They rode back to Winterfell. Robb and Lord Stark were talking to Arya, making sure she was okay with the execution of the man. In the way, they found traces of blood. Following the red, there was a big dire wolf and her pups.
"Seven direwolfs pups, Lord Stark. You have five children, one on the way, and a granddaughter," Jaehaerys told the man.
It was an enormous coincidence. Just like in the canon, Jaehaerys found the same dead she-wolf that had just given birth. The direwolf pups were suckling from their mother. It was a brutal display of nature.
"Father, we can keep them!" Arya said excitedly. She had fearlessly picked up one of the pups from the pack and lifted it in her arms. The men were startled by her sudden movement; she had dismounted with great agility.
Lord Stark hesitated. But in the end, he agreed.
"It's easy to say, but you'll see that it's not so easy to do. I won't allow the servants to waste their time on this. If you want those puppies, you'll have to feed them yourselves. Understood?" Arya nodded with a huge smile on her face. The puppy wriggled in her arms and licked her face with its warm tongue. "You'll also have to train them," her father continued. "It's essential that you train them. The dog master won't want anything to do with these monsters, I can assure you. And may the gods help you if you neglect them, mistreat them, or fail to train them. They are not dogs; they won't fawn over you for food, nor will they run away if you kick them. A direwolf can tear a man's arm off as easily as a dog kills a rat. Are you sure you want that responsibility?" Arya doesn't see anything bad in her father's words; she just nods.
"Fascinating," Jaehaerys picked up one of the pups by the scruff of its neck. It was a female, and even for a pup, she was quite large.
"The gods did not forget Rhaelle," Dany said beside him, a smile on her beautiful face. Her amethyst eyes sparkled with happiness.
Jaehaerys looked at the little one. She had dark fur and a white spot on her chest; her eyes were closed, so he couldn't see them. She was an animal destined to be a huge monster. The prince could see the magic flowing from the animal, and he wondered if it was the work of Bloodraven, but every drop of his blood and magic told him it was not. It seemed almost sacred. He took another, the smallest of the litter, with gray and gold fur.
Robb ended up carrying the animals, using a cloak to shelter them. Jaehaerys traveled with the black puppy and the gray and gold puppy, which Daenerys ended up taking from him halfway there, claiming they would end up shattered between both of them.
It was a rather curious scene. Jaehaerys had wondered why the Starks didn't have the wolves before.
Apparently, they had been a gift, one brought by the gods. Could the purification of the weirwood have had something to do with it? The prince wondered.
Even so, there was no puppy for Lyanna or Visenya, let alone Daemon. No white puppies. Jaehaerys made sure to look thoroughly and found no extra puppies.
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Bran had barely woken up hours ago. He was on the bed, asleep again. His mother was watching over him. When he opened his eyes after what happened in the Godswood, he was disoriented. As if he had had a long dream. He remembered little of what happened in front of the weirwood tree.
There was a knock at the door, and Catelyn Stark gave permission for them to enter. She had dark circles under her eyes and responded only distractedly.
Daenerys entered and looked at the woman by the bed, praying. The princess wondered if the Seven responded to the woman. They didn't answer her. Maybe the princess's faith was not enough.
For a believer in the Seven to worship them even in the north, where the old gods completely dominated. She was quite brave... or she was so strongly indoctrinated that she couldn't bear the change. Dany didn't know if her children were believers; Sansa was somewhere in between. The redhead seemed to believe in the old gods, probably due to Jaehaerys' influence, but also in the Seven.
Apparently, it was a tug-of-war between Jaehaerys and Catelyn.
"Princess Daenerys," Lady Stark greeted her, her voice brief and abrupt. She was tired. "I wasn't expecting your visit," she added flatly.
"I was concerned about Young Bran's condition," Dany replied, always feeling bad when she saw children suffer. "I pray for his recovery," she said politely.
"So do I, every hour of the day," Catelyn replied. "Will you be staying at Winterfell for long?" The lady of the castle did not seem happy with their presence there. She was cold toward Jaehaerys, and even more so toward Daenerys.
"We will leave for the wall soon. The tree needs time to purify itself," Daenerys explained, with more courtesy than Lady Catelyn had shown her. "I also wanted to thank you for welcoming us to the castle. Your family is quite pleasant," Lady Catelyn's hands tensed. "Arya is a very lively young girl," she added with a smile.
The little Stark was Daenerys' favorite. She reminded her of Visenya, although she was not as free under her mother's constant watch. She is a rather cheerful and spontaneous girl.
"A spoiled girl who refuses to behave like a lady," the lady's words were harsh. "Your presence here will make her behavior worse," she scolded, then bit her tongue.
"Perhaps... she will be a little freer. Just because she is different from your expectations does not mean she is a bad woman," Daenerys said softly. She was getting irritated, but it seemed distasteful to reprimand a pregnant woman who had her child in bed.
"She'll never find a good husband like that," Catelyn complained.
"Then that will not be her fault," Dany couldn't help herself.
"Not her fault? Ah..." Catelyn clenched her jaw tightly. "To find someone who treats her well, right? Is the prince one of those men?" she asked venomously.
"Yes, he is," Daenerys said firmly.
"Yes... I'm sure he is with you. Unlike how he treats Sansa." Catelyn looked at her this time, her eyes red from lack of sleep. "Oh, once he treats her well, flowers, compliments... my foolish girl fell for it. She was everything I ever wanted her to be. Tall, beautiful, well-mannered, and with a sweet heart. The lords of the realm would kill for her hand," she seemed like a strange mixture of angry and sad.
"You speak as if her only value were her hand in marriage. She still has all the qualities you mentioned. Her worth doesn't depend on her husband," Daenerys said sincerely, her tone colder, no longer able to modulate it.
"Without Prince Jaehaerys... would it be the same to you?" Lady Catelyn asked.
Daenerys pressed her lips tightly together. The comment hit her like a horse. She tried to think of a reply, but couldn't come up with one. Without Jaehaerys, she would have ended up with Daemon or another lord of the kingdom. That was a reality, and at that time, she did not dare to interfere to change her destiny.
"It wouldn't be," she replied sincerely. "It would have ended with the marriage you dream of for your daughters, unhappy, lacking freedom, and empty of love," she said as she turned to leave.
"I only want my daughters to have a good life, to fulfill their duty to House Stark... is it wrong to want that?" asked Catelyn, her voice softened but not without resentment.
"No, it's not. Sansa is at ArgentStone, enjoying a good life, and so is her daughter, your granddaughter," Catelyn tensed at the mention of Rhaelle.
"Don't mention the bastard," Lady Stark whispered, spitting out the word with disgust.
Daenerys turned abruptly, looked the woman in the eye, and spoke. "Bastard? The girl has been legitimized. Did Jaehaerys forget to mention that?" Catelyn looked at her in confusion. "The little girl you speak of with such hatred is the Heir of ArgentStone, she is almost a Princess of the Seven Kingdoms." Rhaelle wasn't a Princess, but a lady. Anyways, she will be treated like one. "Mind your tongue when you speak of her," she warned.
"Why do you allow that?" Catelyn asked, somewhere between scared and confused.
"I'd like to explain, but talking to you will get us nowhere. Your daughter will be fine, if you're interested in knowing," she said, leaving the room, closing the door carefully despite her anger, and walking away with Brandon following her.
The man seemed satisfied for some reason. Daenerys ignored him; she needed to go to the Wall.