Long May She Reign [Robb Stark]

xxvii

It took a moon and a half to reach Winterfell from the Westerlands.

By the time we'd gotten halfway there I grew too big to ride a horse, and we had to get a carriage.

But we were outside the gates now, waiting to be let it. I could not have been more relieved.

I observed the outside of the castle—I'd never seen it before, and it was starting to realize. This was Robb's childhood home, where he and his siblings grew up.

The gates opened, and I felt the carriage began to move again as Brienne's horse pulled it. People began flocking to us, no doubt eager to see us.

The cart stopped, and Brienne got off her horse. She had to help me off and onto my feet. Once I steadied myself I looks around and saw all the unfamiliar faces around me. Everyone was kneeling as well—that was something I didn't know if I'd ever get used to. Finally I spotted a few I recognized.

"Catelyn!" I said excitedly, and spotted who was next to her, "Arya!"

Everyone stood from their kneeling positions, and I walked forward as swiftly as I could.

"Your grace," Catelyn said, smiling widely.

"You look as big as a house," Arya said suddenly, and her mother inhaled sharply.

"Arya!" She scolded, and I laughed.

"I'm afraid she's right," I said easily, and Arya smiled at me.

I saw two boys next to them. One was being carried by a very large man, and the other looked fidgety, like he wanted to be moving around.

"I'm assuming you two are Bran and Rickon," I said kindly. They both nodded.

"My name's Elli," I said.

———————

Later, when dusk had begun setting in and I had taken a bath and changed into an evening dress, I made my way down to dinner.

I found Catelyn, Arya, Bran, and Rickon had already begun dinner. I sat down at the place set for me—beside the head of the table, between Catelyn and Arya, and across from Bran and Rickon.

A servant drought me a bowl of stew and a plate stacked high with bread and cheese. My stomach aches for the food—I normally had a small appetite, but after become pregnant I couldn't seem to stop eating.

"I trust your journey was good?" Catelyn asked, and I nodded. I ripped off a piece of bread an began eating it before answering her.

"It wasn't ideal to travel while this far along, but I wanted my children born in Winterfell," I admitted. And I wanted space from Robb, but that was a secondary reason.

I tucked into the soup, and everyone was looking at me curiously.

"Children?" Arya asked pointedly.

"Oh, yes—I forgot I didn't tell you in the letter. The maester I was seeing in camp seemed fairly certain that I was carrying twins," I said, and couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"Oh, bless the Seven. Two grandchildren," Catelyn said, putting a hand on her chest to steady herself. She seemed overwhelmed with excitement.

"Are you having boys or girls?" Bran asked curiously, and I looked at him.

"I don't know yet. Maybe one of each," I said.

"Does this mean that one of them will get the throne and one of them will get Winterfell?" Arya asked, looking to her mom.

Catelyn looked slightly at a loss for words, but said, "I don't know."

"We have plenty of years to figure it out." I covered for her.

I suspected that the answer was likely no, but Catelyn wasn't even sure at this point who was inheriting Winterfell. We wanted it to be Sansa, Catelyn wanted it to be Bran. Arya was the oldest Stark child in Winterfell right now but was absolutely refusing to be Lady of Winterfell, so the title of Lord had fallen to Bran.

"Will you be taking over as the head of Winterfell now?" Bran asked.

"I may be. How do you feel about that?" I asked.

He paused for a moment then said, "I think I'd like it. Not having to be Lord would give me more time to ride," He said, and I smiled.

"Then I would be happy to take over," I said, "After I have the babies, though, you may need to go back to being Lord for a little while until I recover."

He nodded. Bran seemed like a very smart and inquisitive child.

"Will I get to hold the babies when they're here?" Rickon asked suddenly, and I was surprised. He hadn't spoken to me yet, and had spent the whole dinner playing with his food.

"Of course. You'll be their uncle." I said.

There was silence for a while as everyone continued eating, and suddenly Arya spoke up.

"You promised you'd train me how to fight but you can't do that anymore, can you?" She asked, a hint of sadness in her voice.

I smiled apologetically, "No, I can't unfortunately. But, I'm sure that Brienne would be happy to teach you in my stead. She's a much better warrior than I am, anyway. That is, if your mother allows."

Usually I would push for Arya to be taught how to fight, but I didn't want to step on Catelyn's toes as much as I had in the past. I figured that if I let her feel like she was in control of the situation, as long as she made the decisions I wanted, then there would be no reason for arguing.

"I think that could be arranged," Catelyn said, and Arya grinned.