"I'm so sorry," Willas repeated as he rubbed Eddmina's back, holding her hair back as she threw up into a bucket for the third time that day. "If I knew you would be so seasick I would have suggested us ride rather than sail,"

"You weren't to know," she grimaced with a shrug, taking in a few deep breaths in the hope that her stomach would settle.

They'd been sailing for a week, and according to the ship's captain they were only a day or two away from White Harbour. From there they were going to ride to Winterfell, and considering she was less than a week away from home, Eddmina felt surprisingly nervous. Her nerves weren't helped by the fact that sailing had made her incredibly sick to the point that she hadn't even left their cabin, but the thought of returning home felt surreal, and she didn't really know what to expect.

It had been almost half a year since she was last in the North, and while it would always be her home, she had started finding belonging in the Reach too. In fact, in High Garden, Eddmina couldn't really remember ever being happier. She knew Robb had been subtly asking her to visit for a while, but they hadn't waited to see if they would be welcome to visit Winterfell after her last letter, so Eddmina didn't know how they would be received. She had also been worried by Robb's last letter, where he made out that she had changed just through claiming to be falling in love. What would he think, seeing her in person? Would he still think her changed, would the others agree with him?

"Here," Willas offered her a small flask of water and she sipped it, rinsing her mouth out and sighing. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. "Only another day or two, love,"

"I feel like an idiot with you fussing over me," she grumbled, making Willas struggle to hold back a small laugh. "I hate being ill,"

"I can't say I've ever met anyone who particularly enjoys being ill," he commented teasingly, making her roll her eyes. "Besides, I'm not fussing over you, I'm looking after you. How do you feel?"

"A little better now," she forced a smile despite still feeling a little weak. "Where's Garlan and Leonette? Do you not want to be with them?"

"I believe they're on deck watching the sunset like a pair of old romantics," he told her with a small laugh, and though he sounded teasing Eddmina knew he was slightly jealous. "Would you like me to get you something to eat?"

Eddmina shook her head, and as she felt a little more normal, she got up and moved the bucket across the room before going back to their makeshift bed. The ship wasn't the most luxurious, considering they paid for their passage last minute, but no reasonable expense was spared for the Tyrells, so for the past week the couple had been sleeping on a bed made up of a straw mattress with feathered pillows, the two surfaces a strange contrast. It wasn't the most comfortable, and the harder mattress was making Willas' leg ache, though he never complained.

She sat back down on the edge of the bed next to Willas, smiling softly as he leant over and kissed her forehead. She liked it when he did that, when he was gentle and sweet with his kisses, the gesture still making her insides fuzz a little. She shut her eyes, feeling him run his hands through her hair, but that feeling made her feel tired, so she laid down gesturing for him to join her. He obliged, laying with his front to her back, wrapping his arms around her from behind, pushing feather-like kisses on her exposed skin.

Ever since their honeymoon they had become a lot more physical with each other, the two of them often mad with desire, yet nothing made either of them happier than the quiet moments where they just held each other. It felt much more intimate, more romantic and caring. It felt more like they were a married couple rather than lovers.

"Willas?" she spoke after a moment, her voice practically a whisper as if he was scared to break the silence. "Will, do you think my family will approve?"

"Well considering it was your parents who formalised our betrothal I can't imagine them hating us together now," he remarked quietly, stroking her hair reassuringly. "What are you thinking?"

"I feel like they'll expect me to have stayed the same, but in truth I feel like I'm returning a different person," she explained, feeling a little foolish. "Don't get me wrong, I am fundamentally the same, yet I'm different at the same time. I don't want them to think I have forgotten my roots just because I've embraced the Reach lifestyle,"

"Mina, you are still very much the wild northerner I met all those months ago," he reassured, his voice soft before he pushed a gentle kiss to her exposed shoulder. "You've changed, granted. The sun has lightened your hair and given you a few freckles, and you might now wear different dresses and sing different songs. You might have become accustomed to weak southern wine and mastered the game of Cervasse, but that only adds to who you are. All of that is just on top of your intelligence, your beauty. Sure you may see the world a little differently, you may have experienced new things, yet you still think like a northern woman, you still have those attitudes of honour and duty that I know you learnt from your father. It is natural that you will have matured, but the changes you fear your family won't understand are good things, and I am sure they will be so glad to see you that they won't even notice if you've lost your accent,"

"Oh piss off!" she gasped, turning her head around to shoot him a glare, seeing that he was struggling holding back laughter. "You were so sweet and then you come out with horseshit like that!"

