Chapter 4: Going fostering

293 AC

Eddard

He looked over the letter for the last time. Contemplating if this was the best thing to do for Robb and the North. He found no reason to waylay all the countless talks with Luwin, Cat and even some with Rodrik Cassel and Vayon Pool.

He closed up the letter and walked over the Maesters turret.

Luwin noticed him immediately when he entered and smiled knowingly to him. "I expect you want to me to send the raven, my lord?"

"Yes Luwin, it's time." He nodded seriously.

"The raven will be gone within the hour, my lord." Luwin nodded supportingly.

"Thank you!" He said, as he walked out and started descending the stairs of the Maester's Turret. Already new thoughts had enveloped his mind … He needed to talk to Robb.


(There is a time jump here of around 4 months, we're nearing the end of 293 AC now)

(From now on new POV's will also start to be introduced, this is the first non-Ned POV)

Robb

When his father had told him about the fostering, he hadn't known what to feel. On one side he had been excited to make new friends and learn more about the North and their bannermen, on the other he had been sad to leave Winterfell and his family. He was also, although he would never admit that to anyone, a little scared of how it would be there.

All he could do now was curse his horse and the ride for all the blisters on his legs and bottom, as he had been in the saddle for just over three weeks.

Father had given him a small horse soon after the news of his fostering, to learn to ride instead of his pony. He had been so excited, and he could kick his old self now because of it. If he had known what a nightmare it would be to ride three weeks in rain, snow and cold he wouldn't have been so happy with the horse.

Muttering to himself how he "hated horses and these damns woods" for the thousand time this week he heard his father laugh loudly beside him.

"Oh Robb, I really hope you'll never have to experience a war in your time. In contrast to most stories, most of it is just sitting a horse going somewhere or waiting in camp to figure out where to go next."

He looked surprised at his father, he never talked about the war too much. Besides, that couldn't be true right, all the great stories never mentioned anything like that!

However, when he started to picture the map of Westeros and what he knew already of the Rebellion, he wasn't so sure anymore. How else did his father go from the Eyrie to Winterfell, to the Riverlands, then King's Landing, Storm's End and back?

He quickly told himself to pray to the Hearth Tree when he arrived, to never be involved in a war. His ass wouldn't survive a war, he somberly thought.

Seeing his somber expression, his father tried to cheer him up. "Ah cheer up Robb, we're almost there! It's only a few hours from here to Karhold anymore and you'll be far too busy those first days to think about sitting a horse. Besides, in a couple of years you'll be racing around these woods with the Karstark boys anyway, don't fret yourself too much now."

That did make him feel a bit better. The idea of being able to finally get of his horse in a while would have been enough to lighten the mood, but the prospect of meeting a lot of boys near his age to have fun with excited him even more.

"How many Karstark boys are there again father?" He asked excitingly.

"Well, Lord Rickard has three sons close to your age and a daughter as well. Besides that, he has numerous cousins who all have boys your age or a few years older. You won't have a lack for company that's for sure! You know, that's one of the reasons we chose the Karstarks? I know full well fostering is about alliances and creating bonds, and the Karstarks will definitely provide that, but I wanted you to enjoy it as most as you could as well. I can promise you, you won't be lacking fun or adventure at the Karstarks my boy." His father said as he smiled down upon him from his horse.

He smiled back, happy knowing that his father wasn't just sending him to some dull lord for strategical reasons. Knowing his father had made a lot of effort for him to enjoy these years did a lot to calm his nerves. Father had never let him down when he promised something, he wouldn't start now.

He continued to talk to his father about the details of Karstark history, the lay of the lands and its family's strengths, until someone shouted, "Banners arriving fast from the north-east my lord, a white sun on a black field."

"Ah, it looks like Lord Rickard sent us a welcoming party, good!" His father said to no one in particular, before turning towards him.

"Are you ready to meet your new foster family son?"

He nodded dutifully and before more could be said he saw a group of around 15 men all dressed in black and white arrive on horseback. At the front, two bearded men stood out with four boys behind them. The boys were definitely Karstark kin as could be seen at the similar features they all shared with the two older men.

"Ah Rickard, good to see you again!" His father said joyously to the eldest man at the front as he dismounted.

"Great to see you as well Ned! We can't thank you enough for the honor you bestow upon us." The other man boomed while embracing his father.

"Let me present you to some of my family." The man continued. "This here is my cousin Cregan, you might remember him from the Trident, fought like a man possessed down there." The man, Lord Rickard Karstark he assumed, said of the other man beside him.

"And these are my three sons Harrion, my heir, and Eddard and Torrhen. Standing beside them is Alaric, Cregan's youngest."

