298 AL - The Fourth Day

ARYA II

It was quite early when they agreed to meet in the Broken Tower, but Arya didn't mind. She would sleep when her family was safe, which now she was more determined than ever to see happen. She was the first to arrive at the top of the decaying tower, followed soon by Bran and Sansa. Rickon was left to sleep, he need not be involved in their plans less they wished to have them exposed.

"I think not father believed us," began Bran simply.

"You think so?" asked Sansa almost dejectedly.

"It doesn't matter if he believes us or not we've got to do something before the King comes."

"We've got some time to make a plan," reminded Bran

"Not a lot of it!"

"There's never enough time. Time is ever fleeting. The best thing you can do is to become a judge of it and seize the opportunity when it presents itself," said Sansa quietly, and Arya looked at her sister strangely. Where had she learned that? A moment of silence befell them all until Sansa ended it with, "What are we going to do about Theon?"

Bran admitted to everyone with a heavy sigh, "I know not. Some part of me wants to kill him, and yet another part."

"Leave him to me," insisted Arya.

And by the silence Arya could tell that they had done just that. She added Theon to her list and began to consider ways she could quietly kill him.

"I'll help you if I can," added Bran.

They were about to continue when they heard footsteps trying coming up the stone steps but then stop. Arya immediately motioned for her siblings to be quiet and ducked into the shadows. She then creeped carefully down the steps without making a sound, staying in the shadows cast on one side of the stairs. Near the bottom of the steps she saw Robb in the moonlit side of the stairs, simply standing on a step, as though he didn't care whether he was seen or not.

"I know you're all up there," called out Robb

Arya quietly slinked her way to see if anyone else had joined him, before popping out near her brother, shocking him slightly.

"When did you learn that?" asked Robb.

"Wouldn't you like to know," said Arya.

Robb then looked her straight in the eyes and said, "If you are going to talk about the future, I want in. I want to know what happens."

Arya briefly thought of being outside of the Twins while northmen were being slaughtered and then said, "Some things are better left unknown."

"Would you have father die again, then?" asked Robb pointedly.

"Let him come up, Arya," called down Sansa from the top of the stairs.

And so Robb joined their meeting. When he had found a spot to sit in their circle on the floor of the topless tower, they continued.

"How did you figure out where we were?" asked Bran

Robb grinned and said, "You're not exactly as stealthy as you think, little brother."

"What do you want?" asked Sansa

Robb looked to each of them, pausing barely a moment to see that they met his eyes, "I want in on whatever it is you're planning."

"You know not what-" started Arya

"I know that whatever happens now, father gets killed. And that's something I'm willing to do anything to avoid. Jon would say the same if he were not unconscious still."

"You believe us?" asked Bran

Robb nearly snorted before he said, "Obviously. You three might jape about many things, but father dying-no. Never."

"Do you think father believes us?" asked Arya.

At this Robb sighed and looked to the ground, "I think he wants to believe, but… you know how he is. He won't believe anything until the proof's right in his face, staring him down."

"And by then it might be too late to do anything…" Arya said ruefully.

It was then that Robb turned to Sansa and asked, "What can you tell me about the future? Why does father die?"

Sansa fidgeted before speaking, as if getting into a more comfortable sitting position would make her any more comfortable with what she had to say, "That's what we were trying to put together with what we know. We know that after Uncle Jon dies the King will come here and ask father to replace Uncle Jon as Hand. Father didn't want to do it at first, he looked troubled about it for a while, but then something changed his mind. He went south, taking Arya and me with him. The King later died, father opposed his son becoming the next king and father was… beheaded for treason."

"Why would father oppose Prince Joffrey from taking his father's place?" asked Robb.

"I can think of many reasons," scoffed Sansa, which Arya noticed caught Robb off guard. Arya herself wondered when her sister had finally learned to see the truth about her prince charming. Had she kept the delusion right up until he'd called for father's head?

When Arya realized that a lull in the conversation had begun to form, she quickly added, "When I was in King's Landing, I heard rumors that father had been claiming that Joffrey wasn't the King's son."

"If father claimed it, it probably was true. You've heard how father speaks of the King. It makes sense that only a Queen's bastard would keep him from supporting the King's rightful son," added Robb

"I heard more about the rumor than that," added Sansa cautiously.

"What did you hear?" asked Bran.

Sansa spoke of the matter cautiously, Arya noticed, as though uncertain to their truth, though suspecting that they were, "That the Queen's children were products of... incest with her twin, the Kingslayer. That's what Lord Stannis was claiming."

