#ylina stark

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 12 - Dreams come true

Ylina knew she had more to do. She knew she shouldn't be distracting herself with that, but as the first words of her brother in so long finally got to her days before, she couldn't help but feel all kinds of emotions inside of her everytime they repeated themselves in her mind.

We are all alright, Robb had written. Mother is to be home soon. Theon is alright. I am alright. We are farther South than you would expect. We will be home soon, Lily.

Of course none of that answered many of the questions she had. Where exactly were they? What were they doing? How many men they had? Who had fallen? Who was hurt? Who would come back and who wouldn't? The rational part of her knew Robb couldn't tell her. If that Raven was intercepted and a detailed message fell in the wrong hands, it could mean their deaths. Still, Ylina couldn't help herself. She played with the paper roll in her hands, the grey wolf stamp already dry from how long it had been opened. As Robb's words kept ringing in her head, Ylina had stop herself from crying. We will be home soon, Lily. She had received the message almost a moon ago. How long was soon? How long would she have to wait?

"Pretty lady?"

At the sound of Osha's voice, Ylina turned from the window sill she was sat on to look at her, instead of out, toward the snow covered mountains, miles away from the castle.

"Are you feeling alright?" The wildling woman asked quietly as Ylina shrugged, placing a hand over her already growing stomach. 

It still didn't show when she wore loser dresses, but when she caressed it, she could feel the small bump.

"Same as always, I suppose." The girl answered. Osha nodded.

"Well, I went to see your brother this morning." She said, as Ylina's attention was finally totally drawn to Osha at the mention of Bran.

"Same dream as always?" She asked, widening her eyes slightly when Osha shook her head.

"He said he dreamt of your Father." She said.

"Father?"

"Aye. He said he dreamt he was a golden statue in the crypts. Whatever that means…"

"Whenever a Stark dies, their body is put in the crypts and a statue is made of them, in their memory." She explained, her frown deepening when she remembered just what Rickon had told her during breakfast that same morning.

"I had a dream today." He had said. "I dreamt of Father."

"Oh, yes?" She had asked with a small smile. "That must have been a pretty dream, then."

At that, Rickon had looked down, jumping out of his chair and walking away, with Shaggydog at his feet.

"Not really."

And now, as Osha told her Bran had had a dream about their lord Father as well, she started to worry. The gods spoke to them through dreams, she knew it. So did it mean something? Was their Father in trouble? It was likely, since he had been a prisoner to King Joffrey for so long and he wasn't one to be known for his kindness after all.

Again, Ylina must have fallen into a long silence, because it was Osha's voice who brought her mind back to their conversation.

"The little lord asked me to take him to the crypts, pretty lady." She said, as the girl sighed, still with one of her hands over her stomach.

"And what did you tell him?" She asked.

"That I would ask you for permission."

At that, Ylina nodded. Debating on what to do for a few seconds, her eyes fell on Robb's letter in her hand. We will be home soon. Would their Father? Would Robb win this war and bring Ned Stark back to his home or was it a lost cause? Was Bran just dreaming or did it mean something else? Should she let him down the crypts? Biting her lip hard, Ylina let out a frustrated groan.

"Take him down the crypts." She decided, as Osha frowned and tilted her head to the side clearly surprised.

"You can't be serious? Your father is not down there, Ylina!"

Ylina smiled. There it was, the reason why she had decided to keep Osha around her. She needed someone to question her sometimes, call her by name, remind her that, no matter how many titles she got in her life, she was still nothing but Ylina.

"I know." She nodded. "I just want Bran to see it for himself. Maybe it'll help him to rest easier."

Still visibly unsure, Osha nodded.

"Alright then." She said, as Ylina smiled at her. "I will take him down there, but I better get some good supper for it."

With a laugh, Ylina stared at Osha.

"Are you scared of a few dead bodies, Osha?" She mocked, watching as the woman grimaced.

"Careful, pretty lady." She warned, as the girl frowned. "Sometimes, the dead are even more dangerous than the living."

And before Ylina could say anything else, Osha walked out, leaving the girl alone with her own thoughts once more. Looking out of the window again, she wondered if she was simply overreacting or if she should actually be worrying. Bran had been having weird dreams, not only the raven with three eyes anymore. Once, he told her about how he dreamt more than once that he was in Summer's body, running around in the woods, hunting. He told her how, when he woke up from those dreams, he could still feel the rush of the chase and the blood in his mouth from the kill. When she voiced her worries to Maester Luwin, the old man once again said it was a fruition of Bran's imaginative mind but if she had ever believed him before, now she was seriously doubting it. Everything Bran told her couldn't be just a dream. It had to mean something. It just had to.

Ylina wasn't sure how long she had spent just with the whirlwind of thoughts in her head but when the doors of the small study she was in were pushed open harshly, she jumped, startled.

"Forgive me, my lady, but Maester Luwin asked me to find you. He wishes to speak to you and says it is of urgency." The guard spoke up, causing Ylina to nod.

"Take me to him." She said, getting up from her place by the window and following the guard down the halls of the castle.

When the man stopped in front of the door of Maester Luwin's study, he pushed it open for her and bowed slightly when she passed by him.

"Thank you." She whispered gently.

"My lady." He responded, waiting for her to properly step inside before closing the door after her.

"Maester Luwin?" The girl called, causing the man to look up from the roll of paper in his hands and to Ylina. "You wanted to see me?"

"Take a seat, child." The man said and that was how Ylina knew it was serious. Ever since she got married, he never called her child. And even as a child, he only ever called her something other than 'my lady' when he knew his words would hurt her. "Would you like anything to drink, my lady?"

"I can't drink, Maester." She reminded him, taking a seat on the chair in front of Luwin's table. The old man gave her a small smile.

"Not every drink is ale or wine, my lady." He said.

"Maester." The girl sighed, wanting to cut all the small talk and discuss the matter at hand.

With an nod of his head, the man grabbed the scroll and gave it to the girl.

"A raven arrived from the Capital." He said, as Ylina grabbed the paper in her hands and looked down at it.

She inspected the red deer stamp, from the Baratheons. When she realized that was most likely a letter from King Joffrey himself, she felt her breathing get caught in her throat. She could see the letter was untouched, even so, with her foggy thoughts and the feeling of absolute dread at the bottom of her stomach, the only thing that came out of her mouth was absolutely stupid.

"Have you read it?" She whispered. With a understanding sigh, the Maester shook his head.

"My lady…" He said simply.

With a nod, Ylina understood what she had to do and, with shaky hands, she opened the scroll and read the words that would forever change her life:

Lord Eddard Stark, lord of Winterfell, warden of the North and hand of the King admitted to have committed treason against the crown and, having withstanded a just trial in the eyes of the gods, was sentenced to death.

"No…" She whispered, unsure of what else to say. "Maester… Maester they… They killed Father, they… Maester, the boys, I… I can't, I… I don't…"

Getting up from his seat, Maester Luwin walked around the table and pulled the girl in for a hug. As she sobbed and cried into his vests, the man shed a few tears of his own. He wasn't family of the Starks, of course, but he for sure admired Ned. Everyone did and now, he was dead, gone forever. What would be of his children? They were no more than that after all, children. And now, they would have to spend the rest of their lives without their Father. How would Bran and Rickon take it? How could they possibly tell a ten-year-old boy who just lost all movement of his legs that his beloved Father was gone for good? How could they tell a six-year-old child who was often pushed aside and forgotten by everyone that the one man he admired the most in his life was now dead?

"Maester… The boys… Oh, the girls… What will be of my sisters now that Father is dead? What will that crazy family do to Sansa and Arya?"

"I… I don't know. But we have to take it slow and fix one problem at a time." The old man spoke up, as Ylina pulled her face back from his vests and used the sleeves of her dress to wipe away her tears. "First, we tell Bran and Rickon. After that, we can think about what to do next."

"How?" She cried out. "How am I supposed to tell the boys… How will I ever tell them Father is dead?"

"I will accompany you." He said, offering his hand to help Ylina stand up.

When she did, the girl stumbled, slightly dizzy. When Maester Luwin opened the door of his study, he almost fell back when Daria dashed past him and straight at Ylina, whining up at her as the the girl avoided any kind of eye contact.

"Find Rickon, girl." She said, as the wolf whined again. "Take him to the common room."

And without hesitation, the wolf was out, sniffing the air as she tried to catch Shaggydog's scent. Turning to Maester Luwin, Ylina sighed.

"Go to the crypts." She said. "Bran is there with Osha. I will be waiting for you."

With a nod of his head, he was out. Taking a moment to recompose herself, Ylina picked up the ends of her dress and walked out of the study, walking down to the common room and waiting for a few minutes before the doors were pushed open and in came everyone Ylina needed at the moment but, at the same time, dreaded to see.

"I've got news for you." She whispered, as Rickon walked toward her and she picked him up and placed him on her lap as she sat on one of the chairs.

"Good news?" The youngest of the two boys asked, as Osha moved to place Bran down on a chair beside Ylina. "About Robb? Is Mother coming back?"

"I don't know about that, my love. But the news I have… They aren't about Mother. Or Robb."

"They're about Father, aren't they?" Bran asked quietly, causing Ylina to look down at him as her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, boys. I'm so sorry." She whimpered as the two of them started to cry as well. "Father was killed in the Capital. We received a raven just this morning. I'm sorry."

And as Ylina held the two boys close to her chest as they cried, rubbing their backs and peppering kisses all over their faces, it was hard for Maester Luwin and even Osha to keep it together. They weren't sure how long it had been since the Stark children had started crying, sobbing and pleading for it all to be a lie. For their Father to be alive. For their Mother to be home. For Robb to be safe. They weren't sure how long it had been, but Ylina was thankful that, eventually, her brothers' cries turned into tiredness and they soon were fast asleep in her arms.

"Take them." The girl ordered to no one in particular with a hoarse voice.

As Maester Luwin took Rickon from his sister's arms, Osha asked Hodor to the same with Bran. She waited for them all to leave before looking down at Daria, who stood beside her, and sighing. In complete silence, Osha walked toward Ylina, pulling her up to her feet by her arms and walking her toward her chambers as she moved lifelessly. As soon as they were inside, Osha started to undo Ylina's hair and strip her out of her dress and into her sleeping gown. When she was finished, she waited for her to speak up, and when she didn't the woman gulped.

"I'll ask the maids to bring you and your brothers your supper. I don't think any of you…"

"Leave." She ordered.

Osha's eyes went wide. Sure she had seen Ylina use that tone of voice before, she was a lady after all. But never was that harsh, authoritative tone had been directed to her. To her, Ylina was always kind, her voice filled with sweetness and amusement. Of course Osha didn't expect her to be happy at that moment, but never had she thought she would have been so rude to her.

"Pretty lady, I…"

"I said leave. Now. Both of you."

When Ylina glared at Daria, Osha gasped. Not wanting to mess with the angry wolf, however, she petted Daria in the head before walking toward the door and holding it open.

"Come on, girl. Let's leave Ylina alone for a bit, yes?" She said, as the direwolf hesitated for a bit before obeying. "If you need anything…"

"I don't need anything you can possibly give me! Now leave me alone, Osha!"

At that, the woman nodded, stepping outside the room and closing the door behind her. As soon as she did, she heard a scream, louder and more filled with pain than she ever thought was possible. Shivering at the sound, Osha heard a loud thud inside the room and loud sobs as Ylina finally let go of any restrains she had had during the day crying properly for her father for the first time that day. Now, she didn't have to be a lady, she didn't have to be an older sister, she didn't have to be the oldest person of her family around, solely responsible by everything. Now, she could be what she really was: a young girl, pregnant, alone, and now, fatherless.

Hearing her sobs and cries, Osha looked down at Daria and smiled sadly when she noticed how the wolf stood as close to the door as she possibly could, almost as if she wanted to be inside, but still respecting Ylina's wishes of being alone. Osha sighed before petting Daria on the head again.

"Stay here, Daria. Keep her safe, yes? I will go check on the boys." The woman said, but before she could leave, a whine from Daria made her stop and turn around to look at her. "Don't worry. She will be fine. She has to."

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 1 - The White Wedding

"I actually can't believe it." Robb said as he stood in his bedroom, with his best friend sat in his bed.

"You knew this would happen." Theon answered with a smirk. "I have been her betrothed for years now, Robb."

"I know, Theon…" The younger boy rolled his eyes. "Still, it's my baby sister. And she's getting married. Before me. To you, no less. It's a lot to take in. Forgive me."

"Ylina is not your baby sister." Theon noted. "And if you say that anywhere near her, she'll have your head."

"She can say all she wants. Ylina is my baby sister and she'll be forever."

"Well, your baby sister is about to become a woman soon."

At that, Robb almost choked, reaching for one of the pillows near him and throwing it at Theon. When the Greyjoy chuckled, Grey Wind, who was until now laying by the foot of the bed, lifted his head when Robb scoffed.

"Careful, lad. It's my sister we're talking about." He warned as Theon simply shrugged.

"You do know what happens after a wedding, don't you?"

"I do." Robb nodded, reaching for his dress shirt to pull it over his head. "But if I hear anything that's happening between you two later tonight, I swear to all the gods…"

When he shivered, Theon laughed.

"I can't promise anything." He smirked.

"Oh, just shut up."

Before any of the boys could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.

“Are you two decent?” 

When they heard Ylina’s voice coming through the wooden door, Robb threw a dress shirt at Theon and the Greyjoy boy quickly covered himself with it.

“Never!” Robb called out, hearing a chuckle in response.

Pushing the door open, Ylina leaned against it as her eyes scanned both boys. Daria, her direwolf, ran past her and straight to Grey Wind, as the two of them started to roll around and bite each other lightly as usual. Neither Robb or Theon had even the time to greet the younger girl, before her eyes went wide and she shook her head quickly.

“Oh, no. You two better get dressed right now, because the King and his family are almost here and if we get there late to greet them, I will be the one Lady Catelyn will be putting the blame on.”

“But we were the ones who weren’t dressed.” Robb spoke up, causing Ylina to scoff.

“You know Mother. She’ll just assume.”

Walking past Robb, Ylina reached in his desk for the golden pin of a kraken that always laid there and, as soon as Theon had put on his overall coat, the girl placed the pin in place, right in the middle of his chest. Watching her gently, Theon grew silent, only smirking down at the girl when she lifted her eyes up to meet his.

“What?” She asked with her eyebrows lifted.

“Nothing.” Theon shrugged, placing one of his glove-covered hands one the small of her back.

When Robb pretended to gag, Ylina rolled her eyes and walked toward her brother, grabbing the silvery wolf pin from his hands as he expected her to place it on his chest as she had done with Theon. Instead, the girl smirked at Robb and placed her hands on his cheeks, squeezing them slightly as she talked in a quite high pitched voice.

“Oh, look at you… All trimmed up and pretty. Did you do that for my wedding, finally?”

“Actually, I did it for the King, but whatever.” Robb shrugged, causing his sister to laugh.

“I wasn’t aware you were into older man.” She said.

“Shut up, Lily.” He chuckled as Theon laughed loudly behind them. “Mother made us all cut our hair for the King. Do you like it?”

With a shrug of her shoulders, Ylina let go of Robb’s cheeks and started to pin the wolf to his coat.

“You look less like Father, so I guess that’s good.”

At that, the three of them laughed, but before any of them could say anything else, a trumpet sounded in the distance and they all exchanged a look, already knowing what it meant: the King was in Winterfell.

“Oh, by the gods…” Ylina mumbled, before ushering both boys out of the room and running with them through the hallways of the castle toward the open grounds where they were supposed to wait for the King.

As soon as they came into view, Catelyn gasped, reached over to grab Ylina by the arm and placed her beside Sansa, where she should’ve been minutes before.

“You’re late again, Ylina.” She reprimanded, as the girl sighed. “Even Arya was here before you this time.”

Looking down the line of her siblings, she saw that, in fact, Arya Stark was, for once, in the place she was supposed to be in with the clothes she was supposed to be wearing before her. Her younger sister showed Ylina her tongue, causing the girl to scoff. Before she could respond, however, Sansa nudged her side and Ylina’s eyes fell on her.

“The King.” She warned lowly.

Ylina turned from her sisters to the open space in front of them, just in time to see the first of the Lannisters bannermen riding through the gates. Soon after, came a young boy, blonde of hair with a pretty face that Ylina supposed to be almost her age. Maybe a bit younger. Prince Joffrey, she assumed. Glancing at Sansa, she saw the smile on her sister’s face and the glimmer in her eyes as they locked with the prince’s and she could barely contain her giggles when she noticed the way Robb’s jaw clenched in pure jealousy.

Luckly, no one else noticed, being too caught up on the red chariot that stopped in the middle of the grounds and then, noticing King Robert riding in after it. All too familiar with the formalities, everyone kneeled and looked down as the King approached them. Standing in from of their father, King Robert signalized for him to stand up and so Ned did, soon being followed by everyone else. 

“Your Grace.” Ned bowed his head slightly.

The whole place was silent as the two men stared each other down.

“You've got fat.” King Robert noted.

At that, Ylina glanced at Robb, only to notice he was already looking at their father. Doing the same, she noticed how, wordlessly, Ned motioned to King Robert and, after a second of silence, the two old friends started to laugh before sharing a hug.

“Cat!” King Robert smiled, moving to embrace their mother.

“Your Grace.” She nodded at him politely, as the man messed with Rickon’s hair, who was standing beside Catelyn.

“Nine years…” King Robert sighed, moving to stand in front of Ned again. “Why haven't I seen you? Where the hell have you been?” 

“Guarding the North for you, Your Grace.” Ned smiled at his friend. “Winterfell is yours.”

“Where's the Imp?” Ylina heard Arya ask, as they watched Queen Cersei walk down the steps of the carriage.

“Will you shut up?” Sansa answered quickly. 

“Who have we here?”  King Robert asked, as he moved from Ned to Robb, who was standing beside their father. “You must be Robb.”

Once they exchanged a strong handshake, the King’s eyes fell in Ylina.

“Last I saw you, you were a little girl.” He said, as Ylina smiled up at him. “Now here you are… Ready to become a woman.”

With a bow of her head and a well put smile from the girl, King Robert moved to Sansa, saying what everyone always said upon meeting the young Stark girl.

“My, you're a pretty one.” He said, as Sansa smiled. “Your name is?” 

Robert crouched down in front of Arya and Ylina could tell she was annoyed. The older girl bit back a smile knowing how much her sister hated those formal meetings.

“Arya.” She said, as the King nodded, moving to Bran next.

“Oh, show us your muscles.” He said, as Bran smiled brightly and flexed his arms. When the King laughed, so did Ylina. “You'll be a soldier.”

“That's Jaime Lannister, the Queen's twin brother.” The girl heard Arya whisper, before looking around just in time to see Jaime Lannister pulling off his helmet and shaking his long blonde hair.

With a roll of her eyes, she imagined he would be one of those lords who thought that, just because he had money and a pretty face, he could get any girl he wanted in his bed at any time.

“Would you please shut up?” Sansa whispered back at Arya, causing the younger girl to look for her sister for support, only to notice she was already looking at her with a small smile. 

Looking back at Queen Cersei, Ylina noticed how she approached her father and extended her hand for him to kiss. Doing so, Ned bowed his head slightly again.

“My queen.” He said.

“My queen.” Catelyn repeated with a bigger bow.

“Take me to your crypt.” King Robert demanded, causing everyone to look at him. “I want to pay my respects.”

“We've been riding for a month, my love.” Queen Cersei spoke up. “Surely the dead can wait.”

They exchanged a few cold glares before King Robert decided to ignore his wife.

“Ned.” He called, already walking away.

With a last bow to Cersei, Ned followed his old friend and glancing at her mother, Ylina waited for her next instructions.

“Winterfell is your, you Grace.” Catelyn told Queen Cersei. “I hope we can make you comfortable. Now, if you excuse us, I have to help my daughter into her wedding gown.”

With a nod from the Queen, Catelyn walked toward Ylina and linked their arms together. As they walked away, the girl sent Robb and Theon one last glance and the smile in both of their faces was the last thing she saw before Lady Catelyn guided her inside the Castle and toward her bedroom.

***

Her hair was done to perfection, her natural red waves curled just a bit more and pinned back from falling in front of her eyes with her usual silver wolf pin. Her makeup was also a nice touch. Sansa had spent a lot of time on it and, even if she didn't want to admit it, Ylina was scared. Her younger sister was good with this type of things, but she was young. What if it turned out bad? Would she have the heart to tell her? Luckily, she wouldn't be having to. Sansa had done a wonderful job, knowing all the shades she had to use to highlight her vibrant Stark grey eyes and all the ways not to cover her freckles too much.

And her dress… Her dress was beautiful. It was a long sleeved white heavy dress to endure the cold. It had silver details all over it, accumulated more in the coursette and growing more and more apart in the end. It had a long tail following her that her mother had insisted on since she refused on using a veil. Ylina was wearing a small overall coat of white fur and big high heeled boots that made her slightly taller than she actually was.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but smile. She was getting married to a man she cared for and who cared for her. Not many ladies like her had the opportunity to say the same. Sure their relationship had started quite rocky, but growing up together, both, Theon and Ylina learned to appreciate each other. And now that they were getting married she couldn't be happier. At least, that was what she thought until she spun around in her bedroom only to find her mother trying to hold back tears as she sat on her bed.

"Mother?" She asked, stepping forward and sitting beside Catelyn and reaching over for her hand. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Ylina. Don't worry about me." Catelyn said, wiping her tears away with her free hand. "It's just… You grow up so fast. All of you. I remember the day you were born. So little and fragile in my arms… And now, here you are… In white, ready to become a proper woman. A proper lady. I can barely believe it."

Holding her mother close, Ylina stayed in silence for a while, waiting for Catelyn to calm down. Once she did, Ylina frowned, lacing her fingers through her mother's.

"Do you love me, mother?" She asked.

At that, Catelyn's head snapped in her direction. Her eyes filled with hurt and surprise. Holding her daughter's face in her hands, Catelyn forced Ylina to look at her.

"Ylina, listen to me." She said, sternly, watching as the girl's eyes filled with tears. "I love you. Like I love all of my children. Sure, we usually don't see eye to eye, but you are my daughter. My first daughter. And I love you, Ylina. I'm proud of the woman you've become."

"But I'm not the lady you wanted me to be." She whispered, as Catelyn shook her head.

"No. But you are kind, my love. You are smart, just and fair. Maybe you're not up to all the standards of a lady, but if you ever have to rule, I know you'll be the best leader you can be."

"Mother…"

"Ylina. Don't you ever doubt my love for you, do you understand? I love you, my beautiful daughter, and I'm proud of you, alright?"

"I love you, Mother." Ylina whispered as Catelyn finally let go of her daughter's face to pull her into a hug instead.

And as they held each other, she finally understood. It had been so long since the two had had an intimate moment that wasn't based on them both yelling at each other that Ylina had even started to doubt her love for her. And then, Catelyn felt guilty. How could she ever have let their relationship grow so cold that Ylina would think she didn't love her? How could she ever have allowed her to believe that she'd only appreciate her if she was a real lady, like her sister Sansa? How could she ever have been so blind as to not see the signs so clear? 

She had been stupid and taken their relationship for granted. And, in that moment, she vowed to never let it happen again.

"Very well, let's dry those tears before they ruin the makeup Sansa put so much effort in." Catelyn smiled gently, pulling away from her daughter's embrace as the girl lifted her eyes to meet her mother's. "Get up and let's go. Your father and siblings are waiting. So is the King. And your soon to be husband."

At that, Ylina smiled, nodding slightly and taking Catelyn's hand in hers as her mother guided her out of the bedroom and toward the carriage that would take them both to the woods.

The ride there was quiet, but they held hands the entire time, exchanging gentle looks and smiles and, before they knew it, they were there. Catelyn helped her daughter out of the carriage and walked her toward the first tree of the Godswood, knowing that, turning around it, the most beautiful pathway was made for her to walk down. Kissing her forehead lightly, she smiled one last time at her daughter.

