EDDARD III

Ned knew not what to believe. He deeply doubted that his three children, he'd suggested the trial merely as a way to teach his daughter not to try and jape and lie on such important matters as these, but then the matter of the revelation of his... end...

"What are your thoughts on these... matters?" asked Eddard to his eldest son, who had remained in his solar, as if nailed to the floor in shock.

"I know not the truth about what they say of Uncle Jon or even Theon, but they'd never jape about your…" his sentence was left unfinished but its meaning was not.

"Why would they not?" Eddard believed he knew the answer but some part of him wanted to hear it said aloud, if only to comfort himself.

Robb was beginning to be affected by his emotions as he tried to say in as manly a way as he could say it, "Because I know that they would not. I would not if I were in their situation. Father we… care for you far too much to even consider it… ever!"

Eddard then embraced his son firmly and whispered in his ear, "I know you would not."

At this a sob escaped from Robb, followed by an insistence of his supposition of his siblings' mutual affection, "They would never either!"

Before Eddard could assure his son of his meaning that he did not believe that his siblings would either but that it might be that they shared a delusion, that Catelyn did return to the solar, her hand over her mouth with an emotion indescribable at seeing the scene before her.

"We'll speak more on this subject later, for I believe your lady mother and I have something to discuss."

Robb at once took hold of his emotions and tried to appear as old as he could, making Eddard remember his more youthful days when he and Jon would pretend to be soldiers, lords and other men full grown. He took his leave of them and closed the door behind him, leaving Catelyn and Eddard alone.

"What is it Cat?" asked Eddard, and he thought for a moment that she might have been told

"I've come to ask of you a boon, Ned."

Ned was surprised, but he asked for her to continue by saying, "Ask it and if it be in my power to give you shall receive."

She seemed to have trouble saying the next part "I ask that you to write to the King and ask for him to… to… legitimize your son."

Eddard was stunned, "What has brought this to light, my lady?"

"A promise that I made the seven, long ago, and failed to keep because I was too weak… until now. When he was young, you remember how the boy caught the pox and nearly died?"

Eddard nodded his head, it had been an overwhelming experience, one which had made him feel as if he had nearly betrayed the promise he had given. He had been inconsolable.

She trembled as she told more, "I felt guilty, for all that time before I had prayed… oh Ned, you'll think the worse of me… I prayed for the Stranger to take him."

Eddard did not know what to say or what to think at such a revelation.

"When I first heard of his near death, some part of me was... happy. And then I saw what the news did to you, and to Robb-who felt like he'd failed his brother. How could I be happy at your griefs? When I realized that, I hated myself for it. How could I wish harm on a boy that had done me no wrong? And yet I had. I was the worst of all mothers, for not only could I not bring myself to love a motherless child, I wished death upon him. Then I prayed to the seven, asking them to instead let him live… that if they did that I would ask you to make him a Stark and be done with the matter completely. And I promised that I would love him as a son… let him live and I would do all this as penance for my vile thoughts. And when the boy began to mend I was relieved that the seven had been so merciful to mend my error. But as I saw how you took to the news of his recovery... I was weak… and could not guard against the return of my ill-judged resentment of the boy. So I resolved that I would delay my speaking with you, until I could better control my feelings. I said I couldn't learn to love the boy in a day… too much resentment had been built for that. And so I kept delaying the matter until it seemed irrelevant to mention. I went back on my word and said nothing."

She gave a brief sob before continuing, "Then last night, as I tried to comfort Bran, I turned to the seven and offered to fulfill my debt to them if they could but restore my sons to me. I would have even sworn a vow to turn Septa once our children were grown, but the seven saw fit to return him to me simply on the promise for me to fulfill the long held debt. It was then I realized why our sons went mad. It was not a curse for o'erthrowing the Targaryeons, but a reminder to me of my promise to them-the pledge I owed them and the debt I owe that boy."

She nearly laid herself out prostrate before Eddard as she finished, "Forgive me, I am a weak and jealous woman. I know that. Fault me for those failings for they have brought much grief to our family that could have been buried long ago if I had yet learned more control. And so I beg of you, my lord, make your son a Stark, and let's put an end to this."

