Bella's silver blonde hair was pulled into a french braid down her back to keep it away from her face. She slept with her breath whistling. She still looked beautiful when she was ill. Pale, but beautiful.

Jon's hand covered hers. He knew her hand would be cold. "Her hand is like ice." He stated, hoping to warm hers with his.

"Yet her head is on fire." Her nurse said. "Her body does not seem to cooperate."

"Rickon did not become ill." Jon mentioned, hoping to get some information from her.

"Lord Rickon was protected by my Kailasa's cloak." Her nurse replied, her voice passionate as she spoke of the sleeping girl. "She always puts other's ahead of herself, even if she knows that she will become ill because of it. She was soaked by the time she got to me. She thought my skin was on fire, and she felt like she was made of ice. She is not used to the weather here. She is a child of summer, not winter."

"Very true." Jon agreed, brushing a bit of Kailasa's hair that had escaped from her braid away from her neck, causing her head to lean towards him in her sleep. "Does she need anything?"

"Your maester already gave me everything I need, like I said earlier."

"May I ask what you have used?"

"Echinacea tincture and arnica oils." Her nurse told him honestly. "Are you sure you don't want me to wake her? She told me to if you or your brother came."

"No, she needs her rest. I just wanted to see that she was all right." He told her. "Thank you for letting me see her.

Rebecca nodded, watching as he leaned down to kiss the knuckles of the hand he had been holding in his own. Rebecca may have thought Kailasa was too good fro him, but she could admit that Kailasa could do much worse than him.

XXX

"Kailasa has accepted you both as suitors." Ned told his eldest sons.

"What?" Jon asked. "I didn't ask."

"I did on your behalf." Ned told him. "I may be old to you, Jon, but I see the way you look at her, I wasn't going to let you not ask because you were scared to be rejected."

"Can she allow two people to court her?" Robb asked.

"It's not marriage." Ned told him. "She just wants to get to know you both more. Her father added that this is the longest she has ever stayed in one place."

"What does that mean?" Robb asked, leaning forward.

"I don't know, but it can't mean anything bad."

XXX

"Arnica is used from bruises and other painful ailments of the muscles and bones." Maester Luwin told Jon when he asked, and that echoed in his head all day. That was not something used for illness. He knew it had to be for the same reason why her eyes only closed for a second when she suddenly felt a jolt of. Why her hand(s) would go to her lower back when she moved a certain way. When she would let out a breath and have her lips pucker in a small, "O".

Jon wanted to ask if she was all right. He wanted to make sure she was in pain, but he was unsure if she would answer. She always refused before, but he had never asked her when they were alone. He didn't know if she would be offended. But hadn't she answered offensive questions before? Why would this be different? Just because she always refused to admit she was in pain? Because she would always tell some lie he could see through. If he asked her point blank, she had to answer, didn't she? She would know that he figured her out, and whatever she was suffering from.

He was playing a card game with her as she recovered from her illness. The color was returning to her cheeks. She looked better than she did the day before.

"I win." She announced. Her voice was a little deeper and rougher. She showed her cards like he would think she was cheating. Like he was actually playing the game.

"May I ask you something that is potentially offensive to you?" He asked as she dealt them both cards again.

She looked up at him. "You've asked a few potentially offensive questions before. You may ask another if I ask you one, first."

He nodded. "I will agree to that. Ask away."

Kailasa paused like she was trying to figure out what wording would make it just right for her. Her little pink tongue darted out over the right corner of her lips before she spoke. "Lady Catelyn doesn't like you because you are not hers. I understand that. But I do not understand why she hates you so. She saw you grow up. How can she hate you because of who your father is?" He could tell by her eyes that she was completely confused by this. She could not understand Catelyn's reasoning behind the hatred at all.

Jon didn't know how to answer her. How could the truth offend him? But she did seem bothered by it. She loved children, and she couldn't fathom the logic behind hating one. Hating a child horrified her, he could see it in her stormy blue eyes.

"I'm a bastard that was brought into her house." Jon repeated what he had been told like a line from a play. "I have no right to be here."

Kailasa frowned, shaking her head and looking down as she placed her cards on her lap. Her eyes were a little watery. Jon didn't know what he had said that upset her. She swiped her index finger beneath her eyes and looked back at him, her face a bit more guarded than before.

"That tells me nothing." She told him, all emotion gone from her now. "I think you know why she hates you, but she has no right to hate you. You belong here. Do not let me hear you say otherwise."

"It is the truth." Jon answered. "Why should I not?"

"Because it makes you sound less human than Robb, or Bran, or Arya, or Sansa, or Rickon." She replied. "Do not put yourself down, Jon. There are enough people in this world to do that for you."

He looked at her a moment. "But I am not like them. I can never be."

"But you are not an inconvenience either. Your siblings love you. You are definitely Arya's favorite."

"The moment my father is dead his wife will not allow me to stay." He told her. "I will have no where to go."

"I would take you in." She told him. "You have friends, Jon. People to help you. You may not become a lord, but you could have a good life."

"It's the Watch for me, Kai."

"You're not a rapist or murderer." Kailasa told him. "That's what the Watch is full of. That's where we send our criminals. Even if you leave that part out you will never have a wife or child. You will never have a family of your own."

"And who would want a bastard's name?" Jon asked.

"You were given that name, I am sure you could change it if you wanted to." She replied. "Obviously I am not bothered by it. It may not be known, but my father does send a raven to me with the names of them men who would like to court me and I reply. I choose the people I am willing to get to know more about." Her voice was stronger than he had heard it in a while, almost challenging him to disagree with her.

