Two days passed in what felt like minutes. Lyra couldn't actually believe that today was the day she would be leaving Winterfell and riding for Kings landing with her uncles and cousins. Brans condition had neither improved or deteriorated. He remained asleep.
Jon had came to her room while she was reading to remind her about changing the candles in the crypt. Something she and Jon had been doing since they were tall enough to reach the holders. She handed Jon a candle as they walked down into the crypts. She walked over to where her father and grandfather were buried as Jon walked over to where her Aunt Lyanna lay at rest.
"What are you two doing down here?" The harsh voice of the King called out from the doorway.
"We come to change their candles every morning, uncle" Lyra replied her voice filled with panic from the fright the king had given her.
"Who are you boy? What are you doing skulking about in the dark with my niece?" Robert snapped his gaze harsh upon Jon.
Lyra knew he'd been drinking just by the flush of his face. "Uncle Robert, this is my cousin Jon. My Uncle Eddards..."
"Oh so you're Neds bastard" Robert spoke loudly making Lyra want to kick him as she usually did with people that disrespected Jon. "I was wondering when I'd get to meet you properly, saw you during the hunt, you're a good rider".
"Thank you, your grace" Jon replied with a slight bow of his head.
"Come and stand in front of me so your King can get a better look at you" Robert ordered.
Jon seemed wary at first but Lyra nudged him forward. He moved into the light the open doors gave him in front of the King. King Robert stared down at him, his eyes filled with confusion and wonder.
"You're certainly a Stark, that's for sure. No look of your mother about you at all, I'm starting to think Eddard Stark fucked a ghost" Robert laughed harshly. Lyra prepared herself for Jon's outburst of anger towards the king but to her surprise he kept his anger inside.
"What's going on down here?" Eddard asked, his silhouette appearing in the doorway.
"I came down to replace Lyanna's candle, but it appears your bastard has already done so" King Robert spoke with a hint of resentment in his voice. Then his face changed as Jon stared at Eddard in panic and worry, the Kings eyes became narrowed as his brow furrowed as if he were trying to solve an impossible riddle. It was a change even Jon noticed as he glanced warily towards Lyra and back to the King.
"They've been doing it every morning for years your grace" Ned replied looking between King Robert and Jon with a strange look that Lyra was struggling to read, normally she could read her uncles expressions with ease and it worried her when she couldn't. "Lyra go and ready your horse, we're leaving shortly" Eddard warned.
"Yes Uncle, Jon come on" she said making her way for the door. She grabbed Jons arm as she passed and tugged him towards the door.
"Why was King Robert looking at me like that?" Jon asked the second they were out of the crypts and back into the open air.
"Like what?" Lyra asked as she began to walk towards the stables.
"Like he was looking at someone completely different" Jon replied following along behind her into the stables.
"How am I supposed to know? Maybe he sees so much of Uncle Ned in you, that with the amount of drink he's had he probably thought he was talking to a young Eddard Stark" Lyra shrugged as she grabbed her saddle from one of the benches and made her way towards Frosts stall.
"No it was more than that" Jon replied. "Do you think he knew my mother?"
"Gods Jon I don't know, why don't you go and ask him" Lyra had a slight snap to her voice that she instantly regretted the moment Jon's eyes showed a slight sign of hurt. She knew how much finding out about his mother meant to Jon, she shouldn't have been so cruel about it. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped. But you heard the King, he was looking for clues as to who your mother was in your appearance, I don't think he knew her"
"But still I..." Jon was cut off by Robb clapping him harshly on the shoulder.
"Uncle Benjen's looking for you, told me to come and tell you to get ready, you both leave when the royal party leave" Robb said until he noticed the small bit of tension between his brother and his cousin. "What's happened?"
"Jon wants to go and ask the King if he knows who his mother is" Lyra spoke before Jon could say a word as she fastened another strap of her saddle.
Jon looked towards her in anger as Robb looked towards Jon in shock and confusin . "I never said that, I'm just wondering if he would know. He did know father very well when he was young, when he had me"
"Doubt it, the amount he's drank he would have let it slip by now" Robb replied.
"Also if Uncle Benjen doesn't even know, what makes you think Uncle Ned would have told the King?" Lyra shrugged
"Exactly, he'd tell his own brother first" Robb continued Lyra's thought. Jon only gave a sigh before he moved down to the stall that contained his own horse.
"I was just hoping he'd tell me before I went to the wall" Jon sighed as he stroked the muzzle of his horse Blizzard.
"There's still time, maybe he will" Lyra shrugged as she went to the back of the stables and grabbed her bridle and bit.
"Maybe" Jon sighed before he walked past both of them and out of sight.
"He's never gonna stop asking that same question is he?" Robb asked as he walked in and helped Lyra put her bridle on Frost.
"Wouldn't you? He wants to know who his mother is, a child deserves to know that at least. He's waited long enough to know the truth" Lyra replied as she began to lead Frost out of his stall.
