"It's official, Robb. There's nothing else you can do." Aurelia stated with much sadness. She was perched on the edge of her bed with Robb by her side. Her head rested against his shoulders, as he wrapped his arms tightly around her small figure.
As soon as she left the Great Hall, she made her way to Robb's chambers. He was fastening his cloak around his shoulders when Aurelia barged inside, catching Robb by surprise. She didn't even bother to knock on the door. Aurelia closed the door behind her. Only when she turned around to face Robb properly, did he saw the painful emotion surging through her eyes. Robb saw the same emotion he saw Aurelia in when they were in the Godswood just yesterday.
"I can try." Robb insisted whilst clutching her hand. "I will not let the Kingslayer take you away from us." He added with a tinge of pain in his voice. He wasn't ready to have Aurelia leave him.
"Please, Robb. I don't want things to be any bigger than it already is. Father and mother has a lot on their mind, and he'd just agreed on two betrothals, as well as the proposal to become Hand of the King. The least I can do accept this betrothal. Even if I don't want to, I don't have a choice. There's no point in trying." Aurelia pleaded to his brother. She moved away from Robb's arms, straightened her back and faced him properly.
One trait the two share in common are their dangerous temper whom they inherited from their mother. Their temper always led them to more trouble. Aurelia would forget to think before she act, making her reckless sometimes. Though she rarely gets angry, she would be a wolf in heat when in rage.
"We're all bound to leave home in the end aren't we?" Aurelia inquired, and Robb knew the answer. Even if she won't marry Ser Jaime, she'll have to someday. When that someday come, she'll leave home anyway to live with her Lord husband. Not marrying the Lannister wouldn't change anything.
"Don't say that." Robb replied her instead,
"It's true, and you know it." Aurelia told him, "With father as the King's Hand, you'll be acting as Lord of Winterfell. You'll become the person that you were always born to be, and I'll do the same."
"You weren't born to get married. That's not the reason why you're here." Robb said,
"Tell that to the Gods." Aurelia muttered, which made Robb chuckle. She rested her head back against Robb's broad shoulders.
"Do you think you can love him?" Robb questioned, catching Aurelia by surprise. She never thought about that before. She was so caught up with the idea of having to marry him that she'd forgotten about what's going to happen once she did.
"I don't know...I don't know what to think." Aurelia whispered in her soft voice.
Robb was about to open his mouth to say something when the door opened, revealing their mother and father standing across them. Aurelia didn't move her head the slightest, as she and Robb looked on towards their parents. The twins can see it in their eyes.
Catelyn's heart melted when she saw the sight in front of her, as did Ned's. Robb with his arms around Aurelia as she rested her head against his shoulder. This wasn't Catelyn's first time seeing Robb comfort his sister. Whenever Aurelia's down or whenever she cries, Catelyn can always find them with one another.
"Oh, sweetie." Catelyn said, as she moved to where Aurelia and Robb are sitting. She knelt down in front of her, wrapping her arms around her eldest daughter. Catelyn soothed her by moving her hand up and down against Aurelia's back. Robb gave his father a look before his eyes deviated back to her sister and mother.
"I'm very sorry." Catelyn apologized to her daughter, knowing that the pain inside Aurelia was because she has to marry Jaime Lannister. It wouldn't have happened if she and Ned didn't say yes. However, they didn't have much choice in the matter and she hopes Aurelia understood that.
"I'll be marrying a highborn Lord, mother. It's everything that you want." Aurelia said. She didn't want to make her mother feel sad for marrying someone. In her entire life, all she wanted to do was to make her parents proud. Though she hates it, but marrying someone would be one of the things her parents will be proud of. She'd can finally prove to them that she can become the lady her mother expected her to be. She'd can prove to them that just because you can wield a sword or shoot a bow and arrow, does not make you less of a woman.
"My sweet child," Catelyn spoke softly as they pulled away. Her hand caressed Aurelia's cheeks as she brush away the tear trickling down her rosy cheeks. Aurelia did the same to her mother. They were both very different, yet so alike. "I can't bear the thought of losing you the South. The King took away your father from me, and he's taking Sansa as well. I don't know if I'm able to lose someone else I love." She confided, and Aurelia can hear her suffering. Sometimes she forgets that she's not the only one who's being separated. Catelyn and everyone else would be separated as well.
"You won't be losing anyone. We'll just be living far away, and it won't be the last time we'll see each other." Aurelia tried to comfort her mother. It saddened her to see her mother in such a state. Seeing Catelyn cry is such a rare occasion.
