Winter Is Coming

“Do we have to go to this dinner?” I asked Robb and he smirked and nodded his head. I groaned and laid back in my bed.

“You don’t want to go?”

“Too many people,” Cynthia said and Robb looked at her, “She’s afraid she’ll screw something up.”

“I really want to know how you’re able to do that, Cyn,” I laughed and Cynthia smirked.

“It helps when I’m your best friend for how many years,” Cynthia laughed and I smirked and sat up and head a knock at my door. Lord Stark walked in and saw that we were needed, it was time for dinner, “It’ll be all right, Jess.”

“You’ll be fine,” Robb said, his hand on my arm.

I sighed and nodded my head, taking Robb’s hand and standing up. We walked out of the room and then followed him to the dinner hall. When we got there, I noticed that Jon wasn’t around, Cynthia noticed him too.

“Robb,” Cynthia called, “Where’s Jon?”

“Mother doesn’t allow him to events like this,” Robb said sadly and Cynthia sighed and nodded her head.

“I see why you wanted me to come now,” I teased and Robb smirked and nodded his head, taking my hand and leading me over towards a long table that we were to sit at.

More people showed up, the food poured in and the music sprang to life, I looked up and saw that Lady Stark sat next to the Queen on the high table. I saw that she was staring at the King, getting drunk and flirting with the women of Winterfell.

‘…How noble…’ I rolled my eyes and then looked to see Robb stealing a piece of chicken from my plate, “Hey!” I laughed and he smirked towards me and nudged his arm into me.

“You eat too slow,” he smirked.

“You eat too fast!” I stated and Robb laughed. I looked around and saw that Cynthia wasn’t at the table anymore, “Where’s Cyn?”

“I think I saw her walk outside,” Robb said and I nodded my head.

“She snuck Jon some food,” Arya said and I smirked and nodded my head, “Is she your sister?”

I smiled brightly, but shook my head, “Where I’m from, we have a saying, someone who is so close to us, family but not blood, is a sister from another mister, or a brother from another mother.”

Robb smirked towards me and then I watched as he patted Theon’s shoulders, “I like that saying.”

“Uncle Benjen,” I heard and looked to see that Arya had said it.

“Who?” I asked, looking around.

“Come,” Robb said, taking my hand and standing up, “I want to introduce you to someone,” he said and I nodded my head. We walked over towards the corner of the room where Lord Stark was talking to someone, I heard Lord Stark say ‘winter is coming’ before we came up behind them, “Uncle Benjen,” Robb said happily and the man turned around and smiled.

“Robb boy,” the man say as he turned around and hugged Robb, “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Robb said and then pulled away and smiled towards each other.

Lord Stark was smiling towards me and then placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, “Benjen, this is Jessica, she and her friend, Cynthia are our guests as well.”

“I was getting to introducing her, father,” Robb said and I blushed a little.

“Pleasure to meet you, my lady,” Benjen said as he took my hand and kissed my knuckles.

“Pleasure is all mine,” I said, trying to sound like I am from this time.

“Robb, take Jessica here and show her a good time, I must have a word with my brother,” Lord Stark said and Robb nodded his head and placed his hand on the small of my back, showing me back to the table.

“So that’s your Uncle?” I asked and Robb nodded his head, “How come I’ve never seen him around here?”

Robb explained to me that his Uncle was a Ranger, a man apart of the Night’s Watch, a person who’s job is to guard the Wall north of us. He explained to me about Castle Black and the different jobs of the Night Watch, and told me about the oath that each man needs to take.

“Jon wants to join the Watch,” Robb said sadly and I sighed and placed my hand on his arm.

“It’ll be all right, your brother is strong,” I said and Robb nodded his head, “Do you think that he’ll-“ I noticed that Robb wasn’t paying attention, I followed his gaze to see that Sansa was standing at the high tables speaking with Lady Stark and the Queen. She then turned around and started to walk back to her table, “Robb.”

“Yes,” he said, turning his head back towards me, but knowing that he wants to keep an eye on his sister.

“What is the Queen like?”

“Not here,” he muttered, looking around and I nodded my head, he bent down, bring his lips to my ear, “The walls have ears.”

“Got it,” I said and he nodded his head, looking back towards his sister. I gasped when I saw food thrown at Sansa and it landed on her cheek. Robb was laughing a little and I looked to see that Arya was the one who threw it. I smirked and shook my head, ‘…She is a little devil…’

“Uh oh,” Robb said and I looked to see him looking behind us, towards Lady Stark. He stood up and I turned around to see Lady Stark looking towards Arya, but the Queen was looking right at me. I gulped as she leaned towards Lady Stark and said something. Lady Stark looked quickly at me and I turned around and closed my eyes, concentrating on my hearing to listen in on what was being said about me.

“Who is the girl?” the Queen asked.

“That would be Jessica,” Lady Stark answered.

“And to what house does she belong to? Is she one of yours?”

“No, she is a guest in our home,” Lady Stark answered and I stiffened, not liking the fact that I was the main subject in this conversation.

“She’s beautiful,” the Queen said, “Such a pity, I know Joffrey would fancy her much.”

‘…Bitch! I am no one’s toy!...’ I thought, disgusted with some of the people in this age.

“Is she coming to the Capital with us?” the Queen asked.

“No, my husband has yet to accept the King’s offer,” Lady Stark said.

“Such a pity, she really should come, be one of Joffrey’s play things,” the Queen said and I growled.

‘…I am no one’s play thing! The nerve of this woman!...’

“I noticed that your eldest son is around her a lot,” the Queen continued.

“Robb has been placed in charge on watching over Jessica and Cynthia,” Lady Stark answered quickly.

“Cynthia? There’s another girl?”

“Yes, Jessica and Cynthia have been with us for over a month now, they were prisoners from a witch from the North, we’ve taken them under our wing,” Lady Stark explained, leaving out the part of us being cursed.

“Witch? Oh come now Lady Stark, you don’t believe in them?”

“I only call her, what I was told to call her, I’ve never set eyes on her,” Lady Stark said.

“They’re odd names,” the Queen said and I bit my lip, not like this Queen, “I’ve never heard of names like those before.”

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I put Arya to bed and came back into the dining hall to see that Jessica was sitting at the table, and she was tense, I looked at her confused and then sat next to her at the table and saw that her eyes were clamped shut and he nails were dug into the wooden table. She had an angry look on her face and I looked to my see to see that mother and the Queen were talking, but they were looking towards us.

I sighed and grabbed Jessica’s hand, peeling them away from the wood and seeing that her nails had turned into claws and she had left scratch marks in the wood of the table. I stood up and drug her out of the hall and into the hallway, leaning her against the wall and placing my hands on her shoulders. When she just glared at the ground, I looked around and pulled her along, leading her to her room and sitting her on the bed.

“Jessica,” I called, kneeling in front of her and placing my hands on her shoulders, “Look at me,” Jessica snapped her eyes opened and looked at me, she breathe a sigh of relief and tried to catch her breath, “What’s going on?”

“That woman,” she snarled and I saw her eyes change from her light brown to a golden color, something that happened when she was angry, “I am no one’s play thing!”

“Shhh, shh,” I said, trying to calm her down because you never knew who was walking around, especially when the King and Queen’s people were around, “Who said that you were?”

“The Queen,” she growled and I sighed, “She said that she would like me to come to the Capital with her so I could become her son’s play thing.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I said, sitting on the bed next to her, and pulling closer to me, “I won’t let it.”