The She Wolf

"Do you all understand what you need to do?" Robb asked, leaning back into his seat and watching the faces of those gathered around the table. Shock was prevalent, even Daenerys struggled to quite understand the true scope of what Robb had told her.

There was a lot of moving pieces, so many things that could go wrong. It relied upon a number of people to move accordingly and allowed very little room for error if Robb wanted to achieve what he had told them. Even then, secrecy was key, something that upon a continent as vast as Westeros with so many eyes upon the brewing conflict in the Riverlands, would be difficult to do.

All it took was one simple slip of the tongue, a single person with loose lips to tell the wrong person and their plan would fail. Yet, Robb seemed confident that they would succeed, that this plan, his plan would succeed. It was a confidence very few shared, only those that had served beside him since the beginning like Lord Umber and Ser Brynden Blackfish had. It was a confidence that she and her advisors didn't possess, even with limited military experience she could see the flaws within his plan.

Above all else though, she couldn't understand why.

"Why not simply have your force of thirty thousand link up with ours and march. That would be fifty thousand marching from the east and sixty thousand marching from the south. With the west secure, and a river to his north, Aegon would be trapped." Tyrion questioned, raising points that she had. It was a simple and effective plan, but one for some reason Robb was against using.

He, proving her point as he shook his head. "It would not work."

Tyrion rose a brow. "I don't see why it wouldn't. It's simple and effective. The terrain and your familiarity with it works in our favour. The numbers are on our side also and like you have said, Aegon has committed everything to this plan. If it fails, he loses." The Imp pointed out. "Just by forcing him to abandon his pursuit of Margaery Tyrell, we win."

"Except that's not the case." It was not Robb that replied, but See Barristan, all eyes turning to him. "Large forces like our are slow moving. Even if we were to just dispatch our cavalry forces, while we would outnumber them still, victory would be impossible. The Dornish have some of the finest spearmen in all of Westeros. We might slow them down slightly, but ultimately the Dornish and the Golden Company would defeat us."

Spearmen were the cavalries greatest foe and the Dornish had some of the finest. The Golden Company themselves also had their own spear units, but even their infantry were heavily armoured and would prove to be enough to hold them off. Let alone their own cavalry, both light and heavy as well as their archers.

"You're also missing the fact that their ships have clogged up the Widow's Ford making a bridge across from one end to the other. After that, it's a clear route to either the Vale or the North. Areas that will make large forces like ours severely disadvantaged." Brynden Blackfish added in, the two oldest and most experienced commanders pointing out things that had influenced Robb's decision.

Tyrion didn't argue against those points, having the sense to recognise that he didn't have the military expertise to match these men. He was a researcher and a smart guy, but he could admit when he out of his element. His defence of Kings Landing was completely different to this.

"You're all not seeing the point." Robb interrupted them all. "The Riverlands have been ravaged by this war, more so that any other Kingdom." The North came close, but they were never a prosperous region in the first place, comparing the damages to both, the Riverlands had been hit much harder and were struggling.

Robb had worked hard with Edmure and the Tyrells, leaving much of the work to the more experienced statesmen to shift the Riverlands and build it up. There was little they could do considering the war, but they had managed to keep the Riverlands afloat so to speak by making it rely upon the war. Once it was over, the Riverlands would be hit again and would be destabilised and vulnerable. The amount of time, money and effort that would be needed to be put into making the Riverlands a stable kingdom again after this would be enormous, not to mention the damages that needed to be fixed in other kingdoms as well.

"It will take many years for them to recover from the effects of this war." That was something all within this tent knew as despite the serious potential that all now recognised within the Riverlands, there was much work to be done before it bore fruit. "Now a second conflict is set to be taking place within the Riverlands. One that will make its recovery even more difficult."

"If we are to limit the damages, we need to move this battle somewhere other than the Riverlands. See Brynden and Ser Barristan are correct on their points. We cannot send cavalry to cut them off as we will be the ones to lose. We can also not allow Aegon to flee to the North or the Vale." Robb explained calmly. "We need to bring this war east."

There was silence after Robb finished his speech.

A silence that was broken by the sudden movement from Nymeria. The Direwolf bursting to its feet and out of the tent, many of those inside flinching and reflexively rising to their feet, hands going to their blades. Grey Wind also rose, its large frame impossible to ignore as all watched it sniff the air, Robb himself also rising to his feet, Daenerys noting the widening of his eyes, the softening of his features.

There was a glimmer of emotions within his eyes, things she had not seen from him in all the time she had spent with the Wolf King. As soon as Grey Wind also bounded out of the tent, Robb rushed out after him, many looking around in confusion.

Slowly, they all filtered out of the tent, Daenerys remaining behind as she watched Smalljon and Ser Brynden Blackfish quickly catching up to the marching King as he made his way through the camp. "Well, that was certainly one way to end a meeting, would you not agree, your grace?" Tryion jested.

'What could have possibly caused such a reaction from him?' Daenerys wondered to herself. For the short time she had known Robb Stark, she knew him to be self controlled and disciplined man. His emotions were always kept in check, he appearing almost distant and cold to everyone around him. But there were times in which his emotions shined through, amusement, happiness, contention, hatred, anger, sadness, guilt, remorse, regret, loneliness. Just brief moments, times in which if you blinked, it would go away.

Yet while many in the tent had been focused upon the large figure of Grey Wind, Daenerys had turned to Robb. The emotions that were swimming in his eyes, was more expressive than anything she had seen from him before.

"It's strange." Ser Barristan said. "The way in which the King Robb reacted, it was like he knew what had caused the Direwolves to react in such a fashion." And there it was again, the reminder of just how strange the connection shared between Robb and Grey Wind was. Daenerys had thought the connection she shared with her Dragons was strong, yet the bond between those two was even deeper.

It was almost like at times, their minds were connected.

But that was impossible.

'But Dragons were believed to be dead and now they are alive.' Daenerys thought to herself, making her way down through the camp, Robb in the distance. The Direwolves surrounding a small child. "Who is that?" She asked, watching the boy break free from the Direwolves, rushing to embrace Robb who held them tight in return.

"I do believe, that is a Stark." Tyrion inferred. "Perhaps Arya Stark."

"Arya? That is a boy, is it not?" Daenerys questioned dubiously.

Tyrion shook his head. "The only Stark child around that age who is a boy, is Brandon Stark. But he is a cripple, and dead. Rickon Stark is far too young to be so tall and also dead. From what I remember though, Arya Stark was the youngest girl and quite the wild one. It wouldn't surprise me if that is her."

Daenerys said nothing, just watching Robb embraced the child tightly, before seemingly collecting himself. As soon as he did, he looked around and pulled them away. Even from this distance, she could see the relief, but also the anger in his eyes. A strange thing to be sure, should he not be happy to be reunited with one of his siblings?