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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 15:11:47 GMT -7
Atop the wall, Jon watches the trees. His men, the last few remaining rangers and a few builders strong enough to haul pitch, gather along the edges beside him, bows in hand. "Nock your arrows." He says, and the command is repeated down the line. They set their flaming arrows, adjust their hands, and wait, their teeth chattering in the onslaught of the storm. The shadow Jon sees moves ever closer to the line of trees. "Draw." He calls out, but doesn't look away. The men do as they're told, their arrows like torches held up to an icy sky. Jon grits his teeth. He raises a hand, carefully, waiting for the right moment, waiting for them to pass the line their arrows could reach. Waiting to see the thousands upon thousands of wildlings marching upon them.
The shadow breaks the trees.
Fighting the snow, a single figure stumbles outwards -- a lone black dot in a sea of white. Jon halts, surprise tightening his chest just as easily as fear. The person, man or woman he does not know, falls, collapsing out of exhaustion to their knees. They rise again, but a dark smear is visible even from this height upon the snow.
A ranger looks to Jon, confused. Arms tense. Murmurs spread. Is this a trick?
"Help!" A voice echoes faintly up to them, desperate. "Help us!"
This time, when they fall, they do not get back up. A wolf howls in the distance.
Sam is rushed into the Lord Commander's quarters at the request of the Stark commander, his hands fidgeting and his eyes sporadically darting every which way to the rushing men, and lit torches, and rolling barricades. But he's led inside, away from the chaos and noise, and the door closes tightly behind him. Stammering, he looks to Katherine at her bed, coiled in pain. "How...how may I assist you, your Grace?" He asks, but from the way she's holding her oversized belly, a horrible realization overcomes him. His entire round face pales. "I'm not a maester, I...I...I don't know how..."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 15:38:46 GMT -7
Katherine looked up when the door opened and in came Samwell Tarly and it seemed like he was a bit fidgety and that isn't something a pregnant woman wants to see right now. Sure they were in the middle of an attack by the wildlings but those words that came out of his mouth really wasn't helping her. She let out a noise that was a groan at the fact that she was going to be delivering her child now of all times and with a man of the Night's Watch who wasn't actually a maester and didn't know exactly what to do.
If this had been happening with Robb then he would be by her side and would be helping her but also with someone who would actually know how to deliver a child like Catelyn Stark but now she was at the wall and it was about to be attacked by wildlings of the North and there wasn't a female in sight and no Robb. It seemed like she was going to have to do this herself and that was going to be one of the worse things she could right now but either way Sam was going to have to stay with her because she refused to be completely by herself. "I need water and towels and I need them now because Sam you're going to have to bring this child into the world whether you like it or not" she said and watched him. "I can't do it completely alone"
Katherine couldn't call for Jon because he would be too busy fighting the wildlings and trying to keep the wall and his men safe. But there was a bit of fear in her that having her son or daughter now would only put them in harms way should the wildlings get in but she knew her men would hold them off for as long as they could. She leaned her head back and let a cry out This definitely was happening quicker than it should do so this Stark child was definitely impatient and wanted to come out now.
William had practically pushed Sam into the room with Katherine and then shut the door before taking out his sword along with the rest of his men. They were ready for whatever was going to be coming through those doors and as long as they protected the Queen while she was delivering her child. It was just like a Stark to want to be born while something like this was happening. All of his men were ready and waiting for when the wildlings came through. They were all trained militarily so this would probably be easier for them than the men that they had been training only moments before but what they didn't know now was probably going to bite them in the ass but they had to just get on with it and protect their wall and castle and everyone in it and protect the south so that the wildlings didn't get through and into anything south from here.
His heart was pounding hard in his chest but a smile pulled at his lips.
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 15:55:46 GMT -7
Sam stares for a moment longer, mouth opening and closing like a suffocating fish as he tries to find the strength to speak, to move, to do much of anything. He remembers Craster's wives. Remembers the pretty one with the swollen belly and the quick temper and the screams she'd emitted when the time had come for her to give birth. He's scarcely stitched a wound let alone delivered a child into the world, but here he is, staring Katherine in the face, expected to pull that child out so help the gods, with the wildlings descending upon the wall at that very moment.
