B L O O M

Home Again

    Time had passed, and Rose had grown to care for the comfort of Winterfell and the Stark family. The Starks sharing an admiration for the girl, all the Starks having made room in their lives for the playful Lannister.

    Rose's love for the North, that had started when she traveled Beyond the Wall, grew more as she got to know and care for the people of the North, from Sansa and her sewing needles to the common whores who could tell the greatest stories.

   This made leaving even worse, after Ned had accepted Robert's offer and Bran had fallen, it was time to return to the boring life that Rose had come to associate with King's Landing. Rose already planning on traveling back to Essos after returning to King's Landing, to avoid the glum atmosphere where her family kept her.

   Alas the day came, Rose bid farewell to the Starks. Robb making Rose promise to visit him as soon as she could, Rickon crying as he gripped her cloak,Catelyn trying to hold back tears as the girl she had begun to consider a daughter walked away, even bidding Theon goodbye.

Though the hardest goodbye seemed to come at a fork in the road, just down the road from Winterfell, when Jon turned away to go to the Night's Watch. Jon taking in everything about the women who had come to hold his heart, before turning his back on her, knowing he may never see her again.

    As the troop moved away, Rose looked back repeatedly until Winterfell was long out of sight. Rose laughed and spent her time with Sansa and Arya who were joining their father to King's Landing.

But the calm air soon dissipated, so Rose didn't understand what was happening until she awoke from one of her many naps and entered the room of the Inn they were occupying that was full of screaming people.

   "Liar!" Shouted a shrill voice as Rose rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

  "Shut up!"

   "Enough." Rose striding to where Arya and Ned stood, the men surrounding the commotion parting as she walks by.

   "He tells me one thing, she tells me another. Seven hells! What am I to make of this?" Robert bellows, clearly annoyed as Arya clings to Rose's waist. "Where is your other daughter Ned?

  "In bed, asleep." Ned explained, desperately trying to make his old friend understand his situation.

   "She's not. Sansa, come here darling." Sansa making her way through the crowd to stand beside Ned, Arya, and Rose at Cersei's command.

   "Now child. Tell me what happened, tell it all and tell it true. It's a great crime to lie to a king." Robert ordered, making Sansa shake at his tone.

   "I don't know, I don't remember. Everything happened so fast. I didn't see." Before anyone could say anything, Arya let go of Rose's waist, yanking on Sansa's ginger hair while she screamed.
  
  "Liar! Liar! Lair! Lair!"

  "Stop it now. Stop Arya!" Yelled Ned as he pushed past Rose to separate his daughters from ripping each other apart, grabbing Arya as Rose grabbed Sansa.

   "She is as wild as that animal of hers. I want her punished." At this Rose's eyes grew to the size of saucers as she stared at her older sister in surprise.

   "What would you have me do. Whip her through the streets? Dammit, children fight it's over." Robert being the only voice of reason, much to Rose's surprise, as he shook his head.

  "Joffery will bear the scars for the rest of his life." Cersei said, her voice holding and edge as she gestured to her oldest.

  "You let that little girl disarm you?" At Robert's question, silence ensued as people murmured about the foolish prince, Rose looking at Arya with a raised eyebrow.