Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire.
Another dragon, another wolf, another stag
Chapter 27: Catelyn
"Talking"
"Thinking"
(Location: Riverlands)
They had decided to leave Riverrun after the revelation at the tiltyard. When Catelyn had decided this and told her family, Robb supported her. Sansa was the only one who looked like she wanted to protest. She felt sorry for her daughter. She must've felt that she was living a dream for this tourney. But dreamers must awaken. Sansa must've known this for even though she wanted to stay, she did not say a word in protest.
The entire Northern party left the next day, having packed through the night so they could leave at dawn. Catelyn didn't know if she should've felt sad or relieved that she was able to relax once the castle where she was born was gone from sight. Riverrun had changed so much since she had gone to Winterfell. No, that wasn't it. It wasn't Riverrun. She had changed.
She did not look back from where she rode at the party's head. She would not look upon the girl she thought had been her husband's bastard nor the boy whose bastardy was now in doubt. Jon Snow confused her even more than before. She found herself wanting to refuse to believe that he was the supposed son of King Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark. She knew that her husband would not steal another man's child. There was no honor in it. But if she held onto that refusal, she was acknowledging the fact that her Ned brought a bastard home when she was still pregnant with Robb.
The other side of the coin was just as horrifying to her. If what the king had proclaimed was true, then she had treated a nephew by marriage horribly. She should've offered him love and care, warmth even. But instead she had treated both him and Jocelyn with coldness, giving them the clothes they wore and the food they ate begrudgingly, wanting nothing more to see their backsides leave Winterfell and never come back.
"Am I a horrible person?" she asked herself. Would the Seven look down upon her and judge her for what she had done? No, that couldn't be so. She had done as best she could in helping her lord husband rule Winterfell and the North, giving him five children and loving them all. Whenever there were guests in her house, she welcomed them with proper courtesy and warm politeness. Surely that must account for something in the eyes of the gods.
But even as she asked herself that question her mind went back to Jon and Jocelyn. The gentle swaying of the saddle made her feel as if in a trance, aided by the sound of the Green Fork flowing past. Would they blame for her for how they were treated? They might for how they were treated. But she knew that they were not spiteful people. Jon Snow had tried to refuse to come to Riverrun until Robb and Arya had convinced him.
"Does something trouble you, my lady?" Prince Viserys asked her, riding close.
She came out of her trance at his voice. "Prince Viserys," she said in greeting.
"Lady Stark, please. I have lived underneath your roof since I was seven. I have grown up alongside your children, consider Robb to be my brother more than Rhaegar, and I am to wed your daughter. There is no need for such formality between us. Call me Viserys."
She would but decorum must be met. She would call him by his title until he married Sansa. Only then would she name him goodson. "I will think on it," she told him. "But to answer your question, I was thinking on my actions."
"Actions?" he repeated with a puzzled look.
She did not look back when she said, "Towards Jocelyn and Jon."
His face showed his realization. "I see." His voice took a quieter note. "Is it because of what Rhaegar said at the tiltyard?"
He thought that it was because of Jon. He didn't know about Jocelyn. She hadn't told anyone yet. She kept to her promise of keeping it quiet until they reached Winterfell so they could both speak to Ned. Catelyn didn't know if she should have felt proud of the girl for keeping that promise or not. Even so, Viserys was not talking about her. "Do you believe that he is right?" she asked back instead.
He thought about it, keeping a good hand on his reins. "In truth, I am uncertain. On the one hand I have been raised along with Jon. He does not act like a dragon but I would say that is because Lord Stark raised him. On the other hand, despite what I might think of him personally, I know that Rhaegar would never say anything like that without fully believing it himself." He looked at her. "Did he tell you what marked Jon as his son?"
"Only that he had Lyanna's eyes and her hands."
"Her hands?" he replied with a note of incredulity. "I have seen Jon's hands and they are by no means, dainty."
She shook her head slightly. "No, he said that Jon had her skill in wielding two swords."
"That's it? It sounds weak to me for a reason. People not might believe it."
"They might."
A tree swaying over the river caught his attention momentarily. She wondered what it was he was thinking about as he watched the leaves jostle in the wind. "If there was any more evidence that Jon is Rhaegar's son, I know three men who would know and tell him," he said, "Ser Gerold, Ser Oswell, and Ser Arthur."
