Robb
Robb woke up late the next morning. If it wasn't for the bright sun shining down his face, he wouldn't rose.
He drank more wine than his father allowed his children during feasts. But the headache he usually gets after drinking was considerably tolerable than he expected.
He took off the shirt he was wearing since yesterday afternoon which stank of alcohol and smoke. He stretched his back and neck and went to the table set against the wall of his chamber. The warm water he washed his face with felt soothing.
Robb then put on the clothes he saw first from his drawer.
He walked to his window and gazed at the view below. The folks of Winterfell were already up and about, all diligently at work.
"One day, someday, you will lead this house, Robb. You are my heir. And I expect you to uphold the honor passed from my generation to yours."
Lord Stark had vowed him guardianship to Winterfell as soon as he learned to carry a sword and shoot an arrow.
When he was younger, these promises would overjoy him, made him ecstatic even. He thought he wasn't growing up fast enough out of sheer anticipation of a immense future that lies ahead of him.
He imagined his childhood tormenters calling him Lord Robb Stark. And he felt elated just imagining it.
But then when Lord Stark was recently gone for five months, one of the longest time that his father was out of Winterfell, and his sisteenth nameday came and passed, he sensed the responsibility that the title held and so were the expectations from his family.
He was the one who was conferred by the folks when there were misunderstandings among its people.
He organized volunteers for guarding the kingdom when live stocks started to go missing.
He chose young intellects that aspired to be the future Maester and sent them to the South and supported their education. Maester Luwin was particularly appreciative of this. He said age was an important thing that even the Maester himself had overlooked. He foresaw a peaceful retirement for the old man. And the Maester never looked at him the same since.
A knock on his door pulled him out of imagining.
"Come in. It's open." Robb said.
"Your mother requested for you at breakfast, my lord." Jon called out without opening the door.
"Good Gods, Jon. Come inside!" Jon did as he was bid. "And please stop addressing me too formally. It feels odd." Robb requested, annoyed at the stiff decorum.
Jon closed the door behind him. "Lady Stark was to pass by me when she ordered me to call you to breakfast. She was still within the halls." Jon shortly explained.
"Oh, I see." He understood. Jon was scolded too many times by his mother for the petty mistakes of titles.
Robb felt a sudden pang of guilt from yesterday. He was glad that his Father looked for his half-brother during his reception. He checked where Jon was seated yesterday during feast and saw that he was seated beside the blacksmiths. He saw him silently ate his supper, drink what his company poured his glass and smiled a few times.
He searched for Jon when the ladies had enough of the noise and went to bed, their mother included.
But he did not find him afterwards. He figured perhaps Jon was exhausted and intended to rest early.
"I looked for you last night during the feast. Father let the boys drink to our heart's content!" Robb told, trying to coolly engage his brother in a conversation.
"Lady Catelyn told me that I had enough." Jon uttered without a taint of jealousy. "I was worn out. I wouldn't be able to keep up with you and Theon, anyway." Jon explained half-jokingly.
Robb did not smile back at him. He sensed how Jon tried to hide the fact of yesterday's occurrence, even last night. He knew how everyone was excited for the feast, but Jon was only permitted to eat the dinner he so deserved.
"If you don't need anything from me, I'll see you at the dining." Jon was about to turn to the door when Robb called him.
Jon turned to face Robb.
"About yesterday..." Robb noticed how Jon's body gone rigid. "I apologize for Mother's behavior. She should not have starved and exhausted you from chores-"
"Your mother is the lady of the Stark house, Robb. She can run the household however she deems fit." Jon said against his jaw gritting.
"But I cannot stand how she treats you, Jon. Not even if she's my mother!"
Robb's concern went more obvious than his words. And he also felt how much Jon needed his brother, how much he misses his friend.
"Lady Stark has been very kind to let me live in Winterfell, let alone let me live in her castle. She fed, clothed and educated me. All that I should feel towards her is gratitude." Jon plainly said.
"This is madness, Jon." He said, infuriated. "Why don't you tell father? If you let me, I will tell him!"
Jon looked at him in his eyes as he spoke.
"I already caused enough trouble, Robb. Please…"
"You are Lord Stark's son!"
"No, I am Lord Stark's bastard. And I know my place, Robb. It's a lesson I should have learned a long time ago and you should recognize that too, the same way I have recognized yours." Jon said, almost pleading. This was not the first time they discussed it.
Robb knew he has been putting Jon into trouble by not permitting Jon abide Lady Stark's stern orders, to distance the bastard from the true born children.
"My place for you is to be your brother. Whatever they lead you on, in my heart that's what you should be to me. And that would remain as long as I live." Robb declared.
"My Lord-"
"Jon!" Robb unintentionally raised his voice.
Robb could no longer think of ways to convince his half-brother to look up to his own self as a brother to the heir, a son of a lord, instead of a futureless bastard.
After a short awkward silence, Jon finally cleared his throat to speak.
"If there's nothing else you need from me, I will tell your mother you'll be at the table in five minutes. Kindly do not make me a liar to her, I beg for no conflict today."
