Every night the whole Stark family joined together to eat dinner. Lord and Lady stark were on either side of the head of the table, their children sat around them, whilst Jon and Theon were sat at the table as far away as possible from Lady Catelyn. That night in particular, Eddmina was sat next to Robb and Sansa, across from Bran and Arya. Jon was sat next to Rickon, with Theon across from them. They usually had someone from the household dine with them as well, but that night in particular, the seat closest to their father was empty, the break from tradition bothering Eddmina slightly, not used to it just being the family.

That night in particular, Theon kept looking over at her. Eddmina tried to distract herself, focusing on eating her meat and vegetable stew, but occasionally she felt Theon's gaze boring into her. Whenever she dared to look over at him, he winked at her, making her roll her eyes. Robb, noticing the tension between the two, glared at Theon to signal for him to stop, but if anything it just encouraged him.

As much as Eddmina liked Theon, he really could be irritating sometimes, and that night was a perfect example. She knew that if he wasn't going off to find a brothel that night after dinner, she would have yelled at him to compose himself around others, but instead she would have to settle with just glaring at him, unless she got to shout at him the next morning.

"How was your ride, Edda?" Catelyn Stark asked her daughter over the dinner table, snapping her out of her thoughts of Theon. Eddmina let out an unheard sigh of relief, realising her mother had bought her previous lie, and despite Theon's lack of subtlty, they were still unknown.

"Nice," Eddmina nodded to her mother, keeping her face straight as she kicked Robb's foot, feeling him staring at her, making it obvious that she was lying. "I just went to the Wolf's wood and back, it was nice weather actually, maybe our house words are wrong,"

He words made her father chuckle slightly, and even her mother cracked a smile at her comment. The table was unusually tense that night, and the momentary lightness in her parents mood sent relief to everyone at the table. There was something wrong with them, Eddmina decided, knowing her parents were usually far warmer to them than this. They were acting off, with Ned hardly touching his food, and Catelyn looked sullen, almost on the verge of tears. Something was going on, and whilst Eddmina had no idea what it was, it was making her nervous, not being able to remember her parents ever acting like that before.

"Can I go riding with you tomorrow?" Bran spoke up from the other side of the table, looking over at his sister almost desperately, and Eddmina knew it was because Bran, only eight, desperately wanted to be included in his older sibling's activities.

"Of course, though it depends if the septa wants me," Eddmina nodded to him, making him grin.

"I want to go too," Arya told her, a small smile on the girl's face. Eddmina knew that people classed her as strong-willed, so she couldn't help but wonder how they were going to categorise her younger sister, who was already far more stubborn and wild than Eddmina had ever been.

"Then I'll take you both riding," Eddmina nodded, a bright smile playing across her face, before she turned to look at her father. "That's alright, isn't it?"

"What? Oh, yes, of course, love," he said absentmindedly, before offering his eldest daughter a sad-looking smile. Eddmina frowned, knowing her father's thoughts were somewhere far from the dinner table, wondering what he could possibly thinking about.

Either way, Eddmina didn't want to stick around to find out. Bored with the tense atmosphere, she quickly finished her food before asking to be dismissed. Her request was met with a prtest from her mother, before her father eventually nodded, letting her leave.

"Where are you going?" he asked before she had the chance to leave, just as she was walking past his seat.

"The Godswood," she offered him a small smile, kissing his cheek gently before she carried on her way out of the hall.

Eddmina had initially planned on going to the library, wanting to find an old history book to take off to bed with her, but she had changed her mind last minute, deciding she needed to prey instead. Most of the other Stark children rarely visited the weirwood tree but that would make sense, considering Eddmina was one of the only one's to hold to her father's gods rather than her mothers. There was something that seemed real about the old gods, what with the form of worship through trees rather than in some stuffy, man-made building. To her, the faith of the seven was man-made, whilst the old gods seemed so spiritual in their connection to nature as well as the historic connection they held to the north. The old gods reminded her of her father too, a man she had always looked up to, even from being a little girl, and seeing him when she was a child go off to the godswood to think or to clean his swords eemed to stick in her mind and make her choose the weirwood tree over a sept.

