JOANNA SAT UPON HER HORSE, thinking about the day she fled from her home. King's Landing seemed to far away now, a lifetime stretching between then and now. She had been with the Starks for nearly two years now and been married to Robb for almost as long. How her life had changed in such a short length of time.
Robb had left Roose Bolton with a force at Harrenhal, but taken the majority of his troops with him on the journey to Riverrun. As Joanna's horse stood quietly beside Alayna's, Grey Wind stood to attention beside her. Ever since she fell pregnant, the wolf had become a lot more alert than before, always sticking close to her. It was almost as though he knew that she was carrying a child.
Glancing over at his wife, Robb Stark let a rare smile grace his lips. Joanna was talking to Alayna, heads bowed close across the gap between their horses. Both were laughing at something they had said and to see his wife so happy filled him with a joy he had forgotten existed until she came into his life. The world was not all bloodshed and misery. She existed, carrying his child in her womb and his heart in her hands. There was no better reminder of what he was fighting for than that.
"We're at war," Lord Karstark said. "This march is just a distraction."
"My grandfather's funeral is not a distraction," Robb said.
"We ride into battle at Riverrun?" Lord Karstark asked.
"No."
"Then it's a distraction."
"My uncle Edmure has his forces garrisoned there," Robb explained. "We need his men."
"Unless he's been breeding them, he don't have enough to make a difference," Lord Karstark replied.
"Have you lost faith in our cause?" Joanna quipped.
"If it's revenge, I've still got faith in it," Lord Karstark replied.
"If you no longer believe-"
"I can believe 'til it snows in Dorne," Lord Karstark replied. "It won't change the fact that we've got half the men."
"You don't think we can win," Robb said.
"May I speak my mind, Your Grace?"
"Have you not been speaking your mind, Lord Karstark?" Robb asked.
Lord Karstark looked over at Joanna as he spoke. "I think you lost this war the day you married her."
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When the troops stopped to rest, Joanna sought out Catelyn Stark. She found her making a prayer wheel, sitting upon a rock on her own. Catelyn had scarcely spoken to anyone on the journey to Riverrun, preferring to stay quiet lest she incite her son's temper again. Joanna had avoided her where possible, but the sight of her sitting alone given everything that had happened was enough to have her feet carrying her towards her mother-by-law of their own volition.
"May I help you, Lady Stark?" she asked.
"No," Catelyn replied sharply. "You can't help, because a mother makes one for her children to protect them. Only a mother can make them."
"Am I not a mother, carrying your son's child?" Joanna asked.
"Not until you hold that babe in your arms for the first time," Catelyn replied. "That is when you truly become a mother."
"Have you made them before?" Joanna asked, sitting down on a rock.
"Twice," Catelyn replied.
"Did they work?"
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LIONS AND WOLVES | Robb Stark
Fanfiction"And so the lion fell into the den of wolves. What a tragedy it wrought." - In which the Little Lion meets the Young Wolf and they form an unlikely alliance. [Game of Thrones S1-S3] [Robb Stark x OC] [Book One in the Lions and Wolves Duology]
