ᴏɴᴇ ♚ i've lost my way, its hard to find it through

[wolfskin]

( ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ | ᴄʟɪɴɪᴄ )

[ For the umpteenth time since Robb's graceless arrival he tries to leave his bed, limbs as heavy as stone, wounds burning faintly in protest. The bolts were long gone and wounds stitched up by a maester the likes of which Robb had never seen before in his life. The man was crude, more pleased that he should've been by the king unceremoniously falling on his white marble floor.

Robb was suspicious of him, naturally, even Grey Wind growled when the man stuck something sharp into his neck, but made no other move against him. The direwolf seemed to begrudgingly accept the maester's presence, provided that he aided his master's recovery.

He had been helpful, that much Robb was willing to admit, the pain seemed to melt away (milk of the poppy? he does not know, nor really wants to question) yet it also made him feel as heavy as a stone, filling his mind with clouds. He simply had no time for bed rest, he needed to know where he was and how he got here.

He needed to know what happened, he needed to know why there was no sword in his chest. He needed─

With a heavy thud he falls back down, his latest attempt to sit up and mayhaps even stand ending in predictable failure. Robb is stuck here, he simply hasn't accepted it yet. ]

----


( ᴅɪᴄᴛᴀᴛᴇᴅ )

[ Some time later Robb reaches for his journal, more than little cautious of the book yet knowing it is his only option right now. He clears his throat (talking to be a book? His men would think him mad) before speaking: ]

I am Robb Stark, King in the North and of the Trident. If any who hail from Westeros, should any of my men hear this, I would speak to you.

For any others I require nothing more than information. [ House is unhelpful. ] Of this place, who is the lord of this castle? Should it even have one. It's laws, it's people, whatever you may think is important. I would know of it.

[ A beat, long and silent. ]

You have my thanks.

[ He may get nothing, he may be get much. Either way even a single response is better than none at all. ]

Comments

[atrophied]

[ It was funny at first, but now it's just sad. ]

You really don't know when to give up, do you?

dictated. for now.

[wolfchild]

[ She stops what she was doing. Everything stops. Even Nymeria lifts her head at the sound of her brother's voice. ]

Robb?

[wolfskin]

[ No, Robb is stubborn, more so than he should be and he is pushed forward by the need to move and not sit. ]

I have no time to sit and wait. [ He does, in fact, he knows it deep inside but to admit it? It is too soon for such things. ]

dictated also for now

[ladywinter]

Robb?

[She freezes in place, scarcely believing her ears. Scarcely daring to.]

[atrophied]

You have all the time to sit and wait now. You're going to get sick of it. But right now you're my patient and right now you're at risk of opening up my beautiful stitches. And if that happens, I will be most unhappy. You don't want to see me unhappy. So sit back like a good boy king and wait.

screeee

[wolfskin]

[ His thoughts, tumbling through his head with a great urgency stop, his breathing stops. No... could it be? They thought her dead, no one could find her. But he knows that voice, he knows it anywhere. ]

Arya? [ It comes out croaked, horse. He sounds less like the King and more like a boy, a boy who found a sister he thought he lost. ]

everyone jump on the stark feels train!

[wolfskin]

Mother. [ There is no question, no doubt of the owner of that voice. He can still hear her telling him to run as blood rushed to his head with the rhythm of the drums. Boom, boom, boom. ]

Mother, where─ [ He wanted the move before, he desperate did not want to sit and wait for wounds to heal. Now that desire burns within him more fiercely, his mother is here, she is safe. (How is she here? Why? They shouldn't be─) ]

[wolfchild]

Robb! It is! It's... Where--?

[ She's stumbling out of her bed, feet tangling in her blankets. She falls heavily, but she is up and seizing the journal and racing for the door. Nymeria follows at her feet. ]

Are you in the clinic again?

[ladywinter]

I will come to you, Robb. Tell me where you are. [She knows there's a chance that he's in the clinic. Last time he had come from- Gods, if she must see those wounds again. The thought almost makes her sick, but she steels herself. Her eldest son needs her.]

[wolfskin]

A clinic, or so I have been told. [ By a man who he really is not sure about. He is almost a maester in practice, yet... ]

[wolfskin]

[ Grey Wind rises at the sound, peering at the journal silently as a painful smile reaches Robb's lips.

Again? He doesn't understand, in truth he cannot find himself to care much. Arya is alive, however she came to this place matters little in the face of her living and breathing. ]

Yes. [ That is what the man called the place, at least. It is strange to him and looks nothing like a maester's quarters should. ]

[wolfskin]

[ While Robb does not meet the man's eyes, Grey Wind does. Yellow eyes stare at him sharply, as if the direwolf was glaring at him in Robb's place. ]

How long must I wait?

[wolfchild]

I'll be there! ...Don't move!

[ Unnecessary perchance, but necessary to her. She races to the clinic and it's only after she has charged the doors that she stops.

Nymeria does not share her doubts. She races to her brother, yipping like she was a pup still. Arya hesitates. It is only now that she is sharply aware of how she must look. She hasn't brushed her hair, her clothes are askew, her shoes were forgotten. She has dirt under her fingernails and a stain from something she cannot remember on her tunic.

Again that feeling of being little washes over her. What would Robb think of her? What's a little sister to a king?

