Simon

"A tourney?" Simon asked the owner of the inn, they had decided to rest at, on their journey south. The man nodded, "Ay, a few moons ago, a man came in here boastin of how he'd win the tourney. He said it was in the name of Lord Steffon Baratheon, who apparently drowned out at sea. He also spoke of how Rhaegar Targaryen would be there." Simon frowned, "Thank you," he then patted the owner on the shoulder, "you're a good man."

Turning away from the innkeeper, Simon quickly moved over to the few companions he had taken with him into the inn. He sat down next to Oswyn, and leaning forward, told them what he had learned.

"Rhaegar?" Ben asked, frowning. Simon chuckled, "It seems so," he then looked over his shoulder, to see if anyone was eavesdropping. "I might go, there won't be another chance like this." He was interrupted by Wenda, who grabbed by his collar, "Are you mad, let's say your plan succeeds and you manage to kill him. Then what? You'll be dragged back to King's Landing in chains, where you'll be executed if you're lucky." She spoke quietly but he could hear the anger in her voice.

"Calm down woman! I understand your point, I won't go after Rhaegar, but there was another reason why I wanted to go to the tourney. Nalia, she's improving tremendously and with her getting used to our combat styles, I think her participation would be a great opportunity." Wenda's eyes narrowed, "I still don't like it, yes she might be skilled for her age, but Nalia's still a woman. She won't be allowed to participate."

Simon rolled his eyes, "Then she can wear full armour and be a mystery knight." This caused Wenda to sigh, and raise her hands in defeat, "Alright fine, you decide, but if anything happens to her I will hunt you to the Wall and beyond." He smiled and stood up, "I'll protect her if need be, we just need to get her a fitting set of armour."

Oswyn nodded, "I'll ask around, maybe I can scrape something together." Simon smiled at him, "Thank you," before leaving the inn.

He wrapped his woollen cloak around himself, as the full force of the snowstorm raging outside hit him. "By the seven!" he swore as the wind tore at his cloak. "Tadd!" he called out as he neared the makeshift shelter they had built for the person on guard duty. The young boy turned and squinted through the storm, "Commander?" Simon grinned and knelt down next to Tadd, "How are you?" The boy smiled, "Spiffing sir!" He laughed and patted Tadd on the back, "Good, good, seen anything suspicious?"

The boy shook his head, "No sir," he paused, "actually, I saw Ser Karron and Nalia walking past here earlier, they seemed to be going deeper into the forest, I tried to stop them sir, but they didn't seem to hear me." Simon sighed, "It's alright, I'll go look for them." he then gave the boy one last pat before striding off into the forest.

It took him longer than it should have to find the pair. This was ridiculous since when he reached them he saw that they were practising swordsmanship with live steel. He had no idea how the two weren't cutting each other to ribbons, so low was the visibility. It was obvious to him that Ser Karron was holding back, but at the same time, Nalia seemed to be reacting to his attacks before they even came her way. It still amazed him how fast she learned, in only a year she became one of the best amongst the Kingswood Brotherhood, and she was only eleven.

Simon sighed in relief as the two suddenly came to a halt finally having noticed him. "At last!" he called out as the two approached him. Ser Karron waved and shouted, "We didn't want to disturb the others so we thought this was as good a place as any." And it was. A large glade with a thick tree stump, which Simon suspected might have been an old weirwood.

His eyes widened as he finally saw the two clearly, Ser Karron, as always, wore a long fur coat with boiled leather underneath, but Nalia on the other hand stood there with nothing more than a linen shirt and britches. He cursed and stormed forward, "By the seven, what are you wearing?" Nalia raised an eyebrow, "Sir I'm wearing the same thing as I do every day."

"I can see that!" he shouted. This caused the girl to raise an eyebrow, "Then what's the problem?" Stepping forward Ser Karron patted him on the back, "I've asked her the same and all she told me is that she feels warm without furs. So better just give up." For a second Simon contemplated asking her again but gave up on it in the end. "Alright, I give up."

He then looked Nalia direct in her eyes ad asked, "Nalia, would you like to participate in a tourney?"