"House Bolton?" Robb repeated.
Robb's face got smaller in his confusion. His eyes were unfocused as thoughts flew through his mind. He struggled to find words, so I began explaining.
"I'm not sure when exactly, but there will be a hall. Tapestries on all sides, and we will be going for a celebration except there will be nothing joyful about that night. We will be ambushed, and your men will close ranks. Willem and the Greatjon will scream at us to run, that we have to go, something of the North has to live on to haunt them, and I'll know a path. I'll pull aside a tapestry and there will be an opening, a forgotten door, somehow we'll get through. They will stay, though, and we will lose every person we took with us. And, it will just be you and me and Grey Wind, and we will have to survive, Robb."
Robb's chest rose and fell quickly as he stared at me with hardened eyes, trying to understand each sentence, but how could he? I could barely comprehend the idea that Will would die, and I had weeks with this knowledge.
"We will start our search for Bran, and that is all I know…"
Robb chewed on the inside of his lip. "All of our men?"
"I think they all will die, Robb."
He opened his mouth, but had to close it again before finding the strength to ask after his best friend. "Theon?"
I shook my head, "He was not there."
Robb breathed out a sigh. Inwardly, I prayed he would not ask about his mother. She would be with us – one of the few women – but Robb must have assumed it would just be the men as he focused on the battle, not the reason we would be there.
"There is no way to save them?" He asked.
"We can try to map it out when we have time to think of the future, love. Tonight, I think you have enough to plan."
Robb nodded and stood up, running his hands through his hair. He paused there before turning back to me. "You are telling me everything?"
I gulped down the lump in my throat. I couldn't lie to him, but I needed him to ask specifically about what I was too sad to volunteer.
"When you say we will search for Bran. You truly mean we. You are not hurt in this dream?"
I shook my head, "I'm not hurt. Grey Wind is fine, and the only blood on your doublet is that of another man."
Robb nodded, "I can't lose you."
"You won't, Robb. You won't," I promised.
"We should throw Bolton out of our company this instant."
"Do we punish a man for something he has not done and may never do?"
"You said yourself that everything you have seen has come to pass – even me choking your brother and that one seemed unlikely."
I laughed lightly at his jest but it was half-hearted. "This is why seeing complicates things. What are we to do, Robb? Sending him away would alienate him and cause suspicion; I'm very sure he would turn on us then. Keeping him here will make the both of us painfully nervous, but I can't see the harm now. Not when I know we age some."
"Years?"
"Years or experience," I offered.
"And in none of this have you seen my father?" Robb reiterated.
With a sad shake of my head, I said nothing else. Robb went quiet again, staring forward with his jaw pushed forward.
"I can try," I offered. Seeing him like this made me feel physically ill as my stomach began to knot.
Robb placed a hand on my back, rubbing it slowly, "You've already done so much."
"I can do more."
"I know," he replied.
Something in his eyes suggested, though, that he wasn't sure he wanted to know more. A long silence fell. Typically, these were easy to sit through, but I was starting to worry that perhaps I had said too much. Maybe I still needed to hold things back.
"We ought to go to bed. We have only a few hours before sunrise," I suggested.
"Who knows the next time we'll be in a real bed?"
I nodded, staring towards the floor for a moment before trying to take in the rest of the chamber, how it glowed in the moonlight and candlelight.
"I have no intention of using it for sleeping," Robb added, turning his blue eyes onto my reddening cheek.
"You still make me blush."
Robb grinned, "I hope I always can."
I looked at him, trying to bite back at smile as he closed the space between us. It still amazed me how his touch sent my stomach muscles tightening. Robb pulled me into his lap, his hands quickly finding their way up my skirt, caressing my legs. Kissing him pushed away every other thought from my mind. Somehow, even with the fear, the uncertainty, it was comforting to know that we could still lose ourselves in each other.
The next morning I awoke in Robb's arms, wrapped tightly into him underneath the furs. I clung a bit tighter as he stirred. Neither of us said anything for a long time, just taking in the moment.
When we finally did get out of bed, it felt as though I was dreaming more now than while I was asleep. I had such a strange feeling and looked at everything as though there was a cloud around, obscuring the appearance of everything.
I knew I was walking through the halls, making final preparations, but my mind was not there. Each place I stepped was a memory: a kiss from Robb, a joke with Jon, a piece of advice from Maester Luwin. I couldn't go anywhere without seeing some glimpse of Bran, Rickon, Sansa, Arya, Catelyn, or Eddard. Knowing that these may be the last pieces I would have with them set my stomach uneasy and my head spinning.
"Ana?" Robb asked as took me in his arms.
I had been standing at the window, head in hand, but the moment he touched me, I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my head in his shoulder.
"What happened?" he asked with concern.
As he pulled back, I saw the worry swimming in his eyes.
"I'm sorry. I just needed a moment before…before we put on brave faces," I explained.
Robb tucked a strand of my blond hair behind my ear and cupped my face with both hands so that I had to meet his gaze again.
"I swore to you that we would survive this war. I meant it." His blue eyes turned to a steel as he said those words.
I knew he meant it, but it still said nothing about the other Stark family members who flooded my thoughts. With a strong nod, his hands slid down my shoulders to my hands. He gave them a squeeze and then led us towards the courtyard. Taking a deep breath, I managed a smile at Robb before we stepped out into the overcast skies and wind. The men were all ready, waiting on their liege lord as we said our final goodbyes to the family.
I kneeled down, bare steady steady before Rickon threw his arms around me.
"You listen to your brother," I cautioned him. "Bran will take great care of you."
"Don't go!" The little boy cried, hugging me tighter.
"We'll be home before your know it," I insisted with a confident smile. It took everything within me to maintain it as I walked to where Bran sat with Robb in front of him.
"Maester Luwin will help you with everything," Robb stated, before looking beyond Bran at the elder man. "He's helped me more than I can say."
Maester Luwin smiled at Robb with pride, but behind his eyes, I could see the trepidation.
"You'll probably be a better lord than I," Robb added with a smirk to his younger brother.
Bran chuckled sadly, "You aren't serious."
"I hope not. I fully intend to take back control of the castle when I return…granted, our father will likely want that title back as well."
Bran laughed again and hugged his brother one more time before it was my turn. I gave Bran an extra squeeze and pulled back to look at him.
"No tears today?" I asked quietly.
"My sister once told me there is a time to cry and a time to be brave," he replied, quoting my words. "It's not time to cry, not when I know I will see you again."
"Absolutely," I agreed. "I will see you soon."
Swinging myself up onto Chimera, we took one last survey of the castle. This place had been my home for nearly a year and I wanted to remember every detail to take with me. I turned back to Robb, watching him for a moment too as he looked at his childhood home.
With a soft smile, he cast his gaze upon me. I felt myself smiling in spite of the hole that seemed to grow in the pit of my stomach.
"You'll stay with me through all of this," he stated, not even a question.
"As long as you want," I replied, getting a wide smile from Robb.
"Forever then."
His grin turned to one of mischief as he kicked his horse onwards. Robb looked back at me, nodding for me to hurry up and keep my promise. Grey Wind bound after him, and with barely a nudge, Chimera was flying, carrying me back to Robb's side.
The cheers for the North, for Winterfell, for Robb, rang out as we raced through the troops of men, outside of our walls. And soon, the thundering sound of our forces grew in my ears as we began our journey to King's Landing.