Sam is beginning to think that Stark children have no sense of good timing.
"Y-yes...yes." Sam stammers, swallowing dryly, knowing there is no one else. Maester Aemon is blind and sickly, the brothers here are a broad mixture of thieves and rapers, and Jon is at the top of the wall leading the defense. "Okay." He nods, trying to reassure himself. He's survived wights. Survived the north. Survived Castle Black. He can do this too. Can't he?
"Lie down," Sam says, a little hesitantly, motioning towards the bed. "Erm..." He mutters, looking frantically around the room for something to use as towels. Considering that they did not have very many here at Castle Black. He quickly settles on Jon's trunk and bends down to a knee, hands fumbling towards the clasps. "Forgive me," he mutters, before lifting the lid open. Inside are remnants of Winterfell -- old clothes and old tokens. He grabs the first items of cloth he can get his hands on, tugging free two linen tunics and a white banner. He does not allow himself to look too long at the grey direwolf sewn there, knowing that a child waits for no internal dilemmas. It seems fitting anyway. He then grabs the cauldron set beside the fire and rushes as fast as his legs will carry him out of the door to the quarters. He does his best to ignore the commotion as he fills the cauldron with fresh fallen snow, a storm beginning to rain ice down upon the courtyard, before rushing back in. He closes the door, latches the lock, and sets the pot upon the fire. Immediately, the snow begins to melt.
"Just breathe," Sam says lamely, stirring the snow with the fire poker. "It'll all be fine."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 16:28:21 GMT -7
Katherine wished it would all be fine but at the moment it was all far from fine but she knew she couldn't dwell on any of that because if she did then it would affect her more than she cared to admit. The pains would come through her stomach and she would cry out because this is one pain that she never expected to feel but it was just like a Stark to cause so much trouble coming into the world. It was at that moment that she really missed Robb and wished that he was there with her, that he was there holding her hand and again she cried out and this time it was out of grief than it was from the pain.
She could hear Sam making noises and at one point she thought he was going to pass out from all of this, but if he managed to get her child out then he could add this to the list of things she sure he has done while here at Castle Black. She gripped hold of the sheet underneath her whenever she cried out but it didn't seem to make the pain any easier and she was sure that it was getting worse and worse the more closer the pains got to hurting her stomach.
It was then that she felt the sensation in which she felt like she had to push and that is what she ended up doing.
Katherine was getting too tired and she laid her head back against the pillow behind her, she was drenched in swear from where she was pushing so hard that her dark hair was falling in her face and now was cursing because she hadn't put it up and out of her face. She couldn't do no more and she turned her head to look at the side and there was a pair of blue eyes staring back at her with a smile that could light up even the darkest of places. "You're here" she said softly and the voice that followed had been one that she hadn't heard in a long time. "You knew I would be here" he said and she felt her bottom lip tremble. "But you're not here Robb, you've left me and now I can't do this on my own" he smiled at her and then said "You're not on your own Katherine" his breath tickled her ear and she was sure that she was dreaming and maybe she was, maybe she had already had their child and was just feeling so tired afterwards that she imagined Robb being there.
But no, he wasn't there at least not as a real person anyway and she still needed to deliver their child. Their child that decided now was the time in which they wanted to appear in this world. Right as the wildlings were about to attack, she was sure that the Stark's were born on war and this just seemed to prove it no matter how hard she thought otherwise.
She reached out for his hand but he had disappeared. "Robb!" she called to him sadly he wasn't there but there was a voice in her ear that told her she could do this that he had her and would be here. She took that as a sign and then started to push even more and before long there was another voice added to the room. A screaming sound and Katherine fell back against the pillow once more. She was tired and it had taken it's toll on her but she slowly moved her eyes up and looked at Sam. This definitely had been an experience for him and one no doubt he wouldn't forget in a very long time.