The three Kingsguard who had been at the Tower of Joy, she knew that. But they did not seem to truly know if Jon was the king's son or not. Only Ser Mark Ryswell did and he was still in Riverrun. She did not want to think on this anymore. She knew there was a way to go about that. "There is something that I wish to discuss with you, Prince Viserys, other than this."
"What is it, my lady?"
"What happened at Riverrun between the Northerners and the Dornish." She fixed him with a stern look. "I have heard that it was you who antagonized it when the bonds of friendship were being made."
He grimaced and his handsome face turned ugly. But he did not deny it. "I did what I thought was right."
"You ruined any chance of friendship being made between our two lands." Her husband had started shipping ice to Dorne and it had proven to be a good business. Some had considered it was the first step to peace. That was ruined now.
"Princess Arianne went after your daughter with her cousins because she was a prissy little—" He stopped talking, realizing that he was still in the presence of a lady. "She was threatened your daughter because she was upset I would not marry her, my lady. I was not going to let her get away with what she had done because it was done in the dark of the night."
"That does not excuse what you did, Prince Viserys."
"No, it justifies it." He looked her in the eyes. "I know you, my lady. You would have done the same to protect Sansa."
She would not have antagonized what little relations the North and Dorne had. What she would have done was make the princess apologize to her daughter before witnesses, such as her family or barring that, the king. Viserys was right, she would do anything to protect her children. But that did not mean she would throw the kingdoms into a potential war, not without good cause.
The words he spoke caught her attention too. He sounded angry, fury coating his voice. But there was more just fury in his voice. There was something there too. It was…rage. She looked at him and asked in a whisper, "Did it happen when you spoke to the princess?"
He looked at her for a moment in silence. He shook his head. "No. It might've had Sansa not been there to stop me."
She breathed in relief. "That is good."
"She is my balm." Those words were spoken as if a prayer.
She did not wonder why he said it so, not when she knew all too well why. It was why when she learned of the supposed betrothal between Prince Viserys and Princess Arianne she didn't dissolve the one between him and Sansa. He needed her and she would be protected by him. If she closed her eyes, she could still see how she, Bran, and Domeric were brought back to Winterfell. Sansa clung to him and he held onto her like he was afraid to lose her.
Their journey continued northwards, spending days and nights on the road. She did not know if the king would send word to stop them if they stopped at any lord's castle. But she knew that she would not risk it. So she and the ladies that had come south shared tents on their way north. They had passed the Twins without needing to cross their bridge (something that eased everyone's minds) and were close to the Neck when they settled in for another night.
She was sitting down inside the tent alone, resting her legs. She spent the last two miles walking her horse instead of riding it. She rubbed her leg when Arya burst into the tent. "Mother!" she called out in panic.
"Arya?" she said, coming to her feet.
"Jon's missing!"
She went still, letting the words fully imprint themselves in her mind. "What do you mean by that, Arya?"
Her face turned angry. "I mean he's not here with us! I've been looking for him all day and I can't find him!"
A cold feeling emerged in her stomach. She looked to her daughter and asked, "Are you absolutely sure? He's not here."
She nodded. "I looked everywhere!"
Catelyn looked past her at the tent flap. There didn't seem to be anyone listening in. "Go and get Robb, Arya," she ordered, "And Prince Viserys as well. Bring them directly to me." Arya didn't argue, only turning back and racing out of the tent.
She was left to her thoughts. Was Jon Snow truly not with them? If he was, how was it that no one had noticed before now? She knew that she had not truly looked for him since leaving Riverrun but did no one else try finding him to even speak? "Wait, the wolves are here, all six of them," she thought to herself. She remembered seeing them often leaving the group to hunt in the wilds. She had seen all six of them off to hunt and must've assumed that all six of their owners were here, including the bastard.
The ten flap moved, letting in the fading light. She saw her son and Prince Viserys come in, along with Arya. "What is it, Mother?" Robb asked her, already concerned.
"Arya, tell them what you told me."
She looked up to them. "I can't find Jon."
Their faces morphed into puzzlement, just like Catelyn's had. "What do you mean?" Robb asked.
