The Dalyngridge Girl ➝ Bran Stark

Chapter 25

        "What are these?" Mare asked as she looked at a black knife Sam had given to her. Every one of them was now wide awake and fully dressed for the coldness of the outside, ready to keep moving forward.

        "Dragon glass," Sam said, "they kill the White Walkers. Regular knives or swords won't work."

        "But no one has killed one in thousands of years," Meera said as Sam tried to hand Hodor a blade. He shook his head rapidly and stepped back from Sam's outstretched hand.

        "Just take it, Hodor," Bran said, taking it and passing it back to him. Hodor took it gingerly and frowned at it in disgust.

        "I really wish you could come with us," Sam said, almost pleadingly.

        Bran took a moment before responding. "I wish we could, too." Then he looked up at Mare. "We just have something that needs to be taken care of." He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers, and to her dismay, he was shaking.

        "We must be off now, Sam, and Gilly," Mare said to them gently. "My husband is still quite worried about when we're getting to our.. er, destination," Mare said, stumbling over the word 'husband'. It still sounded odd on her tongue, even though Bran's eyes got brighter every time she said it.

        Mare gave Gilly and Sam a weak smile before Hodor started trudging forward with Jojen and Meera following. Bran gave them a grim smile before they all marched into the night.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

        Mare was running through the woods with two small boys; one was clearly older than the other. Her belly was swollen so much that she could barely lean to one side before tipping over; a third child that she was carrying. Both of the little boys looked almost exactly like Bran; they had brown fluffy curls and deep brown eyes. They laughed and giggled as they played, running through small streams and tripping in mud.

        These must be her children... her children with Bran.

        She waddled to keep up with them, and eventually stopped at a giant tree; the one that was in the Godswood in Winterfell. They looked back to her evilly.

        "You both are just like your father," she laughed, and they began climbing up the tree. They didn't slip or stumble once, just like their father.

        When they both got to the top, the strangest thing happened. They turned into... ravens. Ravens that were coming to peck her eyes out-

        She awoke, gasping for breath. She fumbled around and tried to stand, but Bran had grabbed onto her arm.

        "What's wrong?" he asked her, and she lowered back down to her knees.

        "I saw my sons," she said weakly, "and they turned to ravens and tried to kill me."

        "You were probably just having a nightmare," Bran soothed, and she slowly laid back down.

        "Bran, they were beautiful," she whispered, looking up towards the stars. The fire they had made before they went to bed had burned right down to the embers, yet a faded glow lit up Summer and Felan's figures near the fire.

        "Brandon, we forgot about our namedays," she said, aghast. They looked at each other in complete and utter shock, and after a moment, burst out laughing.

        "I cannot believe we forgot our namedays," Bran laughed. "We're fifteen, yes?"

        Mare nodded, but her laughter was dying down. She looked to Bran slowly, and saw him start to get serious as well.

"Well, get to sleep," Mare said. "We have a big day tomorrow."