"I'll be at the end of the isle, love." She whispered, before pulling up the ends of her dress and walking toward the end of the isle, standing beside all of her children on the left side of it.

Ylina waited for her father to appear so he could take her to Theon, but, instead, Robb came. With a smile in her direction and fancy clothes covering his body, Ylina watched as he made his way toward her.

"I thought father was supposed to walk me down." She said, linking her arms in his as they stood in front of the closed doors of the sept.

"He was." Her brother nodded, smiling down at her sister proudly. "But someone from Theon’s family had to officiate the wedding, right?"

And as the two of them started to make their way down the aisle, Ylina barely noticed how everyone waited up for her to enter with torches in their hands to light up the way and make the cold air of the night in Winterfell a little bit warmer. Even the King and Queen of Westeros. She barely noticed her mother standing beside her siblings at the end of the isle just beside Ned. All she could see was how her own Father stood proudly right in front of the sacred weirwood heart tree, representing the Greyjoy family members that didn't come, taking Theon as his son even before he married his daughter.

Again, her eyes filled with tears, but before she could start crying properly, Robb was tugging her forward so that they could make their way to the front. And as she passed everyone who had gathered to watch the ceremony of her wedding, her eyes never once left Theon, nor did his leave her.

After Ylina and Robb made their way to the front and her older brother gave his best friend a warm smile, everyone sat down and the ceremony begun.

"Who comes before the Old Gods this night?" Ned asked, as Ylina lifted her eyes to meet Robb’s.

Smiling down at the girl in front of him, Robb lifted his head to face his father again.

"Ylina, of the House Stark, comes here to be wed. A woman grown, trueborn and noble. She comes to beg the blessing of the Gods. Who comes to claim her?"

When the words left Robb’s mouth, Theon glanced at Ned and, when the man nodded at him, he took a step forward as Ylina smiled.

“Theon, of House Greyjoy, lord heir of the Iron Islands. Who gives her?”

“Robb, of House Stark, her brother and lord heir of Winterfell.”

With a nod from her father, Ylina finally let go of Robb’s arm and stepped forward to grab Theon’s hand instead. When he saw the smile on his daughter’s face, the man chuckled. He could’ve done a thousand bad things in his lifetime. He was sure he did. But wedding his daughter to Theon Greyjoy was certainly not one of them.

“Lady Ylina, do you take this man?” Ned asked as the girl nodded.

“I take this man.”

As soon as she was done talking, they both smiled at each other, their happiness shining through their eyes. Exchanging a glance with Ned, Catelyn smiled once she saw the few tears rolling down his face. As Theon placed his hand over Ylina's cheek, he felt the girl leaning slightly at his touch, as excited for the next part of the ceremony as he was.

"With this kiss, I pledge my love." Theon announced, before leaning down and pulling Ylina toward him as their lips met.

Once they broke apart, Ylina reached for Theon's hand and laced their fingers together as they turned around and faced the crowd in the sept as they clapped. But as the warmth from Ylina's hand passed to him, Theon couldn't care less about the applause.

He was part of the Stark family now. He was hers and she was his. From this day, until the end of his days.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 11 - Most important part

As a child, Ylina didn't really understand why her Father spent day in and day out sitting behind a big wooden table, talking to people he didn't know, discussing matters that weren't his and trying to solve problems that wouldn't affect him. She remembered asking Robb about it once, as the two of them sat outside the castle, in the snow covered courtyard building the biggest snowman a child of eight years of age and his sister of barely six could possibly make.

"Why can't Father come play with us?" She recalled asking, looking up at Robb with big, innocent eyes.

"Father is busy, Lily." The older boy answered gently, looking around the snow to try and find some sticks.

"Busy with what?"

"He is the lord of Winterfell. He has to talk to people. Listen to them and help them."

"Why?"

Ylina remembered how Robb had chuckled at her question. She remembered how everyone she knew from her early years always told her how much of an annoying, curious little girl she had been. Not everyone could spend too much time with her at that age without snapping eventually. Jon, Theon, even her Father… They all answered a few of her questions but soon enough, they would send her off to try and find someone else to talk to. Robb, however, was a whole different story. While he did get annoyed from time to time, he never dismissed a question from Ylina, always taking his time to think about it and answer when he could. And even when he didn't have the answer, he would always tell her where to look for it.

"Why don't you ask Father tonight when he puts you to bed?" Robb had offered, finally spotting two sticks on the ground and running up to them, before placing them on the snowman to make some distorted arms for it. "There. What do you think?"

Robb watched as Ylina looked over the snowman and annalized it, from top to bottom. He smiled when she did.

"It needs a name." She decided. Robb chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Sure does." He said, scratching his chin and making a show out of trying to think of a name as Ylina giggled at him. "How about… Lord Bubbleton?"

Smiling brightly at his sister, Robb enjoyed the loud laughter she let out, usually not being allowed more than a discreet chuckle during family gathers since it wasn't the behavior of a proper lady to draw that much attention to herself.

"Robb! Lord Bubbleton is a silly name." She had said, as her brother only smirked down at her.

"It's perfect then. A snowman with a silly name to match a boy with a silly little sister."

"Robbie! I'm not silly!"

And as soon as the pout started to form on his  sister's face, Robb took off, running away with a joyful laugh as Ylina ran after him. They weren't sure why they were even running in the first place, but as they chased each other on the courtyard, throwing ocasional snowballs at each other, they couldn't care less.

Oh, what wouldn't Ylina give up to have another moment like that? What wouldn't she give to just have another moment of blissful ignorance, when everything she had to worry about was what they would be having for supper or whether or not Jon would be able to sneak her out just after sunrise to try and teach her how to ride? As she sat on the place her Father used to sit and her brother also did for a brief moment, with Maester Luwin beside her and Daria sprawled across the floor at her feet, she finally understood why both of them said that was the worst part about ruling. The problems never seemed to end and, try as they might, no ruler would ever be able to end them for good. How does one end hunger? How does one stop rapping? How does one punishes every person who stole from their neighbors?

The answer was an easy one, and Ylina remembered when she got it: the night after her talk to Robb, the girl followed his advice and asked their Father why he did what he did, even if she had heard him complaining about it time and time again to her Mother. And, as expected, the man had chuckled when he tucked his daughter in her bed gently.

"Being a Lord is like being a father, love." He had answered easily, as Ylina watched him carefully. "As a father, you want all your children to be happy and healthy. You want them to understand what is right and what is wrong. You want them to learn from you so they can grow to be great people. As lord, you want the same, but to everyone."

"But why do you always say it's boring?"

"Because they keep making the same mistakes, no matter how many times I reprehend them or tell them it is wrong. Sort of like you, who keeps ignoring your Mother's wishes and ends up locked up in your room every now and again."

At that, Ylina had blushed slightly, turning her face away from her father as the man laughed, leaning down to place a kiss to her cheek. Getting up from his place sitting in her bed, Ned was stopped before properly leaving the room when Ylina called out his name.

"Yes, love?" He asked, turned around to face her.

"What if you don't want to listen to what the people that come to you have to say?"

Ned smiled gently at her.

"Listening to what the people have to say is the most important part of my job, Ylina." He had said. 

And at the time, she didn't understand. But now, as she heard yet another tale from a woman working as a whore about how her last client refused to pay, the girl had started to understand. How could she learn about what was wrong in the North, if she didn't listen to the people who lived there? How could she make this place a good place for them if she ruled by the laws of the lords?

"I'll see that Lord Glover pays you. Double, for the troubles." Ylina said, as soon as the woman was done.

Looking up at her, Ylina saw the surprise in her face, but before she could say anything else, the woman had bowed exaggeratedly with a big smile.

"Thank you, my lady." She whispered. "Thank you so much."

As soon as she walked away, Ylina sighed rubbing her temple as she turned to look at Maester Luwin.

"I know what you are about to say." She sighed, already half-expecting the lecture. "Lord Glover is young, yes, but he's a lord nonetheless. The least he was expected to do was know how to treat a lady."

"Lord Glover won't take your orders to pay the woman so lightly."

"For as long as I am sitting here, women will be respected. Whores will be payed, rapers will be punished. And if any of these young lords wishes to argue, I will have them remember that their fathers and brothers are loyal to my family."

"You are no longer a Stark, lady Greyjoy."

At that, Ylina turned to face the Maester with raised eyebrows and an annoyed scoff. At the sound, Daria lifted her head, letting out a low growl, only relaxing when Ylina hushed her silently. Ignoring the older man sitting beside her at the table, Ylina turned to face one of the guards that was standing next to her.

"How many people are still outside?" She asked.

"52, my lady." He answered quickly, causing the girl sigh heavily.

"Let them know I will see 20 more today. The others are to be back tomorrow."

"Yes, my lady." 

And with a bow in her direction, the guard left the room. Still trying not to look at Maester Luwin, Ylina fixated her eyes on the big wooden doors in front of her that would soon open to reveal her next subject.

"Find Bran and Rickon." She said. "It's time for their classes soon, after all, isn't it, Maester?"

"Yes, my lady." He said, getting up from his seat and nodding his head at Ylina kept her eyes on the door.

As soon as the next person stepped inside, she put on her best smile and nodded.

"My lady." The man spoke as Ylina nodded. "I'm sorry to bother you with my troubles, but I have a request."

"Speak."

And as the man started to tell his story, the Lady found herself struggling to pay attention.

"Listening to what the people have to say is the most important part of my job."

That was what her Father had said. So that was she intended to do.

***

Just before sunrise was the best moment to hunt, and Ylina knew it. She had always loved to sneak out at the break of dawn, grab her favorite horse, her strongest bow and, with Daria always beside her, gallop out into the woods around Winterfell to try and get a rabbit or some kind of bird. Of course her mother always hated when she did that. Especially when she got home late for breakfast and covered in mud, but Ylina never cared. Her father never did, and neither did Robb or Theon, so why would she? Besides, Arya always idolized her for it and, even if she wasn’t the best with the bow and arrows, Ylina remembered how she always promised to take the little girl with her someday.

“Tell you what…” She recalled whispering to Arya over breakfast one morning a few months before, right after Ylina had to endure another one of her mother’s reprimands. “After the wedding, I’ll take to hunt with me and then, maybe, you can teach me your ways with a sword.”

Ylina remembered how Arya had smiled brightly but now, as she sat by a tree with a dead rabbit beside her, Daria playing in the woods freely close by and her white horse grazing the grounds around them, she felt that she never got the chance to fulfill her promise.

“I wish you were here, love.” Ylina whispered, playing with one of her arrows in her hands.

With a deep sigh, Ylina got up and picked up her bow and quiver. As soon as she did, Daria rushed over to her side, but not before picking the rabbit from the floor and proudly passing it to Ylina. With a soft smile, the girl petted her wolf and grabbed the rabbit from her mouth.

“Good girl.” She praised, before mounting on her horse and taking off, back to the Castle.

Passing through the gates, Ylina dismounted her horse before passing the reins to one of the stable boys. With Daria at her feet, her bow in one hand and the rabbit in the other, Ylina entered the castle, passing through the kitchen and giving the cook the rabbit. The old woman smiled gently at that, already far too used to Ylina's usual hunting trips by now to argue.

"It's lucky your mother isn't around, m'lady." She said, dabbing a wet cloth against her cheek to clean up a stain a mud from her face.

"It really is, Cotta." The girl responded with a smile. "But, at least, we'll get to have rabbit for supper tonight."

"Should we make it as Lord Rickon likes them?" The woman asked, causing Ylina to nod.

"The boys have been quite sad since Mother and Robb left. I suppose that will cheer them up a bit."

"Would you like a blueberry pie as well, m'lady?"

At the mention of the infamous blueberry pie from Cotta, the cook, Ylina felt her mouth watering.

"Oh, I would love a few pieces of that."

"Of course, m'lady. It will be done for supper."

With a smile, Ylina nodded, thanking the woman before turning around in her heels to leave. Before she did, however, she reached for the basket of apples by the entrance and grabbed one, taking a big bite out of it as Cotta let out a chuckle.

"You have been eating quite a lot, m'lady." She said, as Ylina gasped in fake offense and turned to look at the cook.

"And what is that supposed to mean, Cotta?"

“Not at all, m’lady.”

Hearing the woman's laugh, Ylina left the kitchens, taking another bite of her apple as she made her way to her chambers. Upon arriving, she pushed the door open, only to reveal her three maids standing around, probably waiting for her as Osha sat at the end of her bed. As soon as she stepped inside, the maids bowed slightly.

"My lady." They mumbled, before ushering the girl forward to start stripping her out of her dirty gown she always wore when out to hunt and into some more presentable clothing for her duties as Lady.

Osha watched with a smirk as Prya worked on Ylina's hair as Elissa went to put the dirty clothes away and Uma moved to clean Ylina as much as she could.

"You'll be late." Osha noted, as Ylina shrugged.

"Not by much."

"Still, Maester Luwin won't appreciate it."

Rolling her eyes, Ylina sent Osha a smirk through the mirror.

"As if you care."

Osha laughed and so did Ylina, but the young girl stopped with a gasp when Elissa pulled at the strings of the corset around her body.

"Forgive me, my lady!" The woman was quick to apologize as Ylina leaned forward against the vanity and tried to catch her breath. "That is the same corset you always wear. I didn't know you… Forgive me, my lady. I should of have been gentler."

"No, it's alright, Elissa, don't worry about it."

"Yeah. It's not really your fault m'lady got fat." Osha spoke up and, as much as Ylina wanted to laugh, everything that had been happening over the last three moons started to make sense. Noticing her silence, Osha frowned. "I'm sorry, Ylina, I didn't mean to…"

"I have been eating more." The girl started to mumble, as if she hadn't just interrupted her friend's apologies. "The corset I always wear doesn't fit me anymore. I haven't bled in three moons, ever since the boys left."

"My lady…" Prya said, as Ylina gasped and lifted her hands to rest against her stomach.

"By the gods…" She whispered, the weight of her conclusion still not entirely sunk in.

"You have a babe in there." Osha said, nodding at Ylina as the girl stood naked in front of her mirror.

"I suppose I do." She nodded.

"That is great, my lady." Uma smiled. "A babe is always a blessing. Some say having a baby always brings good fortune."

At that, Ylina let out a nervous giggle, feeling her eyes fill with tears as her hands rested above her belly. Trying hard not to cry, the girl turned around to face her maids.

"Get me a less constraining dress and go tell Maester Luwin I have to talk to him in private."

With a nod of her head, Elissa left the room, quickly being followed by the other two maids who left to give Ylina some privacy after placing a coat over her bare form. 

Walking toward her bed, Ylina sat down beside Osha and Daria was quick to sit in between her legs, placing her head on her knee. With a smile, Ylina petted the wolf.

"You knew, didn't you?" She asked, as Daria lifted her blue eyes to meet hers. "That's why you have been so protective these past days, huh, you silly girl?"

When Daria hummed from the back of her throat, Ylina laughed. Noticing all the emotions going through Ylina, Osha turned to her with a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"A baby…" The girl mumbled in response, as if she wasn't even sure it was real. "My baby."

"It is." She nodded chuckling when she noticed Ylina's hands hadn't left her belly yet. "Congratulations, mama wolf."

At that, Ylina laughed.

"Mama wolf already…" She mumbled with a smile. "And who would've thought?"

"To be quite fair, pretty lady, you and the scum never were ones to waste time, were you?"

Ylina gasped at the bluntness of the statement but she should've been used to it by now. It was Osha after all. With a scoff, she punched her friend lightly as the wildling woman simply laughed.

"It is true!" Osha defended herself. With a roll of her eyes, Ylina shrugged.

"Well… Can't really deny it."

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 9 - Lady of Winterfell

It was the first time in days that the three older children in the castle had a time for themselves and as Ylina, Robb and Theon laughed and chatted over pieces of bread and glasses of milk, it was as if they were young again. As they enjoyed themselves over a breakfast, it was almost as if they were once again the innocent children they once were, trying to eat as fast as possible so they could sneak out to train, or ride horses before Lady Catelyn would find them and take Ylina away from the boys and toward her boring classes of needlework or etiquette. They knew that wasn’t the case, however. Lady Stark wasn’t around, Robb was lord of Winterfell, they weren’t children anymore and, certainly, none of them was in any kind of rush to leave the table. Not that morning, at least.

As Theon told Ylina and Robb one of his usual jokes that usually ended with Ylina throwing whatever was in her reach at the moment at him and Robb letting out a loud laugh at the exchange, Maester Luwin entered the room with a roll in his hands. When Ylina looked up at him, she knew he was carrying bad news so, as Robb got up from his place at the table, the girl let go of the piece of bread in her hands and watched with careful eyes as Robb opened the roll and read it.

“Treason?” He asked, after a moment of silence. 

At that, Ylina frowned, and Robb passed the letter to her. As her eyes scanned the piece of paper in her hands, she couldn’t help but feel her heart dropping to her stomach. Her Father? Plotting against the throne? Being held in custody while waiting judgement? And Sansa… Sansa wanted Robb to go to King’s Landing and swear his loyalty to the Joffrey Baratheon, the new King? Nothing in that letter made sense, but most of all, there was no mention of Arya.

Ylina must have spent quite some time in astonished silence, because, soon enough, Robb called out her name softly causing the girl to lift her head up to look at him. 

“Sansa wrote this?” He asked, as she nodded. 

“It is our sister's hand, but the queen's words.” She answered.

“Joffrey puts our father in chains, now he wants his arse kissed?” The boy scoffed. 

“This is a royal command, my lord.” Maester Luwin said. “If you should refuse to obey…” 

“I won't refuse. His Grace summons me to King's Landing, I'll go to King's Landing.” Robb interrupted the Maester, as Theon and Ylina exchanged a glance. Robb was in a difficult position in that moment and his next words would define the course of their next few months, at least. “But not alone.”

At that, Ylina let out a heavy breath. It was mixture of relief and fear, something she had never felt before, but as Theon smiled up at Robb, she knew that, at the very least, he’d have his best friend's support in his decision on marching down South for their father’s freedom.

“Call the banners.” Robb commanded, as Maester Luwin hesitated.

“All of them, my lord?” 

“They've all sworn to defend my father, have they not?” Robb countered, causing the older man to nod. 

“They have.”

“Now we see what their words are worth.”

With a nod of his head, Maester Luwin left the room. As soon as he did, Robb sat down again beside Theon as Ylina leaned forward on the table to get just a tiny bit closer to her brother. Noticing his tense posture, she bit her lip slightly. 

“Are you afraid?” She asked.

Ylina watched as Robb lifted his hand up at the height of his chest so everyone could see how shaky it was. 

“I must be.” He said.

“Good.” Theon spoke up, as the two siblings turned to them with a frown.

“Why is that good?” Robb asked, as Theon simply smirked at him.

“It means you're not stupid.”

***

It had been a quiet few days in Winterfell. Of course Rickon and Bran had noticed the changes. It wasn't difficult either. With more and more lords pilling up in the Castle everyday, it was clear that something was about to happen. Still, every time the younger boys asked what was going on, no one had the heart to tell them the truth. That is, not until Maester Luwin decided to burst the protective bubble Ylina and Robb always tried to put Bran and Rickon in.

"War?" The youngest of the boys demanded, pushing the door of her sister's room open without any kind of ceremony. "Maester Luwin says Robb is preparing for war. He says he'll leave soon with Theon and all of the other lords to go to King's Landing. Is it true?"

For the first time that day, Ylina lifted her head from the pillows of her bed, sitting up as her eyes fell on Rickon. She had been sick over the past two days and, as much as both, Theon and Robb insisted that she should probably talk to one of the Maesters, she refused, knowing it was all her anxiety for them building up inside of her and trying to get out through vomiting and dizziness.

"It is, Rick." She nodded gently, opening her arms wide when she noticed how Rickon's eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Father is being held in the Capital and so are our sisters and still, King Joffrey wants Robb to bend the knee and pledge the North's loyalty to him."

"Why is Father being held?" The young boy asked, cuddling himself into his sister's arms.

"We are not sure, Rickon. But Robb will figure it out."

"And he'll bring back Father?" He asked, as Ylina nodded. "That's why all the lords are here?"

"Yes."

"And they'll be leaving soon?"

"Yes."

"Will Robb say goodbye to us?"

"Of course he will, love." Ylina smiled, placing a kiss to Rickon's forehead as the boy held onto her tightly. "Robb would never leave without saying goodbye."

At that, Rickon nodded. As Ylina wiped a few of his tears away, the boy relaxed against her touch, but frowned when he noticed just how warm her skin felt against his.

"Are you better, Lina?" He asked sweetly, to which the girl smiled.

"I'll be fine, I promise. It's just a light fever."

"Are you sure?"

"I am, love. Don't worry." She assured with a smile as the boy's blue eyes searched hers looking for any sign of a lie. "Now, go back to bed, will you? It's late and you shouldn't be awake. And don't you worry about Robb and Theon. They will be fine, I know it."

With a small nod of his head, Rickon kissed his sister's cheek and climbed off her bed before walking out of her room with Shaggydog at his feet. As soon as he left, Ylina fell back down on her bed with a huff, and Daria took that as her cue to climb up and cuddle close to her owner, nuzzling her snout slightly on her neck, as the girl let out a small giggle.

"It'll be hard, won't it, girl? Just me and you to look after the boys?" She asked quietly, as the caramel wolf lifted her head and tilted it slightly with a small whine. "At least I have you, huh? Will you keep me company, D? Will you help me get through this without Robb and Theon?"

At that, Daria moved so she could place her head across Ylina's stomach and the girl smiled at the affection reaching her hand down to scratch her behind her ear.

"Thank the gods I have you, Daria, or I'd be lost right now."

Ylina wasn't sure how long it had been that she and Daria had spent in each other's company in complete and utter silence, but when there was a knock on her door and one of her maids told her Robb had requested her presence at the feast of the lords, she knew it had been a while.

"Can you help me, Prya?" She asked, as the maid entered the room.

"At once, my lady." She said, helping Ylina out of the bed and into a proper dress, considering she had yet to step out of her sleeping gown that day.

As Prya brushed Ylina's hair and started braiding a few bits of it to make a quick but presentable style out of her messy red locks, Daria sat beside her, enjoying the way the girl's fingers ran through her fur. Once ready, Prya accompanied Ylina and Daria to the dining hall where the feast was being held but stopped by the door.

"Thank you, Prya." She smiled gently as the maid simply bowed her head and left.

When she turned to the guards in front of the door, they both bowed at her quickly, mumbling the usual 'my lady' before pulling the door open for her. As soon they did, however, the noise of the men's laughter and the smell of deer meat hit her at once, almost causing the girl to stumble back.

"My lady?" One of the guards was about to reach out for her, but before he could, Daria growled loudly from beside her causing the guard to step back.

"Forgive me, Ser." She said, before a hand over Daria's head to assure her everything was fine. "I'm alright."

With an unsure nod of his head, the guard let Ylina pass and, as soon as her first high-heeled boot clicked against the stone floor, all the lords stopped their conversation and got up from their seats.

"My lady." They all said, as Ylina smiled the best she could and nodded at them as she passed by, walking straight at Robb at the head of the table.

"How are you feeling?" He whispered down at her, pressing the palm of his hands against her cheek as soon as she was close enough.

"Alright." She responded in the same tone, eyes locking with his. "Been better."

Robb smiled at that and let go of her, allowing the girl to walk around him to stand beside Theon, who was sat beside Bran as the younger boy seemed to drift in and out of sleep every second.

"I told you to go see a Maester." The Greyjoy said, causing Ylina to smiled gently as she placed a kiss to his forehead.

"And I told you I don't need to." She retorted, as Robb chuckled at the already expected behavior.

"Don't bother, Theon. For Ylina to actually go see a Maester, she needs to be properly dying." He said, as his sister scoffed and shoved him slightly, almost completely forgetting about all the lords around them.

"And since I'm not, I don't have to see anyone. Now, will you two please leave me alone?"

Chuckling lightly, the two young men decided to drop the subject, even if none of them was too happy with the outcome. Before any of them could say anything, however, Ylina turned to Robb while having hand on Theon's shoulder.

"You wanted to see me, brother?" She asked, causing Robb to nod.

