The sky is gloomy again and everything seems to be grey and sad but still it doesn't lessen the beauty that Lyanna thought the North has. It may not be as sunny as the South as what she had heard from stories from her Father and Uncle Elbert, still she loved here.
The North was a peaceful place; far from politics and power hungry people. Everyone here doesn't think about the Iron Throne or the game of thrones, people here live their lives and are happy with her father's management.
Today was one of those rare occasions that she and her brother would sneak out of Winterfell walls and enjoy at a nearby hill. Ever since the Royal Party has arrived in the North, they have been busy preparing food, cleaning and entertaining guests.
Although she doesn't really need to help (not because she was Ned Stark's daughter but because she doesn't want to cross with Catelyn Stark, who would then frown as soon as she sees her) she found that having the King and Queen there was a good thing and she was able to dodge talking to Robb several times.
Now, she was enjoying the feel of fresh air and silence as she stared into the cold beauty that the North has. She was sitting beside Jon on the edge of a small hill, her brother's arms on her shoulder as she leaned her head on his.
He was the one who asked her if they could go here and Lyanna felt that her brother wants to tell her something. Usually he would bring her here to tell her something important and she was rather feeling worried about what her brother will say.
For the past few days, he had been talking to Uncle Benjen asking him about the Wall and the Night's Watch. Her Uncle happily obliged to his bastard nephew and would share his experience about ranging beyond the wall and sometimes fighting off some wildlings.
Then she and Jon would ask him about White Walkers and the Children of the Forest, Uncle Benjen would just laugh and tell them that Old Nan seems to have been feeding them a lot of fairy tales.
"I have something to tell you Lya." Finally Jon broke the silence and he removed his arm that hanged on her shoulder, he straightened himself and drew his legs closer to his chest wrapping it with his arms.
She shifted and just looked at her brother's face, he seemed to be thinking deeply and currently having an internal argument.
"Hmm?" She tucked a lose hair behind his ear, Jon smiled and she grinned.
"I know that we promised each other that we won't leave each other Lya." He paused and sighed, Lyanna felt a twist in her gut as he started speaking.
'No, not that. Please don't tell me you're leaving me behind.'
She silently thought as she watched her brother speak, the grin on her face had been wiped out. He took a deep breath before he spoke again.
"I hope you won't be angry with me Lya but there's not left for me here in Winterfell except you. We're already growing older and you, you one day will marry someone and I, I don't really see myself as a husband." He smiled bitterly.
"Please get to the point Jon."
Her heart was pumping rapidly on her chest and tears were almost starting to form from her eyes as her brother was telling her about their future, their uncertain future. This conversation just even deepens the hate she had for being a bastard.
He drew a deep breath again and stared on the green meadow before them.
"So I uh, I've decided to take the black Lya. I'll be going with Uncle Benjen to the Wall." Lyanna bolted into a straightened sitting position and looked at her brother with disbelief.
"Y-You're leaving me?" Her voice cracked and Jon looked at her almost pained.
She knew that he didn't really wanted to go there yet he doesn't have a choice, there was nothing here for him in Winterfell. Like her, there was nothing here in Winterfell for her, they don't belong here. They were no one.
But Robb. Robb will be here for her. But then he will marry a Lady someday and he will leave her too. Arya and Sansa will leave for the Capitol and so is Bran.
Lyanna had a strained relationship with Theon and she wasn't as close to Rickon. There was Uncle Elbert but she doubts if he will stay here, he was a sworn sword for her father and he might to the capitol with him. In short, she will be alone here.
"We don't belong here Lyanna. We're growing old and you, you are beautiful and talented sister; your skills will only be wasted here. I on the other hand can be useful in the Wall. I can be with Uncle Benjen and people won't judge me there."
"But you're leaving me Jon. I don't want to go anywhere brother, I want you to be with me." She said as tears fell from her eyes.
"Hush." Jon wiped the tears from her eyes and wrapped his arms around her.
He started telling her about the Wall, that he would enjoy his time there, about possibly joining Uncle Benjen in ranging and of how people won't judge him because everyone will be treated equally, no one will care if he was Ned Stark's bastard son.
"I know father will have something for you. He loves you more than me I think. I know he'll do something to give you a bright future."
