ICE AND FIRE | RHAEGAR TARGARYEN

CHAPTER THREE

Being a baby was actually really difficult.

.•° ✿ °•.

265 AC, Winterfell

"Can you say 'Mama'?"

One thing no one in the whole known world had
been having troubles with before, except for her, was the dilemma of the first words.

Babies were too young and dumb to understand what they were actually saying which meant that they never had any troubles deciding what their first words was going to be. But of course Rosalie had to overthink this because she was no ordinary baby.

The problem with knowing that your parents and siblings were anticipating your first words was the anxiety of what to say. Because both her parents were pushing for her to say their name first. And she honestly didn't know which one to pick.

Some might say she was acting like a babe, but she had good reasons. Would the parents whose name she didn't say first be offended somehow? She was definitely overthinking it.

For a while she had considered saying 'Bran' or 'Ned', to avoid choosing between her parents, but suddenly she was choosing between her brothers. Normally she wasn't like this, but being left alone with your own thoughts this much wasn't good for a person.

"Why is she so quiet?" Brandon inquired, looking at her with curious grey eyes. He always seemed to be around her these days. Whenever he had a spare minute he would spend time with her and Ned.

Her father never really talked about any of his siblings, and neither did Uncle Benjen. The only thing she knew about Brandon Stark was that he was supposed to wed her mother, that he crushed Littlefinger in a duel for her hand, that he was much rasher than her father and that he had been killed by the Mad King alongside her grandfather.

"She is just a babe, Bran," Lyarra smiled at her eldest son, "It will take her some time to talk. Just like with Ned."

"What about walking?" Brandon asked impatiently. "She is a really fast crawler," he added in a matter of fact tone. He looked over at Rosalie who had started to crawl towards him, eager to move around now when she had the opportunity. Before they put her back in her cradle - which in her opinion should be called a prison for babes.

"All in due time, Brandon," Lyarra smiled gently at her son. "Perhaps you boys can try to help her stand?" she offered, looking at both her sons.

Taking the lead, Brandon sat up on his knees and assisted Rosalie in standing. Her legs felt wobbly and she honestly couldn't remember that standing and walking had been so difficult before. She knew perfectly well how to put one foot before the other and how to not fall over, but it didn't seem like her knew body did.

Had not Brandon allowed her to place her small hands in his, she probably would have fallen by now. With her eldest brother's assistance, Rosalie managed to turn around to face Ned instead.

"Come here, Rosie," Ned encouraged her, arms open. And she really wanted to walk to him because he was the only link she had to her past at the moment.

Most of the people she had loved had not even been born yet, some probably never would and the once that were alive lived on other sides of the realm.

And while it was weird that her father was now her older brother, at least he was still her family. In her past life, Rosalie's father had been one of the few people that always could make her feel safe, that could calm her down.