Chapter 4
We arrived at the horses a few seconds later and all eyes turned to us, well mainly me seen as I was carrying a golden dragon egg. Eddard was the first to speak "What have you got there Kayla?" he squinted slightly to try and get a better look. I walked towards him with the egg out in front of me. "It's a dragon egg my lord we found them with the albino pup that Jon's got. Do you think I can keep them? It has to be some sort of sign from the Gods." Eddard looked at me with those grey eyes that see everything and it felt like he was once again looking deep into my soul. He thought for a second and then said "Of course you can keep them Kayla, they are you're families sigil animal after all, but I can't be responcible for them once they hatch. You will have to care for them like the others have to care for their wolves." One of Eddards guards looked uneasy, he stepped forward, shaking slightly. "But my lord you can let a girl keep dragons as pets, they are dangerous animals." He looked at me "You of all people should understand that, surely." He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes and I knew straight away what he was talking about. Eddard did not look pleased, "How dare you talk to the princess like that! You will be punished for your insolence you fool!" With that Eddard gave him a firm hit around the face. The guard staggered backwards clutching his face and muttering a string of courtesies. I had never before seen Lord Stark so angry, I had always seen his as the jolly man with the friendly face and smile, this side of him I had never seen. He walked up to me and gave a big hug, "Are you okay?" I looked up at him "I'm fine thank you Ned, you really didn't need to do that you know." He looked at me and smiled "You always were a kind one child. Do not worry you may keep your dragons, the Gods know you have lost enough of your family already." He gave my arm a squeeze and mounted his charger. We all followed suit, it took a longer than normal for me to get into the saddle because I had to be careful of the eggs I had in my bag. Theon helped me up into my saddle and I adjusted my bag to make it more comfortable. I kept hold of the gold egg, I didn't need to use the reins to ride Shadow Fax, he knew where to go just by me thinking it.
We got back to Winterfell just before tea, we all dismounted and Bran ran over to his siblings to tell them the good news. Their faces lit up as they rushed over to Theon and Robb to choose their wolves. Jory helped me down from Shadow, I thanked him and started to make my way inside, wanting to have some time alone with the beautiful eggs. Before I could get inside I was stopped in my tracks by the little baby Rickon who jumped up and down in front of me trying to get a good look at the eggs that I was carrying. "Do you want to see them Rickon?" His face lit and a smile spread across his chubby cheeks. "Yes please Kayla!" I laughed at his excitement. "Okay but you've got to be really quiet and careful. If your quiet enough you might even be able to hear the little baby moving inside" He slowly stepped closer and I pulled out the blue egg and motioned for him to come even closer. He came right up to the egg and put his ear to it, a look of determination spreading across his face, "Can you hear anything sweetheart?" He frowned slightly and all of a sudden he gasped and jumped away giggling. "I heard something it moved, it moved!". "Haha did you? Maybe it liked the sound of your voice. Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?" He brow creased again showing that he was deep in thought "Hmm, I think it's going to be a girl" with a firm nod he started to skip away with Shaggydog not far behind him "Thank you Kayla" could be heard as he ran off in search of his siblings. I laughed to myself as I resumed my walk to my chambers at the top of one of the towers. I opened the door to my room and bolted it behind me. I found an old chest in my room and I placed it on the table next to my bed, I then scrounged some old bits of silk and other material and made a bed for my dragon eggs. Then I gently placed them in their new nest happy with my efforts. It was dark when I went down to the hall for supper, we had meat and bread and a small glass of wine - I was allowed to drink wine because I was one of the older children - talk around the table soon turned to the direwolf and the dragon eggs. "So what are you going to do with those dragons of yours when they hatch?" Theon asked with his trademark smirk on his face. "Well first I'll train them to do everything I tell them and then I set them on that pretty face of yours to see how many maidens you can have with no face left." With a quirk of my eyebrow I turned to talk to Arya who was trying to hit Sansa with some of her vegetables. "Looks like you've made Theon speechless princess" said Jory from across the hall. I laughed and looked over Theon who was sat there staring at me with his mouth open. "You might want to close your mouth Theo, before Arya manages to get food in it." Before he could reply Maester Luwin came running into the dining hall holding a scroll tightly in his hand. Ned stopped chuckling long enough to see the Maester. "What is it Maester? Could it not have waited until after dinner?" Luwin let out a large gust of breath before he spoke. "My Lord a letter has arrived from Kings Landing, I regret to say that Jon Arryn is dead." he paused for a second trying to gauge Eddard's reaction "and now the King and his party are on their way to Winterfell to come and undoubtedly ask you to be the next Hand of the King." I looked over Ned and saw the sorrow in his eyes, Jon Arryn had been like a father to himself and the King and it's not suprising that he was upset. "Thank you Maester for telling me, we must make preparations for the Kings visit. Now all of you up to bed it's going to be a long day tomorrow." and just like that he got out of his chair and walk away, his shoulders slumped. Catelyn wasn't far behind him, calling out his name softly.
I helped to take all of the children to bed, I sat with Rickon and told him a story about my home, Camelot and all the wonderful things that could be found there. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, but it never did. I slowly and quietly let myself out of his room and gently shut the door behind me. I made my way up to my room in a daze wondering about what the King's visit would hold. I got changed and blew out the candles around my dragon eggs and gave each of them a kiss before settling into my bed. "Good night little ones, sweet dreams." I smiled and fell into a deep sleep.