[The Riverlands, Stark Camp]

The Stark war camp was quiet. Ser Alton Lannister reported to King Robb Stark while Lord Rickard Karstark, Lord Roose Bolton, and other councilors looked on.

And what did she say?"

"She admired your spirit, Your Grace."

"And what then?"

"She, uh..."

"If every man were held accountable for the actions of every distant relative, Ser Alton, we'd all hang."

"She tore the paper in half, Your Grace."

"You've acted with honor. I thank you for it. Lord Karstark, see that Ser Alton's pen is clean, and give him a hot supper."

"Ser Alton's pen is occupied, Your Grace. The prisoners from the Yellow Fork." Rickard Karstark told him.

"Too many prisoners." Roose said. He still wanted to flay them, but Robb continued to deny his request.

"Is there room for Ser Alton?" Robb asked.

"Does he need to lie down?" Karstark asked.

"Have the men build him a new pen. Put him in with the Kingslayer for now. Have your boy watch over them."

"Torrhen."

Torrhen moved forward to take charge of his newly-assigned ward.

"That will be all."

Torrhen grabbed Alton's shoulder and leads him out of the tent, followed by his father, Rickard Karstark and the other councilors. Roose Bolton stayed behind. He moved to speak to Robb when Lady Talisa Maegyr entered. She was wearing a blood-stained apron and wiping her hands with a rag in similar condition.

"Your Grace. A minute of your time?"

Roose left, eyeing Talisa as he did.

"I've been treating your wounded men."

"And my enemies, as some of my bannermen are fond of mentioning."

"They're not my enemies."

"That's what I tell my bannermen."

"I've already run through the supplies I brought with me. Some are easily replaced. Egg yolks, turpentine, oil of roses."

"But some are not."

"I need silk for stitching."

Robb walked from behind the small table to stand in front of Talisa. He gazed at her face while she spoke.

"I need fennel root for those with fever, willow bark. Mostly I need milk of the poppy. You saw what it was like to amputate a foot without any. I assume there will be more loss of limb before this war is over."

"If you need help finding these-"

"I know where to find them. I'm sorry, I shouldn't interrupt you."

"Continue, my lady."

"You're riding to the Crag to negotiate a surrender?"

"Yes."

"The Crag will have a maester and he will have what I need."

"I expect he will."

"If I could write a list-"

"Come with me to the Crag."

"I don't think that will be-"

"Let the maester show you his stores. I want the wounded men to be treated well, all the wounded men." Robb exited, not giving her a chance to refuse.

[Riverlands, Stark Camp, Night]

A guard checked on the prisoners in the Stark encampment. Jaime and Alton shared a cell.

"Who did you say your mother was again?" Jaime asked.

"Cinda Lannister."

"Is she the fat one?"

"Well, perhaps she's gotten a little larger than she-"

"No, no. There's only one fat Lannister. If she was your mother, you'd know it."

"I squired for you once, you know."

"When?"

"The tournament, the day of Willem Frey's wedding."

"I went to Willem Frey's wedding?"

"You did. Your squire had gotten so drunk the night before that he threw up."

"He threw up on his horse on the way to the tourney grounds. What was his name?"

"Brian."

"Poor lad. That was my brother's doing, I seem to recall. I remember you. You'd nevr squired for anyone before."

"That's right. I ran up and volunteered. "Let me, my lord. Let me." My father was furious. Afraid I'd embarrass our family in front of the Family."

"You didn't, though."

"You really remember?"

"You knew when you were needed and when to go away. It's a rare talent. Most of my squires, they mean well, but young men with big jobs, they tend to overdo them."

"When I think back to that day-"

"Shh!" A guard told them.

"You were saying?" Jaime gestured for him to continue.

"I- Nevr mind. It's embarrassing."

"More embarrassing than being chained to a post covered in your own shit?"

"I remember everything about that day, your helmet, your horse, the rake lines in the dirt along the list, where the sun was in the sky when you knocked Balon from his horse, and the dent in your shield when you handed it back to me. I'll remember it all until I die. That was the best day of my life. And I remember being on the field after it was over. All the competitors were done. I was the last one out there. And I couldn't leave. I couldn't bring myself to go and sit with my family at a table so far on the edge of the feast you could barely even see the bride. And I couldn't bear to tell them what it had been like squiring for you, when I knew that they could nevr have the faintest idea what I was talking about."

"I understand completely."

"How could you? Sorry, I I didn't mean to doubt you."

"It's just that I, I was sixteen once. I also had to replace someone's squire on short notice."

"Which knight was it?"

"Barristan Selmy. The fight against the Kingswood Outlaws. Before your time."

"What was he like?"

