Epilogue

A long time went by before she could believe what they had told her. She had accepted long ago that she had no children anymore; that they were all dead. Revenge had been her only wish since she had opened her eyes again, so when the men of the Brotherhood told her what they had heard at the inns, she ignored them. Her family was already lost for her, and she hardly ever thought about her children now. She still grieved for them, but she scarcely remembered how they had been when they were alive. And anyway, even if they were actually alive, they would surely have changed a lot and now they wouldn't be kids anymore.

As time went by the news about her family persisted, and she often received reports about her son Brandon, often called "The Rebuilder", who was said to be living in Winterfell, and about the others, who were at the Wall. But the Wall was far away, and those men who talked in the inns of the Riverlands were just repeating what Stannis's men had said, and they could be lying for their own purposes.

But when Daenerys conquered the Seven Kingdoms people kept saying the same: Brandon and Rickon Stark were alive and in Winterfell, while Sansa was in the Vale of Arryn, where she lived with her husband. After that she could find no more reasons to dismiss the information as a lie, and reluctantly accepted it. So once she had seen to it that all the sons and grandsons of Walder Frey who had been to Edmure's wedding got their just deserves, she eventually decided to heed the rumors and meet again with what was left of her family. After all, she didn't have anything better to do, or anywhere else to go.

Thus she had traveled with the members of the Brotherhood who would follow her to Winterfell. They traveled silently and stealthily, and arrived unseen in the middle of the night. She commanded the men to hide in the stables while she looked for her children. She didn't look for her daughters, because she knew she wouldn't find them there. She went directly to Bran's room. There were no guards at the door, which struck her as odd. She pushed the door open and looked inside. The room was empty and there were no candles to be found anywhere. At the dim light of her torchlight she could see that the floor, the bed and all the furniture in the room was covered by a thick layer of dust. Nobody had come into that room in years, it seemed.

She was going to leave then, with her newly reborn hopes shattered again, but then she realized the reason why her son's bed was deserted: Bran was now the Lord of Winterfell, which meant that he should be sleeping in Ned's former chamber, instead of the one he had occupied when he was just the Lord's second legitimate son. She walked slowly through the corridors, trying not to make a sound. When she saw the familiar wooden door she felt her eyes go moist. This surprised her: she had not shed a tear since her awakening. She restrained a sob and stepped forward.

There were 2 men guarding the door. They were strangers to her, but she had not expected to know them. The ones who had manned the castle when she left it would most likely be all dead now. When they noticed her presence and asked who she was, she removed her hood and answered as clearly as she could "I am Lady Stark's ghost." She actually did look like a ghost, or worse, and she knew that was the only reason those northmen believed her and stepped aside in fear.

She came in, feeling like an actual ghost out of the castle's crypts. She delicately drew aside the curtains of the canopied bed and looked inside. There she found an auburn-haired boy with a face that vaguely resembled the one of the son she remembered. For the first time in years she felt some warmth in her heart. She sat on an armchair in Bran's room, shyly looking at him, and she recalled the many days and nights she had remained beside him in the sickroom after his fall, just looking at him and stroking his hair, half-mad in her grief and blind to anything else around her. It was the same now: Bran was still lying asleep on a bed, she was still mad with grief, as she had been ever since her stone heart started to beat again, and still she stood beside her unconscious boy, watching over him while he slept. She dared not touch him now, though. She felt that she would disappear when he opened his eyes, as if this visit to her child was the last wish the gods granted her before taking her away.

But when her son eventually awakened, she stayed right where she was. He opened his eyes widely in alarm when he first saw her, but then he recognized and invited her to sit next to him, and he hugged her when she did. He told her that Rickon was in the castle too, and he took her to see him. Her youngest son didn't know her, but that was hardly surprising: he had been 3 the last time he saw her, and she had been very different back then. Besides, Catelyn couldn't find in that 11-years-old boy the baby she had parted from long before, either.

Bran invited her to live in Winterfell again, but she hesitated before accepting. She didn't know if she could stay in that place which would constantly remind her of what she had lost, or that she could be happy again after having seen Robb killed, and after dying herself. She was afraid that all her happiness had died with her. But maybe there was still some hope for Catelyn, and in the end she decided to try to get everything she could of her life back. She knew her sons again, who told her about what they had gone through during the time they had been apart. Bran told her about his powers, and of the Children of the Forest. She believed him, because if a murdered woman could come back to life, why couldn't they exist? Knowing Rickon was harder for her, but as he had grown up in a time of constant changes he was an open-minded child, and he soon learned to forgive her for leaving him.

