The Young Wolf

Robb Stark, The Young Wolf, Firstborn son of Ned and Catelyn Stark. How can a man be brave if he's afraid? That is the only time a man can be brave.

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Questions // Open

[wiingedwolfarchive]

"It means that Stannis is the heir and the Joffrey is a bastard, like Jon and Alexia." He says, frowning slightly. He doesn’t understand what else it could mean. His family was in King’s Landing with the Lannisters, but they weren’t with Stannis, they wouldn’t be hurt. Maybe they were going to come home.

He suddenly realizes what it means and smiles. “It doesn’t mean Stannis it the heir, it means that Tommen is the heir.” Just because Joffrey is a bastard doesn’t mean he is. He’s nice, he won’t try and hurt Bran’s family. He would let them come home where they all belong. “Tommen is nice, I met him while he was here. He’ll let our family come home.”

[riverbornwinterbred]

Robb wished it were as simple as that, "No Stannis' claims are true, or I believe them to be. All of the royal children are bastards born of incest," he sat at the foot of Bran's bed and looked at his brother, unsure for a moment if he knew what incest was, "That's...when blood relatives behave like husband and wife," he explained tentatively, hoping he would not have to delve further into that wasp nest.

"It means that Stannis is going to war with the crown, as will I. Sansa, Arya, mother and father are all glorified prisoners in King's Landing, and Joffrey will not be kind to them especially when he hears the North intends to rebel," he looked out the window of the room at the sky which was clear and blue as it almost never was, "I'll have to leave for a while but when I come back we can all be together."

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"You are doing the right thing, waiting for more word. If you react now, they might do something bad to your family." She watches as Robb unsaddles the horse and she sighs. "I’m sorry. It is hard to talk of it. I didn’t mean to be rude." She closes her eyes and looks at the ground. She knows that what she said earlier to him wasn’t the best of her. She had let her temper flare. "I wasn’t thinking."

[riverbornwinterbred]

"You were," he smiled a little as he carried the saddle over to it's post, "I would have said the same," and he knew he would have if he were not the one in the position of making the decision. He ran his hand over the seat of the saddle, "I don't have room for righteous anger, only honorable judgement."

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"I cannot make you choose, my Lord, but do what you think is right. Raise your banners and show how strong the Starks truly are." Alexia pulled away from Robb and smiled at him. "You show Westeros why the Northerner’s are stronger than they look. Show them you are a wolf, not a fish." She knows she shouldn’t be encouraging him, but he needed to be told these things or he would follow like his ancestor did 300 years ago. "You could become respected around the realm and no one would want to get on the bad side of the North."

[riverbornwinterbred]

"I don't want power," his voice cracked and he crumpled the paper in his fists, "I want my family back."

Truly it was all he wanted. He remembered when all he had wanted was to be considered a man grown and now he was and he was being asked to decide, "I will wait..." he said quietly, "for more word, I can't march South on this alone," he looked to Maester Luwin and waved his hand, "leave us, I'll be in for breakfast shortly and we can go over politics then," he wanted a moment to contemplate the familial implications of this, and Alexia, while hot headed as he in some ways, seemed to have a perspectve on this that he lacked.

He began unsaddling the horse, avoiding her eyes, "What do you think?" he asked her.

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Questions // Open

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Bran looks up at his brother, frowning slightly. He can tell something is wrong, but he doesn’t understand what it is. Maybe it’s about Stannis Baratheon deciding to declare himself king. He just hopes that the news isn’t about their parents or sisters. Rickon had a dream about the lions taking them away and the Queen was a Lannister. 

"What’s wrong?" he asks, pushing himself up into a sitting position. "I’ve heard that the King is dead and that his brother has declared himself king now." He hopes that is the only news, but he feels like that isn’t it. He doesn’t know, though. It might be. He feels like if one of his family members died someone would have told him sooner. 

[riverbornwinterbred]

Robb nodded, it had been Stannis' letter that had finally forced his hand about calling the banners. He could not sit idly by and allow these people to hold his family hostage and he could not rely on Stannis to rescue them, what kind of Lord would that make him? Worse than that though what kind of son or brother would that make him? "The king was poisoned, killed, and his son is taking the throne but Joffrey is not the rightful heir, he is not Robert's trueborn son, though the Lannisters are claiming that he is," it all sounded like too much to him, it didn't sound real  coming out of his mouth, "Do you understand what that means?" he asked, unsure if he knew the answer himself.

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Questions // Open

No one has told Bran anything. He’s heard that the fat, old King was murdered, but he doesn’t know for sure. They must think that he’s too young to hear about these things, but he’s not too young, he’s almost a man grown. He just wants to know whats going on and if the King is really dead. He doesn’t know how the King can be dead, though. The Kingsguard is supposed to protect the king from things like this.

