Lyr was reading about the various gods in Westeros and Esos in the Stark library when a vague sense of doom began to creep over her. It made her sick to her core and she stood, clutching her belly as she stumbled to the door. "Guards..." She wheezed. No one heard her so she began to stumble faster. "Help!" The door swung open to admit Catelyn Stark.

"Milady..." She helped her up. "I came to see if I couldn't persuade you to take Rob instead. Are you...alright?"

"Catelyn put aside your hate for Jon for one second! I need help to get to the ruined tower. Quickly. Someone's in danger." Catelyn spluttered and began to help her. Eventually her strength returned despite the desperate twinging of the Force telling her of imminent death, and she pulled away from Catelyn to run.

She burst through clusters of Stark servants, shoved past Rob Stark and Theon Greyjoy as they practiced with bows. The pain was crippling now and she grit her teeth, pushing on. As she was switching her gait to begin climbing a shape fell from the tower, hurtling to the ground. She threw out her hand to slow the fall, but still heard the crunch of impact. Then she started screaming. Bran Stark lay there on the ground, blood pooling under his head.

Her shock handled she pushed closer, trying to ignore the twisting pain in her gut at the presence of evil and began to heal Bran Stark. Or she tried to. Something in him shrieked, dark wings flapping against her as the ebony god visiting him in his dreams shoved her out. Tears filled her eyes at the psychic backlash and she pulled back from him, waiting. Catelyn caught up, followed by half the court. She began screaming too, moving in to cradle him. Lyr shook her head, warned Catelyn against him. "Don't move him until I can heal him. He has potential neck and back injuries. You could paralyze him for the rest of his life and I'm afraid that sort of injury is beyond me."

She flung herself on Ned, weeping at this. Lyr waited with anything but patience for whatever was visiting the injured boy to leave, carefully shutting out everything else around her. When she at last felt the ancient thing leave the boy, she dipped back into Bran Stark's mind, not missing how confused he was. He had been made to forget what happened, and not wanting to step on the toes of a literal god, Lyr left it and focused on healing him.

His spine had sustained significant damage, the kind that would have in fact paralyzed him. Lyr healed it to the best of her ability, letting the Force wash gently over him in all the benevolent warmth it carried through her. He was always going to limp and he'd probably ache in the cold months, but he wasn't going to be crippled. Not anymore. Exhausted, Lyr sat back feeling the full drain on her energy now that she wasn't focusing.

The people around her gasped when Bran Stark stirred and groaned in pain. "I did what I could. The rest is on your boy." She spoke to Ned and Catelyn. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to reconnect with the Father."

x

Lyr spent some time collapsed bonelessly in the chair by the fireplace, soaking in the licking heat and doing nothing else. She waited for the inevitable knocking start, wondering who would come first. The king, as it turned out. "Kings knock on doors now?" She raised an eyebrow as he bid his guards stand outside.

"I just watched you heal a little boy from death's door. He's already trying to get up and about." He was quiet a moment. "You make me question what I know. You make me want to stop drinking."

Awareness tinged at the edge of her tired mind that this could be the start of the change the Force brought her here to make. She pulled herself up a bit more upright. "Then stop drinking, Robert. But do it for your children and your wife. For your kingdom. Not me or my existence."

He gave her a long searching look. "It's funny. You look a child, and you have the power to change it all."

"I am the Maiden." She reminded him. "I will continue to look the part."

"I came to ask you something else. Where do I start? What do I do first?" Robert Baratheon looked extremely uncomfortable, as if he had forgotten how to bare himself and be truthful with how he felt. Or maybe he'd never been able to in the first place.

"Before we get into that...Don't you follow the old gods at all? You are a Northerner." She asked, ever aware of the fact the old gods definitely existed and definitely knew of her presence.

"You are tangible."

"That's the wrong way to look at it. We're all real. Including the old ones. They are heavy here." She shook off the feeling she was treading dangerous waters.

"Well, I can want to be a better man for any faith. What's it matter who started me on the path?"

"It doesn't, I suppose. If I were you, I'd start with cleaning my court up." She gave him an eye. "There are far too many people in positions too high up who are not truly yours. I can feel the lies and deceit from here. King's Landing, your home...Is a nest of festering vipers. You cannot be a good king to your people if the men who are your eyes and ears care more for themselves."

He chewed on this moment. "I'll leave you to rest. I've got some things to think on." She was alone for perhaps an hour before the second knock came.

This time it was Rob Stark on the other side of the door. He looked apologetic when he saw the exasperation on Lyr's face. "I want to ask you something about my brother." Her face crumpled a bit further. She didn't have the will power to do this right now, and wished she could have three hours to herself to meditate and recharge her inner self. "What did you see that made you stop him from going to the Wall? He thought about that for months. It was an important out to him." His voice was all gravel and grit. "What is it about Jon?"

"I swear I don't understand the fascination with the children of lords." Now Lyr's lips were pressed into a tight line. "I asked for Jon because if he goes to the Wall he's going to die a horrible, painful death. Betrayed. I really don't want that for him."

"Why do you care? People die in Westeros every day. Every second even." He kept pressing for an answer, not satisfied yet.

Tired and feeling vulnerable from being unable to recharge, Lyr finally snapped. She was still just a Padawan, after all. "Maybe because if I can't keep King Robert and his own on the throne, Jon Snow is the most deserving soul left on this rock you call a home! Snow is a fitting name, given that he actually seems to know what honor is. Even if he doesn't truly realize that yet." She heaved a sigh. "He is simply very trustworthy. A rare soul indeed."

"You'd seat Jon on the Iron Throne?" Rob's voice was incredulous and then his eyes narrowed to match. "You might be a goddess, but I don't care. Until you can tell me your true intentions for my brother, I'm watching you Lyrical." He whisked out and Lyr settled back into her meditations, mind stirred up again into restlessness.

There was another knock, almost immediately and Lyr angrily wrenched the door open from across the room with the Force. "Bloody what?! Healing someone so injured takes a lot out of a girl. Can't I just have five minutes?" It was one of the king's guard; the queen's brother, she thought.

He chuckled at her emotional outburst, letting himself in and closing the door. "I wanted to see the young goddess for myself, up close. I heard you were right there when little Bran Stark fell to his fate. How shocking it must have been."

There was some underlying current to his words that Lyr didn't like but she was truly so exhausted she couldn't muster the fine-tuned Force control necessary to read into it. He continued speaking. "I will likely be in rather close quarters with you once we return to the Red Keep, since you stated intentions to help Robert straighten the masses." He came a little closer, his metal clad legs making a racket she didn't much appreciate. "Thought I'd introduce myself."

"No." She said, to his perplexion, halting his approach. "I believe I stated intentions to straighten those in charge. It is rarely the fault of a governed people when something has gone awry. The behaviors of a king's people are symptoms of he and his acolyte's reign."

"You say a lot of perfume soaked words." He cracked a fake smile at her. "What's more...I think you believe yourself. So either you're hopelessly, defenselessly naive or...you're the worst liar in all seven realms."

Alarm prickled in her veins as she finally identified his tone as threatening. "You should be careful, milady." He saw himself out, leaving Lyr certain she was in danger and not sure why.