Not long after the King's arrival, Aurelia was spending her time around Winterfell to make sure the preparations for the feast are well underway and everything is as expected since her mother was nowhere to be found. When she could not stand all of the chaos happening in the kitchens, Aurelia asked Maester Luwin where her mother. What she did not expect was that not only was she told that her mother was in her father's study, but that both her parents had summoned her there, and Aurelia could not figure out why.
Her anxiousness grew with each step she took. Her mind raced through a thousand scenarios that could happen once she arrives there. What could her parents possibly want to talk about? The only time she's been summoned by her parents in such a matter was when she ran away from Winterfell to watch the sunset over the hills. Aurelia didn't know how foolish it was until her father found her just staring into the scenery. They all thought she had been kidnapped, and Aurelia found out that almost the entire Winterfell came looking for her. She made her parents worried sick, and Aurelia felt guilty for putting them in such a position.
But Aurelia hasn't done anything wrong now. She does stir up trouble here and there after her little escape, but never one so extreme that she broke any rules.
She took a deep breathe before knocking on the wooden. A second afterwards she can hear her father's voice from inside. "Come in."
Aurelia cautiously opened the door, and saw her mother and father standing apart in the middle of the room. Catelyn's face softened upon seeing her daughter, and Aurelia knew that they must be having an argument before she came. Taking a step inside, she closed the door behind her.
"You wanted to see me." Aurelia spoke with such gentleness. Catelyn always wondered how she can have interests in the activities of men, yet remain the composure and behavior of a highborn lady.
"Yes, we do." Ned said with his deep northern accent.
"Whatever it is, I didn't do it." Aurelia immediately defended herself. She could see the distress that's forming in their eyes.
"You didn't do anything, sweetie." Her mother said with a small smile, as she walked towards her daughter and held her in her arms. She escorted her to Ned's desk, while he moved to the opposite side. "I think it's best if you take a seat first." Catelyn continued, and Aurelia slowly pulled open the chair in front of her father' desk, whereas Catelyn moved to stand beside Ned.
"The two of you are starting to scare me." Aurelia said as she looked at her parents, but they weren't looking at their daughter's eyes.
"What we are about to say will be hard to comprehend at first." Ned told her beforehand, which only made Aurelia more scared. "The King came to me with not only an offer to become Hand of the King, but he also offered to join our houses together." Ned began to say, and her heart started thumping once more. When Ned said that King Robert wishes to join their houses together, Aurelia had thought the worst. Was she about to be betrothed to Prince Joffrey?
Aurelia has never been expressive with her parents, since the only people she's entirely comfortable with is Robb and Jon. Not only that, she's really good in keeping up a strong facade, and letting her true feelings stay hidden. But the thought of having to marry Joffrey was absurd. This wasn't the first time a marriage proposal was given to Aurelia.
Most of the Northern Lords had already asked for Ned's permission to betroth their sons to Aurelia, and Ned politely said no to each and every one of them. She was thankful that her father always said no, because she was not ready for marriage at all. She wanted her freedom, and she was not ready to let that go. Ned and Catelyn want their daughters to be married to the best man there is, and none from the North qualified. Truthfully, Lord and Lady Stark were just not ready to send their daughters away.
"Please don't tell me you're marrying me off to that Royal prick!" Aurelia exclaimed, and quite foolishly at that. Someone could have heard her from outside that will certainly cause her trouble. She outrightly just insulted the Prince of the Seven Kingdoms.
"Lower down your voice! I did not raise you for you to say such words to our guests." Catelyn scolded, and Aurelia let out a deep sigh knowing what her mother said was true.
"I'm sorry." Aurelia apologized but her tone did not turn soft, instead she only raised her voice "But, you can't possibly marry me off to the Prince. I don't want to and I won't."
"You won't be marrying Prince Joffrey." Ned informed her eldest daughter with his deep northern accent. This of course caused Aurelia to have a perplexed expression on her face.
"But...you said that the King wanted to join our houses together." Aurelia repeated the words her father said to her earlier.
"He did, but he did not mean you and the Prince." Ned tried explaining it.
"He meant for Sansa and the Prince to be married." Catelyn informed her, and Aurelia's expression immediately changed.
"Oh," Aurelia responded, and that was the only thing that she could say. What else was she supposed to do? Sansa would be overjoyed, Aurelia was sure of it. Her little sister would not stop talking about the Prince ever since Ned and Catelyn informed their children of the King's arrival, despite never meeting him before. And now that Aurelia saw him earlier, she still can't figure why Sansa is so charmed with the prince.
