I kept Dust running until the sky began to lighten with the dawn. I slumped against the horse's neck, exhaustion finally hitting me like a warhammer. I hadn't been able to take the arrow out yet, and the wound was throbbing. I could feel the blood sliding down my shoulder and trailing down my arm. I had lost track of how long I had been bleeding.

I stopped Dust beside a stream and slid off his back heavily. I knelt beside the stream as Dust began to drink heavily from the stream. I reached over my shoulder and grabbed ahold of the arrow's shaft. The moment I tried tugging on it, I nearly screamed. I grabbed the hem of my cloak and tore a strip of the end off. After balling up the cloth, I stuck it in my mouth and bit down hard before reaching back again and gently started pulling.

The maesters and medics following King Robb's army always made it known that one should never yank an arrow out. Biting down on the wound up cloth, I wiggled the arrow out of my shoulder, coming out with a soft squishing noise. I blinked the tears out of my eyes and wiped them with the back of one hand as I washed the bloody arrow in the stream. Dust, drinking water from farther downstream, looked up and trotted to an area without blood in the water before he continued to drink.

What was happening at King Renly's camp right now? If the king was dead, there'd be plenty of opportunities for Stannis to come in and take control. Who knows how many people joined him. Who knew how many refused and left. My main question was to which house did my attacker belong to. Someone saw me leave and knew I was hurt.

I guessed that I was still too close to the camp for comfort. Dust had slowed down a few hours before we stopped. We'd have to keep moving north, and hopefully I'd run into Lady Catelyn and the others along the way. I tried to keep the idea of them not getting out away from my mind. I tried to keep Renly's death from my mind.

After pouring a lot of water on the wound and bandaging the wound as much as I could, I convinced Dust to continue on. We kept moving north at a brisk trot, looking over my shoulder every so often.

Around midday, an arrow shot out and nearly hit me.

I shrieked and kicked Dust in the side, launching my horse into another hard gallop. I hadn't gone that far when I heard Lady Catelyn's voice shouting. "Helaena!"

Dust skidded to a halt the moment I pulled on the reins and I turned around at the sound of horses coming up behind me. Lady Catelyn rode her horse to right beside me, her blue eyes wide and frightened looking. "Are you alright?" Lady Catelyn asked. "We tried finding you before we left, but there was no time-"

I nodded. "I know. What happened in that tent?"

"I will tell you everything when we stop for the night." Lady Catelyn promised. "For now, we must keep heading north. The more distance we put between ourselves and King Stannis's army, the better."

"Yes, my lady," I agreed and Lady Catelyn hurried her horse onwards. I followed after her as Ser Wendel and Hal followed. I finally noticed the fourth member of their traveling party and I openly stared at Brienne of Tarth as she brought up the rear. Brienne stared right back at me and nodded deeply at me. I blinked and nodded curtly before turning back around. Hopefully, Lady Catelyn would explain Brienne when she explained what happened in that tent.

We moved at a very brisk pace, Lady Catelyn leading us straight towards Riverrrun. I glanced over my shoulder countless times, trying to make sure we weren't being followed by anyone from Stannis's army. But no one came running from the south to fight us, so we kept pushing forward until the sun had finally set.

Lady Catelyn decided it would be too dangerous to find an inn with countless eyes watching us. Hal and I set up camp for the night while Ser Wendel and Brienne of Tarth kept watch for anyone. When out tents were pitched and camp was made, Lady Catelyn grabbed my elbow and brought me into her tent.

I listened to her in silence. When Lady Catelyn finished telling me what happened, I stared at her and opened and shut my mouth several times before finally speaking.

"Lady Catelyn," I started. "May I speak frankly?"

She blinked but nodded. "You may."

"That sounds absolutely insane."

She let out a small huff of exhausted sounding laughter. "I don't blame you for thinking that, Helaena. If I hadn't seen what I had seen, I wouldn't believe it either. But it is the truth that I know. Brienne and I were speaking to King Renly when a shadow with Stannis Baratheon's face swept into the tent and murdered Renly."

"That sounds even more insane when you say it again." I pointed out. "I know you're an honest woman, Lady Catelyn. But the things you're telling me now are...are…"

"Mad, I know." Lady Catelyn agreed. "I'm not asking you to blindly believe me, Helaena. All I ask is that you believe that Brienne and I had nothing to do with the murder."

"As I left, I heard people calling for Brienne's head." I told her. "Seemed the consensus is that Brienne killed Renly."

Lady Catelyn shook her head at me. "I assure you that Brienne is innocent."

I heaved a sigh and gave a shrug. "Very well then. Brienne is innocent."

Lady Catelyn stared at me for a moment before smiling thinly at me. "Thank you, Helaena. This journey would have been harder without you here."

I tilted my head slightly and felt genuinely touched. For a moment I couldn't think of what to say to that. Lady Catelyn had always acted so cold to me my entire life; a compliment like this was something a much younger version of myself would have wanted. I just smiled at Lady Catelyn and nodded deeply. "Thank you for saying that, Lady Catelyn."