"The child, what is it?" she said after a moment. Exhaustion clear on her face.
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 16:55:11 GMT -7
Sam has never seen so much blood in his life. He's seen white walkers, the dead rise from the snow, a giant wall of ice, but never this. His hands shake the entire time she pushes that child out of her, his eyes so wide on his pale face that they feel near to bursting from his skull. The child's head crowns, and Sam can barely find his voice to tell her as much, but she dazes far away from him, far away to the corner of the room, her hand outstretched to nothing.
"Y-your Grace," Sam pants, as if it is him instead of her upon the bed. He gathers all of his strength, and speaks louder, "I know it's hard. But your baby is almost here. Please. Push." It takes her another moment, but she finally does, the glazed look leaving her eyes and the dead name disappearing from her lips. It took another two more hard pushes for the child's head and shoulders to breach. He pulls the child delicately the rest of the way, until the red-faced and bloodied thing sits in his arms. Taking a small blade with a shaky hand, he cuts the cord.
"It's..." Sam begins when Katherine finally speaks, her voice exhausted. He cleans the blood away with a ripped tunic. A smile stretches sloppily across his mouth. "A girl, your Grace. A beautiful little girl." He cleans the baby the rest of the way with a dampened cloth, and wraps her in the direwolf banner. Rising to his stiff feet, he moves around the bed to Katherine's side, and carefully lays the child in her arms. "She has blue eyes." Sam smiles to her. "Clear as a lake."
"Are you sure about this?" Eddison asks, his hand on the lever to the gate. Jon holds tight to the hilt of Longclaw, his dark eyes staring ahead. A dozen men stand behind him in the tunnel, armed with bows or swords, carrying torches that cast an eerie orange glow upon the walls of ice surrounding them. Jon exhales a slow steady breath that clouds in the freezing air.
"Aye." He nods.
"We'll watch your back, Lord Commander."
Jon clenches his jaw. The gate raises high with a loud metallic groan that echoes through the night. And Jon moves forward, quickly, as soon as he's able, placing sure steps into the snow and never letting his eyes move from the line of trees. The air hangs heavy with smoke and snow, wet spots of ash landing upon his eyelashes and cheeks. The fire still eats away at wood deep in the forest, but the light casts no shadows of lurking wildlings. It just burns. He walks in a straight line towards the dark heap they'd seen from above.
The person lies in the snow, still, surrounded in a slowly spreading pool of red. Jon draws his sword, presses the tip close, and grabs the body by its shoulder to roll them over. Falling flat on their back, the person makes no move, reaches for no weapons, just remains as still and stiff as a corpse. Ice clings to a thick, ruddy red beard.
He recognizes the face immediately.
"Tormund," he exhales sharply, shoving his sword back into its sheath. He tears off his gloves with his teeth, and pats his palms down the man's chest, trying to find where the blood is coming from. And then he feels it, buried beneath a fur. Pulling it back, the broken hilt of a dagger sits embedded in Tormund's side, the wound still leaking crimson in a slow trickle. Jon leans down, pressing an ear to the wildling's chest, and faintly hears the thrum of a heartbeat. "Eddison!" He yells in a roar, sliding an arm under the giant man's bulk to lift him up.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 17:21:07 GMT -7
Katherine waits for a moment and the Sam finally tells her that she has a girl, a little Princess. She manages to sit up in Jon's bed and makes herself as comfortable as she could but her eyes do slip to the side to see if she could see Robb again but she was pretty sure that she had imagined it, that she had been in so much pain that she had imagined seeing the one person she wanted by her side at that time. Sam spoke again and she felt a sob leave her lips when he said that the little girls were blue and that they were clear as a lake and there was only one person she knew who had eyes like that.
Eyes that she had been looking in to moments before the little girl was born.
