The wolves of Castle Black - Book 2 - GoT

Memories of the past

Ylina supposed she should be feeling proud of herself for hitting yet another arrow right in the bullseye, but, instead, all she felt was rage.

She had had yet another sleepless night. What once before was a usual great dream to sleep to, now only hurt her. Why her brain felt the need to keep reminding her of all the good days she had spent with Robb and Theon at Winterfell as the three of them grew up together she wasn't sure, but she hated it. She wished she could just stop thinking about them. She wished she could just have a dreamless night for once. Sometimes, she wished she could just forget it all. All the smiles, laugher and secrets she had shared with Robb and Theon... All those memories. Sometimes she wished she could simply forget it all. But then she remembered something her father had told her once.

They were out riding together. Ylina was around fifteen at the time and Ned had decided that, in that week, he would have one day for each of his children. He had already spent a whole afternoon sparring with Robb the day before and now, he was spending his afternoon with Ylina, doing what she loved to do the most: hunting. Sure he knew Catelyn would have never approved, but what else could he do? Ylina would never be happy should he had spent his time with her just talking in her bedroom as she sewed him a new coat like he was planning to do to Sansa the next day. Instead, he had allowed Ylina a day without her dresses and skirts. He had allowed her a day in a horse, with a bow and arrows and the wind blowing through her hair.

Ned watched in silence, sitting in his horse as his daughter crouched down on the floor, her bow in hands and an arrow nocked and ready. She barely breathed, moving swiftly and silently through the woods with her eyes glued to a deer a few meters away from them, at the top of the hill. Ned looked at her in amazement. People told him Ylina was a skilled hunter. One with the trees, some members of his guard would say. With a bow in hands, she's as dangerous a predator as the wolf that runs through her veins, Jory would add. Usually, Ned only nodded, thinking they were over exaggerating their stories simply because they were speaking of his daughter. But now, as he watched Ylina taking a deep breath before letting lose her arrow just so it would fly straight into the heart of the deer she was hunting, Ned realized his daughter was as deadly as many of his own men.

As the deer fell dead on the ground with nothing but a squeak, Ylina got up, placed her bow across her chest and dusted the dirt from her pants. She smiled at her Father as she walked toward her horse and mounted it, throwing her braided hair over her shoulder before turning to Ned, with so much happiness shining through her grey eyes that the tough Lord of Winterfell felt his heart melting in his chest.

"Race you there?" She challenged with an raised eyebrow.

"Ylina, your Father is not the boy he once was..." Ned said, holding the reins of his horse tighter. Ylina frowned a bit, but before she could even protest, Ned smirked, squeezing his legs around his horse as he took off. "That's why I need a head start!"

"Father!" Ylina squealed surprised, before taking off in her own horse as well, galloping up the hill toward where the dead deer lay.

Ned was laughing when Ylina finally caught up with him. He dismounted his horse when Ylina stopped hers next to his and placed the dead deer across his horse's back.

"You cheated, Father!" Ylina giggled, circling her father with her horse. Ned laughed. "That's not fair! I want a rematch."

"If I recall correctly, you did the same to me a few years ago when you were learning how to ride." He said, climbing up the saddle of his horse and fixing his body slightly. "You wanted to impress me, I suppose, so you proposed a race but took off before me."

"That was years ago, Father." Ylina rolled her eyes with a smile as the memory replayed in her head. She was six back then, almost too small for the horse she was riding. She had won that race, but as her Father had so kindly pointed out, she had cheated. "Sometimes we need to let go of the past, you know?"