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"Theon," she interrupted, "where ht I find odswood, my lady"

It hat Ned would have done He is his father’s son as ods, Ned

She found Robb beneath the green canopy of leaves, surrounded by tall redwoods and great old el before the heart tree, a slender ith a face sas before hiloved hands clasped around the hilt Around hie Mor thereat raven cloak fanned out behind hiods, she realized She asked herself what gods she kept these days, and could not find an answer

It would not do to disturb theods ods ould take Ned from her, and her lord father as well So Catelyn waited The river wind h branches, and she could see the Wheel Tower to her right, ivy crawling up its side As she stood there, all the ht her to ride ast these trees, and that was the elm that Edmure had fallen from when he broke his arm, and over there, beneath that bower, she and Lysa had played at kissing with Petyr

She had not thought of that in years How young they all had been--she no older than Sansa, Lysa younger than Arya, and Petyr younger still, yet eager The girls had traded hi by turns It came back to her so vividly she could alers on her shoulders and taste the odswood, and Petyr had liked to chew it He had been such a bold little boy, always in trouble "He tried to put his tongue in my mouth," Catelyn had confessed to her sister afterward, when they were alone "He did with me too," Lysa had whispered, shy and breathless "I liked it"

Robb got to his feet slowly and sheathed his sword, and Catelyn found herself wondering whether her son had ever kissed a girl in the godswood Surely he lances, and sohteenhe had ridden in battle and killed men with a sword, surely he had been kissed There were tears in her eyes She wiped therily

"Mother," Robb said when he saw her standing there "We s to be decided"

"Your grandfather would like to see you," she said "Robb, he’s very sick"

"Ser Edmure told me I am sorry, Motherfor Lord Hoster and for you Yet first we must meet We’ve had word from the south Renly Baratheon has claimed his brother’s crown"

"Renly?" she said, shocked "I had thought, surely it would be Lord Stannis"

"So did we all, my lady," Galbart Glover said

The war council convened in the Great Hall, at four long trestle tables arranged in a broken square Lord Hoster was too weak to attend, asleep on his balcony, drea of the sun on the rivers of his youth Edh seat of the Tullys, with Brynden Blackfish at his side, and his father’s banner the side tables Word of the victory at Riverrun had spread to the fugitive lords of the Trident, drawing them back Karyl Vance came in, a lord now, his father dead beneath the Golden Tooth Ser Marq Piper ith hiht a Darry, Ser Raymun’s son, a lad no older than Bran Lord Jonos Bracken arrived fro, and took a seat as far from Tytos Blackwood as the tables would permit

The northern lords sat opposite, with Catelyn and Robb facing her brother across the tables They were fewer The Greatjon sat at Robb’s left hand, and then Theon Greyjoy; Galbart Glover and Lady Moraunt and hollow-eyed in his grief, took his seat like abeard unco Wood, and there was no word of the third, his eldest, who had led the Karstark spears against Tywin Lannister on the Green Fork

The arguing raged on late into the night Each lord had a right to speak, and speak they didand shout, and curse, and reason, and cajole, and jest, and bargain, and slam tankards on the table, and threaten, and walk out, and return sullen or s Catelyn sat and listened to it all

Roose Bolton had re-formed the battered remnants of their other host at the mouth of the causeway Ser Helman Tallhart and Walder Frey still held the Twins Lord Tywin’s ar for Harrenhal And there were two kings in the realreement

Many of the lords bannermen wanted to march on Harrenhal at once, to , hot-teed a strike west at Casterly Rock instead Still others counseled patience Riverrun sat athwart the Lannister supply lines, Jason Mallister pointed out; let the Lord Tywin fresh levies and provisions while they strengthened their defenses and rested their weary troops Lord Blackould have none of it They should finish the work they began in the Whispering Wood March to Harrenhal and bring Roose Bolton’s ared, Bracken opposed, as ever; Lord Jonos Bracken rose to insist they ought pledge their fealty to King Renly, and ht to his

"Renly is not the king," Robb said It was the first time her son had spoken Like his father, he kne to listen

"You cannot mean to hold to Joffrey, my lord," Galbart Glover said "He put your father to death"

"That makes hi Joffrey is still Robert’s eldest trueborn son, so the throne is rightfully his by all the laws of the realm Were he to die, and I er brother Tommen is next in line after Joffrey"

"Tommen is no less a Lannister," Ser Marq Piper snapped

"As you say," said Robb, troubled "Yet if neither one is king, still, how could it be Lord Renly? He’s Robert’s younger brother Bran can’t be Lord of Winterfell beforebefore Lord Stannis"

Lady Morreed "Lord Stannis has the better claiarden and Storm’s End support his claiardly If Winterfell and Riverrun add their strength to his, he will have five of the seven great houses behind hiainst the Rock! My lords, within the year, ill have all their heads on pikes, the queen and the boy king, Lord Tywin, the Islayer, Ser Kevan, all of the Renly What does Lord Stannis have against that, that we should cast it all aside?"

