Disclaimer: I do not own Game of Thrones or anything related. It belongs to George R.R. Martin, the creator of this wonderful universe and David Benioff and D. B. Weiss who created the show.

Face Claim for Lady Sanira Tremaine: Caitlin Stasey.

01x01: Winter is Coming.

Chapter Ten: The King's Arrival.

Standing between Robb and Sansa, Sanira took a deep breath as she tried to ease her nerves as her stomach twisted itself into knots; she had never expected the month to disappear so quickly but preparing for the King's arrival had kept her busy. Sanira had thrown herself into any work or duty that Catelyn had asked of her, there was so much to be done and Catelyn had been more than willing to show Sanira the ropes.

The Starks all stood in a line with their household behind them, everyone waiting for the King to arrive; they had spent weeks preparing for this since the raven had arrived. Taking a quick look along the line of her children, Catelyn frowned when she spotted that Arya was not in her place between Sansa and Bran; she had hoped that she would have turned up with her sister when the call had gone out for them all to be here.

"Where's Arya?" Catelyn asked continuing to try and spot her youngest daughter, her question made the rest of her family look at her unsure. None of them had seen the younger Stark daughter since the announcement had gone out that King Robert was on his final approach to Winterfell and would be here soon.

"Sansa where is your sister?" Catelyn asked only to be replied with a shrug from Sansa, who didn't seem that bother that her younger sister had failed to show up after she herself had spent most of the day preparing for the arrival. Tutting Catelyn shook her head wondering where her daughter could have wander off to, she had been made aware how important today was and she couldn't miss out on this no matter how much she wanted to.

They didn't have to wait long before Arya dashed across the courtyard to take her place with her family, she had been watching the King arrive. Eddard quickly caught his youngest daughter with a raised eyebrow at the helmet that she was wearing on her head; his wife sighed glad that she actually looked like a lady for once.

"What are you doing with that on?" Eddard asked lifting the helmet from Arya's head, he could only imagine what Catelyn would have said if Arya had missed the King arriving nor shown up like she had when they were greeting the King. Offering her father only an innocent look, Arya quickly hurried to her place between her older sister and Bran offering her younger brother a bit of a shove so she could get in place.

Arya had made it into her position just in time as the King's Guard rode through the gate with Prince Joffrey on his horse following behind them. Holding her breath, Sanira stared at her cousin feeling her stomach turn a little at the sight of him; she didn't miss the smile that he offered to Sansa but she didn't dare look to see how her good-sister reacted.

Sanira did not have any fond memories of the Crown Prince, she often found herself staring at Sansa when the younger girl had babbled on about her fairy tale vision of him or any lord really. A part of her almost wanted to ask what had been taught, Sansa was rather naïve and would be in for a rude awakening if she even went to the court in King's Landing.

It was nothing like the stories told or how Sansa seemed to imagine things, it was a place that Sanira never wished to find herself in especially now she was older. Next through the gate was the royal carriage that contained the Queen, her two youngest children and her ladies-in-waiting; it had no windows and looked more like a sealed chest on wheels than a carriage.

Once the carriage had stopped completely, King Robert rode in behind them making everyone that was in the courtyard drop down to bow to the King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. No one dared looked up as the King dismounted his horse with a little difficultly, walking the short distance to where Eddard and his family were bowing down to him. Eyeing his old friend when he stopped before him, Robert signalled with his right hand for Eddard to return to his feet; thus, allowing Eddard then everyone else to finally stand back up to greet the King.

"Your Grace," Eddard greeted with a slight bow of his head, he was surprised with how much his friend had changed since he last saw him and he had grown quite the gut in his time as King and had changed from the rather fit young man that Eddard had called his brother.

Everyone seemed to listen eagerly to see how things would go between Robert and Eddard, who seemed to spend a moment staring at each other after not seeing each other in nine long years with them both busy with their duties.

"You've gotten fat," Robert stated staring at Eddard, he scrutinised how much his friend had changed in the years since he had seen him; it was a good change and he was sure that Eddard had been happy here with his family. Holding back a smile, Eddard could only nod at Robert who seemed twice the size of the man that Eddard had last seen; it was no secret what Robert had spent a lot of his time doing since he had become King of the Seven Kingdoms.

The two men shared a smile before they both started laughing, it had been a long time since they had seen one another; stepping forward to offer a welcoming hug having not seen each other in a while. Pulling back from Eddard, Robert moved to greet Catelyn with a shift hug and a kiss to the cheek; he was happy to be here and there was a reason that he had made this trip. Ruffling Rickon's hair, Robert smiled moving back to speak with Eddard; the trip had been a long one and he could only think of one thing now that he was here.

"Nine years. Why haven't I seen you?" Robert asked smiling to Eddard, he had been wanting to come here for years but things in King's Landing had kept him busy for too long. Behind Robert, the royal carriage opened allowing the Queen, her younger children, and their attendants to exit; they bowed down slightly to Queen Cersei Lannister as she exited the carriage last.

"Guarding the North for you, Your Grace," Eddard replied with a smile, he wasn't sure what to expect from this visit and he hoped that Robert wouldn't ask too much of him. Eddard had no desire to leave his family or his home, he was content with the work that he did here and he knew that Robert would have to do something drastic if he wished for Eddard to return South with him.

Cersei held up her skirts as she walked over to where her husband was conversing with the Starks, a look of disgust concealed on her face wishing that they hadn't come here. Peeking over at the new arrivals, Arya looked around trying to spot the one person that she had heard all about; she frowned not seeing the one person who had made her excited about the visit from the royal family.

