PART ONE- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

//"Don't think twice about making a decision, because if you do, the only thing standing in your way is you."//

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When she heard about Uncle Jaime's attack on Ned Stark and the butchering of his men, she couldn't take it. She went to her mother's chambers looking like she was ready to kill somebody, not the least bit gracious as she usually was.

"Why did he do that?" She half screamed when she barged into her mother's chamber, where she was sitting on the edge of the bed with a glass in her hand drinking ale out of it, sipping it like she had all the time in the world.

"Sometimes you just have to take a stand for your family, Rhea. And judging by the looks of your reaction, I don't think you understand that concept, do you?" She said as she tilted her head a bit to the side and looked at her with a stare that made her face unreadable.

"Ned Stark is going to be family! If we're all to be bound, then we might as well treat each other with civility, however cold it is! I'm sure hoping for happiness between you all would make me a lost cause, but I hoped you would at least be a little subdued! Please see that I am going to be a part of that family someday, but you, Uncle Jaime and Uncle Tyrion don't understand that, do you?"

She took a final sip of the drink in her hand and walked toward her, only to say "They're going to be your family, Rhea. Not mine, or your Uncle Jaime's or Uncle Tyrion's or anyone else's. As much as I love you, my sweet little girl, you will understand that when you are the only stag, in a pack of wolves, and there's only one outcome to that situation."

Rhea couldn't contain herself anymore. She wanted to lash out, but it was dangerous, especially with her mother, but she did it anyway.

"I'm sorry I expected so much from a person like you, a person who couldn't even be warm to her own firstborn daughter. How could I have been stupid enough to think that you would make an effort?"

Her mother studied her a little, Gods know what she observed because she started laughing a little, one of those judgemental laughs that would chill spines. Rhea walked towards the door feeling a bit defeated when her mother started speaking.

"If someone else was your mother, they would have struck you for talking to them like that. But I won't. You want to know why?" She asked as Rhea turned around.

"Because I see the fact that I would have said the exact same thing had I been in the same situation as you, where I would be marrying a man I actually loved. It's not your fault, my recklessness and boldness had passed on to you."

Rhea just stood there, watching her mother, and that's when she saw a little scar on her face, she looked like she was struck, and there was only one person who can do that and actually get away. But she chose not to ask about it this time.

"Yes, it's not my fault I was born this way. And certainly not my fault I was born into this family!"And then she walked out.

She made her way to the chambers where Ned Stark was kept then and saw her father and him in the room, where Ned was lying on the bed, his left upper leg tied with lots of cloth to absorb the blood, and help stop it. Her father stood beside him, with a glass of ale.

What is it with my parents and glasses of ale?

She decided to ignore that thought for a while and went to the man on the bed. She touched his hand and asked, "Are you feeling any better?" "I've been healthier, but I suppose this is recovery."

She smiled a little and hoped that it came across as assuring, though she didn't know whom she was assuring in the first place.

"Have your family been informed of this?" She asked him.

"To the best of my knowledge, I don't think so."

"I'll write to Robb then, shall I?"

"Yes, thank you."

"I'm sorry about your men. I've come to know that Jory Cassel is a good friend of yours."He gave her a weak smile, and added, "Inform Robb to tell Sara of her father's death, and don't be too specific. He doesn't need to know, and neither does Sara."

"I will."

She then went toward her father, and stood next to him, and asked: "I'm guessing mother was in here earlier?"

"You're just too smart girl, I don't know where you get it from. Gods know it's not from me." 

Her father said and went to sip his drink when Rhea took it away from him and kept it back on the bench.

"I don't care what happened between both of you, I've stopped caring years ago and accepted things for how they are. But whatever happens, I want you to know that you shouldn't have struck her." 

She sensed that he was going to say something when she put a hand up to stop him.

"I know you didn't mean to, but thinking before acting is something I've told you about." 

She said and smiled.

"Very well."

She then poured a glass for him and said "See you around, father. Please remember what I told you. Take care and tell me if there is anything I can do." 

The last sentence was for her good father to be. She then went to her chambers, looking for a less painful way to break the news to Robb, as she picked up the parchment and some ink, the quill already at her writing bench. But then she realised that there was actually no way to be less painful about this. And despite this realisation, she tried.

***

Dearest Robb,

With a heavy heart, I write this letter to you, and as much as I hate to be the one to break this to you, it better be me than anyone else.

Uncle Jaime attacked your father and his men, at King's Landing. He says it was because your mother captured uncle Tyrion because apparently he tried to kill Bran, and Uncle Jaime said it was an attempt towards bringing Uncle Tyrion back, but I didn't want to hear the specifics. It would only hurt more, and I think the contents of this letter are heartbreaking enough.