"I was expecting you could take Bran to bed, since he seems to have lost interest in the conversation we are having here." He smirked, nodding at the boy who was now properly sleeping leaning against Theon's arm. Ylina chuckled with a nod.

"It is past his bedtime, anyway…"

Before the girl could walk away from Robb however, he reached for her arm and she turned to him with a frown.

"Anything else, brother?"

"Yes, sister." He said, causing Ylina to nod and allow Robb to pull her closer to him as he stood at the head of the table, turning her around so the two of them were facing the lines of lords in front of them. "I called you here so you can hear what I have to say next. Since I'll be going away for a while, I'm hereby nominating you the active Lady of Winterfell and wardeness of the North in my absence."

At that, Ylina felt her eyes widening and, apparently, she wasn't the only one surprised. At the end of the table, a man Ylina recognized as Lord Glover got up from his seat.

"You expect us to leave a woman in command, my lord? A Greyjoy, no less?"

"My sister did marry a Greyjoy and she might carry their name now, but she has always carried the Stark blood in her veins and always will. Nothing ever will be able to change the fact that Lady Ylina is a Stark, whose sigil is a wolf and who spent half of her life learning our words."

When Robb turned to her, Ylina wasted no time in reciting the words she could say ever since she could talk.

"Winter is coming." She said, as Robb nodded.

"Ylina is a Stark by blood and a Greyjoy by choice. Nothing will ever change that. She will be the ruler of the North while I am absent and I will hear no more about it, is it clear?"

There was a second of silence, but soon enough, the lords decided it was better not to question that decision and started to agree, with a chorus of 'yes, my lord'. 

Ylina felt as if she still couldn't even breathe properly, and when she turned to look at Robb, her brother smiled down at her.

"Robb…" She whispered, incapable of saying anything else.

"You will make a good ruler, Lily. You are smart and kind. I know the North will be in good hands if I leave it in yours." He said, as the girl simply looked up at him. "Besides, it's only temporary."

At that, Ylina nodded, before pulling her brother in for a hug and burying her face in his chest as he chuckled and squeezed her against him lightly, none of them really caring about how they should or shouldn't be behaving in front of the lords.

"Now, go put Bran to bed and sleep a bit, will you?" Robb said, forcing Ylina to look up at him and giving her a tight smile. "You will have a big day tomorrow."

Ylina felt the tears started to gather in her eyes, but breathing deeply, she managed not to break just yet.

"You two better wake me up before you go, or I swear I will follow you into whatever fucking battle you are just to kill you both by myself, do you understand me?"

At that, Robb chuckled, playing with the ends of Ylina's long hair as he placed a kiss to her forehead.

"Consider me warned." He said, before nodding slightly at Bran. "Now go."

Nodding at him, Ylina stepped out of Robb's grasp and walked toward Bran, carefully picking him up as she tried not to wake him up. That failed however because, as soon as Theon helped putting Bran in his wife's arms, he woke up. Or rather, opened his eyes and started to talk nonsense.

"Grey Wind attacked lord Umber… Pulled two of his fingers right off." He said, as Ylina chuckled with a roll of her eyes. "It's true, Lina. Look."

Following Bran's instructions, Ylina noticed how Grey Wind's mouth seemed to be covered in blood. Frowning, she looked for lord Umber, only to find him talking to lord Cerwyn with one hand holding the other, also covered in blood. Ylina gasped as Bran nodded his head lazily against her shoulders.

"See?"

"Yes, I see. But I don't think you should've seen it yourself." She mumbled, walking out of the room as the lords bowed their heads at her again and with Daria at her feet.

"I'm fine, Lina. I'm a…"

"Shh, just go to sleep, love. I think that was all a bit too much for you already."

And it wasn't like she had to tell him twice. As she finally got to Bran's room, carefully putting him to bed and making sure he was well covered, she walked out of his room, closing the door behind her as she looked down at Daria.

"Grey Wind ripped his fingers off, Daria." She whispered, as her own wolf tilted her head at her once again the night. "Seven hells, what else can you direwolves possibly do?"

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 3 - The fall

Masterlist

Ylina woke up with a groan when there was a knock on her door.

"My lord? My lady?"

Rolling over, the girl noticed Theon in a similar situation to hers: eyes barely open, arms and legs stretching slightly and a lazy smile on their lips as the events of last night repeated themselves in their heads.

"Morning." He said gently as Ylina sat up on their bed.

"Good morning." She answered with a smile. "Sleep well?"

"Didn't sleep much at all, actually."

At that, Ylina scoffed, throwing her pillow at Theon as she climbed out of bed and placed a coat over her body. Opening the door of her bedroom, she ended up face to face with one of her mother's maids, who bowed her head slightly when she saw her.

"Excuse me, my lady. But Lady Stark requested me to wake you and lord Greyjoy. Lord Stark is about to go off hunting with his Grace the King and asked for the presence of his ward."

"Of course." Ylina nodded slightly with a yawn. "We'll be out in a second, yes?"

"Your mother also requested me to ask you to look after lord Rickon while the rest of the men are away."

"Where will she be?" Ylina frowned, confused.

"She has matters to discuss with the Maesters. That was all she told me, my lady."

"Sure, thank you, Alanna." She said, as the maid smiled upon being addressed by her name by one of the ladies of Winterfell. "We'll be out soon."

With another bow of her head, Alanna turned around and left down the corridors as Ylina closed the door behind her. Letting her eyes fall on Theon, she smirked when he got up from the bed, ready to throw on some clothes and get ready for the day.

"Like what you see?" He asked, pulling up his pants causing Ylina to shrug.

"Seen it all before. Not that impressed to be fair."

"Sure." Theon rolled his eyes. "That was not how it looked like yesterday."

"Whatever." The girl smiled, moving to her wardrobe and pulling out one of her many dresses from there, making sure to pick one that allowed her to move more freely since her mother wouldn't be around to bug her about the way she should behave. "You should hurry, though. You don't want to keep my Father waiting."

With a chuckle and a nod, Theon finished getting dressed and, as he placed his coat over it all, he noticed Ylina sitting in her vanity chair, pulling her fringe out of her eyes and pinning it back with her usual silver wolf. Walking toward her, Theon placed a kiss to her cheek, but reached for her ass to give it a cheeky squeeze. With a surprised squeak, Ylina spun around in her chair and pointed her hairbrush in his direction.

"Theon!" She laughed as the man smiled at her with a wink.

"See you later tonight, my lady." He called as he walked through the door.

"Yeah. Try not to die out there, Theon!" She mocked causing the young man to bow dramatically in her direction.

"I'll do my very best."

And with that, he was out of the room, walking down the corridors of the castle and toward the grounds where he was sure Robb and Ned were waiting for him. 

After finally finishing the last touches of her braid, Ylina walked out of her room and made her way toward the dining room, where both Bran and Rickon were currently having their breakfast as Catelyn stood beside them with Maester Luwin beside her.

"My lady." The Maester said, bowing his head politely, as Ylinandid the same.

"Maester Luwin. Mother."

"Sansa and Arya are taking their classes with the other ladies." Catelyn started to explain, as soon as Ylina sat on table in front of Rickon. "I will be out with Maester Luwin for the morning. You are in charge of the boys, is that clear?"

"Yes, Mother." Ylina answered quickly, before reaching over the table for a piece of bread.

"And you two… Behave yourselves. Listen to your sister."

"Yes, Mother." They both responded in the usual monotone sound.

At that, Catelyn nodded, turning around and leaving the room with Maester Luwin close behind her. As soon as they were out of sight, Ylina bit on her bread and turned to face her brothers with a smile.

"So, now that the tyrant is out… What do you two want to do?"

***

Rickon watched as Ylina hit again and again right in the bull's eye. Every time one of her arrows flew from her bow straight to the small red dot in the middle of the target, he smiled.

"How did you learn it?" Rickon asked suddenly from his place in a bench beside Ylina.

"Theon taught me when we were kids." She answered right after hitting bull's eye again.

"Theon?" Rickon frowned, as Ylina nodded.

"The Greyjoys are known for their archery." She shrugged.

As she moved to go grab the arrows she had shot, Rickon got up from his place to do it for his sister. Watching with a smile as Rickon moved from one target to the next picking up her arrows, she used this time to relax the muscles of her arms.

"Do you know what else the Greyjoys are known for?" She asked, trying to make conversation. "Did Maester Luwin get to that part of history with you already?"

"The Great Houses?" Rickon asked, causing Ylina to hum in agreement. "We're starting it now. I don't know about the Greyjoys, though. We're still seeing the Houses of the North."

"Yeah? Tell me what you know, then."

When Rickon finishing collecting the arrows for Ylina, he ran up to her and handed them over to the girl. With a smile and a small 'thank you', Ylina put all but one of the arrows in her quiver preparing to shoot again.

"House Stark, lords Paramount of the North for centuries. Sigil: a direwolf; words: winter is coming." He started to recite in an automatic voice that made it clear to Ylina he knew all of that simply because he had to. "House Mormont, lords of Bear Island. Sigil: a bear; words: here we stand. House Cerwyn, lords of Castle Cerwyn. Sigil: an axe; words: honed and ready. House Reed..."

"Alright, that's enough." Ylina chuckled, letting another arrow fly. "I can tell I'm boring you half to death."

"History is boring." Rickon whined, causing Ylina to roll her eyes.

"No, it's not. Once you understand the importance of it, you start to appreciate it." She said, finally letting go of her bow as she came to sit beside Rickon on the bench.

"Maester Luwin said you were his best student in History of the Kingdoms that he's ever had. He said he learned more things with you than he ever taught you." 

"Well…" She shrugged. "I was a very… Eager student, one might say."

"Eager enough to go all the way and learn Valyrian?" Rickon asked, a small bit of mockery in his tone. Ylina rolled her eyes. All of her siblings loved to make fun of her love for history and languages and now even Rickon was picking up on that. "They only speak it on the other side of the sea, Lina. It's useless around here."

Rickon watched as Ylina opened her mouth and, through her lips, came sounds he had never heard in his entire life, frowning deeply, he tried to make some kind of sense out of it.

"What?"

"It's Valyrian. Means 'know the rules to win the game'. One of the greatest battle strategist who ever lived was born in Braavos." Ylina smirked, as Rickon laughed."Not so useless now, is it?"

Reaching for her brother, Ylina started to tickle him. So focused on Rickon, Ylina didn't notice how Daria, who had been lying by her feet the whole time, lifted her head up when Summer came running in her direction. It wasn't until the brown direwolf tugged in the ends of her owner's dress that Ylina turned her attention to her.

"What's wrong, Daria?" She asked, before noticing a very agitated Summer in front of her. "What? What is it?"

When Summer spun around and ran, Ylina was fast to follow him, instructing Rickon to stay put as Daria took her place on watching over the youngest Stark. Following the wolf around the castle, Ylina didn't even question his motives, knowing that, whatever it was, it was serious. It wasn't until they reached the tower of the castle that Ylina started to grow worried. 

When Summer took a sharp turn and whined, Ylina let out a scream upon seeing her little brother laying there, on the floor, motionless. She kneeled beside Bran, in a second and her hands hovered over him, afraid of touching him and making the situation worse, but as she called out his name in despair and got no answer at all, she knew she was a mess. So much so that her sobs alerted the guards close to her, who made move to approach the siblings but stopped when Summer stood in front of them, growling slowly.

He was small, still a pup, but still, he was a direwolf pup and could easily rip at least a finger from their hands.

"My lady?" The guards called, standing at a safe distance.

"Call the Maesters now." She cried out, whipping her tears away as she caressed her brother's face gently. "Bran is hurt."

Ylina wasn't sure how long it had been since she stood there, crying and sobbing over Bran's body with Summer beside her, nuzzling his nose in her hands as she clutched to him as if her life depended on it. It probably wasn't long though, because soon enough, a shrill scream was heard and she knew her mother was close. She could faintly hear horses coming through the castle's door, but as Bran was picked up from the floor next to her, she felt numb.

It wasn't until Catelyn harshly pulled her up to her feet that the girl snapped back to reality.

"You were supposed to be looking after him!" She yelled.

Surprised by her mother's reaction, Ylina took a second to recompose herself, but, soon enough, she felt all her rage and her fear burst out of her chest.

"And you don't think I know this?" She yelled back. Both of the women were crying and making a scene in the middle of the grounds, but none of them cared. No one was going to interrupt them anyway, since they were two of the ladies of Winterfell. "I was looking after Rickon, Mother! I can't be in two places at the same time!"

"You were supposed to be keeping an eye on both of them!" Catelyn insisted. "I thought you were more responsible than that, Ylina!"

"I didn't mean for this to happen! I never… I didn't…"

"Of course you didn't mean it! It happened anyway! Bran fell from the tower while you were supposed to be looking after him!"

"Well, I am not his bloody mother!"

And as soon as the words left her mouth, the voice of her Father cut through the air.

"What is going on here?" He demanded.

Before anyone could say anything however, Ylina picked up the ends of her dress and ran off, ignoring Theon calling after her. The young man was about to follow after her, but Robb grabbed hold of his hand.

"Leave her." He whispered, as Ned moved to gather Cat in his arms as the woman tried to tell him what was happening through her sobs and whimpers. "Whatever it is, she needs time alone."

And with a nod from his best friend, Robb and Theon moved closer to Catelyn and Ned as they too heard the news of Bran's accident.

***

Robb was careful to approach them. Sure Daria was used to him and trusted him like his sister did, but he had started to realize just how connected the direwolves were to their owners, to the point where they even seemed to know all of the emotions they were feeling.

So knowing that now, all the feelings in Ylina's heart were not good ones, Robb thought it would be prudent to not startle Daria.

And his decision was a wise one because, as soon as he got close enough to reach a hand over and place it on Ylina's shoulder, Daria growled. As Robb took a step back, Ylina didn't even move from her kneeled position in front of the tree of Godswood before speaking up.

"I know what you're going to say, Robb." She said. As she had her eyes closed, Robb wondered how she could possibly know it was him, but he was glad she did. At least he wouldn't have to speak too much. "It's not your fault, Lily. Don't blame yourself."

"It's not." Robb confirmed. "It's not your fault, Lily."

"Then why does it feel like it is?" She yelled, finally opening her eyes and getting up to stand in front of Robb. "Why does it feel like this? I was the one who was supposed to be watching over him! I was the one who was supposed to be taking care of him!"

"You couldn't have know, Lily, you…"

"He told me he was going to see Father off." Ylina cried out, tears spilling down her eyes non-stop. "I should've known, though. When he didn't come back, I should've known he was going to go climbing. It's Bran, after all."

"Lily…"

"And the worst part?" She continued, as if Robb had never interrupted her. "The worst part is that I didn't even notice! I was so happy to finally be able to train with the bow and arrow again without Mother to annoy me that I didn't even noticed that Bran hadn't come back. I was so busy with Rickon that I didn't even notice! I'm an awful person, Robb. I'm a terrible sister!"

"Ylina." Robb said, sternly, placing both of his hands on his sister's shoulder and forcing her to look up at him and meet his eyes. "You are not an bad sister. Nor a bad person. You are great. And none of this is your fault. Do you understand me?"

"But…"

"Lily."

"But Mother…"

"Mother was angry and scared. She didn't mean what she said."

"Robb…"

"Lily, it wasn't your fault. Say it. Tell me you understand, love."

"I—I understand." Ylina nodded. "It wasn't my fault. But… But what if… What if Bran…"

"They are doing their best, Lily. The best Maesters in Winterfell are doing all that they can. Bran will be fine."

"What if he dies?"

"He's a Stark, Lily. We're tough to kill and tougher to die." He smiled gently, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears as his hands rested on her cheeks. "You'll see. Bran will push through, alright? And everything will be just as it used to."

Letting out a strangled sob, Ylina jumped up and wrapped her arms around Robb's neck as his came to squeeze her around the waist. He lifted her off the ground as she cried and sobbed into his furred coat and, when his strength started to give out, he placed her back on the floor, looking down at her and wiping her tears again. Placing a kiss to her forehead, Robb sighed sadly.

"We can't do much now, Lily. We just have to wait."

At that, Ylina nodded, but grabbed his hands from her cheeks and held them tight in between their bodies.

"Pray with me?" She asked gently, causing Robb to nod.

He allowed her to guide him to where she was a few seconds before and kneeled beside her in front of the tree as Ylina let go of his hands and laced her fingers together, bringing both her hands to her lips as she closed her eyes and muttered the words of all the prayers she knew, begging the Mother to have mercy on her and bring her brother back to them.

Following her lead, Robb did the same and, after the both of them were done, the oldest Stark reached out a hand to his sister, which she took.

They made their way back to the castle in silence but as soon as she walked through the doors, she felt another presence beside her, wasting no time in wrapping their arms around her waist and pulling her into a warm embrace. Already all too familiar with that smell, Ylina allowed herself to drawn into his safety as she heard his conversation with Robb.

"Any news?" Her brother had asked and, even if she couldn't see it, having her face buried deep onto his chest, Ylina could tell Theon was shaking his head.

"Nothing yet. Sorry." He said, before gently placing a hand on Ylina's cheek and forcing her to look at him. "How are you, Lily?"

"Fine." She shrugged emotionlessly. "I just want to see my brother."

Nodding understandingly, Theon decided not to say anything else. Instead, he just sat down with Ylina in his lap and Robb by his side as they all waited in silence in front of Bran's room. The day had, obviously, taken its toll on Ylina however, because, soon, the girl was fast asleep in her husband's arm, her uneven breathes finally calming down when sleep replaced guilt. Sharing a look between each other, Robb nodded tiredly as Theon patted him on the leg.

"Stay with her tonight. She'll need it." The oldest Stark said. "When she wakes up, tell her to look for me and I'll tell her the news I get."

Nodding at his best friend, Theon grabbed a stronger hold on Ylina, yet careful not to wake her, and got up from his place.

"Keep me informed, though." He asked, as Robb agreed with a deep hum from the back of his throat. "Good night, lad."

With a weak smile, Robb reached up and placed a gentle hand on Ylina's leg from over her dress before looking up at Theon.

"Good night." It was all he said before watching the couple make their way toward their room as he waited in front of Bran's doing the only thing any of them could do at that moment: praying.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 17 - In all but name

With each passing day, Ylina could feel herself growing more and more anxious. Of course it had only been a few days since Ser Rodrik left, but still, she couldn't stop herself from worrying. Especially not when Bran and Rickon constantly asked her about their loyal master-at-arms and she couldn't give them a proper answer. 

There had been no word from Torrent's Square, which could mean one of two things: either the battle was so thick not one of Ser Rodrik's men could spare a few moments to write their lady a letter or Ser Rodrik and the 150 men he took with him had lost the battle the moment they got to it. Neither of those looked too promising to the Starks and Ylina knew it. That was why she made a point of showing Osha all the hidden pathways they had under the castle for the lords and ladies of Winterfell to run if they ever needed to. Meanwhile, she also made sure to talk to the 250 men she still had in her guard. She made sure to spend almost a whole day discussing strengths, weaknesses and battle  plans if Winterfell ever happened to be attacked. Because, as much as she worried about her brothers' and son's safety, Ylina knew an attack to Winterfell meant much more than simply losing her home.

If Ser Rodrik was right and the attackers were sworn to the Lannisters, she knew she was in a bad position. Should Ser Rodrik lose his battle, Winterfell was the next step and, with 250 men, no matter how good they were, Ylina knew she wouldn't be able to hold the castle much longer. Even from Southerners. And should she lose her hold on the castle, it would be a blow to Robb's image. She knew it. She knew that if her castle was taken from her, it would make Robb look bad in the eyes of many of his men, since about half of them didn't even like the idea of Ylina being their lady to begin with.

Ylina knew it. She had too much at stake, but, unlike her brother, she didn't even stand a chance. So she did the only thing she knew she could do at that point: pray.

Going to Godswood seemed almost foreign to her now. Ylina wasn't sure when it was the last time she did it. She couldn't remember the last time she stained her dress, kneeling in front of the big tree in the middle of the woods and whispered the words under her breath. Maybe it was that day, after her fight with her Mother after Bran was pushed from the tower. Maybe it was the day after Robb and Theon left to war. Maybe it was the day the news of her Father's murder got to her. She wasn't sure, but in any case, she was glad she still remembered the words. She was glad she still knew how to plead for the gods so they would be kind to her brother, so they would be kind to Ser Rodrik, so they would be kind to her, so they would allow Winterfell to come out unscratched from this war.

Apparently, Ylina was saying her words wrong, however, because not a second after she got back up to her feet and shook the dust from the skirts of her dress, one of the messenger boys of the castle approached her carefully.

"A letter from Deepwood Motte, my lady." He said, handing her the paper.

With a frown, Ylina looked at the gloved fist stamp that represented the Glovers. Pulling it open, her eyes scanned the letters rapidly, before she let out a frustrated groan.

"Find me Maester Luwin and send him to my study. Now!" She demanded, as the messenger bowed at her and watched as she passed by him with certainty in her steps.

"My lady." He mumbled before quickly running off to obey the young woman.

Ylina’s thoughts were flying at a fast pace through her mind. Now, Deepwood Motte was a way more strategic place to attack. The Glovers were a very powerful and ancient house in the North, but they were proud people, always ready to prove their strength, which made them reckless. Ylina was sure Lord Robett Glover had sent all of his sons to war with Robb and, at least two thirds of his army and if she knew it, so did the Lannisters. So if they were attacking Torrent's Square now, why not attack the greater House with, more likely than not, the least amount of armed men?

Still, one thing didn't make sense… Deepwood Motte had received its name for a reason. The Glover's castle was surrounded, if not for the dense Wolfswood, then for the sea of the Bay of Ice. How could the Lannisters attack there? The only reasonable answer to that, was that they attacked with ships, but whose ships?

"My lady?" Maester Luwin's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and, running toward the closed door of her study, Ylina pulled it open, quickly motioning for the man to step inside. "I understand Lady Glover sent you a message."

"Yes. She sent me a message alright." The girl answered through gritted teeth, giving the old man the letter she had been crushing in her hands without even noticing. "Told me at least 20 ships were approaching at their bay and shooting fire arrows to the soil without a second thought."

"Deepwood Motte under attack?" Maester Luwin frowned, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Not any attack. From the sea." Ylina noted, pacing around in the room. "Tell me, Maester, if it is the Lannisters attacking us, how could they possibly be doing it with a fleet? They don't have it. They fight in land!"

"I-I wouldn't know, my lady." The Maester stammered, unsure of what to say.

"Well, neither do I. But what am I supposed to do? I have a third of the man power Winterfell used to have. I sent 150 with Ser Rodrik. If I send another 150 to aid Lord Glover, that leaves me 100 men here. How can a 100 men protect Winterfell? Besides, who would lead the men up to Deepwood Motte? Half of them have never stepped foot in the Wolfswood. I can not…"

Ylina stopped rambling the second she heard a knock on her door. Cursing under her breath, the girl walked there and pulled it open, staring at the guard in front of her with fire burning behind her grey eyes. The guard gulped down hard, knowing his lady was angry and, as much as he knew her to be just and kind, he had never seen her in a moment of proper rage, so he wasn't sure what she could actually do.

"Forgive me, my lady, but there are men outside the walls, waiting to come inside."

"Men? Whose men?"

"Bolton's."

With a frown, Ylina turned to Maester Luwin and, when the man shrugged, she sighed.

"Very well… Send them in." She decided, as the guard bowed at her and left.

Turning to her Maester again, Ylina fixed the sleeves of her dress before running her finger through her hair to make sure it looked at least somewhat presentable.

"We are not fighting off the lions." She said, causing Maester Luwin to agree begrudgingly.

"Who are we fighting then?" He asked.

"I don't know yet." She admitted, meekly, before turning around to leave her study. "But I bet everything it isn't the Lannisters."

Ignoring the clicks of her own boots against the stone cold floors of the hallways, Ylina quickly made her way from her study to the common room. As soon as the guards pushed open the doors for her and she stepped inside, she noticed three men in the middle of the room. Upon recognizing her, the three of them kneeled to the floor, faces to the ground as Ylina came to a stop in front of them.

