Lawna

"ARGH!"

"Oww. I'm dead."

"No you're not," the farmer's boy, Ruben, said with a frown. "If you were dead, you wouldn't talk. You would scream in pain. Usually, you scream in pain."

"Ahhhh," Lawna said flatly, and then she sat down on the ground with a 'humph!', the wooden sword still between her arm and her side. Ruben gave her a long look, and his face was crumpled in a stupid expression. He was probably thinking too hard.

"What's the matter?" He asked, sitting down beside her. "You usually like playing battles."

"Who says anything's the matter?" Lawna snapped back grumpily. "Maybe playing with you is boring."

"You used to like playing with me," Ruben said, picking at the grass they sat on. "But now all you talk about is Lady Stark, Lady Stark, Lady Stark."

His voice was mocking.

"I don't like you," Lawna said, glaring at him.

"Just wait until she leaves," Ruben said with a huff, getting to his feet. "Then you'll like me again."

"Stupid farmers boy!" Lawna shouted after him, but he paid her no mind.

"Lawna," a voice said sharply. "That's no way to speak to anyone, especially Ruben."

Her father came up to stand beside her, and from her place on the ground, he looked like a giant.

"I like it better when his sister plays with us," Lawna said grumpily. "She's nice."

"She is also ill. You should be nicer to Ruben. A few days ago, they were frightened that she might die. He's probably just upset," her father reasoned, sitting down beside her. He was right, she knew, but she hated being wrong.

"I want to see Lady Stark," she said in a small voice, digging at the dirt with her sword. Her father put his hand over hers. He often did that when he was about to tell her she could not have what she wanted.

"Lady Stark needs rest-"

"Lady Stark needs me!" She cried out, feeling tears pricking at her eyes. Her father's face looped into a gentle, sympathetic smile.

"She does need you," he said, taking Lawna in his arms. "And perhaps now that she is more rested, the maester will let you see her."

"Do you really think so father?" Lawna asked, her tears quite forgotten and hope springing into her heart.

"I cannot make any promises, mind," her father said sternly, getting to his feet and setting her down, her hand still in his. "The maester might turn us away. There's a very good chance that he will."

"But there's also a chance that he won't," Lawna said eagerly. "Right father?"

Her father sighed, and then hoisted her up onto his shoulders.

"You are just like your mother," he sighed. "You won't take no for an answer."

Lawna leaned onto her father's head as he walked through the frosted field. It felt like it was getting warmer now, and she had heard talk amongst the smallfolk that spring was coming. And, though she had never experienced spring, she heard it was warm and lovely, and that flowers bloomed, even here in the North.

"Tell me a story," she said.

"Very well," her father said with a chuckle. "What shall it be? Lady Stark's return from Braavos? Or the taking back of Winterfell?"

"Neither," Lawna said with a frown.

"Neither?" Her father repeated, sounding surprised and maybe a bit alarmed. He wasn't very good at telling stories.

"Father, why didn't you ever tell me the story about the Lost knight?" Lawna asked, and she felt her father's hold on her legs twitch slightly.

"Where'd you hear that?" he asked.

"Lady Stark told me," Lawna said. "She told me that the Lost knight never found his true love. Is that true?"

"She said that he never found his love?"

"Yes," Lawna said. "She said that he had thought he found his love, but that his love wasn't really there. That there was a different person there with her face."

Her father was silent a long time, and they were nearly back at Winterfell when he next spoke.

"Lady Stark is far more disparaging of the Lost knight's lady love than he was of her," he said. "He did find her, in the end."

"Did he?" Lawna asked, and she knew that this wasn't a story about a Lost knight and an unknown lady. She knew that this was the story of her father and Lady Stark.

"Yes," her father said as they walked through the gates. "He knew that he would always find her, when she was lost. And he knew that she was hidden inside somewhere, and that one day she would come back to him."

"Good," Lawna said with a satisfied sigh. "I like that ending much better."

Her father lifted her from his shoulders and set her down.

"I'm glad," he said, giving her a kiss on her forehead, but when he pulled away, his eyes looked so sad, and Lawna felt a rush of guilt, tears at her eyes again. She shouldn't have asked that! She knew better, than to ask him questions about Lady Stark. It always made him so sad, and she never wanted him to be sad.

He went to have a word with the maester, and when he returned, he was smiling.