She took the little girl in her arms and held onto her. Katherine has never seen anything more beautiful than the little girl that she was holding on too. She lifted her eyes and saw that the little girl had dark hair and a smile pulled at her lips. "Amelia" she said softly but her heart ached because Robb would never meet her, she would hear stories of her father and some of them might not be kind but Katherine would make sure that she heard only the good ones, that Mia would never be ashamed of what her father had done in his life. No Robb wasn't perfect and he definitely had his flaws but never should a child hear that their father was a traitor because that was one thing Robb never was, not in Katherine's eyes anyway.
They followed after the Lord Commander into the tunnel and made sure that he was covered when he left the tunnel but the only thing they saw was the body on the ground and that was the one that Jon was walking too. The Stark bannermen watched him for a moment before he yelled for someone but one of the bannermen ran forward to where they were and helped with bringing the man back from north of the wall. He definitely was tall but Rickon wasn't sure if he was a tall as the man they called the Hound. Either way he helped Jon bring him back towards the tunnel. William had stayed on the other side as they were protecting Katherine in her quarters.
If this was the fight that they were expecting then they were sorely disappointed because it seemed to be one man but even they knew that one man could cause so much damage so he hoped that they weren't going to regret bringing this man into Castle Black, not that it was anything to do with Rickon. He was just there to kill some wildlings before they headed south to the Twins. Once Katherine had had her child then they would be leaving to give Walder Frey a nice new red smile.
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 17:44:46 GMT -7
Together, they carry the man back through the tunnel, the gate coming to a shuddering close behind them. Two dozen men with twice as many questions berate Jon as he passes, his teeth gritted as he bears the weight of Tormund Giantsbane upon his shoulders, only one thing on his mind now. "Where are the wildlings? Has the attack begun? Who is this man? Where are you going? Shall we march beyond the wall?" The voices all cry out until they stop being singular and become one dull roar pounding against his skull.
"Get Davos and Maester Aemon," Jon shouts back over them, hauling Tormund up the steps towards the Great Hall, "Get Sam." Someone runs off, but he does not see who. Eddison throws open the doors to the Great Hall, and Jon and the Stark boy carry the wildling in. Acting quickly, Eddison seals the room off before any of the other men can follow them in. "There, on the table." Jon instructs, and they set the man's massive form down upon the nearest slab of wood. The man gives a low groan, his bushy red brows pressing close as consciousness begins to return. "We need to get him warm," Jon huffs, quickly shedding out of his cloak to drape it over Tormund's body. "Get the fire going again," he tells the Stark boy, pointing brashly towards the low embers in the hearth.
"Who is he?" Eddison asks, stepping closer a little cautiously.
Jon hesitates to respond, busying his hands with tucking the cloak tightly around the wildling. "Someone who's going to tell us what's going on." He replies.
A sharp banging on the door startles Sam out of the small pleasant moment of watching a new mother with her first child, his entire body giving an unprecedented jump. "Sam!" A familiar, young voice shouts through the solid wood door, and Sam exhales a small sigh of relief.
"It's just Olly." He laughs a little hesitantly. "Just a mo'," he tells Katherine, holding up a single finger before making his way to the door. Unlatching the lock and pulling the door open only a sliver, he sticks his head out into the cold. "I'm a little busy, Olly-"
"Jon needs you." Olly pants, his cheeks pink. "He found someone, I don't know who, I think they're injured-"
"Bloody hell, when did I become Maester?" Sam huffs out. He stick his head back in the room and looks to Katherine. "Jon...Jon wants me."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 18:00:07 GMT -7
Rickon can't escape the noise from the other men when they were practically yelling at Jon questions that he clearly didn't want to answer right now but he did have to admit that he too was a bit curious as to whether or not this was what they were expecting because if not then there was going to be something else going on outside the tunnel. He had to admit that this man was definitely heavier than most men and barely made it up the steps with the Lord Commander before the Great Hall doors were being shut. He helped Jon put the giant man on the table and then nodded when he was told to get the fire going again.
He moved away from them and over to the fire as he tried to get it to burn once more. Rickon wasn't sure what was going on here but there was one question that he did seem to have on his mind... Was this the hound that everyone kept saying about? Then one of the other men asked who he was and that question in Rickon's head seemed to burst like a bubble because this man, this giant man definitely wasn't the hound.