He’s also heard that the King’s brother has declared himself king and that Joffrey is a bastard child. He doesn’t like Joffrey that much, but that seems like a kind of rude thing to say. It wasn’t that bastards are bad, Jon and Alexia are his friends, but he doens’t think that you should just go around and tell everyone that someone else is a bastard if they aren’t. 

[riverbornwinterbred]

After Stannis' letter, Robb's decision to call the banners and march south had only been cemented. He had never waged war before but he knew that would be the result of his actions if he took them further. He had not been able to communicate with his family, to ask if this was the right thing to do. He had not been sleeping well, second guessing all of his actions before he had even made them. This was never what he had wanted.

Again it had been a few days since he had last seen Bran and he had been much happier then, now he had to deliver the news and implications of it to his brother, who he could only hope would understand.

Robb knocked on the door lightly before entering, "Bran, can I speak with you?"

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

When Alexia heard Robb say the king was dead, she wasn’t surprised. But when she heard the three words after that, she froze. Her head was screaming at her and all she could think of is that Lord Stark and his daughters were in the capital with kingslayer’s. Lannister’s were always deadly. Even worse, Lady Stark had not returned. She was riding towards the capital, but perhaps she was in the Vale with her sister, or Riverrun with her brother. But it isn’t true. She would of sent word. Alexia looks at Robb and sees how close he is to tears. Half of his family were in the capital, with people who killed the king, Lord Stark’s friend. Alexia moves before she even notices and hugs Robb, consoling the boy. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry”, words she kept repeating to him. The king stag had fallen and now the wolves were trapped within.

[riverbornwinterbred]

"I should call the banners," he said quietly, lacking the conviction required for such a statement. The paper was clutched so tight in his hands he thought he might tear it in two. That would not change the news it held though, it would not make the words any less true or the implications for the Starks any less.

He felt Alexia's arms around him and it was some small comfort, bringing his thoughts back to Winterfell, slowing them from spinning out of control, "I should call the banners," his voice was slightly louder, he was looking for reassurance from someone. He needed to hear that was the right thing, that marching south was the right thing.

[joekeerys]

Robb Stark + happiness

(Requested by donnanobl)

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"You don’t understand. You don’t know what it is like to have your whole life flipped around! To have your whole life changed because of one thing! As a bastard I was free to love whoever I wanted! As a Targaryen, I can’t!" Robb would never understand what had happened to her. "I might forgive them one day, but it isn’t this day or any days over the next few moons". She listened as the horse went through the stream and to the other side. "Would should head back" Yes, so I can have some space from you.

[riverbornwinterbred]

Rob sighed, he could feel her walls going up. It was true he didn't understand, and with half his family in King's Landing he would give anything to have them near him. They had never lied to him of course, and he couldn't know what it was Alexia had experienced at the hands of the Dornish, "I'm sorry my lady," he said leading the horse back through the stream, "as you wish."

He was quiet on the ride back to Winterfell, but he went over things he could say to make things better. He had intruded, and he had not meant to insult her, only to help. Eventually he decided she must know that. Even with his limited perspective on the issue.

When he arrived back at the barn he saw maester Luwin waiting for him, he grumbled under his breath, too low for even Alexia to understand, something about being left alone. Gods all he wanted was to be left alone for a day, an hour even. He dismounted and helped Alexia to dismount going to the Maester.

"What is it?" he took a letter from him and read it over. The King had been poisoned. Joffret was now to be King. He felt his blood run hot, his cheeks flaming. There was no word of his sisters or his mother, only that he should swear fealty to the crown, to Joffrey. Where was his mother? Surely she should be back by now if the letter had arrived.

"The king is dead," he tried to keep his voice even, "he was killed."

He felt tears stinging his eyes but he ignored them. He felt alone, he wanted his father, his mother, his sisters. What did this mean? Surely his father would not want him to swear fealty to Joffrey. Should he call the banners? He felt sick. This was too much, too soon. He didn't know what to do.

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"Is there a problem if I consider you my family, my Lord?", she snapped right back into defensive mode. It was okay to ask if she might go back to Dorne, but it hurt about family. Alexia bit her lip, holding back the harsh words she would say to him. She looked around at the area and glanced over to the other side of the stream. "Why don’t we go over to the other side?", she was only asking to move the conversation away from family.

[riverbornwinterbred]

"Not a problem, I hope you would consider us family, I just wonder how it is you can consider us family without a blood connection between us but not those who raised you," he ignored her tone, unafraid of her anger, of whatever righteous indignation her family had caused to rear up in her, "I don't understand it all, but surely they still mean something to you?" He knew they did, if she felt this much hurt over them he was sure she cared. Hate often covered hurt, he remembered hearing once.