"Just what I mean!" said Arya, angrier now. "I can't find Jon. He's not here!"
"That's impossible. He has to be here!"
"I've been looking all around and he's not here! Have you?"
He opened his mouth but closed it. Catelyn watched her son think about the last time he had seen Jon Snow. "I saw him at Riverrun, the morning that we were leaving. I thought that he was with us when we left."
"The same as me," said Prince Viserys, nodding in agreement. "I told him that we would talk when we reached Winterfell. I thought that he wished to be alone for the journey back north."
"I thought the same," he agreed. "I thought he was with us.
Arya was still frowning. "He wasn't," she told the both of them.
"The wolves are all here," Viserys said. "I saw them."
"We all did," Robb agreed.
Arya looked them both in the eyes with a determined look. She almost looked like her father in that moment. "Ghost is here but Jon isn't. Where is he?"
"I don't know, Arya," he told his sister.
Catelyn saw Viserys frowning at the tent wall. She knew that frown well. It was the one he wore when he was thinking hard. "Your highness, do you think—"
"That my brother, the king, would deign to have a bastard taken from his family to the-gods-know where?" he asked, finishing her question. There was a slight accusing tone to his voice.
She wouldn't have asked this question to a member of the royal family, or even someone who was raised underneath her roof. But she heard the doubt beneath the accusation. "It would not be somewhere so random, my prince. We both know where King Rhaegar would take him if he did this."
He was silent for a moment longer before sighing in what sounded like defeat. "Yes, I would say that he would do it."
Robb looked shocked. "The king has Jon?"
"It would seem so."
The shock vanished and was replaced by anger. "We must do something!"
"What, Robb? What must we do?"
He struggled to find the right thing to say. Catelyn saw how trouble her son was. He loved his bastard brother, even though she had attempted to stop it. "I don't know what, but we have to do something. The king has kidnapped my brother."
"Not in his eyes, he hasn't," she said. "To the king, he must think that he is bringing his son home."
"Mother, you can't be serious. We have no proof that Jon is King Rhaegar's son."
"But they do. They have Ser Mark Ryswell. He traveled with your father to retrieve Lady Lyanna."
"And we have Lord Stark," Viserys said. "If there is a voice that will reign supreme on this matter, it will be his."
That was what made Catelyn so nervous about the situation. If her husband had the last truth to this story and it was what the king believed, then her fears of what she had done would be confirmed. Her mind drifted back to when Viserys, Osha, Theon, and Jon had returned from hunting Ramsey Snow. She had heard the story of how Jon slammed into the Bolton bastard, taking them both through the fire. But when she had glanced at him, she did not see any burns on Jon Snow. She had made a quick assumption of them being hidden away before turning her attention back to her own children. But what if he hadn't been burned at all? Had no one truly noticed this?
"Mother," Arya said, looking up at her. "What are we going to do?"
She looked down at her daughter. Her grey eyes were wide and they were shining with fear. She loved her bastard brother too and she was afraid of what might happen to him. "Family, Duty, Honor," she said to herself. Did she really know what those words mean now if she had treated her niece and possible nephew so? She stopped herself from going into that question. There wasn't any time for it. "We can't let news of this spread," she finally said. "No one can know that Jon Snow has been taken, not until we are safely in the North."
"What?" Arya almost shouted. She remembered to keep her voice down at the last moment, making her voice sound like a roar ending in a squeak. She looked at her mother with shock and rage. "Mother, you can't be serious!"
"I am. No one can know."
"I do not think that will be possible, my lady," Viserys said. "If Arya figured it out, others will too."
"Even if that might be, there is nothing we can do about it now," she told them all. "We cannot turn back around and accuse the king of being a kidnapper. It would be grounds for a war, something that we are not ready for."
"But we must do something!" Arya cried indigently.
She knelt down and hugged her daughter. "We will, Arya. But we can't do anything now. We must return to the North."
They ended the talk there and slept the rest of the night. But as they journeyed up into the North, it was as Viserys predicted. More and more of their group began to notice that Jon Snow was not amongst them. Catelyn had done her best to keep the truth quiet but it seemed to always get out. She would've expected Arya to do something like this but she never seemed to be where Jon Snow was discussed.