Of course, that didn't mean she didn't respect her mother's faith. If anything, she was more interested in it, wondering what made her choose those gods. It all came down to family, in the end, as no matter how long she had been married, Catelyn was still a Tully of Riverrun. She was a northerner, she'd had six northern children, but Riverrun would always be her home, just as Winterfell would always be Eddmina's home, despite her future marriage.

Eddmina couldn't imagine the day that she would be made to leave Winterfell. As she wandered through the gardens to get the the weirwood tree, Eddmina couldn't help but admire the great keep, originally built by Brandon the Builder. He'd done a good job, that was for sure, and Eddmina loved the keep with all her heart. To her, it was beautiful, the simplicity of it being the epitome of the north, especially considering the people who occupied it.

Eddmina didn't have many friends, not like Sansa anyway, who seemed to have the friendship of all the other girls in their sewing lessons. Instead, her only friends were her siblings and Theon, though she was on friendly terms with all of the guards, especially the younger ones like Cayn and the new guard Ashens. She didn't mind though, if anything she prefered it, knowing exactly who she could trust. Everyone who lived within the walls of Winterfell, Eddmina liked. It wasn't in her nature to dislike anyone unless they had wronged her, but no one in Winterfell had made that mistake. They were all her friends, all her family, all people she loved and would eventually miss when she was torn away from them.

As soon as she reached the great tree, Eddmina knelt by one of the roots, putting her hands together in prayer as she closed her eyes. She wasn't even sure what she was praying for, but it was just nice to sit in peace. Eddmina didn't get a lot of time to herself, either she was in lessons or fighting with her brothers, or she was with Theon. When she was alone though, Eddmina didn't like it too much. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was a twin, so had never really had to be alone, even from birth, her and Robb growing up to be inseperable. When she first started her relatinship with Robb's best friend their relationship strained slightly, but in the end it didn't matter, he couldn't stay mad at her and she couldn't go more than a few hours without speaking to him. Eddmina and Robb were best friends for life, thats what it was to have a twin.

Eddmina was unsure how long she had been out there before she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, opening her eyes to see her father stood behind her, making her instantly glad she hadn't sworn in shock. Ned Stark loved his daughter, true, but he didn't like to hear her swear. Instead, she just smiled, rising to her feet before pulling him into a hug.

"Was I interupting?" he asked cautiously.

"No, not really," she shrugged, pulling away from him to see the same serious expression on his face as the one he'd worn at dinner. It was different to his usual stoic expression, this face looked... sad? "Father, what's wrong? You and mother weren't acting right at dinner,"

"Nothing's wrong, child," Ned forced a smile, stroking his daughter's hair, unsure as to when she got so big.

"I'm not a child," she told him firmly, and Ned practically grimaced, knowing Eddmina didn't know how close to the truth she was. She wasn't a child anymore. "You can tell me, father... whatever's bothering you,"

"Oh, Edda," Ned let out a small, sad laugh, before taking hold of his daughter's arm, guiding her to one of the tree stumps to sit.

Once they had sat down, Eddmina expeted her father to let go of her, but instead he took hold of her hands, squeezing them tightly. She frowned, unsure as to why he was acting in such a way, her stomach knotting in nerves as she realised something had to be wrong.

"Who's died?" she asked instantly, trying to hold back the panic from her tone. Ned frowned, confused at her expression. "You're acting as if someone's died, father,"

"No one's died, love," he shook his head. "It's just... I've had offers regarding your future betrothal,"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Eddmina froze slightly. The words had hit her like a smack to the face, but suddenly everything seemed to make sense. It wasn't as if it was out of the blue, considering she'd always been told that was what her life would be, but that didn't mean she wasn't surprised. Why now? She wasn't ready, she had been joking about that fact with Theon mere hours ago. She wasn't a woman, so why did anyone care for her yet?

