Would've, Could've, Should've // Ned Stark // Hayley Marshall

31. You're A Squirrel

Monster / Petyr Baelish out now!

"Hayley, Hayley!" Bran declared shouting to her. "Come on!" 

"Where are we going?" Hayley countered. 

"I want to show you the tree with the face." Bran remarked. 

"Jon, a tree with a face, why was I not told about this sooner?" Hayley mused. 

"I want to climb the broken tower too before we head back." Bran added. 

"Broken towers should not be climbed." Hayley countered as they moved into the godswood. "You know why?"

"Why?"

"It has the name broken in the title Bran, I really should not have to tell you why. You are smarter then that." Hayley teased.

"You are so silly!" Bran declared running ahead of them.

Bran hadn't been up to the broken tower for weeks and since he was heading to the capital soon, this might be his last chance. He raced across the godswood, taking the long way around the heart tree had always frightened him a bit but he had to be brave. Show Hayley he was a man.

"Trees should not have eyes," Bran declared and Hayley nodded in agreement. "or leaves that looked like hands." His wolf came sprinting at his heels. 

"That is weird." Hayley agreed. "Wait Bran where are you going?" 

"For a climb, I will be careful." Bran assured. 

"He is an excellent climber." Jon added. 

"See if Jon thinks its fine." Bran declared. 

"I dont know... no broken towers." Hayley negotiated. Bran nodded in agreement. 

"He's lying." Jon whispered and Bran blushed. 

"You stay here," Bran told Summer.  "Lie down. That's right. Now stay." The wolf did as she was told. Bran scratched her behind the ears, then turned away, jumped, grabbed a low branch, and pulled himself up.  Summer started to howl out. 

"Be careful Bran I dont want to have to come up there and get you." Hayley remarked. "I'm not as good in the air then on solid ground." 

"I'm a pro!" Bran called down. Summer fell silent, staring up at him through slitted yellow eyes. A strange chill went through him but Bran began to climb again. Once more the wolf howled. 

"Quiet," he yelled. "Sit down. Stay. You're worse than Mother." Bran grumbled. The howling chased him all the way up the tree, until finally he jumped off onto the armory roof and out of sight.

"Where did he go?" Hayley questioned. 

"He is a monkey." Jon remarked. "Come on, he won't come back down this way." Jon nodded and Hayley followed him back, Ghost and summer ran along with them. 

 His mother was terrified that one day Bran would slip off a wall and kill himself. He told her that he wouldn't, but she never believed him, mothers were worry warts Bran decided. Once she made him promise that he would stay on the ground. He had managed to keep that promise for almost a fortnight, miserable every single day, until one night he had gone out the window of his bedroom when his brothers were fast asleep, he found that was the most fun, sneaking out in the middle of the night and climbing down his wall and then back up when  he was done and no one was the wiser until he found Ned in his room. He knew he had been caught then he saw his mother and thought I'm dead. 

Catelyn was angry, Ned could not help but laugh. 

"I remember lady Catelyn shouting to Bran she caught him sneaking out but Lord stark declared 'You're not my son," Jon remarked and Hayley's jaw dropped. "Lord stark laughed out, his laugh echoed as he finished, 'you're a squirrel. So be it. If you must climb, then climb, but try not to let your mother see you."

"Oh my goodness that dramatic pause, Jon! Kill me, thinking Ned was a bad father." Hayley declared. 

"He is a great father." Jon assured. 

"It seems like it." Hayley agreed. 

 "Since Lord Stark would not forbid it, Lady Stark turned to others. Old Nan told him a story about a bad little boy who climbed too high and was struck down by lightning, and how afterward the crows came to peck out his eyes." Jon remarked. 

"And he believed that? Wait, did that happen?" Hayley questioned. 

"Bran was not impressed with that tale." Jon declared and Hayley chuckled. "He knows all the hiding places and they are better than stories and legends." 

"A kid with adventure." Hayley declared. "I like it... you seem to get along well with him and Arya."

"Yes, they are good kids." Jon agreed. 

"Robb too?" Jon nodded. "But Sansa... less so?" 

"Sansa likes to remind me and others that I am a bastard. I am not family." Jon agreed softly. 

"Already told Arya this but Sansa seems like a bitch. She would be the witches coven leader." Hayley remarked and Jons jaw dropped. "I'm the kings mother, I'm untouchable." Hayley informed him. "Stick with me, Jon I wont steer you wrong." 

 Bran was moving from gargoyle to gargoyle with the ease of long practice when he heard the voices. He was so startled he almost lost his grip. The First Keep had been empty all his life. No one went up here but him. 

 "I do not like it," a woman was saying. He couldnt see who it was but the voice was drifting out of the window on the side. "You should be the Hand."