284 AC The North Tywin Lannister VII
"There it is, Winterfell" announced Lord Stark as they crested the hill, and in the distance the walls and towers of Winterfell could be seen. Tywin judged the distance and hence the size of the great castle of the Starks, it was big, certainly not on the same scale as Casterly Rock or Harrenhal, but big nonetheless.
Cersei was riding beside him, she had retreated to the wheelhouse after the neck had been passed but the great contraption had kept on breaking down as the Kingsroad was little more than a dirt track for most of the journey after the Neck. So she had taken to riding instead, thankfully her usual complaints about having to ride had faded away, or maybe he had just become inured to them?
He shot a glance at her, noting that she looked less than impressed with what she saw, he winced slightly, despite everything Cesei's mood after they had finally cleared the Neck had not improved one whit. His daughter seemed to spend her days in a whirlwind of mood swings and strange outbursts, and he was very worried about her, she now nearly always looked flushed and bothered. He was going to insist that she go straight to the Maester in Winterfell once they arrived, no ifs or buts. She had declined the services of any of the Maesters in the handful of castles, keeps and holdfasts that they had passed through already. Nothing drove home to him the sheer size of the North than the fact that you could go several days without seeing another living soul, the villages and settlements, never mind the places of the nobility, were scattered few and far between.
The wheelhouse had been broken down into several cart loads and as such they were making better progress, he could sense Ned Stark's eagerness to get to his ancestral home and be done with this journey. Mayhaps he was also keen to finally marry Cersei also, one never knew with the young Lord, though he paid all due and proper attention to Cersei his daughter seemed too distracted to really engage with her husband to be. Maybe all she needed was a few days rest and recuperation before the wedding took place? Though he was loath to broach that with Lord Stark, he had become increasingly worried for Cersei, so he felt he had no choice. With some nervousness he had spoken to Lord Stark on this matter last evening, and to his surprise the Stark had agreed to it.
"All the guests have not yet arrived anyway, the Umber's of Last Hearth and the Mormont's of Bear Island are yet to arrive, so a delay in case Cersei is fatigued by the travel is no problem. And even if my banner men were not delayed, Cersei's health is the most important thing."
Tywin had been gladdened by this, telling Cersei this in the morning as they broke their fast, but she seemed uninterested, merely nodding and saying that a rest of a few days would be good.
In the distance Tywin could see riders approaching, above them fluttering the white direwolf emblazoned banners of House Stark. Beside him Lord Stark began to sing in a low voice a strange song:
"All along the wall, Princes kept the view, while all the women came and went, barefoot servants too.
Outside in the cold distance a direwolf did growl, two riders were approaching, and the wind did being to howl"
"I cannot say I have heard that song before Lord Stark, a northern song?" preguntó.
"What? Oh Sorry Lord Tywin, yes, it's a very old northern song, almost forgotten it is said" replied Lord Stark, a strange look on his face, for a moment Tywin was sure he could see a vast loss and a gulf of pain so profound it startled him. The Stark had lost his father, brother and his sister to the Mad King and his equally mad son, and to think that once he had thought to marry Cersei to Rhaegar? Mayhaps there was a certain cosmic irony to the fact that Cersei was to marry the man who killed Rhaegar?
Anymore idle speculation was brought up short when the party riding out from Winterfell arrived to them. Lord Stark had jumped down from his Horse and greeted Banner men and Men at arms with equal joy and obvious delight. Tywin thought the whole display unseemly, glancing over at Cersei he could tell she thought the same, he turned back to the party as Lord Stark made introductions all round before swinging himself up onto his horse and the party trotted onwards.
Winterfell sat on a high heath, the surrounding terrain was barren, save for some hardy sheep and goats, off to the north and the west loomed the vast expanse of the Wolfswood. To the south and along the valley of the tributary of the White Knife that passed south of Winterfell, the White Scar, were located the farms and villages that supported Winterfell with food and goods. There was also some good agricultural land north of Winterfell, sheltered by the Wolfswood and the southern sprawl of the Lonely Hills. Winterfell had never fallen to siege nor been taken by assault, but that was probably due to the difficulty of supporting a sufficiently large host than anything else Tywin calculated. As they drew closer Tywin could see the cyclopean blocks that the outer walls were made of, the legends of Bran the Builder springing to his mind. Winterfell was an impressive fortress, it stood dominant in its landscape, similar to the way Lord Stark always dominated any space he found himself in he mused.
Eventually they passed through the enormous gates and into what Tywin realised was the so called 'Winter town' and not the Keep proper. That lurked in the middle distance, its twin walls even higher, it's great towers even more imposing. No Winterfell was no dilapidated ruin, it was a strong fortress, standing proud in defence of the North.
He glanced over at Cersei; her face seemed to have two warring emotions chasing themselves across her visage, awe and contempt.
Ned Stark had a wide grin on his face and was saluting the smallfolk who had lined the road from the outer gate to the inner gate, who were in turn cheering and some even were throwing blue flowers at them, the fabled winter roses of the North. A smallfolk child had dashed forwards with a bouquet of them, Lord Stark had angled his horse to intercept her and he had taken the proffered bouquet from the child, flipping her a coin from his purse and had then trotted over to Cersei.
He looked at the bouquet of blue roses wistfully for a second before bowing to Cersei and handing the flowers to her "A gift from the people of Winter Town to the new Lady of Winterfell" he said solemnly.
"Thank you Lord Stark" Cersei had replied, taking them from his hands and holding them in one hand while her other hand gripped the reins of her horse.
They trotted onwards and reached the inner gate to Winterfell proper; Tywin rode proud as the Lion that he was into the den of the wolves.