Bringing the Dawn

XXI.

Robb Stark

Winterfell, 300AC

Stress was nothing new to Robb as of late. But over the last few weeks it had gotten to a point it was ridiculous. It was already difficult enough having to run a Kingdom in his father's stead being only sixteen name-days. But now there was looking after both Bran and Rickon, alongside everything beginning to kick off. It had been approximately six weeks since his mother had left to go to Kings Landing and he'd heard nothing from her yet, and he probably wouldn't until she was back in Winterfell. At least that would be any day now as it only took a fortnight by ship to get to the capital plus the nine days it took to ride to and from White Harbour and here.

Did she knew what Lysa had done? A part of him hoped she had found out as it would be one less headache on him when she finally makes her way back here. When he had received the raven, he had been nothing short of horrified but he refused to show it as he was in a meeting with three others to begin preparations for the incoming winter. It had been years since the last one, Arya hadn't even been conceived yet when it ended, but he remembered it well. A cold so sharp that it physically burned the skin was not a pleasant thing to experience. And the North was a harsh place, it always had been. It was only the more southern parts that had any chance of growing things and even then they were limited. Aye, a lot of the keeps have glass gardens to keep their stocks up, but this was personal storage and not storage for the entire Kingdom.

Just shy of a million people live here, even with rations they would need ten times this amount in basic food supply such as grain and corn. From his last calculation, they had six million. A decent start, but not enough for the long run. The more they have, the better a chance he has at leading his people through the harshest season there was. No, it hadn't even been proclaimed autumn yet, but Maester Luwin had always said that a long summer equates to a long winter. And this had been the longest summer on record for hundreds of years, which in turn meant an equally brutal winter. By now, the letter he had sent to Starfall will have been received by Jon, having received communication from him before he left he was heading there to officially begin gaining allies.

No response had come from him regarding the news yet but knowing his brother he was now going into panic mode. This would only be amplified from what Ned had sent them, that he'd figured out that Jon Arryn had been killed because he discovered that Cersei had been cuckolding King Robert. When that had arrived, Stannis' actions finally made sense, clearly preparing to get allies under his belt as well. This ebbed deep inside of Robb. He'd heard numerous stories about the middle Baratheon brother, and he knew he was not a man to be trifled with. His father spoke kindly of him, but it was clear they never got along, and it was made abundantly clear that he hated his older brother.

Truthfully, a part of him did not blame him for that. Many people would take it as a massive slight if their older sibling granted the youngest sibling the Lordship of their ancestral seat. And Robert had done just that by granting Storm's End to Renly and Dragonstone to Stannis. It was a dumb political move to make, but it wasn't questioned as nothing had come from it yet, but that would be changing once the truth finally comes out regarding the Prince's and Princess, alongside Jon. Out of all participants, his brother has the best chance considering the sheer link his blood was. A Targaryen/Stark match was desirable, one that would've happened a long time ago and was rumoured to have happened between Cregan's bastard sister and Jacaerys during it all.

Principality.

It was strange to think of himself as a Prince, and realisation kicked in on why Jon had freaked out like he had when he was told. He'd been one his entire life much like the younger and had also been completely unaware of it until Luwin presented him the scroll written in High Valyrian. The weight from it all was beginning to crush him, and he knew he was beginning to crack. And crack was something he could not do as that would kick start everything. There's no denying it now, peace was coming to an end and soon it was going to be pandemonium. Nothing short of a blood bath. House against House, Kingdom against Kingdom, possibly family against family. Most Houses are related to one another in some roundabout way. Robb was going to need to do something, and the only thing he could think of was try and arrange a betrothal for oneself to get allies behind them for when the time comes. With Sansa still betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon- well, Joffrey Waters now- she was out of the picture. And there was no way Arya was going to settle for being tied down with someone, she'd never even look at him again if he even attempted with her. Jon wasn't out yet and even when he is he will need whoever is the most advantageous. A King marrying someone from a lesser House would not bode well at all. This left only the youngest two and himself.