"Where's the imp?" Arya asked looking up to Sansa curiously, she had heard quite a bit about the Lannister dwarf and had been looking forward to seeing him for herself since she had never encountered a dwarf before. Sanira held her breath praying that the two girls weren't about to start arguing in front of the King and his Queen; the last thing she wanted was any attention to be drawn her way.

"Will you shut up," Sansa hissed not wanting her sister to ruin this for her, she couldn't imagine what embarrassing thing that Arya would do especially with the Queen and Prince so close to them watching. However, their little dispute did attract the attention of the King who looked down the line of Stark children; Robert moved away from where he was speaking with Eddard to move down the receiving line. Peeking at his wife, Robb noticed how she seemed to tense when Robert attentions moved to them; he made a mental note to speak with her later about such things.

"You must be Robb… I hear congratulations is due," Robert greeted moving towards Eddard's firstborn, he was impressed and a little jealous of how good looking the Stark boys were especially compared to his own sons. His children seemed like miniature Lannisters no matter how much Robert looked at them, he was almost jealous that Rolan's children mostly favoured their father's side.

Even Arthur who bore his mother's Lannister blonde hair looked every inch a Tremaine, while Robert had ended up with three children who bore hardly any of his looks. Robb nodded his head and shook Robert's hand, it meant a great deal coming from the King and who was a good friend to his father and good-father.

Moving away from Robb, Robert smiled at the sight of Rolan's only daughter knowing that she would flower here with the Starks; it was just a shame that she had been engaged to Robb first. It had been Robert's desire to unite the three main families of his rebellion, he had already started to plan out who the next pairing would be since Sanira was married to Robb now.

House Stark, House Tremaine and House Baratheon had been tied closely together by the war, brothers in arms and Robert could not have asked for greater friends. It had been their time in the Eyrie under the wardship of Lord Arryn that had sealed their friendship and when the Mad King had called for their heads, the three men had united together to start the rebellion.

"Even more beautiful than the last time we met," Robert mused glad that she didn't bare any looks of her mother, he could only imagine the nightmare that would have caused the Starks if she had. It was no secret that the Lannisters were not loved up here, especially by his friend but Eddard was lucky that the closest Lannister to him was the one married to Rolan. Sanira bowed a little to Robert, her face feeling warm at his compliment and she wished that she had not been affected so; the King's actions were no secret especially his indiscretions against the Queen.

"Aye… you are a pretty one," Robert greeted with a nod to Sansa, she looked so much like her mother had done at her age and he was sure that the young Stark would break many a man's heart when she wed. Sansa couldn't help but blush at the King's words, it meant a lot coming from a man like him and she was pleased all her hard work for the day had paid off. Robert moved away, he had quite a bit to talk about with Eddard and he was hopeful that his dear friend would agree to a union between their houses; they would have been brothers by now if Lyanna had not died.

"And your name is?" Robert asked looking down at the youngest Stark daughter, he stiffened a little about how much she looked like his Lyanna; there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't miss her. Peeking up at the fat King before her, Arya couldn't help but wonder how this man had ever won a war let alone fought in one; she recalled the stories that she had heard growing up and the man before her didn't inspire much confidence in her as he must have done back then.

"Arya," she murmured peeking about still trying to see the imp, Arya was much more interested in seeing him than meeting the King; she had never seen anything like him before. Nodding his head, Robert moved on to the final Stark child who was watching him nervously; he had come a long way and still his thoughts remained on the one thing that he wanted.

"Show us your muscles… you'll make a fine knight one day," Robert said making Bran flex his arm showing it off, he beamed at Robert's words knowing that his destiny was always such a thing. Looking back towards Eddard who was greeting Cersei, Robert frowned knowing that he had waited long enough for this moment; there was little else that he wanted to do before the banquet that evening. It had been on his mind for the entire ride to Winterfell, he wished that he could visit more often but Eddard had insisted that she be buried by the rest of his family.

"Take me to your crypt, I wish to pay my respects," Robert demanded making Eddard look at him warily, it was no secret that Robert's continued attachment to his late sister caused tension between Robert and Cersei. They might have been married for about seventeen years now but things had seemingly only worsened between the Baratheon King and his Lannister Queen as the years passed by.

Turning to look at Robert, Cersei kept her face blank trying to act like his decision to go and visit some dead woman didn't bother her; she had found it easier to do so over the years especially when she realised, he would never care for her. The thing that bothered her more was the look of pity that Eddard and Catelyn offered her at Robert's demand to go down to the crypts to see his beloved Lyanna.

"We've been riding for a month my love… surely the dead can wait," Cersei mused watching him, she already knew that he would ignore her words and she wasn't going to show how much it bothered her to be dismissed by him in front of the Starks.

Robert spared his wife only a glance before he summoned for Eddard to follow him, he didn't care what she thought; he wanted to pay his respects to the only woman he had ever truly loved. Eddard offered Cersei an apologetic look before he followed after Robert, he had questions for him about what had happened to Jon Arryn and he was sure that Robert would ask him his own questions in return.

"Where's the imp?" Arya whispered to Sansa again catching Cersei's attention, she frowned before turning and walking over to her twin brother Jaime Lannister to find out where exactly the little monster was. Taking a deep breath, Sanira peeked at Robb knowing that she would be a lot happier when the royal family return to the South again.

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