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[WINTERFELL; COURTYARD]
[A horse whinnies. Bolton bannermen ride to the keep. In the keep, a number of workmen are busy building and repairing things. Some men carry some raven cages through the middle of the courtyard. THEON, carrying a dead bird, walks d bird, walks through for a moment. He then comes across some soldiers lifting up some flayed bodies with rope.]
"How dare they" Brandon the Elder seethed. It was his home! How dare they desecrate it in this manner?!
The other Starks looked equally outraged. It was their home as well. Lose it in the future they might (not this time, Robb and Ned promised themselves), but it was their home these filthy traitors were destroying with their inhumane culture.
[DINING HALL]
[ROOSE and RAMSAY sit at a table as THEON cuts some food.]
"They've made you the fat bastard's nanny" Yara snorted.
Theon was imagining himself cutting the bastard's throat with the very knife his future self was cutting his food with.
"We can't hold the North with terror alone."
"You can't hold the North if you let these lesser lords insult us."
"I sent you there to collect taxes, not bodies."
"Lord Cerwyn refused to pay. Said the Warden of the North would always be a Stark, and he'd be damned if he kissed a traitor's boot."
Ned smiled at his loyal lord.
[THEON holds the food in front of Ramsay. He takes some of it and puts it on his plate.]
"He left you no choice."
"I flayed him living, along with his wife and brother. Made his son watch."
Ned's smile fell, replaced by anger.
"The new Lord Cerwyn paid his taxes."
[ROOSE pauses a moment]
"I have something important to tell you. Stop eating and listen."
[RAMSAY, who had been heavily engrossed in his eating, stops suddenly and looks up. THEON slowly puts down a plate nearby. RAMSAY puts down his silverware and sits back, looking at his father.]
"We don't have enough men to hold the North if the other Houses rise up against us. Do you understand that?"
"Our pact with the Lannisters protects -"
"I had a pact with Tywin Lannister, and Tywin Lannister is dead."
"And you will be next!" Arya shouted angrily.
Ned already had some ideas with which he could make an example of Roose Bolton and his fat bastard.
"The remaining Lannisters are a thousand miles away dealing with that fact. They've never once in the history of the Seven Kingdoms sent their army this far north. If you think they will for us, you're a fool. We become a great house by entering into alliances with other houses and parleying those alliances into greater power. The best way to forge a lasting alliance isn't by peeling a man's skin off. The best way is marriage."
"And who will marry this disgusting man" Lyanna scoffed.
Catelyn felt a pit in her stomach. Surely not...
[ROOSE stands up]
"Now that you're a Bolton by royal decree, it's time you married a suitable bride. And as it happens, I found the perfect girl to solidify our hold in the North."
[MOAT CAILIN; NEARBY HILLS]
[SANSA, BAELISH, and a number of knights ride towards Moat Cailin. The party stops. BAELISH leads Sansa on foot to a spot where they can easily overlook the keep. The keep is shown, surrounded by swampy riverlands.]
"That's Moat Cailin."
"NO!" Sansa screeched, having connected the dots. "I don't want to marry that disgusting demon! Please father, mother, don't let him do this" she begged.
Catelyn wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her tightly.
"I will never let it happen" the woman swore. "Whatever we see now, I will never let anything like this happen to you once we return. I'll kill them all myself if I have to.
It wasn't just Sansa who was shaking in her mother's arms. Catelyn shook with rage and fear. No, she would never allow that monster to touch her daughter. Not Petyr, not the bastard!
If Ned hadn't built the conviction yet, he had now. House Bolton will cease to exist once they return, and so would House Baelish for whatever that man had for family. He'd become dishonourable and embody his ancestors if need be, but he would not let his family, his House suffer.
[SOMEWHERE CLOSE TO THE NORTH; CAMPSITE]
[PODRIC sits scrubbing a boot.]
"Aren't you getting a bit old to be a squire?"
"Now that she mentioned it" Tyrion mused.
"How did you end up squiring for the Imp?"
"He hates that nickname."
"I have heard better" Tyrion shrugged. He did hate it.
"Well, he's not here to complain about it, is he?"
[PODRICK finishes scrubbing and hands the boot to BRIENNE. He puts the brush down. BRIENNE begins putting the boot on.
"I squired for a knight named Ser Lorimer during the War of the Five Kings. One night, he had a bit too much to drink. And he was famished, so he borrowed a ham."
"Poor Ser Lortimar" Jaime shook his head with fake sympathy.
"Lorimer... If you are going to fake your feelings for him, say his name right first" Tyrion rolled his eyes.
"Or just don't fake it and actually feel bad" Joanna added.
Jamie and Tyrion both shrugged. Why should they feel sad for a man they hardly know?
"He wasn't a thief. He was drunk and hungry and he wasn't thinking. I was drunk too. He gave me half the ham. Next morning, one of the guards saw him passed out, under a wagon, with the ham bone still in his hand. They hanged the man afternoon. They tied the noose for me too, but, Lord Tywin heard my family name was Payne. So he pardoned me and sent me to King's Landing to squire for his son."
"As punishment. For both of you."
"It didn't seem that way. Lord Tyrion was always very good to me."
Tyrion smiled a genuine one. It wasn't always that he found people who liked him, truly liked him and not showed it then to backbite.
[BRIENNE walks away to get firewood]
"Yes, all of your lords were very kind to you. All except me. Sorry, you have to squire such a nasty person."
"I'm not sorry. You're the best fighter I've ever seen. You beat The Hound. I'm proud to be your squire."
"That would do Brienne's confidence a world of good" Jaime nods. He too was being genuine, not faking it this time.
"I'm sorry I'm always snapping at you."
"If you wouldn't snap at me I wouldn't learn anything."
"You want to be a knight, Pod?"
"Yes."
"Starting tomorrow, we'll train with the sword twice a day, before we ride in the morning and after we camp for the evening."
[She sits down]
"And I'm going to show you how to ride properly. I can't knight you, but I can teach you how to fight."
"I suppose that's more important."
[PODRICK leans over the campfire with some rocks. He strikes them together until he gets a spark, and blows until the fire starts going. He wipes himself off and stands up, walking over to BRIENNE. He begins taking her armour off.]
"You weren't a knight, but you were a Kingsguard to Renly Baratheon, weren't you?"
"I was."
"Lord Tyrion said he was a good man."
Renly blinked away his surprise. What reason did the Imp have to compliment him? He was dead, there was no favour in that. It was genuine then... and Renly couldn't help but feel warmly for it.