The Wolf Priestess and the Lion Knight

Chapter 6 Family Time

As time passed, Ned was pleased to see that Catelyn did not treat Jon any different than she did Lyarra and Robb. She even allowed him to call her mother and Ned's heart swelled with affection for his wife when she insisted Ned write to King Robert and have Jon legitimized.

“Having the Stark name will offer Jon more protection and will throw off the suspicion of who his real father is,” Cat reasoned.

Ned agreed and wrote to Robert, who agreed and declared Jon a Stark.

Because of her actions, Ned offered to build Catelyn a Sept so she could worship her gods, but Catelyn refused. She explained to Ned that if she was going to fit in and be accepted by the people of the North, Catelyn knew that she had to embrace every aspect of their lives, and that meant worshipping the Old Gods as well. Catelyn knew it would be difficult for her, but it was a sacrifice that she knew she needed to make for her children's sake. So, little by little, Catelyn phased out her worship of the faith of the Seven and embraced the Old Gods. The odd thing was that Catelyn found it more accessible than she thought it would be. She slowly began to realize that being a follower of the Old Gods gave her a sense of peace she never received from the Faith of the Seven. She felt that they were listening to her prayers, and that gave her a sense of comfort.

A few years passed, and Ned could see his children's personalities emerge. Robb was mischievous and liked to drag his brother and sister into adventures of pretending to be knights of the realm. Jon was thoughtful and preferred to weigh the consequences of their actions before starting anything.

But Lyarra, Lyarra was the apple of his eye. She was a natural leader and caregiver. It was true Lyarra took risks, but Ned could tell they were calculated risks; she always had a plan. Of the three of his children, Lyarra had more wolf's blood in her, but she was not nearly as reckless as his brother Brandon or Lyanna. And Ned already knew that Lyarra would grow to be a great beauty. He also loved that Lyarra loved to spend as much time with him as he would allow, asking him questions about anything and everything. It was on those occasions that he noticed how intelligent Lyarra was and decided that even though she was only three-name days old, if she wanted, Lyarra could begin her studies with Maester Luwin.

It wasn't much later that Catelyn was expecting another child. Ned was excited to add to his pack, the boys didn't seem interested, but Lyarra was very excited to have a little brother or sister. She began following her mother around, always asking if Catelyn was feeling alright and volunteering to help in any way she could. Catelyn thought it was a precious thing that her daughter could do. Catelyn had to reassure Lyarra that she was fine and that she should go with her brothers. But the Miko in Lyarra couldn't help but worry about her mother's health; it's who she was. Lyarra finally relented and went to find her brothers.

Lyarra and her brothers decided to sneak off and play in the Godswood away from prying eyes. They took sticks with them to pretend to have swords and spar against each other. The children fought and played, then Robb challenged his siblings to a climbing race to see who could reach the top of the Heart's Tree first. Lyarra immediately agreed, but Jon hesitated.

“Come on, Jon, don't be a scaredy cat!” Robb yelled.