"My lady." The three of them mumbled, causing Ylina to sigh.

"No need for that." She dismissed gently, as the man in the middle lifted his eyes to meet hers. Nodding at the sigil stamped in the chest of his armor, Ylina spoke up again. "House Bolton, I assume."

"Yes, my lady." He smiled, quite proudly, only daring to raise to his feet again when Ylina waved her hand at him. "My father is away, fighting for your brother and we are proud bannermen of the King in the North."

"I see." Ylina nodded. "Thank you, my lord."

"I am no lord, my lady." The man said, as Ylina frowned at him.

"Oh, forgive me. I thought you said your father…"

"Aye. My father is Lord Roose Bolton. But that doesn't make me a lord in itself, my lady."

"Snow?" Ylina asked gently, finally understanding what the man was talking about.

"Ramsay, if you will, my lady." He said, bowing his head again.

"Ramsay." She repeated, as the man smiled at her. "And may I ask you what you are doing here, my— Ramsay."

At her correction, Ramsay smiled.

"It came to my knowledge Deepwood Motte is under attack, my lady." He said, as the girl frowned.

"How?" She asked, as the man shrugged.

"My father was a very good friend of Lord Glover's. Our families have always had… Deep ties." He said. At that, Ylina nodded. "As soon as the castle was attacked, Lady Glover sent word to me. I suppose she sent word to you, as well, my lady?"

"She did."

"In name of my Father and his ties to good Lord Glover, I would like to lead a party to Deepwood Motte and attack those who dared to attack us, my lady." Ramsay spoke up, once again bowing his head at her. "I understand I couldn't do it without your permission, however, so I…"

"How many men do you have, Ramsay?" Ylina asked, suddenly, as the man took a second to recover from his surprise of being interrupted before answering easily.

"200, my lady. The rest is off fighting our war with his grace, your brother."

"200 good man?" She asked, as Ramsay nodded. "Were I to give you another 50, would you take me with you?"

At that, Ramsay visibly hesitated. Ylina's face remained unreadable, already expecting that reaction from the young man. His clear green eyes were wide as they stared at her impassive grey ones. His internal debate was clear to anyone who as much as spared him a glance: how could he deny a request from his lady? At the same time, taking a woman to war? And not any woman… The lady of Winterfell, Stark in all but name. He looked back at one of the men he had brought inside the castle with him, probably the chief of his guard.

"My lady, I don't think…"

"Your men are good." She interrupted him again. "Boltons are known across the lands for their battle skills. Your ancestors were strong, resilient and, some say, a bit cruel. But their blood runs in your veins and your soldiers learned from people of your trust. You might be a Snow, Ramsay, but I can see it in you. You are a Bolton, in all but name." 

"My lady…"

"And, should we come back victorious from this battle, I am sure King Robb will be grateful enough to grant you what you yearn for the most." She said, taking a step forward as her face stood mere inches away from his own.

"And what would that be, my lady?" He smirked, causing the girl to chuckle slightly before returning the same mischievous expression he was sending her back at him.

"King Robb will be happy to officializate you as a Bolton in repayment for your services, my lord." She said, emphasizing on the last words, knowing they would, most likely, make him give in.

Ylina watched as Ramsay looked back at the chief of his guard once again. When the older man shrugged, Ramsay turned back around and fixated his green eyes on Ylina.

"As you wish, my lady." He said, as the girl nodded with a smile. "Do you have a weapon?"

At that, she scoffed.

"If I have a weapon? It's almost as if you haven't heard all the stories about me, my lord." She repeated, as the young man chuckled. "See that your men are fed and rested. We will leave at sunrise."

At that, Ramsay nodded, waving at his men for them to leave. He watched as Ylina spun around to leave the room as well, but before she could, in a bold move, he grabbed her by the arm and made her stop to look at him.

"Thank you, my lady." He said, causing the girl to shake her head.

"Don't thank me. Not yet. We haven't won." She sighed, before opening a small smile. "And call me Ylina."

"Ylina." Ramsay repeated, the same way she had when she learned his name. "Thank you for your kindness."

"The hospitality of Winterfell is yours, my lord." She said with a gentle smile. "As it is anyone's who fights under the Stark name."

And as Ramsay watched her go away, he was sure. Ylina was a Stark. She might not have their name anymore, but their blood ran in her veins and it pumped her heart and that would definitely work in his favor when the time was right. Because if there was one thing the whole Westeros knew, was that the Starks had one flaw that would always, eventually, lead them to their deaths: honor.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 2 - The feast

Masterlist

The feast was buzzing with energy. As people ate, drank, talked and laughed, the whole room seemed to be about to explode at any second.

Sitting at the head of the biggest table, Ylina had Rickon in her lap and Theon beside her. On a chair on her other side was Robb and, beside him, Jon. As the three older boys drank their ales and exchanged stories in loud voices and boisterous laughter, Ylina looked down at the sleepy Rickon in her arms, wondering how he could possibly be drifting in and out of consciousness with the amount of noise surrounding them. 

As Robb retold one of Ylina's and his old shenanigans in the castle grounds, the girl's attention travelled to the table where her mother was sat, with Queen Cersei on her side. It was clear none of the women was happy with their current situation, but as Sansa approached them to chat, Ylina noticed how much she tried to impress the Queen. Of course she would. It was a dream of hers to travel to the capital, and now that she could have that chance, the little girl would try her very best to seize that opportunity.

"No wonder your mother wants to kill you half of the time, Lina." Jon's voice brought her attention back to the boys around her. "You were terrible as a child."

At that, the girl smirked.

"You're one to speak, Jon." She chuckled causing the boys to laugh. "Anyway, if you excuse me, I'll go put this little one to bed."

With a nod from the boys and a smile at Theon, Ylina walked out of the crowded room and toward Rickon's room. Putting her youngest brother to bed and making sure he was properly covered and warm, Ylina made her way back to the feast, ready to take her place at her table once more, but being stopped by a familiar voice calling out her name.

"Ylina!" She heard, causing her to stop and turn around, only to open a bright smile when she recognized the black haired man standing beside her father.

"Uncle Benjen!" She beamed, running toward him and allowing the man to engulf her in a hug. "I've missed you."

"I have you missed you as well, little lady." He smiled, letting go of the girl as his eyes scanned her body once more. "You looked so beautiful up there, Ylina. Almost as much as your mother on her wedding day."

"Thank you, Uncle Benjen." She nodded her head slightly before her eyes met his again. "And how has it been up in the wall?"

"Cold. Not half as fun as this, I must admit." He smiled, tapping his finger against her nose as the girl laughed.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your time here, then, Uncle Benjen."

"I sure will." He winked, as Ylina smiled. "Now go back to your husband, will you? I suppose he's waiting for you."

With a discreet blush in her cheeks, Ylina nodded, bowing slightly at her uncle and father out of respect and left. As they watched her go, Benjen looked at his brother Ned and smiled once he saw just how proud he was of his oldest daughter.

"Her eyes…" Benjen noted, causing Ned to nod.

"They are the same as Lyanna's." The older brother finished the sentence that, from the first moment Ylina opened her eyes as a baby, always repeated itself whenever she as much as looked at him. "And she might have her mother's hair, but something about her…"

"Her smile." Benjen agreed. "Her nose, the shape of her face, the tone of her voice… It's like having Lyanna right here again."

"Aye." Ned smiled. "It is."

And as their conversation took another route, Ylina kept making her way back to her table, only to sigh once she noticed a very drunk Tyrion Lannister arguing with a very drunk Theon Greyjoy. Rolling her eyes, she carefully made her way toward the two men, deciding to ignore the offensive names the two stupid and incredibly cocky boys were using to refer to one another as Jon and Robb only laughed at the exchange, almost as drunk as the other two.

When she got close enough, she could hear Tyrion calling Theon a prisoner of the Starks only to have him answer that at least he wasn't an imp. With a roll of her eyes, Ylina placed a hand on Theon's shoulder and pushed it down slightly so he would bend enough for her to talk into his ear.

"If you start an argument with the King's brother-in-law on the day of our wedding, I swear to all the gods out there, Theon Greyjoy. I will kill you before my mother has the chance to kill me, do you understand?"

With a slight nod, Theon backed down from his previous conversation with Tyrion and allowed Ylina to guide him back toward their table.

"If you excuse us, Lord Tyrion." She said politely, as the dwarf smirked at Theon.

"Of course, my Lady." He answered, as Theon sent him a dirty look.

Tugging on his arm, Ylina forced him down on his chair and huffed annoyed.

"I swear, I can't leave you alone for five minutes…"

"I'm sorry, my love." Theon whispered against the shell of her ear, knowing that was one of her weaknesses. He chuckled when she shivered. "He was the one who started it, I promise."

"It doesn't matter who started it." Ylina rolled her eyes, pulling Theon's face from her neck. "I just honestly can't believe you…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Ylina heard her name being called. Looking away from Theon, her eyes fell on a very annoyed Arya. Chuckling at her younger sister, she spun around in her chair so that her legs were not under the table anymore and pulled Arya up in her lap.

"What's gotten into you, huh, lovely?" She asked gently, as Arya huffed.

"Sansa is annoying me." She answered. Ylina chuckled, already expecting that answer anyway.

"And what is your sister doing this time?"

"Just look at her, Lina." Arya said, pointing in Sansa's direction. "All smitten by a prince she barely knows. Being a lady like mother wants us to be and thinking she's better than anyone here just because she's Sansa Stark. I can't take it."

"Then don't look." Ylina offered, only to raise an eyebrow when Arya smirked.

"I won't." She said. "But first, I need to show you something I've learned."

"Will I regret it?" Ylina asked when Arya reached for a spoon and scooped up a bit of the chocolate mousse that was on her oldest sister's plate.

"Probably." Arya shrugged. But before Ylina could even react, the girl had thrown the mousse across the room, having it land right on Sansa's right cheek.

"Arya!" They heard Sansa squeal.

Letting out a laugh, Ylina watched as Arya jumped off her lap and ran away as a friend of Sansa's helped her clean it all up since her sister's eyes were trained on Joffrey, who looked away right in that moment. Still with a smile on her lips, Ylina's eyes met her mother's, and when Catelyn sent her a glare, Ylina sighed.

"It's your turn." She said, nudging Robb slightly as the young man stared at her confused. "Put Bran and Arya to bed. I already did Rickon."

With a mumble from her brother, Ylina watched as Robb got up from his place to search for his younger siblings. She smiled slightly before falling back against Theon as the man threw an arm around her shoulders.

"Happy?" He asked, as she nodded.

"Ecstatic." She answered.

"Good." He nodded, leaning down to place a quick kiss to her lips before the two of them fell into another round of conversation with Jon followed by another round of ale and wine.

And as they chatted and laughed, Ylina realized that was going to be a long night. Not that she was complaining at all. After all the boring days she had to endure as Lady Stark of Winterfell, it was good to have a few moments to distract herself for a while.

***

Theon smirked when he threw Ylina in the bed and she fell with a squeal. Closing the door of their now shared room, he turned around just in time to see his new wife propping herself up in her elbow as she looked up at him.

"Did you enjoy your feast?" He asked, as Ylina sat up on the bed, picking on the bobby pins in her intricate hairstyle her mother had spent hours preparing for the day.

"It was technically our feast." She said.

"Yeah, well, you definitely stole the night." He complimented, causing Ylina to chuckle with a roll of her eyes. "Looking so pretty, I don't think it would've been difficult anyway."

"I married you already, Greyjoy. No point in trying to flatter me now." She said, as Theon smirked at her. "Also, thank you for going through all of the Northerner traditions for me."

"It's alright. I grew up with them. Besides, it's not like anyone from my family was going to come anyway."

At that, Ylina sighed.

"Theon…" She whispered. "You are family, you know? You've always been family."

"I know, love. I was just joking."

Seeing the frown on Ylina's face, Theon laughed, trying to assure her that his last words were true. Watching as Ylina got up from her bed — actually, their bed — and made her way to the vanity, placing all of the bobby pins down, as her fiery red hair fell down her shoulders when she shook her head. Not for one second, his eyes left her form. Not as she cleaned her face from all the makeup her mother and sister Sansa had put on her face, or as she took off her high heeled boots and heavy coat. Not as she took off her gloves from her hands and not as she finally noticed his eyes on her, locking her stormy grey eyes with his through the mirror. Lifting her eyebrow and smirking a bit, Ylina pulled all of her hair to rest on her shoulder.

"Will you help me, Theon?" She asked innocently. 

But as Theon walked toward her and placed his hands on the back of her wedding gown, both of them knew that nothing in that moment they were sharing — or the next that were to come — would be anywhere close to innocent. Theon smirked when he felt the girl shivering under his touch as he undid all the ties of the coursette of her dress but his expression softened when his eyes fell on hers through the mirror in front of them.

"We don't have to do it." He assured, but still didn't stop untying the dress. Whether they would consummate their wedding or just fall asleep side by side, she would still have to get out of the dress. "You know that, don't you?"

"I want to." She nodded. "I just… I mean… You've been with other girls before. And I… I just mean… I heard you were… Good."

"Good?" He raised an eyebrow at her as the girl rolled her eyes.

"They said you had a bloody magic cock I think were their exact words but I didn't think it'd be very ladylike of me to say such foul words."

"You sound like your mother." He chuckled, causing Ylina to gasp in mock offense. "If I wanted a Lady, I would have married Sansa, not you."

"Oh… So you wanted to marry my sister instead of me, Greyjoy?"

"Never."

And with that, Theon pulled off the last of the straps of her dress, getting it open finally but not pulling it off her body. Instead, he simply turned her around quickly and tangled his hand through her hair, pulling her in for a dazzling kiss that left her absolutely breathless.

"Good." She breathed out, looking down at her shaky hands as she pulled Theon's coat off his body, only leaving him in the thin shirt he usually wore under all the clothes the Northerners had to use at all times.

Noticing her distress, Theon reached over to Ylina's hands and grabbed them in his.

"Lily. We don't have to." He reassured. The girl shook her head.

"I want to." She whispered, finally allowing her eyes to search his again. 

When grey met green, the air was almost knocked out of Theon's chest. Sure Ylina had looked at him in the eyes many times before, but never like this. Never with this intensity. Never with this lust. He gulped, hoping that forever the girl in his arms would look at him like that. He nodded.

"Then we do it." He said, before finally tugging at the sleeves of Ylina's dress and pulling it off her arms, until it fell down enough so he could see the upper half of her body bare of clothes for the first time in his life. "Fuck."

Ylina blushed slightly before deciding to be bold and pull up Theon's dress shirt, placing the palm of her hand on his bare chest, pushing him back to their bed. When he fell down on it, he smirked, watching as the girl — his wife — stripped from her dress and climbed on the bed, straddling his waist as she leaned down to whisper in his ear:

"Take me, Theon." She said, her breath tickling his ear as he felt a shiver run down his whole body. "I'm yours and you're mine. From this day, until the end of my days."

"Fuck, Ylina…" He breathed out, flipping them over as the girl under him squealed. "I got bloody lucky, didn't I?"

She giggled, locking her eyes with him and smiling up at the man hovering over her. Tangling her hands in his hair, she breathed heavily in anticipation.

"Maybe I was the lucky one." She whispered, only to be silenced by a kiss from Theon.

A kiss that was so passionate and full of emotion that it left no doubt in any of their minds: that kiss was only the start of what was going to be a long night.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 4 - Parting ways

Masterlist

"What do you mean Mother won't let you see him?" Robb asked, as soon as Ylina came running down the stairs, cursing the old gods and the new for the unfairness Catelyn Stark was putting her through.

"She blames me, Robb. As fucking usual!" She almost growled, as Daria nuzzled her snout on her hands to offer some kind of comfort for the girl. "She says it's my fault that Bran is like this and that she won't let me see him until he gets better. She's punishing me!"

At that, Robb sighed, shaking his head. Sure Catelyn and Ylina weren't the best of friends. They never were. But he would have never thought his mother would do something like that. Forbidding Ylina from seeing Bran? She was always the one who took care of all of their younger siblings. While Robb was out, training with swords, spears or riding horses, Ylina was forced to stay inside, looking after four younger children who, all in their own manner, loved her more than anything in the world. Ylina was a second mother to all of them, and if Bran woke up only to learn that Catelyn had not allowed Ylina near him while in his fragile state, Robb was sure he would be greatly disappointed.

So he decided to fix it.

"I'll go talk to mother." He said, causing his sister to nod with a small sad frown. "Have you said your goodbyes to the girls yet?"

"No." She shook her head. "I've been trying to get inside Bran's room all morning. Is Sansa in her room?"

"Sansa's probably already on the grounds, bugging Father so they can leave faster." Robb answered with a smile, causing Ylina to laugh. "Arya's in her room, however. She's asked me about you earlier and I said I was going to get you for her."

"And Theon?"

"Helping Father with the horses."

"Thank you, Robb." She smiled gently, as her brother nodded.

Making their separate ways, Robb moved to go upstairs and try to convince his mother that her behaviour was absolutely unfair as Ylina walked through the corridors toward the other set of stairs that would take her to the side of the Castle where the bedrooms of the girls were.

Knocking slightly on Arya's door, Ylina pushed it open, only to giggle slightly when she saw her little sister struggling to pull her heavy suitcase from her bed.

"Need any help, love?" She asked, already walking toward her and reaching for the suitcase.

"I don't want to go." Arya frowned, sitting in her bed with crossed arms as soon as the suitcase was out of the way.

"I know, Arya." Ylina sighed, moving to sit beside her sister. "You have to, though."

"Why?" She whined, crawling over to Ylina and raising her arm up so she could get closer to her. "I want to stay here with you and Robb."

"Well, you're going to King's Landing with Father, without Mother to bother you, so I guess you're lucky."

Resting her arm over Arya's shoulder, Ylina squeezed her sister against the side of her body as her fingers started to play with the ends of her braided black hair.

"I don't want to go." She repeated, causing Ylina to sigh.

"I'm sorry, love." She whispered. "I really am."

"I know." Arya smiled sadly, pulling away from Ylina causing the older girl to turn around in the bed so that now they were sitting face-to-face with each other.

Ylina reached for Arya's hand and grabbed them both on hers as her grey eyes met her younger sister's matching ones.

"Listen to me, Arya." She said, causing the girl to nod to let her know she was paying attention. "I know you and Sansa don't usually get along, but you'll be all by yourselves over there. Father will be away with his new position half of the time and I don't know who'll be with you, but it won't be me, or Mother or Robb. I know you can protect yourself, but what I'm asking you is that you protect Sansa."

"But Sansa…"

"Is your sister." Ylina interrupted Arya, already knowing a small protest was coming. "No matter how annoying she gets or how different your opinions might be, you are sisters. You are family. So you take care of each other, yes?"

Arya sighed in annoyance but nodded her head anyway.

"I'll protect her." She decided, before growing silent for a second as their eyes never left each other. After a minute of silence, Arya leapt up from her place and wrapped her arms around Ylina's neck. "I'll miss you, Lina."

"I'll miss you too, love." Ylina smiled through her few tears and squeezed her sister's body against hers. "Take care, alright? We'll see each other soon."

Letting go of each other, Arya smiled at her sister as she left her room, wiping her tears away and making her way to the grounds where Sansa was. Noticing her older sister sitting by herself with Lady by her side, Ylina smiled and sat down beside her.

"Excited, are we?" She asked.

When Sansa turned to face her with a bright smile on her lips, Ylina had to laugh. How much different could her sisters be? One was about to cry alone in her room, probably willing to beg their Father to let her stay home with her brothers while the other was having a dream come true: seeing King’s Landing and having the chance to become not only a lady, but the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms one day. And as much as Ylina feared for them both, she couldn’t help but feel happy for Sansa. After all, leaving Winterfell has always been her main goal in life.

“I’m going to King’s Landing, Lina!” The girl cheered, as Ylina smiled softly at her almost childish excitement. “Out of all of the places I could be going to, I’m going to King’s Landing!”

“I hear it is a beautiful place.” Ylina nodded. “Warm summers, no snow ever… Pretty different from home, I’d say.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sansa agreed. “But I can handle it. Besides, Father will be with me.”

“I know you can handle it. You’re a smart girl, Sansa, the perfect lady I’ll never be.”

“Lina…”

“It’s alright.” Ylina shook her head with a giggle before Sansa could start to apologize. “Everyone who sets their eyes on us knows it. You are everything Mother always wanted us all to be and she’s incredibly proud of you. And so am I. But if I could give you one piece of advice…”

Sansa nodded, noticing how Ylina’s tone of voice got lower as Queen Cersei made her way out of the Castle and toward the chariot she came in, stepping inside with her brother following close behind her. Glancing slightly at her sister, Ylina reached for her hand and laced their fingers together.

“Be smart, Sansa. People are never what they seem to be.” She said, causing the younger girl to scoff.

“You sound like Father.” She rolled her eyes a little to which Ylina groaned.

“Then listen to me.” The older Stark insisted. Even if Sansa clearly didn’t want to pay attention to her sister, she knew Ylina was smart and she valued her opinions. Even if sometimes they clashed directly with her own. “I might be only three years older than you, but three years make a difference, Sansa. While you’ve been living here with Mother, Father, Robb and I, we did all we could to shelter you from the truth, but now that you’ll be going to the capital, you’ll probably learn it the hard way: ladies like us might be lucky to be able to get all the clothes and food we want, but the world doesn’t belong to us and we need to know it. We need to know our place so that we can maybe fight our way out of it. You’ll be Queen one day, Sansa and no matter how much power you have, you still ought to remember you are ruling for other people. Not for you, not for your family, but for other families and for people who have a lot less than you. Remember that and rule with kindness. If your people love you, you’ll have power in your hands that no one will ever be able to take away from you.”

“The Mad King wasn’t loved.” Sansa noted, as Ylina nodded.

“And look what happened to him.” She said. “Trust me, Sansa. Know your place and know where you want to get. Don’t lose focus and don’t trust anyone. Only then you’ll survive.”

At that, Sansa scoffed again.

“That was why Mother never wanted you near Robb.” She said, causing Ylina to turn to face her with raised eyebrows. “I’ll just be going to the capital. I’ll be marrying the Prince. No one will ever be able to hurt me. Not everything is war, Lina.”

“When men are the ones in control, what is war and what isn’t is simply a matter of perspective.”

Ylina could tell Sansa was about to protest, but before she could, she noticed their Father approaching them. In an instant, she was up in her feet, eager to go. With a small smile, Ned nodded, letting her know that their chariot was ready. Letting out a squeal of pure excitement, Sansa gave Ylina a quick hug and ran off with Lady close behind.

As Ned and Ylina watched her go, they both chuckled slightly under their breath, but it wasn’t until her father extended a hand toward her that Ylina got up from her seat and looked up at her Father.

“You don’t like the idea of me going to King’s Landing.” He said, as Ylina shrugged gently.

“I don’t like many things that are involved in the idea of you going to King’s Landing.” She corrected as Ned tilted his head, slightly confused. “But I do think King Robert’s idea of naming you his hand was one of the best he’s ever had. You are an honourable man. I know you’ll most likely end up ruling the Kingdom by yourself while the King, well… I shouldn’t speak ill of his grace, but you know what I mean.”

At that, Ned laughed, nodding slightly as Ylina smiled.

“Clever girl.” He praised.

“You’ll bring honor on our name, Father. I know you will. And you can go assured that Winterfell is in good hands. Robb will be a good lord while you are away.”

“Robb will rule?” Ned asked with raised eyebrows to which Ylina smirked.

“I only said he was going be the lord. I never said anything about ruling.”

Again, Ned laughed. He should have known. There was no way Ylina was going to let her brother make the decisions for himself, but that was probably a good thing, especially since Robb never once hesitated in taking her advice.

“I love you, my girl.” Ned spoke softly, reaching a hand up to caress his daughter’s cheeks as she smiled up at him. “I will miss you.”

“I will miss you too, Father.” She nodded with her eyes closed. “And I love you.”

