When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to get you.

It was a cold day that day in Winterfell, even though it was summer people were in their homes packed around their fires to keep warm. Robb, on the other hand, sat in his usual spot in the Godswood. He always went there when there was a lot on his mind or when he felt sad or angry.

This time he was confused. The day before that one he had brought Elena back home in his arms, all the way to Winterfell. He could still hear her pleas for help when he had been searching for her. He sometimes even saw the image of those wildlings holding Elena down.

He shouldn't have left her in the first place. Elena could be so annoying and nerve wrecking but that still wasn't an excuse to leave her alone in the forest. When Eddard heard what happened he first sped towards measter Luwin to check if Elena was going to be alright.

Eddard was furious to say the least, he kept on screaming at Robb. Robb had never seen his father so angry, nor did he ever hear him repeat a sentence over and over.

"She's under our protection, you can't let anyone know what she is." Eddard kept on saying. His eyes shone with fear and his hands were trembling. He didn't want anyone to know about what Elena was yet now his oldest son knew.

Robb sighed as he sat against the tree. All this time he didn't understand why his father kept Elena in their home, ate breakfast and dinner with her and treat her like family. Now, he finally understood.

He understood that when the time comes, Elena would play a major role in their defense. She might not be strong enough yet but she will be.

The things that confused Robb the most though was that he now wanted to keep her here for more reasons, not only for her protection. He had spent the past year hating her. Now, after he had saved her from the wildlings and brought her back home, he was concerned. Robb didn't know what was happening to Elena, she just wouldn't wake up.

"Robb?" A small voice said, leaves and sticks cracking beneath her feet while she made her way over to him. It was strange to come here for her, she knew this was a private place for Robb. She just had to talk to him.

"Elena? Are you alright?!" Robb immediately stood up and ran to her side when he saw her struggling to keep standing. Her whole body was trembling, she looked exhausted.

"I'm fine." She whispered, confused by Robb's sudden care for her. "I just needed to talk to you."

"Please, my lady." Robb frowned.

"My lady?" Elena chuckled, her eyes suddenly shining a bit brighter. "The past year you've called me numerous of bad things but now you call me my lady?"

"It's... I..." Robb stuttered, surprised at his sudden embarrassment towards her.

"It's alright. My lady is fine, it only makes me feel old and important." Elena chuckled and sat down on the forest' cold ground. She was still exhausted, she had used way more power yesterday than she had used in a couple of years.

"I just wanted to say thank you. Not only for coming back but also for bringing me home. Arya told me how you did it." Elena whispered the last part. When Arya had told her that Robb had carried her in his arms all the way to the castle, Elena couldn't help but feel her stomach doing flips.

"It was the least I could do after I left you there." Robb sat down against the same tree he always sat.

"I know things haven't been quite good between us so I know how hard it must've been for you to turn back." Elena looked to the ground. She didn't know what to say. She looked back up at Robb, his eyes were scanning her. "I just really wanted to say thank you." She nearly whispered

Robb nodded silently. He looked at her for quite some time before speaking up. "As a repayment, if it's not too much to ask, I would like to know what happened that day at the Kingsroad."

Elena sighed and looked back down at her lap. First she didn't feel anything at the mention of that day but bit by bit she came to feel more remorse. "I knew you wouldn't let that go." Elena sighed. "It all started years before this day. My father didn't have a good reputation. People believed he was a murderer and a rapist."

Elena sighed and shrugged. "He wasn't, obviously. I was the only one to truly know him, other people would just always run away whenever he came into their sight. So this one day we were walking on the Kingsroad, heading towards the market for food, when suddenly 12 soldiers came towards us. One of them had lost his sister, she was killed in the forest. They lived in the same village as mine you see, so everyone thought it was my father who did it.

When the soldier saw my father walking next to me... he just, freaked out. He started attacking us out of the blue. His fellow soldiers didn't have a choice but to fight with him.

I didn't know what to do. My father defended himself with his sword, he kept on telling me to stay back. He never wanted me to use powers, he never wanted me to become a guardian. " Elena paused and looked up at Robb who was still sitting silently.

"After a while I saw my father weakening, his attacks became slow and his blows were getting softer with each strike. I knew I had to do something but I did not know how. I had never used my powers you see." Elena sighed, tears were forming in her eyes and her voice cracked with each word she spoke.

"I tried so hard to defend him but I just couldn't cast any sort of spell. I freaked out and started screaming and pushing. The soldiers didn't attack me though, they would never hurt a woman." Elena sobbed and looked down. "Eventually one sliced my father's belly open. I exploded. I had all of this power built up inside of me and it just came out in one big blow." Elena paused, she could just not speak anymore. Robb sat there silently, his face showing no emotion at all.