"It's a pleasure to meet your family and so many strong Northern men in the making Rickard. May I present you all, my son and heir Robb Stark." His father said with a hint of pride in his voice.

He stood as tall and proud as he could next to his father after hearing him being described, while saying "It's an honor to meet you my lords, I thank you for the great opportunity to let me foster here with you. I look forward to getting to know my distant kin, their home and the North better."

He saw the men and older boys scrutinize him for a moment before Lord Rickard smiled at him. "A good healthy boy Ned, and polite as well. He will make a great Lord of the North if he wants too, and we'll make a great Northern warrior out of him here as well!"

"Thank you, my lord! I look forward to it." He said as he beamed with pride.

Lord Rickard gave him a nod before saying to everyone. "Come, we'll be on our way. My Alys is waiting for her father and brothers to come home with the Starks of Winterfell." After which his men and kin started laughing.

As it died down and everyone was in the saddle again, Lord Rickard turned to his father "Ned, if you would like to join me and Cregan at the front? We have a lot to discuss, better get it over with now."

His father nodded to Lord Rickard before turning to him "Robb, you go join the four Karstark boys and get to know them, we'll talk more at Karhold."

Before he could answer his father turned his horse and trotted over to Lord Rickard at the front as they continued their march.

He steered his horse over to the boys in question. He saw the eldest boy, Harrion he thought, slow down to ride beside him. "Nice to meet you, I'm Harrion Karstark, the heir to Karhold. It's very nice to see you in a different context than those harvest festivals at Winterfell."

He smiled as he remembered a bunch of brown-haired boys in black causing mischief across Winterfell a few years back. "I'm Robb Stark the heir to Winterfell, nice to meet you too."

"Doesn't look too much like a Stark now, does he? He's all Red!" Another boy exclaimed from in front of Harrion.

"Shut up Torrhen, show the lad some respect! He's to be our liege lord someday, you bloody idiot!" Harrion responded harshly before turning towards Robb. "Excuse my little brother, my lord. He means well, but he never thinks before he says anything."

Robb found the exchange quite amusing, especially with Torrhen in the background now muttering how he was not an idiot. He calmly said, "Think nothing of it Harrion, and please call me Robb." He said to the elder boy, who nodded to him in thanks, before turning to Torrhen. "I might be all in red in coloring, but that doesn't come close to how red your blushing face gets when your brother starts scolding you."

He saw the boy's mouth go wide open although no sound came out, while he heard the other three boys snicker. "Oh man, someone who can finally get 'Torr' to shut up for a few seconds. You should have come here a lot sooner Stark!" One of the other two boys snapped happily while sarcastically emphasizing the other boy's apparent nickname.

After the laughs died down, all of the boys introduced themselves. The fourth boy was apparently Alaric Karstark, son of Cregan. The latter also seemed to be Karhold's master-at-arms, so he made a mental note to not get on the father's bad side.

All four of them seemed like a jovial bunch.

Harrion made him think a bit about Jon as he was also quite stern and serious, although much less solemn.

Eddard, apparently named after his father, was quite funny and goodhearted and seemed to be very tight with his younger brother.

Torrhen made him think a lot about Theon, although he was a lot less cocky. The latter he appreciated a lot, as that was what annoyed him with Theon sometimes.

At last Alaric, he seemed to be shy at first, standing in the shadow of his main line cousins. Although at better notice, he rode his horse with pride and started mingling himself more and more in the conversation the closer they got to Karhold, so maybe he wasn't that shy after all.

All in all, that last hour of riding was a lot more fun than he had imagined whilst talking to his father.

When they finally came to a clearing in the woods, he saw a wide deep river flowing through the landscape with a large village hugging the shoreline at both sides in front of him. At the back of the village, on the top of a hill stood Karhold.

Although obviously smaller in size than Winterfell it could not be called small by any means. The castle was made of dark grey and black stone and looked formidable. The gate was made of a dark sort of wood and stood wide open. It was flanked by two sturdy towers about 35 feet in height. Behind the gate you could see the great tower of the keep towering above the forests.

On top of many of the towers he could see banners and flags with the crest of House Karstark emblazoned on it. Flying high above it on the great keep, he could see a great flag with the same crest. Flanked beside that one was another flag, equal in measure, with the direwolf of his house flying proudly in the wind.

The sight, so far from home, made him feel more at home immediately. It also made him appreciate the fact of how big the North actually was. He had travelled more than three weeks on horseback, and this was still more than clearly Stark land. His father was responsible for the lives and prosperity here, just as he was for those in Wintertown.

A strange sense of pride in his father swelled up in his chest as he glanced at him at the front of the column, sitting proudly on his black courser.

