《The Wolf Priestess and the Lion Knight》Chapter 6 Family Time
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As time passed, Ned was pleased to see that Catelyn did not treat Jon any different than she did Lyarra and Robb. She even allowed him to call her mother and Ned's heart swelled with affection for his wife when she insisted Ned write to King Robert and have Jon legitimized.
“Having the Stark name will offer Jon more protection and will throw off the suspicion of who his real father is,” Cat reasoned.
Ned agreed and wrote to Robert, who agreed and declared Jon a Stark.
Because of her actions, Ned offered to build Catelyn a Sept so she could worship her gods, but Catelyn refused. She explained to Ned that if she was going to fit in and be accepted by the people of the North, Catelyn knew that she had to embrace every aspect of their lives, and that meant worshipping the Old Gods as well. Catelyn knew it would be difficult for her, but it was a sacrifice that she knew she needed to make for her children's sake. So, little by little, Catelyn phased out her worship of the faith of the Seven and embraced the Old Gods. The odd thing was that Catelyn found it more accessible than she thought it would be. She slowly began to realize that being a follower of the Old Gods gave her a sense of peace she never received from the Faith of the Seven. She felt that they were listening to her prayers, and that gave her a sense of comfort.
A few years passed, and Ned could see his children's personalities emerge. Robb was mischievous and liked to drag his brother and sister into adventures of pretending to be knights of the realm. Jon was thoughtful and preferred to weigh the consequences of their actions before starting anything.
But Lyarra, Lyarra was the apple of his eye. She was a natural leader and caregiver. It was true Lyarra took risks, but Ned could tell they were calculated risks; she always had a plan. Of the three of his children, Lyarra had more wolf's blood in her, but she was not nearly as reckless as his brother Brandon or Lyanna. And Ned already knew that Lyarra would grow to be a great beauty. He also loved that Lyarra loved to spend as much time with him as he would allow, asking him questions about anything and everything. It was on those occasions that he noticed how intelligent Lyarra was and decided that even though she was only three-name days old, if she wanted, Lyarra could begin her studies with Maester Luwin.
It wasn't much later that Catelyn was expecting another child. Ned was excited to add to his pack, the boys didn't seem interested, but Lyarra was very excited to have a little brother or sister. She began following her mother around, always asking if Catelyn was feeling alright and volunteering to help in any way she could. Catelyn thought it was a precious thing that her daughter could do. Catelyn had to reassure Lyarra that she was fine and that she should go with her brothers. But the Miko in Lyarra couldn't help but worry about her mother's health; it's who she was. Lyarra finally relented and went to find her brothers.
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Lyarra and her brothers decided to sneak off and play in the Godswood away from prying eyes. They took sticks with them to pretend to have swords and spar against each other. The children fought and played, then Robb challenged his siblings to a climbing race to see who could reach the top of the Heart's Tree first. Lyarra immediately agreed, but Jon hesitated.
“Come on, Jon, don't be a scaredy cat!” Robb yelled.
Jon puffed up like an angry toad, “I'm not scared! And I'll beat you to the top!”
With that, the three children started climbing; Jon was the most reckless, entirely out of character for him. When he reached the top ahead of the twins, he held his arms out and crowed happily that he had beaten Robb and Lyarra. Suddenly the branch Jon was standing on gave way and snapped, sending him hurtling to the ground. Jon landed with a thud, and there was a sickening sound of his leg breaking.
“JON!!” The twins screamed and scrambled down the tree.
When they got down, they could tell Jon's leg was severely broken; it was positioned unnaturally. Jon was lying in the snow, trying not to cry, but the tears were streaming down his face.
“Oh, Gods, Jon, I'll get Father and Maester Luwin!” Robb screamed and began to run.
“Robb, wait,” Lyarra said.
Robb looked at his twin sister as if she was crazy, “Are you mad? Jon needs help!”
“I know that Robb, but I can help him,” Lyarra informed her brother.
Robb walked back towards his sister, “How?”
“I can heal Jon, I promise.”
Jon and Robb looked at each other. They trusted their older sister implicitly, and they knew that if Lyarra said she could heal Jon, then it was true.
“Alright, let's do it,” Jon said.
Lyarra nodded, “Robb, hold Jon, and make sure he doesn't move.”
Robb nodded and sat behind Jon, putting Jon's head in his lap. Robb wrapped his arms around Jon and held on tight. Lyarra carefully laid her hands on Jon's leg and closed her eyes. Robb and Jon gasped when Lyarra's hands started glowing pink, and it began to spread through Jon's leg.
