Caroline is awoken by the sunlight coming through the windows. The Starks had been kind enough to give her a room with enormous windows on each side, and she had lined them with plants of all kinds. They were growing quickly, and would soon be ready to be used in all sorts of healing mixtures.
She suddenly remembers. Today is her seventeenth birthday. Last year, the Starks had thrown her a great party. Despite being an outsider, they treated her like family, and it made her feel so welcome. She had grown so used to living alone that at first, she was unused to all the people around. But they had quickly become so important to her, that she soon noticed that she missed them when they weren't around. Sansa and Arya had become her sisters, and they frequently braided each other hair. Arya and Caroline would go intro he woods, and Caroline tried teaching her about the plants. Sansa spent a lot of time in Caroline's room, adoring all the green everywhere. Bran and Rickon saw Caroline as their oldest sister, and would crawl into bed with her if they had nightmares.
There was a soft knock at the door, and Caroline quickly got up to open it. Sansa and Arya were standing there, seeming to have forgotten their usual quarrels. They enter and Sansa quickly sits down to discuss what Caroline would be wearing and how she'd do her hair. Arya rolls her eyes. "We got you presents!"
Caroline rubs the sleep out of her eyes, and there's another knock. She opens it and sees Robb. She immediately blushes, becoming self conscious. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were still half shut with sleep.
"Good morning." He chuckles.
She opens the door to let him in, and Sansa notices Caroline's blush, raising her eyebrow. Caroline pretends to ignore it.
"What are you doing here, Robb?" Arya asks.
"I'm here to take Caroline riding. It's her birthday, after all." Robb explains, as if it weren't a well known fact. "It seems I'm a little early.
"I can be ready in ten minutes." Caroline tells him, shooing him out.
Once he's out and the door is shut, Sansa grins at Caroline. "You have a crush on Robb."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Caroline replies, her blush returning. She did, in fact, really like Robb. They spent almost every day that he wasn't busy with his duties together. Sometimes, she was even invited to join him in planning and responding to issues in the north.
"Come on, you can tell me!" Sansa insists.
"Okay. I think Robb is handsome." Caroline admits quickly. "But I can't think about that. One day, he's going to marry a Lady and they will have a family of their own."
"Why couldn't he marry you?" Little Arya asks. She's just 8 years old.
"Yeah, why not?" Sansa asks, jointing Arya on the bed as Caroline gets dressed.
"Because," Caroline explains as she dresses "I'm an Herbalist. I'm way below Robbs status. He's to be the lord of Winterfell one day. So, he's going to marry someone with a name that carries power. That's just how things are." Caroline feels herself becoming upset at the thought. She sits glumly on the bed. She'd never be good enough for Robb.
"But he loves you!" Arya exclaims.
"Maybe like a sister." Caroline smiles.
"No, I heard him telling father." Arya continues. "He wants to marry you."
"And what did father say?" Sansa asks, taking the words right out of Caroline's mouth.
"He said that she'd make a wonderful wife. He seemed excited." Arya seems to become uncomfortable at the situation she's put herself in.
