"Come here, little Princess." Ned laughs loudly and takes me. He swirls me in the air and puts me back on the ground. He ruffles my hair and laughs at my pouting face. "No need to pout." He tells me and I stick my tongue at him.
"Now, this isn't the way lady should act." Mother tells me and smiles at me gently. I look up at her, just to see her looking at Uncle Ned.
"I need to go..." he says suddenly and ruffles my hair one last time. I still look at mother, whose gaze lingers on Uncle Ned.
"What happened?" I ask in an urgent voice as I enter Bran's room. He is still lying there, unemotional and pale.
"Someone tried to kill Bran." Catelyn says in fearful voice and looks at the knife on the floor. The familiarity of it creeps up on my spine.
"What are we going to do?" Robb asks her as she is treated.
"I know someone who might know the owner of the knife." She murmurs in a low voice. "But for that... I need to go to the King's Landing."
"But you can't!" I find myself saying it louder than I wanted. She looks at me with raised eyebrows. "N-father left you here to... help Robb rule the Winterfell and North." I whisper and look down at the floor.
"He can manage without me." She snaps at me in angry tone. "Maester Luwin will help him." She states and looks away from me.
She has been like that to me ever since she understood that I wasn't a daughter she would have liked. For her I was worse than Arya and it already was too late to educate me. She once again understood that I had Brandon and Lyanna Starks inside of my soul and that I was nothing like Tully.
I grit my teeth and leave Bran'a room, running down the stairs and into the forest. Branches and trees are scratching me and I can hear faint sound of footsteps following me.
I stop in front of the Heart Tree. I kneel in front of the Old Gods and start crying. Nightshade appears next to me, putting her head on my shoulder.
"Bianca!" He approaches me, kneeling beside me and squeezing my hand. I look up at him with grateful eyes and smile. "She didn't mean it." Robb whispers and sighs. Greystorm and Nightshade start playing together, giving us some sister-brother time.
"She didn't mean to snap at me like all the other times?" I ask him and smile. "Robb... it is okay. She has been like that even before I have disappeared." I admit it to him, remembering the time after Brandon died.
"How... how did you go there?" Robb asks me and I look at him in wonder. "Beyond the Wall?" I look at him with wide eyes, not knowing what to do.
"It... it's interesting story." I murmur as I close my eyes. I have two options tell him the truth, thus he will hate Catelyn and Ned or lie to him. "We were in the Night Watch. It always fascinated me to watch Night Brothers, fighting and training. I loved watching the mystic area from the Wall." I whisper and open my eyes to look at the face in the tree. "And I slipped." I laugh bitterly.
"Slipped?" Robb asks me confused.
"Yeah... it was winter... and snow was really high..." I start telling him half truth of my story. "I... I fell and I nearly choked to death... it was getting dark, thus they couldn't find me. They came back next morning, but I was already long gone. I went in the forest... where I found Wilders." I smile when I remember Mother Joana and others. "Well, they prefer being called Free People. I was sheltered by one of them... her name was Joana, and I called her Mother Joana often. She was only one who decided that it was worth to save me." I wipe the tear away from me face and close my eyes once again.
"What happened to them? Why did you leave them?" Robb asks me again and I bite my lip.
"They died." I whisper in a low voice and then snap my eyes open. "They were all killed... only I managed to... survive... and I came back..." I smile at Robb. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?" He nods and I stand up, helping him as well. "Come... Rickon will be searching for us."
He doesn't say anything, but nods. We start walking side by side as we watch the trees in front of us and path, which seems dark.
YOU ARE READING
Song of Ice and Fire
Fanfiction"What is love to you?" I ask him with cracked voice and tears in my eyes. His mouth becomes a thin line and his eyes hold guilt inside of them. "Answer me!" I yell with tears streaming down my face. He looks away, avoiding my eyes and doesn't even...
