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Robb Stark was eight when he learned what real summer felt like. In the aftermath of a rebellion in the Iron Islands led by his father and the King, Robb and his twin sister, Alys, travelled to King's Landing with their father to attend Robert Baratheon's Name Day celebration. Spring had passed and the snows around Winterfell were low. Robb spent half the journey complaining about how he wanted to ride his horse next to his father while their septa told him to pay attention to their lessons. Watching the country change shape along the Kingsroad did keep Robb moderately interested — glimpsing the lands outside of the North was rather novel. Alys shared Robb's adventurous instinct and they ran amok, hiding between trees and tents of their father's company every time they stopped for a meal. But there were only so many games two eight year olds could play.
For all Ned Stark had told his children about King's Landing and the Red Keep, Robb found it all rather underwhelming. There was no grand welcome for the Starks when they arrived. The city streets were too busy and the air was too hot.
Robb and Alys were brought before the Iron Throne — the hideous, towering King's Seat made with a thousand melted swords — to be presented to King Robert Baratheon, their father's oldest friend. Robb was aware he had been named after the King (just as his half-brother Jon had been named after Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King). Perhaps Robb's father saw greatness in his son's future, a boy worth naming after a king. Robert Baratheon was not the formidable giant Robb had expected to meet. Robb could imagine the warrior king that had won the throne and broke the Greyjoy Rebellion and hoped he would never fight in a war.
The Starks were escorted to their guest rooms for the duration of their stay. Alys and Robb's rooms lay next to each other. Before Robb could finish unpacking his chest, Alys snuck into her brother's room. She laid back on his bed, Robb made a fuss when his sister got her boots on the sheets.
"I want to explore. Will you come with me?"
Robb did not hesitate before he nodded, a grin spread across his face. Unpacking was boring anyway.
The twins barrelled through red corridors, ducking under maids and Kingsguards. The castle was theirs for the taking.
The Red Keep was bigger than any of the Northern castles the twins had visited before, full of labyrinthine corridors. A maze without a centre for Robb — but Alys seemed to know where she wanted to be.
Robb and Alys were stopped in their tracks when Robb almost tumbled into a girl. She was their age, if younger by a few moons, dressed in pink and gold with dark blonde curls. A huge black cat with a grumpy expression was clasped in her arms. Alys recognised the girl first. Robb felt a winter chill blow through him, tethering him frozen in place. The girl was pretty like a colourful bloom in the snow. She looked at the twins, wide-eyed and curious. She held the kind of warmth the North only felt during fleeting spring days. Alys punched her twin brother in the stomach and Robb mimicked her bow.
