Chapter Text
Weather. Such a normal everyday thing that everyone may find themselves thinking about; as it does affect their everyday lives. It can be one of the blandest or one of the most wild and spontaneous things in the world. It can be hot, warm, cold, freezing, wet, dry, helpful, harmful, relentless, devastating, and even downright cruel. It has existed even before man started to conquer. Today the weather within the domain of the Warden of the North is about to be particularly surprising.
The air in the north was crisp and frozen all of the time with small to large patches of ice and snow that can be seen throughout the year. This was one of the many different things that separated the north from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. The northmen were a hard and stubborn lot as they had managed to make home in one of the places that no past southern king could. However on this particular day things were feeling especially cold and everyone could feel it. This was a rare chill that is usually only common in the winter, but it seems the old gods decided to grace the north with a sample of what’s to come in the future. The cold bite of nature could be felt deep in the skin of every inhabitant of Winterfell, and though not everyone said it, they had a feeling it was about to get worse.
Catelyn Tully Stark the lady of Winterfell thought that she had finally grown used to life in the north. She had thought that finally after more than ten years living there she would grow accustomed to life in the coldest places in the world, but it seemed The Seven took joy in proving her wrong. “Ned could y-you please get more w-wood for the hearth.” The lady of Winterfell said through chattering teeth.
“Cat there is nearly enough wood in there for none more to fit. If I try adding any more then it will begin to spill out and then we may have an entirely different problem on our hands.” The Warden of the North said easily as he looked back at his wife holding their four month old babe Rickon tightly in her arms.
“This blasted cold Ned, if it doesn’t blow over soon I fear that I may end up becoming a frozen statue any minute now. Not to mention what it may end up doing to our babe’s health” Catelyn said fearfully as even though her body had somewhat adjusted from the warm temperatures of the south to the frozen air of the north over time, she had never felt a biting chill such as this.
“Well then I suppose that would make you an iced trout now wouldn’t it” Ned said as he let out a small chuckle. No sooner than he did, did he hear a small huff and turned to see his wife weakly glaring at him clearly not happy that he was taking amusement in her plight. “Besides I wouldn’t worry about the cold affecting the babe too much, let it never be said that a
Stark has lost a battle against the cold.” His words were true as the infant lordling was sound asleep in his mother’s arms, the only shivering that could be seen was coming from the one holding him.
Catelyn could see truth to her husband's words but as a mother it was hard not to worry in this situation. She had heard plenty of tales of women losing their babes to winter and she always worried for her own whenever the temperature started to decline. “I truly don’t understand how you and the children can be so nonchalant about the cold Ned. I swear to The seven a blizzard would just be a mild nip for you all.”
“I wouldn’t quite go that far Catelyn, but I do agree that yes we are more resistant than most are” His wife’s words made hime recall a memory from his childhood. Him and his three siblings were playing near a river outside the gates of Winterfell when Brandon had the ‘genius’ idea for them to start swimming. It was fun until they got back and told tale of what they had done for the day when questioned by Lyanna’s septa. They were under constant watch by the maester for fear they had hypothermia. When Ned told the story to Old Nan she had said that “The spirit of winter flows within the veins of the Starks, the cold won’t be able to bring down a wolf.”
“Do you think that it will get any worse Ned.”
Now that gave the Warden of the North pause.
“Maester Luwin said that the worst of it should pass tonight and things should start to warm up again come tomorrow.”
“Well then Ned if you won’t get me more wood then could you at least go and see how the children are doing.”
“Alright dear I’ll go make sure that everything is in order with them and then I’ll return here.” He began to make his way over towards her and hugged her from behind. “I also think that I may have found another way for you to get warm my dear.” He said as he lowered his hands towards her waist.
Catelyn turned her head towards him, smiled and gave him a kiss on his lips. “I can’t wait to find out what it is, my lord.” She finished her sentence with a small chuckle.
Eddard made his way out in search of a serving woman that could possibly direct him to where one of his children were. “You there, do you know where any of my children might be?”
The girl in question stopped what she was doing and gave a curt bow before addressing the warden of the North. “W-Well my lord last I saw young Bran and Robb were both with the Greyjoy in the mess hall and i think that lady Sansa is with the septa doing her lessons. I haven’t a clue as to the whereabouts of lady arya or the young Snow though.”
“Thank you. That will be all.” Ned couldn’t quite say that he was surprised given the circumstances. It was far too cold for the boys to be out in the training yard and he could no longer bring himself to be surprised that Arya was missing from her lessons... again, and nowadays Jon was finding more time to be on his own. He decided to check on the children that he knew the location of and check on how they were doing.
Walking into the mess hall he was greeted by the sights of Theon with his hands raised high above his head with a frightened looking Bran and an amused Robb sitting at the high table.
