Love and Winter [Robb Stark x Male OC]

Chapter Two

I sat on the sidelines of Robb's war tent as he discussed with his war council. I sat on a chair, one of my legs crossed over the other, as the men argued back and forth. They clearly weren't getting anywhere. Robb raised his hand out of frustration and the council silenced, he sighed as he looked down at the map.

"Give me a moment to think," he said, his eyes wandering over the paper and pieces.

After a moment his eyes drifted over to me.

"Ser Holden," he said officially, putting on a facade for the council. "What do you make of all this? What would you do?"

Some of the councilmen looked at me curiously, wondering why my opinion mattered more than theirs. I averted their eyes as I stood up and walked over to the table.

"I agree with him," I said, pointing at one of the councilmen. "You may have not lost a battle yet, but people will still see you as weak or harsh if you can't even protect your own bannermen. I would send supplies and a few troops to the city."

"You wouldn't be worried about how the lack of supplies might affect our own troops?" Robb said.

"If it begins to become too much of a problem, then we plunder more. We haven't lost a battle yet, the Lannisters are on the run. Once the men start to get hungry, their drive to fight will be even greater."

"And the troops we send away won't affect the outcome of our plundering?" One of the councilmen said.

"No," I said. "I don't think so."

Robb met my eyes a moment as he processed this, then looked back to his council.

"You heard the man," he said. "Send troops and supplies. Go."

The councilmen shared glances between each other, then nodded politely and exited the tent. I contemplated whether or not to say something, then decided against it and began to head for the tent exit.

"Holden," he said politely. "You don't have to leave. Please. Stay. Have a seat. I'll pour us a drink."

I smiled a little and sat down at the table as he set a cup of wine in front of me. I sipped it lightly as he sat down across from me. His eyes wandered over my body armor and face as he took me in.

"Looking at you never stops being strange," he said. "You've grown so much. We both have. I just didn't think that we'd both change this much from the last time we saw each other."

"Yes, it seems as though life forced us both to grow up faster than we had anticipated. A prince and his friend to a king and his knight, who would've thought?"

Robb chuckled a little as he took another sip of his drink, his eyes locked on mine over the rim of his drink.

"Tell me, Holden," he said. "Where have you really spent most of your time away from Winterfell?"

I sighed and looked down at the red liquid inside my cup, wondering if I should tell him.

"There is a group of specially equipped people, those who serve the Red God. The Faceless Men."

"I've heard rumors of these people," he said with wide eyes. "A group of assassins trained to kill like no other man. They are able to become someone else in a night's notice and vanish from sight or law."

"Yes," I said. "Though, most of what people say is simple rumor. I was indoctrinated to be trained. Which they did, for the most part, but it didn't take long for me to miss the charm of home, Westeros. I decided to stop training and return home. I spent time in King's Landing. That is, until...Lord Stark..."