There was a hint of bitterness on his voice that clenched her heart. She moved away from his embrace and cupped his face with her hands.
"No Jon, father loves us both. I know he also wanted to give you a good future."
"I hope you won't hate me for leaving you Lya, we'll still be together. We're twins right? We're connected like Ghost and Meraxes." She smiled at that, it was true. She and Jon had always been connected ever since the day they were born. She would know right away if her brother was in trouble and he would know if she too was in trouble or upset.
Their direwolves were the same, however she felt that Ghost and Meraxes' bond were even stronger than hers and Jon's, and the twin wolves were inseparable. And she hated the idea that Meraxes will need to bid her wolf brother goodbye.
"I love you brother. Promise me you'll write to me often and that you'll tell me about your time in the wall."
"You too, sweet sister."
When Meraxes and Ghost finally returned from their lunch, she and Jon decided to return to Winterfell. As soon as they arrived, the King's squire, Lancel another Lannister told her that the King and Lord Stark had been looking for her. She handed Meraxes to Jon and followed the lanky boy who seemed to be a little shaking when he called her.
The king wasn't a scary man yet because of his drinking habits, he can sometimes be very vulgar and violent. So she wasn't surprised that the young man seemed to look like he was afraid of being shouted at.
She took a deep breath when they arrived on the solar that the King currently occupied. Apparently, he brought some of his work here. She straightened her skirts and her hair before she entered the room.
Inside, the King was sitting behind the desk, a pile of papers were on it. Her father on the other hand was sitting near the window, somehow staring into the void, and he looks uncomfortable and weary. She felt herself frightened by what they wanted to tell her.
"There you are! Sit down girl. We have something important to talk about. Ned?"
The king then called her Father and he nodded and sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk.
"What is it you want to talk about your grace?" She asked, she eyed her father and then her gaze went back to King Robert who seems to be in high spirits.
He handed her a parchment, with a raised eyebrow she read it. And she felt herself tremble as she read the contents. She, Lyanna Stark? Impossible.
"Y-you legitimized me, y-your grace?" With wide eyes she looked at the King, with question.
"Yes child. I told your father you're better off a Stark than a Snow. You'll have better future if you'll bear your father's name. I don't want you to be wasted on some commoner or farmer. You're better off with a high born Lord, worthy of your beauty!"
'You're better off with a highborn lord, worthy of your beauty.' Robert's words rang on her ears again and she held her breath.
"F-father?" She turned. His lips were pursued and he was looking at his hands. He sighed.
"You should be honoured that the King legitimized you and will match you to a highborn Lord, Lyanna."
Her heart sank. A part of her tells her that this was wrong, really wrong. Shouldn't she be happy that she was legitimized? But then a part of her screams that her freedom now ends and that she was not born to marry a Lord of a great Castle.
"How about Jon, father?" Instead she asked about her brother, it would be unfair if she was the only one who'll be named Stark and not her brother.
"Jon doesn't need to be legitimized since he will go to the wall. I already told him about it."
What? So Jon already knows, that was why earlier. Gods. Why didn't he even tell her? That was why he thought that Eddard loves her more than him, because she was legitimized.
Now she even hated herself for being born a woman. If she were a man, she could have gone with Jon to the wall. They can be together, help each other like they always have.
"Can I be excused your grace?" She instead turned to the king.
What happened today has suffocated her and she want to let all the emotions out. First her brother will leave her and now her father has sold her, like cattle in the market.
It hurts her and she wanted to cry herself out. When the king nodded, she grabbed her skirts and hurried outside. She doesn't know where to go but she passed everyone without even apologizing.
She ran towards the stables and hurriedly got her horse; she mounted it and let it sprint outside the gates of the keep. She doesn't know where she wanted to go but she wants peace. She was hurt and scared about her new future. Lady. She was now a Stark. A real Stark and not a bastard.
She stopped her horse when they arrived on the edge of the forest, she tied the brown stallion on a tree and ventured inside the big trees never looking back or worrying if someone had followed her. She wanted to be alone and the forest was the best place to be in.
She does not know how many minutes or hours she had been walking, she stopped when she felt tired.
"Oh. What 'yer doing 'er missy?"
Her breath hitched when she heard an unfamiliar voice. No. Her mind screamed. How many times have their father warned them about going to the forest?
