BLACK WOLF - GoT [s1 - s4]

016 - frost-bitten decisions

"you didn't go through all of that for nothing."
- unknown

———

"Father, why is my last name Snow?"

Eddard Stark stopped dead in his tracks, an apprehensive look on his face. His pre-matured wrinkled skin developing into a furrow of the brows and a tightening of the lips. The Lord Of Winterfell tried to find some old fairy tale to tell the eight year old but huffed as he found none that she couldn't prod through.
Ned put on a brave face as he turned to his daughter, bending down on one knee to look her vivid blue eyes. The wide-eyed doe look that came natural to her youth practically melted his heart to his arteries.

He took a shallow breath before speaking. His voice carried heavy, a way he'd speak to his advisors or bannermen. "You are...different, sweet girl."

Aloy pouted her lip in a tumultuous fashion. A question with no answer, the same place she was a minute ago. Ned took her tiny, sallowed hands in his. Aloy took notice of the rough and patchy skin, the callouses and scars. The Lord noticed the reaction and re-calculated his words.

"You have a different mother, different from Robb, Jon, and Sansa." He explained, clutching her hands more firmly but kept his affable tone.

"But Jon also has the last name Snow." Said Aloy. Ned chuckled at the exceeding intelligence of his eldest daughter.

Ned thought gingerly of a way to resolve the questions. The last thing he wanted to do was explain the process of having a sibling. He chuckled to himself desperately before speaking up. "You and Jon are a peculiar pair." Ned then bit his tongue before answering her desperation. "A last name like Snow is given to children with...special talents."

"Like the Targaryens and their dragons?" Aloy asked, a thrilled grin widening her face.

Ned let out an audible chuckle straight from his diaphragm. The wild imagination and dreams of the young brunette consistently amused him.

"Why the dragons should run scared of the Snows." Ned said, content in finding a way out of the stiff sit-down.

Aloy now memorized the occasions of the local children glaring at her and giving her odd looks. With the new instilled confidence, she made the assumption that they were simply dismayed by her. The young half-wolf let out a boisterous roar, mimicking a ferocious Snow. Ned cowered away in fear, letting out 'petrified' wails towards the brunette. She clutched her stomach in a fit of entertained giggles.