"Everyone died instantly. Dead, all of them. In a second. I stood there while everyone around me fell to the ground with blood flowing from their wounds. I just couldn't believe what just happened. I quess I was indenial, I couldn't accept the fact that I had killed someone. It was when I picked up my father that I realized what happened." Elena hugged her knees to her chest.

"Then you and your father found me." Elena looked own at the leaves that had fallen onto the forest's surface. "Jon told me one of those soldiers was your friend. If I could turn back time, I would've changed everything. I just can't."

"It's not your fault." Robb sighed silently. He felt relieved that Elena wasn't just a murderer. She only tried to defend her father.

"None of it is your fault." He sighed again, stood up and walked away.

~

"You know that staring at a map won't win the war right? It's not a staring contest, if that's what you think." Elena chuckled while she was cleaning her feathers from the blood. I might tell you one thing, and that is that cleaning your wings isn't easy at all. Believe me, I know how it goes. When you rub too hard it's like sawing off a limb but when you don't the dirt just won't go off.

"I'm thinking, if I don't I will lose the war." Robb chuckled but didn't move his eyes from the map. They were in a hopeless position, they had no home to turn back to and no army to take anything. The only thing they had was The Neck, the way from the south to the North. Having only secured the Neck won't win the war.

"You've already done all the thinking. Right now you're overthinking." Elena chuckled while roughly rubbing a feather that just wouldn't get clean. She immediately let out a whine, she couldn't believe how much it hurt.

"Overthinking, my lady, is better than not thinking at all." Robb said while he was in deep concentration. If he had Winterfell, he will have the key to the North and he will have his home back.

But what good is a home when you can't defend it? Eitherway they wouldn't take Winterfell because it was in ruins after the fire. They didn't have the time nor men to rebuild it.

"My lady? Really? You only call me that when I've done something wrong but you're forgiving me." Elena threw the cloth away in frustration, she gave up cleaning her wing.

"Why do you think that, my lady?" Robb didn't even notice that he called her that again. He was still thinking about how to take the North back. He could use some help with that, maybe his aunt Laysa would help him now. Somewhere deep down Robb had a gut feeling that something was off with Lady Arryn.

Or he could just send Gillian to retrieve his men. If only he wasn't so full of pride, he would've done it weeks ago. Just thinking about apologizing to Gillian made Robb shiver in disgust.

"Because, my lord, you know that I'm no lady." Elena walked towards Robb until she was right behind him. She laid her chin on his shoulder and looked at the map.

"And you know that I'm no lord anymore, I'm your king now." Robb said. He could also just sneak into King's Landing and just kill Tommen where he lies. It'd be a great risk but it'd be worth it.

"Pfff. My King. If you even think I'm ever going to call you that, you're mistaken." Elena chuckled and swirled around the table. For some sort of reason she felt weird that day. Maybe she was just happy that she'd made it back safe and sound.

"You're exhausting." Robb chuckled and gave up thinking about the war. He just wanted to be with Elena and forget about everything that had happened to him. He looked up at her, her golden locks framing her face while she swirled around.

"I know, but that's why you love me." Elena grinned and bowed over the table until their faces were only a few centimeters apart.

"Love you?" Robb chuckled at the way she was behaving. She was always like that back in the days. After that conversation in the Godswood, he kind off forgave her and forgot all about his hatred towards her. Robb looked at her while she was standing at the other side of the table, a bright smile decorating her face. He looked at her green eyes, he noticed some light blue spots on them.

"Well yes, but considering the recent events I don't think-" Robb cut Elena off by pressing his lips against hers, his hands pulling her face closer to his. Elena inhaled deeply when Robb's lips pressed more firmly down onto hers when she didn't respond, her brain still catching up with what was happening.

He was kissing her, he was really kissing her. After all this time, after his wife died he kissed her.

A growl erupted from Robb's throat, his impatience growing from the lack of response. Elena was still in shock with what was happening, her body frozen to the core, too scared and too confused to do what her heart told her to do.

When Elena finally realized what was going on, she pushed Robb back and quickly took several steps away from him, her eyes widened with fear.

"You shouldn't have done that." Elena said, still in chock. She sped out of the tent before Robb could say anything.

Author's note :)

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR 2 000 FUCKING READS!!!!

I seriously can't find a way to truly express my gratitude towards you guys, this is absolutely amazing.

Above all I really wanted to send a special thanks to @AGNight for the super amazing comments she send me. You really made my day and without you I don't think I could've done those speeches. (They went really well!) if there were only more people like you in the world, it would be a merrier place.

So I think I kind off paid you guys back with the latest part of this chapter. (Relena moment!!(also thanks to @AGNight for that ship name! You're truly amazing!))

So thank you and see you next chapter! ;)