"Do you think it's true? You'd know better than either of us," asked Bran, speaking for both himself and Arya. Arya gave her little brother a slight nudge to remind him that she too had a tongue, and then dropped the matter to hear what Sansa had to say.

Sansa continued her halting manner of speech, "The Targaryeons practiced incest and often went mad, and Joffrey… he was another Aerys in the making, of that I am sure. So mayhaps it was true. The Queen's children all looked like her."

"And you, Bran, Rickon, and I all look like mother. Does that mean mother has been sleeping with Uncle Edmure?" countered Robb with a blustered look.

Sansa added "I know not. Mayhaps father discovered more which told him the truth. To be honest I never want to go back to King's Landing ever again in my life! I want to stay in the North where it's safe."

"The North isn't safe," interjected Bran, and everyone turned to look at him.

Sansa however was the only one who challenged his statement, "Only because Robb took everyone and marched south to avenge father, and then went around claiming to be King in the North and of the Trident!"

"I did what!" interrupted Robb before Bran could answer.

"After father was arrested, you called his bannermen and marched South. After he was killed you then started claiming to be King in the North and of the Trident," explained Sansa as though she were tiring of being the only one saying anything.

"I can understand King in the North, but why the Trident?"

"Riverrun was being attacked by the Lannisters, and you broke the siege and captured the Kingslayer, and the Riverlords decided that since you were the only King to lift the seige, and next in line to inherit the Riverlands after Uncle Edmure, they declared you their King" added Bran, seeing Sansa's weary.

"Why were they under siege in the first place?" asked Robb

Sansa answered, "Because mother kidnapped Tyrion, and the Lannisters wanted vengeance."

Robb asked for clarification with, "Tyrion?"

Arya while looking at Sansa and wondered if she should tell their older brother about Sansa's husband, but instead simply said, "The Lannister imp."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because Pet-Lord Baelish, had Aunt Lysa convince mother that the Lannisters had killed Uncle Jon, and…" Sansa trailed off looking to Bran.

"Nearly killed me. But that's not what I was thinking of when I said the North isn't safe," finished Bran.

"Then what mean you?" asked Arya.

Bran spoke simply and with some gravitas, "The Others are coming."

Robb nearly laughed, but to his credit contained himself, "The Others? That's a story Old Nan told us to keep quiet in the winters."

Bran looked incensed at the implication, and before Arya could stop him he nearly tackled their older brother down the steps of the tower as he said, "I was attacked by their wights! They are very much real! They're the important threat-not the Lannisters or anyone else." Bran then seemed to gain control of himself once again and continued by saying, "We have to keep father in the North so that we can have a chance to stop them, before the overrun the Wall. But make no mistake, even if we do keep him from going south, the North is not safe. We need to be on our guard."

Robb stared at Bran, as if seeing him for the first time before saying, "So then we do everything we can to keep father from going south. You said he did not want to at first, what changed his mind?"

"I think it was finding the direwolf dead that might have made him change his mind," suggested Arya as she thought back to that point that at once hadn't happened yet, and yet had happened what felt like ages ago.

Robb turned to her and asked, "The direwolf in our kennels?"

"Aye. You found her actually, dead by the road in some late summer snow," added Bran.

"But how did that change father's mind?" asked Robb

"There was a stag's antler lodged in her throat, and her pups nursing at her dead corpse. Everyone said it was a sign," said Bran as his memory of that day flitted through his memory.

"But now that the beast's in our kennels-so father might not be convinced to go south."

Sansa, Arya, and Bran winced at hearing the direwolf being called a beast.

Sansa then broke in, "I think not it was the direwolf that did it though. Father's never put much trust in signs. Like you said, Robb, he doesn't believe in something unless he sees the proof right in front of him, staring him in the eyes… And the more I think about it, I think it was Aunt Lysa's letter that changed his mind..."

Robb rebounded with, "But you already told him that Lord Baelish is manipulating Aunt Lysa."

Sansa responded rhetorically, "But did he believe me?"

"He might after he sees that letter," suggested Robb

Sansa however saw it differently, "But then he still might go south to try and expose Lord Baelish. You know not what he's like, he thinks twelve moves in advance, and considers all possibilities. Once he knew that father was on to him, and father's not exactly the most subtle of people, he'd probably pay someone off to kill father and make it look like the Lannisters or someone else did it."

"But we could kill Baelish," suggested Arya.

Bran insisted, "No, we need to keep father in the North, looking at the danger beyond the wall. If he can learn about the Others, then I think not anything would drag him south."

Sansa challenged, "How can we do that though? I mean if he doesn't believe us now, he certainly won't believe us when we tell him about that!"

"I know not, but I'm going to try and find a way." resolved Bran.