He lead the horse through the stream to the other side, still going slower. He could hear Grey Wind rustling through the bushes and it made him more sure as he found a path and started following it.

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"No, I don't think I will return to Dorne. I have grown attached to you Starks". To baby Rickon, who wanted his mother and father, to broken Bran, who wanted to be a knight. To Arya, a she-wolf of the North, to Lady Sansa, a girl who still had the innocence of youth. And to Robb. Robb, her young wolf. "I don't want to talk of Dorne, ever again. I want to stay in the North, in Winterfell with you". Alexia blushes at her words and hides her face. Had she really just said that to him?

[riverbornwinterbred]

Robb thought about her words, "Do you consider us your family?" he asked tentatively. He knew he was venturing into delicate territory, but surely it was anger and not hate that made her speak in such a way about the people she had grown up around the people who had raised her.

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

She was laughing as they galloped on the trail and held onto Robb tighter. Her hair was flying out behind her and she felt free. Alexia wondered if Robb did to. Riding in the area of Winterfell was a much prettier sight then Dorne's deserts. "Robb, try go faster," she tells him, whispering in his ear. She hears a wolf howl and knows that it is Grey Wind. She places her head against Robb's back and feels the peace she had missed so much.

[riverbornwinterbred]

Robb spurred the horse forward, the trees around them becoming a blur as the hoof beats became louder. They came to a stop at a stream, usually where he stopped riding, for he didn't know the trail as well on the other side of the stream. They had come quite a ways from Winterfell, now and the sky had lightened to a pale pink colour, something his father always warned meant there would be a storm during the day. Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky at morning, shepherd take warning.

The horse walked slowly along the bank of the stream, catching his breath after the long gallop, "Are you going to stay at Winterfell forever?" Robb asked, "Or do you have plans to confront your family in Dorne eventually?"

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

He offered to go for a ride, so Alexia thought about it as quickly as she could.

Riding with him won't get you killed. But Robb wanted to ride together. On the one horse. "If The Lord wants me to go for a ride with him, I'll graciously accept". She gives him a mock curtsy and giggles. Oh Stark, look at what you do to me.

[riverbornwinterbred]

Robb laughed at her mocking curtsy, "Such a little lady, Sansa would be jealous of that curtsy," he teased and helped her up onto the horse before climbing on himself. Grey wind had risen from the hay where he was dozing and followed them as Robb lead the horse along one of his favorite trails. He had ridden it many times before and grey wind seemed to recognize where they were going and took his own path through the trees.

"Hold on tight," he pulled her arms around his middle so she wouldn't fall when he spurred the horse forward into a gallop.

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"It seems so, My Lord. We should see how well you swim". Alexia giggles and the words her father said to her in a dream come back to her. You cannot love the Stark boy. But his warning was to late. She already had. Targaryen's seem cursed now, to fall in love with the one they can't have. Alexia looks over to Robb and sees how much a Tully he looks like. Auburn hair, blue eyes, pale skin. Not like a Stark. Not like Jon. He could easily be a Tully of the Riverlands. Hells, no one would say otherwise! But he had to be a Stark and you had to be Targaryen.

[riverbornwinterbred]

"I’m a wonderful swimmer, too bad we can’t swim in Winterfell or we’d freeze to death," he thought of the time he fell in the river. He had only been five or six, he remembered only the rush of water and how it seemed to carry him forever. It had been so cold. It had taken a minute to get under his clothing, like icy fingers spreading up his back and legs, it made him heavy until he felt a hand on his collar, his father’s, fishing him out of the river and carrying him home. He thought he might never be warm again. He had gotten sick, and his mother stayed by his bedside all the time he was ill.

"You want to go for a ride?" he gestured to his saddled horse. The two of them would fit just fine and he didn’t think Alexia would protest to sharing the same horse. Unless she wanted to race him but it was still early for games like that. The fresh air would do them both good.

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Broken // Open

[wiingedwolfarchive]

"She would ruin it before she even got to the ball." Bran says. He feels a little bit bad for Sansa. She just wants everything to be nice and graceful but Arya just doesn’t like that. He is closer to Arya then he is Sansa, probably because their ages are more similar and they could play and fight together. Sansa never really liked to fight, she was a little lady.

"I bet they’ve been in one really big fight thats just lasted the whole trip." Bran says, shrugging a little. 

[riverbornwinterbred]

"Would you have liked --" Robb stops himself. There's no sense in asking questions like that. Bran probably would have liked to go to King's Landing with all the knights but what-if questions never lead down a good road especially now, "I'm sure you're right, I'd put coin on Arya being the winner each time too," Arya was more willing to do things that upset Sansa, where Sansa mostly just called Arya names. It was hurtful in a different way.