Jon had no words. He just stared at her.

"Not all women care about surnames, or about riches or power." Kailasa covered his hand and hers. "I just people by what they say and what they do. Name are nothing more than what we try to live up to or try to forget. If someone judges you on your name, they do not deserve you, remember that."

"Your hand is cold." He whispered, covering her hand with his other one.

"That is normal for me." Kailasa told him. "I used to touch my brother's neck with them when he upset me." She smiled.

"You sound like Arya." Jon told her. "When it snows some always ends up down someone's shirt or dress.

"I am sure in another life I would be Arya." She laughed.

Suddenly, Jon forgot his potentially offensive question. He never realized who she was. He never realized that even though she didn't know him well, her heart still hurt for him.

"Why do you care that I am hated by Lady Stark?" He asked.

"Because I had a limited time with my mother, and in that time I always felt safe around her. Even when she was ill I knew she would protect me. When there was a great storm and I was frightened as a young child, I would crawl into bed with her and she would tell me a story to make me less frightened. When I accidentally cut myself trying to handle my brother's sword, she would dress the wound. She taught me to be kind and to try to understand where other people come from. To care for others. You did not have that privilege." Kailasa said softly. "I don't like how Lady Catelyn looks at you. My heart breaks every time she does." Kailasa closed her eyes then. "No one should be hated for their blood. No one."

Jon knew then that all this was true. She was uncomfortable with emotions because she felt everything so deeply that she did not know how to deal with it. Her mother taught her to be empathetic, and now she could not stop it, even if she wanted to.

XXX

After Jon left Kailasa, her nurse entered.

"I like him." Her nurse stated. "You were right, I judged him off his name. Her is much better than I thought."

Kailasa smiled. "I knew you would agree with me." She took a sip of tea to soothe her throat; it felt much worse after speaking.

"I wonder why Lord Robb didn't come with him."

"He probably didn't tell Robb. I doubt they both want to have to share my attention all the time." Kailasa responded. "If they both want to marry me they would want to see me when we are alone, don't you think?"

"Very true, milady." She paused. "So, which do you prefer?"

Kailasa shook her head. "I do not know. Both are very much gentlemen."

"And very handsome too."

Kailasa blushed slightly, looking down as she smiled. "Yes, there is that as well.

XXX

"How are you doing this fine day?" Robb asked when he came to visit Kailasa later that day. Unlike with Jon, they were not playing cards, they were just talking.

"I am better than before, yet not as good as I can get." She answered. "I will be back to normal in a couple days. Before you know it I'll be beautiful again."

"What are you talking about? You're gorgeous." Robb replied.

Kailasa smiled. "And you are much too kind to me, as I said, by the time I return home I will be spoiled rotten. They will never let me return again."

"Unless you decide to stay." Robb replied. "You can always do that."

Kailasa nodded. "True. This is the longest I have stayed in one place, you know."

"Yes, besides Goldenbirth, correct?" Robb asked. "What is it like there?"

Kailasa smiled, like she was going back to her childhood home. "It is right on the beach, where the water is blue and the sand is white. The castle itself is very beautiful. It's white like the sand, but has a red roof. It has high walls around it, and it is the biggest in the region. You can watch ships come in from their journeys and there is a market once a week where the traders sell their goods. My sister-in-law always took me when she could. There was always a man who sold Dornish wine, and he knew her, so we would buy one barrel and he would give us two." She sighed sadly. "It is wonderful there, and it's terrifying to think that I won't be returning there for a long time."

"Why not?" Robb asked.

"My father doesn't want me around." She told him. "I look too much like my mother."

"And here I thought you looked like a Targaryan."

"If there's Targaryan in me, it is very old. All I know is that there is Valaryan in me." She told him. "But no, I look like my mother, just silver instead of gold."

"And you were sent away right after your mother died?" He asked.

"No, at first I was just sent to Dorne to let my brother grieve alone. Then my father told me to go to the Reach, and stayed with the Tyrell's for a bit, and the Hightowers, and so on until Ser Martin came for me. Then the Riverlands. I am sure if I do not marry someone from the North I will be sent to see if Joffery could handle me."

"And you would be queen?"

"Seven hells, no." Kailasa shuddered. "I couldn't imagine being married to Joffery. He is not only so much younger than me, but he's...well...he's not exactly someone a woman would want to marry either. No. I have to guess that one of my cousins would let me stay with them until I can persuade my father to leave me be."

"And would you get married after that?" Robb asked. "If you got through that without being married."

"You mistake me, Robb. I am not against getting married. I am against getting married for political reasons. My parents married because they fell in love, their families allowed them to get married for political reasons. My brother and Meara married because they loved each other. I am only hoping for the same. None of them fell in love because they were sent to live in the same home. They fell in love by chance. No one could see it coming."

"You want something your nurse told you when you were young." He said.

"Is that so wrong?"

"No, it's exactly what you deserve." Robb stood from the chair beside her bed. "I will leave you to rest now. I would hate to not have you in the yard with us one day more than need be."

Kailasa smiled. "It is good to see you, Robb."

"You too, Kai." He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Now get better."

"Yes, my lord." She teased.

A/N:

xxxRena: That is sort of what I was hoping for! Haha. Thank you for your review!

ZabuzasGirl: Here you go! Thank you for your review!

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Kat