After Balon Greyjoy received his sentencing, Ned Stark wanted nothing more than to return to Winterfell and never breathe the foul air of the south again.
He summoned his guards and ordered someone to fetch Theon Greyjoy and bring the boy directly to him.
While he waited, the Lord of Winterfell was busy talking to Jorah Mormont, discussing exactly how many ships they would need to sail straight back to the North.
"What the fuck are you on about, Ned?" Robert Baratheon asked loudly when he heard snippets of their conversation as he was passing by.
"There is a grand tourney at Lannisport you will be attending." The king added his command, completely refusing to let Ned speak, and walked off without another word, wearing an incredibly smug smile on his face.
Ned honestly had half a mind to curse Robert's entire bloodline for that command. He simply swallowed his bitter words in the end.
Theon arrived exactly at that moment. The boy was no more than ten name days old and had a hard look of defiance on his youthful face, an expression Ned had seen many times on the faces of experienced Ironborn reavers.
However, that defiant look softened rapidly. Theon turned his gaze to the ground when the Quiet Wolf merely stared at him without saying a single word.
Theon closed his eyes tightly and braced for impact when he heard Ned leaning down toward him. The expected blow never came.
"Look up, boy," Ned ordered firmly, and the young Greyjoy followed the command the very next instant.
"Do you know why you are here?" Ned asked, a question that made Theon clench his small fists.
"I am to be your hostage," the boy answered simply.
Ned hummed in agreement and gave a single nod as Theon looked down at the ground to hide the tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
He then heard the rustle of clothing. The Lord of Winterfell was now kneeling in the dirt right in front of him so they could be on the exact same level.
"As the Lord of Winterfell, I give you my word that you will be treated as my own ward," Ned said solemnly, his deep voice carrying a sharp edge of absolute sincerity.
"Now, I want your word in return. I want you to swear you will keep an open mind, if nothing else." The lord of Winterfell added.
Theon sniffled quietly and pretended to cough, using the movement to wipe his unshed tears away from his eyes.
"You have my word, Lord Stark," the boy said in a hollow monotone.
"Give me your word as the Heir to the Iron Islands," Ned encouraged him, his voice growing significantly gentler now.
Theon widened his eyes at those specific words. He might have been a child, but he fully understood the heavy implication carried in that title.
"I give you my word, as the Heir to the Iron Islands, my lord," Theon said, pronouncing every single word with absolute clarity.
Ned nodded in approval. He stood up from the ground and beckoned Jorah over with a quick gesture of his hand.
"We will now be leaving for a tourney. I am certain you would not wish to be there, considering it is a celebration of your father's defeat," Ned said to the boy, before gesturing toward the knight beside him.
"Lord Mormont here will escort you safely to a ship that will take you straight to the North."
The Lord of Winterfell finished his instructions with a final nod and walked away without uttering another word.
Ra raised his hand playfully and opened his mouth to say something, but Ned cut him off before he could begin.
"I cannot stop you if you wish to go with him and spare yourself from attending the tourney. Just know you will have to explain to Catelyn exactly why I killed myself," Ned spoke with a weary sigh.
Ra honestly contemplated the pros and cons of the entire situation before giving a slow nod.
"I will tell her you drank far too much ale on the ship and fell into the ocean," Ra said, raising his finger in the air as if he had just conceived the most brilliant idea in the world.
Ned paused in his tracks and looked directly at Ra, taking a moment to think of a proper retort.
"You will lie to your lady wife as well, then?" Ned asked, raising a single eyebrow while a triumphant smirk formed on his face.
"I will not. She will accept the truth of your untimely death with perfect grace if that means I return to her sooner," Ra answered with a casual shrug, instantly wiping that triumphant smirk right off Ned's face.
The two men continued to bicker back and forth about the topic as they walked toward the large ship that would be taking them to Lannisport for the king's tourney.
The sea journey took about seven days to complete.
It was only on the second of those seven days when Robert finally bade Jorah to kneel on the wooden deck to be officially knighted, as if he had just remembered to do so.
Ra felt that Robert had finally stopped glaring at him all the time. The king would even attempt to strike up a conversation with him in his own loud and boisterous way.
Robert would never admit it out loud, but he had gained a massive amount of respect for the Custodian during the battles of the previous war.
Ra had fought fiercely for the crown, after all.
The king now even regretted the fact that he had not simply executed Balon Greyjoy just because he was feeling spiteful toward Ra at the time.
"So, Custodian. Why did Nightshade allow a skilled warrior such as yourself to leave?" Robert asked Ra on their fifth day sailing on the ship.
The conversations happening around them stopped immediately. Everyone nearby perked their ears, intently anticipating the answer Ra would provide.
"There is no grand tale behind that. My father simply told me to roam the world outside Nightshade," Ra answered with a dismissive shrug.
The brief reply did not really answer Robert's initial question in the first place.
"What the fuck is a Custodian, anyway?" the king asked next.
Most people living in the Seven Kingdoms thought of Ra as a knight.
But Robert had once heard Ra introduce himself as a Custodian of Nightshade, and the king was now incredibly curious about what that title even meant.
"We are the blades and shields of the royal family of Nightshade. And do not ask me anything about them, because I do not really know shit," Ra answered, making sure to add that last part while raising a warning finger.
"How do you not know anything about them? You just told us you guard them. Blades and shields and all that shit," Jaime Lannister spoke up this time. The Kingslayer's expression showed nothing but utter bewilderment.
Ra responded with another simple shrug. He had told them not to ask these things, after all.