Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn Tully had married a few years before Robert Baratheon's Rebellion, Brandon Stark having already been promised to another southern woman. Their eldest child was Naya Stark, born years before her brother Robb. Having...
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NAYA
It was 275 AC when Naya Stark was born to Eddard and Catelyn Stark who had married the year before. Catelyn Tully had been expected to marry Brandon Stark, the eldest of the Starks that would become the Lord of Winterfell following Rickard Stark's death, but Brandon had been promised to a Tyrell woman.
Catelyn often told tales on how the North had not seen a storm so harsh in years until the night Naya was born.
"It was how we knew you would be a force to be reckoned with," Eddard Stark had once told his eldest daughter.
She was a mere child when Robert's Rebellion took place. Brandon and Rickard Stark had been killed by the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen, after the abduction of Lyanna Stark, causing Eddard to join the fight. When he returned home, Catelyn had given birth to their second child and first son, Robb Stark. What she had not expected was for him to return with a child in his arms, claiming that the child, Jon Snow, was his bastard son and how he was going to care for him.
That had been the first time Catelyn Stark had questioned her husband's honor.
Naya remembered the day Robb was born. Catelyn showed her how to hold a newborn, making sure she was supporting the head. Even though Naya was a young child herself, she looked into her brother's eyes and made a vow: to protect him with her life. She had loved her little brother and, much to Cateyln's dismay, she loved the bastard son Eddard brought back from war just as much, making the same promise to him.
Naya had held each sibling in her arms after they were born and made the promise to protect them with her life, loving each and every one of them from first glance.
As she and her siblings grew, she learned that they were all very different: Jon was broody, Robb was overconfident and flirty, Sansa had her head in the clouds, Arya was a spitfire, Bran was a plucky boy with hopes and dreams, and Rickon was a sweet summer child.
Naya was dutiful to her house. She adored her family and the entirety of Winterfell. Though she found it boring, she did her ladylike duties and learned pointless tasks such as needlepoint and embroidery. She did, however, learn how to wield a sword. She was no soldier, but she had begged her father until he conceded to teach her at least some proper swordplay in case she or her family needed defending. She also convinced Maester Luwin to take her under his wing so she could learn basic medical procedures.
Though there was a part of her that was rebellious like Arya, she knew she had to fulfill the duty of her house. She expected that she was going to marry a lord of the North, bear his children, and die a boring death to match what would undoubtedly be a boring life serving as a loyal ladywife. She had never expected anything else since it was the way Ladies were to live in Westeros. Sansa had hopes to marry a southern lord to fulfill her duty while Arya, in contrast, would often complain about how boring it would be to be a married lady.
