The Gentle Wolf (Rhaegar Targaryen)

Chapter 1

Winterfell, 278 A.C.

l: Melantha

On the day of her twentieth name day, Melantha Stark woke up with a loud gasp, sweating, agitated and battling her arms wildly.

From his place by the fire, her dog Maekar watched her silently.

The young woman removed her hair from her face and looked around her bedchambers, finally noticing that she was indeed safe.

She exhaled heavily, her breath drifting into the wind right before her eyes, as she took everything in.

The room was dark, which meant the sun had yet to rise, and she anyone but the servants would be awake at such an hour. No sound came from the courtyard either.

Slowly, Melantha placed her bare feet upon the stone floor and threw the furs back, standing up and walking towards the fire.

"How are you, boy?" she asked her companion with a soft smile, scratching behind his ears.

Maekar began to move his tail energetically, and leaned forward to lick her face, which in turn earned him an honest, weak chuckle.

Maekar had been hers for almost six years. He had been the pup of one of the many dogs they kept at Winterfell. He had been meant to be instructed in tracking, along with his siblings, but Maekar had been born short of one leg, and thereof he was supposed to die. No one saw use in him, but Melantha detested violence and blood, and she had begged her Lord father to spare him and give him to her instead.

Melantha never really asked for much, and being the most reclusive of his five children, Lord Stark must have thought a nice gesture might eventually bring them closer, for he agreed to let his eldest daughter keep the pup, as long as she took full responsibility for him.

Her brother Brandon didn't think that Maekar would last the moon, but six years had passed and the dog kept going, always chasing after Melantha as fast as his three legs allowed him.

Melantha leaned forward and hugged her friend, sighing softly into its short fur. She closed her eyes tightly, but all she could see were a pair of eerie blue eyes that could freeze any man's heart.

She heard some shuffling outside her door and knew that some of the servants were getting up to their daily chores.

Melantha walked over to her desk and picked up the blue dress she had left there the previous day atop of a chair and quickly put it on.

With a hairbrush in hand, she slowly approached a window and stared up at the sky. Its color was of a dark grey, almost like her eyes, and there was no sign of a sun. There never was a sun during her name day, and Lyanna liked to joke that it meant she was cursed.

Melantha tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at the sky, watching as a black, small shape flew about and landed on a window not too far from her.

"Dark wings, dark words." She thought, finally getting rid of the last knot and placing the brush on the windowsill.

With light steps, she reached and old pair of boots and put them on before going for the door.

"Would you like to come along?" she asked Maekar, who in turned barked twice as he got up. Smiling, Melantha placed a finger to her lips. "Hush. Come."

They left together quietly, leaving the door open so the servant would know it was alright to go in and tidy up.

They bowed to her as she passed, wishing her a blessed name day, and she smiled and thanked each of them in return, dread beginning to fill her stomach.