"Okay," Eddmina nodded, taking in a deep breath as she tried to stay calm, her lack of emotion surprising Ned. "Father, you know there's no point me marrying anyone yet, I've not even-"

"I know, love, your mother's already said that," Ned Stark nodded, knowing that Eddmina didn't know he'd already spent all day trying to find a loophole to get her out of marriage so soon. "Nothing has to be soon, the house in question are coming for a visit, to meet us, to meet you, but there's no pressure for you, don't worry yourself over it,"

"Which house?" Eddmina asked bluntly, and Ned could instantly tell that his usual, joking daughter had gone. In a matter of moments she had transformed, as if she was a soldier about to go into battle, growing almost cold.

"House Tyrell," Ned told her, watching her carefully to see her nod, before glancing down at the floor. "It was a suggestion by the King. According to a letter he sent, Jon Arryn had advised him to arrange a marriage between one of his loyal allies with either the Dornish or the Tyrells, and the Tyrells are the most eager for a match,"

"You're sending me to the Reach," Eddmina stated, almost dazedly. She knew it would happen, she had prepared herself for the day hr betrothal was announced, but now it was happening, Eddmina couldn't get her head around it all.

"Not for a while love," Ned reasurred her, squeezing her hands once more. "Love, Lord Mace Tyrell will be at Winterfell in two weeks with his wife, Lady Allerie, and his children Willas, Garlan, Margaery and Loras. If it comes to it... it'll be Willas you'll marry,"

"Willas Tyrell," she repeated, having heard the name before.

"Yes, love," he nodded. "I don't know what you've heard about him, about his leg... but the King wrote that Lord Tyrell assures his son is a very kind man. He's a little older than you, but he's apparently very gentle, not to mention he's the heir to the Reach,"

"The Reach isn't the North," Eddmina muttered bitterly, staring down at the ground, willing herself not to cry.

The Reach isn't the North, and Willas isn't Theon. The last thought cropped into Eddmina's head suddenly, taking her aback slightly. Her relationship with Theon wasn't built to last, and it was based on pure lustful desire, but yet she would be sad to call things off with him. Part of her classed him as her first love, maybe her only love if this Tyrell man didn't live up to his reputation.

It was her duty, she reminded herself, attempting to stay strong about it all. She took in a few deep breaths, fighting her urge to break down. She knew she was shaking, but thankfully she could pass that off as due to the wind, not weakness. She was a wolf of Winterfell, and she refused to show weakness.

"Alright," she nodded, finally able to meet her father's eye. "Two weeks, Willas Tyrell, sent away to the Reach. I understand,"

With that, she pulled her hands out of his and stood up. Stroking the skirt of her dress down, Eddmina began to walk out of the godswood, knowing if she stayed there a moment longer, sat in front of her father, she would begin to cry. She didn't want to cry in front of her father, wanting him to see her as strong as Robb, but at the prospect of being sent off far away to get married, Eddmina couldn't hold up the facade of strength much longer.

She always knew it was coming. It was inevitable, her duty. Except she thought she had time, protected by the fact that she'd not had her blood yet. She thought she had more time to fool around with Theon, more time to sew with Sansa, more time to go riding with Arya and Bran, more time to play with Rickon, more time to practice swordfighting with Jon, more time with Robb.

It was all too soon, the betrothal coming before she could properly prepare herself. If she knew her days of freedom had been numbered she would have really gone out riding, not hide away with Theon. No, Eddmina told herself. The Tyrells come in two weeks. In two weeks she will have to smile and curtsey to Willas to bring honour to her family. She would try and do justice to her family, but she would not sacrifice her freedom for it all. She would not conform to their expectations.

Eddmina decided in that moment that no matter what, she would remain herself, and if who she was wasn't good enough for the Tyrells, for Willas, then maybe they weren't worth her.

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Word count: 2546
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Hey guys!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I know this is technically a a Willas Tyrell fic but I'm taking my time a little before introducing him properly (sounds familiar, GRRM...) just so I can develop relationships between the Starks a little. I love writing scenes with Ned in them, he's one of my all time faves (though that might have something to do with me being from the same city/village as Sean Bean), so this chapter was a lot of fun to write even if I was writing Edda's slight heartbreak.

If you enjoyed this please vote and leave me feedback in the comments and I'll hopefully update soon!

~Olivia