He didn't even look like a hound.
Katherine looked up when there was a banging on the door and she swallowed hard. She prayed that it wasn't one of the wildlings but then again would they actually knock if they were trying to come in? Katherine guessed not then she heard a voice calling Sam's name and she recognised it and then let out a breath which she didn't know she was holding but her first thought was to protect her daughter.
She gave a soft smile and then a nod while watching Sam move towards the door and then the next thing he says is that Jon wants him. "Go, I'll be fine I should have guard outside the door" she said and then nodded once more. Katherine was perfectly fine here with Amelia and she knew that if there was any trouble then there would be a guard outside her door at all times. It had happened too many times in King's Landing. There had been guards outside of her door to make sure that she was safe but she knew that William was stood on the other side so she knew she would be fine.
Her brown eyes looked back down at the small face and bit on her lip. There had been something on her mind since the night Jon had given her a plan... There was something that she had to do to protect her daughter and she had to put that plan in motion.
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 18:17:59 GMT -7
"You know him?" Eddison says, still unsure but creeping a little closer. Jon glances back at him, silently debating the merits of telling the truth. He trusts Eddison, trusts the man with his life. But Eddison has also lost friends to wildlings and until this very moment, Jon has warned of the wildling attack. Revealing that he knows Tormund, broke bread with Tormund, loved Tormund's sister... But this is Eddison. Faithful Eddison. Who has never once faltered from Jon's side.
"Aye," Jon replies, looking momentarily towards the Stark boy before lowering his eyes back to the large man upon the table. Tormund shivers, his brows twitch, but his face continues to get paler by the moment. Eddison says nothing, asks no questions, demands no clarifications. And that worries Jon, until the brother steps forward and throws his own cloak down upon the wildling. He wraps it around Tormund's legs, sealing all the warmth in. Jon gives him a thankful nod, Eddison smiles faintly.
The doors open, and in a flurry Davos and Sam hurry into the room, the latter covered in blood. Jon pauses, panic surging in his veins.
"It's not mine!" Sam says quickly, eyes wide.
"Who's?" Jon demands.
"Queen Katherine has had her baby," Sam smiles, looking a little pleased with himself. The panic floods from Jon, replaced by a new emotion that grips tightly at his heart. "A bouncing baby girl."
"A girl?" Jon exhales in a rush, momentarily forgetting Tormund.
"We'll congratulate her later, what is it we're dealing with here?" Davos interrupts, moving quickly towards the table.
"Where's Maester Aemon?" Jon asks, shaking the thoughts of Katherine out of his head.
"Too sick to come." Davos replies, looking down at the wildling.
"Shit," Jon huffs, "He has a blade in his side. I don't know how much longer he can hold out. But we need to try to save him. He may have answers about the wildling army for us. And maybe some answers on who attacked him." Jon explains quickly, peeling back his black cloak to reveal the jagged dagger sticking out of Tormund's flesh. Davos grimaces, Sam gives a pained sigh.
"Well...I've delivered a baby tonight. I can probably...stitch a wound too."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 18:34:25 GMT -7
William watches the scene in front of him, Stark bannermen wondering around the courtyard as if they're looking for something to do. Men of the Night's Watch seem to be looking at the door of the Great Hall with anger and far too many questions but never getting the answers they want. What was the answers that they wish to have?
There might have only been one person coming through to tunnel from the other side but it seemed to leave these men uneasy. William had watched as the Tarly boy left Katherine's quarters and then headed towards the Great Hall where they had taken the ginger man. He had heard questions from his own men asking if they was the Hound but he couldn't help but scoff because that definitely wasn't the Hound but William didn't feel like telling them that.
He moved away from his position and towards the door of Katherine's quarters once more and knocked. The voice on the other side told him to come in and he did just that. The Queen was in bed with the baby in her arms, the new child of the North. "Begging your pardon Your Grace but now that you've had your baby does this mean that we will be heading south soon?"
