The Long Winter | Jaime Lannister X Stark OC | GOT/ASOIAF

The Old Lion

They kept Brienne hidden, of course. Qyburn would undoubtedly know she had gone, but seeing as he was likely meant to have had her killed anyway - and kept her alive for his own sick experiments, judging from the gruesome contents of the journals and papers present in the cell which Ren had glanced over and instantly wanted to strangle the man - there was no one he could really tell that information to without being punished by Bolton for his carelessness. And likely end up in a similar state to many of his 'experiments'.

To allow the woman to recover, they had smuggled her up to Dacey's quarters, which would be of little interest to anyone. When she was able to speak in coherent sentences, she had little to tell them that she hadn't already; Bolton men had asked to take Lady Morganna away from her, she had refused under orders from Lady Rosennis and things had gotten violent. 

Ren, Jaime and Dacey all marvelled at the fact she had gone up against a dozen armed men alone instead of just backing down.

"I had no chance," Brienne admitted. "And no choice. Lady Rosennis had asked me to protect her daughter, so that's what I did," 

From that moment Ren had vowed to himself to ensure that the woman - still half a girl, really - was handsomely rewarded when all this was done. 

They had smuggled Brienne out of the castle when she was fit to ride again, but she had not gone happily.

"I don't want to leave Lady Morganna in the hands of those monsters," She protested stubbornly. "They almost certainly killed her cousin and her mother!"

"You being here will just get us all killed," Ren said flatly. "Bolton has gone to a lot of effort to keep Morganna alive, which means he has plans for her, which won't be pleasant but at least he won't kill her. If you wish to help, linger around the area and listen for word of us travelling north. Then if you can get her away from the soldiers, you can guard her to your heart's content,"

So Brienne left, albeit reluctantly. They used the grandiose chaos of Lord Tywin's arrival to mask the single, hooded rider leaving the castle one evening. 

The arrival of the Lannister contingent was as deliberately impressive as expected, and was met with no small amount of hostility from the Northmen present, still resentful from the previous battles against these same men. The death of Robb likely hadn't helped, as though the lords had mostly come to the agreement that Tywin had not ordered his assassination as it would make no political sense, the common soldiers had not.

Despite not being entirely convinced that neither Tywin or Cersei had a hand in the murders, Ren was rather thankful for the presence of the Baratheon and Tyrell men at Harrenhal. They evened tempers between the North and the Westerlands, likely preventing a battle within the castle walls rather than the few small brawls that broke out.

Talks between the lords began almost immediately. The overall aim of the treaty remained largely the same as the one that Ren, Loreon and Tyrion had drawn up in King's Landing. These meetings merely involved going through and confirming each of the clauses, and arguing over minutiae, which was both time-consuming and dull but necessary.

Ren sat in on each of these talks, and though he got a few odd looks - mainly from those who were not Northmen, and hadn't heard him in Robb's war councils giving sound advice, seeing him simply as an unlanded bastard knight - his expression dared anyone to question his presence, and his right to speak. He had helped write this treaty, he was just as entitled to be here as Tyrion and Loreon were.

Lord Tywin was as impressive as men said. He could silence men with a mere look, everyone listened without question when he spoke and if any man had been born to rule it was him. Rather like Ren himself, Tywin sat in silence at first, listening to the arguments of other men before giving his opinion. That opinion carried considerable weight, and usually became law.