The Iron Thorn | Theon Greyjoy

29.

Massey

I entered Bran's chambers cautiously, in hopes that the sound of his door wouldn't rouse him. Summer cocked his head, anticipating an ear scratch from me, and Old Nan sat in her familiar chair. I gave her a polite smile as I rested on the windowsill farthest from Bran's bed. I didn't want to sit beside her in fear of being overly friendly and causing her to extend her stay. A lovely woman, truly, but I couldn't bear another tail about ice spiders or sea monsters that early in the morning.

   "I'm meant to relieve you this morning," I called gently across to her.

   "Oh, nonsense. What else have I got to do, child?"

   I should have insisted, but truthfully she raised a good point. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Bran had told Robb that he was growing tired of her company. I don't know if my entry had caused it, but just then, he opened his eyes more abruptly than I had anticipated.

   "The little lord's been dreaming again," she observed as she gazed at him, the sound of her needles clicking together disrupting the words she spoke.

   "Good morning, Bran," I offered. "How are you feeling?"

   Bran might have answered. Maybe he woke up in a better mood that day, but I wouldn't know on account of Theon barging in the door without so much as a knock. He didn't even bother to say hello. I wondered if he were always this rude when I wasn't around.

   "We have visitors," he announced.

   "I don't want to see anyone."

   "Really? If I was cooped up all day with no one but this old bat for company, I'd go mad." He looked over at Old Nan, and then at me for the first time. I don't think he knew I was the room until that moment. He dropped his head, and I knew it was because he was ashamed of me hearing him mock Old Nan. "Anyway, you don't have a choice. Robb's waiting."

   "I don't want to go."

   "Neither do I, but Robb's lord of Winterfell. Which means I do what he says, and you do what I say."

   "Maybe it'd be good to get out of your room for a bit," I interjected. The defeated look on Bran's face told me he knew he couldn't argue any further. Perhaps my input would frame Theon's insistence as more of an option.

   "Hodor!"

   At Theon's call, in came Hodor, ducking so as to not hit his head on Bran's doorframe.

   "Help Bran down the hall."

   "Hodor," he confirmed as he jogged over to Bran's bedside, scooping him up as easily as one might lift a newborn babe.

The four of us headed down to the great hall, leaving Old Nan behind in Bran's room. I could understand why Theon and the Stark children sometimes grew tired of her, but I also think they took her for granted. The woman seemed eternal, but she wouldn't be here forever.

"You could be gentler, you know. We'll all be old one day, if we're fortunate."

"Yes, I could," Theon replied smugly. "I suppose that's why I keep you around."

"Suppose so," I breathed out in a playful sigh as we approached the hall. "Who's here, anyway?"

Theon answered by simply gesturing for me to walk ahead and through the doorway.

"So it's true," Lord Tyrion said when we all entered the hall. If you had given me the chance to guess as to who was awaiting us, I wouldn't have said him. My guard was immediately up, as was Robb's, who sat stern at the head table in bundles of fur. I slid in, carefully avoiding the Lannister soldiers posted at the back of the room. Theon joined Robb and Luwin at their table, standing behind it and never taking his untrusting eyes off of Lord Tyrion.