+1 stubborn Stark

[kingshandned]

What do you mean you do not know what to do with me?

I cannot just wander around this strange land without any purpose. Winter is coming and my king needs me. My family need me, I cannot just abandon them. I won't.

[A pause as he listens to the mun trying to reassure him.]

You seem quite determined. So why do I still not believe you when you say everything will be okay. I will only say this once more. I must return to Winterfell. King's Landing will do. Just send me home.

Comments

[ancientstalker]

Unfortunately, I fear that may be impossible.

[wargwalker]

Not King's Landing. [his voice is on the verge of trembling, but crying in front of father would be embarrassing so he tries to hold it in.] Come back to Winterfell. That's where you really belong, with us.

[kingshandned]

And I fear that you may be right. What I would not give though to see my family and my homeland one more time.

[kingshandned]

[Ned is just glad not only to hear the voice of his son but to see him too.]

Bran. How are you feeling? Are you well? [He has not seen him since the fall after all.] You know I would give anything to come back to Winterfell. To my family. But I am afraid it is not under my control.

[starktomboy]

[Oh... maybe he wouldn't recognize her? Her hair's short and scruffy - she could pass for Bran, even - if her features weren't more Stark than his.]

What if... what if you can't return to Winterfell? What will you do?

[She shouldn't ask him that. She shouldn't think about those people with their jeering faces and their cheering and seeing her father standing before them like a common criminal. She hadn't seen him die but she still remembered the cheers.]

[kingshandned]

[Of course he will recognize her. Even though her hair is a lot shorter than he is used to seeing it he would never forget the face of his daughter, Arya.]

My daughter, what has happened to you? [Of course he is more concerned about her than he is about himself and he steps forward to touch a strand of those new short locks of hers. Hopefully those images will leave her mind soon.]

I do not know what I will do. I suppose I can only go where my mundane sends me. I do not seem to have any choice in the matter...though she does not know what to do with me.

[starktomboy]

I cut my hair. It was annoying. [A lie, but the short hair had been necessity to keep herself from being exposed as a Stark.]

They don't like giving us a choice, do they? Not anymore than Kings or Queens. [The last bit is a bit more bitter than she would have liked to admit, but she hated Joffrey and Cersei for what they'd done to the Starks.]

[ancientstalker]

These mundanes are powerful. You may get to see your family, but I doubt you can go home.