Rose of the North

Chapter Six

"Robb!" I cried out. I jumped out of the horse and went to discover where the sounds were coming from. My brother and I along with Jon decided to explore the Wolfswood when I lost my brothers, aftering hearing the sounds of whimpers and sharp barks ahead. I heard the galloping of two horses, no doubt my brothers have heard me. On the bed of snow laid an animal with an antler stag pierced through its body. I looked at the animal in disbelief. "Is it a-"

"It can't be," Robb said in disbelief. "No one have seen direwolves so far south," He too stared at the huge beast in amazement, the animal that is drawn on our house banners.

"Look, she had pups." Jon jumped out of his horse and bent down. The little of puppies where hiding underneath their dead mothers. He picked up one of them tenderly. "There's six of them. One for each Stark child." Jon said a little sullenly, not counting himself.

After much consideration and arguing, Robb and I thought it would be a good idea if we gave one direwolf pup to each of our siblings. Direwolves are known to be fiercely loyal to their owners. Their highly intelligent and can make a good fighter. Just before we left with the six pups, we heard a small whimper coming from a hollowed log. Jon went to inspect it and found the seventh pup. Unlike the others, it was snow white in colour and was more quite than the others. Jon decided to keep the albino pup for himself, no doubt feeling a sort of connection with it already.

Mother wasn't too pleased when we came home with direwolves. Father was thrilled at our discovery, but tried to scold us when mother glared at him. After much negotiation, we were able to each keep one pup, granted that we are fully responsible for him or her and will feed, care and train him or her ourselves. Sansa, Arya, Bran and even little Rickon fell in love with their direwolf pup and quickly made an attachment to them. Sansa named hers Lady, which Arya snorted at. Arya proudly named hers Nymeria, after the brave warrior lady. Bran cannot seem to settle on a name, always changing it every few days and Rickon happily referred to the wolf as Shaggydog.

"What did you name yours?" I nudged at my twin when I found him in the garden with his direwolf. He was scratching its ears as the wolf laid its head on Robb's lap.

"Grey Wind." The wolf pup cocked his head, already understanding its name. Robb grinned proudly. "Did you settle on a name for yours?"

"Luna," I said sheepishly looking at the bright moon above us. "It's funny how all the pups have some sort of resemblance to us, doesn't it? Grey Wind and Luna looked like they are twins," Both of our wolves shared grey fur and yellow eyes.

"And did you see Shaggydog at dinner? The wolf's as wild and crazy as Rickon," Robb chuckled.

"They had to lock the pup out in the cellar. Another second of Shaggydog running around barking like a rabid dog will send mother over the edge."

I sat down next to my twin and recalled the events that have happen today. Despite laughing and chuckling along with him, I couldn't shake off the unease I felt when I saw the stag antlers on the direwolf mother. The stag is the Baratheon's sigil and the direwolf is the Stark's sigil, I can't help but fear that something bad is going to happen soon. Winter is Coming, afterall.

"A letter arrived from King's Landing this morning," Robb said to me when he met me walking down the corridors alone. Little did he know, I had just parted from Theon after spending the whole morning with him galloping through the woods.

"We never get letters from King's Landing," I muttered, wondering what could have been the reason.

"Mother and Father wants to see every one in the great hall now," Robb continued. He offered his arm for me to take, and led me to where everyone was waiting.