The Bow Of The Vale

Tyrion's P.O.V.

It has been a few days since I and my treasure arrived in Riverrun and I am conflicted.

By one part I can see that my precious Sofy is happy here, much happier than when we were in Lannisport that is for sure. I can see her smiling and laughing like a girl her age should and that warms my heart quite a bit. Not only that but due to the location the whores on this region are quite nice and a lot cheaper than in the Westerlands where people have too much gold and things cost all the more because of it and the taxes my lord father oh so love to put on things, especially things that can make others happy.

He is really just someone bitter with life that wants everyone else to be miserable just as well.

On the other hand, I can see, clear as day, that the servants and the lords here dislike me and going north things will only grow worse, but the worst was the boy.

How did the Arryn boy caught the eye of my treasure so quickly and is practically having her and the daughter of Edmure hanging out of him is beyond me, but it is how it is. My Sofy is almost inseparable of Tigrevurmud Arryn since a few days now and they go out to play whenever they can.

Well, it could be worst I suppose. She could come to be friends with a Frey, now THAT would be terrible to even imagine. Those weasels don't deserve to even look at my gem, the boy doesn't either but at least he gets along with her so I can allow it.

"... It still makes me want to get drunk." I said to myself, but an answer came to the one that was next to me despite me not saying this to him as we were watching as Tigrevurmud Arryn, Elizaveta Rivers, and my precious Sofya Lannister (she is NOT a bastard regardless of what father declared as truth).

"Yeah, it doesn't get any easier seeing your little girl spending her time with a boy." Brynden Tully, the Blackfish, said while taking deep gulps of ale that deffinetly doesn't match my Harbor Gold, but probably fits better with the mood.

"Yeah, and if now is hard imagine a few years from now. When they reach marriageable age, now that will be terrible." I said with a grimace. Perhaps I should try and leave my daughter somewhere safe from father's influence, if not he just might legitimize my Sofya and sell her hand to one of his bannermen as a reward to him. That would be something I will NEVER allow. My daughter deserves the best of the best, be it whatever she d.e.s.i.r.es she will obtain and she will only marry someone she loves and that makes her happy, not marry like my 'dear sister' as if a breeding mare.

"Humph, when the time comes I will scare away any little idiot that tries his luck with my sword if necessary." The Blackfish said.

"... Isn't it normally said that a father does that with a stick?" I asked amused.

"So what if others are too much of pansies to use a sword? Why use a bloody stick when I can imprint in the heads of any idiots that they are not worth it by using my sword." He said with a smirk. "Especially if they are Freis, those cunts tried to push for a marriage already and with how my Liza is growing in beauty and I don't doubt that late Walder might try and take her by his bony old self sooner or later if allowed. Perverted weasel that he is."

A shiver went down my spine at the thought of that, marrying a Frey is bad enough, marrying that old weasel himself is about as terrible as terrible gets. Probably the only thing worst than that is marrying my dear sweet sister.

"Well, not everyone is as capable with a sword as you Sir Brynden." I said jokingly.

"Ha, now you said it." He said with a small laugh and a grim. "I may be old but I still can beat half the knights of the seven kingdoms right now with one hand behind my back. I sometimes wonder who is better between myself and Baristan, after all we never spared against one another before." Brynden said.

"Well, that would indeed be quite interesting to see. I'd pay gold for that." I said.

"Haha, that is because you have gold to spare. All you Westerlander lords have too much of it." He said jokingly.

"... I am not apologizing for being richer than you." I said and we both started laughing.

This was nice, and despite not liking my dear daughter being close to any boy I can deal with it as long as she is happy. And, if he makes her sad, I will personally contact all the mercenaries on the other side of the Narrow Sea and destroy the Eyrie for revenge.

Nothing personal, it is just a fact really.

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Edmure's P.O.V.

As I move through the castle I can see my nephew, the bastard of Casterly Rock, and the reason for my headaches playing together.

Sigh, this is too troublesome, far too troublesome.

Since not long after Elizaveta was born I have been receiving letters from Catelyn. In them, she always tells me the same thing over and over again that it makes my head hurts and want to burn her letters before even reading them.

'You should not allow a bastard into the castle. You never know what their evil minds are planning and they might try and take away the inheritance that should belong to your true born children one day. Sent her to the silent sisters if you must but do not allow a bastard to claim our family's castle. She'd be the doom of us all, potentially the whole kingdom, a bastard is never to be trusted, my foolish little brother. Never.