The question as to who Jon's mother was had been playing on her mind for years, ever since the name Ashara Dayne had floated around Winterfell when they were very young. She remembered waiting outside her Uncle Neds study when Jon asked him if that person was his mother. Her Uncle Ned quickly denied it and told Jon not to speak of it again. She remembered the tears in Jons eyes as he realised the little hope he had of finding out who his mother is or was, had vanished with his fathers words. She remembered how she'd sat with him in his chambers as he cried himself to sleep. From that moment on she'd made it her mission to help him find out who his mother was, but so far she had come up with nothing.
She felt bile in her stomach as she stood outside the door to her cousins chambers. It scared her to go in, she didn't want to see the once active little boy laying as still as a corpse.
She somehow found the courage to open the door. The room remained the same as the last time she'd had seen it the morning before. The fire was freshly lit in the corner, no doubt her Uncle Eddards doing. Her Aunt Catelyn sat in a chair by Bran's bed making what looked to Lyra like a prayer wheel although she had not made one in years. And Bran lay upon the bed, his eyes still closed in unconsciousness. Lyra was starting to panic that she'd never see those light grey eyes open again.
Catelyn looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled kindly towards her niece. Her red hair was matted and ragged due to lack of combing. She was still wearing the same dress that Lyra had remembered her wearing the night after Brans fall which had been three days ago.
"I came to say..." Lyra couldn't even finish her sentence as the lump in her throat grew twice its size. Catelyn already knowing what her niece was going to say only nodded.
Lyra walked up to the other side of Brans bed and sat down slowly being careful not to move the furs upon him too much. "I don't to go, I don't to leave you but my Uncle has ordered me to go South with him. So I must" Lyra spoke as she brushed Bran's hair softly back from his face. "It's killing me know I'm not gonna be here to look after you, or see you wake up, but I promise the moment you're better I will ride as fast as I can back to Winterfell to see you and I'll tell you all the great stories about what the South is really like" Lyra said not even attempting to stop the tears that were now falling freely down her cheeks. "Stay strong little one, I know you're one hell of a fighter so you keep fighting. I love you and I'll miss you so much" she leaned down and kissed his forehead gently, her tears rolling off her skin and on to his before she quickly wiped them with her thumb.
She stood from the bed and made her way round to where her Aunt Catelyn sat staring up at her. Her eyes red and sore as no doubt Lyra's now were.
"If you need me for anything, you send a raven and I'll be home as quick as I can" Catelyn went to say something but knowing exactly what her aunt was about to argue with Lyra continued. "I don't care what my Uncle Robert says, I don't give a fuck about what he's ordered me to do." She said crouching down beside Catelyn and taking her small, frail hands in her own. "Bran is my family, you are my family and if you need me, you tell me. Let me deal with the King"
Catelyn nodded before a small sob broke from her lips. Lyra stood back on her feet and hugged her aunt tightly.
"Be safe" Catelyn whispered to her niece through her tearful sobs.
"I will, and don't worry. I won't let anything happen to Arya or Sansa. I promise" Lyra replied pulling back from the embrace to take both her Aunts hands in hers before Catelyn pulled one of her hands free and raised it to cup Lyra's cheek gently.
"I know you will, you are more like your father than you'll ever imagine, you've always been the strongest of all my children" Hearing those words coming from the woman she looked to and admired as a mother for so many years made Lyra release a sob of her own before she embraced her aunt again.
The two women were broken apart by Benjen who cleared his throat from the doorway. Lyra turned to face him with a small smile.
"It's time to go Lyra" those words were all he said before he made his way back down the hallway.
The same words caused a pit to form in Lyra's stomach as she nodded and pulled herself away from her aunt giving Bran one last look before she followed her Uncle down to the courtyard where Robb and Rickon were waiting beside Frost.
Lyra quickly dried her eyes to save worrying Rickon even more than he already was and painted a smile on her face to hide her own worries to the five year old as she approached them.
"Come here you" she smiled lifting Rickon into her arms and gripping him tightly to her. "Now you be good for Robb and your mother. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can"
"I'll miss you" Rickon spoke softly into her ear.
"I'll miss you too little pup" she smiled blinking back tears as she kissed his cheek and lowered him to the ground to face the older Stark who stood behind him. "Can't say the same for you" she grinned towards him.
"I'm just glad I'm finally getting rid of you" Robb smirked.
"And how long will it take before you're begging for me to come back and help you run this place?" Lyra said glancing up at the large castle she called home. "Two maybe three days"
"I can handle this place on my own for a while" Robb grinned as he walked forward and embraced his younger cousin tightly. "Stay safe" he whispered kissing her hair.
"You too" she smiled leaning up to kiss his cheek.
"Lyra, come on!" Her uncle Ned spoke up as the head of the Kings party had already started riding out. With the help of Robb she lifted herself up and onto the saddle on Frosts back. "Whatever you do, do not to burn this place to the ground while I'm gone" She smiled down as Robb lifted Rickon up into his arms.
"We'll try our best" Robb replied with laugh. She let out a laugh before she kicked her heels into Frost and signalled him to follow where her Uncle Eddard and Jon were already leaving the courtyard.
Her heart felt heavy as she glanced back to see Robb and Rickon waving towards her. She raised her hand and gave a small wave back then turned back around in her saddle and pressed Frost faster until she was walking side by side with Jon and her Uncle Benjen.