Placing a kiss to her forehead, Ned let go of Ylina and smiled at her one last time before walking off toward the chariot. Breathing heavily, Ylina tried to stop herself from crying, but as her eyes fell on Jon mounting his horse, she finally remembered not only her sisters and Father were leaving today, but also her older brother, heading to Castle Black with her Uncle Benjen even after she’s tried to convince not to many times before.

Picking up the ends of her dress, Ylina ran across the grounds and stopped beside Jon’s horse. Noticing her presence beside him, the older boy turned around and smiled when he saw Ylina standing there, a smile falling on her lips as he looked at her.

“Ready to take the black, Jon?” She asked, as he nodded.

“And don’t try to convince me otherwise.” He warned playfully, but Ylina could tell there was a bit of genuine annoyance in his tone. Ylina shrugged.

“Been spending the last year of my life trying to do it unsuccessfully. I decided it’s not worth wasting my breath over it anymore.”

“Well, thankfully. I didn’t think it was possible.”

At that, Ylina gasped in fake offense.

“Jon!” She squealed as the older boy simply laughed.

Before he could say anything else, though, Uncle Benjen rode in his horse and stopped beside Jon, bowing his head at Ylina with a small smile on his lips.

“I wish you good fortune on your years to come in your married life, but now I have to take this one away before the idea of following your footsteps settle down in his head.” Benjen said, as Ylina laughed.

“I’ll miss you, Uncle Benjen.” She said, causing the man to nod at her in silent agreement. “Take good care of Jon for me, yes? My brothers mean more to me than anything else I have in my life.”

At her words, Jon felt his heart warming up. Of course he knew Ylina loved him as brother. She made it clear many times before that it didn’t matter that his name was Snow and not Stark. He was her brother and she would fight anyone who thought otherwise. 

Feeling like she deserved more than a simple goodbye, Jon got down from his horse and pulled the girl in for a hug. As she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him from over his coats and furs, Jon took in the scent his oldest sister always exhaled for the last time, possibly in forever.

“Send me news from Bran.” He asked when they pulled apart only to have Ylina scoff.

“If Mother tells me anything…” She rolled her eyes as Jon frowned. Noticing his confusion, Ylina shrugged. “She won’t let me see him. But that’s alright. Robb went to talk to her, so I guess, at least, she’ll let me stay with him while she has supper or something.”

“Lina…”

“It’s alright Jon, really.” She smiled gently, before nodding her head in the direction of the gates of the Castle. “But if you still want to take the black, I suggest you to go or your guide will leave without you.”

Noticing Benjen waiting in his horse by the gates after the chariot from the Lannisters and the one with the Stark girls left, Jon placed a quick kiss to Ylina’s forehead and mounted his horse again, urging him to catch up with Benjen at the gates. 

As soon as they left, Ylina spun around to make her way back to Castle, but stopped dead in her tracks when she almost collided with a body bigger than hers. Hearing his chuckle when she stumbled back, Ylina rolled her eyes with a fond smile.

“Theon.” She said simply as the young man nodded, placing a hand on her hips as he guided her forward.

“Robb says your Mother is still angry at you.” He started to say causing Ylina to nod. “And that you might be feeling sad for the departure of your Father and sisters, so I decided to do something nice for you.”

“Oh, yes?” She asked with a cheeky smile and Theon rolled his eyes.

“Not like that, you perverted little thing." He said as she laughed. "Since your Mother is busy with Bran and trying to keep you away from him, I realized she won’t mind if you… You know… Did some ‘not so lady-like’ things, so...”

Ylina gasped when Theon stopped in front of the stables where her favorite horse was waiting for her, already sealed. Turning to face her husband, she squealed when he handed her a bow and a quiver of arrows. Throwing herself at his arms, Theon chuckled when he stumbled back with the force of her embrace.

“Thank you.” She cheered as Daria circled the couple happily, her tail wriggling upon seeing her owner truly happy again. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem, love. Go take some time for yourself. How long has it been since you last went out hunting?” The man shrugged, holding his wife’s hand as she mounted the horse even though he knew she could do it by herself. “Bring us back a deer for supper while you’re at it.”

“But Bran…”

“Robb is talking to your Mother. Don’t worry.” Theon interrupted her causing Ylina to nod slightly. “When you come back, you’ll be able to see him, I promise.”

At that, the girl smiled.

“Thank you you, Theon.” She breathed out, as the man smiled at her.

“It's no problem, Ylina.” He responded easily. “Now go before I change my mind.”

And if she needed any confirmation, that was it. Wasting no time, she urged her horse to run out of the Castle’s walls with Daria by her side, a bow in her hands and the wind blowing in her hair as she felt truly free for the first time in a long time.

Going out to hunt surely didn’t solve any of her problems, but it numbed them. And if there was one thing Ylina needed at the moment, was a few hours of nothing but the wildness and freedom.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 7 - Family, duty, honor

“Bran.” Maester Luwin called, as he pointed at somewhere in the map in front of them. Ylina looked back from the targets in front of her and smiled at Bran, as the boy sighed.

“The Iron Islands.” He answered, as Maester Luwin nodded. 

As her younger brother studied and her older brother was busy again with his duties as lord, Ylina decided to spend that time with Theon training archery together as they used to do when they were younger behind her mother’s back. When Theon’s arrow hit bull’s eye again, he gave her a smirk, to which she scoffed, pushing him aside to stand where he was before to shot her own arrow.

“Sigil — a kraken. Words. — ‘We do not sow’.”

“Lords?”

“The Greyjoys.”

“Famed for their skills at archery, navigation and lovemaking.” Theon spoke up, with a wink in Ylina’s direction as the girl only scoffed and let her arrow fly, hitting the middle of the target as well and throwing her fiery red hair from over her shoulder as her eyes met his, full of playful challenge.

“And failed rebellions.” Maester Luwin spoke up, as Theon huffed at him annoyed. Ylina giggled as the man grabbed another arrow and the Maester pointed at somewhere else in the map. 

“Sigil - a stag, a crowned stag now that Robert's king.” Bran answered easily.

“Good.” Maester Luwin nodded.

“Words - ‘Ours is the fury’. Lords - the Baratheons.”

“Mm-hm.” The Maester nodded, before pointing at another point in the map.

“The Westerlands.” Bran said, as Ylina shot another arrow. “Sigil - a lion. Words - ‘A Lannister always pays his debts’.”

"No. A common saying, but not their official motto.” Maester Luwin corrected.

“Lords - the Lannisters.”

When Bran ignored the Maester, Ylina turned around from looking at the targets in front of her to look at her brother instead.

“We're still on their words.” Maester Luwin insisted. Ylina noticed how Bran kept playing with the fish pin in his hands and markin the wooden table to avoid looking at anyone.

“I don't know them.” He mumbled, clearly annoyed.

“You do know them. Think.”

"Unbowed, unbent, unbroken.”

"That's House Martell.”

"Righteous in wrath.”

"House Hornwood.”

"Family, duty, honor.”

"Those are Tully words - your mother's.” The Maester said, before sighing lowly. “Are we playing a game?”

“Family, duty, honor.” Bran repeated, as Ylina watched him closely. “Is that the right order?”

“You know it is.” The Maester nodded.

“Family comes first?”

At that, Maester Luwin lifted his eyes just slightly to meet Ylina’s. When the girl sighed, unsure of what to say, he spoke up.

“Your mother had to leave Winterfell to protect the family.”

“How can she protect the family if she's not with her family?” Bran countered. 

“Your mother sat by your bed for three weeks while you slept.”

“And then she left!” 

“When you were born, I was the one who pulled you from your mother.” Maester Luwin said. As Theon nudged her slightly, Ylina’s eyes left Bran for a second, only to shoot another arrow. “I placed you in her arms. From that moment until the moment she dies, she will love you. Absolutely. Fiercely.”

At that, Ylina lowered her bow and turned to look at Bran with a smile. When the boy looked at her, she saw the hurt in his eyes and felt her heart clenching in her chest.

“Why did she leave, Lina?” He asked, as the girl sighed. 

“I told you already. I can't tell you.” She answered softly.

“But she will be home soon.” Maester Luwin tried to assure.

“Do you know where she is now? Today?” Bran asked, as Luwin gave Ylina a look to which the girl simply smiled with a shrug of her shoulders. Bran could be only ten years old, but he was smarter than most kids at his age, that’s for sure.

“No, I don't.”

“Then how can you promise me she'll be home soon?” 

“Sometimes I worry you're too smart for your own good.”

At that, they all fell silent until Theon’s arrow hit the target with a low thud. Glancing at her husband with a smile, she missed the way Bran sighed and stared longingly at them both.

“I'll never shoot another arrow.” He sighed, causing Ylina to frown and look at him.

“And where is that written?” She asked.

“You need legs to work a bow.” He responded with a small pout of his lips.

With a smile, Ylina walked toward them and pulled herself up to sit on the table beside Bran.

“If the saddle Lord Tyrion designed actually works, you could learn to shoot a bow from horseback.” She said, waving her hand at Theon as he threw an arrow at her.

“Really?” He asked, his eyes shining and a smile playing on his lips. She nodded down at him, preparing the arrow in her bow.

“Dothraki boys learn when they're four years old.” She said, letting the arrow fly only for it to hit bull’s eye yet again. With a wink in Bran direction, she watched as he chuckled at her antics. “Why shouldn't you?”

***

When Bran and Maester Luwin left, Ylina sighed, dropping her bow arm down and jumping slightly at the sound of Theon's arrows hitting the target. The man chuckled at her.

"Bran is just being a kid, Lily. No need to worry." He assured, pulling another arrow from the quiver beside him. "When Lady Stark returns he will be the same happy, annoying little brother we've always known."

"Yeah, well." She nodded slightly. "Still, Mother left a long time ago. She should be home by now."

"Maybe there was a complication in the road and had to change routes, love. I'm sure she's fine. She's with Ser Rodrik after all."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Theon let his arrow fly. Ylina watched as, for once, it didn't hit bull's eye. With a smirk, Ylina placed her bow down and got up, causing Daria to get up as well. Passing by Theon, Ylina placed her hand on his chest and patted it gently as the man looked down at her with raised eyebrows.

"Keep practicing, my love. You are almost good."

Theon scoffed with a smile, grabbing Ylina by the wrist and pulling her toward him. With a squeal, she stumbled back, only to be held up by her husband. Already used to their antics, Daria simply watched them whining lowly. Ylina laughed.

"Almost good?" Theon repeated. "I'm far better than you, Lily."

"That's debatable." She smirked, throwing her arms around his neck.

"No, it's not. It's a fact."

Rolling her eyes, Ylina smiled up at Theon before pulling him down and placing a kiss to his lips. Pulling away, Ylina smiled at him and took a step back from his grip.

"I'm going to go talk to Robb." She said, as Theon nodded. "I'll be back soon."

Lifting the ends of her dress, she ignored the dirt on them as she walked inside the Castle. Looking down at Daria, her wolf lifted her icy blue eyes to meet hers.

"Sometimes, it's a good thing Mother is not home, huh?" She asked lowly as Daria wriggled her tail.

They stopped in front of the closed doors, guarded by two of her Father's men and they bowed their heads at the girl.

"My lady." They said, as she nodded at them.

"Could I talk to my brother?" She asked.

"Lord Stark is at meeting at the moment, m'lady." One of the men said.

"I'll be quick."

Exchanging a glance, the two men gave in, pushing the doors open as Ylina thanked them lowly and walked inside the room, where Robb was with one of their Maesters.

"Lily." Her brother said, once he noticed her presence, getting up from his seat.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to talk to you. In private, if you please."

When both siblings turned to the Maester, the man nodded, getting up from his seat and leaving the room with a bow in their direction.

"My lord. My lady."

As soon as he was out, Robb turned to his sister, grabbing her hand in his and looking down at her with his bright blue eyes.

"What's the matter?" He asked, already so used to being needed only when things were bad that Ylina felt bad for putting even more trouble in his mind.

But she helped him with his problems, so it was fair she did the same to her. They were family after all, and if they weren't there to look after one another, who would?

"Why is Mother taking so long?" She asked, causing Robb to chuckle.

"Usually is Rickon the one to ask me that." He said, as Ylina shrugged.

"He asks me too. And Bran as well. You know he's quite hurt Mother left and he woke up without her, right?"

"I know." Robb sighed, squeezing Ylina's hand on his as if only to assure she was still there, with him. "But I can't do anything about it, Lily. And I know Mother is taking longer than expected, but I'm sure…"

"You are sure she's fine." She finished his sentence with a roll of her eyes. "If Mother was fine, she'd be home already. Or she would've at least sent us a bloody raven. We don't know if she's even alive, Robb!"

"Of course she is, don't say that." The older boy shook his head before pulling his sister in for a hug. He could feel the girl clinging into him as if her life depended on it, but, if he was being honest, he was needing her just as much. "Mother will come home soon, you'll see. Everything will be just fine. And don't worry about the boys. I'll put them to bed tonight."

"No, it's fine. You have a lot of things to do. I can..."

"Nothing is as important as family, Lily. I can tell making sure the boys are happy and healthy is getting you tired. Take the night for yourself. It'll be fine, love."

At that, Ylina smiled, getting up on the tips of her toes to place a kiss to her brother's cheek. Before she could even thank him properly, however, Maester Luwin walked inside the room with a smile. Exchanging confused glances, the two Starks turned to the man.

"Maester?" Robb urged him to talk.

"Bran's new saddle is ready, my lord." He said, causing Ylina to smile.

"Oh, Bran will be so happy to hear."

Smiling down at her sister, Robb nodded at her.

"Go fetch him, then." He said, as she squealed in pure delight. "Train with him and see if he can ride. I'll be joining you both soon enough."

***

“Okay. Seems strong enough.” Ylina smiled as she tightened the leather straps around Bran’s legs. “Don’t let go of the reins, though. And if you feel like you are slipping, you…”

“I can handle a little bit of horse riding, Lina. I’m a big boy. Besides, we’ve been doing this for days.” The young boy interrupted his sister with a half-smile as Ylina rolled her eyes.

“Fine.” She laughed, before letting her hand slip from Bran’s legs and into the body of the black horse. “Storm, take it slow.”

And with a tap of her hand, the horse took off. Ylina smiled slightly as she leaned against a tree, watching as Bran cheered and laughed, finally being able to ride a horse alone again after his fall. He had a huge smile in his face and Ylina swore she had never seen such joy coming from him. He was enjoying feeling like a normal kid again more than she thought he would.

As she stood there, she could see Theon and Robb sat in a log a few feet away from her. Still with a smile on her lips, she locked eyes with Theon just before the man started talking with her brother. She picked up her bow and arrows and Daria came out of the woods in a second, standing by her side, probably hoping they would hunt. Ylina approached the boys and when she could finally hear them, she took an arrow from her quiver.

“I’m not discussing these types of matters with my sister around.” Robb said, interrupting his best friend.

Theon raised an eyebrow and Ylina scoffed. Drawing her arrow, she let it fly, hitting a rabbit a few meters away from them. It died with a squeak, and Daria wasted no time in running for it.

“Don’t be stupid, Robb.” She said, turning to look at him as she fixed her braid slightly. “We both know I’m better at battle strategy than you are.”

“We are not discussing battle, Lily.” Robb sighed.

“Theon’s right, though.” She protested, kneeling to the floor to get the rabbit from Daria and pet her as praise. “The Lannisters did hurt our father.”

“You want me to march into Casterly Rock?”

“You’re not a boy anymore.” Theon answered, before Ylina could. “They attacked your father; they’ve already started the war. It’s your duty to represent your House when your father can’t.”

Not sparing a glance to Ylina, Robb spoke up again.

“And it’s not your duty. Because it’s not your house.”

“Robb.” Ylina warned through gritted teeth.

The boy ignored her and got up as Ylina shook her head. She was about to say something else but Robb was quicker.

“Where’s Bran?”

Looking around, she noticed her younger brother was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t know.” Theon said, also getting up. “It’s not my House.”

And with that he was off. Ylina wanted to go after him, but decided that finding Bran was more important at the time.

“Daria.”

And without another word, the wolf was out, sniffing the air as Ylina and Robb followed her closely. When they found Bran in his horse, being attacked by about four people, Robb pulled Ylina to stand behind him. She rolled her eyes, but kept an arrow ready either way.

“Drop the knife.” He said. “Let him go and I’ll let you live.”

After exchanging a glance, one of the men charged for Robb while another came in Ylina’s direction. As Robb fought his opponent, Ylina managed to put an arrow through her own enemy’s shoulder. He screamed, but kept charging at her, only to be stopped by Daria, who jumped over Ylina and right into the man’s chest, knocking him to the ground. Ylina walked closer and shot an arrow through his throat. Before she could do much else, she felt her eyes widening as she saw Robb with his hand through the only woman in the group’s hair and his blade in another. He could easily kill her, but stopped when he saw the bigger man of the group with Bran in his hands.

“Drop the weapons.” He said.

“No.” Bran mumbled. “Don’t.”

Exchanging a glance, Ylina and Robb let their weapons down. Robb still had his hands on the woman’s hair and Daria snarled. The man pointed his knife at her.

“Control the wolf.” He said.

“She won’t do anything unless I tell her to.” Ylina answered.

The man seemed a bit suspicious, but he barely had the time to think about it, because, suddenly, an arrow was shot through his heart and he fell to the ground, only to reveal Theon behind him. Wasting no time, Ylina and Robb ran to Bran as Theon pointed an arrow to the woman.

“Are you alright?” Ylina asked, as she watched Robb pick Bran up and inspected the small cut in his leg closely.

“Yes. It doesn’t hurt.” He assured.

“Though little lad.” Theon said. “In the Iron Island they say you’re not a man until you’ve killed your first enemy. Well done.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Robb asked. “What if you’ve missed?”

“He would’ve killed you and cut Bran’s throat.”

“You don’t have the right!”

“To what? To save your brother’s life? It was the only thing to do so I did it.”

Without saying a word, Ylina walked from Robb’s side and toward the woman. She looked down at Daria and the wolf made a small sound in the back of her throat. Before Ylina could do much else, the woman spoke up.

“Give me my life, my lady, and I’m yours.” She promised.

Reaching out, she placed her hand on Theon’s arm, making him disarm the bow he was aiming at her. As she cried out her gratitude, Theon stared at Ylina.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“She didn’t want to kill him.” She answered. “She wanted the gold. We’ll keep her alive.”

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 5 - Decoy

Masterlist

It has been a few days since Robb's talk with his mother and, even if her and Ylina still hadn't exchange a word since Bran's fall, at least Catelyn had allowed her daughter to stay with the young boy once everyday while she took a relaxing bath and had her supper.

Still, Ylina's hours with Bran weren't many and she was hurt by her mother's actions but she still sat on the chair beside Bran's bed with a furry blanket over her lap and her eyes trained to her younger brother knowing that was the best she would be getting at the moment. Sure he was still unresponsive, but Ylina had hope. She knew her brother would wake up eventually. Robb was right. Bran was a Stark, and Starks were hard to kill and even harder to die. She knew he would wake up. It was just a matter of when.

In the end of the fifth day of nothing, Ylina decided that she needed to do more than just watch. Throwing her blanket from over her body, the girl walked up to his bed and sat down carefully beside Bran. She reached over to his face and caressed his cheeks before pushing his hair off his face.

"I'm not sure you can hear me, Bran, but if you can, just know we're all praying for you." She whispered gently as her eyes searched his face for any kind of response. "And we all know you're strong, Bran. We know you can do it. I know you can do it. Just… Just wake up, love. I miss you."

As expected, Bran didn't answer and Ylina sighed. Before she could say anything else, however, there was a knock on the door and both, Summer and Daria lifted their heads from the foot of Bran's bed. When the door opened and in came Theon, Summer relaxed and Daria got up to walk toward him.

"Your mother is coming." He said, causing Ylina to nod.

Gently leaning down to place a kiss to Bran's forehead, Ylina whispered him a quick 'I love you' and then got up to leave. Linking her arm with Theon's the two of them made their way out of their room with Daria beside Ylina. As soon as they were out, Catelyn entered Bran's room, closing the door after her and taking Ylina's place on watching over Bran. Noticing the heavy sigh that left her lips, Theon turned to look down at her.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Not particularly." She shrugged. "I hate talking to Mother. But I hate not talking to her even more."

"Don't worry, Lily. I'm sorry m'lady will come around soon enough."

"I surely hope so." Ylina nodded, before glancing up so her eyes met her husband's. "And Robb?"

"Busy being lord of Winterfell and looking after Rickon at the same time. I think he's about to lose his mind at any second." Theon smirked as Ylina giggled.

"And you don't help him, Theon?"

"I try to." He defended. "But Rickon is a handful. I have no idea how you can do it."

"Unsurprisingly." She nodded with a gentle smile. "I wonder what would be of you two without me."

"We'd be dead for sure." Theon noted, causing the girl to laugh again.

"At least you are aware." She smiled. "Now, let's go to Robb, yes? So I can help him with Rickon."

"And with ruling the North?"

With a smirk, Ylina tugged at Theon's arm as she started moving faster toward the common room where Robb was, more than likely. She winked at her husband as he chuckled at her attitude.

"You know it."

As soon as they walked inside the common room, all of the lords and common people around bowed their heads in reference for Ylina and she smiled with a nod of her head before walking toward the big table Robb was sat behind and taking her seat beside him.

“Finally.” Her older brother breathed out, before passing Rickon to her as she grabbed the boy and placed him in her lap. “Bran?”

“Same as always.” She shrugged, before turning her attention to Rickon as the two of them fell in a whispered conversation.

As Robb attended for all of the troubles of his people, Ylina stayed beside him, telling Rickon stories and trying to get him to laugh since over the last few days, he had started to feel a bit down, probably affected by the atmosphere of his family around him. Every once in a while, Robb would lean down to Ylina to ask for her advice and, every time, she’d willingly give them, happy to help. It wasn’t until hours and hours of that had passed that Robb decided to finish it all for the day so that they all get some rest.

As the people in the room started to leave, Theon made his way from his seat on the side of the room to stand in front of the table her wife and best friend were sat on. As the two older boys looked down at Ylina, they noticed how Rickon seemed to have fallen asleep in her arms, as it had been happening every day since Bran’s accident.

“Tell Mother that Rickon needs her.” The girl said, looking up at Robb. “He’s six years old. He doesn’t understand what’s really happening and Father just left. This whole thing is taking its toll on the poor boy and neither me nor you will be able to help him like Mother will.”

“She won’t leave Bran.” Robb protested.

“She has to. Otherwise, Rickon will never smile again.”

With a nod of his head, Robb got up from his chair and extended his arms out toward Ylina, signalizing he’d put him to bed before going to talk to their mother. Passing her younger brother to him, Ylina watched as Robb made his way out of the room and Theon walked around the table to get closer to the girl.

“You seem stressed.” He noticed with a smirk.

As Ylina looked up at him, her eyes shined with amusement, already used to that tone of voice he was using and where it usually led them to. Shaking her head with a giggle, Ylina leaned back on her chair and turned her face so she was facing Theon.

“Yes?” She raised an eyebrow as he nodded, crouching down beside her chair and placing his hand on her lap, over her dress. “Well, that was very well spotted.”

“I could help with that.” He offered cheekly, dragging his hand up her leg as he squeezed her thigh quite forcefully.

“Not here.” She squealed, wriggling in her seat as Theon reached his other hand to grab at her waist. “Theon! Not now.”

“Tonight, though?” He asked, quite hopefully, to which Ylina smiled.

Leaning down slightly, she grabbed Theon by his coat, pulling him closer to her as she placed her lips to his. It was true that usually, it was the Greyjoy boy who left her mind whirling with his touches and kisses, but Ylina could be quite bold when she wanted to.

Pulling away from her husband, Ylina smirked when she noticed his eyes still closed as if lingering in her taste. Placing another chaste kiss to his lips, she winked at him.

“Tonight it is.”

She could tell Theon was about to say something else, but before he could, Robb appeared in the end of the room, looking anxious. As the couple jumped to his feet, Robb wasted no time in telling them both what to do.