"You know I'm kidding!" he exclaimed with a laugh before calming back down. "That was a joke, obviously, you still have a strong accent, don't worry. I think it's natural to be nervous to see your family, it has been a long time after all,"

"I wasn't nervous seeing them before the wedding really, I think I was just so nervous about everything else that seeing them felt like the one good thing to come out of it all," she spoke before sighing out a small laugh. "Turns out another rather good thing came from it too,"

"And what would that be?" Willas asked with a faint smirk.

"Oh, nothing overly important," she shrugged. "Just my rather wonderful husband,"

Willas chuckled, stroking her hair and kissing her neck again. She let out a long sigh, feeling more relaxed then than she had done the entire journey.

***

They'd been riding for at least four days. Eddmina had written to Robb to tell him to expect her by the end of the week as soon as they got off the ship, except on their fourth morning of riding the great keep of Winterfell was in view.

Riding through the gates of Winterfell was thrilling, and Eddmina couldn't fight the grin that grew on her face as soon as Flint's horseshoes clashed against the cobbles of the courtyard. She'd been leading the way of their entourage, Willas, Garlan, Leonette and the few Tyrell guards accompanying them riding just behind, mostly because they were all exhausted, but the moment Eddmina saw the keep from a distance she kicked her horse into a gallop, one last spur of energy driving her forward home.

The first thing she noticed, other than the fact that nothing had changed at all - everything looked the same, smelt the same - was her family. Her eyes had scanned across the courtyard immediately, the excitement to seeing those she hadn't seen in so long pushing her to desperately seek them out, and as soon as she spotted Robb and Jon with the other boys at the archery range over in the corner of the yard, her parents up on the balcony watching them, her sisters most likely with their septa in some unknown alcove sewing. She'd ridden in so quickly that none of them had noticed her, and considering they were a day ahead of schedule, none of them were expecting her either.

"Do I not even get a hello?" She called with a grin, laughing as she watched the boys heads all snap to look at her.

Bran gasped dramatically, dropping the bow he was holding, and Eddmina jumped off her horse to run over to them, though by the time she was out of the saddle Robb had already charged over to her and had tackled her into a tight hug. She screamed with laughter, squeezing her brother tightly as she heard her other brothers shouting her name excitedly, and before she really knew what was happening she had been tackled to the floor in a group hug with all of her brothers.

"What are you doing here? We thought you wouldn't be here until the end of the week!" Robb exclaimed as he helped her up off the floor, looking her up and down protectively as if to make sure she was completely fine.

"I always said I was a fast rider," she remarked, glancing around the courtyard until her eyes landed on the balcony where her parents were stood, offering them a grin and a wave.

"It's good to see you," Jon told her, still holding the bow he'd been practicing with, his free hand resting on Bran's shoulder. "Maybe you can take over and show the lads how to shoot,"

"Of course!" she grinned, though was taken off-guard yet again as she felt someone run into her, looking down to see Arya had practically sprinted to her from whatever alcove she'd been hiding in, her little sister hugging her tightly. "Gods, it's nice to see you too, Arya!"

"I've missed you!" her youngest sister exclaimed, smiling widely as she released her.

By that point her parents had disappeared from their spot on the balcony, and she assumed they were on their way down to the courtyard. Meanwhile Sansa had emerged too, though her younger sister didn't look so eager to see her. The others had seemed glad to see her, while Sansa seemed more shocked and baffled.

"I didn't think you'd really leave High Garden to visit!" Sansa gasped out as they hugged. "Why would you ever leave?"

"It's my fault, I wanted to see the North again," Willas' voice called, cheerful as always, and Eddmina had to fight off a contented smirk as she felt her husband put his hand on her shoulder, knowing if she showed any sort of admiration for him Robb and Jon would tease her mercilessly.

Willas and her siblings exchanged hugs and handshakes, and their group was joined by Garlan and Leonette who joined in on the greetings. Eddmina was surprised at how happy Leonette seemed, considering how cold it was, though she didn't have much time to think about her sister-by-law as soon her parents were stood before her.

"Welcome home, Edd," her father smiled at her as she pulled him into a tight embrace, burying her face into the furs of his cloak.

She was home.

***

"I swear to the gods if this is some stupid joke," Eddmina grumbled as she was blindly led by Jon and Robb up some stairs, clutching her brothers' hands tightly.

