Chapter Two: Ned

Ned wasn't surprised that the girl had taken to Theon despite the communication barrier; after all he was the one who seemed to have done the most to save her. It was however surprising for him to see how the seventeen year old had responded to the girls trust and reaction to him; after all he was being surprisingly gentle and kind to her. Of course that may have been caused by her lack of ability to communicate.

If he was being honest though, the girl... wasn't really a girl anymore. She seemed old enough to marry, around the age of his sons and given her clothing probably of noble birth.

Eddard had hoped that once they reached Winterfell everything would be sorted out, but something in him had told him not to trust that too much. Things rarely worked out as simply as one hoped, that was something he had learnt rather early on in his life and it was a lesson that he never forgot.

But his mind was still on what drove this girl so far north with no knowledge of commontongue. By her appearance he was assuming that she might have come from one of the Free Cities, but even then her features were strange, especially those blue eyes. They didn't seem to belong on the dark skin with dark hair, and somehow they did.

Now he was with Theon, who the girl didn't seem quite ready to part with yet, his wife and the girl in a guest room with Maester Luwin who had been trying to communicate with her to get her a bit more comfortable. So far nothing it seemed she understood nothing.

"My Lord, whatever it is that she speaks I am unfortunately not familiar with the language" he said softly, looking to the girl whose eyes were trained on him.

"Do you think you would be able to teach her commontongue?" Ned asked him, and a glance at his wife told him that she was thinking the same thing.

"I don't see why I couldn't" he answered, taking a few steps towards the girl. Pointing to himself he slowly began to speak, "Maester Luwin."

"Master Luwin" she parroted, her head tilted to the side questioningly.

"Maester" he corrected softly, and she nodded, seeming to try to take in the correction as best as she could.

"Maester Luwin" she mimicked again, and although she had said it with a thick accent, Ned had to smile given this had to be the furthest that they'd managed to get with her so far.

"Yes" he told her nodding, and the girl started to grin, even though it was a small success. It was in that moment that Ned realized how long teaching this girl commontongue might take, but at the same time it was the only way that they would ever be able to talk to her, hear what had brought her here. After all the only thing he could think of that would drive someone so young so far from where they were from, to a place they couldn't speak the language in such a time that they never picked up the basics, was fear.

"Zoe" the girl suddenly said; pointing to herself, a smile crossing her face as Luwin mimicked her name perfectly. Though her movement also revealed the dark bruises already forming on her wrists from where she was held in place.

"Theon go join Robb and Jon down with Ser Rodrick in the courtyard" Ned said, dismissing him as he looked at the girl. He felt like while they were checking her wounds, keeping Theon away would probably be the best idea. The ward had nodded, realizing that he didn't have much of a choice but was surprised when his cloak hit him in the back. Everyone in the room turned to Zoe, who smiled slightly and waved at Theon as she realized what must have happened. Returning the smile, with a rather confused look, he left though.

Softly, Luwin reached out, grabbing Zoe's arms from where she sat on the bed, slowly moving his grip to her wrists. She didn't pull away, but they heard the small wince of pain that left the girls mouth. Luwin immediately set to work, wrapping the girl's wrists, apparently only in order to prevent further damage.

However when Luwin reached for her injured foot she pulled away, hesitantly shaking her head, and instead reached for the bandage he was holding with a questioning look. While Ned realized the Maester wasn't really sure how to react he gave the brunette what she had wanted anyway and they watched as she slowly wrapped her own ankle. Once she was done she tied it off by herself and smiled as she moved her toes slightly.

All of them realized that it was much too soon for Luwin to check if she had any other injuries, but Cat ushered both of the men, figuring the girl might be more comfortable with just her. And this way they'd also know if there were any other severe injuries on the girl's body.

"How long do you think that it will take until she can speak?" he asked him, once they were just standing outside waiting for Cat do be done with the girl.

"It all depends on her I suppose... whether she picks things up easily and whether or not she wants to learn my lord" he answered, thinking about the girl. "However I think it will not be too long... she seems to want to be able to talk to us, and being around others her age will cause that desire to increase" he continued, as he thought to her reaction to saying his name, and how he had said hers correctly.

"Ask Cat if she can have her cleaned up and ready for dinner, maybe she will feel more welcome after she eats with us" he said, beginning to walk down the hallway to search for his children, leaving the Maester outside of the room to wait for Cat and the girl to be ready.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he wasn't surprised that there was no training going on. Instead Robb, Jon and Theon seemed perfectly happy to give an account of all that had happened on their way back from the hunt to the younger Stark children. However it was his youngest daughter's reaction that amused him the most, as she noticed him first.

"Father, Father! Father is it true that you found a girl on the hunt? That she was by herself? They were saying she can't speak commontongue! Is it true that she's from Braavos?" the girl rattled off as her other siblings came up behind her.

"Father is the girl alright?" Robb spoke loudly, over the top of his little sister giving her a pointed glare, though she only pouted as she looked to the ground. Somehow Ned still couldn't see them turning that girl into a proper young woman yet, but he supposed that he could still be proven wrong.

"Yes, Maester Luwin just looked over the wounds and it seems that she'll be just fine. Your mother is with her at the moment and getting her ready so that she might join us for dinner, though she can't speak commontongue so you'll have to be patient with her" he said calmly, seeing Arya deflate a little. 'No doubt she wanted to hear more from the girl as to where she was from' he thought to himself, a his lips twitching up into a small smile.

"What do you mean patient?" Sansa asked, looking carefully at her father. To Ned it almost sounded as though his daughter didn't really want much to do with the older girl that they found – though that might change after she met the other girl.

"It means that Maester Luwin will be trying to teach her commontongue, and I expect all of you to help her while she is learning because it could be hard but she does seem an intelligent enough girl" he said calmly, looking all of his children in the eye before he looked at Theon. "That includes you as well Theon, since the ride she seems to trust you the most which is understandable enough given what could have happened. I think that she's also fully aware what her fate would've been had we not been there."

His children had all nodded, Arya seeming quite excited about the whole thing compared to the others, though he had no doubt that Jon and Robb would both be quite helpful as well.

However Ned supposed he'd just have to watch how things play out this evening while they were at dinner.

A/N: So here's the second chapter, I hope you liked it even if it took me a bit longer to write this than I might have hoped. I'd like to quickly thank all the people who followed this story, and of course those that added it to their favourites.

Next chapter... well I'm thinking we'll either be going into Jon or Robb's point of view, though I might just make it one in Zoe's point of view just so you get to know a little more about her.

So thank you all, and till next time!