BLACKBIRD (Game of Thrones)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Valencia, child, come here," a voice called, breaking her from her thoughts. Turning her gaze, she found Lord Eddard Stark standing before her, his eyes watching below him as his wolf cloak's fur drifted in the wind, it made him look so much broader than he originally was.

She could see what he was looking at, it was Jon, Robb and Arya, practising fighting. Robb and Jon were sparring while Arya begged them include her. A clash of metal echoed through the yard, and brought a small smile to her lips.
Valencia stood next to Ned, letting her gloved hands grasped the splintering wooden railings. "Yes, Lord Stark?" She questioned, her dark eyes looking down to his sons.

"Robert tells me you aren't too happy about the betrothal," Eddard began gently, she glanced to him, only seeing his strong jaw and thickening stubble. She suddenly began to understand that she might have offended him.

"I am sorry if I have offended you, Lord Stark," she apologised bowing her head low in shame.

Ned shook his head turning his grey eyes on her. "There is no need to apologise, Princess. But I must ask, why?"

For a short moment Ned saw something, something he hadn't seen in seventeen years.

Love.

Melancholy drifted through his chest and pinched his heart, grief slamming into him and knocking the air from his lungs. He pushed it away and looked away from Valencia, unbeknownst by her.

"It is a great honour, believe me, Lord Stark," she began kindly, before sighing. "It's just, I planned so much for my life. I wanted to see the world. Dorne, the Wall, maybe even the Eyrie. And I cannot do those whilst I remain here, in the North. Except perhaps I will be able to see the Wall, but even thats stretching a little too far," she stated, her tongue hinting at the bitterness in her heart.
Lord Stark kept his gaze solely on her, not completely detecting that she was telling the truth. Something else was holding her back from wanting to marry Robb.

"I understand, Valencia, I truly do," he considered, "you remind me of someone I knew once."

Valencia frowned and turned her body slightly, "who?" She questioned.

Lord Stark sighed, his face void of emotion like much of the North's residence. He turned once again, facing the small mountains far from Winterfell that pointed towards the South. The cold wind was icy to his cheeks, his hair blowing slightly in the breeze. It was like he had gentle fingers caressing his cheeks, luring him to the edge of the world.

"An old friend, but she died many years ago."

Valencia licked her lips, reaching up and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Who was she?" she asked, Ned looked down at his sons before reaching up and rubbing underneath his nose, before letting his hand fall to the railing once more.

"She was a dear friend, Allara her name was," he hesitated, finding it hard to speak her name.

"That's a beautiful name, my Lord."

She had been forgotten, just as expected. To everyone, she was a girl that lived and died, but it was well before her time. She was nothing now. She had been forgotten once her funeral had been over, her death overruled by the death of her sister.

But Ned didn't forget.

He remembered her as best as he could, though he could not recall much. Her face had disappeared from his mind, her smile and laugh becoming smoke in the wind. If he thought hard enough he could begin to paint a picture within the walls of his imagination. He saw dark hair and haunting violet eyes, gleaming back at him. He found no mystery in the eyes he tried to remember, he found no life, or emotion, just an endless void that could never be filled. It was a sad thing what time did to ones memories, even the ones he loved most he couldn't remember. He could barely picture his sister Lyanna, or his brother, Brandon, nor his father. They were all distant memories, snatched from him during his life. But he remembered her name, that name he loved, the name attached to an unrecognisable face.