Catelyn Frey stood on the balcony of the Twins, looking out over the lands surrounding her. In her arms, she was holding her son Walder Frey, named after his father who died before the boy was even born. Her son was the heir of House Frey now after all other male members of the house had been mysteriously killed. But he was just a child yet, not old enough to rule, so his mother was the one current ruler of house Frey. Even though she was not much more than a child herself.

Catelyn had been married off to a man about five times her own age as soon as she was old enough to marry. She had been so very young. Still, she had loved her husband, she had been fiercely loyal to him and now when he was gone she was determined to make him proud. She would make sure his house lived on.

Catelyn wasn't beautiful, brave, clever, or any of the things that people usually are admired for. She was short and dirty blonde hair that always seemed to escape from any fancy hairstyles she tried to put it in. So she usually kept it in two braids. She didn't look regal or fancy. She looked like a peasant girl. But she wasn't. Catelyn was born the youngest daughter of Lord Flint and had been given to Lord Frey in marriage as part of a land deal as the two houses' lands bordered to the North. Catelyn wasn't a lot of things, but she was one thing. She was determined. Determined to not let her husband's legacy vanish forever. Determined to get revenge on everyone who had wronged her husband. Determined to not bow down to anyone again.

And Catelyn had a plan. Because she wasn't going to let House Frey serve under a Stark. Not the one who ruled the North and not the one who ruled from the capital. Her House had not even got invited to the meeting where they had decided the future of the kingdom. She knew the Starks would never respect House Frey and she knew they were somehow behind what had happened to her husband and his sons.

So she would create her own kingdom instead, between the two other kingdoms. In the borderlands. She would unite the lands of House Frey and House Flint and rule it herself until the day her son was old enough to rule. And her kingdom would be powerful as they would be able to control everyone and everything traveling between the North and the South.

But there was one problem. And she was looking at it from up there on her balcony. The Neck. The stupid swamp dwellers. Their lands were in the middle of what was to be her kingdom. Their lands were not really valuable to anyone, as nothing would grow in that swamp. But still, she couldn't let them be, she couldn't let them disturb her kingdom.

She had to vanquish them and take their lands for herself. She had to take down the Reeds so that her kingdom could rise.

***

Meera was in her usual look-out-tree when she saw them coming. It was her daily routine, to survey passers-by on the road to determine if anyone seemed like a threat or if anyone needed to be escorted to her father's castle. What she saw this day certainly seemed like a threat. A threat to their lands and their lives. A threat against everything she held dear.

She saw armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers coming towards them, trampling the vegetation under them. Scaring all the animals of the swamp. They were flying Frey banners. And she knew trouble was heading their way. The Freys had been their enemies for centuries and even though there were years since the last conflict they always knew another battle was coming sooner or later.

Quickly she made her way down from the tree and started running down the nearest canal. If she made her way to the castle before the oncoming armies she could warn her father and his men. If they knew the armies were coming maybe they would have a chance. If she was fast enough she could save them.

Meera ran faster than she had ever run before. Her spear felt heavy in her hand but she couldn't throw it away. She might need it. The water was knee-deep and she had to pull her knees up high to get better speed. She cursed her lack of stature as it was much easier for taller people to run in the water.

Leaves got stuck in her hair. Mud started to gather around her boots. Her clothes became soaking wet as the water splashed around her as she was running. She was running out of breath. But she kept running.

"Pull the palisade!" Meera yelled to her father's men when she finally made her way to one of the watch-towers guarding the perimeter of the castle.

And so they did. All around the castle a palisade was pulled up. The ropes were pulled from the watchtowers and the palisades rose up from the bottom of the swamp.

When the palisade was pulled up behind her Meera could finally stop running. She walked up the last bit to the dock outside the castle and she laid down on it. Exhausted from her run through the swamp. Trying to catch her breath.

Her father walked up as she laid there, looking out towards the palisades and the men preparing for battle on top of it.

"The Freys?" he asked.

Meera could only nod as she was still trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks to you we got the palisades up, so we should be able to hold them for a while. How many of them are there?"

"Many," she answered, finally able to catch her breath. "Thousands, two or three at least. I saw some Tully banners too. Lord Tully's wife must have convinced him to support her family."

"More than us, but we got the environment and the walls on our side. We might be able to defeat them."

War horns were suddenly heard outside the palisades. The enemy forces were upon them. Howland hurried up towards the walls to give orders to his men and fight next to them. Meera was left laying on the dock, too exhausted to be able to fight just yet.

***

The battle went on for a week. The crannogmen held their ground, they held their walls. But the Freys kept at it. Enforced by the Tully men they outnumbered them about three times. But they could not break through the walls.

Meera fought. She stood on the palisades together with her father's and held them back with her spear.

It was early morning and the sun was rising over the trees. Coloring the whole swamp in orange and pink. It was a beautiful morning but no one had time to appreciate the beauty of it. Because there is no beauty in times of war.

Meera and her father once again sat on the dock. Prepared to start fighting at any moment. Neither of them had slept much since the war began. Only in short bursts while the fighting settled down for the night. But they always had to be on guard and be ready to fight when necessary. Their faces were dirty and their clothes were broken, they hadn't been able to wash up or change clothes since the war started. Meera held her spear in the hand and Howland was holding his sword, neither of them had let go of their weapon for days now.

"We won't win," Howland suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Meera replied.

"We can hold them, but we can't beat them. They're too many."

"For how long can we hold them?"

"A few weeks probably. Until we run out of provisions. That's when it will stop. Once we starve to death or die fighting running out through the gates."

Meera thought for a moment. There must be something they could do. Something else than dying.

"I can get help," she said. "I can sneak past them at night and get out of the swamp. But who should I go to?"

Howland nodded. He had probably thought about it as well but didn't want to ask her to do that. He didn't want to ask her to leave.

"The king should help us. After what you and your brother did he should. And these are foreign armies attacking his kingdom."

Meera didn't think the King would help them. But she still could not tell her father this. So she just nodded.

"And if he won't?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Maybe someone else can."

Her father gave her a look as he said that. A look that told her that Howland knew exactly who she would go to for help. But he couldn't tell her he knew. And Meera couldn't reveal that she knew that he knew. It was a little game they played these days.

"You have my blessing to do whatever you need to do," Howland added.

He gave her another look as he said that. But Meera didn't know what that look meant. She would come to realize what he had meant eventually though. And she would do what she needed to do, with her father's blessing.