Before he could dig deeper into that feeling however, they were entering the castle's gate. After riding through it they came upon a big courtyard, about the same size as the one in Winterfell.

In front of him he saw a group of people awaiting them. In the front stood a pretty young girl with a long face and brown hair that flowed gently down her back. Next to her stood a grumpy old man with grey hair and a big wild beard.

Behind the elder man stood two more with the brown hair and brown beard he understood were common in the Karstarks. They were flanked by three boys, also sporting the Karstark coloring.

Seeing him look, Torrhen nudged him toward the elder man, "That's uncle Arnolf, he's the castellan of Karhold. He's Cregan's father." Torrhen explained. "Behind him are his other son Arthor and most of Arnolf's remaining grandsons.

"Oh, thank you, I was wondering about that! Who's the girl?" He said while nodding at Torrhen.

"That my friend, is our lovely little sister Alys!" Eddard beamed from his other side with a smile so big he swore you could walk a pony straight through.

Before he could say more, they were introduced to the remaining Karstarks and welcomed to Karhold. The grandsons were apparently called Beron, Bennard, Osric and Hother, although the last one wasn't a Karstark but a Lightfoot.

Harrion explained that the Lightfoots were a Masterly house, sworn to the Karstarks and that his father's cousin Lysara had married into them. Her son Hother had been sent here to foster a few years back and came of age 3 months ago. Harrion said his father had given him a job in the household to please 'uncle Arnold' and the Lightfoots, which was why he was still here.

"Alys, will you help your brother Harrion lead the young Stark here around the place and show him his quarters? Eddard and Torrhen go join with Alaric and Osric in the training yard, you have gotten more than enough time off already today." He heard Lord Rickard shout above the noice of the horses being taken to the stables.

After hearing a chorus of "Yes, father!", he was on his way around the keep.

They showed him the whole keep, starting with his room. It was, although smaller than his room in Wintefell, still spacious. Harrion told him that it was the largest room in the family wing that they had left and that his father had cursed how big their family was because he thought Robb, or his father, would be offended.

After his room followed the rest of the keep, from the Karstarks' own rooms to the kitchens.

After leaving the keep, they showed him the Bell Tower and Armory. When they finally entered the Maester's Tower, he was introduced to Maester Robin. The Maester was a tall, slightly overweight man in his forties and seemed friendly enough.

He told him he would be getting his lessons with Eddard and Torrhen as Harrion's lessons were far too advanced for him to join for now.

After seeing the kennels and the stables they went to see the Karstark crypt, styled after the one from Winterfell. It was there it hit him that, although smaller and in different stone, it seemed Karhold was loosely based on Winterfell, if you didn't count the 'new' Great Keep. As he thought about it, that was quite logical, with Karlon Stark being from Winterfell, probably before the Great Keep was ever build.

That thought made him smile as he wouldn't need to be so worried about finding his way for the first few weeks now.

After that they reached the Godswood. His father had told him profoundly on the trip how it would be important for him to be seen praying to the Old Gods in the beginning to eliminate any thoughts on him being too Southron or something like that. How he could be perceived as a Southron he didn't understand, but it never was a bad thing to pray more to the Gods he guessed.

As he thought about this, he asked Harrion and Alys to lead him to the Weirwood Tree and quickly thanked the Gods for their safe travels and asked them to keep his family safe while he was here. Just before he stood up, he remembered his promise from before and also asked them to not send him into a war any time soon.

As he stood up from his prayers, he saw Alys and Harrion smile at him and then they continued on their way. He learned from Alys that their mother had died just a few years after her birth and she said, while giggling, she was technically the Lady of Karhold.

After that, he kept jokingly calling her Lady Karstark, which she didn't like at all. At last after a good two hours they reached the courtyard.

There he saw Eddard, Torrhen and two of their cousins drenched in sweat as they were all hacking at practice dummies.

Before being able to join them, he was called by the master-at-arms Cregan. He told him that his father and Lord Rickard were waiting on him in the latter's solar.

As Harrion would be joining the other Karstarks in the training yard, Alys brought him there alone and they chatted a lot. He asked her about her family and their lands and people, and she asked him about Winterfell and his siblings. Finding her very smart and easy to talk to, he thought they would become easy friends.

As they rounded the corner to come up to the solar, he saw how a guard in Karstark livery recognized them and immediately made it known to the people inside the solar.

As they arrived, the guard said to him, "Lord Stark and Lord Rickard are expecting you, young Lord. They ask you immediately enter." before turning to Alys. "Your father thanks you, my lady. He asks me to tell you to resume your lessons."

Before he entered the solar, he nodded smilingly at Alys and saw her smiling back at him.

