A month's journey through the Kingsroad, Stannis calculated. That was how long it would take them to travel from King's Landing to Winterfell, if everything went smoothly and according to plan, which things seldom did, he knew from experience. He wondered about the child. Would he be able to withstand that long of a journey? Catelyn had taken the child with her from Riverrun to King's Landing, but that was a much shorter, and much less perilous journey.
Grand Maester Pycelle had declared Robb Stark a healthy babe and foreseen no danger in subjecting the child to a full month on the road. Stannis distrusted the maester - a Lannister creature if ever there was one - and insisted that Maester Cressen took a look at the child as well. Cressen had concurred with Pycelle's verdict, and the queen had shown her displeasure at Stannis' visible doubts about Pycelle.
Stannis had been furious when Robert had first given the order to go up North, but now it would be a great relief to leave King's Landing. The sight of Mace Tyrell sitting at the Small Council table as Master of Ships was the last straw for Stannis.
"Stannis." Catelyn's voice startled him from his bitter and heated contemplation.
"My lady," Stannis replied. He still could not bring himself to call her by her name. Catelyn. Or worse, Cat. Both names felt peculiar on his tongue, like a word in a foreign language he had never spoken before.
"Ser Davos is here to see you."
"Tell him to come in." He paused. "Are you prepared for our journey, my lady?"
She smiled. "I have finished packing, yes." The smiled faded. "I am not certain I am ready for our arrival, however," she continued, looking nervous.
That was unexpected. Catelyn had seemed sure of everything, from the moment he first set eyes on her.
"I have never been to Winterfell. I'm not sure how they will receive me there," Catelyn said.
"I don't suppose the northerners would be rolling out the welcome mat for the southern husband you are bringing home," Stannis replied.
Catelyn looked horrified. "That is not what I meant. I … I am a southerner as well, and …"
"Nevertheless, it is true, is it not? About your new southern husband, to replace Ned Stark their beloved lord." He searched her face carefully.
"Yes," she nodded reluctantly.
"Well, we should both be prepared for a frosty reception at Winterfell then," Stannis said with a finality that was supposed to tell her that the conversation was over, and she should leave him to speak to Davos. Instead, she started laughing. He stared at her, incredulous.
"What?" He asked his wife. Wife. He had a wife now. He was a husband. How mortifyingly strange that was.
She wiped the grin off her face when she saw that he was not amused. "A frosty reception. I thought you were making a jape of some sort."
"A jape?" What did the woman take him for? "I do not waste my time on that sort of nonsense, my lady," he told her firmly. Her face fell. "Forgive me, for misunderstanding, Stannis."
Was he being too harsh? She had been very … understanding, that first night. "Let's forget it," he said stiffly now.
"Should I tell Ser Davos to come in?" Catelyn had moved on.
"Yes."
It was a relief to see the onion knight, an honest face amidst all the snakes and vipers prowling the city. He had only known the one-time smuggler for a short time, but his instinct told him the man could be trusted. For now, at least. He would have to be on guard as always, as he was with everyone else.
"How is your land, Ser Davos? And your family?" Davos had come from Cape Wrath, where he was settling in his family on his new land, the land granted with his knighthood.
"Very well, my lord. Marya and the boys wish me to express their gratitude to you," Davos replied.
"Yes, yes, of course." Stannis wondered what they thought of Davos' missing finger joints. His eyes wandered to the pouch the onion knight was wearing around his neck. Did Davos show his wife and sons the bones inside that pouch? Did he tell them of the man who brought the cleaver down on those fingers?
"And your wedding, my lord? Did everything go smoothly? I am sorry to have missed it." Davos' voice interrupted Stannis' wandering mind.
"You shouldn't be. Robert insisted on a grand ceremony and feast, with tiresome guests and tedious chatters," Stannis scoffed. "You should be glad to have missed it, ser."
When he was ridding the bed from the blasted rose petals on his wedding night, there was a moment when Stannis had wished for Davos' presence. The man had been married for years, with four sons of his own. He must know quite a few things about the relation between a husband and a wife. There were certain … issues that books and written words could not truly be of much help.