"Little Wolf," Ned called her, making everyone look face up to face him. "I didn't mean to hurt you." He tried to apologize even though he didn't have to. Ned knelt down beside Catelyn as well, and pulled Aurelia into a tight embrace. Aurelia didn't say anything as she felt her lips tremble.
"When will the wedding be?" Robb asked, and Aurelia called herself stupid for not even thinking about that. There can't be a marriage without a wedding, and she didn't even though about when or where it's going to happen.
Ned and Aurelia pulled away from their embrace at the mention of this. A solemn expression struck Ned's face, and the same thing happened to Catelyn. Robb and Aurelia knew that look all too well. She wouldn't like to hear the words coming out of Ned's mouth.
"You have a choice." Ned informed even though he's saying it as if she doesn't.
"I have a choice?" Aurelia repeated her father's words in confusion. Her choices have either been robbed away from her or someone else had made it for her.
"The Wedding can happen here in Winterfell under the Old Gods of the Forest. " Catelyn explained further, "Or...it can happen in the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing under the Faith of the Seven." Catelyn added, and honestly she didn't know which one is the better choice. She would want for her daughter to marry at home, but she also wants for her daughter to be married under the Gods she believes in. After all, she and Ned married under the Fait of the Seven despite her Lord husband believing in the Old Gods.
"If you choose to have your wedding in Winterfell, it'll happen three weeks from now. If you choose to have it at the Great Sept, it will happen a month after we arrive in King's Landing." Ned clarified to her and truthfully, he hopes Aurelia will choose Winterfell, even though it will happen in a very short time.
"So my choice is to either have the Wedding at home where everybody I know will attend but have it in three weeks...or, have the wedding in the Capital where I know nobody?" Aurelia questioned rather rhetorically. She thought she'll have better choices but hearing them now, none of them seems good.
When Catelyn told her that wedding can happen in Winterfell, a tiny ball of happiness surge inside Aurelia because she always wanted to have her wedding at home. But then it was going to happen in three weeks, and Aurelia honestly think that she can't be ready over such a short period. She needed to exhale, and three weeks is just not enough.
"That's ridiculous. How are the choices any better?" Robb fared. He wishes for Aurelia to have her wedding in Winterfell, but then again, he didn't want for her to marry so soon. "Can't she marry at least a month even if she choose, Winterfell?"
"Those are the King's terms, Robb." Ned stated,
"Well to hell with the King's terms. Aurelia is not her daughter, she's yours. She's not a Baratheon, she's a Stark. The King can't do what he likes with you!" Robb exclaimed with his anger is rising. Aurelia's future is being the dictated by the King himself, and there isn't anything else he could do.
"He's called the King for a reason." Aurelia pointed out, and she hated the fact that it was true. She wondered if he was doing all of this for the mere reason that she reminds the King of her late Aunt Lyanna whom according to the stories, love Lyanna fiercely. If he didn't, he wouldn't have started a war in the first place.
Silence fell across Robb's room as the air of sadness only grows thicker and thicker. Catelyn knew there'll be crying, but she didn't imagine it'd be this kind. Ned thought he would be strong because he'll give Aurelia away to a Lord who deserves to have her; a Lord he can trusts under the protection of his daughter.
Ned took his daughter's hand into his and whispered to her, "We're always here, Little Wolf. Whenever you need us, we're always right here."
The Stark children were all distinct from one another, especially the girls. Sansa and Arya were different as fire and ice, and Aurelia would be a combination of both. However, Ned and Catelyn all knew their children. They know what's best for them, what they like and what they hate, their favorite thing to do, and many more. Despite Aurelia never liking needlework or learning how to play an instrument, she has a sense of naivety similar to that of Sansa. She thinks that she know how the world works. Aurelia believes that the world can be a cruel place, and although that may be true, she's never seen it.
One weakness about Aurelia is that she think she knows everything so people wouldn't mistake her as inferior. She may not like this, but she's just as innocent as the rest of her siblings.
Aurelia could feel the tears threatening to come out. She had never cried in front of her parents since she was fifteen years old. She always thought that she has to act strong in front of them, especially in front of her siblings even though she didn't need to. However, she couldn't hold back the tears this time. Aurelia wrapped her arms around Ned's neck tightly as she buried her head against his shoulder, hugging her father. Ned returned the hug, wrapping his arms around Aurelia's waist, giving a kiss to her temple. He was going to protect Aurelia at all cost. Catelyn joined in on the hug, and Robb did the same thing. The four of them stayed that way for a very long time, none of them wanting for the moment to end.