He could hear a commotion outside and stood. It sounded like some sort of argument had broken out, "I'll have Maester Luwin bring you paper and quill so you might write some letters. Mother will be back before you know it," that would make him feel better he hoped. Catelyn would be able to devote the proper amount of attention to Bran.

Robb stopped in the doorway on his way out, "You're...I'll do my best to be here for you more Bran," he nodded before he left.

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Broken // Open

[wiingedwolfarchive]

Bran smiles slightly and nods at Robb’s suggestion. “I’d like to send Jon and father a letter.” he says. He doesn’t know what he will say. The world seems to have moved on and become interesting for his family while for him it has just been stuck in the same place. “Sansa and Arya, too.”

While he doesn’t know what he would say to his father and Jon, he does know what he would say to his sisters. He would tell Sansa that he was happy that she was in the South. When the King had arrived, she had talked about how she had wanted to go. She was betrothed to Prince Joffrey as well, which must be all of her dreams come true. 

He wants to write Arya with questions about King’s Landing. He wants to know how his wild sister is doing in a place like that. I doesn’t seem like something she would like, being a proper young lady and going to balls and such. The thought of Arya at a ball makes him let out a small laugh. “Imagine Arya at a ball.” he says, his smile growing.

[riverbornwinterbred]

Robb couldn't help but laugh at the image of his youngest sister at a ball in King's Landing, "She was bad enough at the feast, imagine her in one of those fine silk gowns Sansa was always going on about, her hair all done up," he started to laugh and it was the first time he had in a while, "getting her into that dress would be hard enough and I think she would just ruin it by the end of the night."

He knew Sansa would look beautiful in a silk gown like the Queen. It worried him how much she seemed to idolize that woman, "How many fights do you think Arya and Sansa have gotten into so far?" he would be surprised if they had made it all the way to King's Landing in one piece.

[unknowntargaryen-deactivated201]

"When did you become so wise, young wolf?". The way Robb had spoken made him seem much older then what he was. "As long as people don't get to close they can't tell I'm Targaryen. Good thing my purple eyes are of a sorts dull", she laughs. The dragon against her neck feels heavy and it might be her imagining, but it felt like it was burning slightly. "You know, you say I don't look like a dragon, you don't look like a wolf. More of a fish, really". Alexia chuckles and gives a small smile to Robb.

[riverbornwinterbred]

"When I became Lord I had to start thinking of others before myself. It's easier for someone to see a situation clearly if their emotions are not involved. That's how I can offer advice you might not have thought of," he looked down at his hands again and smiled when he looked back up, "Have I got gills instead of fur," he joked, understanding that she meant he favored his mother in his appearance, and he did, with his auburn curls and light skin, he did not look like a Stark half so much as he looked like a Tully. It had never bothered him though, he always knew he was a true Stark.

[littlestarkpup]

In the Godswood

[littlestarkpup]

Catelyn smiles up at her son. She can see clearly that he is trying to appear older before her very eyes. That he is trying to assure her that this is a burden his shoulders are wide enough to carry. She knows that he does not want to appear weak either in front of her or in front of the people of Winterfell. But she has spoke only the truth to him. His people will respect him when they see that he cares truly for them. That he is stepping up to put their needs before his own at a time when familial comfort is the very thing he craves.

She knows as well as he does that they both speak more optimistically than they have any right to do. She knows that when she returns she will be alone… That Ned will do his duty to the realm and to his friend and remain in King’s Landing. She almost laughs as she thinks on it. Family. Duty. Honour. It seems her family words have become as much her husband’s as his own have become to her.

She stops walking for a moment, “Would that I could be here to give you advice always, Robb… But you will do well, I have no doubt of it. Heed your father’s words as you will heed mine. I shall be back before you have a chance to miss me.” She reaches up and cups Robb’s face in her hand, “You are the son of Eddard Stark… A man who was thrust into a position of responsibility long before he was ever prepared. You are more like him than you know, and I am already so very proud of you.”

[riverbornwinterbred]

People would continue comparing him to his father, as long as he was Lord in Winterfell likely so he had started to become used to it, though it made him uneasy. He felt he would fall short of the expectations set before him if it was his father who he was to be measured against. Robb wrapped his mother in another tight hug, not caring who was there to see it, "That's impossible I miss you already," his words were muffled against her shoulder but he knew she heard them.

"Thank you mother," his voice cracked and he cleared his throat, pulling back from her, "I will see you soon," he kissed her cheek. He was not yet seeing her off but there would not be a large party to see her out of Winterfell, in order to keep her departure as secretive as possible.