the bear and the maiden fair

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TORIA BARATHEON wiped the blood from her hands as she walked throigh the woods. The guards protecting her were all dead now by her hands. It was dark out and she dreaded who or what she could possibly meet in the darkness. She had a relative idea of where she was and she had ensured to leave her bloody blue dress behind to ensure that she would be presumed dead.

She knew she was close to the Dreadfort, which she knew as a place of dread and pain from the stories of the Bolton flayers. From what she had seen and heard about Roose Bolton, he didn't seem to be incredibly cruel, but many men showed themselves when power began to consume them.

It wasn't their fault of course, but she saw it with her father, she saw it with her grandfather, she saw it with her mother, and she saw it with Joffrey. Power and wealth made people do unspeakable crimes against their King and against their House, but they never seemed to mind.

As she trudged through the forest near the Dreadfort, she snapped her head in the direction of a snapped twig. She raised her knife in that direction and wirh whatever remaining bravery she had, she called out. "Who's there? Come out."

A boy with piercing blue eyes and dark shaggy hair approached her with a bow in hand. "Hello." Toria only scowled and gripped the knife tighter.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you."

"I won't." The boy placed the bow on the ground. "I wouldn't be so stupid to harm the Princess Toria. I'm Ramsay. Ramsay Snow." He held out his hand to her and for whatever reason she took it.

******

RHAEVEN GREYJOY returned with rabbits in hand and a deer dragging behind her

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RHAEVEN GREYJOY returned with rabbits in hand and a deer dragging behind her. She and Meera shared a smile at their hunting successes before parting, Rhaeven going over to help set up the fire with wood Rickon and Hodor had collected and to cook the food she and Meera had hunted, and Meera moving towards where her brother and Bran sat.

Rhaeven didn't want to admit it yet, but she did find Jojen quite attractive. Even as she sat close to where he and Bran talked, she couldn't keep her eyes away from him. Meeta watched the girl with an amused smile as she prepared to skin the rabbits. Meera nudged the girl from her daze with a tessing grin. Rhaeven took notice and smiled slightly. "Oh, shut up."

She handed the girl her knife as she took flint and steel to create a small fire. "What are you telling him?" Osha asked as she approached the group with a scowl.

"It's all right, Osha." Bran told the girl and Rhaeven looked away.

"It's not all right." Osha pointed at the Reed boy as he stared at the woman in confusion. "You think I can't hear you every day filling his head with black magic, talking about visions and three-eyed ravens and worse."

"Leave him alone, Osha. Bran can make his own decisions." Jojen looked at the girl in surprise.

"He can speak for himself."

"I don't fill his head with anything." Jojen defended himself calmly.

"So what do you talk about?" Osha snapped back and Rhaeven rolled her eyes in reponse.

"What's happening to him and what that means."

"Go on, then." Osha nodded towards the boy with a sneer. "Tell us what it means."

"It's not like that." Rhaeven looked in between Osha and Jojen with a frown. "I wish I could tell him alk the answers. It'd be much easier."

"I don't want you or Rhaeven talking to him anymore until we get to your brother at Castle Black." Osha strode away from them. Rhaeven's mouth gaped open as the girl walked away.

"We're not going to Castle Black." Jojen told the girl.

"What did you say?"

"I told you already. Jon Snow isn't there. Bran needs to find the Raven beyond the wall."

Osha pointed her finger at the boy. "Oh, no. I'm not going back there. Your brother is at Castle Black. That's where we're going." Osha crouched down and looked at Bran. "Look at me." Bran slowly turned his head to look st the woman.

"The Raven's been coming to me ever since I fell from that tower. He wants me to find him. I don't have my legs anymore." Bram glanced at his legs and then back at Osha. "This is what I have now."

"You have a family. You need to go back to Castle Black so you cam get back to them where you belong." Rhaeven told the boy agreeing with Osha.

"What if I belong in the North?" Bran looked between the two. "What if I fell from that tower for a reason?"

"Is that what he's telling you?" Rhaeven scoffed standing and stepping away from the Reed siblings. "That it's all for a reason? All these bad things happen because the gods got big plans for you. I wish it were true, Bran, but the gods wouldn't spare Ravens called shit for you or me or anyone."

"You don't understand." Bran looked at the Wilding and Greyjoy. "You don't know." Rhaeven walked away towards Hodor and Rickon with a heavy sigh.

"You don't know. None of you know. None of you have been up there." Osha seemed to be close to tears. "I had a man once. A good man. Bruni, his name was. I was his and he was mine, but one night Bruni disappears. People said he left me, but I knew him. He'd never leave me, not for long. I knew he would come back and he did. He came in through the back of the hut, only it wasn't Bruni, not really. His skin was pale like a dead man's. His eyes bluer than clear sky. He came at me, grabbed me by the neck and squeezed so hard I could feel the life slipping out of me. I don't know how I got the knife, but when I did I stuck it deep into his heart and he hardly seemed to notice. I had to burn our hut bound with him inside. I didn't ask the gods what it meant. I didn't need to. I already knew. It meant the North was no place for men to be, not anymore." Osha stood up and wiped her eyes and hands on her dress. "Rhaeven and I promised your Maester we'd get you to Castle Black and no further."

Rhaeven exchanged a glance with Meera and then one with Bran and she stood walking towards Hodor. She patted the man's shoulder before checking on the sleeping Rickon and gently caressed his blonde curls. It was then that she knew what she had to do. She knew that she had to protect Bran and Rickon no matter where they were to go even if that was beyond the wall.

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