She had completely forgotten that there had been wildlings spotted in this area and there were reports of women missing and rape cases from people living nearby. And yet, she went here. Alone and weaponless. She gulped. She was doomed.
"I'm looking for my brother." She said, trying to be brave.
Just turn and run Lyanna. Run. She wanted to but her feet seemed to have been glued on the ground. She turned and saw a wildling man wielding an axe on his hand, he was looking at her maliciously and she felt that his gaze was almost undressing her. She felt disgusted but tried her best to calm herself.
If she was brave enough to duel with a sword, why would she be scared when she was only facing a man? Uncle Elbert taught her to fight, to defend herself.
Didn't she want to be a warrior? It was time to prove her strength. She charged on the man with her bare hands, not caring if he was holding an axe or not but strong hands held her arms and she turned to see two more wildlings, one was holding her arms and the other was just staring at her, his eyes full of lust as he looked at her body.
"Little missy shouldn't gone out of 'er house." The second man said and she gulped. She was about to say something when the big man holding her covered her mouth.
"Tis one's good enough." The first man said, the big man started to drag her and she struggled to break free.
She tried to kick the man holding her but she was rewarded by a punch in the gut. Black spots formed in her eyes but she forced herself to stay awake. She can't die like this. With all her force she opened her mouth and bit the hand of the man holding her, until she tasted blood on her mouth.
The man growled in pain and she felt his hold lose, she kicked him again and when she was free of his arms, she ran, faster than she ever did before. She didn't care if her muscles overwork but she must get out of here fast.
She can almost see her horse when she stumbled on a log and hit her head on a nearby rock. She felt a gush of liquid coming from her skull, wetting her hair as the world suddenly became hazy.
With her final strength she screamed for help but her voice came out hoarse and merely a whisper. She heard footsteps approaching and through her heavy eyes she saw the three men approaching her, wide grins on their faces as they kneeled before her ripping the fabric of her grey dress.
She felt cold air hit her body and before she finally succumbed to the abyss, she heard a familiar howl nearby and saw her saviour approaching her, his golden armor shimmered with sunlight and she felt his warm arms wrapping her in a protective embrace.
"Robb." She murmured the name of her brother, her knight and protector before she closed her eyes and submitted to the void.
-------
Jaime cursed himself for the hundredth time. How can he be so stupid? How can they be so careless!?
Cersei told him that the tower had been abandoned and no one seems to be using it and the area was safe. They have succumbed into passion not thinking that one of the Stark boys was a fan of climbing towers.
But, they didn't imagine that he would be climbing the same tower where he and his sister were fucking.
He ran his fingers through his hair again. He shouldn't care right? He only did it to protect his self, Cersei and the children. He shouldn't be guilty right now. And yet, yet, his guilt was eating him alive.
He was a Kingsguard. He vowed to protect the innocent, he killed a King staining his honor to protect the innocent people who would have died in wildfire and yet, he pushed the innocent Bran Stark from the tower.
He doesn't even know if the child was still alive or not. When it happened, he finished with Cersei and ran to the woods to hide himself. He didn't even care if Cersei followed him or not. After a few minutes of staying there, standing like an idiot, he decided to go out.
He went to the stables and took his horse and went out of Winterfell. Not knowing where he should be headed. A pained whimper surprised him and he turned to see an albino wolf following him. He doesn't need to check it to know who owns the said wolf, from its delicate features; he already knew that the wolf was owned by Lyanna.
He pulled the reins of his horse to stop it and went to check the wolf. It shouldn't be outside Winterfell. Why was it following him? He looked around to check if its master was around but surprised that no one was there.
Where is Lyanna? He suddenly thought. The wolf bit on his boot and somehow tugging him towards a certain direction, it then howled and howled before sprinting towards the direction of the forest.
He felt his body tense. He had heard of stories of direwolves before, they were species that were highly intelligent compared to usual animals, they were like dragons and their bond with their masters were very strong that they sometimes knew if their masters were in distress.
Meraxes was in distress and seemed to be acting strange.
Lyanna! His mind screamed. Lyanna may be in trouble. He mounted his horse hurriedly and followed the path of the direwolf. He arrived on the edge of the forest and saw a horse tied on a tree.
