suspicious?"
The exhausted woman downed the cup the moment it touched her lips, "Not long, but I know you have a right to be upset. I'm sorry for keeping what I knew a secret from you."
He shrugged, "You had a point, we Stark's are a bull-headed type, The pair chuckled at the small insult to their family members. "We will be fine, you know."
"How can you possibly know that Jon?"
The tall man placed his cup down and grasped Ria's hand, "Just a feeling, but I believe we will get through this together."
"Alright," Myria smiled up at her husband. "Together."