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Catelyn Tully dove from the bow of the boat into the river with scarcely a splash, the water cooling her sun-warmed skin. She felt the current immediately—its familiar, insistent tug pulling her back toward the boat--and she began swimming as soon as her feet were submerged, moving arms and legs in graceful, powerful strokes that came as naturally to her as breathing. The current in this bend of the river was not as strong as it was in many other places, and she easily moved forward, seeking to swim as great a distance as she could before her lungs compelled her to surface and take a breath.
She loved being beneath the water where all was silent and no worries or fears or complications could reach her. She was free—connected to nothing but the river which had no expectations of her. Her father would likely frown at her even having a desire for such a feeling. Alone of his three children, she had never seemed to chafe at his expectations of her--always tried to think of her family, tried to do what was right, tried to be good and make him proud. She loved her father, even if the two of them were more at odds recently than they had ever been. She wanted to respect his wishes as much as she could, but everyone needed some little bit of freedom. Some bit of peace that’s all their own. The river was hers.
Her lungs now hungering for air, she kicked up to the surface anticipating the brightness and warmth of the sun on her face and the sound of the music from the boat’s radio in her ears. However, the first thing she heard was a deep voice shouting her name.
“Cat! Cat, you don’t have a rope!”
Treading water, she turned back to face the 25 foot ski boat her father had christened the Silver Trout and saw a rather panicked looking Ned Stark leaning over the side and holding one of the bright blue tow ropes up at her.
“That’s why I swam upstream, Ned!” she called back to him. “I won’t float anywhere except back to the boat!”
“But you said . . . Hey, Cat! Where are you going?”
She’d been drifting toward the boat and so had begun to kick upstream again. “Nowhere! I have to keep swimming just to stay in place,” she laughed.
“You’re moving further away,” he said with a slight frown. “And you clearly said we shouldn’t get in without the ropes earlier.”
“Ned . . . we weren’t doing any swimming then—just floating around to cool off! You can’t just float around and relax in a river unless you’re anchored to something!” She grinned at him, lying back in the water and continuing to kick against the current. “This is actual swimming. And it’s hard work!”
“Do you want me to come in?”
“Only if you grab a rope.”
“Catelyn, I know how to swim . . .” Ned started.
“Yes!” she called back. “In pools. And occasional ponds. By your own admission you’ve never been in a river before in your life! Do you intend to let me go down one of those . . .oh, what are they called again? . . . triple black somethings, when you take me skiing this winter?”
“Black diamond runs,” he said. “And no, of course not. You don’t know how to ski yet.”
“And you don’t know how to swim this river! I’ve been doing it since I was a little girl! If you’re hot, grab a rope and jump in. I want to swim a bit further upstream, and then I promise to drift back to you!” She was honestly getting out of breath from trying to swim and talk at the same time, but she wasn’t ready to come back to the boat yet.
Ned didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t protest any further, so she blew him a kiss and dove beneath the surface again, kicking upstream.
This weekend could have gone worse, she thought, as she moved through the water, encased in silence once more. Her father had refused to allow Ned to stay at Riverrun, but hadn’t refused to let him spend time with her there this weekend, and other than several highly uncomplimentary remarks about Brandon, he’d been mostly polite if not warm. And at least Ned hadn’t been there this morning to hear the argument that erupted between her father and herself when she’d asked to take the boat out. If Uncle Brynden hadn’t been there, she might not have stood her ground.
She surfaced once more, breathing hard, and uncertain whether that was from the exertion or the memory of her father’s words.
“You’ve proven you have no judgment when it comes to men, Catelyn! After the appalling behavior of Brandon Stark, you take up with his brother? I don’t know whether you’re trying to exact revenge or make him jealous enough to take you back or are simply starry-eyed over dark haired Northmen in general, but I cannot support this!”
“I’m not asking you to support anything, Daddy! I’m asking if I can use your boat! And I do not want anything to do with Brandon Stark ever again!”
“Listen to yourself, child. You honestly think you can date the man’s brother and have nothing to do with him? This is a recipe for disaster.”
She hadn’t known how to respond to that. She’d had the same fears herself, and she knew Ned did as well whether he’d admit it or not. They’d both tried to fight this . . . whatever it was . . . between them for a long time. Maybe they were both crazy. Maybe they’d both end up hurt. But neither of them could walk away without giving this a chance. As she’d stood there facing her father silently, tongue-tied by her own misgivings, her uncle had stepped into the breach.
“The child is twenty-two, Hoster!” her uncle had said gruffly. “And she’s asking to take the damn boat out, not to marry the Stark boy. So unless you’ve doubts about her ability to handle a boat she’s probably captained more times than you have in the last decade, what’s your problem?”
“Stay out of this Brynden. She isn’t your child.”
“I’m nobody’s child!” Her father had looked hurt at that, and Catelyn had softened her voice. “I’m your daughter, Daddy. I always will be. But Uncle Brynden’s right. I’m not a child. Now, can I take the Trout or should I go down to the marina and see about renting a boat?”
Her father had looked at her a long time. “Take the damn boat,” he’d finally muttered. As she turned to go, he’d called out her name, and she’d turned back to see him looking at her with a mixture of sadness and concern. “Be careful, Little Cat,” he’d said.