“And then it ripped right through the ship taking all who were caught in its path down with it. Those who were unfortunate enough to be close all lost a limb and could only scream in TERROR as the body parts of the poor souls that were dragged down started to float back up and the sea around them turned red.” The young ward said as he inched closer to Bran with his voice rising higher as he continued on.
Seeing where this could possibly lead and trying to prevent more damage from being done the warden of the North made his way over.
“One sailor grabbed his friend in the red sea and made his way towards a large piece of plank to save him, but when he pulled him onto and looked down on his mate that was screaming in agony he saw that he was- ”
“What in the Seven hells is going on here.”
All three stopped and turned to address the warden of the North.
“H-Hello there Father.” The young heir said with a smile trying to appear as though he had nothing to do with the present situation.
“Well lord Stark we were just having a good time amongst ourselves trying to make the most out of the day together.” The Greyjoy’s statement didn’t quite match up to what Ned had heard so he decided to press further.
“Really now?” Ned said skeptically as he ran his eyes over the three in question. “And pray tell what were you two saying to Bran just now?”
“It was just some fisherman’s tale that Theon says he remembers from his childhood. It’s meant to scare small children into not swimming too far off the shore.” Robb said with Theon nodding agreeing with his interpretation of the story.
“Hmm...and do you suppose you could tell me why you two thought it appropriate to let this story be told to Bran who is only four namedays old.” He didn’t truly feel that anything was wrong, he listened to stories just as gruesome from Old Nan when he was Bran’s age he just didn’t want to have to deal with the assured consequences when Bran inevitably came to his and Catelyn’s room with nightmares with her knowing he could have stopped it.
“Well we didn’t want to but the little lordling was very insistent. He claimed that he was old enough to hear one small tale and not get scared afterwards.” Theon said, trying to take away any blame that they could possibly receive from this.
“It’s true father, and I didn’t get scared, Theon.” The youngest lordling there said, finally adding onto the conversation.
“Sure you didn’t.” Theon said as he momentarily turned back to Bran. “Then could you explain why it is that you’re shivering”
Bran looked down himself and noticed that he was indeed shaking in place. “I-It’s just really cold in here Theon.” His embarrassed red face and pout didn’t make his argument all that convincing.
“Well color me surprised i’ve never heard of a wolf that couldn’t stand the cold. Have you Robb?” He asked, turning his attention towards his friend.
“I can’t quite say that I have. No, never in fact.” He saw the way that his words made Bran’s cheeks puff up in anger as his brother tried to give him the best glare he could muster up which wasn’t that good considering how young and small he was.
Feeling ignored by the three Eddard decided to remind them that he was still there. “Alright that’s quite enough from the both of you. I came looking for you to see how you were all doing and it appears that you're all no worse for wear.”
“Well Theon has been whining about the cold all day.” Robb stated to the bewilderment of his friend and the amusement of Bran.
Shaking his head with a slight sputter he quickly stated…”I have not been whining Stark, an Ironborne doesn’t whine over anything. I have simply had much to say about this blasted cold that has been going on.” He finished saying matter of factly trying to preserve some of his pride.
“Well then I think you’ll have much more to say about it because from what Luwin tells me it’s supposed to be getting worse come nightfall.” That grabbed their attention quickly.
“You can’t be serious my Lord.” The Greyjoy tried to deny it but the look on the lord’s face clearly stated that he was dead serious. “By the Drowned God I swear I am going to meet my death at cold here.” He said with his hands held to his head as if he were trying to ward off a bad headache.
“I don’t think that it will be that bad, but do make sure that all of your chambers are well heated for tonight boys.” The three in question all gave a nod of the head with Theon adding a small grumble while turning his head away. “One more thing before I leave you boys to yourselves. Can you tell me where our sisters and Jon are so I can tell them what I told you.”
“Umm… well I think Sansa is still at her lessons with the Septa, but I'm pretty sure that Arya snuck away some time ago. With Jon, well none of us have seen him since this morning he just said that he wanted some time to himself and wandered off.” Robb said with a face that held a bit of worry for his brother as he knew how down on himself he could be.
“Oh Snow is probably off sulking on a corner somewhere. Honestly I'm glad that he isn’t here to ruin the mood, I swear I've gotten more lively company from a broom than I have from him.” The Greyjoy said while scoffing and rolling his eyes.
With the information he set out to get acquired the Warden of the North decided to go and look for the child he knew the location of. “Well I’m going to go to Sansa and if any of you see Arya or Jon be sure to tell them to prepare for the night.” He said as he made his way out of the mess hall.
While on his way to see his oldest daughter Eddard could only hope that Jon would make sure that Arya would stay out of trouble because if there was one thing that everyone at Winterfell knew about the two growing up wandering the halls of the castle it’s that where one of them are the other won’t be found too far behind.