Lyanna must have been here. Meraxes was looking over him and was somehow signalling him to follow as it continued to tilt its head inside the forest. It was a good thing that he always brings his sword everywhere. He should be ready.
After a few minutes, Meraxes stopped and growled. He looked up to see three men hovering around a woman lying on the ground. Wildlings. He thought as he studied their appearance. They kneeled on the ground and Jaime felt his heart dropped as he saw the familiar brown curls and pale skin sprawled on the dirt.
When the first sound of fabric ripping entered his ears he attacked them, ending their lives rapidly as he felt anger run through his blood. How dare they touch her? His mind screamed.
The man who tore Lyanna's dress fell on the ground, dead while the two others were still able to put up a fight until one of them hurried running to the deeper parts of the forest. He didn't even care about the blood dripping from his sword; he hurriedly sheathed it and attended the young woman who seemed to be running in and out of her consciousness.
"Lyanna." He whispered softly as he lifted her to his body, a thick red liquid was flowing from her head that tangled to her hair.
He cursed and ripped a fabric from his tunic and pressed it on her head to stop the blood flowing. He heard her hiss.
Her eyes flutter open and she looked at him with glassy eyes. Yet, his heart stopped when she whispered another name.
"Robb." She held her hand to touch his face but it fell and her eyes shut close.
Robb? Robb? Why was she calling for her older brother? Was she thinking that her brother was the one to rescue her from the wildlings? It hurt his ego but this wasn't the time for his wounded pride, he needed to bring her to a maester.
He lifted her to his arms and was surprised on how frail and light he feels in his arms. This wasn't woman he saw fighting swords and shooting arrows, this wasn't the woman who can make people weep by her music; the woman in his arms was a girl, a fragile little girl who needs protection.
The ride to Winterfell took longer because it was hard to balance an unconscious and bleeding woman not to fall from his horse. The guards shouted as soon as they spotted him with their Lord's daughter.
"Where's the maester?" He then demanded as soon as they entered the gates. Meraxes was whining behind him.
"Lyanna!" The eldest Stark boy run towards him, worry itched on his face and he looked at him with anger.
"What did you do to her?" He asked.
"I didn't do anything to your sister boy. I saved her from wildling rapers." He said, the Stark boy seemed to be unconvinced. He was about to snatch the unconscious Lyanna from his arms but Jaime held her tightly. "I can manage, boy." He hissed. He wasn't sure why he is even angry at the boy but somehow he was rather hurt that Lyanna called her brother rather than him.
'She was unconscious dammit! And why would you be affected? Will Lyanna calling your name change the fact that you pushed her brother from the tower? You should've have help the young boy earlier after you pushed him.'
He pushed the thoughts of him throwing her brother to death as he and the Stark boy enter the castle. Everyone seemed to be stunned when they saw him carrying an unconscious Lyanna.
"Maester Luwin is attending Bran, he fell from the tower." Robb Stark said as he ushered him towards the keep to Lyanna's room. "I shall check for other maesters." He said as they arrived inside the chambers of the lady. He gently placed her on the bed.
"Where is she!?"
Jaime looked up to see Ned Stark hurrying inside the room, behind him was Lyanna's twin brother and the youngest Stark girl whose eyes were in tears. Ned ran and kneeled besides her daughter's bed and held her hand.
"No, no Lya." Lord Stark said as he looked at the frail body of his daughter. "What happened?" he then asked. Jaime gulped. He can't tell the man that he went out because he was guilty of killing his son.
"I was riding my horse when I heard a scream from the forest, there were three wildlings hovering over her. Rapers. I came on time before they could even touch her." He said quickly that he felt himself catch his breath when he finished. Lord Stark nodded.
"And the wildlings?"
"I killed two of them, the other one ran. I didn't follow him."
As soon as the maester arrived, Jaime excused himself from the room. He even heard Ned Stark thank him before he went out. He decided to confine himself in his own chambers. Today, he killed a Stark and saved a Stark. How very unusual.
He always hated the family and their sense of honor and yet he found himself guilty about what he did to the young boy and hurt when the eldest daughter called him with another name.
He sat on the edge of the bed covering his face with his hands, feeling half- guilty and half- angry.
The door opened and he looked up to see his sister, her face was ashen as she looked at him.
"What?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"The boy lives..."
He felt his world spin.