Riverrun, 298 AC

Aylis has reached her hometown a few days ago, having taken Aistan with her. They have been separated for way too long, and now, she wants to enjoy his presence as much as she can. She feels complete again since he has come back home. Aylis had rewarded Stannis with a sleepless night and has discovered the day she has reached Riverrun that she was with child once more. She has not told Stannis, though: at war, ravens could be used against him, and she does not want to take any risks. On this day, the sun is shining brightly, high in the Riverrun sky, when her sister, Cat, arrives in the castle with her son Robb. Aylis welcomes them warmly with Edmure, and hugs her nephew tight. Robb has married Margaery Tyrell, and she knows they are a very happy couple. She heard rumors of a baby on the way for them, and some more sad, like Margaery would dislike Winterfell a lot, and would miss her home. Aylis understands her, and remembers the marriage was not out of love at first. She is surprised to not see the new Lady of Winterfell, and gives an inquiring look at Robb. He smiles at her:

"Lady Margaery had to stay in Winterfell…"

"Why?" Aylis asks frowning. She could not stand staying far from her husband.

"She… could not travel…" he hesitantly says and Cat smiles softly at him, running a hand in his curls. Aylis understands and grins brightly:

"Oh, does that mean my sister is going to be a grandmother?"

Robb chuckles and nods quickly, Aylis congratulates him warmly and Edmure leads them all in the castle. Cat asks to see their father and Edmure nods, before taking them to his bedroom. It has been moons since he has not left his bed. As they get in, he turns his face to them, and his face brightens when he sees Cat. Then, suddenly, his face changes and he says:

"Oh, look at your dress, Cat… you have been playing in the mud again?"

He shakes his head slowly, as he did when they were children. Aylis sees Cat getting white as a sheet, and she gently wraps her arm around her to comfort her. The three children stay with their father, all day long, and Hoster gets more and more weird, talking to himself, getting suddenly scared with no reason. The maester says it means it is the end, and the children gather together around him, in his bed. He calls for Lysa, but they all know Lysa will not come. They think he realizes, too, because he suddenly starts crying, sobbing like a young child, begging "Forgive me Lysa". None of the children know what he is talking about; they assume it is his delirium. Hoster does not eat anything and the three children fall asleep with him, Cat and Aylis on the bed, Edmure on an armchair by them.

Aylis is the first one to wake up the following morning, and sits up, yawning slowly. She turns to her father and notices he is already awake:

"Father… How do you feel?"

She is surprised to see he is not answering; he is staring at her, his eyes wide open. She needs a moment to realize he has died looking at her. When she does, she lets out a harrowing cry which wakes up Cat and Edmure. Cat hugs her tight and Aylis sobs in her chest, wrapping her arms tight around her. Edmure stares at the body of his father, very pale, then at his sisters weeping. Cat holds her arm at him but he suddenly leaves the room, leaving the door wide open so servants and Brynden could come in. Brynden walks in and takes Aylis away, holding her as if she was a little girl:

"I wanna stay with him", she cries loudly, and, suddenly, she sees Robb and Aistan staring at them. She feels vulnerable and weak now, and she tries to move away from her uncle's arms, but he holds her tight and reassures her. Aistan tugs on his clothes:

"Is grandfather dead?" he asks, his lips quavering a bit.

Brynden hesitate, but he does not want to lie to the boy, and gives him a brief nod. Robb holds his hand, and says softly:

"Come on, let's go and pay our respects to him" he leads the little boy to the room.

When they get there, the servants leave with a bow and Robb starts praying, Aistan looking at him. The boy has tried to pray, when he was a prisoner of the Lannisters, but it has never comforted him. His eyes lay on the dead body of his grandfather. He looks peaceful, his face has never seemed more beautiful to the young boy. He gets closer and slips his hand in the dead's one. He is surprised that his skin is still warm.

"Does it not feel weird?" he asks softly.

"What does?" Robb asks.

"Our grandfather dies… and your wife is with child. It is like… I don't know… a circle..." he looks at his cousin.

Robb smiles a bit and leans his hand on the boy's shoulder:

"It exactly is, you know. Life is an eternal circle. People live and die, a birth replace a death…" he says almost sadly.

"Are you going to call your child Eddard?" Aistan looks up at him. Robb smiles with the question and nods:

"Margaery has agreed on this. But maybe the baby will be a girl."

Aistan frowns and winces slightly. Robb cannot help but chuckling:

"You do not like girls?"

The boy shakes his head:

"Father always told us a Lord has to have sons", he asserts as a lesson he would have learnt.

Robb rolls his eyes:

"Maybe your father should relax a bit and enjoy his children, whether they are boys or girls. What do you think this one will be?"

Aistan nibbles his lower lip for a moment, thinking about the two eventualities: a boy would mean another teammate to play with. A girl, a princess his father will have to marry when she will be older. He turns to his cousin:

"I hope it will be a boy", he nods.

Robb smiles and ruffles his hair gently.

Edmure spends the night with his father's body, along with Aylis and Cat. The following day, they will have to bid him farewell, and never see him again. Hormones drive Aylis very emotional and she cannot stop crying and weeping. Cat is sad too, but shows it less. They don't sleep during the night and sadly accompany their father when his body is laid on a little boat, and given to the sea. Edmure, still weeping, miss the shots which should have burnt his father's body. Aylis stares at the little boat disappearing, her eyes filled with tears, her hand holding Aistan's one very tight. She feels horrible, she feels so sad and destroyed she thinks she is going to collapse in the minute. Brynden gets to Edmure and whispers something in his ear, and Edmure, looking down, hands him the bow silently. With one shot, the boat starts burning. Weirdly enough, Aylis thinks about Melisandre as she stares at the flames devouring her father. A brutal shiver makes her whimper, and she feels Aistan's hand slipping out of hers. Surprised, she turns to him: he is staring down at her legs, a horrified look on his face. Cat notices the look and whispers:

"Gods, Aylis…"

The Queen does not understand, until she looks down, and sees the pool of blood at her feet, slowly throwing into the river running in front of her.