Your father took a spear to his leg, but he is healing, but his men weren't very fortunate.

Jory Cassel passed away in the melee.

I can only hope that this whole fight doesn't take a toll on us, but if you don't write back to me, I would understand that you need time.

Please give Sara and her sister my condolences. Tell her I'm there for her if there's anything I can do.

Tell her I'm sorry.

Rhea.

Robb sat in his solar and read the letter over and over again, not being to comprehend the contents of the letter even though he knew exactly what it said. He just hoped that if he kept staring at it the words would just disappear. And as much as he hated to admit it, he loved Rhea, but her family were not a group he could stand.

But then, that wasn't what mattered right now. What mattered was the fact that Jory Cassel is dead. A man who was a father to him, the man who taught him to lift his first sword, was gone. 

And the fact that Sara and Beth don't have both their parents anymore, ripped Robb's heart to pieces. And there was his task. He had to tell his best friend that her father is no more.

Theon entered the chamber then, and asked "What's the matter? You called. You never call, you come to me."

"This is not the time to jest. Take a look." He said, without moving his head away from the table, as he passed the letter to him. 

He read it and was just as lost as he is, but Theon being Theon, just acted like he wasn't.

"You want to tell her or should I?" "Both of us, we'll do it together. She's going to need all of us anyway. She's not going to take it well, what with her mother dying early and Jon leaving her, her father dying isn't another burden she needs. I don't know why the Gods are being cruel to her."

They walked to the gardens where they found Beth and Rickon playing by the bushes, and Robb couldn't find Sara, so he asked Beth where she was, and she pointed toward her. He didn't have the strength to tell the child that her father isn't coming back.

Theon and Robb walked toward her and found Sara sitting among a bunch of flower plants that Robb didn't know or bother to learn about, and when she heard footsteps, she turned and smiled.Why the hell did you smile? Now it makes things a lot harder.

"What's going on? Both of you look like you swallowed your swords and it pierced you from the inside out."They sat on either side of her, and Theon held her hand. It was an unexpected display of affection, and by the looks of it, he knew Sara was shocked too. 

"Theon what's going on? Robb, tell me."

"Jaime Lannister...he attacked my father in King's Landing, put a spear through his leg."

"Robb...Gods I'm so sorry, how is he doing? He is alright, isn't he? Why the hell would the Lannister attack your father?"

"My mother captured Tyrion Lannister on the grounds of trying to kill Bran. The assassin that came the other day, who hurt you, he had Tyrion's dagger."

"So Jaime Lannister attacked your father as a way to threaten him into returning his brother."

"Yes. But that's not just it." Theon said. 

"Then what? What more can happen? It's messed up as it is."

"There were men with my father, men that fought with him during the melee against Jaime, and your father was one of them...he-"

"Robb, what happened to my father? He's alright, right? Right?"

"I'm sorry Sara, Lannister killed him."

"You're lying. Robb, you're lying if this is some kind of joke it's not funny. Theon tell him to stop lying." 

And then she cried, as Robb held her and Theon sat beside her rubbing her shoulder in an assuring embrace. Hours went by as she cried and cried and cried. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hands were weak, yet she still scavenged for the energy to mourn not just her father, but everything else that has gone wrong in this short span of time.

They tried to lift her off the ground, but she wouldn't budge and when she finally did, she pushed them away, folded her hands to her chest and walked away from them, and as if she had a second thought, she walked back to them and asked for her sister. 

When she got her answer she ran away from them. Theon walked away that second, not wanting to be there anymore, and Robb followed her as quietly as he could, though he knew that she knew he was behind her. He knew where she was going to go, and he knew she was going to need somebody to help her through it.

 And just like he thought, she found Beth, who had just bid bye to Rickon, and ran to her sister the moment she set eyes on her.

"Why are your eyes so red? Were you crying, Sara?" Beth asked and Sara turned her face away from the child, not being able to answer her without breaking down herself.

"Papa's not going to come home. Not for a long time Beth, it's just you and me now."

"Why not? Does he not love us anymore?"

"Papa's going to love us, forever. After all, we're his favourite girls, aren't we?" Sara said, and Beth had a little tear on her cheek, which she wiped off as fast as it came.

"Papa's dead, isn't he?"

"But I didn't tell you that Elizabeth."

Sara is definitely very depressed right now, she never calls her sister by her full name.

"But that's the same thing that Papa told us when mama died, so papa died too, didn't he?"

"We're going to be okay, alright? We are going to be fine." She said in between sobs, as she hugged her sister for dear life, and met Robb's eyes from behind Beth's shoulder.

Robb walked away then, partly because he wanted to give the sisters time to themselves, and partly because he wanted to mourn too and pray to the Gods to make sure something like that doesn't happen to any of the others.

May the Gods give me strength.

***