Winter's Knowledge

Chapter 7 Magic Returns

As they were making their way into the keep, Ned was talking excitedly to Lyanna about how much she was going to enjoy living in The Eyrie. Lyanna rolled her eyes at Ned, Lyanna was convinced that she was going to hate it there, but she wanted to learn to use a sword so bad that Lyanna would have agreed to anything.

As they were walking, Lyanna suddenly stopped in her tracks and gasped. The largest cat she had ever seen was stalking towards them with his snout covered in blood. As it got closer, Lyanna realized that the cat was a Shadow Cat. The Shadow Cat stared at her and kept getting closer to her. Lyanna started shaking, thinking that she was going to be that cat's dessert. The Shadow Cat never took his eyes off of Lyanna, her grip on Ned's arm tightened. When Ned noticed the Shadow Cat stalking towards them, he sighed.

“Namir, stop it. Hermione! Tell Namir to stop it; he's scaring my sister.”

“Namir, come here,” Hermione said.

The cat's eyes shifted from Lyanna to Hermione, huffed then walked over to Hermione and Robert. Namir purred when he reached Hermione and rubbed his head against her shoulder, if Hermione had not been holding on to Robert, Namir would have knocked her over. Namir was now as tall has Hermione's chest and powerfully muscled. The Shadow Cat could bring down a full-grown stag by himself with ease.

The Shadow Cat was such an integral part of the family that it was not uncommon to see him guarding the little ones. One of Namir's favorite thing to do was to grab Hadrian by the back of his breeches and carry him around in his mouth as if he was a cub. It would cause Hadrian to giggle uncontrollably and Robert to roar with laughter. Hermione would laugh, and Ned and Jon would smile. Rowena was worried at first, but after seeing how gentle the cat was with her boys and how he guarded them, she let Namir around Fredrik and Hadrian more.

Lyanna looked back and glared at Hermione as Ned led her into the keep. He took Lyanna to her room so that she could settle down and get cleaned up for supper. While that was going on, Lord Rickard did the same thing. He quickly bathed and changed, today he was going to talk to Lord Arryn about his offer to betroth Hermione to his son Brandon.

Before Lord Stark retired to his room, he left word with one of the servants that he wanted to speak to Lord Arryn if he had the time. Then Lord Stark went into his chambers to bathe and change. When he was ready, a servant knocked on his door, “Come!” Lord Rickard yelled.

“My Lord Stark, Lord Arryn, told me to inform you that when you are rested, you could meet in his solar.”

Lord Rickard nodded, “I have rested enough; please tell Lord Arryn I wish to speak with him now.”

The servant bowed and left the room. A few minutes later, the servant returned and led Lord Rickard to Lord Arryn's solar. When Lord Rickard arrived, the guard posted outside, knocked on the door to inform Lord Arryn that Lord Stark had come, “Let him in.”

Jon stood when Lord Rickard entered his solar, “Please, My Lord, sit down. May I offer you some wine?”

Lord Rickard took a seat and accepted the glass of wine that Jon had offered him. Jon sat back down and waited for Lord Rickard to speak. He took another drink of his wine before placing it on Jon's desk, “Now that your daughter is older, I would like to talk to again about betrothing your daughter to my heir, Brandon.” Rickard said.

Jon took a sip of his wine and thought for a moment, “My daughter has not yet flowered, Lord Rickard. And I have no intention of marrying her off to someone she does not know. If I were to consider your offer, this would be a long betrothal, and I would like the children to have the opportunity to get to know each other.”

“That could be arranged,” Lord Rickard said.

“And if for some reason the children do not get along, Hermione reserves the right to call off the betrothal.”