The King of Winters

The Lone Wolf

The sound of music and the smell of foods surrounded the little boy. The servants and the maids of the great castle were running about the Great Hall, pitchers of wine and trays of foods in their hands. The little boy was seated in the raised table overlooking the Hall of Gods, the Great Hall of the great castle Starfall located in the Red mountains of Dorne beside the river Torentine. He could see everything from his high place where he was seated. The men for whom the feast was thrown were absolutely enjoying it, while the household of Starfall seemed to put all their efforts in pleasing them, because it wasn't a feast thrown for some noble guest, the feast was set up for the King of the Seven Kingdoms, Rhaegar Targaryen the first of his name himself. The boy looked over to the King to whom the feast was put up for. Rhaegar Targaryen was every bit of the king he was. From his long silver-gold hair and his purple eyes to the way he was clad in the clothes of red and black, the colors of his house everything about him screamed of the Valyrian Dragonlords of the old. They even said that his crown was the same one that Aegon the Conqueror had worn. Beside him was a rather pretty woman dressed in clothes of the same red and black of the King. She wasn't a woman of a great beauty but had a plain face and common type of beauty. Though she possessed a certain aura about the way she held herself which seemed to attract almost everyone. Lyanna Targaryen formerly Stark seemed no more than a common maid in Starfall near her husband but she never let that get to her. Her crown which looked a twin to the one her husband was wearing seemed to increase her grace and the way she worn it proudly only added to the fact.

The little boy turned his head to look at his father to see how happy he was to see his sister again. Unfortunately his father was not happy about it, no more than he did with the feast. His face was grim and stern as ever and he ignored his sister at every turn. At the age of five he never knew why his father hated his sister and her family so much. But he'd heard everyone in Winterfell talking about the hatred Lord Eddard Stark had for the Targaryens. They always said that 'Though Lord Eddard never shows it openly, he never forgot his father and brother's murders at the hands of the Mad King with his brother's wife.' 'The North Remembers' his father always told him but he never knew what he meant by that.

The little boy was looking at a knight from the crownlands who was tussling with a servant girl pulling her onto his lap, when a hand brought a sugar crusted cake with almond crumbs sprinkled over it to his mouth. He remembered that he was late and took a big bite to even it up, never mind that almond cakes were his favourite. He turned back to look at his mother smiling and tried to return the smile while chewing the cake. Bits of the cake appeared at the corner of his mouth and his mother brushed them off clean with her thumb.

"Do you like it?" his mother asked while holding the cake towards him for another bite. The little boy nestled further in her lap and took another bite nodding. His mother smiled at him and held him close to her while feeding him from her hands. That is not a proper way given his status as a lord but what is status compared to mother's love and it was his routine to sit in her lap and eating from her hands. With another bite the cake was done and the little boy looked up at his mother with puppy eyes and pouty lips. His mother looked down at him with her laughing purple eyes and a sweet smile which seemed to lit up the hall despite the brightness of the candles.

"Last one," said Ashara Dayne Stark as she took another cake from the high table. The little boy immediately took a bite as soon as his mother brought the cake near his mouth. His mother chuckled at his hurriedness. "Too much of sweet can rot your teeth Andrew," his mother said to him. That is what his father tells him all the time and he'd tell him to stop at two. But Andrew using his mother would manage to get at least five. And because of the feast his father seemed to let him to his ways.

Andrew cannot ask for more loving parents. Their love was so strong and indestructible. Most days he'd sleep in their bed, hearing to their stories, playing with his father and listening to his mother's songs. Though he had a good strong relationship with his father, his bond with his mother was unwavering and as close as it could be. Ashara Dayne, the most beautiful woman in the world was his mother and even that fact of Ashara Dayne's son made him popular in the Seven Kingdoms as well. To the world Ashara Dayne was the most beautiful woman but to him Ashara Dayne was a sweet and kind mother who always sides with him even if he causes some mischief that would earn father's shouts.