It was definitely market day. The four of noble birth walked through the crowd unnoticed. Jon had Kailasa, and Robb had Sansa-which he wasn't too happy about. Both teenage boys wanted to have their potential betrothed, but Kailasa told Sansa she could be escorted by whoever she liked, and of course she chose her lord brother.

Theon had left with them as well, but he left them, winking at the two boys about how he was in the mood for a redhead. Of course, right after he left Kailasa turned to Jon and asked if he was going to the brothel. Jon nodded, and Kailasa knew her father was right when he refused to let her marry an Iron Islander.

The two groups got split up in the crowd, but it did not matter too much, they could all make it back to the castle easily. Well maybe not Kailasa, but she knew Jon would always at least be touching her arm, so she wouldn't get lost.

They found themselves by a silversmith who was selling jewelry and silver figurines. Bella saw a silver ship and picked it up.

"Does milady see something she likes?" The silversmith asked with a beard that matched the figurine in Kailasa's hand.

"Yes." Kailasa looked up at him. "Did you make this?" She held the ship up.

"Yes." He nodded.

"It's very well made. Very well done." She praised. "It looks like the ships that cross the narrow sea for trade."

"Thank you." He told her.

Kailasa also saw a necklace. It was a tiny wolf with his head raised back to howl. It was connected to a leather strap that would loop around the neck of the wearer.

Jon noticed what she was looking at. "Do you like it?"

Kailasa looked at him, smiling. "Yes, but I have yet to become a wolf, Jon." She handed the silversmith a coin for the little ship figurine, before something at another stall caught her eye and she pulled Jon with her.

She didn't see Jon take the necklace and tossing the silversmith a coin for it.

After not too long they needed a break from the crowd and they found a little thin alley right outside the market to duck into.

"I bet Sansa and Robb are looking for us." Kailasa said, looking towards the group like she thought she would see them in the thick crowd.

"Yes, but I wish to steal you just a moment more." Jon told her as he stepped towards her, one hand on her hip and the other slipping onto the back of her neck, his thumb running along her jaw.

"Do you, now?" She teased, her blue eyes never leaving his grey, though his eyes kept flicking towards her lips. She liked teasing men she knew wanted her. It all started with one lord-or prince, she couldn't remember-in Dorne. But right then, she couldn't think of Dorne. She couldn't think of anywhere besides where she was.

"Yeah." He kissed her, biting her upper lip softly before he pulled away from her, still keeping their faces close. "Why did you buy the ship?" He asked.

"Because it reminds me of the ships that would come to port from the Free Cities." She whispered. "It also looks like the ship I captained."

"Don't they all look the same?"

She laughed quietly as she shook her head, and she looked down to take the ship out of the little bag she kept her coins in. "This has triangular sails and two masts." She held it up to show him. "There are square rigged sails, and some ships have one mast, and some have more. There are some sails that have a wooden bar at the top, and those are really good for going across the narrow sea, actually. My favorite to sail is the regular triangular."

"What kind of ship did you come here on?" Jon asked.

"We had to travel upwind most of the way." She told him. "Triangular sails. We can get very close to the wind on those."

"You know much about ships, don't you?" He said.

"I live in a port rich with trade. I have been off and on ships my entire life." She replied, putting the ship back in her bag and looking up at him. "It is how I travel. It is safer for a woman to travel with people she trusts."

"That is true." He agreed. "Do you like to travel?"

"I like to see new things." Kailasa replied. "I don't want to miss out on anything in this world, especially since life is so short."

"Is that why you want to go back to Dorne?" Jon asked.

"How did you know that?" Kailasa asked, she didn't remember telling him that. She didn't remember mentioning Dorne much at all.

"Sansa once said something about you wearing a lot of Dornish dresses." He said. "I just assumed you wore them because you like it there."

"I love it there." She told him honestly. "It is much more progressive there. Women can be warriors and can be politicians as well as men. Children are thought of as children, no matter who their parents are. Bastards are not looked upon as less than true born children. Meara, my sister-in-law is a Martell, and the Martells have always been nice to me, and I have learned a lot from them."

"Like?" He asked.

"Not to judge people by who they come from but who they are." She looked down, smiling slightly. "I don't know who I'd be if I didn't go there. I don't know who my family would be without them."

"And are you ever going to go back to Dorne?"

"I will always have to go back to Dorne." Kailasa stated. "I promised Meara I would be there when she has another child."

"You are close with her?"

"From the moment we met."

"Are you like that with most people you meet?" He asked. "Can you decide on them just like that?"

"Most of the time." She admitted. "I like to think that I'm a good judge of character."

"And what did you think when you first saw me?"

She smiled sadly, running her fingers through her hair. "I thought you looked really sad, and I wanted to make you smile." She pulled on his shirt to pull him closer to her until their noses were nearly touching. "What does it take to make you smile?"