Some moons after her arrival, an event that would reunite all of House Stark was announced: Bran was going to marry Lady Meera. He would marry for love; she had only to look at his son's expression when he was with his betrothed to notice. Catelyn had liked Meera from the very beginning: she was kind and gentle, but also strong and brave. And she really seemed to love Bran. So, when the wedding was announced, her tears were of happiness, and the hug she gave the loving couple carried all the excitement and joy her heart was still capable of feeling.

The invitations were sent and sometime later the guests started to come. Winterfell was almost wholly rebuilt, and it could host all of them, fortunately. The first to arrive were the guests from the Wall. Jon, who to Catelyn's horror had been legitimized, was then Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Arya was already a young woman, and she had been the first of her gender to take the black. Cat wasn't pleased by that, but decided to let it be. Her daughter was alive, and she didn't want to spoil their reunion by criticizing her decision. Also in that party were Jeyne Poole and her husband, Theon Greyjoy, whom Catelyn would have hanged in the godswood if she could, and Jeyne's children: Theon Bolton, Alannys and baby Vayon Greyjoy. Alannys and Vayon were Theon's, while Theon Bolton had been born from the forced marriage between Jeyne and Ramsay.

Arya greeted her mother in a very shy way, coming from her. Catelyn guessed that coming back to Winterfell had affected her some, and maybe she didn't want to show her feelings very openly. But when the girl saw Gendry, one of the men that had traveled with Catelyn to Winterfell, her greeting was much warmer and more cheerful than the one she had given her. Catelyn exposed her doubts to Bran, her most trusted son. He told her that, possibly, Arya was being distant with her because she feared not to be accepted after all she had done during that time.

So Catelyn approached her daughter when she was alone, and she told her, struggling to make her voice come out, covering her slit throat: "Arya, my dear, I am glad that you are fine. And I am proud of you, because you have managed to stay alive all this time, and on your own." Arya had looked her in the eyes and smiled slightly, relieved by her words. She had thanked her and hugged her. After that, she was more uninhibited with her.

Some days later the guests from the Vale arrived. They were Sansa with her husband, Harrold Hardying, and their children: a 3-namedays-old girl who had her mother's straight auburn hair, and a grey eyed and dark haired baby who was not yet a year old. The girl was called Catya, and the little one, Robb. Sansa hugged her mother, glad that she was alive, and acted naturally with her, except that, at the beginning, she seemed to avoid looking at her face whenever possible. She couldn't blame her daughter for that, though: Catelyn could hardly stand to look at her own reflection in the mirror.

Her daughter told her, as they had dinner, the most important things that had happened to her since Ned's death, so long ago. When she learned what her old friend, Petyr, had done, she wanted to hang him like the Freys. But Sansa had already dealt with him. She had told her husband that he had been behind Jon Arryn's murder, and that he had pushed Lysa out of the Moon Door. Harrold had decided to tell the queen about that (Daenerys had already conquered the Seven Kingdoms by the time Sansa decided to discuss the matter with her husband) and to leave justice in her hands, instead of killing the Lord Protector of the Vale by themselves, which may have caused a civil war in the region. As a result Petyr was executed under the queen's commands, and Sansa was named Lady Regent of the Vale, as she was the adult most closely related to Robert. The boy was then 14 name days, and he had grown noticeably. He was still small and weak for his age, but Sansa claimed that he had made considerable progresses.

After them came Howland Reed and his wife, who were very happy to see their daughter after a long time of having no word of her. They were also sad for their son's death, but the excitement of their only daughter's wedding succeeded in taking the grief away, at least for the moment.

A short time after his arrival, Lord Reed asked Catelyn to have a private talk with her. She guided him to a bench in the yard, from where they could see the young men of the castle training with sword and lance. There they could talk without drawing attention.

"Lady Catelyn, I want to tell you something that I have kept secret for years. It is a secret that doesn't belong to me, and I promised not to tell anyone. However, now the danger that made me hide it doesn't exist anymore, and I would like to clear the name of my friend, Eddard Stark, whose honor was only surpassed by the love he bore his family."

