Rickon

His Winterfell was full of strangers. Rickon sat on his high chair looking at all those men. They were polluting his home, and he wanted them gone. He slumped in his chair and reached his hand to grab on Shaggy dog's fur.

Robbet Glover coughed beside him and he realized that one of the men was addressing him. He rubbed his chin with his free hand trying to remember who that man was and what he wanted from him. Rickon just wanted them to leave him alone, he had enough troubles to deal with.

"We need more food supplies, my lord. The men will starve before they reach the wall". Rickon snorted, he wasn't even a man grown, and he sure wasn't a lord. He opened his eyes wide and stared at the man with his bright eyes and knew that Shaggydog was matching his stare; he found that most men seem to quiver with fear by this. He smirked when he saw that this man was the same as the others. Glover shook his head at his behavior and answered for him "we gave you as much as we can spare, Ser Duckfield. Winter is upon us and it is hard and demanding, and our people are starving as well. The sack of Winterfell had made our resources very sparse. We cannot give you any more food. We will give you more men if you wish", Glover sniffed and Wylis Manderly nodded. Ser Duck-face continued, "More mouths to feed, you mean. I beg of you, my lord, anything. Dried meat, oats, hard bread…"

Rickon lost interest; this man was a blabbering fool. He wished that he could go outside and practice with his sword, so when the white walkers defeat the army at the wall, he would die defending Winterfell. His eyes wondered to his sister. She stood in the corner picking her nails with a dagger. Nymeria and Ghost were at her side and so was her other dog, the big dark haired knight. She looked up to him and met his eyes; she smirked at him, rolled her eyes and yawned. Then she took her dagger and made a show of killing herself. Rickon let out a small chuckle, which made Ser Duck-face stop talking, finally, and stare at him, offended.

"I apologize, Ser. Please continue." He said quietly, giving him a crazy smile and opening his eyes wide. that ought to shut him up. The stupid man coughed and bowed, "please consider my request, my lord. The fate of the kingdom is in your hands". Rickon rolled his eyes and stood up. Glover approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, Rickon growled at him angrily, he hated when people touched him. "We need to give them more food, else they will starve". Rickon snorted and pulled away; taking a step forward, "Let them eat each other then, like the true dwellers of the north. Half of them will die anyway from cold in those blasted snow storms on their way to the wall; it's a pity to waste good food".

Glover shook his head slowly, "you father would have…"

Shaggydog was at the man's neck before he managed to complete his idiotic sentence. "My father is dead, he died serving this realm, and I will not make that same mistake. I will take care of my people and my family first. I would not abandon them". Glover nodded and Rickon turned his head back to the hall, his sister was nowhere to be found. He smirked; he knew where she would be.

0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

He approached her silently and sat beside her. He didn't like coming to the Godswood, it reminded his of the dying Maester Lewin.

"I don't think that I would have recognized you if you wouldn't have come to me, you know. You don't look anything like the rest of us, you're unique", she told him, and she looked at him with her grey eyes, they nearly reminded him of something, "and you don't look like you're one and ten."

He smirked, what ten year old lordling has ever eaten human flesh? He scratched his head. "Well you don't look like a lady", he said viciously. If Arya was any other girl she would have been offended. But not her, she was chiseled out of ice, like he was; he could see it in her eyes. She had the same ruthlessness that the true northmen has, she was of the north.

"It's different, Winterfell". She said quietly, shuffling snow between her fingers.

He shrugged, "I guess. I don't remember what it was like before".

She looked at him, she was sad and it made him uncomfortable.

"I don't remember father's voice or mother's scent. I can't seem to recall what Robb looked like", he heard his voice flat and emotionless. He could have told her that he didn't remember her too until he saw her in one of his dreams, Bran showed her to him through Nymeria's eyes.

"well, you can always visit Sansa, she looks just like mother", she told him, she seemed angry at the thought. He snorted.

"I had the misfortune to meet our lovely sister, all she ever talked about was how horrid my hair was and how impolite I was. I scared the shit out of that puffy husband of her, he almost peed his fancy pants when Shaggydog growled at him," he smiled wickedly of the blond grown man shrieking like a little girl and jumping behind Sansa.

