The Bastards of Winterfell (A Game of Thrones Fanfic)

Chapter Seventeen

"I don't know what your plan was, but I'm sure not going to be the lady of some castle."

"Oh grow up, will you! No one will ever take you seriously with a sword in your hand! You're. A. Girl!"

"We've been brought up to believe we can do anything we put our minds to, or have you forgotten?"

"You need to start being realistic! Start accepting what you are!"

"And just what am I, Jon?!?" I yell, getting in his face

"A BASTARD!" His eyes widen once he realizes what he had said, his features soften. I start backing away from him, "Rave, I-"

"Save it." I walk away, brushing off the stares of onlookers as I pass. I'm sure they heard almost everything, but I couldn't care less what they think. I continue walking without a real plan of where I'm headed. I just need to be alone for a while. How could Jon say such things?

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After wandering around Winterfell with no real destination in mind, I found myself in the broken tower. Father has always told us to stay away from the decrepit structure, but I need to get away from everything: the stares, the sympathetic looks, the not-so-subtle whispers, everything.

I carefully walk up the crumbling staircase, avoiding the random pieces of wood and stone sticking out. I sit on the top floor, staring out the window. Without my permission, my brain thinks back to the argument.

What Jon said had hurt. Not once have we ever called one another such things. We each know how those words hurt and yet he still said them. Was he right? Had he noticed something I hadn't? Do we not belong here?

Trying to shake the thought from my head, I look down to the world below. There in the courtyard, I see Sansa playing with her dolls, Robb giving Arya a ride on his back, Lady Stark carrying Bran, Father and Uncle Benjen laughing together. That's when it truly dawned on me, Jon's wrong, this is where we belong, with our family. Nowhere else.

Getting up from the windowsill, I start walking back to the courtyard because others be damned, I going to go be with my family. I take on the stairs with less care than I had before, not aware of the debris I noted earlier. At the base of the staircase, I tripped falling into a small pile of the gods know what. I gasp as something tears into the leg of my trousers, cutting into my flesh.

"Damn!" I curse. I get up, trying to put as little pressure on my wounded leg as possible. I hobble out of the tower, trying to look as if nothing has happened.

I make my way to the Maester Ludwin's solar, knocking lightly on the door, "Come in." A haggard voice calls. I open the door to find the man himself sitting at his small desk. "Ah, Raven. What can I do for you?"

Closing the door behind me, I begin to explain, "I might have had a little problem in the broken tower." I turn my leg to show him said "problem".

"Sit." He gestures to the examination table, "This is precisely why your father tells you kids to stay away from that tower. No one has taken care of it for many years."

I wince as he prods the injury, "I know, I just wanted to be alone for a bit."

"Care to tell me just how this happened?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"I take it you have much to think about after that little kerfuffle with Jon." He starts cleaning up my leg

I wince yet again, but not from pain, "You heard about that?"

"Oh, my dear, the whole castle has heard." He wraps the small wound with clean cloth, "Anything you'd like to talk about?"

"No," He gives me a look, "Alright. I just don't know what to do about him."

"Have you stopped to think of why him taking the black worries you so?"

I sigh, "I don't know. I worry what could happen to him up there, and not just because of those stories Old Nan tells us."

"You know, your father held the same sentiment when your uncle Benjen took the black."

"I can only imagine how that went." I smile

The elder man grins, "If you thought your little fight with Jon was bad, at least today no punches were thrown."

"God's be good! They actually fought one another?" I laugh

Ludwin nods, "By the time Sir Roderick pulled them apart, both were sporting broken noses and too many bruises to count. In the end, Benjen still took the black."

"How did Father take it?"

"He moped around for a week or so, before deciding it was best for him to forge his own path."

"Do you think that's what I should do with Jon? Let him forge his own path?"

"I think you should do whatever your heart deems right."

"What if what my heart deems makes Jon hate me?"

"Sweet child," He places a hand on my shoulder, "Jon could never hate you. You're his sister, his greatest friend. Give him time to think it over for himself, he'll come to you eventually. Leave him be until then, it will all fix itself sooner or later."

"I guess that'll work." I get off the table, "Thank you, Maester." I smile up at the elder man.

He returns the smile, "Anytime dear." I walk out of his solar to join my siblings in the courtyard. I soon realize, Jon is nowhere to be seen.

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Author's Note

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it isn't horrible so there's that. I've been trying to find a way to finish it for weeks, but writter's block was kicking my ass.

I hope you enjoyed. Now it's time to focus on my other fics for a bit.

Thanks for reading!