A Departure in Style, Part One

Lyonel awoke with the strength of an autumn storm. His muscles were relaxed and his mind refreshed, the slumber not holding any grasp on him. How could it, if his current reality was feeling more pleasant than any dream? He was betrothed to the finest young lady in the seven kingdoms and that hasn't even been the climax of the last evening. The climax came when... Well, when he came inside Catelyn Sta-

Wait

He had come inside Catelyn Stark. Sansas mother and more importantly Neds wife. He came inside a married woman. Until then it had all been fun and games, flirting here and there, even the "oral adventure" had been a consentual little play with hardly a consequence. He could have just gone down to Kings Landing and at worst he'd leave the women of the North with a yearning for a charming prince they could never have. Now at worst he'd leave behind a bastard that could get Catelyn in trouble and all her children in distress and... Well, Lyonel did hear her and Ned having sex afterwards. Or at least her making him think they'd have sex. So maybe the worst case scenario might be that Catelyn would raise his child and have no one be any wiser. That wouldn't be such a horrible scenario. It might be a long distance, but Cat could send the kid as a ward to the South. Yeah, he had been carelessly swept up in the moment, but it wasn't a dire situation.

Lyonel got himself presentable and shortly after servants came to get him to the hall to have breakfast with his family and their hosts.

Breakfast was uneventful, especially compared to last night. There was little talk and what little talk existed, was mostly the princes darling sister complaining about the plainness of the northern cuisine. The men at the table were visibly suffering a nasty hangover, Robert a lot worse than Ned, but both looked like the times in which they celebrated all night and then fought all day, had long been behind them. The Stark heir and his wife were busy throwing each other chilling looks, the Stark boys played a game with cutlery, the rules an absolute mystery to Lyonel, Tommen and Arya seemed to eat as fast as possible to get this all over with. And the others...

Well, Sansa and Cat were eating up Lyonel with their eyes. Completely oblivious to the fact that they were mirroring each other almost exactly, mother and daughter kept their gaze on the handsome prince. Upon closer inspection though, they were not acting exactly alike. In Sansas eyes resided an untainted innocence, while Catelyns betrayed a carnal aspect lurking within. Lyonel had a tough time balancing his own attention and the acknowledging nods between the two, while making sure his mouth stayed busy with fresh food, lest one of them tried to entangle him in a conversation. Breakfast was a fight of conscience and he thanked the Seven when the meal ended without anyone catching on to the sparks between him and the local matriarch.

The halls of Winterfell were silent as various members of the royal entourage, lords, ladies, knights, men-at-arms and squires spent the day trying to recover from the night of drunken revelry. The heir to the Seven kingdoms was a little different, because he linked his recovery from the previous nights activities, with a calm day in the library of Winterfell. Over the course of the afternoon he was joined by his uncle Tyrion. But whereas his uncle just wanted to keep his wits sharp und was rather relaxed in his choice of reading materials, Lyonel searched for more specific lecture.

Until this point, Lyonel, or rather the person that inhabited the original Lyonels body, didn't have much opportunity to change things in this world despite his knowledge, as most of his time in this world has been was spent traveling. Thus he spent the days enjoying the near limitless power that was now his and using his new found charms to woo ladies. But he was in no way lax. Lyonel knows full well the orgy of blood and fire that will erupt with his father's ****, and he dreads even more the threat to the North that will inevitably come. And so, that evening Lyonel scoured the library of Winterfell, hoping to find anything of use. His efforts were futile. The library had some 300 or so tomes, which is a significant amount of books in a world without the printing press, but still far too few for him. And even in these books, the information about white walkers were scant, and most of the books consider them as fables, putting them in the same category as grumpkins and snarks. By the end of his search, Lyonel was left with nothing except a sense of frustration.

While the prince was hitting the books, Arya was moments away from hitting her sister.

To counter the moral decay of last nights festivities, septa Mordane had invited the noble ladies and a good amount of the female servants to join her in prayer and a rehearsal of the holy scriptures. Yeah, invited with a raised finger, admonishing them, Arya grumbled into her grinding teeth. Because the southern ladies, all believers in the Seven, joined them, what was usually was a small circle, had become a big event. Urgh. And Sansa, that swotter, was revelling in it. She was practically dancing through the castle chapel and lighting candles and incense. Urgh. And to top it all off, everyone was swarming around her with questions about the prince and her bethrothal and the marriage and the travel down south and URGH. Arya would love to hit her shoulder or kick her shin. Anything to wipe that smug, better-than-you smile off her face.

At least she wasn't the only one that was a little cranky today. The blonde little princess was also a little agitated, if her crossed arms, crossed legs and the stoic stare a-cross the room were anything to go by. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Her sisters good news and Myrcellas bad mood would distract the women around the room. Arya would just keep her head down and duck out when no-one was looking. A group as big as this also has it's perks, Arya breathed out in relief.

"Lady Arya, come up front. You'll accompany your mother and sister in the first chant. As the crone teaches us -"

Arya cursed her optimism and readied herself for a long day of chants and prayers.

That night, Robert declared that they should head back soon, at least in a couple of days. Lord Stark agreed at once.

"The journey down south will take another three months or so. It is not good for any king to be so long away from his capital, specially when his capital is a viper's nest like King's Landing", the Warden of the North said with a certain undertone.

"A viper's nest? The underside of a fallen tree more likely", the king proclaimed, raising his mug and making sure he had the attention of the people around him, "Sure, it's dark and rotten, but you'll mostly just find slugs and leaches. Ones are squirmy, the others sucks you dry, but at the end of the day you can crush both under the same boot!"

The men at the table burst into laughter. Half of them shared the disdain for the intrigue and schemes of court, all the Northmen among them. The other half **** out a laugh, not oblivious to the fact that it was them precisely that the king was talking about. Lyonel couldn't help but form a slight grin. It was a funny line, but he knew all to well how those *insects* had brought down many a good man.

Afterwards Ned proposed a hunt for the next day. Something he normally doesn't partake in, but that everyone knew the king would love. Unbeknownst to all but three people present in that room, Eddard was not proposing the hunt as a pleasant distraction. During the afternoon a raven had arrived at Winterfell. Dark wings that had brought dark words.

And so here was Lyonel now, eating breakfast on the day of the hunt, a hunt that would change the fate of the seven kingdoms. In the books, during this same hunt, Brandon Stark saw Jamie embracing his own sister the queen. Jamie pushes Bran out of a window, the Starks find out, Catelyn thinks that Tyrion was the one behind Bran's attempted **** and arrests him, starting The War of the Five Kings that leads to many of the very same people whom Lyonel is sharing his breakfast with to their doom. But, unlike the rest, Lyonel has the power of knowing what will take place, and is determined to prevent it from ever happening.

_Authors Note_: Ok usually I very much prefer to put these in the comments, but as this is a special case, I'll make an exception. So... Well... Sorry folks. I don't know how to say this more precisely than by blankly apologizing. This has been one hell of a break and even though it wasn't a voluntary one, I'm still sorry for keeping you waiting. First the end of the semester was keeping me up, then Corona hit me and when I had recovered, the war made sure to destroy any positive, creative mood I tried to build up. But I finally managed to get this done.
It's mostly build up and character development, but I sincerely hope that you still enjoyed it and that you're still with us on this ride. A thank you to everyone that reads this for motivating me and helping me through this time, an even bigger thank you for my more than patient partner-in-crime that has helped me through these troubling times and a huge relief to Jourmungrad333:
I'm not dead ;)