Floating on her back and letting the current push her along for a moment, Catelyn reflected on those words. She knew perfectly well her father hadn’t been talking about the river. He trusted her with the river. He didn’t trust her with Ned. She’d fallen head over heels for Brandon Stark almost immediately upon meeting him her third day at college. She’d thrown caution to the wind for the first time in her life, and two years later, she’d returned to Riverrun with a heart not simply broken, but shattered. Explaining to her father, or to anyone really, that two years after that terrible break-up, she was sort of dating Brandon’s brother was impossible. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d heard she was repeating the same mistake—rushing into love and romance and setting herself up for heartbreak.
I’m not in love with Ned.
That’s what she told everyone. It was too soon to fall in love again. They were just . . . good together. He was nothing like his brother. And she was taking this very slowly.
I’m not in love with Ned.
She looked back toward the boat. Ned hadn’t moved. He stood very still, watching her as she swam, and as she looked back at him, she felt a tug that had nothing to do with the current. He was worried about her, but he wouldn’t tell her to come back. He wouldn’t jump in and swim after her, either. That was one of many significant differences between Ned and his older brother. He didn’t have to try to prove he was better than everyone at everything all the time.
The current had carried her half way back to the boat now, and he smiled and called out, “You don’t grow a tail when you’re in the water too long, do you?”
She laughed. “Oh, dear! Are you going to have a problem with that?”
He smiled more widely. Once upon a time, she’d believed he never smiled at all, but she’d been wrong. He smiled quite often with her, and his smiles were beautiful. “I can’t imagine having a problem with anything about you. But I confess I’m rather fond of those long, sexy legs of yours.”
“Well, I suppose I can keep them permanently then.” She flipped backward in the water, kicking her legs up into the air as she turned for his benefit. She then turned upstream and swam once more, and while she still loved the feel of the water flowing over her as she moved through it, she heard his applause and laughter when she surfaced and found she had no further desire to swim away from the boat.
She stretched out in the water and moved her arms and legs lazily, only enough to keep herself afloat. Ned noticed the difference in her movements right away.
“Are you getting tired, Cat?” he called, and she heard a hint of concern in his voice.
“Not in the slightest,” she assured him. “But I did promise I’d drift back to you.”
She thought he’d smile at that, but instead his face took on a very serious expression, and he didn’t say anything. She floated along in silence for a few moments, just looking up at him, recalling how much they’d laughed together earlier when they’d both been in the water tethered to the boat by the tow ropes-- splashing each other, talking with each other, kissing each other. It had felt so easy. So right. Moving closer to him on the current now seemed the most natural thing in the world to her. But looking at his face, she wondered what this felt like to him.
“Ned?” she asked, kicking her legs enough to hold her in place against that current when she was almost close enough to the boat to touch it. “Do you think we’re crazy?”
“No.”
“That’s all? Just ‘no’?”
“Well, you did ask me a yes or no question.”
She splashed water up at him, and he did smile just a bit then. “My father thinks we’re crazy,” she said.
“No. Hoster thinks you’re exercising poor judgment and I’m some sort of womanizing opportunist. I don’t know that he thinks either of us is crazy.”
She made a face at him. “You know what I meant! But, honestly, a lot of people think that the two of us . . . that this . . . is crazy. Just because of Brandon. If Brandon didn’t exist, no one would have a problem.”
“Brandon does exist, Catelyn. He’s my brother. And I love him as much as I hate what he did to you. And I suppose that does make me a little bit crazy sometimes. But I can handle it.”
She let the current push her the last few feet and reached up to place her arms on the boat’s swim platform, raising her upper body out of the water. “But why?” she asked. “Why do you want to handle it?” Her heart was beating rapidly, and she tried to tell herself it was from the exertion of swimming. I’m not in love with Ned. I’m not in love with anyone. It’s too soon. It's too complicated!
He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he finally moved from where he’d been standing, stepped over the rear of the boat onto the swim platform and pulled her out of the water as if she weighed nothing. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him to warm her cool, wet skin, seemingly unbothered the touch of her chilly flesh against his sun-warmed body. He held her there tightly for a few moments and then released her just enough to pull back and look at her face.
“It scared me when you dove in the water and swam away without telling me.”
“You were napping and I . . .”
He put a finger gently to her mouth. “It scared me to watch you swimming away from me,” he said softly. “But you promised to drift back to me. And you did.”
“Of course, I did. I told you I just wanted to swim for a bit.”
“Cat, you can swim as long as you want. As long as you need. I’ll be here when the current carries you back. Do you understand?”
She looked into his grey eyes which met her own without looking away, and she couldn’t even pretend to herself that her heart rate had anything to do with swimming. “But . . . why, Ned?” she asked him again.
“Because you are worth the wait. Because you are worth the risk.”
His eyes held hers as he spoke, and when he fell silent, she felt the desire to dive into the promise in those eyes just as she had into the river. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him. As he returned her kiss and held her in his arms, she felt the worries and fears and complications fall away from her more completely than they had under the water. She felt both completely free and completely connected to Ned.
Oh, god, I am in love with him!
The panic which accompanied that admission to herself lasted no more than seconds. Ned broke the kiss just long enough to smile at her, and she realized that she had no need to swim against this current because it had carried her home. He brushed back the wet hair that clung to her face and kissed her again, and Catelyn knew with certainty that Ned Stark would forever be home for her.