As much as she wants to run to him, she waits for his verdict. ]

[atrophied]

[ Yeah he's got a dart and a blow gun and Allen for you, wolfy, if you get difficult. B( ]

Usually, you'd stay a couple of days for observation. But I have a feeling you'll smash a window open and climb out using your bedsheets for a rope if that happens. While I have no problems sedating you, Fido over there won't be happy.

So here's what we'll do. You stay the night to make sure everything is staying closed and I'll have Walker escort you to your room if you promise to follow directions. And I want your word as a king.

Do we have a deal?

[wolfskin]

[ Grey Wind bounds to his feet, meeting his sister without hesitation. It is the happiest Robb had seen his wolf in some time, it almost brings a smile to his face.

But then he looks up and sees her, sees Arya. For a moment he is surprised by how different she looks, how short her hair is. But her eyes, her face, the lack of shoes; small things tell him it is his sister beyond a doubt.

He must look worse, his tunic is dark and torn in places where crossbow bolts had been, underneath bandages stained red by his struggles to leave. Not to mention his own hair is a mess, unkempt by struggles both here and else where. He manages to sit (for once), hanging his legs over the side of the bed.

What's a little sister to a king? Everything. ]

Were you asleep? [ The King is gone for now, in his place sits the older brother, tired and worn. ] Mother won't be pleased, you forgot your shoes.

aaaand dictated -->action

[ladywinter]

I know it. I will be there.

[She closes the book, immediately starting for the clinic. Her steps falter when she gets there, though, and she lingers in the doorway for a moment, catching her breath and preparing herself for what she will see.

And then Cat takes the plunge, stepping into the clinic and looking cautiously around.]

Robb?

[wolfskin]

Grey Wind.

[ A smart move, Robb thinks. He will not be able to control the direwolf should he be made to sleep, and he is certain House does not want a direwolf who has a taste for manflesh left to his own devices.

The night. It sounds reasonable yet still feels too long to Robb, yet even he cannot deny that his continued attempts to leave are only hindering him. ]

Very well, you have my word as a Stark and King. So long as you swear not to pierce my neck with your cures again. [ Grey Wind did not like it the first time, the second may be disastrous for the man. ]

[wolfchild]

I was reading how to make fire turn green. [ It sounds so stupid out loud, something that earlier had made her ecstatic to find. She was only missing purple now and she had all the colors.

Her eyes flit to his chest, to the blood on the bandages, and she bites her lip. She does not know whether to look him in the face or stare at the floor so she watches the direwolves instead. ]

I didn't mean to. I just-- [ wanted to come find you. ] I'm sorry.

[ She apologizes for her shoes, for not knowing what to say or what to do, for not being at the Twins to help him, for not making it through the crowd to their father in time, for not being a better sister. He doesn't want me. ]

[wolfskin]

[ Grey Wind rises where Robb cannot, padding over for the woman as she enters nuzzling her hand before turning to lead her to him.

By this time Robb has managed to sit, propped up by odd pillows on an even odder bed. But he does not think on it, decides that his mind is better put to other things. ]

Mother. [ If he could rise he would, but his limbs still feel as stone and House warned him against moving too much. Should he tear open his wounds he was certain the man would keep him longer than Robb would like. ] I am sorry I cannot...

[ There are tears in his tunic where the bolts had been, underneath bandages stained red from his precious struggles. But the sword wound, it is no where to be seen. Nor does Robb ever remember it piercing his chest. ]

[atrophied]

Got you to behave, didn't it? [ House pinky-promises.

Grabbing his cane, House gets to his feet. At a nearby desk, he rummages for pen and paper. He starts jotting down instructions to take care of the stitches and what Robb cannot do until they've healed. ]

I'll write them down so you don't forget. And you'll have to return in...let's say a week? To have a look at you and see if we can get them out. If any of them starts turning red or is very painful, you'll have to come in immediately.

[wolfskin]

[ It is a lucky thing Starks are known for keeping their words, else Robb would have been likely to ignore the instructions House is writing down. ]

You speak like a maester but where no chain, what sort of man are you?

[atrophied]

[ House looks up from the paper with a half-surprised, half-amused face. ]

You'll want to be careful who you ask to show you their chains.

King Robb Stark

[songsandstories]

[To hear his voice makes her heart stop. He is back. Her brother is back. Her eyes close, just listening to his voice. If he sought information, if he sought men then he does not remember. He expects her to be Sansa, and while she is lucky to have her freewill back, the lies will hurt just as much as they did the first time. But she must, she tells herself.

She does it for him, for her mother. If Freys or Lannisters arrived, it would be safer for her to be Alayne.

She is Alayne, she tells herself. Alayne Stone of the Vale, the baseborn daughter of the Lord Petyr Baelish.]

Your Grace, I would welcome you here, but this castle is not a place to be welcomed to. [Even if it does her heart well to have him here.] I am of Westeros, but the Vale holds no vows to neither Stark, Lannister, nor Baratheon.

[wolfskin]

[ ...Robb doesn't get it. B( ]

You did not answer my question.

[ladywinter]

[Cat steps forward immediately, shushing him as she had when he was a small child, frightened by nightmares and the northern wind. She would cradle him in her arms if she could, but she dared not move him too much. So she will settle for cupping his face in her hands and kissing his forehead.]

Hush now. You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing.