and so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of castamere

[valardohaeris]

Who: Arya, Catelyn and Robb Stark
What: Honesty is the best policy....right? (a.k.a The Starks Break the Red Wedding News)
When: Day 406
Where: Robb's joint
Rating: M for Misery (talk of canon deaths in here, it won't be pleasant)



[ Jon knows, Robb says, and he and Arya both realise that they have to thell their lady mother sooner rather than later. There are so many here, from beyond the wall all the way to the summer isles, and with this many Westerosi running around it's only a matter of time before someone tells Catelyn. Better she hears it from them, surely.

Probably, but that doesn't make Arya any braver. That doesn't make her any more hurried about setting a date. She comes back from Ginnungagap, but Robb is hurt. There's excuses everywhere, and then Jon finds out without them and it makes it real all over again. They have to do this, she has to do this, lest she blurts it out one day at the worst possible moment. At least this way, they can plan. They can be gentle - or as gentle as the news of a sawn throat and the sight of your first born son with a pierced heart can ever be.



The day comes faster than Arya is prepared for all the same, a message from Robb informing her quickly that their mother is coming to check on him. She picks up quickly, now is the time to do this and-

...well, okay she's mostly tempted to run again and let someone else deal with all of this, but she doesn't. She steels her expression and sets her jaw, and she makes her way to the two of them with a heavy heart. There's no time like the present, and it seems like her time to break her family's heart has come at last.

Great.

A knock on the door announces her presence, and for once she feels just as small as she really is as she stands by the entrance, trying to find some decent way of announcing who it is. A hello would surely suffice, but the words catch in her throat all the same, and eventually she just knocks again. ]

I'm here.

[ Nailed it. ]

Comments

[motherofwinter]

[ It is almost too much to take in at once. Her son is dead, her life has been forfeit. And when Arya speaks, she is reminded that with them both gone, there is no one to save her, to save Sansa. She does not know if her brother is alive or her uncle, even then they would have little ground to stand on once Robb's army disbanded (and undoubtedly, they would). Her babies are lost to the world now, those who are not dead and buried.

Yes, there are northmen who might remain loyal to House Stark but she cannot expect them, as much as she'd like to, to give up their own safety or families out of honor. Not everyone has such stubborn honor. For a few breathless moments, she feels like the world may crumble beneath her, that all is lost, and she has utterly failed her children in every way.

Arya's words confuse her, she doesn't know how close her daughter was to being there, how close she'd been to holding Arya in her arms once more or how Arya saw the horror of the aftermath. Maybe she will ask later, maybe she won't.

But right now, as her eyes open, she pushes away the anger, the shock, the confusion, and the sorrow to see both of her children standing before her, hurting. And even if she has failed them in another life, she will not here, if she can help it. She moves forward, reaching for Arya first, knowing she will fight it the most, pulling her to her body for an embrace.

I need this as much as they do is what she thinks, tears burning in her eyes now, reaching out for Robb with the hand that doesn't clutch Arya to her chest, trying to draw him into the embrace, her voice ragged with emotion as a tear slips down her cheek.]

I am the one who is sorry. I failed you both.

[needsnoheadsman]

[The first time he'd done this, with Bran, he'd managed not to break, though it was a near thing. The second time, he'd soaked Jon's shoulder with tears, but it had been brief, and wiped away easily. This time, he doesn't bother trying to hide it, because this is his mother, and he's missed her far too much for far too long. He steps forward and lets her pull him into the embrace, because it's been too long, far too long.

He wraps both arms around her and Arya, forgetting for a second about the state of his right hand in the emotion of the moment.]

Gods, Mother--I'm sorry, I couldn't win the war-- [I lost the North, I couldn't bring Arya and Sansa back home, I won the battles but I lost everything else, I'm so sorry.]

[valardohaeris]

[ Her mother's arms around her won't bring either of them back. Robb's hand - or lack thereof - on her back won't change their deaths, and the tears threatening to spill won't make her any less lonely. They're here and she can feel the warmth of family again - so why exactly is she still so scared of just staying here with them?

She doesn't run. She wants to - very nearly does for a moment, she even jerks away a little when they cradle in close to each other, but she still stays. An arm furls out from her chest, slow and stiff and uncertain as anything as it wraps around Catelyn's waist. The other moves slower, fumbles for Robb's hand, and it's around then when she finally cracks. ]

Don't go. [ Her voice is deceptively calm, but her grip tightens and eyes squeeze tight. ] Don't go again.

[ And there it is. As vulnerable as she's been in a long time, and as vulnerable as she's like to ever get in the company of others. She cracks, her voice breaking just a little in the last word, and her grip turns vice-like as she closes her eyes. It isn't a request she wants to make of them, because she's understood enough about Asgard to know that there isn't much choice in the matter, but she asks it all the same. All she wants is to hear the words. ]

[motherofwinter]

[ Catelyn was not sure her heart could break anymore than it had but with two of her children --my babies-- in her arms, the hurt, the despair (and the denial in Arya's) in both of their voices shatters what remains of her heart. Her arms tighten around them both, her face burying itself against the top of Arya's head as her other hand lifts to touch the back of Robb's, fingers stroking his curls, no longer wispy and soft like when he was a boy, but thick and coarse. He is a man now.

She wants nothing more than to be strong, to fight and claw and destroy the future that is coming her way. I'm so sorry, Ned. I failed you again. I cannot keep our children safe. It is beyond my power. She tastes the failure on her tongue, it tastes like blood as hot tears finally slip down her cheeks and she takes in a shuddering, gasping breath.]

I will fight with all I have to keep you with me. [ Bran and Sansa too. She keeps her voice as even as she can, vowing to herself that she will do anything, pledge her life to keep them here with her, to keep them safe. She was born a trout but she became a wolf, she will fight like one against any who try to take her children away.

She presses a kiss to Arya's head, tucking it beneath her head before she glances at Robb tearfully, looking older than her years, offering him a sturdy but sad smile.] We will keep them safe here.