The corners of his lips turned up slightly before he kissed her. The kiss was teasing, almost like they were playing with each other until Kailasa pulled away. "Come on, we better go back. I wouldn't want them to think I kidnapped you." She teased.

"Oh, they would probably think I kidnapped you first." He replied. "You couldn't be able to kidnap me."

"Oh, don't think of me as less than I am. I could kidnap you if I wanted to."

"Yes, but kidnap makes it seems like I am unwilling. I think I would follow you without you forcing me to."

Kailasa laughed. "You're ridiculous."

"Only with you."

XXX

"Jon had you all day, can I not have you tonight?" Robb asked, only half joking.

Kailasa smiled. She did truly like Robb, just as she truly liked Jon. There were so many differences between the brothers. Robb was more confident, which she liked. He was very courteous, but at the same time made his voice known-not that Jon didn't, he just made it much more obvious than his brother. Robb was fine with being forward with Kailasa, while Jon let her take the lead.

Though connected by blood, the two were very different.

"What would we do?"

Robb smiled. "After sup meet me in the courtyard, I'll take care of the rest."

Kailasa paused. "I'm not sure if I like surprises."

"You'll like this one, I promise." He said.

Kailasa nodded then. "I'll trust you. I'll meet you there after sup."

"Good." He pressed a kiss to her cheekbone before leaving her.

Kailasa looked down, and felt a blush touch where he kissed her cheek.

Was it wrong that Robb make her heart quicken as well as Jon? Was it bad that she was a bit torn between the two brothers, and if she was asked to choose she would stand there and think for a long time before answering. She didn't know if she could answer.

Still Kailasa pushed that from her mind, at least for now.

She could always refuse both of them and live on her own like she had planned. She could run away from all of this. From all these feelings and all this confusion. She could go to the next great house and next great house until her father finally sent her to Dorne, or died.

She could be a coward.

XXX

"Where are we going?" Kailasa asked as he took her farther away from the castle and towards the godswood. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"Don't you trust me? We'll be fine."

Kailasa looked at him in the moonlight. "Okay, I'll trust you, but I swear if it starts snowing, I'm going to go inside and I will never forgive you for making me be cold."

He grabbed her hand with his free one. The other was carrying a bottle of wine he had the kitchens put into a bottle and a blanket. "Come on, you don't want to miss this."

Kailasa couldn't help buy giggle softly as he pulled her into a meadow. "If you wanted to get me drunk we could have just drank by the fire."

"If I wanted to get you drunk I would have had to bring a lot more than this." He held up the bottle before setting it on the ground.

Kailasa laughed. "I'm not a lightweight."

"Which is a good thing." He said. "You wouldn't be able to survive the North with being so easily influenced." He handed her half the blanket. "Help me lay this out."

She mimicked his movements.

"Now lay down." He told her, getting on the blanket.

Again, she did as he said, laying beside him. "Would you like me to teach you to navigate? Because I forgot my sextant."

"Your what?"

She giggled. "Never mind. Navigation gear."

"You're a sailor through and through."

She nodded. "I don't think that will ever change."

"Does your language change on a ship?"

"Only when I'm running it." She admitted, smiling. "When I get on land I'm fine, though. Just on the water...when people don't do as I say."

"I would like to see that." He said. "I have never seen you upset."

"You do not want to see me upset, Robb. I tend to lash out." She warned, her hand tightening into a fist for a moment, as if remembering what it felt like to have her knuckle broken after she punched a stone wall after she heard of her mother's death. She remembered the last lord from the Reach who had the gall to grab her ass as if it was his right. She remembered how it felt to have him lose a tooth because of her fist.

"I am sure you are a sight. I would never want to be on the wrong end of your fury. I am sure you can be just as unforgiving as the sea."

Kailasa half-sighed half-laughed. "I guess you know me better than you think."

"I just know the stories that surround your house. Your house is very well known, Kai."

"And what have you heard of it?"

"That your ancestors were the King's of the Coast. That you came straight from the sea. That your grandmother was a descendant of Valaryia, but was not a Targaryan. That's why you are white like snow."

Kailasa smiled. "My people always called me the silver lady, while my mother was called the golden lady."

"Do you miss your mother?"

"Every day." She told him honestly. "It's harder since I haven't been home since her funeral. My father sent me away the day after, and I haven't been home for more than three days in a row since."

"That must be hard." Robb said, taking her hand in his.

"It was."

"Was?"

"It's been better since I've been here. I'm a little sad and a little happy to say that your family has been not only the most kind, but the most welcoming I have ever seen. Everywhere else they assumed I would marry them because my father told me to."

"I think we all know enough to know that it would be your choice." Robb said.

Kailasa turned her head to look at him, and found he was already looking at her. "Tell me something about yourself that no one knows."

"I don't know if I could do that, Kai. I'm somewhat of an open book." He teased her.

