9 Their sorrow, his joy

Of all the rooms in the Great Keep, the Lady of Winterfell's quarters were the warmest. Catelyn rarely had to light the fireplace. When she arrived at Winterfell she was pleasantly surprised at how warm her quarters are, Ned told her that the castle was built on natural hot springs, and when building the castle the builders put pipes between the walls. Through these pipes the boiling water of the springs runs through the castle like blood through a man's body.

That is why Winterfell is the warmest castle in the North, even in the harshest winters its inhabitants suffer no hardships due to the cold. The ingenuity of the builders, some say Bran the Builder, saved countless lives. Here in the North the cold of winter claims more lives than any disease.

But right now Catelyn can't enjoy the warmth of her rooms, the Lady of Winterfell abruptly went into labor while realizing that her firstborn had died.

There, on her knees in front of that damn pond, her water broke.

She didn't even notice it, she was too lost in her anguish. Catelyn didn't feel the water soak her dress or the pain in her belly. But her husband`s bastard did. Jon Snow looked at her with the same expression that her husband has when he deals with some serious matter, Lord Stark face Robb called it.

"Lady Stark, you are in labor." She looked at him blankly, her mind still reeling from the loss of Robb. "Lady Stark!" The boy yelled at her with a gloomy expression, seeing that she did not respond, the boy turned to the guards. "Call the maester and bring a stretcher." The boy ordered them and they followed his orders.

Catelyn was still in a daze when they put her on the stretcher and all the way from there to her quarters. She, too, was not lucid when her maids took undresed her or when the master arrived.

"Lady Starks!" Luwin yelled at her, trying to get her attention with little success. "Think about the baby, if you don't push the baby will die."

At the word 'die' Catelyn's eyes regained focus, and she finally seemed to realize where she was.

"Baby? How did I get here?"

"Jon had the guards carry you on a stretcher to your quarters." Luwin explains quickly.

"Jon-" Luwin cuts off whatever she was going to say.

"Lady Catelyn, at my command you have to push!"

Lady Stark nods and places a hand on her swollen belly.

`I won't lose any more children,` she thinks as tears begin to flow from her eyes.

***

The crypts of Winterfell were dark and cold. The stagnant air had a musty, smoky smell.

Jon walked slowly, as if in a trance. The boy held a torch in his hand and walked past each statue bearly looking at them. After the guards took Lady Stark away, Jon stayed for a while in front of the pond, with the help of some guards he pulled the ropes and chains. Jon recognized the design of the harness that was attached to the end of one of the ropes as one of Robb's creations and everything felt even more real.

As the guards grimly collected the ropes and chains, Jon left, wandering aimlessly through Winterfell and after several hours he arrived at the crypt doors. The boy, with bile in his throat, took a torch and entered the crypts. The winding stone steps were narrow and it was easy to slip and fall, Jon walked slowly with one hand on the wall.

Shadows danced around him, the bright light of the torch touching the stones on the ground and caressing the walls and statues, the further away from Jon the dimmer the glow became. On each side of the boy was a column of the dead, the Stark Lords and Kings of Winter sat on stone thrones against the walls, their stone swords leaning against the sepulchres containing their mortal remains as if it was protecting them from some evil.

The statues were made by talented craftsmen who detailed the long faces of the Starks perfectly, looking at the faces of his ancestors Jon could see features he saw in the mirror every day.

To Jon's relief and sadness, none of them looked anything like his brother. Relief because he didn't think he would be able to face anything resembling Robb right now and sadness because he won't see his face ever again.

Robb Stark isn't the first Stark heir to die as a child, and he won't be the last. But while statues were made to commemorate some heirs who died as adults, such as his uncle Brandon, no statue was made to commemorate a boy heir.

Robb will not have a statue to commemorate him, future generations of Starks will not walk these halls and find the statue of the genius boy who died too young.

Jon Snow drops the torch, which falls to the ground and rolls away from him. The boy clenches his fists so tightly that his nails dig into his palms.

"Why?" He growls between his teeth. "Why were you so stupid Robb?" Jon screams and falls to his knees. After letting out a scream full of anger and pain, the boy begins to cry. Big tears fell from his eyes like waterfalls.

"Why did you leave me behind brother? You promised to always be by my side…" his voice comes out weak and trembling, barely a broken whisper.

***

Robb Stark opens his eyes.

He looks up at the silver sky above him and blinks in confusion.

"The tunnel." He remembers as he gets up from the grass. "Where I am?" He wonders as he scans his surroundings.

To one side he sees the crystal clear lake, beyond the side he sees a silvery stone wall, several waterfalls emerge from it.

"I came through one of those tunnels." The boy realizes, the lake is not very big, the distance from the waterfalls to the shore where he stands is less than a hundred meters.

On the other side he sees a forest of trees, some familiar and some unknown. Robb remembers the gigantic tree he saw before crashing into the lake water and tries to spot it above the forest to no avail. The trees are tall and block his view.

"The tree looked like a Heart tree," Robb recalls its white trunk and red leaves.

Robb sighs and turns his gaze to the sky, narrowing his eyes and looking at it intently.

"It's not a sky, it's madeof the same silver stone from the tunnel" he realizes. "It's the ceiling of a cavern! This is a gigantic cavern under Winterfell!"

Robb smiles excited to discover the mysteries that this place hides.

***

NOTE: While Robb is exited about his adventure his family is crying `death`. One can only imagine the punishmente he will receive when he comes back home.

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