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❛ sometimes a father and his son die by the same tune. ❜
━━━━ "𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘," Robb's bannermen bow to Catelyn as she walks past, her head held high despite the crippling pain in her chest. Why did the Gods have to claim her husband? When her back is to them, they stand up and watch her walk away without a word, in search of her eldest son. When she gets to the tree line of the forest, naked branches and black bark making the air more ominous, she begins to breathe heavily, her hand grasping onto one of the trees. Her head bows as she tries to stop herself from weeping, wanting to seem strong for her people and her son if he were around.
Shrill grunts break her from her trance, recognizing the voice from anywhere. Metal smacking against a tree followed each grunt, and Catelyn pushes herself off the tree, her feet carrying her towards the sun. There, in the bright morning sunlight, Robb stood, his right arm swinging his sword down on the trunk of a large tree. She rushes to him, "Robb." He doesn't stop. Deep indents mark the many times he's struck the tree. "Robb." He continues. "Robb." He stops at his mother's warning voice, breathing heavily. His eyes were filled with tears, his mouth open, letting pants of hot air out, his eyes looking at his mother. "You've ruined your sword," Catelyn says, her Tully blue eyes wide.
He lets it fall to the ground, not caring about the sword one bit as it clanged against a tree root. He clambers toward his mother, wanting to feel her touch at the moment, wanting to know that she was really there. Catelyn wraps her arms around him, her hand caressing the back of his head, feeling all of the soft curls that she just knew Vhary took her time brushing after he woke up.
Before he heard the news.
She shushes him as he says into her robes, "I'll kill them all." He lets out a small hiccuped cry. "Everyone of them. I will kill them all." His last sentence was broken by a small cry, his voice cracking.
"My boy," Catelyn starts, "they have your sisters. We have to get the girls back. And then we will kill them all."
Vhary stood a few meters away, her eyes welling with tears as she watched her good-mother and husband take care of each other. She wanted to comfort Robb but felt like he wanted a parent's touch, and decided to wait until he comes back to their tent, however long it will take. She wrapped her arms around herself, wanting to feel a real mother's love for the first time. What did it feel like?
She wanted her own mother.
She wanted Rhaella Targaryen.
***
FOR THE first time since she and Robb got married, Vhary felt lonely. She never liked the feeling, but she was used to it, and when she met the Starks, they filled in the hole that ached in her chest for her entire life. After a year (almost two), she's forgotten what the feeling was like, and now she felt it come back in its full force. Robb and his mother were too busy planning for battles (Vhary never went to a battle meeting as Robb's men would stare at her, which made her uncomfortable), the other Stark children were both in the North and the South, and Ned had been executed. Whenever the Stark children were too busy with the studies, Robb, Jon, and Theon too busy training to pay attention to her, and Catelyn was making a few rounds, Ned would always be there, ready to teach the Targaryen the history of the North.