As he was discussed more and more, the Pack grew angrier. Catelyn could admit she was surprised by their reaction. She had always thought that Jon Snow stood a little away from the Pack. They acknowledged him but never truly accepted him as one of their own. Or was it her beliefs that made it seem so? She watched the boys who had been sent to foster with Robb be angry at the loss of one their own. She heard the mutters of war when they thought that she wasn't listening.
Each time she heard those words, she could only shake her head. These boys, they thought themselves men ready to wage war. What did they know of war? War was no tourney like the one they had left. Men would die in war. Hard times followed a war. And these boys of summer would gladly charge into it. If there was one thing that was to be admired about the whole thought of war, it would be that they would wage it to bring back one of their own, even if that one was Jon Snow.
When they crossed the Neck safely into the North, the mutterings became full-blown talks. She had Robb and Viserys try to quell these talks whenever they cropped up. It worked to an extent. But she could see that her firstborn son shared the same mind as the Pack. He wanted to ride back down south and get Jon Snow back from the king. She was afraid that he would change his mind and have the Pack turn around but no one left for the south, only their homes in the North.
Still, the tension was there and it did not leave until they had reached Winterfell. As soon as she saw those ancient grey walls, Catelyn breathed in relief. They were safe now. That feeling carried her into the courtyard and she saw her Ned standing there, waiting for them. "My lady," he said, showing the warmth hidden beneath the icy demeanor he presents to the world, "Welcome home."
She hugged him like he was about to vanish from her life. "Ned, it is wonderful to see you."
He held her just as tightly. Together, they shared in that moment of comfort. Nothing else mattered to them. But the moment was gone when he broke the hug and looked past her. There was no doubt in Catelyn's mind that he was looking at the Pack. "What happened at Riverrun?"
She opened her mouth to speak but Jocelyn spoke first. "Lord Stark," she said, coming out of the Pack's midst and stopping in front of them. "May Lady Catelyn and I speak to you in private? It is in regards to something we learned at Riverrun."
He looked at her and then Catelyn. She nodded in agreement. "Very well, we will meet in my solar." They broke apart and everyone went their separate ways into Winterfell.
Catelyn and Jocelyn went to Ned's solar in silence. They entered and found him standing by his desk, facing the fire. Looking at him standing there, waiting, Catelyn saw how much Jon Snow looked like her husband. They had the same long face, solemn expression, grey eyes, and brown hair. But as she looked, there were differences. Her Ned's cheekbones didn't look as sharp as Jon Snow's and his eyes were a slightly different shade of grey.
"Lord Stark," Jocelyn said, polite as she could be. It was something that was surprising to Catelyn. Her now-known niece would have greeted her husband much more warmly than this. But now, she was courteous.
He turned his head to look at them. "My ladies, what is it that you wished to talk to me about?"
They came into the room, Catelyn closing the door behind them. Jocelyn came before the desk and looked at him. "My mother was with the king and queen at Riverrun, my lord. She told both me and Lady Stark who my father was," she told him in a voice that edged the line of accusatory but did not go over it.
He did not say anything right away, staying silent as he looked at her and then at Catelyn. "What did she tell you?" he finally asked.
"That my father was your brother, Brandon Stark." She looked him straight in the eye. "Is it a lie?"
Catelyn waited for him to answer with a bated breath. "Do you think your mother is a liar, Jocelyn?" he asked her.
"That is not what I asked." Her voice trembled on the verge of anger. She was trying to hold it in but her grip was slowly loosening.
"You asked me if it was a lie. It was your mother who told you it."
"And I am asking you. Is it a lie?"
"…No, it is not," he confessed, a sad expression on his face. "You are my niece, not my daughter as you believed."
She had a feel that it would happen but still Catelyn was caught by surprise when her view of her family shifted. It was confirmed now. Jocelyn was her niece, not her stepdaughter. "Why?" she found herself asking Ned. "Why didn't you say anything? Why did you let me think that she was your bastard daughter by Ashara Dayne?"
He looked at her, his grey eyes sad and solemn. "Partly out of kindness to you, my lady, and partly because of my own selfishness," he told her.