"Would we ever prank you like that, dearest sister?" Robb teased, and despite the blindfold covering half of her face Eddmina glared daggers at him.

They'd come calling on her while she and Willas unpacked their belongings in the room he'd stayed in during his last visit to Winterfell. It felt strange to not be going back to her childhood chambers, but she'd much rather stay close to her husband, and the thought of them sleeping apart after months of marital bliss felt like an estrangement. So they began to settle in to the ground floor chambers, though her brothers had arrived before she could fully get used to the new surroundings, and Willas had encouraged her to go with them to wherever they wanted to go.

"But they're being so annoyingly vague about it all," she complained with a dramatic sigh, making Willas chuckle softly, kissing her forehead despite her two brothers stood in the doorway watching.

"You've been missing them for months, even if you say they are annoying," he reminded her lightly, gesturing for her to go with them. "I'll see you for supper, love,"

Eddmina had been a little embarrassed that her brothers had seen them be so gentle with each other. It was a little absurd, considering they'd both walked in on her with Theon in much more compromising positions, but the thought of her brother seeing her acting sweetly with her husband made her feel as though she was exposing a part of herself they'd never seen despite being so close before she moved to the Reach.

If they were as embarrassed as her, they hadn't yet mentioned it, though perhaps they just wanted to act as if it was old times. They chatted as if she'd never been away, picking up exactly where they left off, and after months of being in new environments and having to find her new place, Eddmina was relieved to just be with people who knew her better than she knew herself.

"Where are we going?" she complained, because as happy as she was to be with them, she couldn't help but think that Jon and Robb blindfolding her was a little dramatic.

"We're nearly here," Jon told her, and as if to prove his point, they stopped.

Jon kept hold of her hand, keeping her in place, and though she was in darkness, she still had her hearing, and could make out the sound of Robb unlocking a door. She'd counted the steps they had climbed and knew they were on the floor that held all of the family chambers, but why they had to be secretive about that she was still confused. When Robb had the door open Jon led her into the room, and she immediately heard what sounded like the whimpering of puppies. She'd spent enough time around Willas' pack of wolfhounds to know what a pup sounded like, so when Jon removed her blindfold and she was greeted with the sight of four wolf pups, she let out an excited gasp.

"Gods, who are these?" she asked excitedly, kneeling down and beckoning the pups over, her enthusiasm making her brothers laugh.

They weren't like Willas' dogs, there were proper wolves, dire wolves. She could tell by their size, considering they were still rather small yet had big paws, as if showing the potential of their growth, and their thick fur coats. They ran to her with tails wagging, though she noticed that Jon and Robb had knelt next to her, and a grey coloured one made a bee-line for her twin, whilst a pure white pup headed straight for Jon, jumping in an attempt to lick his face. The other two went to Eddmina, one of them being pure black with yellow eyes, seeming more giddy than the others, and the other a mixture of mottled grey and brown.

The brown one seemed calmer than the others, more wary and precise about its movements, though it quickly jumped up onto Eddmina's lap, sniffing at her as if to inspect her, before she lifted her head to lick her cheek. The wolf pup had eyes the colour of topaz, a bright gold that reminded her of High Garden, and when she looked at the pup, it looked right back at her, as if the two of them had some sort of connection. The pup tilted its head to the side slightly, as if thinking. Eddmina had never seen a dog act as thoughtful, though the moment was soon interrupted by the black pup barrelling into it, growling as if to initiate a play fight.

"We found them when we were out riding, their mother had been killed by a stag, and we managed to convince father to let us keep the pups," Robb explained smiling slightly as he picked up the grey wolf, scratching behind it's ears. "This one's Grey Wind, Jon's is Ghost,"

"The black one's Shaggydog, he's Rickon's but he's still a bit wary of him so Shaggy just sticks with the other wolves for now," Jon continued, holding back a laugh as his own wolf went to join in on the game his siblings were playing. "Arya has Nymeria, Sansa has Lady, and Bran still hasn't thought of a name for his,"

"Which one's that one?" she pointed to the brown one with a frown, amused at how it was sat staring at its brother's play fight.

"She's not got a name yet either," Robb said, both he and Jon trying to hide their grins as if they were about to reveal something thrilling. "Father and Mother suggested I look after her with Grey Wind until you got here,"

"Oh," she said with a small gasp, realising what he was insinuating.

The brown one was hers. As if to prove that point, it trotted back over to Eddmina, jumping back on her lap and sitting neatly, letting out a small howl.

***

Word count: 2939

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