"The right," said Robb stubbornly Catelyn thought he sounded eerily like his father as he said it

"So you mean us to declare for Stannis?" asked Edmure

"I don’t know," said Robb "I prayed to knohat to do, but the gods did not answer The Lannisters killed my father for a traitor, and we know that was a lie, but if Joffrey is the lawful king and we fight against him, ill be traitors"

"My lord father would urge caution," aged Ser Stevron said, with the weaselly sa, we can bend our knees to the victor, or oppose hi, likely Lord Tyould welcome a truceand the safe return of his son Noble lords, allow ood tere drowned out his voice "Craven!" the Greatjon thundered "Begging for a truce will make us seem weak," declared Lady Morslayer," shouted Rickard Karstark

"Why not a peace?" Catelyn asked

The lords looked at her, but it was Robb’s eyes she felt, his and his alone "My lady, they risword and laid it on the table before hih wood "This is the only peace I have for Lannisters"

The Greatjon bellowed his approval, and otherswords and pounding their fists on the table Catelyn waited until they had quieted "My lords," she said then, "Lord Eddard was your liege, but I shared his bed and bore his children Do you think I love hirief, but Catelyn took a long breath and steadied herself "Robb, if that sword could bring him back, I should never let you sheathe it until Ned stood atWoods will not change that Ned is gone, and Daryn Hornwood, and Lord Karstark’s valiant sons, and ood men besides, and none of them will return to us Must we have more deaths still?"

"You are a woman, my lady," the Greatjon rus"

"You are the gentle sex," said Lord Karstark, with the lines of grief fresh on his face "A eance"

"Give entle a woman can be," Catelyn replied "Perhaps I do not understand tactics and strategybut I understand futility We went to hen Lannister ar the riverlands, and Ned was a prisoner, falsely accused of treason We fought to defend ourselves, and to win my lord’s freedom

"Well, the one is done, and the other forever beyond our reach I will mourn for Ned until the end of hters back, and the queen holds them still If I must trade our four Lannisters for their two Starks, I will call that a bargain and thank the gods I want you safe, Robb, ruling at Winterfell from your father’s seat I want you to live your life, to kiss a girl and wed a woman and father a son I want to write an end to this I want to go home, my lords, and weep for my husband"

The hall was very quiet when Catelyn finished speaking

"Peace," said her uncle Brynden "Peace is sweet,your sword into a plowshare if you ain on the morrow"

"What did Torrhen andbut their bones?" asked Rickard Karstark

"Aye," said Lord Bracken "Gregor Clegane laid waste to e a s ruin Am I now to bend the knee to the ones who sent hiht for, if we are to put all back as it was before?"

Lord Blackwood agreed, to Catelyn’s surprise and dis Joffrey, are we not then traitors to King Renly? What if the stag should prevail against the lion, where would that leave us?"

"Whatever you may decide for yourselves, I shall never call a Lannister ," declared Marq Piper

"Nor I!" yelled the little Darry boy "I never will!"

Again the shouting began Catelyn sat despairing She had coht They had alone There would be no peace, no chance to heal, no safety She looked at her son, watched hi, troubled, yet wedded to his war He had pledged hihter of Walder Frey, but she saw his true bride plain before her now: the sword he had laid on the table

Catelyn was thinking of her girls, wondering if she would ever see theain, when the Greatjon lurched to his feet

"MY LORDS!" he shouted, his voice boos!" He spat " Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither Why should they rule over arden or Dorne? What do they know of the Wall or the ood or the barrows of the First Men? Even their gods are wrong The Others take the Lannisters too, I’ve had a bellyful of them" He reached back over his shoulder and drew his ireatsword "Why shouldn’t we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we ons are all dead!" He pointed at Robb with the blade "There sits the only king Iin the North!"

And he knelt, and laid his sword at her son’s feet

"I’ll have peace on those terms," Lord Karstark said "They can keep their red castle and their iron chair as well" He eased his longsword fro beside the Greatjon

Maege Mor of Winter!" she declared, and laid her spikedtoo, Blackwood and Bracken and Mallister, houses who had never been ruled from Winterfell, yet Catelyn watched the the old words that had not been heard in the realon had coain, ringing fro in the North!"

"The King in the North!"

"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"