That was completely unexpected for Catelyn: what secret had Ned kept from her? And why did Howland want to 'clear his name'? She knew her husband had been one of the most honorable men she had ever known, and she didn't need anybody to defend his honor to believe that. But Catelyn didn't say anything, because she didn't know what to say and because speaking was painful, so she gestured for Howland to keep talking.

"You must surely know that I have fought with your husband in the Tower of Joy. And that it was there that we found Lyanna, Ned's sister. She was dying when we got to her. But has Ned ever told you what she died of?"

Catelyn shook her head. Ned had never told her, and she had never asked. She had thought that talking about that would make him sad, and that if he had wanted to tell her he would have done it.

"Lyanna died birthing Rhaegar's son. She was lying on a bed, bleeding and with the baby in her arms when we found her. She begged Ned to take the boy, and to raise him as his own. He promised her that he would do it, and she died peacefully some minutes later." Howland seemed to be removing a great weight he had been carrying for years when he said it, and Cat could perceive weariness in his voice. "Ned named the boy Jon, as Jon Arryn, the man who had raised him in the Eyrie. And he made me promise not to tell anyone who were his bastard's real parents."

Catelyn needed no further explanation from Howland to understand the reason for that lie: Robert Baratheon would have killed the boy without hesitation if he had known it. And she knew that Ned had lied to her because, though they were husband and wife, they didn't know each other well back then, and he didn't trust her yet. However, it hurt Catelyn to learn that he had hidden the truth from her even after having lived together in Winterfell for 14 years. She guessed that her cold behavior towards Jon was to blame for that. If she had been kind to him, Ned may have told her the truth. But she had been an awful stepmother, and she had shown openly her dislike for the boy.

"Have you told Jon?" She asked Lord Reed.

"No, I haven't. All his life he thought he was Ned's son, and I can see no reason to change that, considering that his true parents are also dead, and that he never met them. But you may tell him, if you wish."

Catelyn decided to tell him, because it was the least she could do for the young man she had caused so much suffering to in his childhood. Jon had been wary and mistrustful when she approached him, but when she told him that she knew who his parents were his expression changed completely and only showed expectation. It moved her to notice that he still wished to find the mother that hadn't been by his side when he was little. And after the revelation, Catelyn offered Jon to send a crow to Queen Daenerys, asking her to legitimize him as a Targaryen, and heir to the Iron Throne, in case she didn't have children.

"The only thing I ever wanted to be, Lady Catelyn, is a Stark. And now that I am finally one it proves to be a mistake, and I have to change my name to Targaryen. But I will accept it, because now that I know the truth I won't be able to be called a Stark without feeling as an impostor. I have no wish to rule the Seven Kingdoms, but I will if it ever becomes my duty."

Catelyn was surprised to notice how much he resembled Ned, and how difficult was to remember that he wasn't his son. She wondered if she should apologize for her behavior as a stepmother, but decided against it. Nothing could change the past, and it was silly to apologize for not loving someone.

Sometime after the bannermen of the Starks who had been invited to Bran's wedding arrived in Winterfell and the celebration finally took place. They got married in the godswood, as both of their Houses worshiped the Old Gods. And Catelyn was happier than she had been ever since King Robert Baratheon visited Winterfell.

After the celebration, which was rather short and quiet, the bannermen parted, leaving only the 2 families in Winterfell, and their parties. One night, as they were all having dinner, Arya announced suddenly: "Now that we are all together, I want to tell you something: I'm going to get married."

Everybody stared at her, astonished, and Bran, Rickon and Sansa asked her at the same time who she was going to marry. "I will marry Ser Gendry," she answered simply.

Catelyn was about to voice her disagreement with the marriage, but she didn't. Arya had never been one to worry about the opinion of others, and she knew that forbidding her to marry Gendry would not stop her from doing it. The best thing she could do was to accept her choice, she told herself. And instead of prohibiting her to do as she wished, she only asked her where she wanted to live with him.

"In Castle Black, of course. Jon finally allowed me to take the black, so now I am a sworn sister of the Night's Watch. Gendry will join the Watch too, and we will live together in Castle Black. But we won't be there for long, because now I am a wandering crow, and Jon promised to put Gendry in the same order as me, so we will be visiting often."