Ned knew not what make of her story. At once he was angry, betrayed, confused, scared, and guilty. He alone knew the truth of Jon's parentage-with exception to Howland Reed, and he doubted the crannogman would e'er tell a soul.

But if she did learn the truth, how could she forgive him for putting her through such anguish? She would hate him all the more if she ever learned the truth if he did not answer her truly now. And yet, if Jon were made a Stark, then his name alone would protect him, no matter if the truth were to ever get out. For once he'd been made a Stark, it mattered not who sired him.

"I will do as you ask, but I fear I have matters to discuss with you that you deserve to know… Cat, get up please."

Catelyn pulled herself up off the floor and Eddard sat them in two simple chairs by the hearth that would warm his room in the dead of winter.

"I fear I have not been forthright with you for a long time. I apologize for this, though I know that telling you this now cannot begin to atone for what I have made you endure. You are one of the strongest and toughest women I have known, truly a woman worthy of the North, but I fear that when I tell you the truth you shall revile me, and you have every reason-"

"Ned, simply tell me."

"I have always said Jon is of my blood, have I not?"

"You have. I thought it a strange way of claiming the boy, but the more I came to know you, the more it seemed to make sense that a man of such a disposition as yourself would refrain from naming the deed of your dishonor."

"It is the truth, Cat. For all that I have else claimed, he is my blood-even if he is not my son." There, he had finally told her.

Catelyn looked alarmed, to say the least. Her features went pale, and at first he thought she might faint, but instead she remained as strong and sturdy as a stone.

"He is my sister's son."

"With whom?"

"Must you ask?" asked Eddard, believing the answer obvious, and Catelyn realized it not a moment later.

Eddard explained it all, the entire story as he knew it. Lyanna had run off with Rhaegar-not been kidnapped-and Rhaegar had conceived Jon with the hopes of getting a daughter to fulfill some prophesy he'd become obsessed over that he would legitimize after taking the throne from his father. Lyanna designed to remain his lover, having vowed to be "no man's wife" after the way she had seen men keep to their marriage vows. Ned talked of coming to King's Landing and seeing the bloody remnants of Rhaegar's other children, wrapped in a cloak of Lannister red to disguise the blood and the vile name that Robert had given them. Then of his journey to Dorne, his battle with the Kingsguard, him arriving upon his sister's death bed, her handing Jon to him and with her last breaths begging him to promise to protect her son.

Catelyn did not seem angry but instead was very quiet as she said, "To protect your nephew, you lied and dishonored me?"

Though her anger was not visible he suspected that it just lay beneath the surface, waiting to burst forth if he simply said one thing wrong, which is why he continued cautiously, "I did lie to you. For that I know I am worthy of your contempt, and I deserve it, but know that I did so to protect you should the truth e'er come out. For you would not have been partied to what Robert would call treason, and you and our children would be safe. I took the dishonor upon myself, you were blameless."

"If your lie was done to protect, then why tell me this now? Have my actions made me unworthy of your cloak?" asked Catelyn, her hidden anger now beginning to bubble forth.

"No! Never! The reason I tell you all is because it would not be honorable to continue with the lie once you have been so honest with me. As you have been honest with me, so should I with you. 'Tis a day for honesty, it seems, and what you deserve. And besides once he is made a Stark, what matter it who sired Jon? The Stark name shall protect him as much as it does you."

Catelyn paused before speaking, as though weighing what he had said, "You could have done that years ago and spoke the truth then."

Now Ned felt the rub as he said, "I would not have done it without your blessing, for it would have been a slight to you to do otherwise. But I will say that I harbored a small hoped that through the years you might come to see beyond the boy's birth. To see how much of a true brother he has been to our son, and concede at long last to making him legitimate provided he and his heirs would inherit after all our children. Though, I knew it was too much to hope for, yet I did think on it."

That had done it, apparently, causing Catelyn to stand in outright anger, "You had already slighted me, my lord, by having me believe the lie! A further slight would have not made a difference."

"I never actually slighted you," insisted Eddard, and to his mind he had not.

Catelyn laughed ruefully "But you did with your lie! For all those years I tortured myself over feelings that I see now meant nothing to you. Every time I looked at the boy I felt slighted and carried an undue hate that he neither deserved, nor I should have felt, but it slowly has been eating me alive these many years! And for what, my lord? Because you could neither trust me, nor carry the slight to its conclusion and bring the subject to an end once and for all. Instead you kept me in an agonizing limbo that I… I... I cannot speak with you on this subject any more. It troubles me too much."