"He says you can go in," he said, and she suppressed a squeal of delight, grinning up at him and inserting her palm in her mouth to ebb her excitement.

Her father took her hand and led her through the castle, following close behind the maester. Lawna had been terribly frightened of Winterfell for the longest of times. They were still working on rebuilding it, so some parts were dark and burned and scary. She had thought all of it was dark and scary and foreboding, just like Lady Sansa. But the walls were warm, she remembered, reaching out to trail her fingers against the heated stone. That gave her small comfort.

When they reached the door, her father gave her hand a squeeze.

"Aren't you coming too?" she asked, suddenly afraid.

"No," he said gently. "I have work at the forge, but I'll be back soon, and if you want to come and see me, all you need do is ask Lady Stark. I'm sure she'll understand."

Lawna wasn't so sure of that herself. The last thing she wanted to do was offend Lady Stark and send her running from Winterfell. Her father seemed to understand her conflict.

"I'll send Jon in to check on you in an hour or so," he said. "And if you'd like to go with him and do your lessons, you can."

She grinned. Her father always knew the right thing to do and say. Except when it came to Lady Stark.

"Go in now," he said, lifting her up and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't keep our lady waiting."

When he set her down, she felt her stomach fill with flutterings. But that was silly. Lady Stark was nothing to be afraid of. She loved her. Her father said so, and her father never, ever lied.

When she entered, the room was dark, and for a moment, she really was very afraid.

"Oh thank god," she heard a voice, which didn't sound weak and dying in the least. "Lawna, I hate to ask, but might you open a window? It's so gloomy and stuffy in here."

Lawna did as she was told, scuttling over to the thick shutters and then crawling up on a stool to wrench them open, flooding the room with much needed light.

"Thank you," Lady Stark's voice was genuine and gentle, and when Lawna turned around to see her at last, she was smiling.

She didn't look sickly or close to dying at all. This relieved Lawna tremendously. Lady Stark was fine. All her worrying had been useless.

"Come sit with me up here," Lady Stark said, patting the place next to her. "It's lonely with just me."

Lawna had never been on a featherbed before, and it was heaven. All soft and not poky and itchy in the least. Why would Lady Stark ever want to come to the forge when she had such a soft bed? The thought send a pang through Lawna's heart. No wonder she never wanted to be in the forge, which was smelly and hot and dirty. This room was clean and beautiful. Everything in the castle was fine, and Lawna knew that she and her father were not fine. That was why those highborn girls laughed at her.

"What's the matter?" Lady Stark asked, patting her hand. "Hmm? You weren't worried about me were you?"

"No," Lawna said, "I mean I was! Very worried, but father said you were all right, and father never lies so I knew you were all right."

"Then something else must be bothering you," Lady Stark said gently, and Lawna knew she was just being kind.

"Tis nothing my lady," Lawna said quietly, playing with her hands.

"No," Lady Stark said, and when Lawna looked up, she was frowning. "It's not nothing. Please tell me. Has Sansa been harsh with you?"

"Oh no my lady," Lawna said in a rush. "Lady Sansa's been ever so kind lately."

"Then what is it?" Lady Stark pressed. "I hate to see you so unhappy."

Did she? Lawna wondered. Did she really hate to see her unhappy? When Lawna looked up, she was surprised to see that she did. Lady Stark cared for her. It was enough to wipe away the empty feeling in her heart.

"I was just thinking," Lawna heard herself blurt out, "that everything is so fine here."

"Is it?" Lady Stark said with a laugh. Lawna frowned.

"We don't have featherbeds in the forge," she said. "Or linens. Or big chairs. Or warm walls."

"No, you don't," Lady Stark agreed.

"It must not make you want to come at all," Lawna said miserably. "Because it's so dirty. And not fine like the castle. And father's not fine like all the lords. I'm sure you have lots of lords who like you."

She stole a glance at Lady Stark, but to her surprise, she was smiling. Laughing, even.

"I don't think any lords would have me," she said, sounding amused. "And I wouldn't have them. Is that what you're worried about? That I'll leave your father for some perfumed lord?"

And me. I'm afraid you'll leave me as well.

"Don't worry," Lady Stark said, ruffling her hair. Just like father does, Lawna thought. "I have no intention of ever settling down with a perfumed lord, ever."

Yes, Lawna couldn't help but think, but where exactly are you going to settle down?

Here it is! Finally. Sorry about the delay. Love all your reviews