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The next morning at sunrise, Heather's mother and father came out with her to see off all four of her brothers, who had all agreed to join Ned and Robert and their company to head south. Heather hugged each of her brothers as the Starks and Robert Baratheon rode up to meet them. She wept slightly, but each promised their family they would be back. "Don't worry, father, the Vadaris name will live on strongly with all four of our returns" Jarren assured his father, who smiled and nodded, clapping his eldest son on the back. Robert nodded and gave a litte awkward speech to the families, giving Heather a sad look. She didn't like the look he had for her, she knew he was also pitying her for the way things had unfolded between her and Ned.
Moving to Ned as Robert talked on, she stood by his side. As it came time for them to mount up and ride on, Ned turned his back to everyone else, making a barrier between them and the world for one last moment. He looked down at the woman he loved, raised a strong hand to her soft, pale cheek and stroked her skin. She fought to keep her tears and quivering lower lip in check, not wanting to cry in front of everyone, especially Ned. Looking down in the process, she found him tilting her chin up, their eyes meeting and he leaned down to kiss her. It was a long, hungry kiss that translated every ounce of his love and passion for her. Her arms came up around his neck, falling into his kiss and loosing all sense of anything else. As the kiss broke, their forheads leaned against one another and Ned whispered to her "I'll be back, my beautiful Northern girl" with a sad smile on his face. "I love you" was all she could choke out in a whisper and he layed one last gentle kiss on her nose "I love you too, my Lady" Turning with one last smile for her, Ned waved goodbye with the rest of the party and the gathering watched as they rode out of sight.
Heathers tears ran unchecked now, as the horses finally disappeared, she sank to her knees, her body wracked with silent sobs. Benjen Stark had come up beside his friend, and put a hand on her shoulder, letting her lean against him. After everyone had cleared, even her own mother and father, Heather finally looked up, unable to cry anymore. Benjen looked down and met her gaze. He didn't give her the pity that Robert had, but had a kind look on his face. Benjen always was the quiet, peaceful Stark. Gently, he spoke "Come on, Heather. I'll see you home." She looked at him fondly, her eyes red rimmed from the tears that had refused to stop for so long.
"I'd like to spend some time at the Godswood first.." she said quietly. Benjen didn't argue, just nodded and walked with her. Once they got there, she found the old, red oak next to the small pond and sank again to her knees in front of it. Her head bent, she silently prayed for Ned's and her brother's safety. She begged for them to return soon. Her thoughts dwelled on Ned and she silently shed more tears that she didn't think she had in her. Benjen put an arm around her as he kneeled next to her and quietly said "I prayed for him to come back to you, too. Let me take you home" She stood and leaned against him weakly, not realizing how exhausting the day had really been.
~*~
Time passed slowly for Heather. Every day she watched for a Raven from the south. Nearly every day she was disappointed. Her brothers occasionally wrote and she thankfully noted, each time they updated the family on themselves and on Ned Stark's wherabouts. Heather knew it was on her behalf and she loved her brothers all the more for it. A month or two since Robert had led the party southward, Heather had confirmed, she was with child. As she told her parents it was Ned's, her mother cried and her father lowered his head in shame.
"My only daughter. You'll be talked about, your bastard will be treated differently from the other children, You have to know that." he said, stern and proud at the thought of the Vadaris good name tarnished. "All because Eddard Stark left his bastard in your belly before going off to marry another woman" he said. Heather found hot tears in her eyes. But they weren't tears of shame.
There was a pride in her voice when she angrily told her father "I love him, father. I love Ned and he loves me-"
"You stupid girl. All the love in the world won't matter when he brings his southern bride home to his castle. When she is the Lady of Winterfell, how will you feel then? When the love of your life won't even see you or your bastard child?" her father interrupted her. Shaking her head in disbelief.
"You're wrong! He would never-" she said before again getting cut off.
"He would never treat you like that?" Arthur Vadaris was a proud man himself. Heather had inherited many things from the Northern Lord, most notably, his temper. "He's too honourable? Is that what you were going to say?" A silent look on her face confirmed that and he continued. "He has too much honour to show that he had a weakness for another woman. That on his betrothal, he bedded a northern whore!" he angrily continued.
Heather had had enough. She turned and ran out the door of her father's house, across their fields. She headed for the only place she knew to go: The Godswood. Peaceful and inviting, it always brought her serenity when she needed to feel close to Ned. When she needed to pray for him. She made it to the old oak that had become her regular visiting place these days. If she and Ned were so wrong, why would the gods bring her such peace? Why would this be the very place she could still feel her lover? Falling to her knees in the grass by the tree, she leaned forward, laying before the giant tree and letting her tears run free and wild. Her long dark hair blew around her in the breeze, sticking to a trail of tears down her cheeks now and then. She cried for what felt like hours before she heard a noise beside her. Rising to her knees in suprise at the sound, she breathed a sigh of relief to see it was the youngest Stark.
