The Crossed Rose - GoT - R.S.

Winter is coming

Dahlia couldn't deny it didn't make her feel safer, having Robb so attentive to her every need. Having him there made being back at the Twins a little more bearable. Because, yes, she had spent some of her years here and no, they hadn't been all that terrible, but, as much as she loved her siblings, she had never truly felt at home there, never truly welcomed and always slightly out of place. As much as Roslin and Perwyn had gone out of their way to make it less so, it was still something she had always had to carry with her.

"She's much too Tyrell now." Emmon had said once as he talked to his brother Lyonel once. "Too pretty. Too delicate. She's probably just as gullible as those flowery fools from the Reach."

Dahlia had always felt weird. After all, she was a Frey, was she not? Why did it hurt so much to be compared to the Tyrells? She wasn't sure she was a Frey anymore. But she certainly wasn't a Tyrell. Lord Mace made a point of reminding her of it most days that she had spent at Highgarden. So what was she anyway? While she lived at the Twins of Highgarden, she didn't know. She didn't know where her home was at the time.

But now she did. And funnily enough, she had found her home while travelling all around. Because her home wasn't this castle or the other. Her home wasn't the Twins, or Highgarden or even Winterfell. No, her home, was Robb Stark. And it was thanks to him that she knew who she was now. Much too Frey for the Tyrells and much too Tyrell for the Freys, but a Stark through and through.

And maybe, that was all the more reason as to why she felt so out of place inside the walls of the castle she had once called home.

The hallways were familiar. The walls were familiar. The people working in the castle and bowing as she passed were familiar. But nothing felt right. Especially, it didn't feel right at all when she stepped into the main room.

She remembered the last time she had been there, more than a year before. Her eyes widened. Had it truly been that long? Had it truly been that long since she and Roslin talked of the Starks as they watched their party camping outside their northern tower? Had it truly been that long since Catelyn had come to their castle and struck a deal with her Father? Had it truly been that long since she stood off to the side of her Father's chairs with her sister, half-sisters and cousins as they watched Robb - well, Lord Stark at the time, she supposed - standing there and accepting Father's terms only so he could walk with his party through their bridges? Had it truly been that long since, from the bunch, Robb had picked her as a betrothed?

Had it truly been that long since her life changed that much?

Dahlia let out a heavy breath, stumbling back a bit as she stood in front of her Father in the main room again, the familiarity of it all, almost smacking her across the face. Robb was quick to aid her, his hand quickly moving to the small of her back to steady her as his head snapped in her direction.

"Are you alright, my love?" He whispered in her ear as the rest of the party that came with them started to take their places behind their King and Queen as they stood before Lord Frey in the main room of his castle.

"I just feel a little indisposed is all." She said, and that was half a truth, actually. She did feel tired and sore and she wanted nothing more than to sleep in a proper bed for a while but this needed to be done first so, as much as she hated it, she would push through it. "Let's just get this over with so I can lay down for a while."

Robb nodded then and, even though he wasn't happy with the situation at all, he also knew there was not much that he could do. So, instead, he just kept his hand on her back and turned to look at Lord Frey as he waited for what he meant to do next.

He felt even more an outsider there than Dahlia did, after all, the last time he had stepped foot in this place, he stayed for less than a night and he had taken with him a wife and some good 500 men. Now, he would be staying longer. He would take no wife, but even more men, though he would be giving away his Uncle in marriage, so he supposed that was alright. Besides, Lord Frey seemed willing to reinforce their guest rights, having some of his servants offering Robb and his men bread and salt for them to eat.