Catelyn then marched to the door of his solar and before leaving, turned to him and said, "I hope you're happy Ned, for in the end you earned your hope. At least one of us got what they wanted!"

She then left his solar, and he thanked the Gods she had taken the news so well. He had imagined telling her so many times, that the fear of what she might do or say he now realized far outweighed the bitter reality. It hurt, he realized, and he'd done her wrong-wrong that he hoped he could one day amend for. He needed to get out of this room, which shone too much light on things otherwise obscure. He needed to breath the fresh air and walk beyond this one room he felt nearly trapped in, and so he left his solar and wandered down to the courtyard, letting his feet guide him on his walk, pensively contemplating all that had been revealed to him in his solar, so that e'en though he was out of his cage, he still felt trapped.

Soon he found himself at the kennels where he decided speaking with the kennel master about the direwolf might pull his mind from that infernal trap.

The kennel master, Farlen, was the oldest man on his staff, not quite as old as Old Nan herself, but close enough. Having worked since a young boy just able to stand, with his father for Eddard's grandfather. And it was because of this that Eddard learned something intriguing.

"Where did you find the beast milord?" asked Farlen, a short, round man, who looked rather comical with stubby arms, but longish legs.

Eddard regaled the tale of how the wolf had saved Jon's life. He wasn't ready to admit that Bran had been warging the wolf-for he did not wish to tell Bran's secret to those whom he might not wish to have it known-but he would tell what the man probably had already heard whispering amongst the castle staff.

"I say seeing the size of that wolf s'plains things to me about these here kennels that I ne'er understood until now."

Eddard asked the man to explain further, and suddenly he began to go into details about the design of the building that Eddard in all his life had failed to notice. The original pens had been twice as large as they currently were. In Eddard's grandfather's day, the entire kennel had been renovated and the pens had been reorganized to be half so large so that more space for more dogs could be had-but seeing the size of the direwolf in comparison to the original walls, Eddard could see what Farlen meant.

"Are you telling me you believe that these kennels were originally designed to house direwolves?" asked Ned.

"I can see it as plain as day. It's why there was such a large open aisle here in the middle originally, before we added in this extra aisle of pens. It's why the feeding troughs were so large. But most of all it explains why though this is an enormous kennel, there were so few pens for keeping dogs. The entire building was designed with direwolves in mind, milord." said the man with a confident pat on his rotund belly.

Eddard didn't know how to take this information, so he thanked the kennel master and decided to see for himself in comparison with the building, how the wolf belonged. However, before he could approach the pen where the wolf lay resting, he saw his two youngest sons at the very edge of the pen, lost in conversation with one another. Eddard hung back for a moment to hear what it was they were saying.

"And so Shaggy's in her?" asked Rickon

"Yes," answered Bran.

There was that mention of "Shaggy" once again, which made Eddard wonder how much truth he had received on it from his daughter the previous night. That Rickon had confused the wolf for Shaggy was obvious, but was Bran trying a different tactic to keep the direwolf an her pups, despite what he had made clear earlier?

"How did he get in her?"

Bran scrunched up his face before saying, "It is hard to explain, Rickon."

"How did he get in her?" insisted the babe, clearly not accepting such an answer.

How Bran chose to respond, confused Eddard, until he considered that Bran might be trying to coach his youngest son to the story that his middle children held, "Do you understand what the future is?"

Rickon paused before slowly nodding his head.

Bran further clarified, "The future is tomorrow, you understand that, right?"

"Yes."

"And you understand what yesterday is, right?"

"The past."

"Yes! And today is… well, the present. See, it all works out like this." And Ned saw his older son draw two lines in the dirt outside the pen. To the left of one line he called it "yesterday", in between the two lines he called it "today", and to the right of the other line he called it "tomorrow". He then picked up four stones from the ground and called them Sansa, Arya, himself, and Rickon. Rickon protested at being the least shiny of the stones, and Bran quickly said he'd made a mistake and switched his stone for Rickon's to assail the toddler's feelings. It was then that Bran took the four stones and moved them from space to space sequentially saying that normally things worked as such with yesterday becoming today and then tomorrow. Rickon quickly seemed to comprehend this, but then asked once more how did Shaggy get inside the wolf, and Bran launched into a second demonstration showing the four rocks going from the tomorrow space, completely skipping the today space, and landing in the yesterday slot, and that that was what had happened to them.