Arya laughed, she purse her lips and buttered her eyelashes, mimicking Sansa, "By the gods Arya, are you wearing blue with brown? That is offensive! What kind of lady are you? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Look at that! You have Nymeria's hair all over you, this is outrageous. How are you ever going to find a husband?", she rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead in despair, Rickon laughed hysterically, her impression of Sansa was hilarious.

Their laughter died out and there was a long silence between them until she asked, "How do you manage this... foolishness?"

"What do you mean?"

"This… ruling. Being courteous to people you despise…"

He let out a bitter laugh, "did I seem nice to you? Have you missed the crazy smile? And the growling from Shaggy? That always gets them." He bunched a pile of snow and started building a wolf.

"It's just so… "She struggled to find the right word for the foolishness of ruling. He understood what she meant. He put a pine branch as a tail for his snow wolf.

"I have help," he said shrugging.

"Those two? But they're so… lordly. Do they get you?" she asked

"Not them. Bran." He said casually and gave her a sideway look. Was it possible that she had those dreams too?

She turned to him, her eyes wide, "He's here? He's alive? Where is he?" she shook him by his shoulders. Shaggy dog growled at her and Nymeria growled back. Ghost watched unmoved. Rickon shook her hands off him, giving her an angry look, no one should touch him, not even her. So she didn't have those dreams, maybe he was crazy after all.

"Calm yourself. I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him since… well this is the last place I saw him. He went with Hodor north but… I've been talking to him… in my dreams. And I saw Summer once, up north". She looked at him puzzled. He turned to look at the huge heart tree, "sometimes I come here to ask him questions, Osha told me I should and… well he told me that you were coming here. And he tells me about Jon too". He missed Osha, she had died at the battle of Winterfell, protecting him. That Bastard Ramsey Bolton killed her, so Rickon had to pull his heart out and eat it. well not all of it, just a bite, for ceremonial reasons. It was a northern costume, they taught him that in his time with the tribes, before Ser Davos came to fetch him back to this life. Osha and the tribe men taught him how to connect with the old gods and it was then that he found Bran. And it was then when his dreams of his family started. He even saw Arya's secret wedding to the Targaryen prince in his dreams, he wondered if she knew he was watching her.

She looked disappointed, "you mean his spirit, he's dead and you connect with his spirit. I knew someone who could do that in Braavos…" she babbled on, he hated when people just talked without any purpose, what a waste of time. He sighed and felt a small gust of wind run through the red leaves. She was still talking.

"You should try it", he cut her off.

"What?"

"Ask him something, he always listens here"

"So he's dead?" she asked, sad beyond all reason. That made him angry, he gave her his craziest look, the wind blew in his wild hair and his hands clenched into fists, "I don't know if he's bloody dead or not, you idiot. Osha said that the old folk could speak through trees. Just do as I tell you!" he bellowed, and Shaggy dog's eyes glowed beside him. Arya was taken aback by this and he saw her hand reach for her pathetic excuse for a sword. He might not be even twelve yet, but he wasn't afraid of anything anymore. He made himself calm down, she was his sister after all, and he didn't want to hurt her. he breathed slowly, calming himself down.

"Just ask him something, Arya."

She swallowed and nodded. She got up and came close to the heart tree. She put her little hand on its bark and whispered her question. She stood back and looked up at the tree her eyes full of hope. The wind blew through the leaves and he closed his eyes as he heard his brother. He felt protected when this happened, he felt that he was held tight and he saw Bran's eyes before him. He smiled and opened his eyes; his sister was staring at him. "Well, now do you believe me?" he asked her, hoping that she was able to experience the connection with their brother.

"What just happened?" she asked, looking between him and the tree.

"You got your answer", he said, annoyed.

"I didn't hear anything, but I felt… what did he say?"

Rickon looked at the sky, the clouds were heavy and grey, another storm was coming.

"He said that the dragons are coming to Winterfell."