✓ | THINKING OF SNOW (J.SNOW)

~Chapter Thirteen~

Company

Ghost's ivory fur shivered in the breeze, setting in from the north; it swept across the jade fields, which stretched as far as the eye could see, making the grass dance like the wind had brought it to life. Ghost stared out, with crimson eyes and alongside his companion, at the view with fondness, barely moving an inch while the sun glided further west, beyond the clouds. 

Cynthia, in all honesty, hadn't felt to be in the mood for more games this afternoon, something about Jon had distracted her far too much for her to go about the rest of the day as though nothing had changed. Something had changed, something inside of her. She'd always found herself pondering on the brooding, mysterious owner of her wolf friend, but she had put it down to pure curiosity. But after today's antics, she'd almost begun to consider that it might be feelings of attraction more than anything. Something she'd thought would never happen. She'd always thought of herself as the independent type, destined to be married-off rather than finding a life and love of her own. Not as though it would be likely she'd ever be permitted to marry a lowly bastard such as Jon, as her father would see it, nor is to say she had even considered baring love for the man, but if that were the case, it would seem just marrying the next favourable suitable was not going to be as easy a life as she'd initially presumed. 

"Deep in thought?" A voice resounded from the top of the hill, on which Cynthia had occupied herself with Ghost to keep her company. Stood behind her, the wind brushing his reddish locks forward over his pale forward, was none other than Robb Stark - not the child of Ned that had been consuming Cynthia's attention for this week, but good enough to distract her from her tainted thoughts of the Snow. "Marvelling at the view." She sighed, holding her hand on the back of Ghost's neck, gently tickling his fur between her careful fingers, subconsciously. "Quite done with hide and seek?" She inquired, her eyes stuck on the Stark boy as he walked closer. "Ah yes, we have moved on to play-fighting now, or so I believe that is what they are calling it," Robb stopped and stared down at the pair on the side of the hill: "May I?" He gestured to the spot of grass, unoccupied, beside where Cynthia sat, "By all means." 

"You could get used to seeing this view every day, could you not?" Robb smiled charmingly, while he took his place at the fair-haired girl's side. She smiled too, knowing that the view was not nearly as nice back home, and that were she to stay at Winterfell, she'd learn not to take such a sight for granted. "It is very beautiful." She muttered, wishing the view of mountains and trees would stay ingrained in her mind forever. She knew she would have to leave this view eventually, just like she would be leaving Winterfell soon enough, but, perhaps, if she willed it so enough, she might get to stay ever so slightly longer. If only to determine what effects it was Jon Snow had had on her. 

"You and my brother seem awfully close," Robb remarked, his smile shifting more into a cocky, knowing grin, which Cynthia, if she were not so busy blushing, might have thought about slapping off. "We outsiders must stick together." She brushed it off, however, hoping her feelings, which were yet to be understood even by herself, would go unnoticed. "Outsiders?" Robb frowned now, obviously confused as to how Cynthia, who was almost the spitting image of her father and siblings, could be deemed an outsider. "He's the bastard, and I'm...well, not at all alike the rest of my family," She shrugged. "You believe that, but I see similarities in you and your sister; quite regularly in fact I have noticed how you too are very alike." Robb insisted, nudging into Cynthia's shoulder with his own. 

Cynthia liked Robb; not in the same way she liked Jon, but more so in the way she adored and admired her brother. He had become a brother she wished she would call family one day. That was, perhaps, why she wished this union ended well for her sister, if only so Cynthia could spend more time in the company of some of the nicer Starks. She'd admit she had not come to take kindly to Sansa, if only because the two could not be any more unalike, however the others seemed to be lovely people. Without including any thoughts of Jon, Cynthia would not complain if she would face more visits to Winterfell in the near future. And she hoped the Starks would feel the same. The younger members of both families, Alyssa and Asher, and Bran, Rickon and Arya seemed to have become very attached to each other, and were maybe better acquainted than their older siblings, when it came to it. As well as Robb, Livia had come to enjoy Sansa's company, just like Cynthia had come to relish in Jon's. Alec, also, had bonded with all Robb, Jon and even Theon, who, though Robb liked him well enough, Cynthia would not complain if she would never have to see again. There was something...untrustworthy about him, something slimy that put her off, instantaneously. Nevertheless, if suffering through his presence meant she could spend time with those she had come to appreciate, so be it. Winterfell had become one of Cynthia's favourite places, in only a few days. Facing the thought of leaving upset her greatly, not only because she would leave friends, but because she'd say goodbye to Jon, also. Whatever he was to her, she would surely miss him when she left. 

"Speaking of my sister," Cynthia hummed, stroking Ghost absentmindedly: "How are you both?" She waggled an eyebrow, in the hopes her teasing and prying into Robb's love life would distract him from conversing about her own, if it were to be addressed as a love life, at all. "Well enough. It is difficult to distinguish if she has taken a liking to me, or whether she is happy at the colour of her dress, on any given occasion." The pair laughed, knowing well that those traits sounded a lot like the Livia they both knew. "Coming from her sister, I have not before seen Livia so delighted in the presence of a man - as I can assure you, her wardrobe has not been updated in nearing a year, therefore whatever dresses she may wear are not anything as exciting as her feelings towards you." They chuckled a bit more, until Robb smiled distantly and nodded. "I hope you find the same happiness one day, Cyn. You deserve something like I have found." "A new dress?" Cynthia giggled, and watched as Robb's face brightened at their shared joke: "Thank you, Robb. But I doubt I could ever find such luck as my sister," He smiled at that, a kind of smile Cynthia had seen in her brother - adoration, she hoped, or just appreciation for such kind words. Either way, she truly did like Robb. 

"Come on you two, we're leaving soon, before it rains." Cynthia's mother called over the howl of the wind, which hinted to the weather forecast predicted by Lady Iris, no less. Rain would soon be upon them: "Come on, I'll race you." Robb shouted, already springing to his feet and charging up the hillside with Greywind, whom Cynthia had failed to notice upon Robb's arrival, and Ghost following on his heels. "You're on, Stark." And so Cynthia followed, sprinting up alongside him, their laughter suffocated by the wind.