"And you agreed you to it?" Aurelia asked her parents, afraid of what the answer would be. If Ned says yes, Sansa would have to venture South and stay at the Capital. Aurelia would have despised her parents if they had sent her to King's Landing all on her own, but she knows that Sansa wouldn't. In fact, Sansa would be thankful. That's all she ever dreams about. Living in the Capital, mingling with the court, seeing Knights in their shining armor.
"The King has allowed for me to sleep on it." Ned told her,
"Okay..." Aurelia said warily, "So why did you ask for me to come?" She asked her parents. That was the burning question inside her mind.
"The King gave me another offer." Ned said, and he took a pause as he eyed his wife who had a nervous look on her as well. Aurelia noted both of her parent's expression, knowing that she won't like whatever it is that they have to say. "He wants the Starks to mend the relationship we have with the Lannisters. The King believes that the only way to do that is through a marriage alliance."
"The King wishes for Jaime Lannister to be...your husband." Catelyn informed her, and the feeling came rushing back to her. She may not be marrying the Prince, but she's still marrying someone. And out of everyone it had to be Jaime Lannister. How is that even possible?
"That...that can't be true can it? I can't marry Jaime Lannister. He's a knight of the Kingsguard. Marrying me would go against his oath." Aurelia reminded her parents, as the thought of marrying Jaime Lannister sounded ridiculous as well.
Her mind raced back to when they saw one another at the courtyard as he arrived with the Royal Party. He wouldn't leave her gaze, and now it made perfect sense to Aurelia as to why he didn't.
"The King told me that Jaime will be pardoned of his vows. With this marriage, Tywin Lannister has agreed to relieve 2/3 of the crown's debt." Ned said to her. A sharp pain entered his heart as soon as he saw Aurelia's expression.
"I don't care about the crown's debt! I don't care about what the King wants! He has no say in who I'll be betrothed to. That's not his job!" Aurelia shouted at her parent's in anger, as she shot up from her chair. Her anger definitely took Ned and Catelyn by surprise. She's never usually angry and whenever she is, Aurelia's always been able to compose herself. But this time, this time was different.
"Sweetie, I know this is hard. But...it's not official yet. Your father hasn't said yes." Catelyn tried to calm her daughter down, but Catelyn knew the wolf in Aurelia can be strong when it wants to.
"Will you?" Aurelia questioned her father, which took Ned by surprise. "Will you say yes or will you say no?" She repeated her question once again, putting her father on the spot.
"We..." Ned paused once more as he look between his wife and daughter, and took a deep breathe. "We still don't know." He finished his sentence.
"In the time-being, don't lash at the King nor the Queen, and especially not at Jaime Lannister." Catelyn said,
"May I be excused?" Aurelia asked, her voice almost cracking.
"Aurel..." Ned called her daughter using her nickname.
"Please." Aurelia pleaded, and Catelyn looked towards her husband once again.
"Yes, you may." Ned said, and Aurelia immediately stood up and left her father's study without looking back. She just went straight out of the door and tried to process everything that's going on. Ned stood up on his feet when Aurelia closed the door shut. He didn't like this any bit than Aurelia does.
"We need to talk to her." Catelyn said to Ned,
"Let her get some fresh air first. She needs to process the news first. Let it sink in." Ned suggested, "I know she'll come around, and she'll understand why the King proposed it in the first place."
"Oh Ned, we both know that Aurelia never liked marriage alliances. You made a promise to me that she would only get married if she's ready. That's the reason you have been saying no to other marriage proposals from the Northern Lords." Catelyn reminded her husband,
"This is different. This is what the King wants." Ned told her,
"And what of what Aurelia wants? Shall we just ignore her? I know my daughter, Ned. I know what's best for her." Catelyn said. She was rather confused with herself if she agrees with the betrothal or not.
"And is she not my daughter too?" Ned questioned Catelyn with a raised voice.
"Of course she is." Catelyn sighed deeply, as Ned took a step closer to his wife. Catelyn's eyes looked up to see Ned, and he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm only scared for her, Ned. She may be the eldest but I know she is still innocent. She has no idea how cruel the world is no matter how many times she says she can protect herself."
"I know, my love. I'm scared as well." Ned said in a different tone than before. This time his voice was gentle to comfort his wife. He then embraced Catelyn and run his hand up and down her hand. "The most important thing right now is that she knows." Ned continued to say, but this time Catelyn did not respond.