“There’s a fire.” He said, as Theon and Ylina ran up to him. “In the stables. Go stay with Rickon. Mother is with Bran. Theon, let’s go.”

With a nod of their head, Ylina watched as the two men left and looked down beside her only to see Daria already alert. Picking up the ends of her dress, Ylina ran with her wolf toward the room of her youngest brother and cursed the gods that she didn’t have her bow with her. Still, she carefully entered Rickon’s room, who was thankfully still fast asleep, and waited with Daria and Shaggydog standing beside her, ready to attack anyone that would come for their harm.

Ylina kept pacing back and forth in the room, but while the wolves were calm, so was she. It wasn’t until Daria growled slightly that she stopped and turned to the door, thinking about what she could possibly do if someone was to attack Rickon. Thankfully, she wouldn’t be having to do much, because when the door was pushed open, she saw Robb.

“Oh, thank the gods.” She whispered, before running to her brother and pulling him for a hug.

When he took a while to respond, however, she knew something was wrong. Pulling away from him, Ylina searched for his eyes and frowned, waiting for him to explain what was happening. And so he did.

“The fire was a decoy.” He said.

“A distraction for what?” She asked, causing Robb to sigh, pulling her out of Rickon’s room and closing the door after her.

“They wanted us out of the castle, Lina.” He explained. “While someone was trying to murder Bran.”

***

It had been ten days since the attempt of murder on Bran and if the atmosphere was already heavy before, now it was almost impossible to breathe.

Robb was distant, busy with his duties as lord of Winterfell. Catelyn was distant, but now, not only from Ylina. She seemed to be suspecting of something so, whenever she wasn't with Bran, she was out, trying to find something or talk to someone. Rickon was distant, the sad environment around them all seeming to affect him more than Ylina had thought was possible. Even Theon and Ylina were distant from each other. With Robb in charge, he seemed to forget Theon was once his best friend and was beginning to treat him as a servant, which, obviously didn't sit quite well with the older man. He wanted to talk to her about it, she was always his safe harbor, but the girl was always busy. Checking on Rickon and Bran when her mother couldn't, the only times they actually saw each other was seconds before going to bed. He was sure she had noticed and, most likely, talked to Robb about it too, but every once in a while, he would slip up and order Theon around, only reminding him of his actual position in that Castle: an ward to his father.

Still, he stayed quiet, knowing that Ylina had enough troubles on her back to worry about him now. So, he said nothing and so did she for the same reason. It had been the first time in years that the couple has spent so long without talking to one another, and apparently it would be at least a few other hours before they could change that because, as soon as Ylina walked through the door of their shared room where Theon was waiting for her, there was a knock on her door and one of her maids asked for her and Theon to follow her.

With a quiet exchange of tired glances, the couple did as requested but, when Theon caught up with her and pinched her butt from over her dress with a smirk without even sparing her a glance, Ylina smiled for the first time in hours. At least her relationship with Theon was intact.

When they reached Godswood, the maid bowed her head at Lady Catelyn before leaving and Theon and Ylina made their way to stand beside Robb, closing the circle that had been formed by them, Catelyn, Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik, the master-at-arms.

“What l am about to tell you must remain between us.” Catelyn started, causing everyone to stay silent and pay attention, noticing the seriousness of the matter. “l don't think Bran fell from that tower. l think he was thrown.”

“The boy was always surefooted before.” Maester Luwin commented with a nod of his head.

“Someone tried to kill him twice.” She said. “Why? Why murder an innocent child? Unless he saw something he wasn't meant to see.”

“Saw what, my lady?” Theon asked, as Catelyn shook her head. 

“l don't know. But l would stake my life the Lannisters are involved. We already have reason to suspect their loyalty to the Crown.” She said, referring to the letter she received from her sister saying that her husband, Jon Arryn, hand of the King had not died from natural causes, but murdered.

“Did you notice the dagger the killer used? lt's too fine a weapon for such a man.” Ser Rodrik said, pulling the golden dagger out of its hilt. “The blade is Valyrian steel, the handle dragonbone. Someone gave it to him.”

“They come into our home and try to murder my brother?” Robb mumbled, clearly angry. “lf it's war they want…” 

“lf it comes to that, you know l'll stand behind you.” Theon spoke up without hesitation, causing Ylina to breathe heavily.

“What? Is there going to be a battle in the Godswood? Hmm?” Maester Luwin asked, causing both men to look at each other before falling silent. “Too easily words of war become acts of war. We don't know the truth yet.”

“Father must be told of this.” Ylina said, as Catelyn turned to look at her.

“l don't trust a raven to carry these words.” She said.

“l'll ride to King's Landing.” Robb offered, but Catelyn shook her head.

“No.” She said. “There must always be a Stark in Winterfell. l will go myself.”

“Mother, you can't.”

“l must.”

“l'll send Hal with a squad of guardsmen to escort you.” Ser Rodrik said.

“Too large a party attracts unwanted attention.” Catelyn countered. “l don't want the Lannisters to know l'm coming.”

“Let me accompany you at least.” The man insisted. “The Kingsroad can be a dangerous place for a woman alone.”

Catelyn glanced at Maester Luwin and, when the man nodded, she gave in and agreed to Ser Rodrik’s offer.

“What about Bran?” Robb asked, as Catelyn sighed heavily. 

“l have prayed to the Seven for more than a month.” She said. “Bran's life is in their hands now. Besides… I’m sure Ylina will take good care of him while I’m gone.”

At that, the girl’s eyes widened and everyone turned to face her. Surprised and unsure of what to do, she felt her mouth drop open.

“Mother…” She whispered, causing Catelyn to smile softly at her for the first time in weeks.

“I have been unfair to you, Ylina. Blaming you of something that was out of your control. Can you forgive me?”

Ylina felt her heart soar at that and ran up to her mother, embracing her in a much needed hug. As the two of them held each other tight, the men watching the scene smiled.

“Take care of Bran and Rickon and Robb.” Catelyn whispered in her daughter’s ear as the girl nodded. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Travel safe, Mother.” The girl smiled, as she pulled back from her mother’s arms. The woman smiled at her.

“And when Bran wakes up, tell him I’m sorry.”

With a nod and a gentle smile, Ylina grabbed one of her mother’s hands in hers and tried to reassure her everything would work out in the end.

“I will.”

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 6 - Cripples, bastards and broken things

Masterlist

Ylina watched as Bran’s breathing got heavier as his eyes stayed closed in his sleep. It had been happening for days now, ever since he had woken up. Everytime the poor boy managed a few hours of sleep, he would have vivid dreams, and always the same. Always the same three-eyed black raven he described, one that he never seemed to catch up with. Ylina wanted to help, but she had woken him up once before and it hadn’t gone well, so, instead, all the girl did was wait for him to wake up on his own, but always with a close eye on him.

When Bran opened his eyes, Ylina gave him a soft smile, closing the book in her lap as her brother tiredly turned his face to look at her.

“Same dream again?” She asked.

Bran nodded and Ylina sighed, but before any of them could say anything, there was a knock on the door before it was pushed open only to reveal Theon standing there.

“We have visitors.” He said, as Bran lifted the upper part of his body to look at Theon.

“I don't want to see anyone.” The younger boy said.

“Really? If I was cooped up all day with no one but this annoying little girl for company, I'd go mad.” Theon retorted, nodding his head at Ylina with a playful smirk causing her to roll her eyes with a smile. “Anyway, you don't have a choice. Robb's waiting.”

“I don't want to go.” Bran insisted.

“Neither do I.” Theon shrugged, already used to Bran’s moodiness after he woke up from his coma. “But Robb's Lord of Winterfell, which means I do what he says, and you do what I say. Hodor!” 

Stepping aside, Theon allowed the gentle giant to enter the room. Already used to formalities, Hodor bowed his head slightly at Ylina’s and Bran’s direction and said the one thing he has ever been able to say.

“Hodor?” 

“Help Bran down the hall.” Theon instructed.

“Hodor.” The big man nodded, before walking toward Bran’s bed and picking up the boy.

Allowing him to leave the room, Theon then turned to Ylina and extended a hand in her direction. The girl scoffed, but placed her book down on the table beside her chair and walked toward her husband to take his arm in hers.

“Lord Stark requests my presence as well?” She mocked, causing Theon to chuckle. 

“No.” He responded as they followed Bran and Hodor down the hallways of the Castle. “But Lord Greyjoy does.”

“Oh, does he?” She smirked up at him, nudging his side with her elbow.

“Besides… You really do need to leave that room. You are turning into your mother.”

“Careful, Lord Greyjoy.” She scolded playfully causing the man to laugh. “The next words that come out of your mouth might be decisive in whether you keep your tongue or not.”

“Are you threatening me?” He raised an eyebrow at her as she shrugged.

“I’m warning you.” She corrected.

As they approached the common room of the Castle where all the important meetings were held, however, Ylina’s smile was replaced by a frown. She could hear her brother talking to someone and, with each step, she realized more and more she knew who was the visitor they had.

“I must say I received a slightly warmer welcome on my last visit.” Ylina heard him speak.

“Tyrion Lannister?” She asked and Theon shrugged with a small nod. “What is he doing here?”

“Any man of the Night's Watch is welcome at Winterfell.” Robb answered.

“Any man of the Night's Watch, but not I, eh, boy?” 

“I'm not your boy, Lannister. I'm Lord of Winterfell while my father is away.”

“Then you might learn a lord's courtesy.” 

That was when they stepped inside the room. While Hodor went to stand with Bran in his arms beside Tyrion, Theon and Ylina made their way to the other side, standing close to the table Robb and Maester Luwin were sitting on, but not too close. When she raised an eyebrow at her brother, Robb shook his head, signalizing he had as much clue on what was happening as she did. Before she could even say anything else, however, Tyrion turned to Bran with a surprised face.

“So it's true.” He mumbled. “Hello, Bran. Do you remember anything about what happened?”

“He has no memory of that day.” Maester Luwin said.

“Curious.”

“Why are you here?” Robb asked.

Completely ignoring her brother, Tyrion turned to face Bran again. 

“Would your charming companion be so kind as to kneel? My neck is beginning to hurt.”

Bran looked over at Ylina and when she nodded, he complayed to Tyrion’s request.

“Kneel, Hodor.” He said, as the tall man kneeled, placing Bran carefully on his bent knee.

“Do you like to ride, Bran?” Tyrion asked once they were finally at the same height.

“Yes.” He answered quickly, before the frown he was so used on wearing these days reappeared. “Well, I mean I did like to.”

“The boy has lost the use of his legs.” Maester Luwin said.

“What of it?” Tyrion countered. “With the right horse and saddle, even a cripple can ride.”

“I'm not a cripple.” Bran protested.

“Then I'm not a dwarf. My father will rejoice to hear it.” Tyrion responded, sarcasm dripping from his every word. “I have a gift for you.”

At that, Ylina frowned, watching as Tyrion reached for the pocket in his coat, pulling out a scroll from it and giving it to Bran. Again, the younger boy seeked for his sister’s approval, but, this time, she wasn’t sure what to do herself, so, instead, she glanced at Robb, missing how Bran pulled the scroll open and examined it with careful eyes.

“Give that to your saddler. He'll provide the rest.” Tyrion said, before turning around to face Robb and Maester Luwin next. “You must shape the horse to the rider. Start with a yearling and teach it to respond to the reins and to the boy's voice.”

“Will I really be able to ride?” Bran asked, and when Ylina noticed how happy he sounded, she let out a relieved breath.

“You will.” Tyrion nodded. “On horseback you will be as tall as any of them.”

“Is this some kind of trick?” Robb asked, causing Tyrion to turn to him again. “Why do you want to help him?” 

“I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards and broken things.” Tyrion responded before sharing a smile with Bran.

“You've done my brother a kindness.” Robb said. “The hospitality of Winterfell is yours.”

“Spare me your false courtesies, Lord Stark.” Tyrion rolled his eyes. “There's a brothel outside your walls. There I'll find a bed and both of us can sleep easier. But what happened here? Where is Lady Stark? Why didn't she receive me?"

"She wasn't feeling well." Theon spoke up.

"She's not in Winterfell, is she? Where did she go?"

"M'lady's whereabouts…" 

"M'lady?" Tyrion scoffed. With a sigh, already knowing what was coming, Ylina placed a hand on Theon's arm. "Your loyalty to your captors is touching."

When the room fell silent, Tyrion smirked, his eyes never once leaving Theon's form. Ylina and Robb exchanged a glance but before they could intervene, the dwarf spoke up again.

"Tell me, how do you think Balon Greyjoy would feel if he could see his only surviving son has turned lackey?" He mocked, as Theon's arm tensed under Ylina's hand. "I still remember seeing my father's fleet burn in Lannisport. I believe your uncles were responsible."

"Must have been a pretty sight." Theon smirked, his cocky demeanor never once faltering.

"Nothing prettier than watching sailors burn alive." Tyrion responded. "Yes, a great victory for your people. Shame how it all turned out."

"We were outnumbered ten to one." Theon defended.

"A stupid rebellion, then. I suppose your father realized that when your brothers died in battle. Now here you are, your enemy's squire."

"Careful, Imp." Theon glared at him, as Tyrion simply shrugged.

"I've offended you. Forgive me, it's been a rough morning."

Ylina could tell Tyrion was about to say something else but before he could, the girl spoke up.

"Enough." She said, her demanding voice coming out as everyone turned to look at her, rather surprise. "If that is all you came for, Lord Tyrion, it'd be my pleasure to see you off."

“It’s very kind of you, my Lady, but I don’t think…”

“Good.” She interrupted him, not interested in his next words.

As she left her place beside Theon, she could tell everyone was looking at her, but as Daria got up to follow her, she didn’t particularly care. Before she could reach Tyrion Lannister, however, her younger brother called out her name, causing her to stop and turn to face him.

“Lina.” He whispered, extending the roll Tyrion had given him in her direction.

Ylina walked toward him and picked it up, examining it over once more, before lifting her eyes just briefly so she could smile at Tyrion. Turning to her brother, she reached out for his cheek to caress it while she passed the roll over to Maester Luwin.

“See to it, please, Maester Luwin.” She said, as Bran’s eyes widened at her. “The sooner it is done, the sooner we can practice with it.”

She wasn’t sure if she should trust Tyrion Lannister of all people, but for the smile that appeared on Bran’s face, Ylina was sure she could do much dumber things. Making him a saddle and practicing with it didn’t seem to be that much of a bad idea.

“Thank you.” Bran beamed, as Ylina nodded at him.

“Hodor? Take him back to his chambers, will you?”

“Hodor.” The man said, before getting up and leaving the room.

As they left, Ylina walked toward Lord Tyrion and raised an eyebrow at him. With a sigh, the Lannister held out his arm so Ylina could rest hers over it. As they left the room, Tyrion looked around, only for his eyes to fall on Daria, following them closely.

“The wolf has to come?” He asked, as Ylina looked down at him in silence. He sighed. “Of course it has.”

“It’s a she.” Ylina corrected.

“A she-wolf?” Tyrion repeated, as Ylina nodded. “Funny.”

“That’s how life is, I suppose. Funny.”

“Your brother doesn’t seem to agree.”

“It’s a thing that happens with Stark men. Honorable, but lack a bit of sense of humor.”

“And you have it?” Tyrion asked. “Must have to be able to wed a Greyjoy.”

“Cocky little bastard, I’ll give you that.” She smirked. Tyrion frowned, looking up at her, only to notice she wasn’t looking at him, rather at the way in front of her as they walked down the hallways of her Castle toward the grounds. “But once you learn how to deal with it, he can be quite fun.”

“I don’t doubt it, Lady Greyjoy.” He mocked, as she scoffed.

"Is that supposed to offend me, Lord Tyrion?" She asked. "I know all about what the Greyjoys did and what they are famous for. But I also know about the Lannisters and Starks and Tyrells. None of them have much of a clean story, wouldn't you agree? Still, we clutch ourselves to names. We believe titles, births and marriages are everything that hold us together. Yet… All they are, are names."

"Powerful names." Tyrion said, causing Ylina to nod.

"Powerful no doubt." She agreed. "But who gave them the power? I think you would know since Tywin Lannister is very well-known for caring only for his dynasty. Must pain him, that until now, the only one who gave him heirs turned out to be a Baratheon."

"What is the point of this conversation, Lady Ylina?" Tyrion asked, when they finally reached the grounds, where his traveling companion was waiting for him with their horses.

"I just think it's funny how life works." She shrugged, standing by the doors of hee Castle. "Funny how our families never got along but when you lions come to our home after nine years, Bran falls from climbing the same tower I saw him climb a thousand times over. Wouldn't you say, Lord Tyrion?"

"That's a dangerous game you are playing right now, my Lady."

"No games, my Lord." She shook her head. "Just thoughts. Thoughts of a young lady who doesn't understand much of the world yet. If I offended you, however, I do apologize. It's been a rough morning."

And with that, Ylina bowed her head at Tyrion before walking away. He watched her for a while, quite speechless by the attitude the young girl had shown him in the last few minutes before turning to his companion with a smirk.

"What amuses you, my Lord?" He asked, helping him climb in his horse.

"Ylina Stark is an interesting piece." It was all he answered, before urging his horse to move as the two men made their way out of the Castle of the Starks.

And as Ylina made her own way inside, she squealed when a hand wrapped around her  and pulled her toward an empty room. She was about to scream, but before she could, the form in front of her came into focus and she breathed out in relief.

"Theon!" She squealed, as the man pinned her against a wall, pulled her coat from her shoulders and started placing kisses all over her exposed neck. "Theon…"

"Why did you walk out with the imp?" He demanded as Ylina chuckled.

"Just went to see him off, Theon." She answered.

"You didn't need to. Getting close to him like that."

"Oh, no? And why's that?" She asked, amused by the whole situation.

"He's a Lannister." He answered easily.

"Aye, I'm aware." She gasped when Theon marked the skin of her collarbone. Pushing him slightly away from her, her eyes met his and when Theon saw the amusement on them, he growled. "Jealous, Theon? Of the imp of all people?"

"I'm not jealous." He said. Ylina giggled.

"With a wounded pride, perhaps?" She asked and when Theon grabbed her by the legs to have her face in the same height as his, she knew she struck a nerve.

"A prisoner, he called me." He mumbled, allowing his hands to travel up her legs from under her dress. "A prisoner… I'll show him how much of a prisoner I am."

"Theon…" Ylina breathed out, as his hands got higher and higher up her legs.

With a smirk on his face, Theon watched as Ylina closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. Knowing he had that sort of power over the daughter of the man he was supposed to serve gave him a type of confidence nothing else ever did. He knew it and she did too. But as Theon's warm hands gripped her thighs and his lips devoured hers in a fervent kiss, none of them could care less about it in that moment.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 14 - Wargs, dragons and dark magic

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this."

At Osha's mumbled complaint, Ylina let out a laugh. As she laid back on the bathtub placed in the middle of her room, she rubbed both hands over her big stomach and closed her eyes, enjoying Osha's fingers treading through her hair as she washed the lady's vibrant red hair.

"I have never asked of you to wash my hair." The younger girl was quick to notice. "You were the one who offered your services."

"And you said yes." Osha countered, as Ylina shrugged, opening her eyes so that she could look up at the woman who was sat by her head.

"As much my friend as you are, you are still my maid."

"You are lucky I like you, pretty lady, because if I didn't, I would've killed you a long time ago."

"Good thing you didn't. If you had, I would have never gotten to experience such a great head massage. You are even better at it than Prya. And she has been doing my hair for years now."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it, because I won't be doing it again."

"Is washing my hair such a boring task?" Ylina chuckled as Osha poured some hot water down her head gently. "You can leave me to it if you'd like."

"It's fine." Osha shook her head. "I'm almost done anyway. And I have something else to discuss with you."

At that, the girl sighed. Sliding down slightly in the bathtub, Ylina lifted one of her legs and rested it over the cold metal of the edge of the tub.

"What is it?" She asked tracing patterns in her thighs as a way of distracting herself.

"Bran had Hodor take him outside earlier." Osha started as Ylina nodded.

"So I've heard."

"How?"

"The guards are instructed to tell me where my brothers are at all times, especially if they decide to leave the castle." Ylina shrugged. "I don't want to forbid them from leaving, but I also need to know when they do."

With a nod of her own, Osha finished washing Ylina's hair and reached for one of her towels to start drying it.

"Yeah, well… He's insisting he can get inside Summer's body." The woman said, causing Ylina to gulp down hard.

"He talks to me about it sometimes." She said. "I never know what to say back to him. What do you make of it?"

"I don't make anything, Ylina."

"Osha…" The girl groaned, putting her leg back into the water and extending a hand out for her to take it. "The only thing I can think about is warging but Bran isn't controlling Summer, so it can't be it."

"Warging is a rare thing, Ylina. Even beyond the wall." Osha said, holding Ylina's hand tight as the girl climbed out of the tub, being careful about her very big pregnant stomach. "The boy already dreams about a raven of three eyes. Don't fill his head with shit like this."

"I don't." Ylina defended, grabbing the towels from Osha as the woman stepped back for her to dry herself up. "He already has his head filled. Old nan who used to care for him and Rickon used to tell him stories like that. He remembers and he's worried he is one of them."

"Do you people believe in this?"

"Well, that is a difficult question to answer, I admit." Ylina said, turning around motioning for Osha to help her inside her dress. "Some people don't. Most people, I suppose. Wargs, dragons and dark magic… It's been so long since we've last seen them and people seem to have forgotten about it. But we have seen it all before. We have seen dragons. We have seen wargs. We have definitely seen dark magic. We haven’t, for a long time, it’s true, but why couldn't they return? What would stop them from making an appearance again?"

"You want to believe it." Osha noted, tying up the back of Ylina's dress, careful not to constrain her too much. "You want to believe in wargs, dragons and dark magic."

"I don't want to. But I might have to." She frowned, before spinning around to face Osha. "What do you believe in?"

At that, Osha sighed.

"When you grow up north of the wall, you learn that not believing in stuff is stupid."

"So you have seen it." Ylina insisted. "Wargs, dark magic and dragons."

Walking away from the girl, Osha grabbed her hairbrush and stopped by the closed doors of her chambers.

"Haven't seen a dragon, pretty lady. But I might pretty soon." 

"What do you mean?" Ylina frowned.

"Look outside. There's a red falling star."

"Some say the red is the color of the Lannisters." The girl bit her lip, causing Osha to shake her head. “Some say it means Robb will win the next battle he fights.”

“They do, do they?” The wildling woman mumbled, as Ylina frowned.

“What do you say?” She asked. “I’m sure a blood red comet in the sky means something to everyone. Even beyond the wall. Especially beyond the wall.”

"Stars don't fall for people, pretty lady."

"But they do for dragons?"

"But they do for dragons." She mumbled, before opening the door and ushering Ylina's other maids inside.

As the three girls rushed to Ylina to do her hair and help her in her boots and coat, the grey eyes of the lady never once left Osha. With a small smile, the wildling woman moved to close the door.

"I will go check on Rickon, pretty lady. Call us when you are done."

***

It had been a long day and Ylina was tired. Her feet hurt, her back hurt, her head hurt… Being pregnant sucked, having to carry a baby around and still having to get up and do stuff was one of the worst things she has ever experienced, one of the most difficult ones. That was probably why men didn't do it. Ylina was sure neither Theon or Robb would have been able to do what she was doing and, picturing the two of them heavily pregnant while dealing with common people every day of their lives and whining the whole day about it was basically the only thing making her day worth living.

Of course her happiness was short-lived because as soon as the doors of her study were pushed open and there stood Maester Luwin with a paper roll in his hands, Ylina felt his heart drop.

"Do not worry, my lady. It is not from your brother."

And just like that, the girl allowed herself to breath properly again. Waving her hand, Maester Luwin took that as his signal to walk inside and close the door behind him. As soon as he did, he walked toward one of the chairs in front of Ylina and sat down, before handing her the roll.

Picking it up, Ylina frowned, when she saw the stag on the stamp. It was the Baratheon symbol, but not the one she was used to. Not the crowned stag of Robert and Joffrey. The one in the stamp in her hands now, had a stag, stoic and beautiful in front of a fire. Without asking any questions, Ylina pulled the roll open and her confusion only increased as she read the letters.

