The Long Winter | Jaime Lannister X Stark OC | GOT/ASOIAF

The Trident

The journey south passed much as it had done on the way up to Winterfell. The queen's wheelhouse was as slow as ever, as was the huge baggage train, all trundling along at agonisingly slow speeds, for league after league after league. 

Ren remembered the first time he had travelled down this way, aged four, riding down with his mother to Riverrun, sitting in front of her on her horse. That journey had seemed to go in a blink of an eye, his child self eagerly taking in all the new sights and sounds. This journey, on the other hand, felt like even more of an eternity than it had on the way north. 

He spent most of the time riding with Loreon, often Tommen too, as the boy did not like to be left with his father without his bastard brother there. The black direwolf pup everyone called Crow - growing larger every day - ran beside his horse at times, and went off hunting with Arya and Sansa's wolves at others. Ren still wasn't sure why the creature seemed to like him so much, but he rather liked it being there. 

Even at such a young age, Crow was rather menacing. Sansa's Lady was sweet natured and docile, Arya's Nymeria was adventurous and fierce, but Crow was darker, taller and leaner than the rest, with a rather mean, hungry look in his yellow eyes. He also had somewhat of a temper, sometimes snapping at anyone who wasn't a Stark who got too close. 

As a result, Tommen tended to give Crow a wide berth, as did many others, and even Loreon and Jaime still gave the wolf wary looks every now and again. 

Though Lizzie had left Winterfell with them, Ren rarely saw her before they made camp for the night. The girl didn't have a horse, so travelled in one of the wagons, far back in the column. She had laughed at him at the start and said they could ride pillion on his horse, but she had been joking, he was almost certain. Ren would've been fine with that arrangement, if he hadn't known Lizzie was too scared to get on a horse, never having ridden before at all. So he saw her in the evenings, mostly, after Jaime had dismissed him.

He didn't see Morganna much during the day, either; she was always riding with Princess Myrcella, who she had befriended against all odds. Ren had never paid much attention to the princess, save the few occasions she had come to see Loreon. She was a nice girl, pretty, and not nearly as vile as her twin Joffrey, but she seemed far too well behaved for his little sister to be interested in her. She must have had a hidden side, for Morganna rarely hung around with people who bored her, regardless of whether they were a princess or not. 

Sansa was still fawning over Joffrey. Apparently the way he had reacted to Edrick beating him up hadn't put her off at all, which was a shame. Whilst Ren had to admit the little shit could be charming when he wanted - and acted charming around Sansa - he knew it wouldn't last. He imagined that his innocent little cousin would find that out the hard way. 

Arya, on the other hand, was never to be found, darting throughout the column causing trouble and making friends with anyone and everyone. Her latest was a butcher's boy, Mycah, who Sansa turned her nose up at. Arya came back covered in leaves and dirt every evening, looking like she'd had the time of her life, babbling about exploring some place or other off the road.

Travelling through the Neck was always the worst part of the journey. The wheelhouse and heavy wagons got stuck in the muddy ground more times than could be counted, and sleeping on the ground at night was always rather damp. By the time they reached the Trident, the whole party was frustrated and irritable, the northmen because of the frustratingly slow pace and the southrons because of the boggy lands they had just gone through. 

Once in the Riverlands, things were somewhat better. The going got faster, conditions improved and there were far more inns where some of the party could sleep inside. That rarely included Ren, however, so he was largely indifferent to that.