"He was a painter. A painter who only used red. I couldn't imagine being able to fight like that, not back then. And to help him do that, to be a part of something that perfect. I don't need to explain how that felt, not to you."

"It's hard to put into words."

"It's like stepping into a dream you've been dreaming for as long as you can remember, and finding out that the dream is more real than your life."

Alton nodded. "Leaving that battlefield was like being dragged off to prison. Did you squire for him again?"

"No. I didn't have your gift. He couldn't take a step without stepping on me. I was awful, a complete liability. Until one of the outlaws decided to take on a sixteen-year-old squire."

Alton smiled.

"It's a good thing I am who I am. I'd have been useless at anything else. I'm not well-suited for imprisonment. Shocking, I know. Some men are. Ned Stark, I imagine he made an excellent prisoner right up until the end. Not me, though. My life has left me uniquely unfit for constraint."

"And have you thought about-" Alton began to ask.

"Of course. Evey day."

"And?"

"Good prisoners breed good jailers, apparently. The Starks are very careful."

Alton nodded.

"But there is a way, I think. It wasn't possible until now."

"What is it?"

Jaime looked out at the guards. "It's actually quite simple."

ALTON: Well, let me help you."

JAIME: You'll only have to do one thing.

ALTON: Tell me."

"You'll have to die." He whispered before headbutting Alton and then beating him to death with his chained hands. Torrhen came to check on his bloodied body. When he did, Jaime choked him with his chained hands until his neck snapped. Jaime then took the keys to complete his escape.

[Riverlands - Catelyn's Tent]

Lady Catelyn Stark sat in her tent, writing, when Jacks tried to enter.

"Lady Stark!" He shouted as Brienne blocked him at the entrance.

"No farther."

"Keep your hands off me, woman."

"Don't enter without an invitation, man." Brienne replied.

"Forgive me. Lady Stark."

"What is it?" Catelyn asked.

"They caught the Kingslayer."

[Stark Camp]

Jaime was being led in chains by a mounted soldier, back into camp, while the other soldiers assaulted him verbally. They jostled at one another in an attempt to make the assault physical, but his captors kept the other men away. Various men hurled insults, threats and commands.

"Kingslayer!"

"Kill the fucking Kingslayer!"

"Hang him!"

"Hang him!"

"You'll die today."

"Justice for the Karstark."

They proceed further into the camp, but the angry soldiers eventually overpower Jaime's protectors. One man clubbed him over the head, causing Jaime to fall. The crowd gathered around to further abuse him as Jaime laid on the ground in pain. The horseman rode away, leaving Jaime in the hands of his captors, with a thick crowd behind him. They brought Jaime to his feet. He walked a few paces and then fell to his knees under the pressure of the crowd.

"Gut him!" A man shouted.

Rickard Karstark swiftly approached the crowd and drew his sword. "Get back! I want his head! Any man who stands between a father and his vengeance asks for death."

Catelyn, Brienne, and Jacks approached.

"Lord Karstark, this man is our prisoner." Catelyn told him.

"This monster killed my son."

"And crippled mine. He will answer for his crimes, I promise you, but not here."

"I will have his head. And if you try and stop me-"

"You will what? Strike me down?" She stated, anger rising. "Have you forgotten me, ser? I am the widow of your liege, Lord Eddard Stark. I am the mother of your king!"

"And where is our king now?"

"You know very well. He has gone to the Crag to accept the surrender."

"Aye, gone to the Crag, but not to negotiate. He brought that foreign bitch with him."

"How dare you!" Catelyn exclaimed.

BRIENNE starts to draw her sword. "Threatening my lady is an act of treason."

"Treason? How can it be treason to kill Lannisters?"

"I understand your grief, my lord, better than most, I understand it. But in the name of my son, the King in the North, stand down."

"When your son returns, I will demand this murderer's head."

"Wise men do not make demands of kings."

"Fathers who love their sons do. I will have his head." He then mqrched away, followed by his men.

"Thank you for fighting on my behalf, Lady Stark. I would have come to your defense, but-" Jaime said.

"Take him to the stockades. Bind him with every chain you can find!"

"You've become a real she-wolf in your later years. There's not much fish left in you."

"And gag him!"

[Robb Stark's Camp, Night]

The soldiers mill about. Two of them were engaged in an argument.

"Then why wait?" The first asked.

"We're sworn to the king."

"There's not a king."

"That's treason."

"So is saving Lannisters, yeah?

"Back off, you."

"No, I won't."

Brienne and Catelyn watched from a distance, concerned about the lack of order.

"Your son returns at dawn, my lady?

"So they say."

"The Kingslayer won't last the night. The more they drink, the angrier they'll get. And when the Karstarks draw their swords Who wants to die defending a Lannister?"

