Soul of a Wolf (Kagome x Robert Baratheon)

Chapter 4 Letters

When Rickard and the girls arrived home, Lyarra greeted her husband and daughters. Benjen ran towards his sisters and clung to them tightly. Lyanna and Alarra laughed when they fell over in the snow, along with Benjen. Rickard and Lyarra smiled as they watched the girls tickled their younger brother. When Benjen could no longer take it, Rickard walked towards his children and picked up Benjen, “Papa,” The toddler cried.

“Hello, pup,” Rickard said and tossed Benjen in the air and caught him again. Benjen laughed and cuddled into his father's arms. The girls stood up and raced towards their mother, “Mother!” They cried.

Lyarra kneeled so that she could hug her twins. The little girls wrapped their arms around their mother and hugged her tightly, “It's so good to have my girls home. Did you enjoy your time with Brandon and Eddard,” She asked.

“Aye, Mother, the Vale was beautiful, and I made sure that Ned was settled in before we left,” Alarra told her mother, “But Anna forgot, so I had to do the same for Bran when we got back to Barrow Hall,” Alarra said then glared at her sister.

“I'm sorry, Larra, but Bran and Lord Dustin were showing me around Barrowton,” Lyanna said.

Alarra huffed and crossed her arms; then, she smiled at her twin. “That is alright, Anna; I like taking care of Brandon and Ned.”

The twins hug, then Lyarra led them inside so that they could go and rest. When Lyanna and Alarra got to their room, Alarra took out her bundle of letters for Ned and set them aside. She took out some parchment and quill and wrote Ned one last message, telling him they had arrived at Winterfell. When she finished her letter, Alarra added it to her bundle and ran to the rookery to asked Maester Walys to send them to the Eyrie.

Alarra knocked on the door and waited for Maester Walys to open the door, “Lady Alarra, welcome home. What brings you up here?”

“Maester Walys, I have some letters to send to Ned. Would you send them, please?”

Maester Walys smiled at the little girl, “Of course, My Lady,” He told her, then took the bundle of letters. Alarra thanked him then ran back to her room so that she could take a quick nap then get ready for dinner with her family.

Meanwhile, at the Eyrie, Ned was feeling a little homesick, and he wondered how long it would take for him to get a letter from home. He already missed Alarra and the rest of his family, and it had only been a few weeks since Alarra and his father had left. Ned tried not to mope, but he couldn't help it. The only thing that was giving him any joy was spending time with his new friend, Robert Baratheon.

Robert did his best to draw Ned out of his shell. He would sometimes succeed in getting Ned to talk, but it was hard. Ned was known as the quiet wolf, after all. Ned didn't open up to Robert until a bundle of letters arrived for him from Winterfell.

The boys were in the training yard sparring with wooden swords with the master at arms when Lord Arryn came out with a bundle for Ned. He smiled as he got closer to the boy, knowing that the letters were going to make Ned very happy, “Eddard, I received a raven from Winterfell.”

Ned's eyes lit up at hearing that, and he ran towards Jon and took the bundle of letters from him. Robert joined him, “Gods, who wrote you so many letters?”

Ned broke the seal on the first letter and read it. He smiled as he continued to read, “They're from my sister, Alarra. She wrote me a letter every day as they traveled back to the North, starting from when she and my father got to the Bloody Gate.”

Lord Arryn chuckled. After meeting Lord Rickard's little girl, he realized that she would do anything to make sure that Eddard did not feel lonely. Ned looked at Lord Arryn, “My lord, may I be excused so that I can read my letters?”

“Of course, Eddard, only be sure you make it to your lessons with Maester Coleman.”

“Aye, Lord Arryn.” With that, Ned said his goodbyes to Robert and ran off to his room.

Ned opened the door to his chambers and went to his desk and finished reading the first letter. He nearly cried when he saw that the parchment had tear stains on it. But as Ned continued to read through the notes, he noticed that Alarra wasn't as upset as she was when she first left the Vale. His sister described in as much detail everything that she did and saw on her way back to the North and told Ned all of her thoughts and how she felt about leaving him behind.

By the time Ned finished the last letter, he was feeling much better. Alarra promised that she would write him every week and let him know what was going on at home, *As long as you promise to do the same thing, dearest Ned,* Alarra wrote.

Ned promised himself that he would write Alarra every week and let her know how things were going with him and his fostering. When he finished the last letter, Ned reverently put the letters in his desk and went to join Robert for their studies with Maester Coleman.

When Ned arrived in the library, Robert pounced on him, dying of curiosity to find out who had written him so many letters, “Only my sister, Alarra, Robert.”

Robert looked at Ned, surprised, “Is she not only five name days old?”

“Aye, but, Alarra is brilliant and has been reading and writing since she was three.”

Maester Coleman looked at Ned in surprise. He had never heard of a child so young being able to read and write, not even Prince Rhaegar, and he was thought to be a prodigy. Robert, too, was startled, but it didn't last long. After hearing the explanation, Robert shrugged it off and challenged Ned to a sparring match after their lessons. Ned was in such a good mood after hearing from Alarra that he readily agreed.