Different Lives, Different Destinies [Game of Thrones]

Theon Greyjoy

---Best read before Different Paths To Destiny chapter 8---

I dismounted my horse and looked around the courtyard. The castle towered around me. People moved quickly, there were so many people. There weren't this many people in Pyke, I was sure about that. Suddenly a dark blur was running toward me. I didn't have time to move before it stabbed me in the chest. I fell back to the ground, this was the end. I hadn't even been in Winterfell for an hour, and they were already killing me off. I heard a giggle, and realized that the reason everything had gone black was because I had shut my eyes. When I opened them a girl with dark black hair stood over me. She offered me a hand, and pulled me too my feet. "Sorry I knocked you down. I'm used to sparing with Robb and Jon, they always hit back."

"I wouldn't hit a girl," I mumbled.

"It's just sparring, silly. Anyway if that had been a real sword, we wouldn't be talking right now. Maybe you ought to learn how to fight. I'm Amina, by the way," the girl said.

"Theon," I told her.

She smiled. "I know who you are. I've been so excited to meet you! I'm nine, like you. So are Robb and Jon, but I guess you knew that already. Anyway, would you like a tour? I'm not sure where Ned went, but I don't think he'd mind." Before I could answer, she was pulling me by the arm into the Castle.

"Are you a Stark too?" I asked. "There sure are a lot of you."

She shook her head. "I'm not a Stark. I was-" she paused. "Adopted." It was the first time I'd heard her hesitate. Though for all I knew she hesitated all the time. She could actually be terribly shy and quiet, I didn't know this girl at all. But, I had a feeling that wasn't true.

"So you're a ward too?"

"No. My family died a long time ago. Ned rescued me, I've lived here all my life."

"So you're a Stark."

She sighed. "No. I'm a Winterfell, the first and probably ever with that name. Ned wouldn't give me the bastards surname. He didn't think that was fair, just because they didn't know who I belonged to." Her eyes sparkled excitedly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a notebook. She flipped to a page in the middle and held it out to me. "I just drew this today. It's my own house sigil. My words are "Forged by Fire and Honor.""

It was a fantastic sketch. A direwolf sat in the center of a circle, surrounded by curling tendrils. "The shape looks familiar. Did you borrow it from another house sigil?" I asked.

"No. I made it up," she said quickly, snatching back the book. "Come on, let's go find the Starks."

"Is Ned..."I paused not sure how to word it.

"Nice? He's the best. Catelyn too, but she's so overprotective." She scrunched her mouth to the side. "She says she worries because she loves me."

"My parents weren't all that protective. They always expected me to be a fighter."

She stabbed me in the side with her wooden sword again and smiled. "Maybe you ought to be."

"I guess."

"You should start taking lessons with us. You'll love Robb and Jon. We're best friends, they're like my brothers."

"I have brothers," I said quietly. She stopped walking beside me.

"But not anymore," She reminded me. Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry. Catelyn always says I have to watch my mouth. I don't mean that you have to love them like brothers today. But honestly, you can't help but love Robb. He's the nicest person I know."