The Bastard Queen

Dressing The Part

I wanted time away from the castle, and I didn't want to think about the wedding or the strange man I was going to be marrying. So I devised a brilliant plan to get lost in the Kingswoods under the guise of taking the Stark Direwolves for a walk. Of course Arya had to join me, meaning that with her big mouth and over-excitement, Bran and Rickon now wanted to come as well. Catelyn preferred the latter to stay with her and Robb went along with us to watch over his younger siblings.

The kennel master was deeply confused as to why we were taking all the wolves, and concerned as to how the four of us would wrangle them, but he couldn't rightly refuse a royal. So here our little pack was, walking the trails through the Kingswood, far from the noise of the court.

"Why won't they let us keep our wolves with us? It's not fair. They're not even that big yet." Bran whined, as he watched his wolf tussle and playfight with its pack mates.

"Well, there are a lot of guests in the Keep right now, and pretty much all of them aren't used to people having they're pet dogs with them. Most of them don't even know that Direwolves exist." Robb explained.

"Not all of your wolves are as well mannered as Summer or Lady are, Bran. Could you imagine Shaggydog running through the castle?" I added with a slight chuckle.

"Now, that's something I would pay to see. Our pack running through all the boring court people? At least I wouldn't have to go to 'tea' with Sansa." Arya grinned wildly, as if she could see it now.

"If only you could train Nymeria better," Bran mocked, with the younger girl quickly chasing after him into the woods with their Direwolves in tow.

"Don't go too far!" Robb shouted a warning, probably in vain, at the two.

We walked in silence for a moment, Ghost and Greywind, Jon and Robb's wolves respectively, striding along with us. Shaggydog had long abandoned us to chase squirrels and Lady, Sansa's prim pup, followed with obedient silence. Every now and then I'd reach down and give a Ghost a scratch behind his ears.

"You know I wish I was there when you found them, snag a pup for my own." I mused, throwing a smile Robb's way. In the quiet of the woods I almost felt like I was back in the Riverlands, going on hunts with Patrek or Brynden.

"Now that'd be a sight; you and a wolf roaming the countryside." he joked, showing a playful smirk at the idea. "I haven't really seen you since the tourney, how's everything going with that..."

"I don't know." I huffed, "We start looking at dresses in a couple of days, which makes me think that the wedding is going to be way sooner than I thought. And I've spoken to Prince Oberyn once and that was a sennenight ago." I sighed, my frustration with all this court business becoming evident. "Clearly, everything is going great."

"I'm sorry, I know that none of this is what you had in mind. I can't imagine you picking out fancy dresses. Is he avoiding you, do you think? Or is he playing games? Maybe he wants you to seek him out?"

"Maybe. But he ended the conversation kinda detached, like 'this is all for show, when we return to Dorne we can live separate lives'. What am I supposed to do with that?" I groaned. "Oh, and I have no say over the dress, I'm just there to make sure whatever is picked fits."

"Sounds like you're about to spiral."

"Gods, I hope not." I responded through an exhale. At least someone was concerned.

"You know, when we were younger and someone would tell you no a few too many times, you'd bolt. Like when Ser Rodrick refused to train you in arms while you were with us. And you kept asking for days and days and then he finally kicked you out of one of our spars, you ran off in a fit and we didn't hear from you until Ser Jason sent that you'd run there."