Many years had passed since Lyanna was declared Queen in the North. The Seven Kingdoms had changed drastically in that time, including another great war leading to the usurpation of Cersei Lannister, the coronation of Queen Daenerys I and a great long winter which lasted for five years. The only thing which remained a constant was Lyanna's rule over the north, and the Stark's seat in Winterfell.

Lyanna ruled over Winterfell the way she had seen Lord Stark rule, though with her own influences, Willas ruling at her side as Prince consort of the North. The two revolutionised the way that the North operated as an independent state, even offering legitimate citizenship to Wildlings who came past the wall, offering them a position of status through living and working on the castles at the wall, now no longer maintained by the night's watch but by the Wildlings who had fought at the Battle of the Bastards. Tormund was their lord commander, and he met with Lyanna and Jon regularly to discuss any northern movements.

There was also less stigma surrounding being a bastard. Lyanna made sure that the life options of a bastard was no longer limited as it had been for herself and Jon. She held training exercises for any Northern bastard who wasn't supported by any family, inviting them into Winterfell to train in arms and gain an education. The invitations weren't limited to male bastards either. In fact, most of her household guard was made up of bastards, both male and female.

After the demise of the Boltons, Lyanna moved her Eastern troops to the Dreadfort to make sure no Bolton-sympathisers usurped rule over the holdfast. This was a move Lyanna made in uncertainty of what else to do with it. Willas had suggested bringing the Keep down, but instead the two turned it into a refugee camp for orphans, bastards, Wildlings and anyone else who wanted to seek shelter.

Lyanna ruled as queen with Sansa as her Hand of the Queen. After Bran returned, she extended the title to him, especially because of his third eye, and the title extended further when Arya arrived at Winterfell. However, Arya was also given full control over house Stark's guard, and she was responsible for training Lyanna's children, and after a while, she became one of Lyanna's closest  advisors. Jon Snow remained North too for a long while, until they received word that Daenerys was on Dragonstone and wanted an audience with the Stark's, most likely meaning Lyanna. However, Lyanna had been pregnant at the time, and with Jon deciding that there would be Dragon Glass of the island that they could use against the White Walkers, he took Lyanna's place and somewhere along the way of them travelling North Daenerys and Jon fell in love. After Daenerys was crowned Queen in the South, she proposed to Jon and he moved south. Lyanna visited for the wedding, but the city was shrouded in bad memories. Every night she stayed in the Red Keep she dreamed of Brandon Stark, Eddard Stark, Rickard Stark, even the death of the fake Brandon. Her past was a nightmare and not one she enjoyed revisiting, so she had promised to visit once a year. Jon, however visited Winterfell regularly, to offer council to Lyanna, but also to see his family, especially his nieces and nephews, who adored their uncle Jon.

Whilst he wasn't Lyanna's true brother, she had kept Eryk close too, having him be her personal guard. She also made the decision of housing Alize's siblings within Winterfell as well. Siane remained as a sort of governess for Lyanna's children. Lyanna also had Kianna and Kiraine join the household guard, often stationed within the Royal suite, which benefitted Kianna especially, as she soon fell head over heels in love with Cassius. Cassius, who'd become Lyanna's guard, councillor and closest friend, fell in love with Kianna too, and the pair of them entered into a loving, committed partnership that Lyanna had nothing but approval and admiration for. As for the others, Ellye became Lyanna's most trusted handmaiden the way Alize had been, and, whilst the youngest, Albus shared an education with Lyanna's children with the dream to eventually move on to the Citadel in Old Town to become a Maester.

To make sure she rewarded all those who had supported her, Lyanna held regular council meetings, inviting the heads of houses to meet at Winterfell once every two months to discuss the North. Those invited included Cassius, Lyanna Mormont, Ladies Wylla and Wynafryd Manderly, Lady Eddara Tallhart, Alys Karstark, Ser Davos Seaworth (who had remained at Winterfell for a while only to move back to King's Landing with Jon), Lady Olenna (not a northerner, but she had remained in Winterfell after the rest of the Tyrells went back south, and besides, Lyanna always trusted the woman's judgement) and Meera Reed (a close friend of Bran's who Lyanna had taken a liking to). The majority of Lyanna's council was women, yes, but that was mostly because the men of the northern families had all been killed in Robb's war. That, and Lyanna wanted to give these women a chance in ruling and government, the way they wouldn't have if she wasn't Queen.

