She was flying. For a moment she wasn't sure where exactly she was, but then she looked down and it all became clear to her. She started crying tears of joy as she saw the familiar Broken Tower, the huge godswood and all the other buildings that held so much of her memories. She just had to fly closer to it, to see it from up close again, after all this time. As she flew lower, she noticed something was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something there that wasn't supposed to be. As she flew closer and closer, she realized. There were wrong banners flying over the walls. The flayed man and the twin towers proudly towered over the others while the Stark direwolf lay on the ground, torn in some places and dirty in others. As if that wasn't enough, on the spikes above the gates she saw the heads of her father, mother, Robb, Arya, Bran, Rickon, even Lady's head was there. She heard cheers coming from somewhere and it completely broke her down. This time the tears were pure sorrow. She had never cried so intensely in her life, not even when she heard the news of the Red Wedding. As she composed herself, she noticed something shiny in the distance. When she reached the object, she saw a plate so polished it could almost act like a mirror. She wanted to see her face, but she had a bad feeling about it. She knew she had to look, so she told herself that it is important. When she finally looked into it, she screamed at the sight of her visage. What she saw was the face that didn't resemble hers in the slightest, but she recognized it nonetheless. She couldn't ever forget that face. She screamed again.
"Alayne! Alayne, wake up!"
Someone was shaking her. There were a lot of different voices.
"No, it can't be! Please, say it can't be!"
"Alayne, calm down, it was just a bad dream."
The person shaking her hugged her as well. She started crying into the shoulder.
"Everyone leave the room. Let me be alone with my dear daughter for a moment, she is in much distress."
The doors open and shut and Petyr waited until she stopped crying.
"What were you dreaming, Alayne?"
"I… I was f-flying over Winterfell and there were wrong b-banners and J-Joffrey and all the heads, I just couldn't…"
"Shh. Calm down. Nothing like that really happened; you had a bad dream, that's all. Joffrey and the other Lannisters can't hurt you any longer."
"I-It wasn't Lannisters. B-Boltons and F-Freys."
"I see. Either way, they can't hurt you here in the Vale. You're perfectly safe here. You know that."
"Yes, Father. I-I will try to remember that. When do we continue the journey?"
Petyr finally let go of her, sensing her calming down. He was visibly glad of that fact. Probably her nakedness helped too. His eyes traced her bosom quickly, but not quick enough for Alayne not to notice. He knew that and probably didn't care. At times her father was just a sleazy bastard, Alayne thought.
"We continue as soon as we are ready to go, which should be shortly after breakfast. I will see you downstairs, Alayne."
He turned around to leave.
"Father," she said softly.
He turned around. "Yes?"
"I will make them suffer. All of them. The North Remembers. And after them, the Lannisters are next. They shall learn that you can never, ever hope to really tame a wolf. They. Will. Pay."
The coldness in her voice seemed to unsettle even Petyr. His eyes widened in an emotion Alayne thought was actual fear. He stared at her with widened eyes for more than a minute before finally coming back to his senses.
"Sometimes I forget you're not really a Stone, Alayne. But you never cease to remind me whenever I forget. I will message Lord Manderly immediately."
"No. He must not know. We aren't sure."
"As you say."
Alayne got up from the bed the instant the door shut and quickly dressed. A lady never forgets her courtesies, she told to herself a few times. When she took care of that, she started her journey to the mess hall, looking as gracious as ever.
Upon entering the hall and seeing Horton Redfort on the dais, she noticed everyone was watching her. Like a proper lady she dismissed their looks and walked directly to the dais and curtsied.
"Lord Redfort, I apologize for waking up the whole castle. I'm afraid some dreams are just so much scarier than others."
"There is no need to concern yourself about this, lady. Please, have a peaceful breakfast."
"You are most kind, my lord."
Following a small curtsy, she sat down next to Petyr who was eating bacon and some eggs. She took a bit of black bread but then she noticed lemoncakes and completely forgot about the bread. Petyr was smiling almost as much as she was when she tasted the cakes.
"I knew you would grab those as soon as you see them."
"Father, these are absolutely great!"
"I know. I told the cooks yesterday that my daughter adores lemoncakes and politely asked him to bake some."
"Thank you so much, Father."
She kissed him on the cheek. He really knows how to play me, she thought to herself. But I know how to play him too so he better watch out.
Robyn was, as always, late to the breakfast. When he finally arrived, the hall was almost empty. The servants went about their daily business and only the Redfort family, Petyr, Alayne and their servants remained. Robyn looked like he hasn't really woken up yet. As expected for someone with such a stunted growth, he barely ate anything.
"Uncle Baelish, where are we planning on going today?"
