Winterfell, 297 AC

Aylis cannot act as before, now her child has been taken away from her by Tywin Lannister. Weeping, she feels so desperate and sad she decides to leave Stannis for a while; time that she remembers how much she loves him. She has tried to forgive him, tried to convince herself Aistan will be happy at Casterly Rock, but this awful feeling that she will never see him again is still deeply fixed in her heart. Stannis does not try to stop her when she announces she will visit her sister in Winterfell: proud, he does not want to beg her to stay, or to forgive him. And why would he? He has not done anything wrong. The gap between the two spouses gets huger with each day and, when Aylis leaves the capital with Shireen, crying her eyes out, and the twins, she feels weirdly relieved.

They reach Winterfell weeks later, and the Starks are here, waiting for them. She almost burst out crying when she sees Catelyn, giving her the softest look ever. She rushes on her, forgetting about the protocol, and honestly not caring about it. Behind them, Jon Snow is staring at the Baratheon family. His eyes stop on Shireen, looking miserable and pale. She looks up at him, and quickly hides her greyscaled cheek with hair, blushing. Lady Stark leads them soon in the castle, to get warm and to rest after such a long journey. Jon stays with Robb and Theon Greyjoy, the young man mocking Shireen openly. Jon glares at him, and Robb calmly asks him to stop mocking his family. Jon does not get how Robb can remain so nice with Theon: the young Greyjoy has been taken away from his family as a hostage, but, as soon as he has arrived in the North, Robb has treated him like a brother, and the two of them has quickly become inseparable. Jon knows Catelyn does not like this friendship: she does not forget what Greyjoys and Iron born are: rapists, murderers, traitors to the King. Jon knows she hates him, but they at least share the same defiance towards Theon. They all turn around when they hear squeals of joy and they see Rickon, Bran and Aylis's twins running out in the yard. Theon pats Robb's shoulder: "Let's have fun with them" and immediately walks after them, groaning like a monster to scare them. The toddlers squeal and run faster, Robb laughs and imitates him. Jon, though, is not in the mood for this and walks away, wandering around Winterfell. As he walks by the godswood, he hears shuffled cries. Frowning, he lays a hand on his sword and walks there slowly. At the weirwood's foot, sitting on the cold snow, Shireen is here, her face hiding in her knees, her dark hair covering entirely her face. Jon winces slightly when he realizes she is crying, but decides to walk away. He walks on a branch, which creaks loudly and Shireen looks up with a scared squeal.

"It's just me…" Jon uncomfortably says.

Shireen quickly wipes her tears away and stands up.

"My Lord", she curtseys politely.

Jon smiles:

"I'm not a Lord, my Lady. I'm a bastard."

She flinches a bit:

"Do not use this word in front of me, please. You are a boy, not a… bastard."

He nods and bows:

"As my Lady commands…"

He looks at her, so frail and small, standing by this huge scary tree. Her cheeks are red with the cold, her eyes red with tears she has cried.

"May I ask why you were sad, my Lady?" he walks to her, stands by her side.

Her lips quaver a bit:

"I miss my father", she whispers, almost ashamed. "And…" she nibbles her lip nervously.

"And?" Jon encourages her to talk.

She shakes her head:

"I don't want to cause trouble. We are your guests."

"You are Lord and Lady Stark's guests. Speak freely. I will not repeat any words", he looks at her and gently takes her hand. Shireen stares at his hand, so much bigger than hers, and looks in the grey eyes, soft as his father's.

"I heard Lord Greyjoy… he said I was a… a monster… because of… this", she points at her stained cheek. Jon looks down, feeling so bad for her, and so angry at Theon.

"You are not a monster", he says. "Theon is. His soul is as dark as a winter night…" he whispers.

She suddenly starts crying again and, unsure of how to act, he hugs her, holding her in his arms and stroking her hair.

"He-he is right", she stammers. "I-I a-am a m-monster… n-no one w-will e-ever w-want m-me…" she sobs loudly, tears running on her cheeks. Jon moves away to kneel in front of her:

"You are not a monster…" he raises his hand to move the hair away from her cheek and stares at her face as his fingers stroke gently the sequel of greyscale. She gasps and stares at his eyes, his fingers slowly wiping the tears away.

"You are a sweet and nice Lady, and you will be a beautiful woman, one day… Many men will want to marry you, Lady Baratheon", he smiles a bit and moves his hand away but she grabs it quickly.

"Would you?" she asks, her heart hammering in her chest, her glimmering eyes staring at him.

"Would I?" he makes her repeat, confused.

"If I was your age, would you marry me, Jon?" she asks, not shy anymore.

Jon holds back a chuckle and looks down at her:

"I doubt your Lord father would marry you to a…." he stops when he remembers her words about calling people 'bastards' and he goes on with: "…an illegitimate child, even though my father is Ned Stark."

Shireen looks disappointed, and he smiles at her:

"We should get back in. The feast is going to start, and it is quickly dark, especially in the Godswood."

Shireen nods, silently following him, feeling better than she has felt for months.