"Very well, then. You may leave my chamber this instant, bastard."
He turned his back on Jon before his brother quietly walked out of his room and closed the door behind him.
The word tasted sourer than he thought it would in his mouth. The last time he called his brother that was when they were children and did not know what it really meant.
Jon knew how a bastard was defined first before Jon did. And the moment he learned its meaning, he stopped saying the word even if it did not refer to his brother.
Robb went down to the dining hall with no haste.
The Starks were already seated around the huge wooden table. He seated on his chair situated to Ned's right, facing his mother. Beside him were Bran, Rickon, Theon and lastly Jon. The boys did not exactly care as to where they were supposed to sit down. But it matters that should Jon eat with them in the dining hall, he will be seated as far away as he can from Lady Stark.
"Good morning, Mother, Father. I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."
"It is fine, Robb. Eat hurriedly. It's only three hours before midday. The servants won't have enough time to clean up the dishes we will need for lunch."
Everbody's attention suddenly went to the end part of the table. And everybody looked at Koreen. The girl looking embarrassed as she dropped her eating utensils.
Luna quickly gave her a new set.
Robb almost forgot about her. She looked differently from yesterday. She was clean and glowing that morning. He recognized the dress she was wearing from Sansa's wardrobe.
He did not notice how bright red her hair was from last night. It looked vastly different when clean and the sun reflecting from it.
"Is there any problem, Koreen?" Lady Stark asked.
"She doesn't know how to use the fork, mother." Arya seated beside Koreen exclaimed.
"Let me help you with that, dear..." Lady Stark was ready to get up from her chair when Koreen stopped her.
"It's fine, Lady Stark. But I learn fast. I'm sorry about the noise, please don't mind me. I just have never used this much steel in eating before. I've also never ate with this much company." Koreen said light-heartedly.
"Of course, Koreen. Feel free to help yourself with the food." Ned smiled.
Koreen smiled back to Ned.
"How do you like the kingdom, so far?" Robb asked Koreen.
"Compared to the woods covered in wool, Winterfell is a whole new world for me. But I like the warmth, though I have never been surrounded by these many stone brincks before. I love your fur sheets. I have made myself one before, I slept beside a river and it was gone when the river rose."
"Which river?" Arya asked
"I don't exactly know. I did not think they had names, Arya. They all looked the same to me."
"I'd like to see one, a river that flows. The closest one here has been frozen as long as I know."
"Maybe we can all go for a camp outing tomorrow. We can go together and maybe celebrate Jon's nameday." Ned suggested.
"Father?" Jon looked at Lord Stark's direction, trying so hard not to catch Lady Stark's stern glare.
"A camping trip for your nameday, son. What say you?"
"I-i don't think it would be safe for the small children, Father." Jon answered.
"I don't think so, too. Perhaps, it is best to leave Rickon with Lady Stark. But Bran can handle a bow now, right? I trust Ser Rodrick has been teaching him."
Bran's mouth was full of left over cake from last night, he couldn't answer.
"Oh, thank heavens! I need a moment of silence from the wailing and crying. It can be awful at times really, Father..." Arya whined.
"Jon has not said yes yet, Arya." Ned reminded, smiling at his youngest daughter. She got her mother's brutal honesty.
"Why are you thinking this so thoroughly, Jon? It's a camping trip. You can have a little fun, you know? It will be an adventure. And I don't think you have somewhere you need to go to for your nameday!" Arya said, slightly irritable.
Arya had been close with Jon Snow all her life. It was difficult to make her understand why Lady Catelyn's regulations of her brother were different from the other Stark children, including Theon, who Arya thought was despicable most of the time.
"Your father is presenting you a gift, Jon. It's impolite to not accept." Robb said to Jon. Seriousness can be sensed in his tone.
He couldn't understand why Jon had to be stubborn about it. It was their father inviting them. Nobody says no to Lord Stark.
Jon paused for a while, breathed heavily before speaking.
"Certainly, a camp outing is a great gift for my nameday. I'm sorry I had to be pursuaded, my Lord." Jon apologized.
"Well, did you want anything in particular for your nameday?" Lord Stark asked.
"No, Father. I'm happy as it is. You being in Winterfell on my nameday is already a gift in itself. I look forward to go camping with you and my brothers and sisters."
"Sister." Sansa corrected. "I'm not going." She continued.
"Why not?" asked Arya.
"Well, aside from the fact that I am very busy, unlike you, Arya, I do not own any trousers or breeches. And my dresses are all too refined to be strutted along the woods." She said straightforwardly.
"I don't own any breeches. I just get from Bran's wardrobe." She joked.
The Stark children's chattering filled the entire dining hall.
But Robb fell silent when he heard his mother's reserved protest against the trip.
"You just got back, Ned. Rickon barely remembers you." She said.
"It will only be a couple of days, three at most. All my children deserves my affection, Catelyn, trueborn or not." Ned said unyielding.
Catelyn decided to surrender her argument when she caught Robb listening in their conversation.
"We will take good care of each other, Mother. There is no need for you to worry." Robb assured Lady Star, although Robb was certain that his mother was more upset than worried.