It took a several more days of hurried traveling to get anywhere near where the Northern army was camping. Ser Wendel took his leave to go find his father and show that he's returned. Hallis got permission from Lady Catelyn to take the horses and get them some well deserved rest. Brienne and I stayed close to Lady Catelyn as we moved through the Northern camp to go find King Robb.

The war council tent had a few familiar faces: Maege Mormont wearing her leather and mail, Roose Bolton watching us enter with narrowed pale eyes, Rickard Karstark pacing in the back of the tent, Greatjon Umber fiddling with his stump fingers, and finally King Robb staring over the maps of the riverlands and westerlands. He looked up as we entered and his blue eyes lit up.

"Mother!" King Robb said, getting everyone else's attention on us. Greatjon got to his feet and bowed deeply to Lady Catelyn. Robb's eyes went from his mother to Brienne and he looked momentarily confused. Lady Catelyn waved her hand.

"I will explain Brienne's presence in a moment, Robb." Lady Catelyn said. "For now, I must tell you what happened between us and the kings Renly and Stannis. Helaena, show Brienne to where we can make our tents."

I nodded and gave a half bow to King Robb before leaving the ten, Brienne following after me. I found the area where Lady Catelyn's tent could go and pointed it out to Brienne. The warrior woman nodded and watched for a moment as I started to clear the spot, to pitch Lady Catelyn's tent for her.

"For someone who claims to be in King Robb's service," Brienne started. "You sure do serve Lady Catelyn an awful lot."

I glanced at Brienne. "I don't think Lady Catelyn would want my service once this war is over. King Robb gave me the order to travel with and protect his mother, and that includes following the orders she gives. Why are you so curious, Brienne of Tarth?"

The older woman narrowed her big blue eyes at me and hesitated before saying, "I wanted to pledge my service to Lady Catelyn. She seems like a fine woman."

"You could pledge your service to King Robb." I suggested.

Brienne blinked. "The only king I had wished to serve was King Renly. And he's gone."

I paused at the sound of that sentence but forced myself to keep working on the tent. I hadn't known Renly Baratheon for very long; I didn't have a right to grieve for him. But the promise of being legitimized had gotten me thinking, and it seemed the moment I had started thinking about it was the same moment it had been taken away from me.

"What are you thinking about, Helaena of Winterfell?" Brienne asked me thoughtfully.

"Nothing that matters, Brienne of Tarth." I replied.

Brienne and I started working on the tent together and she seemed a little rusty when it came to pitching tents. Brienne explained that she was highborn, and her father may have taught her to fight, but he had never taught her to make a proper tent. I helped her whenever she needed, but she was a fast learner and soon didn't need my help at all.

"Snow!"

I barely had time to react before Dacey Mormont wrapped me up in her arms and lifted me off the ground. I laughed loudly as the heir to Bear Island hugged me tightly and then put me down on the ground again.

"It's been too long, my friend!" Dacey exclaimed. "How did the meeting with the other Baratheon go?"

"Other Baratheons." I corrected Dacey with a huff of amusement. "Stannis showed up to join the conversation."

"Well, how'd it go, Snow?" Dacey asked curiously.

I hesitated, not wanting to explain the death of Renly Baratheon just yet. So I instead just shrugged at Dacey and pulled on her elbow to make her bend down to my level. "I'll tell you about it later, Mormont. Quite a bit happened."

Dacey straightened back up, back to her full height. "Alright then, Snow." She poked the padded spot on my shoulder where my bandage was and I fought the urge to flinch away. "What happened here?"

"I got shot by an arrow."

Dacey's eyes gleamed and she smiled broadly. "I cannot wait to hear your story, Snow. And don't think a shot shoulder is going to keep you out of sword training. I promised I'd make a warrior out of you."

I smiled up at my tall friend before remembering. "Oh! Come here, Mormont. This is Brienne of Tarth. Brienne of Tarth, this is Dacey Mormont."

The two tall women took each other in and Brienne seemed to be in instant awe of Dacey. They instantly began talking about different ways of sword fighting and I hurried and finished with Lady Catelyn's tent. As Dacey continued to speak with Brienne enthusiastically about swords and how they learned and when they learned, I couldn't help but notice Brienne getting more comfortable with the younger woman and she definitely relaxed more. I smiled to myself as they spoke.

By the time Lady Catelyn came to her newly pitched tent, Dacey, Brienne, and I were all sitting outside and discussing the differences between the swords the three of us had. Lady Catelyn stared hard at the three of us for a long moment before clicking her tongue.

"The three of you," She muttered. "You resemble hens, my goodness."

Dacey excused herself with a promise to find me and Brienne later. Lady Catelyn dismissed me for the evening and Brienne went with Catelyn into the tent and I hoped that Lady Catelyn would accept Brienne into her service. Brienne seemed kind, and she had been a good fighter from what I had seen.

I walked through the camp, seeing familiar faces and greeting the lords and knights as I needed to. As I made my way to see a proper maester about my shoulder, I realized that this was the most at home I had felt in a long while.