She already knew the answer before she moved her lips, but she still wanted to hear it. She wanted to hear it from his lips, not Ashara Dayne's. "Kindness?" she asked.
"Yes, kindness," he repeated. "I saw how you looked at Brandon at Harrenhal. When I read the letter that Lady Ashara sent with Jocelyn, I knew that you would be hurt by the knowledge that he had sired a bastard before marrying you."
She didn't say anything back, because he was right. She would have accepted the fact that her betrothed had sired a child on a woman other than her. But so long as it was kept away from Winterfell, she wouldn't have raised any complaints. She looked at Jocelyn with a new eye and realized something. The fierceness that she had in her, it didn't just come from her mother. It came from her father.
Jocelyn spoke. "But why do you say selfishness, uncle?"
He winced slightly at that last word. "I had admired your mother, Jocelyn, and perhaps even loved her in the short time we were at Harrenhal together. When I saw you ride into Winterfell and I learned who you were, I wondered if there was a chance you could've been my daughter. The thought weighed on me and I will admit that I felt jealous for my dead brother, something that I have been ashamed of. I saw how you looked up at me with that silent question of if I was your father. I wanted to tell you so much that I was but I could not lie, not about this. So I said that you were of my blood and you would be welcomed in Winterfell."
Catelyn remembered that day too. When she had heard those words, she had been so angry. She had thought that he had all but declared that she was his bastard from Ashara Dayne. Now she felt foolish for not asking him directly. But now there was a question that hung heavy in her mind. "What do we do about this now?"
Jocelyn looked back at her. There was no hatred in her eyes or condemnation either. "Fear not, Lady Catelyn," she said. "I will never try to usurp Robb's positon as heir to Winterfell, firstborn of the firstborn or not. He will be the Warden of the North and I will do everything I can to aide him in the days to come."
She couldn't think of anything to say in reply, except "Thank you, Jocelyn."
She looked at her for a moment long and looked at Ned. "Good day, uncle." She left the solar without another word.
The both of them watched the door long after it had closed. Catelyn felt like she should have said something more to Jocelyn before she left but nothing came to her mind. She was still trying to come to grips with the fact that she had mistreated her niece, not her husband's bastard. That word steeled her nerves. "There is something else we must talk about, Ned," she said to her husband.
He looked to her. "What is it, my lady? Did something else happen at Riverrun?"
"Yes, and it has ties to a question that you have never answered. During the last joust, Jon Snow caused a commotion to protect a friend he had made. He came before the king and King Rhaegar demanded of me why House Stark had his son. When we were alone, I protested that he had to be mistaken, that Jon Snow could not be his son. Yet he insisted that it was true. The king believes this so much that he had taken his supposed son from us on the same day we left."
"He did what?" asked Ned, his eyes shining with anger.
She remained undeterred. "Ned, I have tried to tell the king that Jon Snow is your bastard. But I am given to wonder. I had learned that Jocelyn was not your bastard but your brother's. I cannot help if you have told me and the Seven Kingdoms the same lie about Jon Snow."
He looked at her, his eyes losing the anger and turning guarded. Her Ned was gone and the Lord of Winterfell stood in his place. "What is it that you want to know, my lady?"
"I want the answer you have denied me. I want to know if the king had the truth of the matter. I want to know if I treated a nephew like a bastard. Tell me the truth here and now, Ned. Who is Jon Snow's mother?"
They stared at each other in silence. He did not say anything. She wondered if she had finally overstepped herself by asking that question. But she had to know. With everything that had happened, he could not deny her this. Did the king speak the truth? Was Jon Snow his son by Lyanna Stark? Did her husband take Jon as a form of revenge for what the dragons had done to him and his family? She waited for him to say something that would confirm or deny her suspicions. The silence seemed to stretch out but she still did not do anything to break it.
Finally, he spoke.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
What Viserys said about Jon to Catelyn is for all the readers who complained about how Rhaegar recognized Jon as Lyanna's son. There was a lot of it too, sheesh.
Viserys might not be as stable as you all might assume. You'll get an explanation in the story. It will have to do with him, Sansa, and how they got betrothed. And just to head this off before it can start, no, he doesn't do anything to her.
The ending was intentional. Can't make it easy for you guys now, can I?
I'll see you all next chapter!