Katherine looked up from Amelia and then smiled exhaustingly "Soon, I promise but for now I need rest" she said softly. She definitely needed rest a lot has happened today. William had turned to leave when she remembered what the boy had said "Who was injured?" She asked "is it anyone we know?"
"No, Your Grace, it was someone from the other side of the wall but they are looking after him in the Great Hall and that's why the Tarly boy ran off"
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 18:59:24 GMT -7
The wound is nasty, made even more obvious as Sam pulls the blade from Tormund's side. The wildling moans painfully even in unconsciousness, trying to twist away from it. But Jon and Davos hold him still as Sam nervously cleans and sears the wound with a hot knife. Tormund wakes that time, his blue eyes flying open and a harsh string of curses falling rapidly from his mouth. A meaty hand grabs onto Jon's leather tunic, pulling him closer like he might snap his neck there and then, until recognition crosses his face. Sam halts, Eddison half-draws his sword, and the whole room goes deathly silent.
"You..." Tormund says in a gravelly exhale. Sweat beads on his forehead, despite how much he shakes and how cold his hands are. Jon just stares back at him, his own hand palming Longclaw's hilt, "I thought Ygritte killed ye'." He adds on slowly, not blinking once.
Jon huffs out a breath, a twitch of a smile pulling at one corner of his mouth. "She nearly did." Tormund clamps his mouth shut, nostrils flaring, and drags in deep breaths. And then, slowly, a deep and hearty laugh begins to bubble out of him. Tormund wraps his hand around the back of Jon's neck and pulls him closer still, until their noses nearly touch.
"Thank the gods it was you who found me."
"Is it...is it okay to stitch the wound now?" Sam asks meekly. Tormund releases Jon to lay back flat upon the tabletop, and Jon straightens himself upright. After a nod to Sam, the steward picks up his needle and thread and begins sewing Tormund's side back together. The wildling bites down hard, but makes no sound other than a harsh inhale when Sam gets a little too confident. As he finishes, color begins to return to Tormund's cheeks, the sweat lessening. "It might scar jagged, but...I think I've got it." Sam says as he finally sits back, dropping the needle into the same bowl of water he'd been using to clean Tormund's side. The wildling looks to him slowly, seemingly not enjoying that fact so much.
"Tormund," Jon begins now that the worst is over, his dark eyes settling on the wildling's face. "What happened? I thought Mance was marching on us, and then you come running out of the wood-"
"Wights," Tormund rasps, looking to him. "They found us. We set the woods on fire to kill them, but it did nothing. Just burned our own camps. Your wolf came. Warned us. But it was too late. Hundreds were dead by the time we'd crawled out of our tents. I ran here..." He says, slowly beginning to sit up. Sam goes to push him back down, but Tormund shoves him off. "Because there's nowhere else to run." He says once he's straight, an arm wrapping around his injured side. Davos and Jon exchange a look, the latter's shoulders sinking lower and lower as the words sink deeper and deeper. "The dead have risen. And they're here. We all need to go. Further south. Before they breach the wall."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 19:20:30 GMT -7
The night definitely had felt long, Katherine had made sure that her little daughter was warm enough, William had made sure there was enough firewood to keep the two of them warm. It seemed like word had got around the camp that Katherine had had a daughter and started toasting to the both of them. Amelia Stark was the youngest of the most honourable family they had said, or they raised what drinks they had to the princess of the North.
Katherine however once she had been left alone had managed to wash and clean up after herself as much as she could before she had decided that the exhaustion was too much. Having Amelia definitely hadn't been easy and she wasn't sure she wanted to go through that alone again but she did have to hand it to Sam because even though that had been his first baby he done well and even kept Katherine going even if there had been a time when she nearly gave up because it was too much.
It had been when she saw those blue eyes. Those amazing blue eyes that she had loved so much and the same blue eyes that their daughter now had.
Katherine had fallen straight to sleep and managed to get a little bit before Amelia had woken her back up again.