"If we are lucky, we plan on visiting every castle from here to Wickenden by nightfall. And then I thought we might take a boat to Runestone tomorrow. But I'm afraid the Vale is a very big place, my lord. It will take quite some time."
"I understand that. But, we are going back to the Eyrie when this is done, right?"
Alayne and Petyr exchanged a brief look.
"Sweetrobin, do you remember the white raven that arrived at the Eyrie a few days ago?" Robyn nodded. "Well, do you know what that raven means?"
"I know it has something to do with winter."
"Yes. It means that winter is coming. And when winter comes… we can't live in the Eyrie any longer."
"What do you mean, Alayne? We have to, it's our stronghold, my stronghold!"
"I understand that, Robyn. But the Arryns have a winter stronghold. Did your mother ever tell you about the Gates of the Moon?"
"You mean the Moon Door?"
"No, no. Gates of the Moon is the name of the castle where the Arryns live through the winter. It's quite close to the Eyrie, it's just not Eyrie."
Petyr jumped in at this point. "You don't have to worry, my lord. The castle is just as safe as the Eyrie and you will have the same servants you had up to now. Nothing but the castle will be different."
They could both see the shock and disbelief in his eyes. There was still something that he didn't really understand about the happenings.
"D-Does this castle have a Moon Door?"
Alayne widened her lips in a smile. "That I don't know. But I guess it has something that's at least similar."
He wasn't nearly as impossible to deal with since Lady Arryn died, which surprised everyone that knew him before the fact. This fact alone made Alayne happy. She might even not hate him as much as she used to. No, not hate, she reminded herself. What she felt towards him was not as strong as that. She couldn't find a word that would describe it, but she never really tried to, either.
So that was settled. Robyn has somehow managed to understand that he won't be going to Eyrie in a while. Now if only there was a way to tell him about the rest of the plans she and Petyr had.
The chance came about two or maybe three weeks later when they were in the final stretch of parading young Lord Paramount of the Vale. All they had left to visit were the forts in Coldwater and the Sisters. Young lord seemed troubled at something and wouldn't speak with anyone but Alayne for a few days. Even she didn't manage to find out what bothered the young lord. But that day it all came together, on a boat from Snakewoods to Coldwater. Robyn was standing there on the side of the boat, watching in the empty sea before him. Alayne joined him there.
"Lord Robyn? Feeling better today?"
He didn't say anything. All he did was take a long breath and continue staring in the distance. Alayne then offered him his hand, which he took in his reluctantly. Then he turned to face her.
"Alayne, I was wondering. Is there anything behind this sea? It looks so big and endless."
She was slightly surprised at this question, but she answered anyway. "Yes, my lord, there most certainly is. The part of the land that's behind us is called the Fingers. They still belong to the Vale. If you follow the land to the west, you'll come to the Sisters. The Sisters are three islands where we will visit as our last stop."
"And what's beyond that?"
Sansa answered almost like they were there already. "The North." A small tear got in her eye when she said the word, but she quickly battled it back. Luckily Robyn didn't notice that.
"And the North doesn't belong to the Vale?"
"No, my lord. The North is a separate part of the Seven Kingdoms. Until recently, the house that was Lord Paramount of the North was the family Stark. Your mother's sister was married to a Stark. Alas, they got in a misunderstanding with the Iron Throne and the North was passed to the Boltons. There are no Starks left now."
Robyn stood there and looked at Alayne in awe. "Why are there no Starks left, Alayne?"
This time she had to try hard not to cry. "They are all dead."
"That's horrible."
They both turned around at the sound of Petyr's words, startled by the unexpected guest.
"My lord, you know that by a decree of the late king Joffrey I am a Lord Paramount as well. Of the Riverlands. That's where your mother came from. And there is a certain lord in the North that wants to meet with me."
"But… But aren't the Riverlands a different part than the North, Uncle Petyr?"
"You are right, my lord. I don't know why lord Manderly might want to meet with me, but his fortress of White Harbour isn't very far from the Sisters that Alayne mentioned to you. Would you mind if we prolong the journey for a few days so I can pay a visit to lord Manderly?"
For a short while, Robyn didn't know what to say. On one hand, he wanted to go home again, but on the other, all this travelling had made him eager to see more of Westeros. Alayne could see it in her eyes. Robyn has somehow overcome most of his fear.
"Let's go to White Harbour, Uncle Petyr," he said at last. "Let me see what the North looks like."
Petyr and Alayne shared a very proud smile with one another. The convincing of a shy child didn't take long. But who knows how long it would take to convince lord Manderly, Alayne thought as the smile left her face.
OK, chapter 2. The tour of the Vale is almost at an end. What awaits the trio in White Harbour? Find out next week.
Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter. Thanks to everyone that read this chapter. Thanks to anyone who will take his time to maybe comment on it.