Alliance || Bran Stark

Chapter Three

After asking multiple servants for directions, Seren had found her way to the stables. She was alone when first entering, and admired the horses. One stood out to her most, a tall black horse that had a white sock on one leg. It was very friendly with her and she giggled as it licked her hand.
"You should take that horse, Seren. She seems to have taken a shine to you." Ned said, as he walked in followed by Theon, Robb, Jon and Bran.
"Thank you, m'lord." Seren said, as one of the servants removed the horse from the pen and led it out into the courtyard.
"There is no need to call me Lord, you can call me Ned. We will be family one day." He have her a cheeky smile, and she just nodded before following the servant outside.

After they all mounted their horses, Ned Stark led them out of the gates of Winterfell and onto a trail in the woods. Seren looked around in awe and tried to take in every detail. She turned to her left and caught Bran's eye, who had been staring at her. He quickly looked away and they both began blushing.
"So Seren," Ned began, and Seren directed her attention towards him. "How are the Iron islands?"
"Same as always; windy and rainy." Seren stated, and Ned and Theon laughed. They were the only ones who had actually been there. "But everyone is ok."
"How are mother and father?" Theon butted in, moving his horse beside Seren's.
"Father is fine, I think, he is as mysterious as always. I don't know about mother, she moved back to Ten towers when I was 5. She never wrote to us." She explained, and Theon nodded solemnly.
"Do you know why she moved back?" Jon asked, and Ned gave him evil eyes for asking that question but she still answered him.
"She was never the same after the revolution; since my oldest brothers both died and Theon wasn't there." Seren said, staring at the trail in front of her. She quickly realised that she had made it awkward and changed the conversation. "Anyway, my hand maiden told me that the king and queen are coming to visit soon, is that true?"
"Yes, they should be here just after the new moon." Ned responded.
"Apparently the Baratheons and some of the Lannisters are coming up." Robb responded.
"That's a bit strange, usually they don't bring the queens family." Seren responded.
"That whole family is a bit strange." Robb joked and you all laughed. Even Ned, who shook his head while laughing.

"What's that?" Bran pointed at something brown lying ahead. As they moved closer, it became clear that it was a deer. It's stomach had been ripped out, and was laying next to it.
"Mountain lion?" Theon asked. Ned shook his head.
"There are no mountain lions in these woods."
"Then what?"
Ned noticed something, and followed a trail into the woods. The rest of them followed closely behind him, and he led them to a dead dire-wolf that was surrounded by five cute pups.
"What are they?" Theon asked, staring in horror at the dead mother.
"It's a dire-wolf." Ned responded.
"There are no dire-wolves this side of the wall." Robb explained.
"Now there are five," Jon said as he picked up two of the pups. "Do you want to hold it?" He passed one to Bran and the other to Seren. She stroked the adorable pup letting out a little 'aw'.
"Where will they go? There mother's dead." Bran asked, as he looked lovingly at Seren stroking the pup.
"They don't belong down here. Better a quick death, they won't last without their mother."

Theon unsheathed his sword before taking the pup from Bran's hands.
"No!" Seren said, quickly snatching it back and cuddling them into her chest. She scowled at Theon.
"Put away your your blade." Growled Robb.
"I take orders from your father, not you." Theon responded, keeping his sword tightly in his hand.
"Please father." Bran begged, as Seren passed the other puppy back to him.
"I'm sorry, Bran." Ned said, as he turned to walk back to where everyone had left their horses.
"Lord Stark, there are 5 pups. One for each of the Stark children; the dire-wolf is the sigil of your house. They were meant to have them." They all looked expectantly at Lord Stark, who thought for a moment.
"You shall train them yourselves, you will feed them yourselves and if they die, you will bury them yourselves." Ned walked back towards the horses, Theon and Robb following close behind him, holding one of the pups each.
"What about you?" Bran asked Jon.
"I'm not a stark." Jon sighed under his breath. Just then, a small whimpering could be heard next to a tree near by. Jon went towards it to explore.
"What is it?" Seren asked, and Jon responded by showing her a sixth pup. It was white, and clearly the runt of the litter.
"That should be yours, Jon." Theon joked about Jon being the 'runt of the litter' before they all made their way back to the horses.

Once they had managed to remount, they rode back to the castle.

-

A few weeks had passed since Seren's eventful arrival, and everything had just began to settle down. That was until it was announced that the King and his family would be visiting Winterfell.

Seren had never met the king, or any of the royals who were coming to visit. After losing the rebellion on the iron islands, they were not classed as one of the most important families. This title was slowly returning to them. Because of this, she made it her job to make a good impression for her house.

"Seren, come quickly." Bran said, after breakfast. The big day had arrived, and Seren was meant to be having her hair braided and being put into her best dress. Although her hand maiden would definitely not be happy about this, she decided that she would be able to come up with a good excuse.
"Alright." She said, and ran after him.

Over the past few weeks, Bran and Seren had become good friends. This was mostly because they played games together, but they trusted each other and got along very well. One thing she had learned about Bran is that his favourite thing was to climb up the walls of castles. At first, she questioned wether the boy had a death wish or not, but soon began to enjoy climbing as well. Though, she had concluded that Bran was the best at it.
"If we climb up here, we might be able to see the king's carriages approaching." Bran said, he began to climb the tower that he had led Seren to. He sped up, and Seren followed slowly behind him.
"How do you go so fast?" She exclaimed, staring vertically upwards to where he was now standing on top of the castle.
"Practice, slow coach." He teased, and Seren stuck her tongue out at him. She made it to the top about a minute after Bran, which he made very obvious, and they both looked outwards past the walls of the city.

Almost a mile away, the pair spotted a series of carriages moving at snail speed towards the castle.
"Look! They're almost as slow as you." Bran got a sharp elbow in his side in response to that comment and quickly shut up.

"Brandon Stark! Seren Greyjoy! Get down at this instant!" Catelyn's voice broke them both from their trance and they climbed back down quickly, knocking that they were going to get told off.