Ylina Greyjoy, Lady of Winterfell.

I, Stannis of House Baratheon, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, declare upon the honor of my house that my brother Robert left no trueborn heirs. The boy Joffrey, the boy Tommen, and the girl Myrcella being born of incest between Cersei Lannister and her brother Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer.

By right of birth and blood, I do this day lay claim to the Iron Throne of Westeros.

Let all true men declare their loyalty.

"A bastard? Joffrey Baratheon is a bastard?" Ylina asked, surprised. “And of an incest, no less?”

Extending his hand out toward the girl, Maester Luwin waited for Ylina to give him the letter. As he read it over, the girl took her time to try and make sense of everything. Joffrey Baratheon was a bastard. 

"This is a serious accusation they are making, my lady. Incestous activity is frowned upon in every corner of Westeros." The Maester said. “It strips a man of all integrity and honor.”

"I wouldn't put it past the Lannisters. Everyone knows that family has no scrupulous, let alone honor." The girl said, getting up from her seat and rubbing at the small of her back for comfort. "And where were the Queen and Ser Jaime when Bran fell from the broken tower?"

"Ylina…"

"Ser Jaime didn't go out hunting with Father and the boys, did he? And Queen Cersei? Where was she?"

"I don't know, my lady."

"What if that was it? What if the blonde hair Mother found wasn't Tyrion's? But Cersei's? Or even Jaime's? What if Bran saw the two of them together and that was why he was pushed off the tower? It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"It does." Maester Luwin nodded slowly, as Ylina sighed. "But we have no concrete evidence. It is all very circunstancial, really."

"But it is possible."

"Don't hold a grudge against someone just because you want to believe something is true, my lady. It is not wise nor fair."

"Fair?" Ylina scoffed. "Bran has never fallen from anywhere during his climbings. The boy has climbed every single wall and tree we have in this castle and never once have I seen him even slip. When the royal family is here, he finally does. After years of climbing, he falls right when the King and Queen are here. Then, we learn he was pushed and that the Queen has been keeping the truth about her children a secret. It does seem rather suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Suspicious indeed, my lady. But not confirmed."

"Well, it's not like I am going to do anything about it. Stannis Baratheon did all the job, anyway. I bet he sent this letter to every lord out there in Westeros. Everyone now has learned the truth, so I don’t have much to do about it." The girl said, walking around the study to try and ease the pain in her muscles. "Robb will, though. I know he will."

"Your brother is fighting a war against a King already. If he refuses Stannis' call, he will have two strong enemies to fight."

"King Robb has an army and people loyal to him." Ylina countered, stopping in front of the window and looking out to the snow covered hills around Winterfell. "He's won every battle he's fought so far. He is a good strategist and even Tywin Lannister is said to be wary about him now. Robb was nominated King in the North by the very people he was meant to protect his whole life. I know he won't bend the knee. Not to Stannis, not to Joffrey, not even to Renly. Robb Stark is our King and he will bring home our sisters and the indepence of our Kingdom. I know he will."

"Your faith in our King is a commendable thing." Maester Luwin smiled gently as the girl simply sighed.

"I have faith in Robb. I always have and I always will. He will come home soon, I know it. And finally, we get to make him a throne and a crown and the North will know prosperity and safety as it has, for centuries."

"May the gods be good allow us this blessing." The Maester said, as Ylina nodded slightly.

"May the gods be good."

Once again, the room fell silent, but before any of them could do anything about it, the door of the study was pushed open and a guard stood there. When Ylina and Maester Luwin turned around to face him, the man bowed slightly.

"Maester. My lady." He said, continuing when Ylina gave him a nod. "There are ravens coming from all of the Kingdom. Lords and ladies demand to know if Stannis Baratheon is to be our new King."

"The lords and ladies think Robb will bend the knee?" Ylina asked, surprised.

"The lords and ladies don't know King Robb like you do, my lady.” Maester Luwin was quick to explain. “They know your father. And they know your father would have bent the knee for the rightful heir, whoever he was."

With a sigh, Ylina nodded. It was true. Ned Stark was a honorable fool, never once faltering when honor and duty were required, thinking that those two things were always of the utmost importance and that the people he was dealing with thought so too. Ylina admired him, she really did. But she knew better. She knew that, to survive, one has to lie and, most often than not, go down a path where honor and duty don't fit. She knew that the people she was playing against knew nothing about fairness and honesty. That was the Northern way of doing things, the Stark way. But it wasn’t or everyone. Most people only knew betrayal and corruption, never thinking twice before doing anything that would get them closer to their goal, never faltering when putting someone else at risk, never hesitating to think about all the danger they might putting other people in. She knew, but her father didn't. That was why she was alive and Ned Stark wasn't.

"Very well." The girl decided, looking at the guard as the man straightened his posture when his lady addressed him. "Fetch me ink and a feather. I will write to the lords and ladies myself and tell them Robb is still their King and will be until the end of his days."

With a nod, the guard left the room. Ylina moved to sit in her chair again as Maester Luwin watched her struggle with her belly. With a proud smile, he saw, for the first time, not the little girl he used to teach all those years ago. Not the little girl always eager to learn about the history of every Great House there ever was. Not the little girl who always asked the best questions and never settled for half an answer. For the first time in years, Maester Luwin saw the woman Ylina became and the one she had the potential of becoming.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 13 - King in the North

Ylina lifted her eyes from the books in front of her when the doors of the room were pushed open and the chief of her guard stood there. Frowning slightly and nodding at the man, she placed a hand over the confidential registers she was going through with Maester Luwin, expecting the guard to speak up and explain why he interrupted the meeting.

"Forgive me, my lady, but there is a rider wanting to pass the gates." He said, as Ylina's heart suddenly dropped to her stomach.

"A rider?" She asked. "Alone?"

"Yes, my lady, and it's one of ours."

That was all she needed to hear, biting her lip, Ylina closed the books and passed them to Maester Luwin. With a nod from the older man, the girl was soon walking out of the room, after the guard with Daria by her feet. As they walked through the hallways of the castle, her high heeled boots echoing around the stone walls, her anxiety was very evident because, before they could even reach the courtyard, the guard looked back at her with a gentle smile.

"The man seemed unharmed, my lady." He said, as Ylina sighed.

"Do you know who he is?"

"One of lord Umber's sons." The guard answered quickly. Nodding her head, Ylina smiled back at the man.

"It's good to hear he is well." She said lowly. The guard nodded.

"Seemed tired, but overall, seemed alright."

As soon as they reached the courtyard, Ylina ordered for the other guards to open the gates and waited for the rider with the chief of the guard standing beside her with his hand on the handle of his sword. Daria sat on her other side, watching with careful eyes as the rider entered the guard, stopping his brown horse right in front of Ylina. As he dismounted the horse, the man bowed at the girl and passed the reins of his horse to one of the stable boys before turning to look at Ylina.

"My lady." He said, as she smiled at him.

"My lord." She responded on the same tone. "Travel safe?"

"Yes, my lady. Thank you." He coughed slightly. Turning around, Ylina waved forward one of her maids.

As the woman rushed inside the castle to bring back a jar of wine for the visitor, Ylina turned back around to face him.

"I expect the road back wasn't the easiest one." She said. The man smiled.

"Not really, my lady." He agreed, before reaching for his bag and shuffling with it for a second. 

When Daria growled at his movements, lord Umber stopped and looked up at Ylina. With a gentle smile at her wolf, the girl placed a hand over her head.

"Now, now, girl. Take it easy." She whispered as the wolf lifted her icy blue eyes to meet Ylina's stormy grey ones. 

When she nodded at lord Umber, the man looked uncertain to Daria, before starting to rummage through his bag once again. When he pulled out a small package out of it, Ylina's maid came back with a cup and a jar of wine. Reaching for the package, Ylina took it from lord Umber, caressing the leather cover with careful fingers.

"A present." Lord Umber said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after taking a big gulp of the drink offered to him. "For lord Bran's nameday from his grace.."

At that, Ylina frowned, lifting her eyes from the package in her hands to look up at lord Umber, who was already asking for Ylina's maid to refill his cup.

"His grace?" She asked.

Lord Umber humed in agreement, before glancing at Ylina when he noticed how confused she seemed.

"Haven't you heard, my lady?" He asked, when the girl shook her head. "Your brother is now King."

"King?"

"Aye. The lords nominated him King in the North." The man started to explain as Ylina simply stood there, completely astonished. "His grace won every battle he's fought, he started to be called the young wolf. After your father was killed in the capital — may the gods have him —, the lords decided to nominate his grace King instead of submitting the control of the North to some King in the South who doesn't understand a thing about how things are done up here."

"Robb? As King?" Ylina breathed out, before a smile started to creep onto her lips. "I can't believe it."

"His grace is a noble man, my lady." The man said, as Ylina's heart filled with pride. "The northerns are happy to serve under his command."

With a nod and a small smile, Ylina was about to dismiss the man, but before she could, he called out for her again.

"My lady." He said, as Ylina turned to face him. "His grace asked me to tell you he is alright and so is your lord husband. He asked me to give you this as well."

Reaching again for his bag, lord Umber pulled out a roll of paper and gave it to Ylina. Passing the package in her hands to her maid, the girl grabbed the roll and, almost instantly, felt her eyes filling with tears.

Ylina breathed heavily, turning to the guard beside her as the man gave her a reassuring nod. Sniffling lightly, Ylina turned back to lord Umber and smiled at him.

"Is that all, my lord?" She asked, as the man nodded. "Very well. Then I will be happy to offer you a bath, fresh clothes and a warm supper, if you will. The hospitality of Winterfell is yours, my lord."

"Thank you, my lady." Lord Umber nodded.

Waving her maid forward, Ylina watched as the woman guided the lord inside the castle, the package for Bran's nameday from Robb carefully placed in her arms, as she waited for the right time to put it in Ylina's room so her lady could decide what to do with it and when to give it to her brother.

Standing there with the roll in her hands, the guard bowed slightly at her, causing Ylina to look at him.

"With your permission, my lady." He said, causing the girl to nod.

"Of course."

And as soon as she allowed him, the guard left her to go back to his post. Looking down at Daria, Ylina sighed, running away from the castle and toward the small hiding place she had beside the stables. Sitting down with her bsck against a tree, Ylina's eyes never left the letter in her hands, once more sealed with the usual grey wolf that represented the Starks. Hearing Daria whine lowly beside her, Ylina snapped back to reality and looked at her wolf, before sighed.

"Calm down, Daria. I will open it, just… Just give me a while."

With a grunt, the wolf settled down, sitting by her owner in silence as Ylina slowly pulled open the letter, breathing deeply when Robb's handwriting started to appear in front of her eyes.

Hey, love, how are you?

I hope you are alright. I hope the boys are alright. I probably shouldn't be sending you this letter, but I told Umber to not give this to anyone that wasn't you, so we are safe. I just wanted to let you know properly what's happening because I know you and I know you are worrying far too much more than you should about me and Theon. Well, I am happy to say that both of us are fine. Also, so is Mother. On her way back from the Capital, she found us and she's been an important piece in our victories. She's a far better negotiator than I ever expected, to be fair.

In any case, Mother will be home soon, I promise. Right now, I'm thinking about sending her down to Storm's End so she can talk to King Renly Baratheon for us both to join forces. He does seem more likely to accept the independence of the North if we grant him the Iron Throne, so I only see good things in such an alliance. Oh, yes. I expect you heard, but the North is indepent now. From this day until the end of times, the North is a free and independent Kingdom. And that means I'm a King. Me, a King… Who would have thought, huh?

Right now, as I write you this letter, we have just passed by the Twins. Mother had to make a few arrangements with lord Frey. I am to marry one of his daughters when the war is over and, after we get Arya back, she is to marry one of his sons. I don't think she will thrilled to hear it, but it was the best we could do. We have a larger army now and are heading to fight Tywin Lannister.

No matter how safe I think this letter is, I can't tell you much more than this. I can't discuss my battle plans with you and, as much as I wish you were here, I am also happy to know you are, at least, safe at home. Besides, I think I am doing a decent job with strategy without you.

I miss you so much more than you know, Lily. I will be home soon. All of us. And everything will be just the way we want it to be, I promise.

Love, 

Robb.

As Ylina held the paper in her hands, she couldn't hold it inside anymore. Sobbing into her hands, she felt as Daria approached her, trying to use her fur and snout to offer the girl some comfort. Sobbing and crying, Ylina crumbled the piece of paper in her hand as she rested it on her already protruding stomach and the held tight against Daria, as if having the wolf there was the only thing keeping her from falling off the edge of her world.

Letting her emotions out for the first time in months, Ylina managed to calm down enough to clear her thoughts, before doing the one thing that still gave her a sense of security whenever everything started to fell a bit too much: she prayed. Closing her eyes and letting the cool breeze of the winds of the North hit her skin and mess up her hair, Ylina prayed for the safety of her brother. She prayed that the gods gave him wisdom for the battles to come and strength to endure. She prayed for her husband. She prayed that the gods kept him safe and allowed him to return to her, to return to their unborn child. She prayed for her Mother, she prayed for all the soldiers in Robb's army and she prayed that the gods were merciful on them, ending this war before anyone else could be dragged into it. Before anyone else got hurt, or, worse, ended up dead.

Sitting by the tree with no one but Daria around, Ylina wasn't sure how long it had been, but when she finally got up from her place, the one thing that kept her going was her faith in her brother and in the words he had told her: I will be home soon. All of us. And everything will be just the way we want it to be, I promise. And despite knowing there was no way to tell for certain if that was true or not, hanging onto his every word was definitely the best she could do. So, walking back toward the castle while wiping away her tears and hoping her eyes weren't as bloodshot red as she expected them to be, Ylina looked down at Daria as her wolf lifted her head up to meet her eyes.

"Come on, then, girl." She smiled weakly causing Daria to whine. "Let's write Robb a letter shall we? Let him know we are all alright. Maybe we can even tell him about his little nephew or niece. That would be good wouldn't it?"

And as she thought about putting a smile on Robb's face with a letter of her own for him, Ylina felt her heart beat harder against her chest.And for the first time in months, feeling her heartbeat against her chest didn't hurt as much. For a second, she felt happy that he was alright. That Theon was alright. That her mother was alright. That Robb was doing a great job at the war. That Robb was doing such a good job that he was even nominated King. With a small smile of her own, Ylina thought back to her father and how proud of his son he probably was. Ylina wasn't sure what happened to people when they died. She wasn't sure what she believed in, but if she believed in one thing, it is that, if her Father could see them all from whatever it was that he was resting now, he surely was proud of his oldest son. 

And as she walked through the hallways of her castle, heading toward the common room to get ready for another day of dealing with appointments and trying to solve problems for everyone else while forgetting her own, she could only hope Ned Stark was proud of her as well.

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 16 - Crashing waves

Ylina was distracted and she knew it, but how could she not? Sure she knew Bran was a responsible child for his age, but Rickon was… Well, he was a rowdy little thing as it was. Now with a baby around, he was far more excited and wanted to be near the new family member at all costs. Ylina found it endearing, but she knew it was somewhat dangerous. Thankfully she had Bran to hold the baby in his arms as he sat quietly in his chair, a few feet away from where she was sat while Rickon ran around the two of them, laughing and playing along with whatever it was that was happening in that creative mind of his. As Ylina watched the three boys with attentive eyes, she noticed she hadn’t really been paying attention to the man standing in front of her and telling her his troubles, so, sending Daria from her side off to stand by the boys, Ylina’s attention finally returned to the man.

“And it's not just thieves, m’lady.” He was saying, as Ylina nodded, slightly at him. “There's wolves in them hills now, more than I ever seen. They come down in the night and they kill my sheep. My three sons is away fighting for your brother, m’lady. They'll fight, keep fighting till they're told to go home. I have no one to man my flock now. Only me. I can't keep watch all day and all night.”

With yet another understanding nod, Ylina weighted her options before deciding on the one that seemed to be the most beneficial to everyone.

“We can send two orphan boys from Winterstown home with you to help watch over your flock if you can give them room and board.” She said, as the man smiled.

“My wife always prayed for more children.” He smiled, as Ylina returned the gesture. “We'll look after them. Thank you, m’lady. And may the gods bless you and yours.”

Ylina watched as the man left and waited in silence for someone to walk inside. When no one came, she let out a tired sigh and rubbed her forehead for a second.

“Is that everyone?” She asked, causing Maester Luwin to nod.

“It seems that way, my lady.” He nodded.

“Good.” She said, getting up from her chair and walking toward her brothers.

With a smile, Bran passed her Ember and the baby gurgled happily once in his mother’s arms. Ylina could tell Rickon was about to say something else, but before he could Ser Rodrik and two of his men walked inside the room, coming to a stop in front of Ylina.

“My Lady.” The man gave her a small bow of his head and Ylina nodded for him to continue. “Torrhen's Square is under siege.”

“Torrhen's Square is barely 40 leagues from here.” Ylina noted, when Maester Luwin gasped.

“How can the Lannisters strike so far north?” The older man asked.

“Might be a raiding party led by the Mountain.” Ser Rodrik answered, looking straight at Ylina once more. “Might be sellswords paid by Tywin Lannister.”

“We have to help them.” Bran said, urgently, causing Ylina to glance back at him and nod reassuringly.

“Most of the fighting men are away with Robb, but I can gather 200 decent men.” Ser Rodrik said.

“Do you need so many?” Maester Luwin asked, causing Ylina to look at him as she rocked a quite agitated baby in her arms.

“If we can't protect our own bannermen, why should they protect us?” The girl demanded, looking at her Maester and missing the proud smile her old — and secret — teacher in the masters of weapons’ gave her. “Go, Ser Rodrik. Take 150 men with you, but spare us the rest so we can protect the castle if needed be.”

“You won’t have to, my lady.” He said. “Southerners don't do well up here.”

And when Ylina nodded at him, Ser Rodrik bowed again and left the room, probably to gather some of his men to leave to Torrhen's Square. Ylina was worried, of course. She worried about the people there, the kinds of trouble they were probably facing now that they were under siege. She had never seen one but she had read books enough on them. Her father had told them enough stories about them. Sure the soldiers suffered and men’s lives were lost, but that wasn’t the worst part. Soldiers were trained for this, they spent their years learning techniques of survival and making themselves as strong and resilient as they possibly could. No, it wasn’t the soldiers that troubled Ylina, afterall, they chose to be there. The thing that bothered her the most about sieges were the struggles it put the common people trought: hunger and diseases. That was when the men were kind. Sieges were the perfect opportunity for thieves and rapists. No one could leave and no one could enter which meant vulnerable houses and unprotected women. She hated it, but at the same time, she knew it was better than a blind slaughter only so one idiotic and selfish lord could sit himself in a castle and proclaim himself lord of somewhere.

As Ylina looked out into the void, rocking Ember in her arms almost subconsciously, she didn’t notice how long she stayed out of it. That was, until Rickon called her name and she snapped her head in his direction. 

“Lina?” He called, as the girl sighed.

“There’s no need to worry, yes? Ser Rodrik will take care of everything.” She assured her youngest brother as he clung to her skirts and looked up at her, visibly scared. “He is right, Rick. Southerners don’t do well in the North.”

“What if they are not Southerners?” Bran asked, causing Ylina to look at him, instead of down to Rickon.

As the two siblings stared at one another, Ylina understood what Bran wanted without him needing to speak up. With a small nod of her head, she let him know she understood and started calling out orders around so they could make it happen.

“Prya, take Ember to my chambers and stay with him until I return.” She said, as her maid stepped forward from the corner of the room and carefully picked Ember from his mother’s arms.

“Yes, my lady.” She mumbled before leaving the room.

“Elissa, scourt Rickon back to his room and see that he does his required reading before supper tonight.”

“Yes, my lady.” Her other maid agreed, urging a very grumpy Rickon out of the room.

“Hodor? Help me with Bran, will you?” She said, finally, smiling at the big man as he mumbled an ‘Hodor’ in response and moved to pick Bran up and take him outside. “I will see Bran off to his riding today, Maester Luwin. Could you please send one of our maps to my chambers with some ink and a feather?”

“Of course, my lady.” The man nodded, getting up from his chair and leaving the room as Ylina picked up the ends of her dress and jogged slightly to catch up with Bran and Hodor with Daria and Osha following close behind them.

“What did you mean back there?” Ylina asked, as they all made their way to the courtyard where Bran’s horse would be waiting for him as he always was that time of the day. “About us not being attacked by Southerners?”

“I just had a feeling.” Bran shrugged from Hodor’s back.

“A feeling?” Ylina asked, walking around Bran’s horse to help Hodor to sit the boy in his saddle. “Not a dream?”

“Why would I tell you if it was? You still haven’t told me anything of your findings about the raven.” 

“I told you Bran… I found nothing.”

“You are a liar.” He accused, as the girl sighed and moved to strap Bran’s legs to the saddle.

“I have asked Maester Luwin. I have asked Osha. I have sent word to the citadel. Nothing concrete came back to me.”

“But something did.” Bran insisted. “And when I asked you about it, you didn't give me an honest answer.”

“That's not the same as being a liar.” Ylina countered, finally lifting her eyes up to meet her brother’s once she was done strapping him down to the saddle.

“Well, it's not far off.” Bran mumbled, as Ylina exchanged a look with Osha, who stood in front of the horse, holding the reins so he wouldn’t take off too early.

“So, you've been dreaming of a three-eyed raven again?” Osha asked, causing Bran to look at her. “In the godswood, you told me you didn't dream. Now who's a liar?”

Ylina chuckled when Bran looked down ashamed. Placing a gentle hand over his leg, Ylina silent let him know it was alright. Bran’s eyes searched for hers and she smiled slightly at the boy.

“What did you see in your dream?” She asked.

Again, there was silence and Bran looked away from them all. Ylina knew what that meant and, apparently, so did Osha because she was the one to voice Ylina’s thoughts. 

“Something bad?” She asked, sighing when Bran gave her no answer. “Tell us, boy.”

“I dreamt that the sea came to Winterfell.” Bran answered looking around the courtyard and, for some reason, a shiver ran down Ylina’s spine. “I saw waves crashing against the gates and the water came flowing over the walls It flooded the castle. Drowned men were floating here, in the yard. Ser Rodrik was one of them.”

It was the women’s turn to fall silent. Gulping down her own anxiety, Ylina tried her best to comfort her brother.

“The sea is hundreds of miles away.” She said.

“I know.” Bran nodded, sounding even less convincing than her sister had. “It's just a stupid dream.”

“Well, you better go for your ride, Bran, or you won’t be having much time to enjoy.” Ylina noted, trying to divert the attention. “Come on, Osha. I need your help with some things.”

Giving the reins to Bran, Osha followed Ylina’s steps with Daria beside her, but before the three of them could properly leave the grounds, Bran called out Osha’s name and they stopped. The wildling woman exchanged a quick glance with Ylina before truly turning around to face her little lord.

“The three-eyed raven, what do they say about it north of the Wall?” Bran asked, causing the woman to sigh. 

“They say all sorts of crazy things north of the Wall.” She answered, before turning around and tugging at Ylina’s arm so she would move faster toward the castle.

As soon as they stepped inside the hallways, Ylina let out a loud sigh, walking with Osha to her chambers in silence, only daring to speak when they were already inside the room, her baby in his crib, Prya gone the second she stepped inside and the map she had asked Maester Luwin for, rolled up over her desk.

“Help me with that.” Ylina demanded, urging Osha forward as the two women secured the map against a wall.

As soon as they were done, Osha walked back toward Ylina’s bed and sat down, allowing her eyes to fall on the sleeping baby beside her as the younger woman stood in front of a big map that the wildling didn’t understand in complete silence while rapidly writing down something in a piece of paper in front of her. Osha allowed Ylina a while of silence, but, soon enough, she grew bored of doing nothing.

“What did you need me here for, pretty lady?”

“Ser Rodrik took 150 of my men with him to Torrhen's Square. That leaves us 250.” The girl started to ramble, biting her lip hard every once in a while with her eyes fixated in the map in front of her. “That is barely enough to protect Winterfell.”