The announcement was accepted without much resistance by all the family, and the loving couple received everybody's blessing. The Reeds, who had been planning to set out for the Neck that week, decided to stay for the wedding.

Shortly after the announcement the wedding took place. The celebration, though even simpler and with fewer guests than Bran's (only the ones that were in the castle when it was announced went), had, unlike the other one, a bedding. Catelyn smiled as she saw her daughter and her future husband be taken to bed. She was going to be safe and happy, and she would see her often in the future.

Soon after that they set off for the Wall, together with Jon, Theon, Jeyne and their children. She bid them farewell, hoping to see them again soon. After that, the days that went by were quiet and without many memorable events. Cat enjoyed the opportunity to hold her first grandson in her arms and she watched little Catya in her play. She talked a lot with Sansa, who told her about her life in the Vale.

Cat was glad to notice that, besides Sansa's reluctance to look at her face, she didn't seem at all uncomfortable with her, and felt free to speak to her about everything. She even talked to her about her marriage. She confided her that, though she was happy with Harry and he was always kind to her, she had had some problems with him at the beginning, when they first moved to the Eyrie. He would go down to the Vale very often, and he never let her go with him. She had quickly realized that it meant she was not the only woman in his life. She had confronted him, and he had confessed it at her insistence, but he still claimed that Sansa was the only one he loved and really cared about. She had refused to talk to him for several days, and in the end he had had no choice but to beg her forgiveness. He had sworn to be faithful from that day on, and soon after that their son was born. Since then, Harry never left the Eyrie without inviting her to go with him, and if he did go without her, it was always her choice.

After some peaceful and uneventful moons Meera announced that she was with child, and that news brought everyone great joy. Bran decided that, as he would have a child that would be his heir, Rickon should be given a keep of his own. He offered his little brother the Dreadfort, on condition that he renamed it. Rickon accepted, and proposed to call his castle "Greywind Fort". Sansa asked Rickon, then, whether he had ever thought of getting married. Now he was the only Stark still single.

"I am 11. That is no age to get married."

"Not yet, but you can be betrothed to a girl. Is there anyone you would like to be betrothed to?" Meera asked kindly.

"Well, there is one girl I like very much, and I think I'd like to be betrothed to her. But she is much older than me."

"That doesn't matter, if she loves you too. Meera is 22, and she is married to me, though I'm not even a man grown," Bran intervened.

"Well, then. The girl I like is Shireen Baratheon," Rickon replied.

Shireen, from the day her father accepted that he couldn't possibly defeat an army that counted with the support of 3 dragons and that anyway Daenerys's claim was better than his own and surrendered to her, had ceased to be a princess, and she was now the heir of Storm's End. It wouldn't be hard to arrange the betrothal, provided that Stannis was willing to wait some years more to see his daughter married.

Rickon was surprised to see that they took the matter seriously and that they sent a letter to Storm's End with the proposal, but he was really excited when the letter with the affirmative answer came, settling that the wedding of Rickon and Shireen would take place after his fourteenth name day. Rickon decided then to leave the Dreadfort to Sansa, as he was going to get Storm's End, and one castle was more than enough for him. Though Sansa was now living in the Eyrie, her husband only had a small castle that belonged to him, so they were happy to be granted a larger one. However, Sansa said she'd like to change it completely before she moved in there, as she didn't wish her new home to have anything of its previous owners.

Sansa left for the Vale with her family soon after those matters were settled, leaving Catelyn with her 2 sons and Meera. A couple of months later they were visited by Arya and Gendry, who stayed in Winterfell until Meera's child was born. She proposed to call him Eddard, and Bran agreed. The day after Eddard's birth a white raven came to Winterfell, heralding the spring's arrival. This baby would remain innocent and foreign to winter's tragedies and war while he grew up, and by the time the next winter came, he would be almost a man grown, as her son Robb had been when the War of the Five Kings started. Catelyn prayed for the next Winter not to bring a war with him.

Author Note: finally, this is the end of the story. This was a very long chapter, I know, and probably the worst, but now the fic is complete. So, if you have reached this point and didn't think my Harry-Potter-like epilogue didn't utterly ruined the story, I would love to read your reviews!