Inside he saw a large desk made out of light brown oak. He saw his father sitting on one side, with Lord Rickard flanked by his uncle Arnolf, the castellan as he remembered, sitting at the other side.

He dutifully walked over towards his father and stood behind his right shoulder. His father smiled at him and pulled out a chair for him to sit at.

"Robb, we're going to finalize the fostering and I want you to know and agree to the general outline from it. You will stay here from now until you come of age at the age of sixteen. You will be allowed to go home once a year to accompany Lord Karstark to the Harvest festival or if special circumstances arise." His father said looking down to him, as he nodded. That was nothing new, as his father had told him this on the march already.

"Besides that, Lord Karstark promises you full unrestricted access to both the rookery and the library, so you may send home any letters you want." He continued as he looked sternly over to Lord Karstark, who nodded calmly.

His father turned to him with the same stern face. "I expect you to write a weekly update on how your health, life and education is going, young man! Also write something for your mother in it, she will be more than worried enough without hearing something from you for months."

Seeing him nod dutifully, his father continued on. "Last but not least, as the heir to the North, you will be assigned two guards here to keep an eye out for you. If everything is as it should be, they will leave for Winterfell at the turn of the year. I will assign Cain and Alyn to the task if that's alright with you?"

He looked surprisingly at his father, as far as he knew wards didn't bring guards of their own. Maybe his father had used his rank to push an extra safety measure through.

Seeing his father looking questioningly at him, he remembered what he had asked him and quickly responded. "Of course father, they are good and loyal men."

Nodding his father turned to the other men. While Lord Rickard looked moderately pleased, Arnolf Karstark looked far less amused but he seemed resigned to the decision.

"Well then my lords, I suppose a toast to the continued friendship between Houses Stark and Karstark is in order?" His father said smilingly, while raising his glass of Firewine.

"Aye" both Karstark men said as they slammed their glasses against his father's, before downing them in one go.


This is it for this chapter!

Robb has arrived at his fostering family, the Karstarks! What do you think?

I have included a self-made family tree of the family down below, as I can't post a picture I wrote it out. I have followed canon as much as I can, sadly GRRM doesn't provide any names or backstory for any of Arnolf's daughters or grandsons. So, I have taken it upon me to fill in the blanks for this story. (My inspiration came from the respective Stark and Umber family trees as they correspond closely with House Karstark). I have also added relevant birthdates to make it more easy to follow, but tried to stick as close to canon as possible.

I will never try to create OC characters in this story, however many (Northern) families like the Karstarks or Umbers haven't been entirely fleshed out in canon. As such I might add names, characters and backstories to known people who we never see in canon. I will also do the same when it comes to spouses/mothers and masterly houses who are mentioned in (semi-) canon, but we know nothing about like the Lightfoots.

I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Fannic


Reviews:

- GabiLime14: I understand perfectly thank you!

- Warlover1015: Interesting string of thought, I'll think about it!

- 1962strat: An interesting thought as well, although I don't see him legitimizing Jon if only to save Cat's feelings a little.

- Maelor Vhagon: Thank you for the kind words, and interesting ideas!

- : Thanks! Well the Karstarks have already come true!

- Ajjr12: I think the Blackwoods would be a possible choice for the Starks yes, so Ned will consider it. However, you'll have to read on to see if he goes for it.

- Dannenbh: Thank you so much! Thanks for the ideas as well!

- Guest1: Wow too!

- Guest2: Karhold for Robb it is, you'll have to wait and see for Jon!

- Guest3: Thank you! I might look into trade for the North as to make small changes, however nothing that happens there will mean a major turning point for the books.

- Guest4 & Guest5: Could be true for Arya yes, that's why I appreciate all the ideas for people and I can weigh them off against each other.


House Karstark:

1. Lord Errold Karstark (dead)

2. Lord Beric Karstark (dead)

3. Lord Rickard Karstark

- Harrion Karstark, the heir (278 AC)

- Eddard Karstark (281 AC)

- Torrhen Karstark (282 AC)

- Alys Karstark (284 AC)

2. Arnolf Karstark, the castellan of Karhold

3. Cregan Karstark, the master-at-arms at Karhold (247 AC)

- Beron Karstark (272 AC)

- Alaric Karstark (279 AC)

3. Arthor Karstark (251 AC)

- Bennard Karstark (276 AC)

- Osric Karstark (280 AC)

3. Lysara Karstark, married to a Lightfoot (255 AC)

- Hother Lightfoot (277 AC)

3. Berena Karstark, married to an Overton (259 AC)

- Harmond Overton (281 AC)

(numbers = generation, with '-' being generation 4, Robb's generation)