“Ser Rodrik said you shouldn’t worry.” Osha noted, causing Ylina to sigh.

“Why Torrhen's Square?” She frowned, ignoring the woman’s input. “If the Lannisters wanted to attack us, why attack a fishing village ruled by a minor house such as the Tallharts when they had the forces to attack the Reeds, or even the Mormonts? It would have affected us greatly, had they done it.”

“Maybe it is closer to the South?” Osha asked, as Ylina shook her head.

“No.” She said, turning around to check if Osha was looking at her before pointing at a point on the map, right above a small lake in the middle of Northern territory. “That’s Torrhen's Square. It’s only about 200 miles away from here, almost the middle of the Kingdom. It doesn’t make sense for them to attack there first.”

“There’s a lake over there. Maybe they attacked with ships.”

“The Lannisters don’t have ships.”

“Who does?”

“Hum… Dorne?” Ylina frowned, trying to connect the dots in her head, but making no sense of the information in front of her. “The Greyjoys? The Baratheons, but they certainly didn’t align with the Lannisters.”

“Did Dorne? Or the Greyjoys?”

“The Greyjoys don’t align with anyone but themselves. And I have no word about an alliance between the Lannisters and the Martells.”

��So what does it leave us?” Osha asked.

“Questions.” The girl sighed.

That was when peaceful Ember woke from his slumber, crying out until his mother picked him up, rocking him gently side to side and hushing the little boy with a lullaby under her breath. Osha watched them for a while and only spoke up again when Ember had calmed his cries and giggled up at his mother as Ylina tickled his stomach lightly.

“What should we do about it, then?” She asked, as Ylina shrugged.

“Hope and pray that Ser Rodrik is right.” The girl answered while looking down at her son, his bright grey eyes, an exact match of hers, staring right up at her. “We can pray that this is nothing more than a small raid from Lannisters to spite us and that Ser Rodrik sees it under control soon enough. That is what we can do for now. What we should do, however, is a totally different story.”

At that, Osha lifted her eyes to meet Ylina’s. The girl grimaced, putting Ember back on his crib and ignoring his whines of abandonment as she came to sit beside the wildling woman she has started to consider her close friend a few months before. It hadn’t been long since they’ve met, and the circumstances under which it happened weren’t ones most people would consider propitious for the start of a friendship, it is true, but Osha had spent months beside Ylina, learning from her and teaching her all the same. She had grown to care for Bran and Rickon and even big and slow Hodor. Ylina could see it. She could see it in how she always made an effort to make the boys laugh, to make sure they were properly fed and warm, to step up in her place when the duties of being a lady and now, a mother, became all too much and she couldn’t make it in time for the bedtime story. Ylina knew Osha had grown to care for the Stark children and she hoped that included her as well. Because she knew she cared for the wildling woman and, right now, she hoped she was making the right decision in trusting her.

“We cannot be foolish enough to believe Ser Rodrik has the advantage. Maybe he does. But if he doesn’t, and he loses the fight against whoever it is in Torrhen's Square, the next logical step is Winterfell. Everyone knows we have less men than we used to and, if that is not the perfect opportunity to strike, I don’t know what is. So, here’s what I am going to ask of you, Osha: if worse comes to worst, you have to protect the boys.”

“I will.” She nodded.

“Hide them, do you understand me? Flee if you need to. After Robb, they are to be the heirs of Winterfell. Their lives are more valuable than anything else we have in here.”

“And what about you?” Osha asked, causing Ylina to chuckle.

“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” She smiled gently, as Osha frowned at her. “Your priority is the boys. Bran, Rickon and Embar. If anything happens to Winterfell, take them with you and Hodor and run, do you understand me?”

Osha nodded, but Ylina needed the words. So, taking the woman’s hands in hers, she forced her to look into her eyes and gulped down hard.

“Swear it.” She demanded. “Swear it on the old gods that you will look after my boys.”

“I swear it.” Osha answered, almost instantly, to which Ylina smiled gratefully. “In the name of the old gods of the forest, I swear it.”

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 8 - Raven beyond the wall

Masterlist

“It’s not possible.”

Following Maester Luwin around, Ylina hoped that she could get something out of the man. She had been looking everywhere about anything anyone could have ever written about a raven of three eyes. She looked in every book they had on the library of the Castle. She looked on the ones written in the common tongue and she had even gone as far as looking for it in the few exemplaries they had in Valyrian. After days and days of searching, she came out with nothing.

No stories written about ravens of three eyes. No symbolism, no nothing. It was as if it never had existed before, but Ylina knew better. People don’t dream about anything. Everything has a reason to be. The old gods communicated with the people through their dreams, so why would they be making Bran have the same dream with the same raven every night when he closed his eyes to sleep if it meant nothing?

“My lady, you said it yourself… You haven’t found anything in any of the books we have here.” Maester Luwin sighed, already getting annoyed by the persistence of the girl on the matter. She had been on it for days now and would not leave it down, no matter how many time he told her he didn’t know.

“I have read the books here, Maester, but you have read books in the Citadel. You must have read much more than I could ever read in my whole life.”

“I have, my lady, but I have already told you… A raven of three eyes…”

“It has to mean something, Maester.” Ylina insisted. “Please, if you don’t know, help me figure it out.”

“Have you ever, for a second, my lady, considered that it means nothing?” Maester Luwin asked, stopping with his walk for a while so the two of them could talk face-to-face properly for the first time since that conversation had started. “Bran is a child, my lady. And as you well know, children are famous for their imagination.”

“But Bran has the same dream every night ever since he woke up from his fall.” Ylina countered. “Maester, you cannot tell me you think this is all a coincidence.”

“It is a little odd, my lady, but I have another theory.”

“Maester Luwin…”

“Have you ever considered you feel guilty about your brother’s state and now you want to do everything you can for him?” The man asked, causing the girl to frown and look down at the floor. He smiled gently at her. “Even the impossible.”

“I have always done the impossible for my siblings.” She mumbled, causing the Maester to nod.

“I know you have.” He nodded, as Ylina lifted her head to look at him again. “And so do they. They appreciate your efforts, my lady, but I think you need to admit it now before you lose your mind over something as foolish as a child’s dream. A raven of three eyes means nothing, Lady Ylina.”

And just like that, Maester Luwin spun around and made his way down the corridor. With a sigh, Ylina debated whether she should listen to his advice or not. Was she overcompensating, trying to fix something for Bran simply because she couldn’t fix the fact that she wasn’t watching over him when he fell from the Broken Tower or were her instincts right and the raven that kept appearing in her brother’s dreams was more than simply his wild imagination coming at play?

As she leaned against the cold brick wall of the Castle’s hallway, Ylina breathed heavily as her head began to hurt again that morning. Maybe she wouldn’t stop looking for an answer on the raven of three eyes, but certainly a pause couldn’t hurt. Rubbing her hands against the sides of her head, Ylina heard the noise of metal scraping against the stone floor and looked up, just in time to see the wildling that had attacked Bran with her friends not three days before.

“May I ask you a question?” The woman asked, causing Ylina to nod and wave her hand so she knew it was alright to get closer. “Why does everyone around here calls you m’lady?”

“Why?” Ylina repeated, unsure of what the question was.

“Yes.” The woman responded, as Ylina frowned, taking a moment to think about it.

“My Father is Lord and my Mother is Lady. So, I guess it’s a proper title to address me.”

“You are a lady because your father is a Lord?”

“Yes. My Father is Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and warden of the North.”

“So, because you have the same name as your father, people call you a lady?” She asked, as Ylina nodded. “But you are married to that scum that is good with a bow an arrow. Don’t you women here lose your name when you marry?”

At that, Ylina let out a laugh. As she watched the woman with a mixture of amusement and curiosity, she noticed how she looked at her almost the same way.

“I am married to that scum, yes.” She nodded with a gentle smile. “And my name might not be Stark anymore, like my father, but I am still part of his family. And besides, that scum happens to be a lord as well.”

“Lord of what?”

“The Iron Islands.”

“They far away?” She asked, as Ylina frowned. 

“You've never heard of the Iron Islands?” 

“Trust me, you've never heard where I'm from neither.”

“I can show you, if you want.” Ylina offered, as the woman raised an eyebrow at her.

“So… You are a lady by birth and the scum is lord. You married him and you are still a lady because of it. And people still call you m’lady? It’s not like you forget your bloody title.”

Again, Ylina let out an amused laugh. As the woman smirked at her, she shrugged.

“Sorry.” She said. “I just don't understand how you southerners do things.”

“I'm not a southerner.” Ylina frowned slightly, almost as if offended.

“You're from south of the Wall. That makes you a southerner to me.”

“And you are from North of the wall, is that right?” Ylina asked, as the woman nodded. “And why did you come here?” 

“Didn't mean to come here.” She shrugged. “Meant to get much further south than this. As far south as south goes, before the long night comes.”

“Why? What are you afraid of?” 

“There's things that sleep in the day and hunt at night.” She said, suddenly looking quite uncomfortable.

“Owls and shadowcats?” She asked, causing the woman to scoff. 

“I'm not talking about owls and shadowcats.” She answered harshly.

At that, Ylina bit her lip. Of course she knew what the woman was implying, but ever since she was a girl, everyone around her always told her the dead people were made-up stories to frighten the children. Often, Robb and Theon would spend hours creating a convincing and scary story to tell Ylina before bed. They would tell her all about the unstoppable dead army, that would eventually come south, destroy the wall, kill thousands of men of the Night’s Watch before arriving Winterfell and coming through the gates of the Castle to kill everyone in their sleep. But even then, when she would start to cry, the two boys would drop their acts and comfort the younger girl, assuring that it was fake tales and she shouldn’t worry herself with them.

“They don’t exist, Lily.” Robb would always say, as Theon had the small girl in his arms, crying and shaking after their sick joke on her. “At least, not anymore.”

“The things you speak of…” Ylina said, after what felt like an eternity. “They've been gone for thousands of years.”

“They wasn't gone, pretty lady.” She shook her head. “They was sleeping. And they ain't sleeping no more.”

“But… These things are… They are stories.”

“You seemed very keen on believing a story of a raven from an old man for your brother not a few minutes before.” The woman said, as Ylina raised an eyebrow at her, realizing she was right. “Why not believe in my stories, then?”

“Do you know any stories about ravens of three eyes?” She asked. “Do they say anything about it, north of the wall?”

When the woman nodded, Ylina felt her hopes rising again. With a smile, she looked down at her ankles, only to notice the chains around them.

“I’ll tell you what then.” She said. ���If you tell me about the stories from north of the wall, I can teach you all about how we southerners do things. Who to call Lady, who to call Lord, where the Iron Islands are, and anything else you want to know. You’ll be close to me, working with me as you help me take care of Bran and Rickon. You’ll have a chamber of your own, you’ll have better clothes and will be fed better food.”

“You are offering all of this for me, in exchange of a few wildling’s stories?” The woman asked, as Ylina shrugged.

“And your loyalty. After all, you do own me your life.” She smirked, as the woman chuckled.

“I’m yours, my lady.” She said, with a bow of her head.

Ylina scoffed, shaking her head, before taking a step closer to the woman.

“One of the reasons I wanted you around me was because you are the only person who works here and doesn’t feel the need to call me my lady after every sentence. So don’t start now, hum…”

“Osha.” The woman finished Ylina’s phrase. “At least, that was what my people called me up the wall.”

“Osha.” Ylina repeated with a nod. “Let’s go, then, Osha. Take those chains from you.”

With a nod of her head, Osha started to follow Ylina down the hallways as the two women tried their very best to ignore the sound the chains made every second they were dragged through the floor.

“So… A raven of three eyes…” Ylina said, as they walked. “Do you know anything about it.”

“Not exactly a raven of three eyes, but I know a few stories of normal ones, pretty lady. Only what my father used to tell me.”

“What did he tell you?”

“That a raven is a dangerous animal.” She said. “Often underestimated because of its size, but it knows things. My father used to say the ravens could hear the whispers of the woods. He said that the gods talked to us with the wind blowing in the trees, but that we were too stupid to understand.”

“And the ravens did?” Ylina asked, as Osha nodded.

“The ravens did, pretty lady. The ravens understand everything. They see everything. They know everything.”

“Because they hear the whispers of the gods?”

“Aye.” Osha nodded.

“The old or the new?”

“The only ones who matter, obviously. The old gods of the forest.”

At that, Ylina frowned. What would that have to do with Bran at all? Why would he start dreaming about ravens after his fall? Creatures that, according to wildling stories, could hear all the secrets from the the old gods? And not only that. Why would he dream about one with three eyes? Always in the grounds of their Castle, heading toward the crypts?

Ylina probably stayed quiet for too long, however, because it was Osha’s voice that snapped her away from her own thoughts.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help more, pretty lady.” She said, causing Ylina to shake her head before stopping with Osha in front of the doors of the common room.

“That’s fine, Osha. What you just gave me it’s actually more than what I’ve gotten in the last days, anyway.” She smiled at her, as the woman did the same. “Wait here, will you? I’ll go inside talk to my brother to have you as a maid. After I take the chains from you, I’ll see for you to take a bath and get some proper clothing, yes?”

Osha nodded, but before Ylina could walk inside the room Robb, and most likely Theon, were in, she stopped when the wildling woman called her name. Spinning around, her long blue dress and braided red hair followed her movements as her grey eyes met Osha’s warm brown ones.

“Thank you, pretty lady. For everything.”

“It’s no trouble.” She shrugged with a smile. “Besides, I have a feeling we’ll get along.”

[themindmates-blog]

Chapter 10 - Too much at stake

"I told you to get some sleep, Lily." Robb said, as he stepped inside his younger sister's room only to see her sitting in her bed with Daria laid beside her.

"Will Daria take my place while we're away?" Theon asked, following Robb into the room and smirking slightly as the girl gave him a tight smile through her tears.

"No one can take your place." She responded gently, getting out of the bed and walking toward the boys as Robb groaned.

"Oh, will you two please get a room?" He rolled his eyes playfully to which Ylina giggled.

"You are in our room, Robb."

At that, the three of them laughed lowly, scared of waking up Bran and Rickon.

"Sorry. I'm just used to saying that, I guess."

Ylina nodded, her eyes falling on her older brother and, as grey met blue, she felt herself crumble before launching herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck from over his coat as she nuzzled her face on his neck. As Robb wrapped his own arms around her waist and placed his chin over her head, Theon stepped out of the room with Daria following his lead and closed the door after him to give the siblings a bit of privacy. 

None of them knew how long it had been since they began their embrace but it was not like any of them cared. When Robb finally did pull away from Ylina, however, his hands instantly moved from her waist to her face as he used both of his thumbs to wipe away her tears while pressing his warm palm against her cheek.

"I love you, Ylina." He breathed out, as the girl sobbed in response. "I always have and I always will. You are my best friend and you make me prouder everyday to be able to call myself your brother."

"Robb…"

"Listen to me." He interrupted her, talking fast, knowing that, at any chance she got, his sister would try to interrupt him. "We will bring Father back. He'll rule over Winterfell again and everything will get back to normal. When he cannot rule anymore, I will take his place, with you by my side as my main counselor. That is the plan, Ylina. But that might not happen."

"No, Robb, please, I…"

"If it doesn't…" The young man continued, talking just a bit louder to let his sister know he wasn't done yet. "If it doesn't happen, you'll have to rule until Bran comes of age. Help him, take care of him. Take care of Rickon, they'll need you."

"And I need you." She cried out, clutching to his clothes just like she used to do when she was scared of something when they were kids. Unfortunately, they weren't kids anymore.

"Lily…"

"Robb, I won't make it without you."

"You will. You have to." He whispered, before placing a kiss to his sister's forehead as she cried.

"I won't have to." She said in the same tone. At that, Robb wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to herself but, either way, he knew neither of them believed it. "You will come back to me. You and Theon and Father. You'll all come back to me and everything will be fine, right?"

With a low sigh, Robb nodded with a small smile.

"Right."

"Promise?" She pleaded, her hands still clutching his coat.

Taking her hands in his, Robb used his thumbs to brush them against her palms knowing it calmed her down.

"I promise I'll do my very best." He said, as she nodded.

Ylina could feel him slipping away from her, but before he could leave, she gripped his hands thigher in hers which caused him to stop and turn around to face her.

"I've listened to you, now you listen to me." She said, causing the young man to nod. "This is war, Robb. Don't think with your heart. Don't think with your fucking cock. Think with your head, because if you don't, they'll take it from you. Promise me."

At that, Robb smiled. That was his sister. Smarter than any of the men he would be having with him in the field, always aware and alert as she should be. With a nod, Robb pulled Ylina in for another tight hug, placing his hand on the back of her head as she squeezed her arms around his waist the best she could hoping and praying that wouldn't be the last time that would be happening.

"I promise, Lily." He whispered, as she nodded.

"I love you, Robb. Bring Father home. And take care of Theon."

With a chuckle, Robb nodded, stepping back from her embrace.

"I will." He smiled. "But now, say your goodbyes to him. We'll be leaving soon."

When Ylina nodded, Robb turned around and gave his sister one last glance as if he wanted to memorize every part of her. He had already. He knew by heart the stormy tone of her Stark grey eyes. He knew by heart the color of her red hair, more vibrant than their mother's, but a little less than Sansa's. He knew by heart the place of every single freckle she had across her nose and all the way up to her forehead. He knew it all, but he still took the time to memorize it again. With a smile from her, Robb finally snapped out of his trance and opened the bedroom door, stepping aside as Daria rushed past him and straight at Ylina. As the girl crouched down to pet her wolf, the two young men met at the doorstep.

"Take your time." Robb whispered, tapping his best friend on the shoulder. "I'll be waiting for you at the grounds."

And with a nod, Theon stepped inside the room and closed the door after him. When Ylina didn't lift her head to look at him, the man sighed, knowing she was most likely crying. Walking carefully toward her, Theon grabbed Ylina by the waist, picking her up and walking with her toward their bed, laying down with the girl in complete silence as she simply crawled closer to him and buried her face in his chest.

"I know I don't tell you often, but I do love you, Ylina." He said lowly.

"I love you too."

Finally lifting her head, Theon felt his breathing get caught in his throat when Ylina's eyes met his. Leaning her face up, the girl placed her lips against his in a kiss, hoping to show him everything she felt in the moment. How much she loved him, how much she feared for him, how much she needed him. And as Theon responded to her touch with the same intensity, she could say for sure that he did.

When Ylina pulled back from him, it felt as if the moment they shared was too short. As she sat up in the bed with her legs underneath her as she looked down at Theon as he leaned against the pillows, she smiled gently, trying hard not to cry. For the first time in years, Theon placed a hand on her tight and it didn't feel sexual at all. It was just a way of being as close to her as he possibly could at the moment.

Theon watched as Ylina reached on the back of her head and pulled the silver wolf pin she always wore in her hair styles. As she looked down at it in her hands, Theon's eyes never once left her form.

"It's yours." She whispered, clipping the pin in Theon's coat right beside the golden kraken he always wore. "Take it with you."

"Lily, I can't." He shook his head, gripping Ylina's wrists with his hands and moving to sit up as well. "That was a gift from your father. I can't take it from you."

"What is mine, is yours. Always have been and always will be." She countered as the man sighed, using one of his hands to caress her face as he forced her to look up at him. "Besides, you'll bring it back to me, won't you? You'll take good care of it while you are away and when you come back with Robb and Father… Then you can give it back to me."

"Lily…"

"Say it." She pleaded, her own hands moving up to grab both of Theon's cheeks. "Say you will come back. Say you'll fight to come back to me. To come back home."

"I will." Theon nodded. "I will do everything I can."

"Good." She smiled through her tears, placing yet another kiss to his lips. "Now go. Robb is waiting for you."

Theon nodded, getting up from the bed and bringing Ylina's hand up to his lips to place a kiss to it. With one last longing look at one another, Theon was out of the room and, as soon as the door was closed, Ylina allowed herself to crumble, falling into her bed as she buried her face into a pillow and sobbed.

Letting out a whine, Daria got up from her place at the floor and jumped up in the bed, nuzzling into Ylina's side until she lifted her arm and allowed Daria to crawl closer. As the wolf allowed her owner to clutch to her and cry into her fur, she kept quiet, only hoping that her warmth and familiar presence could, at the very least, calm down her sobs until sleep finally took over her.

***

Ylina lifted her head up when there was a knock on her door. Mumbling a weak ‘come in’, she sat up in her bed, watching as Osha walked inside her bedroom, a sad smile on her face when she noticed how puffy and red her eyes were. The two women had become quite close during their time together and Osha had an idea of how much it would affect Ylina to have not only Robb, but Theon taken away from her at the same time. She just didn’t expect it to be so much.

“You alright there, pretty lady?" She asked, as the girl simply nodded.

"There is a lot of grey area between being alright and not being alright at all."

"You're in a very dark area, then, huh?"

At that, Ylina let out a small chuckled, getting up from her bed as Osha stepped aside to let the maids in.

"I suppose." She nodded.

As the maids helped Ylina clean her face and step inside a fancy dress, Osha watched the grounds from the window of the lady's chambers, catching sight of Bran in Hodor's back as they made their way out of the castle.

"Your brother is out of bed early." Osha noted.

"He's probably going out to godswood. To pray."

"Pray for your brother?" She asked, as the maids had Ylina sat on her hairdresser, braiding small parts of her hair on top of her head to start making Ylina's favorite hairstyle.

"I hope he's praying for us all." She whispered.

Osha nodded at that, unsure of what she meant but scared of asking any further questions. 

Raising her hand, the maids let go of Ylina's hair as soon as they finished the braids, but before the girl could get up, one of them spoke up.

"Where is the pin, my lady?" She asked, obviously referring to the silver wolf pin she always wore. Trying hard not to cry, the girl simply shook her head.

"I don't want to wear it." She said. She knew she had sounded rude, but at the moment, she couldn't really bring herself to care. "Leave us, please."

With a bow of their heads, the three maids left the room, closing the door behind them as Ylina got up from her chair and walked toward the window, to stand beside Osha.

"Do you think your brother will win?" The wildling woman asked, causing Ylina to sigh.

"He has to." She said. "There's too much at stake for him to lose."

"What is at stake?"

"Everything. If Robb loses, it means the Lannisters win."

"Isn't your brother going against the Baratheons?" Osha asked, clearly confused.

"Joffrey is a boy." Ylina scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "He might wear a crown and sit in a throne, but he's a boy, no older than Sansa. He doesn't know how to rule a kingdom and I'm willing to bet everything I have that he's not. His mother is. Soon, his uncles will get into the game as well, using the boy born with the right name as a facade so their wills will be made."

"And what are their wills?"

"If Robb loses, they'll have the Starks destroyed. All of us." She said. "My brother loses, my whole family is dead. My Father, my Mother, my brothers, my sisters, my husband… The Lannisters will invade Winterfell, kill us all and everyone who was ever loyal to us. My brother loses, the Stark name is gone and, with it, so is the peace in the North."

"Well, that makes it easier for him then." Osha said as Ylina let out a humorless laugh.

"I suppose it does."

After that, the two woman stayed in silence for a minute. Taking a deep breath, Ylina moved away from the window and picked up the ends of her dress as she walked toward the door. Osha followed her close behind, holding it open for her as the girl smiled at her slightly.

"Go to Bran and Hodor. Make sure they're safe. They are probably at Godswood. It won't be hard to spot them." She said, as Osha nodded. 

"A man like Hodor is hard to miss, pretty lady."

At that, Ylina giggled, walking down the corridors with Osha at her right and Daria at her left.

"I'll go see Rickon before he goes off to his lessons of the day." She continued as Osha turned to look at her.

"And after?" She asked.

Ylina sighed heavily at that, looking down at Datia for a second as the wolf looked up at her and met her eyes with a small whine.

"After, I'll fulfill my duty as Lady of Winterfell." She said. Osha smirked as Ylina rolled her eyes at the woman again.

"Sounds fun." She said, as Ylina laughed.

"Oh yes." She nodded. "You have no bloody idea."