***
Finding Tyrion was harder than Jaime had thought. He knew that his little brother would be in a brothel, and he had asked the locals where the brothel were, but finding his way there was difficult. Winterfell was a contrast towards King's Landing. Back at the capital, the streets were filled with the poor, everyone melted in the heat, and the roads were tight and small. In Winterfell, there were a lot more people than Jaime had thought. Everyone seems to be accustomed to the cold; but then again, they've been here ever since they were born. The cold was part of their nature.
When he finally did find the brothel, the woman managing the place pointed the golden knight to one of the private rooms they had. Jaime could hear the giggles and moans of whores alike. He didn't understand why her brother doesn't just stick to the plan of staying in formation when they entered Winterfell. Now he's pissed their sister, and she's in no mood today.
The woman had not told him which room he was in, but as soon as he saw the black stallion with the Lannister red saddle, Jaime knew exactly where he was. He pushed open the wooden door, and found Tyrion laying down atop a bed with a red-headed whore straddling him. Her name is Ros, and she was the most favorite out of the others in the brothel. He wasn't even fazed by the sight he saw, and neither did Tyrion or the whore was surprised that someone was intruding them.
Jaime walked in on them and said, "Don't get up."
"M'Lord." Ros greeted with a smirk, as she got off from Tyrion and rested beside him on the bed.
"Shall I explain to you the meaning of a closed door in a whorehouse, brother?" Tyrion asked Jaime annoyingly, since he interrupted them.
"You have much to teach me, no doubt, but our sister craves your attention." Jaime explained to his brother, as he proceeded to close the door that he pushed open earlier, and moved towards the other end of the room to a table where the wine is.
"She has odd cravings, our sister." Tyrion commented, as Ros giggled.
"A family trait." Jaime pointed out, as he poured himself a goblet of wine. Tyrion can't help but notice that the smirk on Jaime's face ever since he entered the brothel, had not disappeared. Being the curious little being that he is, of course Tyrion wondered what made his brother to act this way, or rather who.
"So what is she like?" Tyrion asked Jaime,
"What are you talking about?" Jaime questioned him in return, and drank the wine.
"The girl, Aurelia Stark of course." Tyrion replied his brother with a grin. "Surely you must have saw her when you arrived."
"I saw her, and that was it. She left before I could introduce myself." Jaime said,
"That's an unfortunate loss." Tyrion replied as he played with Ros. "Tell me, darling do you know of the Stark girl?" Tyrion asked Ros.
"I don't know her personally, my Lord. I've only seen her when she's out at town. She's never come here before. None of the Starks do." Ros said to the Lannister brother's, piquing their interest. "It's true what they say isn't it? That she's the most beautiful girl in the North." Ros asked, and Jaime narrowed his eyes at his brother. Tyrion returned the look, as he too was interested in what Jaime has to say.
"Yes, she most definitely is." Jaime agreed with Ros, and his smirk widened at the thought of Aurelia Stark once more. Tyrion can't help but grin at Jaime's reaction, and then his eyes darted towards the whore lying down beside him. "Listen, the Stark are feasting us at sundown. Don't leave me alone with these people." Jaime said to him.
"These people or just your betrothed?" Tyrion continued to tease him. He always does enjoy pushing other people's button. This caused Jaime to give him a look, but Ros's eyes widened at the mention of the word 'betrothed'.
"M'Lord is getting married to Lady Aurelia?" Ros asked rather excitingly,
"She's not my betrothed." Jaime corrected her brother, instead of answering Ros. He just gave her a smirk in return since he doesn't know if he's going to be married to the she-wolf or not. It won't be official unless Ned Stark agrees to it, and frankly, Jaime knew the odds.
Ned Stark has always detested him ever since that night he found Jaime sitting on the Iron Throne, and the Mad King lay dead on the end of his feet. Ned judged him for his actions rather than asking the Knight the true reason as to why he killed the Mad King. Jaime doesn't doubt that his daughter would have inherited the same perspective.
"Well my dear brother, I do apologize since I've begun the feast a bit early. And this is a first of many courses." Tyrion told Jaime, looking like he's the happiest man in all of Westeros.
"I thought you might say that. But since we're short on time..." Jaime began to say as he proceeded to open the door once more, and a couple more whores ran inside and descended on Tyrion. "See you at Sundown." Jaime said lastly before he left the brothel with the door open and tried to make his way back to his private chambers that the Starks has graciously offered and prepared for him.