Canines and Canaries

Crying Won't Help You, Praying Won't Do You No Good

Hello, chapter two is finally here! This entire chapter is from Eruanna's perspective to hopefully give you a better understanding of her character and relationships before the real plot gets underway. I had a lot of fun writing this one.

Just a warning, there are mentions of rape in this chapter.

Happy reading!

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Eruanna

As blackened racks were pulled from the oven, the smell of fresh bread filled the kitchen, and Eruanna thanked the maid as she was handed her breakfast. A bowl of honey porridge lay beside a plate of freshly-cut bread, with baked fruit and cheese and a cup of milk on the tray that balanced on her lap. Tearing a piece from the warm slice of bread, she turned on the wooden stool to Jon beside her as he spooned porridge into his mouth. As they began to eat, Theon Greyjoy sauntered over from the opposite side of the kitchen, holding a plate piled high with raisin cakes and blackberry tarts, stolen from the trays of food prepared for the wedding feast. Behind him followed a girl with a face like a fox and shrewd blue eyes. She was dressed, for once, like a lady.

Karstark by birth, Greyjoy by marriage, Lady Morven had come to Winterfell as a ward after her mother passed away. At the time, Arya was not yet born, and Morven, a girl unflowered, was to be raised as a true lady within the walls of Winterfell, to one day marry with Robb Stark. But Morven neither grew to be a true lady nor married to be a true Stark. King Robert Baratheon had seen to the latter, deciding that he wished his eldest daughter to wed the son of his closest friend, and Eddard Stark granted that wish. After breaking the decade-long betrothal between Robb and Morven, he promptly arranged a match for Morven to appease Lord Rickard Karstark, swearing to the suspicious northmen of House Karstark that the kraken boy was nothing like his kin, that he had been raised as a northman himself and that he would make a fine husband for the daughter of Karhold. So, only four moons before, they had made their marriage oaths before the weirwood tree, and Morven shed a Karstark cloak for the gold and black of House Greyjoy.

Where breeches and a tunic would normally be, today was a green woolen dress, with light brown sunbursts embroidered along the neckline and hem. Half of her dark blonde hair had been braided across her back of her head, but the rest was left untamed, and the messy curls fell over her shoulders. Her true beauty was often hidden beneath a leather jerkin, but today it shone through brighter than the sun of winter.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Theon asked the twins easily as he leant against the stone wall opposite them, raising a cake to his mouth.

Eruanna pressed her lips together before shaking her head, lowering her eyes to her plate. She did not need to say a word for them to understand. After a moment, a hand came to rest on her shoulder, a consolatory touch from Morven, who gave her a small smile when she lifted her head. "Will you be permitted to attend the feast?" she asked gently, creasing her brows a little.

Jon answered for her. "Perhaps," he said shortly, "at the end of the feast, we might be allowed to dine. Perhaps not." He continued to eat. Eruanna had begged her father to grant them leave to attend their brother's wedding, but Lady Catelyn denied the bastards entry into her holy sept. Lady Catelyn, as always, denied them their wish to join their trueborn siblings.

"It'll be a shame if you aren't allowed," said Theon, any sincerity in his voice spoiled by his grin. He wiped crumbs from the corner of his mouth with a thumb and lifted his half-eaten cake. "You'll be missing out on these."

Suddenly, Theon yelped as the head kitchenmaid clipped him around the ears.

"What do you think you're doing? Those are for the feast, not for your greedy mouth!" Dorthy said sternly, snatching the tray of treats out of his grasp. Shoving it into the hands of a startled Morven, the plump blonde woman hauled Theon away from the wall. "Stealing food from the kitchen! Can't you wait 'til the feast? Come here, and make yourself useful. Gage needs some help with some crates."