Loyalties Lie

Brienne

The world was cold.

Brienne of Tarth's breath issued from her mouth in the same smokey bursts that flowed out from her horse's nostrils. "Podrick!" She shouted at her dark-haired squire. "Do hurry up, man!"

"I'm sorry, m'lady! I'm trying but my hands are freezing!" The squire's fingers grasped at the purple-hued mushrooms that grew along the forest ground beneath them. Maester Wolkan and Samwell Tarly had sent the pair in search of the elusive fungus in preparation for the onslaught of common colds that were already appearing within the population of Winterfell.

"Did I not tell you to bring your gloves?"

"Yes, well, I-I lost them, again. Ah!" he leaped upon a nearby specimen, pulled it from the ground and tossed it into the leather pouch he was carrying in his bare hands. "Here we are! That's the last of them in the area; we'll just have to come back tomorrow for any others."

Brienne sighed, frustrated. Beneath her large stature, her horse paced in place to keep itself warm. It had been two weeks since the North coalition had returned from the Dragonpit in an attempt to convince the Queen of Westeros to enter a truce. Since that time, the towheaded warrior's position within the ranks of Winterfell had been reduced. She had once been Lady Sansa's personal guard, but was removed from that position without being told why. She had also been left out of most of the recent strategy meetings. Brienne had her theories as to why, though. She was, after all, still a woman, and old habits died hard in the North - even with Lady Sansa and Queen Daenerys in charge.

Shaking her head from her thoughts, she shouted down to her squire, whose skin was taking on the same purple parlor as the mushrooms he was harvesting, "Podrick, that's enough. Let's get back before you become part of the undead army simply by freezing to death!"

Podrick tossed the bag of mushrooms to his Lady and took his spot behind her upon the horse. Brienne waited for him to adjust his position and when he secured his arms tightly around her waist, rode back towards the direction of Winterfell. Even through the snow-laden trees of the forest, they could see its towers rising up against the sky. As they picked up speed, the wind cut into their cheeks like the blades of a thousand tiny knives.

Podrick grabbed tighter to his Lady and spoke, muffled, into her back, "I just want to get back to the fire and the warmth and the wine!"

She rolled her eyes as they bounded along, the entrance of the ancestral home of the Starks getting closer with each gallop of the horse, "We will; stop complaining."

"I"m sorry, M'lady! I'm just so miserable. I wasn't made for this kind of weather!"

"That's because no one is, Pod. No one is." She dug her heels into the horse's sides, pushing him a little harder as flakes began to fall from the ever-darkening skies above them. Brienne scanned the area as they rode. She had heard tale from Arya Stark that the area was surrounded by wolves but so far, thank the gods, they had been approached by none. In fact, the Lady noted, most animals had disappeared from the forest around Winterfell.

She heard a great cracking sound coming from above her and brought her horse to a stop just as a large limb fell across their path. The piled up ice and snow had proven too great a weight for the old tree and gravity had sent it smashing into their path. Taking it in stride as Pod whimpered into her spine, Brienne urged the horse to go around it and they picked up speed again. A few clicks more and they could hear the grinding of the gates of Winterfell as they began to open. Before long they were crossing through them.

The pair entered the large courtyard of Winterfell and Brienne's blue eyes caught sight of a commotion towards the upper right hand of the yard. She slid from her horse, handing the reins to Podrick and said, "Put him away while I see what's going on here."