"Nothing? You tell everyone exactly how you feel, what you think, and what you do?" She challenged. "I find that hard to believe."

"Okay, ask something more specific and I may have an answer for you." He replied.

"Okay." She paused. "What are your thoughts about the Westernlands, and why are seen as rich because they have gold, though the Coast has more wealth with its trade?" She raised her eyebrows in a challenge.

"Can you repeat the question?" He asked.

Kailasa laughed. "I'm only joking. It is too late and we are too young to have a topic such as that."

"And yet you know of it?"

"It is something that always confused me." She told him. "I have tried to understand as much as I can about it...but it isn't always welcome to hear a woman speak of business matters."

"Even when the woman is as smart as you?" He asked.

Kailasa smiled. "Especially when a woman is as smart as me. Especially when one doesn't enjoy holding her tongue when a man tells her to."

"Well your tongue would get terribly sore if you held it all the time." He teased her.

Kailasa laughed, looking back to the stars. "Wouldn't it?" She pointed to a bright star in the sky. "You see that?"

"See what?" He asked, trying to see where she was pointing.

"That star, right there." She told him. "The bright one."

"Yes?"

"That way is north." She told him. "It's the Northern Star."

"Is that like your moon is smaller than your thumb, thing?" He asked.

"Stars are steady. They don't change." She told him. "You can count on them to always bring you home."

"And which way is your home?" He asked.

She pointed southeast. "That general direction. Much warmer there, you know. I have never worn a cloak until I came here."

"Even in the winters?"

"I don't remember the last winter." She answered. "I may have worn a cloak then, but it still doesn't change the fact that I don't remember wearing one."

"So do you prefer the cold or the heat?"

"I prefer a mix of the two. I'm always cold." She told him. "I get teased because of it. In the heat of summer, I can get a chill."

"Are you cold now?" He asked.

Kailasa turned towards him again, and touched her hand to his face, making him jump.

"Gods, woman." He said. "How do you live?"

"And how do you live in the year-round snow?" She replied. "We all have our burdens."

He took her hands in his. "But yours is feeling like ice."

"Says the Northerner." She teased. "Shouldn't you be used to the cold?"

"Used to it? Yes." He said. "Surprised that you're apparently half ice? Yes."

Kailasa laughed. "Maybe that's the reason why I love the South, it is warm there."

"I don't know, I could keep you warm." He said.

Kailasa smiled. "Could you now? I am like ice, as you said."

"Yes, but Northern blood runs hot." He teased. "Come here." He opened his arms that looked so inviting.

She scooted over, laying her head on his shoulder. "My, you are warm." She smiled, letting herself relax as he put his arms around her.

"Better?" He asked.

"Much." She smiled.

"Tell me something about you that no one else knows." He said, echoing her demand earlier.

Everything that popped in her head was everything that she could not tell him. About how she was a disappointment to her father not only for her features, but for her deformity. Something every woman should be able to do, she wasn't sure if she could.

No lord would want a woman who couldn't guarantee him children.

No man would want a woman who couldn't have children.

But why did she care? She could last on her own. She had her last seventeen years. It wasn't as if she wanted to be married anyway... At least, she did not want to marry someone where there was no mutual love.

"I like night more than day." She told Robb.

"Why?"

"Because everything is more beautiful in the light of the moon." She told him. "Everything is cast in shadows and everything is dark."

"You like the darkness?" He asked. "I always thought it made everything more frightening."

"More frightening?" Kailasa asked. "Yes. More real as well. Every fraud comes to light in the dark."

"You are very interesting, you know that?" Robb asked her.

"I hope so. If I was normal, I would be boring, don't you think?"

"You could never be boring. There is too much going on in that head of yours." Robb replied. "I wonder if you ever get a quiet moment with all those thoughts running through your head."

"How do you know I think so much?" She asked.

"Because even when you are alone you never seem bored." He said. "Sometimes I feel bad for disturbing you when you're alone."

"Don't." She told him. "I had to get used to being alone as a child, and I had to amuse myself. I always feel better with some company."

"You didn't have any other ladies around?"

"Of course I did, I just don't always get along with other ladies." Kailasa replied. "They never liked me, I think that's a part of the reason why I always got along better with boys."

"Did they not like you, or the other way around?" He asked.

"They didn't like me until they spoke to me for a long while." Kailasa told him. "They were rather cold."

"I can tell you why." He replied. "They didn't want to be around someone as beautiful as you."

Kailasa turned to face him, smiling. "You are much too agreeable for your own good, Robb."

"And you are far too perfect for yours." He smiled before leaning in slowly to kiss her.

Kailasa was a bit surprised for a moment. Everything seemed to stand still for a moment when he kissed her. It was a soft kiss, a sweet kiss. A kiss that could always be classified as a first kiss with someone new. It was a good kiss, but it only reminded Kailasa of the inevitable.

She would have to make her choice soon.

A/N:

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