"Come." Catelyn told her.

Brienne followed Catelyn as a guard led them into Jaime's cage. He was covered in blood.

"I need to be alone with him."

"My lady, our orders-" The guard hesitated.

"Your orders, which I just gave you, are to leave me alone with him."

The guard exited and Brienne moved outside the cage.

"Come to say goodbye, Lady Stark? I believe it's my last night in this world. Is that a woman?"

"Do you hear them out there? They want your head."

"Old Lord Karstark doesn't seem to like me."

"You strangled his son with your chains."

"Oh. Oh. Was he the one on guard duty? He was in my way. Any knight would have done the same."

"You are no knight. You have forsaken every vow you ever took."

"So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the king, obey the king, obey your father, protect the innocent, defend the weak. But what if your father despises the king? What if the king massacres the innocent? It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or another. Where did you find this beast?"

"She is a truer knight than you will ever be, Kingslayer."

"Kingslayer. What a king he was. Here's to Aerys Targaryen, the Second of His Name, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, and to the sword I shoved in his back."

"You are a man without honour."

"Do you know, I've nevr been with any woman but Cersei. So in my own way, I have more honor than poor old dead Ned. What was the name of that bastard he fathered?"

"Brienne." Catelyn called.

"No, that wasn't it. Snow, a bastard from the North. Now, when-when good old Ned came home with some whore's baby, did you pretend to love it? No. You're not very good at pretending. You're an honest woman. You hated that boy, didn't you? How could you not hate him? The walking, talking reminder that the honorable Lord Eddard Stark fucked another woman."

"Your sword." Catelyn asked Brienne.

Brienne unsheathed her sword and handed it to Catelyn.

[Woods In The Riverlands]

King Robb Stark and Lady Talisa Maegyr walked through the trees as the sun set, followed by soldiers and horses.

"Is she beautiful?" Talisa asked suddenly, speaking of the Frey girl Robb was betrothed to.

"I've nevr met her."

"What's her name?"

"Frey, I suppose. I don't know her first name."

"I'm sure you'll be very happy." Talisa joked.

They laughed together.

"And you're marrying her for a bridge?"

"An important bridge."

"Ah."

"It was before they killed my father. I still thought I could mqrch south and rescue him in time, but only if I crossed that bridge."

"When I speak to people from the North, they all loved your father."

"He was the best man I ever met. I know children alwys think that about their fathers, but..."

"Children do not alwys think that about their fathers, believe me."

"He once told me that being a lord is like being a father, except you have thousands of children and you worry about all of them. The farmers plowing the fields are yours to protect. The charwomen scrubbing the floors, yours to protect. The soldiers you order into battle. He told me he woke with fear in the morning and went to bed with fear in the night. I didn't believe him. I asked him, "How can a man be brave if he's afraid?" "That is the only time a man can be brave," he told me."

"I wish I could have met him."

"He would have liked you."

Talisa chuckled. "Most lords worry more about their gold and their glory than the chairwomen scrubbing their floors."

"He didn't care much about gold or glory."

"And you?"

"You think I'm fighting this war so they'll sing songs about me? I want to go home. I want the men following me to go home."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because we'll nevr be safe until the Lannisters are defeated. And because I believe in justice."

"Chopping off Joffrey's head, you mean."

"That would be a start."

Riders approached.

"Your Grace, m'lady. The Kingslayer, he escaped in the night." One of them said.

"How? How?"

There was only one answer; his mother.

[Catelyn's Tent]

Robb entered, finding his mother at her desk.

"Tell me this isn't true."

She didn't respond, but she did look up at him.

"Why?"

"For the girls."

"You betrayed me."

"Robb-"

"No! You knew I would not allow it and you did it anyway."

"Bran and Rickon are captives in Winterfell. Sansa and Arya are captives in King's Landing. I have five children, and only one of them is free."

"I lost one son fighting by your son's side. I lost another to the Kingslayer, strangled with a chain. You commit treason because your children are prisoners? I would carve out my heart and offer it to the Father, if he would let my sons wake from their graves and step into a prison cell." Rickard Karstark told her.

"I grieve for your sons, my lord."

"I don't want your grief. I want my vengeance. And you stole it from me."

"Killing Jaime Lannister would not buy life for your children, but returning him to King's Landing may buy life for mine."

"Jaime Lannister has played you for a fool. You've weakened our position. You've brought discord into our camp. And you did it all behind my back. Make sure she's guarded day and night." Robb told his mother, before turning to a guard.

"Robb. How many men did we send in pursuit of the Kingslayer?" She asked.

"Forty, Your Grace." A soldier responded.

"Send another forty with our fastest horses."

"Robb."

Robb exited.