With love your older sister Catelyn.'

... I don't even have kids. If anything the current heir to house Tully after me is either Bran or Robb and it will stay this way for a long time since I have no interest in settling down any time soon.

I am too young to stop enjoying life and settling down.

Honestly speaking I think she might just be projecting her feelings towards the bastard of Ned onto me here. That, in itself, is bad enough but with how the message was spread to the older servants thanks to our more than useless and terrible maester, who I sometimes think wants the fall of house Tully considering some of his actions, the thoughts of Cat spread in the whole castle and dealing with it would be too troublesome.

In the end, the girl shouldn't suffer too much considering that uncle Brynden protects her already. There is no need for me to intervene and I'd rather go enjoy a hunt instead.

Perhaps my nephew would like to accompany me to one, enjoy some manly company instead of being surrounded by girls the whole time when he can't enjoy the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es of a woman more properly. Perhaps I should take him to a whorehouse when he is older, learn some real-life skills and all that.

Incidentally, I later asked Tigre if he would like to go on a hunt with me and he refused, rude isn't he?

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-Few days later-

Tigre had spent a while packing all of his belongings into the carriage again in preparation for the trip further north. It had been a great few days reconnecting with both Liza and Sofya, and he was sad that their time together was coming to an end, so all he had to do now was break it to them as gently as he could.

"Ah, Tigre! Here you are!" A feminine voice chirped. He turned around and caught sight of Liza. She was currently wearing a set of tasteful but practical clothing, with simple brown shoes. What caught his attention however, was the small trunk that she was carrying. "You can help me get this into the carriage." She stated happily. That got him to blink in confusion, especially since he knew that wasn't one of his trunks.

"Uhhhh... Why?" He asked, feeling confused about why she wanted him to help her load what was likely her own trunk into his carriage. Did she have relatives in Winterfell that he hadn't thought of?

"Because I'm going with you, of course." Her reply surprised him, as that hadn't come up in any discussion with her that he had. "Don't worry, I've already informed Uncle Brynden, and he's fine with it, just told me to come back when I can and that he will not pressure me into staying in Riverrun if I prefer not to." Brynden said it was okay? That was all and good, but it still brought up a few questions... "He also told me to tell you that if you make me sad he WILL make you pay, not that he would need to since I'd do it myself."

Tigre, unperturbed by the treats thrown at him by his friend and his grand uncle, he simply tilted his head after thinking for a while. "What about your father, Edmure?" He asked, confused as he tried to wrap his head around the idea that Liza would want to leave behind her home to come north with him to Winterfell, and that she hadn't informed her father, who would likely be worried about her. His thoughts were cut off by a scoff from the dual eye colored girl in front of him.

"I can only call father someone worth enough of that title, and currently I don't see anyone that is. For many years I've wished Brynden was my real father, he would qualify as he is someone who I do care." Her eyes softened at the mention of the Blackfish. "You have no idea how many nights I've dreamt of the idea of him as my real father." She finished, and although she didn't continue, it was clear that she obviously saw her birth father undeserving of her respect.

"Hi! Tigre! Liza!" A familiar voice cheered out, and they both turned and spotted Sofya walking towards them in a cheap but tasteful white dress, her own trunk in hand and a smile on her face. "My father decided that we will accompany you to Winterfell, so lets get going!" She chirped, and on seeing Liza, her smiled widened further. "Ah! Liza! We'll have so much fun together!" She threw her arms out happily, having set her trunk down for the moment, and grabbed them both in a hug. Tigre and Liza stared at each other before sighing, before they both smiled, and with a bit of extra time Tigre got the girls' trunks loaded in, before they climbed inside, Tigre following a moment afterward.

"My lord!" He perked up as he reached for the door, catching sight of one of the Vale men jogging towards his carriage, having noticed the two girls climbing into his carriage. Within several strides he reached them, taking a moment to glare at the girls, before he started in surprise when Tigre placed himself between the guard and the girls.

"Yes, may I help you, Ser..." He began, his voice drifting off as he struggled to recall the man's name.

"Vardis Egen, my lord." The man stated.

"Thank you. Now, can I help you, Ser Vardis?" The boy asked, curious why the man was here.

