#starkmatriarch

Robb had never thought that any of this could happen. In his mind - a child's mind - he had expected that everything would stay as it was. That his father would be Lord of Winterfell for years and years to come, that Robb would get to grow and learn from him, learn everything he could. He would marry and have children of his own that his father and mother would hold on their knees.

In his mind, there had been years and years of the mostly peaceful life he had known before, eventually, they would die the way they were supposed to, old and happy and at peace, and he would be ready to be Lord of Winterfell and lead the North.

He had never expected this. Had never wanted this.

And as much as he needed to play at being grown up, at being a king, sometimes when it was only the two of them, Robb needed to put down the mask.

"Mother..."

Please, can we not just go back home?

Ned ventured into the room, finger tips running over the wall. At times, he felt as if he was still in their old place, the one that wasn’t burned to the ground. In other moments, he felt as if he was somewhere else where he didn’t belong. It had been a good number of months, a long time enough that things should be settled into routine, and yet, here they were. They still struggled and every day Ned wondered if Catelyn ever read his journal from that time.

The weight of the golden ring was heavy upon his finger as he softly knocked on the doorframe with his knuckle. “Are you busy, love?”

Once upon a time, Robb might have found the looks on the bannermen’s faces amusing. The first time around, when he was a boy, perhaps. But all that he felt in that moment was relief. Relief that at least some of this was over. There was still a lot ahead of them, but at least one burden had been passed on. Jon wouldn’t thank him for it, he knew, but he deserved the crown. As much as Robb did, even more than Robb had when he had still been a boy. Jon had been the one to start mustering the forces together while Robb still lay in the Twins. He and his mother had only joined the effort after being freed, and he had almost wanted to turn back to the Riverlands the first time someone had addressed him as your grace upon his return to the North. But he had a duty to uphold, and a home to win back, and that deed was done. 

// @starkmatriarch + @takenwings  + @matriarcarivera

“You are not who I was expecting.” Oliver wasn’t sure who he had been expecting but it wasn’t the auburn haired woman staring at him with an angry, dead look in her eye. He’d been sent here by Anatoly, waiting to hear what the next steps was. Oliver had been getting antsy, ready to do something. The torture was fresh in his mind from the other day, so when he’d seen the woman who also had a gun in her hand, Oliver stopped, he pulled his gun out from the back of his pants. “I believe you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere. You’re not supposed to be here.”

The girl walked slowly into the room, eyes directed to the floor so to avoid the direct look lady Stark was giving her. Her insecurities were boiling within, immediately telling her there was something wrong. She had surely made a mistake she was unaware of. Did she look unkept’? Has she tried too hard to look presentable?

               “Mi’lady” Maege called from outside Catelyn’s door. “We’re ready to head North come dawn. Is there anything you need packed by the mornin’?” The woman was only dressed in leathers, relaxing after the long trip in the rain to the Twins. Her Mormont armor were still being dried and cleaned for tomorrow’s ride. They would need their armor tomorrow, not knowing what they would be walking into when they met the crannogman. Personally, Maege didn’t want to be shot with an arrow from the abyss of the marshes.