Naveena STARK :||: Queen Series #1

1) Naveena

Dark green moors surrounded the bleak grey castle of Winterfell, its turrets rising into the endless cloud, flags flying high. I rode beside the king on my dark bay mare as we entered the gates of the fortress. House Stark were waiting for us. It was quite a large family, a five children brood, plus one bastard. White banners with the head of the grey Direwolf, the sigil of House Stark, hung around the courtyard. My keen eyes flickered around the huge space, taking in the number of Stark men and their household.

Robert stopped his horse directly in front of the family, and I reined Athzalar towards them, but she shied away to the left. A large wolf sat beside each of the Stark children. Direwolves, the sigil of House Stark. They could be mistaken for fully grown wolves but from the youth in their features, you could tell they had not finished growing, besides the differing snouts, ears and paws they had compared to a normal wolf.

Turning my mare around to the right away from the threat, I tried approaching Robert again. Athzalar whinnied in protest and flared her nostrils but did as asked. Jaime had dismounted and approached on foot to scratch Athie's velvet muzzle. I gave my brother a reassuring nod before the two of us faced the lord and lady in front of us.

My gaze met the most enchanting blue eyes I'd ever seen. I felt my eyes widen and my breath caught in my throat. This was Robb Stark, the heir to Winterfell. He'd grown into a well-built young man since last I'd seen him, his chiselled jaw prominent and from what I could tell underneath all those layers he was no a slender man. Movement behind him drew my attention to the warm, brown eyes of Jon. I couldn't help it as the side of my mouth pulled up into a grin at the sight of my old friends.

As soon as Nedd lowered himself to one knee, the entire courtyard followed suit, bowing their heads to the king. Robert scoffed and in a loud voice announced, "No need to bow to me, my friends."

Nedd rose and everyone followed. Dismounting, I rubbed along the mares neck before handing over the reins to Jaime, who watched me with a curious expression. Ignoring him, I walked to Robert's side, a bunch of stable boys ran out to gather the horse's reins and Jaime moved on to help Prince Joffrey dismount as more of our company arrived in the courtyard.

Robert waited for me before turning to face his old friend. "Nedd," He nodded, looking the Stark man up and down. "You got old."

"You got fat." Lord Eddard's words had his five children snapping their heads around to stare at him in shock.

A chuckle escaped my lips and their wide-eyed gazes turned to me. Nedd and Robert burst into laughter and the great men were embracing each other with delighted grins on their faces. "Winterfell is yours, your grace." Nedd pulled back and turned to me. "Naveena."

"Nedd," I grinned, returning his enthusiastic embrace.

"My, how you've grown. I can see why they call you the fairest maiden in the realm." I smile, despite every person in the Seven Kingdoms speculating if I was a 'maiden' at all anymore.

The three of us turned to Lady Catelyn Stark. "Cat," Robert smiled fondly. "I present my sister, Lady Naveena Baratheon."

Lady Catelyn managed a polite smile and nod of her head to the king, her eyes flicking to meet his but quickly returning to me. She looked me up and down, her brows crinkling in confusion. I suppose I did look quite odd for a king's sister. I wore dark brown leggings and a white linen shirt with a black corset suitable for riding over the top to keep everything in place. I had a coat on over the top that was unbuttoned in the front and wore black mud-streaked boots. Definitely not what a lady should be wearing.