Vardis Egen took a moment to compose himself before speaking, although Tigre noticed that the man's gaze seemed to move over his shoulder to where the girls were sitting, before the man began speaking. "I couldn't help but notice your current companions, and I was wondering if you knew who they were. The man began, hoping to broach the subject of getting them away from the boy...

"Yeah, they're my friends, and for the foreseeable future my guests, and they'll be coming with me to Winterfell, and later the Eyrie when the Greyjoy Rebellion has been put down." The child stated calmly. Vardis twitched lightly in response, not that pleased that the bastard girls had apparently managed to get their hooks in the Heir of the Vale.

"I...See. If you feel cramped, I can arrange for another carriage for them to ride in my lord." The guard continued, attempting to separate the girls from Tigre, catching how their eyes narrowed in annoyance at him.

"Hmmmmm," Tigre looked around at the interior of his carriage, and shrugged. "I don't think that will be necessary, Ser Vardis." Tigre stated calmly. Vardis forced down his irritation, which was made more difficult by the sight of the girls smirking at him.

"Very well, my lord. But don't hesitate if you change your mind." The man withdrew his complaint, irritated that he hadn't succeeded in his attempt. He turned around and walked away as Tigre shut the door to his carriage.

Tigre had just finished shutting the carriage door and locking it when a pair of small hands pulled him backward, and after he got his bearings he saw that it was Sofya, who was working to lay his head in her l.a.p. Not seeing any issue with that, he simply settled in and let himself drift off to sleep, the soothing feeling of Sofya's hands gently running through his hands relaxing him greatly. Within moments he had fallen asleep, and the girls giggled in amus.e.m.e.nt at how quickly it had happened

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At Winterfell Ned was finishing preparing to go, his horse was prepared, Ice strapped to his back, and the army was being assembled near White Harbor to go to war with the Iron Born. His face was hard as stone at the thoughts of another war, of how he hated that he had to do such a thing. But he understood the necessity.

Turning to his children he could see they worried for his well being. Rob was trying to stand strong but anyone could tell he was terrified of the prospects of the war, of the idea that his father might not come back. Jon, despite Catelyn wanting him to not be anywhere close to here, was looking at him with a serious face as if he was saying that he would make sure everyone would be safe, too big a task for his small shoulders. On the other hand, there is Bran and Arya, both far too young to really understand what is going on as they are 4 and 5 years old respectively. And then there is Sansa who is trying to stand straight and perfectly as a young lady but as he looked sneakily at the girl by her side she could only furrow her eyes in annoyance.

By her side was her twin sister who, unlike her, was born with the black hair of a Stark added to a perfect lady-like form despite the other one spending almost half her time not doing anything a typical lady does. It actually amuses Ned, his second daughter seems like a near perfect mixture of Sansa and Lyanna in how she acted as an ideal noble lady and also as a future warrior woman when she wanted to. She also annoyed Rob as she completely overshadowed him when it was time for lessons on how to be a lord, lessons that should be for Rob only but that she took regardless. Not only that she also overshadowed both Rob and John on the training grounds proving that she had the necessary to be a great warrior herself, taking to the spear especially. He had the strong belief that should she keep training, by the time she became an a.d.u.l.t she would overshadow Oberyn Martell himself as the best speamaster in Westeros.

He remembers that he has a couple of letters proposing an engagement between this second daughter and many heirs to houses in the North, he honestly contemplated a few of them but he could only smile wryly as he thought of how this second daughter politely told him that, if he arranged a married without her permission, she would run away to the Free Cities of Essos and create her own mercenary group no weaker than the Golden Company, and anyone he wishes to marry her would have to try and defeat her on the battlefield. After growing with Lyana, he wouldn't doubt a Stark girl being able to do that despite how farfetched this might look to others. A fact proven doubly true after her trashing most soldiers in the training grounds and how he saw the genius in her eyes.

She would make the perfect Lord of Winterfell if she was a boy, but Rob would suffice for now as he did have the time to grow.

"I am off." Eddard said before turning and leaving without another word, they had already given their farewells by now and he only chanted in his head the names of the important people in this castle, those he was fighting to protect against this new threat.

'Robb, Sansa, John, Catelyn, Bran, Arya, Ludmila, I pray to the Old Gods and the New ones that you all remain safe.'