"Somehow, we went from tomorrow to yesterday."

"How?" asked the clearly intrigued but confused toddler.

"I know not," replied Bran

"Then how did Shaggy get in her?"

"Rickon, do you remember how you met Shaggy?" asked Bran

"You gave him to me."

"I did, but do you remember how I got him?"

"I think so… his mama died… from a stag."

"We've gone back to before he left his mama."

And it was at this Ned began to wonder if Bran wasn't coaching the youngest after all. But it couldn't possibly be true… could it?

As the day progressed Eddard observed his younger children, and suddenly noticed how differently they seemed to act from previously. Arya was silent until spoken to, keeping to herself, and at meals she never kept a knife out of her hand-as though there might be need to use it, until the end of the meal. Rickon was far clingier than he'd ever seen him. Bran, well, Bran seemed to take less offense at not being the best his age at swordplay, and not find his siblings as irritating as he'd done before. Sansa meanwhile seemed to have discovered the art of concealment, for he felt like he could never truly read her feelings the entire day. These changes should not occur overnight, concluded Eddard, and yet they seem to have done so. Might Sansa's story be true? Eddard couldn't know what to think on it.

Theon continued to keep himself separate from the group, which Eddard thought it best for the moment, and had advised the boy to do until things cooled down after the wolf incident the night prior. Theon didn't understand why he was being punished for saving Rickon's life, and Eddard did not know what to tell him, beyond the fact that his two eldest had a quarrel with him for some reason or another, and that the youngest children had in their childish ways taken up their elder brothers' sides to rather extreme ends. Theon pressed for knowing what he had done to offend Robb-clearly not caring what Jon thought, Eddard noted. And Eddard said that it wasn't his place to say and he took his leave of the boy.

He visited the wolf when he was sure his children were otherwise occupied, feeling obliged as one of the few members of the castle the beast seemed to trust wholly. The beast didn't seem to like the idea of being penned up-for which Eddard could hardly blame the creature-but it had little say in the matter as standing for long periods of time or walking proved difficult for the creature, even with the kennel master's tendings.

It was however Catelyn which troubled his mind most of the day, and he knew he'd get no sleep without settling matters with her. Which is why he sought out his wife out after she had retired to her chambers. She let him in without saying a word. She had changed into her night shift and had obviously been in the midst of brushing out her hair, which she returned to doing as Eddard said what he had come to ask her.

"I wanted to apologize my lady for the many years I have been dishonest with you."

Catelyn did not respond, but she did continue to brushing her hair, although at a slower tempo.

He then said what he had come to offer, "Knowing the truth, do you still wish for Jon to become a Stark?"

Catelyn paused with her brush.

"Why would you not do such a thing?"

"I have offended you enough, my lady. I would not have this lie between us a sore subject. I would give you anything if it would mean that you not hate me for the rest of our days."

Her reply was simple but spoken with an honest look shared between them, "I could never hate you, Ned."

They continued to stare "I meant what I said earlier, about needing to bring this subject to a close. Let the past lie. Leaving it open for my sake is in no one's best interest. Not mine, not yours, and certainly not the boy's. Let it be done, Ned, and let us move on from here."

"Whatever pleases you."

"It pleases me not, but it must be done. In return, I ask one thing."

"Name it, Cat."

"I would have the truth from you, always. No matter how bitter or dangerous it may be. And if you cannot tell me something at that moment, simply tell me that you cannot explain just yet, and I... will understand."

Ned approached her and sunk to one knee and said, "I pledge this, from now to my dying day."

Catelyn seemed to appreciate the gesture, rising and pulling him up from the position. To show her approval she sealed his vow with a soft, but tender kiss. Which led, quite unintendedly to much more than either had imagined. It was a night unlike all the others that had come before it-save their wedding night. For now, with only honesty between them, did both find themselves at peace and content with one another.