I found needlework relaxing. It was such a ladylike thing to do, but I loved it more and more. The way the needle went was in my control, unlike other things in my life.
I did maintain a schedule, though. Wake up, get ready, eat, ride Elm through the town, attend to duties, eat, attend to duties, needlework, eat, and then read until I fell asleep.
I had created many lovely pieces. I finally finished the swan I started so long ago, before everything had happened. I did lots of wolves, and lots of lions. Then I started doing wolves and lions fighting.
It also gave me time to think. I pondered. About the baby, Robb, war, Winterfell, and about my family. I wondered if I should be on the Lannister's side. They are my family, they raised me. They are my blood.
But a child who shares the blood of the Starks lives within me, and I silently decide that I will stay true to the Starks.
After a finish a particularly gruesome battle between a lioness and a wolf, I go through my wardrobes. I take out all my old dresses. Any ones that bore lions, red or gold. I put them in a large pile.
I would have to dispose of them later.
"My lady," I looked up at Maester Luwin. "We have news." I stood up abruptly, ignoring the ache in my back. "What is it?" I ask. "We have captured your uncle, Ser Jaime." I was shocked for a second.
Jaime was always kind to me as a child. He would comfort me when my father didn't, when my mother didn't. It was slightly ironic that I was the only one who wasn't his actual child.
"You are dismissed, Maester Luwin." I say. I sat on my bed, and thought. I thought a lot these days.
A few weeks later, I couldn't sleep. My baby was due in a scarce three moons, but I was plagued by the same dream. It wasn't as gruesome as the other one, but it was eerier.
I would walk down to the crypt, where Robb had showed me once. The stone statues of the old Kings in the North stayed there, as well as their bones. I walked past all of them though, until I reached the one where Ned would be buried. Ned himself was there.
I had other dreams. Jon Snow at the Wall, showing men a beautiful Valyrian sword. They laughed and jested. I saw Arya running around King's Landing, looking ragged and catching pigeons. I also saw Tyrion lying in bed with a beautiful black haired woman.
The queerest sight of all was a beautiful women, head full of silver and eyes of violet. She had tears in her eyes as a dying man lay in front of her. The man, who had dark skin and darker hair, took a last breath and shuddered. The woman clutched at her enlarged stomach and sobbed.
I did go to Maester Luwin about the crypt dream, and he said that women with child often had vivid dreams. These dreams were different, however. I didn't know how, but they were.
There was a knock on my door. I looked up at Maester Luwin. "My lady, Ned Stark is dead." I looked out the window. All I could think of was Robb.
At least he had his mother. But I wished that I could go to him, and comfort him. How would he react? My head went back to the dream of him hitting the tree. Could that be true?
No, I told myself. Impossible.
• • •
I might as well be the official ruler of Winterfell, I thought to myself.
Bran and Rickon cried a lot. Bran where I couldn't see him, but Rickon would cry anywhere. I had to deal with everything. Maester Luwin and the man that Robb had sent helped, but I had to 'represent' Bran. I felt bad for them. They were so young, only 10 and 6. Bran had lost his legs, his father, and his siblings were all gone, except for Rickon. The youngest of the Starks had scarcely an idea of what was going on. All he knew that everyone had left him, and now his father would never come back.
It broke my heart.
The strange dreams continued. I had the same strange feel, but showed different things. One was of the same beautiful silver haired woman, except this time she walked into fire. I watched the fire burn, until nothing was left. The woman, completely unhurt, remained. She had three small beasts. With a shock, I realized that they were dragons. The woman also held a small child. His violet stood out from his bronzed hair and dark hair.
Another dream was of a beautiful brown haired woman. She stood naked in front of my uncle Renly. "You can turn me around and pretend that I am him," She said. All my other dreams were just a snipet. Arya traveling with men with short hair, Sansa looking at my brother with hatred, and a brilliant display of green fire.
The dragon dream kept on coming back to me, each time more vivid than the last.
I decided to talk to Osha. I knew that she had some extent of knowledge. If I went to Maester Luwin, he would just give me something to sleep. "Osha," I say. She looks up from her work.
"M'lady," She says, bowing. "I need to ask you something. But you must promise not to tell anyone." She nodded, and sat me down at the table. "I've been having these strange dreams, but they are more than dreams."
"What do you see?" She asks. "I saw Lord Eddard in the crypts, and the next day he died. I also saw Arya catching pidgeons in the streets of King's Landing. I think I saw Jon Snow at the Wall, with a long sword."
"But I keep seeing this woman, who is very beautiful. She has long silver hair and violet eyes. She was pregnant, and in what looked like Essos. Her husband died. Then, in another dream, she walked into flames and had her baby. I think she hatched dragons." Osha opened her mouth to say something, but I continued.
"Then I saw Arya, with all her hair cut off. She was traveling with a bunch of men, but I think she was pretending to be a boy. I also saw Sansa. She looked at my brother, Joffrey. She was about to push him off a ledge and kill him. Then I saw a woman with brown hair. She was talking to my uncle Renly, something like, "You can turn me around and pretend that I am him. The most recent one was Blackwater Bay, but it was alight with green fire."
I took a deep breath. Osha looked at me.
"Your eyes, they are green. Yes?" I nod. "My mother had green eyes. Everybody says that I look like her." Osha looks at me. "Were your eyes always green?" She asks. I laugh. "How did you know? I was born with blue eyes like my father, but they changed when I was little."
"Did anything else happen when you were little?" I crinkled my forehead. "My father always told everyone this story, of how when I was only a babe, I fought a terrible fever. 'Little fighter, this one is,' he would say. The Maester said I was on the brink of death for weeks." I looked at her. "Why?"
Osha tilted the head. "I would say you have the green sight, but you don't. You just see what is there; you don't have to figure out what your dreams mean." I stare at her in shock. She stood up. "Excuse me, M'Lady. I have dishes the clean."