THE LITTLE PUP (EDITING AND REWRITING)

3.

He's handsome, Lilia thought. Yet, there was something about him that she disliked, although she couldn't tell what it was. Robb elbowed her and gave her a warning look that she was staring too much, making her look at her feet.

As she looked back up, she watched one of the Prince's guards take off his helmet in the shape of a dog. She instantly recognised him as a man whom Westeros feared and told tales and rumours about – the Hound. She'd never seen him before but just by looking at him briefly, Lilia could see why people were all so afraid of him and why he was the Prince's sworn shield. No man with enough brains would dare to fight the Hound, no matter how big that man's balls were.

Then, a huge, beautiful carriage stopped in the corner of the yard, and from behind it, a fat, old man showed up riding his horse that seemed to struggle to carry the weight on its back. From all the attention he was getting, Lilia believed him to be King Robert Baratheon. Her suspicions were confirmed once she noticed both her parents were bowing to him. All the people followed their lead and the man who was her father's best friend came closer to them, getting off his horse and walking towards the Lord of Winterfell himself.

Once her father got back on his feet, all of them followed and Lilia finally took her time to study the man. He was one of the tallest men she had ever seen and had a black, fierce beard that hid quite a lot of his face. His eyes were deep blue, as her father had described. However, the man didn't look like the athletic young King that her father had described. He was no longer muscular but too fat and struggled to walk. The tension between the man and her father made her wary too as, surely, two best friends who saw each other as brothers would not be as apprehensive towards each other.

How could that man be the Robert her father talked about so much all these years and how could that be that they were best friends?

"Your Grace" her father saluted him respectfully and formally as they both stared each other in the eyes. None of them spoke up and it seemed that none would. She held Robb's hand who looked at her from the corner of his eye in reassurance and tightened his grip around it.

She could feel that Robb was as uncomfortable as she was, perhaps a little less. However, it seemed that they were the only ones as Sansa was still smiling, surely daydreaming about the magnificent prince, Arya and Bran were too focused in the knights and Rickon was impatient as a young boy would be.

"You got fat" the King commented at last.

She'd heard about his sense of humour but never thought that comment would leave King Robert's mouth. The man who had rebelled against the Mad King for a girl, her aunt Lyanna. She refused to believe that was what he looked like.

She noticed her father playfully glaring at him, yet he was subtle. She understood what he meant with the look – if her father had gotten fat, then the King was a fat, pregnant woman.

Then the two laughed and laughed like fools, for no reason apparent. The tension disappeared and they both hugged each other as long-lost brother did. It was short-lived but no less what she expected of him. The King turned to her afterwards and opened his arms with a smile that led her closer to believe his identity.

"CAT!" he celebrated as he took her in his arms as though she was his long-lost sister. Lilia found it sweet but rather infuriating as her mother didn't even flinch. After all, a lady must keep her composure.

"Your Grace," she said out of respect.

Slowly but surely, the man before her started to feel more and more like the Robert Baratheon of her father's tales. The young lord that people loved to be around and that maidens fawned over at every chance. She could already tell that the days that would follow, would surely be comical and that she'd get to have a good laugh as a result.