Since becoming Queen, Lyanna gave Willas five children, heirs to the North and the Reach. First there was Ayrella Robbyn Stark, Ella for short, a blonde haired, green eyed princess with an art for archery and riding, taking after her father with her passion for reading. She was to be the next Queen in the North, and there was no one more suitable for the role. Next came Eddard Luthor Stark, honourable and protective of his siblings, truly living up to his namesake, and his twin Opheliarra Daenerys Stark, a rose with sharp thorns, her wit and sarcasm matching that of her great grandmother. The twins were skilled in fighting too, Ophelia specialising in thin bladed swords and throwing knives whilst Edd could wield a sword better than most knights by the age of twelve. Maeya Alisa Stark came next, the most ladylike of Lyanna's pack of wolf pups, and the last one that Lyanna and Willas had planned for. She cared more about singing and dancing than fighting, which irritated her older sisters to no end, and made her aunt Sansa worry. Lastly there was Ernest Benjen, the youngest and most logical. He, like Maeya, hated fighting and instead devoted himself to his history lessons, and at a young age he was already planning on learning languages and wanted a career in politics rather than warfare.

Of course there was Brandon too. A warrior, a true ruler, a good man, though he often still worried about his true father's influence on him, no matter how many times he told himself that Willas is his father. He'd grown up very close to his younger sister Ella, and a year later when Edd and Ophelia were born he became a true big brother, the way Robb had been to Lyanna and Jon. Lyanna trained Brandon how to fight herself, and Willas, seeing Brandon as much of his son as Edd and Ern, taught him how to read, history and how to be a real gentleman. When he reached the age of sixteen, Brandon Jon Targaryen Stark was betrothed to Daeanna Targaryen, princess of the seven kingdoms, daughter of Daenerys and Jon Snow, and so he would eventually sit on the iron throne as King Consort. Whilst Lyanna had originally been wary of the betrothal, especially since it would mean her son would have to move back to King's Landing where so many awful things had happened to House Stark, but she knew that the match was good, and Brandon did really care for Daeanna.

Life was good. After such a terrible youth, Lyanna had often thought that she would die young and miserable. Life as a Westerosi bastard turned lady had dealt her a rough card but somehow she had managed to make it through with what remained of her family. House Stark had faced several hardships but in the protection of Winterfell the family and the North managed to pull through. As much as she wanted the north to see her as an independent figure head, Lyanna would have been lying if she'd said that she could have done it without Willas. The Tyrell had been her rock and as Lyanna reached her early thirties and he his fifties, she noted that through all the hardship, the two of them had managed to survive it all.

Cersei Lannister had once told Lyanna that all the joy in her life would turn to ash in her mouth, and for a long while that was true. Even still, Lyanna remained cautious of those words, being highly protective over the ones she loved, her siblings, her children and the north. However, in a time when they were all relatively safe, her children were all growing into wonderful young people with great influence over all of the Kingdoms through their education and future marriages, Lyanna couldn't help but note that, despite all the odds, she had survived the game of thrones. For the time being, all was well.

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Word count: 1477

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So that was the official epilogue, and the last part of this story!

I'm so emotional about ending this story, Lyanna and her journey is such a massive part of my life now after four years and I don't know how I'm gonna cops not having to write a chapter every bus journey or constantly planning in my head.

I'm moving to uni today so this really is signing off on a chapter of my life. I think I'm going to write a little making of thing to go at the end with cool facts about this story if you guys are interested.

Please let me know what you think to this end. I'm considering maybe writing a sequel about Lyanna's children and the next generation but I'm not sure yet.

Please vote and comment. You've been the best, most supportive and funniest audience ever and it has been my pleasure and privilege to write this story for you and I'm forever grateful for all your reads and for accepting Lyanna with loving open arms, not to mention my other OC's.

Thank you!

~Olivia