The Feast of Winterfell

The entirety of Dan's life seems to revolve around trying and failing these days, quite consistently one might add. He could still feel the blow landed by Alfred, and it sent shivers down his spine even imagining it. He had been too naive in thinking that he could outperform people who had been swinging the sword for years whilst he had only begun the practice two days ago. He realized that the feast for the Prince's name day was about to begin soon when he left his dark room to see the festivities beginning outside. The candles were lit, and musicians had assembled, tonight was going to be grand. It was very rare that the smallfolk and lords mingled and enjoyed like this, hence these events served as hallmarks in the lives of the people.

Dan mulled over all the words that Benjen had said to him, his hopes of being a knight, his dream of being respected, and all the things he had hoped to gain had been dashed to the ground with a single duel. He couldn't see a way out of this hole he had been thrust into. The beauty and happiness of the outside only served to further ingratiate in him the hopelessness he felt from within. If the Lord's son was not willing to take him wouldn't the lord just discard him as well?

As these thoughts took hold of Dan the hollowness he felt from within began to deepen, he felt that all the hope he had been banking his future on had just been taken away. He wanted to run away but he knew that he must show his face at the banquet even if to just tell the Lord that he was present. He made up his mind to just go there and then depart at the earliest opportunity. Dan dressed in his only other pair of clothing which were cleaner and looked a little more refined than the rags he called clothes.

He gathered what little confidence he had in himself and began walking towards the banquet hall. As he walked he realized that headache he had suffered during the fight seemed to still have a hold over him. He could still feel the pain in the recesses of his mind and he had yet to figure out what it was that pained him so.

Dan finally crossed the gates and entered the banquet hall, the noise, the lights, the aura, and the overall atmosphere hit him all at once as he saw the large hall covered with people. At the dais was the Lord's table on which sat his most esteemed guests and family members. Ellard was sitting there smiling and conversing with Lord Karstark, one of the most loyal bannerman of House Stark.

Dan slowly made his way towards the table in hopes of catching the Lord's eye, he wished to see whether he still had favor or not. As he approached the table he also laid eyes upon Benjen, and just as he did so Benjen too happened to look in Dan's direction. Benjen smirked at Dan but then continued to talk away with the person sitting next to him. In his eyes, Dan was not even worth bothering with.

Dan finally reached right below the table, he eyed Lord Stark and then slowly climbed up and tapped. Ellard was brought out of his conversation when he saw the small boy from two days ago standing before him. The boy seemed to want to say something to him.

"What is it boy, are you not enjoying the feast?" the boy stared at him before speaking.

"I did my lord...I am here to ask if I would still be allowed to be the young lord's bodyguard since he said I can't do that anymore."

Ellard was uninformed on the matter so he looked towards Benjen who by this point had also overheard the conversation. Benjen seemed to understand his father's gaze as he approached him.

"Father I do not think I need this boy as a guard he is thoroughly inept and weak, even Alfred was able to beat him in two-three moves."

"He is only learning Benjen, you can't expect him to know the sword with only two days of practice can you?"

"Even so father I believe I can look for my own guard and this boy is not worth it in my eyes."

Seeing Benjen was so unrelenting on the matter Ellard could only sigh as he looked at the boy with eyes that showed his remorsefulness. However, that look from Ellard had done all the damage that Dan needed. He had come back here with hope but yet again he had been betrayed for being hopeful. So much for his optimism, he thought. Dan had reached his limit with how hopeful he could be on the matter.

Without paying attention to the crowd he just departed from the hall with his footsteps increasing in pace the closer he approached the door. Dan ran out of the banquet hall but he didn't go to his room, he ran into the snow as he continued to run outside the gates of the castle until he reached the woods. The very same woods he had gone out adventuring with Ellard. When he finally realized where he was he began to panic as this was the time when the wolves and the beasts were out to hunt for prey.

Dan began to try and retrace his steps in the snow to get out of the woods, yet before he could he encountered a beast he never wished to meet. The glowing yellow eyes of the beast began to trace Dan as ye slowly took steps backward, the beast growled and began to approach Dan, as the moonlight fell on its fur one could make out that this was a direwolf. Dan scared out of his wits began to run without thinking even for a moment. He could hear loud growls and the sound of howling behind him, yet he didn't stop nor did he turn to look around.

Dan ran in curved patterns often changing his direction for he knew that running straight would only lead to an early death. In his mind he only prayed to get out of this dilemma, he wanted to live, and he didn't want his death to be like this. He hoped for miracles, he hoped for someone to come and save him yet nothing of the sort happened. Finally, Dan saw a cave that seemed to be covered by thick bushes but to him, it was crystal clear.

He didn't know if he was exchanging one danger for another but his head had begun hurting again and he seemed to be losing consciousness. As the vision in front of him became blurry Dan mustered all the remaining strength he had in him to make one final dash into the cave. As soon as he was in he felt that the wolves that were chasing him had stopped, they were afraid of entering the cave. They began whimpering and then ran away as fast as they could.

Just as Dan began to relax and think that his suffering was over, he began to feel warm, then the warmth began to feel hot and as Dan looked behind him the boy found a huge hand made of fire coming towards him. Immediately the blinding light from the flame hand made him faint as the in the darkness the hand grabbed onto him.