This morning it seemed very quiet and she had been tempted to get up and see what had gone wrong. There had been an absence from the day before that she had noticed but that was to be expected, his men were the first priority and when it seemed like they weren't in danger just now everyone seemed to go back to what they were doing before, apart from her men who were drinking themselves stupid and singing songs.
Katherine sat up in bed and let her eyes look over Amelia once more. How could something so small and loud come from her? When she did open her eyes Katherine saw the blue that she loved so much. She lifted the small girl in her arms and kisses her forehead before smiling to herself.
She didn't want to think about anything other than this time she would have with her daughter. Robb wasn't here and that made Katherine hurt but she was going to make sure that Amelia was protected and safe as much as she could because Robb would want that too.
She looked up when there was a sound at the door and she said softly "come in"
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 19:45:10 GMT -7
Jon steps quietly into the room when he's called, more nervous than he's been in years. There's something expected about violence, about facing men who will surely kill him. It's become so second nature to him, a fact of his very existence, one he's come to accept whether he'd like to or not. He can stare upon a dagger aimed for his throat and have more confidence than he has in this very moment, stepping into this room, with what lies beyond. At Winterfell, when Sansa or Bran or Arya were born, he had been sent far away -- off to a shuttered room or to the yard with Rodrick or on a hunt with Theon. After all, that was all he was good for. A bastard has no place beside the rightful heirs of his Lord father, no right at their birth-bed. His place is away and with a sword.
But he steps in anyway. The fire has kept the chambers warm despite the snow storm that had plagued the Castle all night. It illuminates the room where the dim light of the morning sun has failed, bathing across Katherine and untamed her hair, her tired face, and makes her glow. He pauses in the entryway, closing the door silently behind him, and lets his eyes slowly drift down to the bundle in her arms.
"Sam..." He begins, but for a moment he forgets what he had planned to say. "Sam tells me you had a girl." His dark eyes lift back to Katherine's, hoping that they do not betray the tightness of his heart, the warmth in his chest.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Aug 28, 2017 19:57:26 GMT -7
Katherine looked up to see who had just walked in and when she sees Jon there is a smile on her face. It had been a while since she had seen him but he had had more pressing matters to attend to than her and she was okay with that. It had taken her a while to get used to the fact that she now had a daughter.
She had told Robb that she was pregnant when they were in their tent one night and he had been over the moon and as time went passed she seemed to grow used to having him with her but then to lose him in such a way it had been hard for her and she did wonder how she was going to deal with the fact she would have a baby and then would go to war but that was something that she had worked out and would be her secret.
She watched him and then bit on her lip as he started talking. "Sam is right" she said and looked down at Amelia once more before slowly lifting her eyes to him and then used her hand to pat the space next to her for him to sit down if he wanted too. He was her uncle and to her would have every right to want something to do with mia, if he wanted too.
"Amelia" she said with a soft voice "I've named her Amelia" there was just something so heart warming about holding your own child and now she had one. One that would need her every day of their lives, one that would love her even if the North grew tired of her.
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Post by Ray on Aug 28, 2017 20:13:39 GMT -7
She pats the bed beside her and Jon hesitates for a moment, a part of him wanting to turn around and leave this room rather than face the child, the wife, of his dead brother. But his love for Robb pushes him forward. He takes a seat carefully upon the edge of the bed beside her, his dark eyes finding the little girl's face. She's beautiful. There's no other word for it. With her wisps of dark hair and her snow white skin and her glittering blue eyes. Robb's eyes. He'd recognize them anywhere, even after all this time. She looks so small and round in her mother's arms. So innocent of all the things that happened to get her here.
Jon swallows the sob that wants to break free from his throat, forcing it back down where it belongs.
Katherine speaks the name she's chosen, a sweet name. And Jon smiles softly.
"Amelia," he repeats, letting it sink in, "Robb would have liked that." He tells her. It's not a northern name, not a family name, but Robb was always more Tully anyway. He would have cherished any name that Katherine chose. He would have cherished any child he'd had. "May I hold her?" Jon asks, fighting the tears that want to form at his eyes as he lifts his gaze to Katherine.
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