Love And War [Robb]

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Riverrun... she imagined at one point the name had had a more profound meaning. Perhaps a place of peace and plenty where children went to spend their days and laughter and joy once filled the air. She wished she could have seen it before the stain of war had tainted it. It was night, the battles, at least for the day had ceased, but earlier she had been amongst that chaos and there was nary a blade of glass not stained with the blood of a soldier, cries and screams of pain filled the air. Some begging for death, others crying for their wives, their children. She had done everything within her power to save as many as she could. Tents were lined with the wounded, the dying. She had offered them what little pain relief she could, but she felt it not enough. There were too many soldiers and so scarce nurses, it had taken them several hours to see to them all. Many, now were sleeping peacefully and some of the lesser wounded had reassembled their armor, readying for the next day's blood bath.

She sighed softly, folding her arms beneath her chest and leaning heavily against one of the trees. She was exhausted. If she wasn't treating a dying soldier, she was hunting for one upon the battlefield. Robb has asked her not too, not when swords clashed and battle cries rung high. Steel knew of no ally, only the taste of blood and death, but she did not have the heart to leave a man in pain, risking her life to save another, it seemed a worthy cause. She frowned as she thought of her beloved, so busy with his army, she had not the time to seek him out. She knew not if he had survived the day or if his body lay in tattered ruin amidst the dead. Her heart beat painfully against her chest at such a thought. She needn't think such things, her mind was taxed enough as it was.

"Talisa." She turned at the sound of her name, a familiar nurse coming into her view and she offered the woman a tired smile, but the young woman did not return it. "The young gentleman, the one whose right leg was amputated at the knee?" Talisa winced slightly as she recalled his screams of agony. " He took his own life, said his wife deserved more than a one legged man, asked if we would give her any coin he had earned here, along with his wedding band." Talisa blinked, her heart sinking as the nurse made a hasty retreat, dropping the simple gold band in the palm of her hand. Her voice caught in her throat and she slipped the band into a pouch that dangled at her side, she pushed away from the tree, her stride determined as she set off to find her beloved. She needed to know that he was alright, that he had survived the days fight.

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He'd retreated to his own private chambers within Riverrun. every fight got bloodier. Nastier. Just like how his father said it would be whenever Robb had to take to the battlefield. The little boy in him wished that there were never days like this. That he could go back to Winterfell and never have to fight another war. The little boy in him didn't want to be a King. But there was no denying his people or his responsibility, was there? He was supposed to be King in the North. Still, his bannermen were beginning to lose faith, no matter how much they said they would fight with him. "Til the bloody end", many of them told him. Robb was beginning to become unsure of that.

The King in the North found himself in front of a fireplace as he heard her enter. Her presence was familiar to him, so he knew who it was when she came. Such was the way things worked when a man was in love. Greywind, who had been curled up at the foot of Robb's bed stood up to greet Robb's queen.

"It was a long fight today...", Robb said to her, turning his entire body now to face his lovely wife. His queen.

"The men are losing faith in me... I can see it. The fact that they even still lift their swords in my name is a miracle."

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She wasted no time in frivolous things like her appearance. She knew her hand was a disarrayed mess, her dress was stained in the blood of both the lives she had saved and the lives she had mercifully ended. No make up adorned her face, nor did jewelery glisten upon her wrists. Blood, dirt, and grime were caked upon her, hiding the exhaustion she felt so entirely, but none of these things mattered, all that mattered, all she wanted at the moment was to see her beloved. To know he still lived to breathe another day, to see another sunrise. She approached his tent and the guards quickly moved out of her way. She was one of few given explicit permission to enter his quarters whenever the fancy struck her and such a fancy struck her strong.

She had scarcely taken two steps into his tent when he called out to her. Greywind, approached her first. The massive dire wolf trotting over to her with the countenance of a puppy, at first she ignored him. Her eyes scanning Robb from the top of his head to his boots, looking for injury, looking for blood, and when she deemed him not only alive but whole, she let her eyes drift down to the dire wolf and with a soft smile ran her fingers along his back and placed a kiss between his ears.

She could tell Robb was troubled even before he spoke. He was unsettled, disturbed, as exhausted as she if the look in his eyes was anything to go by. Giving the dire wolf one last stroke, she approached him, her eyes never leaving his own. Her anxiety melted away at the sound of his voice, no matter how somber and she forgot her own troubles, her attention flickering to focus only on his own. Without a word, she pulled the leather gloves from his hands and brought one of them up to her mouth, bestowing the softest of kisses upon his knuckles. She spoke into his skin.

"You needn't fear my King. They do not lose their faith, because they see exactly what I see within you." Her voice was confident and strong, but barely above a whisper. She let his hand drop and rose her free hand to trace his cheekbone. ""You fight for your people, for your home, so they might live better lives under a King who cares for his people. Joffery is a tyrant, a cruel, vindictive child, who would see every man, woman, and infant dead in the streets before he offered a speck of mercy or showed even a hint of kindness. They fight for you because you are a great man. Intelligent, caring, considerate, and so unbelievably strong... you are amazing and your people know that." She smiled reassuringly at him, willing him to believe her. ""Its one of many reasons why I love you."