Benjen made his way down the trail, a grim look on his face. Heather's evebrows furrowed in question, her mouth slightly open, wanting to ask the question she couldn't bring herself to think of coherently, let alone say out loud. In a dry voice, she managed to ask "N-Ned?"
"Not what you think.." he said grimly. He sat beside his friend and pulled her against him in a close hug. "He'll be sending the Tully girl home to live in the castle." Benjen said. Heather's large, dark eyes stared blankly into the pool of water. It was oddly still today. No breeze blew ripples in it's glassy surface. She felt a scream welling up inside her. Ned was married. In a single letter, delivered by raven to Benjen Stark, her entire life was turning to dust. The years they spent together, the long nights, the days wandering about lazily whenever they could. All the plans they made, the wedding she had dreamed of, his house name joined with her given one, the names of all their Northern children... but they did have a Northern child. The thought made her so sick, she nearly had to vomit then and there. With her stomach churning, she sobbed again.
"I'm having his child, Benjen" she said, nearly a whisper near his ear. Benjen turned his face toward her, his eyes full of suprise and then clouded over with pity.
"Heather.."
"I know! Our child.. will be a bastard. He won't want his bride to know, he will want to forget about me, not have a reminder of-" but Benjen interrupted her now. Not with anger and guilt like her father had.
"He will want to know immediately" he told her, quietly. With one sentance, as she looked at Benjen with her eyes still watering, her heart skipped a beat. Ned would want to know. He meant what he said, and her father had been so wrong.
"Immediately?" she softly asked him and her friend nodded.
"Of course, immediately. We'll send a raven." he said to her.
"But my father.. he doesnt want.. he said Ned won't want people to know.." she didn't care to revisit the entire conversation her father had had with her. Benjen cupped her face in his hands.
"You know he will want to know. What happens after that, we won't know until he sends word one way or another." She lowered her head and nodded.
"We will send a raven, but not today, dear friend" she said. "stay with me a while?" she asked and Benjen readily agreed. Hugging her close to him, trying to keep the girl calm, the youngest Stark found himself lost in deep thought.
The days went on and Heather found herself spending more and more time with Benjen. It wasn't uncommon that the two of them set out and wandered the forrest that seperated the Stark lands from the Vadaris lands. Benjen showed her things like how to track wildlife, and how to identify herbs used for medicine and berries that could be eaten. She enjoyed the time with him, he was the only person she had told about the baby growing inside her aside fron her mother and father. And with the company of Benjen, her father and mother assumed that she was moving on from the hearaches she had for Eddard Stark, so they hadseemed to give her a reprieve from lecturing, threatening and nagging her about the bastard child for now.
One day, Benjen met her in her gardens, and asked her to sit with him. He had the grim look on his face that he had when he told her about the wedding of her Northern love. "What is it, dear Benjen?" she asked, a dread pulling at her heart almost immediately.
"The Tully woman. Ned has sent her to the North. She is to stay at the castle. It is, after all, to be her home now." he said, slowly, unsure how she would take it. Heather felt the breath she was holding suddenly beg to be let out.
"Not Tully any longer. I suppose I shall have to address her as Lady Stark" she said, sadly. Benjen nodded.
"Heather. I.. I thought I might be so bold.. I know you can't have Ned now, but.. I know a Stark who would happily have you." Heather's wide eyes fell on her friend.
"You mean.." she said and he nodded, taking his friend's hands in his.
"I have found myself looking forward to our time together, Heather. I confess you've grown in my heart, despite my love for my brother." Benjen gave her a serious look. He tried to judge her reaction and was suprised when she just looked lost. He had expected tears, or anger, dare he hope, maybe even a return of feelings. "Ned fulfilled a duty to Brandon. I would gladly fulfill one to Ned by seeing his Lady taken care of, and loved. If you can not have him, will you have me?" he asked, quietly. He didn't have the boldness of his brother.
"But, the child.." Heather said, her hands moving down protectively to her stomach, which had only recently started to give her away. Benjen followed her hands with his again, reaching out and touching her belly also.
"The child is a Stark. Marry me and they will have the Stark name." he promised. Heather looked over Benjen's serious face with her dark gaze. She didn't know what to say to him. She didn't know what to think. The girl opened her mouth to answer, finding herself at a loss of words. After a long silence, her hands still held tight in Benjen's, she said the one thing that burned into her mind, "I haven't sent the raven, yet, Benjen." He studied her, and his grip eased, but he didn't let go. "I see. Let us do that then? I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do, or aren't ready to do." he assured her. Heather nodded and they stood together, Benjen still holding her hand. But instead of feeling uncomfortable, even after such a confession of love, she felt strangely better. Was it because Ned would soon know, and she dared to hope that he would return for her? Was it because she loved Benjen, just not in the way she should to marry him? She didn't know, but with her mother and father treating her like an outsider, she was thankful to have Benjen's friendship.