Jon noticed the pain had stopped, and he watched in fascination as Lyarra pulled his leg back into place without hurting him. Lyarra continued to glow pink, but now her whole body was burning. Slowly Jon could feel the bone mending itself back together.
When Lyarra finally finished repairing Jon's leg, she slumped back onto the ground. Instantly alarmed, Robb grabbed his sister and laid her on his lap, “Lya, are you alright?”
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Lyarra opened her eyes; silver eyes met blue, and she smiled, “Aye, Robbie, I am fine, only a little tired. Fixing Jon's leg was hard work.”
Jon crawled toward his sister, “How did you do that, Lya?”
“With my healing powers, Jonny. I can heal almost any wound,” Lyarra explained.
Robb and Jon gasped, “How long have you been able to do that?” Robb asked.
Lyarra thought for a moment, “Since forever. The first time I did, was when I healed a bunny. Uncle Brynden saw me and said it was a blessing from the Old Gods.”
Robb and Jon looked at each other and nodded, “It has to be, Sissy; the Gods that mother used to worship would never have blessed you like that.”
“Maybe you're right, but you can't tell anyone I can do that.”
“Why not?” Jon asked.
“Because we don't know how they would react. At least that's what Uncle Brynden said,” Lyarra explained.
Robb thought for a moment, then looked at Jon, who had a thoughtful look. Slowly Jon nodded, “Alright, Lya, we will not tell anyone. It will be our secret.”
Lyarra smiled at her brothers and hugged them tightly. After that, the children returned to the Keep; it was time for lunch anyway.
Months went by, and Catelyn's belly slowly grew with her new babe until finally, the day came for Catelyn to give birth. Catelyn started having contractions throughout the day, but as the day progressed, they slowly worsened until Maester Luwin confined her to her room. Catelyn was changed into a light shift to keep her from overheating, and several pillows propped her up. Ned sat in the room with his wife for a while, with Lyarra giving her moral support until the midwife demanded that he and Lyarra leave. Lyarra adamantly refused to leave her mother, and there was nothing they could do to convince the little girl differently. Finally, Catelyn agreed to let her daughter stay.
“You may stay, Lyarra, but you will stay by my head where I can see you.”
Lyarra agreed, then took a bowl of cool water and a rag. She dipped the rag in the water and rung it out, and placed it on her mother's forehead to wipe away the sweat. Hours passed, and Catelyn screamed in pain with each contraction. She tried to hold back her cries so as not to frighten Lyarra, but she couldn't. But Lyarra wasn't afraid; she was more concerned for her mother's well-being as her mother was weakening with each passing hour. Lyarra decided that she would push some of her priestess powers into her mother to give her strength
Lyarra waited until the midwife and Maester Luwin was not paying attention. She then placed her hand underneath her mother and slowly pushed her powers into Catelyn, renewing her strength. Feeling her strength return, Catelyn gave one final push, and the sounds of a newborn baby were heard.
Maester Luwin grinned at Catelyn, “It's a girl, Lady Stark!”
Catelyn started crying, and Lyarra hugged her mother, “I have a baby sister!” Lyarra cried.
“Aye, you do, sweetling. Maester Luwin, let me hold my daughter.”
Maester Luwin nodded and handed the baby to the midwife so that she could clean the child. Meanwhile, he tended to Catelyn so that she could deliver the afterbirth. Once the baby was clean, the midwife handed Catelyn her daughter. Cat smiled at her daughter. The little girl had a tuff of red hair, and Cat was sure she would have Tully blue eyes like her and Robb. She had creamy white skin but little freckles across her nose. She was a beautiful baby, but Catelyn admitted to not being as attractive as Lyarra when she was born.
Lyarra, standing next to her mother, tried to peek at her baby sister but was too short. Maester Luwin lifted Lyarra so she could see, and Lyarra cooed at her sister, “What will you name her, Mother?”
“I don't know, Sweetling; what do you think of Sansa?”
Lyarra thought for a moment, then nodded, “Sansa Stark, I like that; it's pretty.”
A few minutes later, Ned and the boys meet the newest addition to their pack. Ned was over the moon to have another daughter, while the boys looked at her oddly, “She looks like a potato,” Robb said.
Jon punched Robb in the shoulder, “She does not, she's beautiful.”
Ned laughed, “Aye, Jon, that she is. What did you name her?”
“Sansa, Sansa Stark,” Catelyn replied.
Ned held his daughter and kissed her head, “Welcome to the pack, my beautiful Sansa,” Ned cooed
Ned handed Sansa back to her mother and shooed the children out so that Catelyn could feed their child then get some rest. He would stay with her to watch the baby after Catelyn fell asleep.
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