Love and Duty (T. Lannister)

Chapter Three

Pandey leads Vaella to a small room off of a hallway that has clearly been set up for them to use. Vaella's creatures in their crates have been set up against the far wall. A table and a number of chairs have been placed in the centre of the room. A small candle chandelier hangs from the beam on the ceiling. There is a Stark sigil flag on the wall. It's likely that this room was perhaps used for storage during the winters and whatever might have been in it has been removed for Godric's visit. Vaella moves straight for her creatures to check on them. There are a few that have free reign back at Godric's Hollow, so for them to be crated up for a few days with only a short time to stretch their legs, must be hard on them. It was hard on her being stuck in the carriage for the trip. Godric sits at the table with a stack of correspondents to reply to. Already. Though she assumes that it might be more to do with his upcoming wedding, likely new trade agreements, political alliances and such. He sets down the parchment in his hand to watch his daughter.

"I am proud of you," He tells her with a soft smile. Vaella leans up and walks towards the table to join him. "The way you were with little Lady Stark...." Vaella drops into a chair and gives him a look.

"You thought I would be....." She struggles to find the right word. She knows she can seem aloof and withdrawn to strangers. She just thought that with the Starks going to be family, then she should make an effort. And Arya sounded as excited about the griffons as Vaella herself gets with her animals. Perhaps she saw herself in Arya.

"Regardless of what I expected" Godric counters. "You did very well.....and I thank you for agreeing to wear the dress that Lyarra made for you" Vaella shrugs and takes a long breath.

"It's going to be hard enough on her" She reminds him. "To leave her home, her family.....if it was me in her place, I wouldn't want my future step-daughter to make things even more difficult" Godric watches her softly as she pulls at a thread on her shirt. They have both been worried about what this transition will mean for them, but it is nice for him to see her trying to make it easier for Lyarra, who will undoubtedly have a harder time of it. she's marrying a man she doesn't love, whom she had never met, that is nearly 20 years her senior, with a child that is older than her, and she is going to have to leave her family and her home behind her to move somewhere she has never been before. No matter how hard Vaella and Godric have it, Lyarra is in it worse. Vaella would just make it harder on all of them if she became difficult. Plus if she keeps both Godric and Lyarra sweet, then she might just put off her own impending match. She knows it will come. Godric will only be able to hold it off for so long. He hums a little and then takes a breath.

"You will join the Starks for dinner," He tells her. Vaella frowns a little and rolls her neck to look at him. "I am taking some time to dine with Lyarra before the ceremony later" He admits as he puts his correspondents into a small box at his side. "She just thought it would be nice to have a proper conversation before she was my wife" Vaella smirks a little and nods.

"Sounds like you have a smart one on your hands" She offers, he smiles softly and nods in agreement. He thinks he might prefer that over the alternative. He doesn't think he would be comfortable with a wife that will be silent and withdrawn. He likes the idea of getting an active companion out of this. A friend.

"You should change before dinner" Vaella looks down at her outfit and then frowns. This is what she would normally wear, regardless of what she was doing at home. She lifts her eyes to her father. "At least try to appear...presentable" He counters as he stands. "These are good people, Vaella, it would do you well to start forging connections and bonds with them" He collects the box from the table before he pauses. "There was an offer made, the initial offer was that you would wed the eldest Stark boy...Robb...but...I chose a more palatable offer" He admits. She frowns and watches as he goes to leave.

"Wait" She stops him. "You took...." She softens slightly. "You did that for me?" He looks at her softly.

"I would rather you married by choice and for love if it were possible, I will not force it on you if I have another option..." He lets out a small breath. "You are my only child and a reminder that I have of your mother....perhaps it is selfish of me to want to keep you close"

"No" She argues. She understands why he hasn't pushed for her marriage to some lord. And it's the same reason she is in no rush to wed. It would mean leaving her home and her father. The last link she has to her mother. By getting married, by leaving Godric's Hollow, she will lose those links. She's just not ready for that.

........

Vaella puts on a skirt for dinner. It's not something she would usually wear, but maybe Godric is right about her being old enough to start forging her own path and her own connections with people. Because one day, she might need them. The skirt is simple, it's jut a brown thing that she packed, just in case, she pairs it with a brown shirt and blue cloak coat and her usual boots. It was what she was going to wear for the ceremony but now she has something else thanks to Lyarra. She closes her eyes and takes a breath as she stands at the door she was pointed to. She doesn't know her way around Winterfell so she has to rely on other people pointing her in the right direction. But here she is. Ready to eat dinner with strangers. On her own. She doesn't have her father, or even Pandey, to help her this time. Pandey is sticking with Godric to help with his dinner with Lyarra, and to help Lyarra get used to the house-elf being around. She has a puffskein in her left hand, a sort of anchor for her. She has a comfort creature with her. To keep her grounded and comfortable. She nods, to herself, ready to face this dinner. Ready to brave it. She reaches out with her left hand and opens the door to step inside. Almost as soon as she closes the door again behind her, they all turn to look at her and it is a little overwhelming the attention. The whole Stark family, except for Lyarra, are looking at her.

"Ah, Vaella" Eddard greets, standing from his seat. Vaella smiles a little, clutching the puffskein in her hand closer to her. The creature snuggles into her palm. "I'm glad you could join us"

"Well, it was to join you or....eat alone, so..." She whispers to herself but she is glad that they thought to invite her to join them. They could have just accepted her as Godric's daughter and want nothing else to do with her. But they have tried to include her. To make this transition easy on her and Lyarra. Arya perks up a little with Vaella's arrival, patting the empty chair next to her for the older girl. Vaella smiles a little. Arya she likes already. Vaella moves towards the seat as Eddard watches her before he touches the hair of the redhead sitting in the seat at his side. Vaella takes a seat at the table, between Arya and Robb. "This is Sansa" Eddard then retakes his seat. "You've already met Arya" Arya smiles up at Vaella who smiles back. Arya then scoots as close as she can get to the Gryffindor to peer into her hand at the puffskein. "And Robb" He motions to Robb who sits next to Vaella, she glances at him. Robb offers her a welcoming smile. "Brann and Rickon" Eddard motions to the two youngest boys around the table. It is a little overwhelming. Vaella has never been around a huge family like this before. It's just been her and her father for so long now. She can't really imagine what it would have been like if there were more of them, if she had siblings. She supposes it's part of why she's a little withdrawn from people, she never had anyone to talk to. Never had anyone to experience things with. It was just her and Godric. Though she knows that he had friends that would often visit, Salazar is one of them, but they are not really her friends, not in the same way.

"Relax" Robb whispers to Vaella. "It's just dinner" She nods a little. He is right. The Starks have been very welcoming, considering that Vaella knows which side of history her family sits on, and it is not going to make friends easily. She has nothing to fear here. She relaxes slightly and sets the puffskein in her lap.