"My lord?"
Stannis felt his face flushing red. Davos was looking at him as if he suspected what had been on Stannis' mind. My blood would freeze before I would actually ask him, or anyone else, that question.
And in any case, there had been no need to ask anyone. Catelyn had shown him the way, without him having to ask. She did not lack experience either, the babe Robb Stark the living proof of that.
"We are leaving for Winterfell in three days," Stannis said abruptly.
Davos nodded. "I am ready to leave on your order, sire."
"Robert will be glad to be rid of me," Stannis muttered.
"I'm sure His Grace would miss your presence and your counsel, my lord."
"He will miss neither. Though with the snakes and vipers he's surrounding himself with, he would have done well to have his flesh and blood by his side. But no, it is all about Ned Stark. 'Ned's son must be protected, his inheritance must be safeguarded,' Robert went on and on about that,"Stannis said bitterly.
"Lord Protector of the North is a great honor, and an even greater responsibility, sire," Davos reminded him.
"I don't care how big an honor it is!" Stannis exploded. "I never wanted it. I never asked for it. I only wanted what was mine. Storm's End should have been mine, not Renly's. That is the law."
Davos kept silent, waiting.
"But I will do my duty, just like I did when Robert ordered me to hold Storm's End at any cost. You came to our aid then, Ser Davos, with your onions and your salt fish. Will you do the same for me this time, but with your honest service and loyalty?"
"I am your man, sire. My sword is yours, now and forever. I will follow you wherever you lead, to Winterfell and beyond," Davos replied on bended knee.
Shouting. Catelyn had heard shouting and raises voices. No, voice, actually. It was only her husband's voice that had been raised in anger, not Ser Davos'. But surely Stannis was not shouting at Davos Seaworth of all people?
"My lady, I will take my leave now," Ser Davos said to her. "My wife wanted me to convey our best wishes to you, my lady, for your wedding."
Catelyn smiled. "Thank you, Ser Davos. And please convey my thanks to your lady wife as well. Are they here in King's Landing, your wife and sons?"
"No, my lady, they are staying in Cape Wrath at the moment," Davos replied, looking a bit troubled.
Catelyn hesitated. "Then … they will not be coming with us to Winterfell?"
Davos demurred. "No, my lady. Our land is in Cape Wrath. It is only a small keep, but someone has to keep an eye on it. And I could not bear to separate the boys from Marya, not when they are so young still."
"It must be hard, being so far away from your family."
"Aye, but I serve at Lord Stannis' pleasure. And Marya and our boys are used to long separations by now. When I was a smuggler, I was gone for months at a time." Davos spoke of his past without any shame, pride or bitterness. It was just the way things were, he seemed to be saying.
Catelyn found herself staring at the pouch hanging on Davos' neck. She knew what was inside the pouch; Lysa had told her that gossip about Stannis' onion knight as well. "Why do you keep them, Ser Davos?" She asked him softly.
He knew without asking what she was referring to. "To remind me of Lord Stannis' justice," he replied, kindly but firmly.
"I heard that he did the deed himself." The servant who had passed that piece of news to Lysa used that as proof of Stannis' bloodthirst and violence.
"Aye, my lady. It was what I asked of him," Davos replied.
Catelyn was surprised. This part of the story had not reached her before. "You did?"
"Aye, I did. I told Lord Stannis I would only submit to the punishment if he was the one to swing the cleaver himself."
"Why?" Catelyn asked. Davos looked surprised, as if no one had ever asked him that question before. Surely Stannis had asked him the reason at the time? "Is it … a Northern thing?"
"The man who passed the punishment should swing the sword. Aye, I have heard of that," Davos nodded. "I am a Flea Bottom man myself, born and raised, but that northern practice has always made sense to me. If you have other people to swing the sword for you, you might find it too easy to pass judgment on others, to punish with reckless disregard for human life."
Catelyn nodded. This man would be a valuable ally for her and Stannis in the North. She was glad that he was coming with them to Winterfell, very glad indeed.