The Wildling Princess

She had heard of Robb Stark. 

The King of Westeros. 

The Young Wolf. 

The Wolf King. 

The Stark King. 

The King of Winter. 

He held many titles and names. 

Yet Val had never had a face to place to the name. Robb was a busy man one who seemed to barely have enough time for his own brother, Jon let alone a Wildling like her. However, she had caught glances of him during his arrival at Westeros and then their march to the Wall. But this was the first time she got to meet him and view him in full and she was not sure what to think. 

He was handsome, much like Jon. 

Strong also. 

He was a good head taller than Jon with a much burlier frame though even then, the two brothers seemed smaller than many of the Wildlings and Northerners she had seen. Even then, the difference was not as noticeable with Robb as it was with Jon who seemed to fit in more with the Southerners. 

However, there were two features about Robb that made him stand out. 

Those being his fire-kissed hair and his bright blue eyes. 

The bright red hair that framed his face was considered a blessing in their kind, a symbol of good luck something Val supposed would have helped him in his conquests in the south. He had gone to war at the age of fifteen and yet had masterfully defeated all his foes in the course of the war that had lasted four more. She would not doubt the rumours of his tactical brilliance but Val was certain that the luck gifted by those kissed by fire had only aided in his ventures. 

It was his bright blue eyes that stood out the most. 

Peeking out from his red mane of hair in stark contrast they were impossible to not notice. Yet they made it difficult for Val to retain eye contact with him as his gaze bore into her own. She had seen eyes like those before, they belonged to the undead that wandered the lands beyond the Wall. Seeing such eyes upon a living man was unnerving especially when such eyes possessed intelligence. 

"They call you the Wildlings Princess?" Robb questioned having finally finished his observations of her and turning away, Val feeling a weight fall from her shoulders when those blue eyes turned from her. "Why is that?"

"You Southerners do." Val said bluntly and Robb paused for a moment as he looked over the reports on his desk, for a ghost of a moment Val thought she had seen him smile. "You tell me?" There was a scrapping of swords as Perwyn and Olyvar Frey who had remained inside the tent for this meeting started the motion of removing their swords. 

"Watch your words carefully, Wildling." Dacey Mormont warned from behind Val, hand resting upon the head of her axe as a warning. "You are speaking to the King. Any more of this insolence and your head shall be removed from your shoulders, Princess or no."

Here, Robb laughed. 

The sound broke through the tension of the tent as everyone turned to the King whose short burst of amusement caught them all off-guard. "She is no princess, Dacey." Robb told them, a rueful smile on his face as he sat down in his seat. "And there's no need to give such warnings to a Wildling. They choose their own Kings and Chieftains after all. Warnings such as those will simply fall on deaf ears."

Val spared a glance at the large woman behind her and shot her a slight smirk. 

"However, I suppose that in turn does raise questions of its own." Val turned back to look upon Robb who reclined in his seat comfortably, Grey Wind rising from its position on the floor and circling around the table to approach her. It had grown even larger and Val would be hard-pressed to remember seeing a Direwolf as large as the one before her, most only ever reached the height of a man's waist, a few rare exceptions she had seen to grow to their chests. 

Yet this Direwolf was as big as her. 

The largest she had ever seen. 

She would forever deny it, but the sight of such a beast made her tense in fear as it approached her. 

Its frame was already large and its fur was matted grey and white, with patches missing revealing deep scars from its many battles fought. This was not an average Direwolf that fought amongst its fellow kind and against the few Wildlings hunting parties that it would encounter. No, this was a Direwolf raised in war, one who had slaughtered men by the hundreds and grew stronger as it feasted on its prey. In the War of Five Kings, food for the beast was plentiful and it had been allowed to grow into a truly fearsome beast that was powerful and strong, just like its owner. 

"What questions?" Val asked quietly, noticing Perwyn and Olyvar sheathing their swords fully as Dacey moved to the side leaving her standing alone in the centre of the tent. 

"You see, I'm aware that Jon made an agreement with the King Beyond the Wall, Mance Ryder." 

Val was quick to speak here. "An agreement you agreed to, Jon gave his word on that." 

"Did I?" Grey Wind circled Val who remained rooted to the spot, its fur brushing against her slightly and making her heart pound heavily. "Mayhaps I did. But then again, this war has been long with many things happening. It would not be surprising if something like that skipped my mind. Especially when all I seem to now gain from such an arrangement is a rabble of rebellious savages." 

"We helped you take back the North!" She argued. 

"No." Robb shot down. "You simply helped retain the tentative balance that had befallen the North. It was I who retook the North after I dealt with the Lannisters and the Targaryens in the South. It is I who am dealing with Stannis Baratheon. You Wildlings have done the bare minimum and what? You expect me to hand you lands in the North, my home?"

"You gave your word!" Val had heard many a tale of the Starks from many in her time at the North. The honour they held and that their word when given could be trusted. So why was it now she was finding out that the Starks could not be trusted for theirs after all? 

-X-

"You gave your word!"

He had. ​

When Jon had proposed the plan of offering the Wildlings land in the North in return for their aid in battling their enemies, Robb had indeed given his word that this would happen. It was a good idea at the time, the North had lost much of its populace in the War of Five Kings and while they would be able to recover in time, it would take some years to do so. Robb had known that if he was to make sure that the North would be able to rebuild itself they would need an influx of population and the Wildlings represented that opportunity. 

However, things had changed since then. 

Robb had changed since then. 

He still intended to allow the Wildlings to reside in the North and would very much like to make that the case. Yet he would not sacrifice the stability of the North in order to simply increase its population. The Wildlings represented instability and before he would even consider allowing them to venture south beyond the Wall in force he would first need their loyalty. 

If that could not be gained, then he would have to ensure that they would not be additional forces for the Others. 

"Nay, I did not." The lie fell easily from his lips. "I simply told Jon that he was to do whatever he felt was necessary in order to win the war in the North." 

Val's glare deepened, her fear for Grey Wind so plain to see when his Direwolf had shown its full height, giving way to anger. "Your brother gave his word! Would you make a fool of him by going against him?"

Robb tilted his head slightly, bemused by her sharp tongue and words. 'Despite being a Wildling, she possesses some skill in politics.' However, Robb had spent far too much time around the likes of Garlan and Margaery to be caught off-guard by such words. "Whether Jon gave his word or not, that means little to me. I rule the North, I rule the Seven Kingdoms, not he. Perhaps I might make a fool of my brother by rendering his word null and void, but I would be the greater fool to invite rebellious savages into my lands and risk instability. Nay, I will not allow such a thing to happen when I have every opportunity to prevent it."​

"You have not yet defeated Stannis." 

Robb did not so much as blink at the blatant threat in her words. "Stannis will no longer be an issue requiring war to defeat. My small need for the Wildlings in this war has run its course. You pose no use to me anymore." 

"So, you would throw us aside, just like that?"

"I would like not to." Robb's words caught her by surprise and it was clear to see. "After all, we both know what really resides in the lands Beyond the Wall and why you Wildlings burn the bodies of your dead." 

Here, Val's eyes widened.

​"I would like to offer the Wildlings an opportunity to survive and fight alongside us. Alone you stand no chance. But beside us and under my leadership, there is a possibility of victory." Robb told her. "All that I would need from you, Val, the Wildling Princess, is for you to convince those Chieftains already south of the Wall to bend the knee."

"Wildlings do not bend the knee." Val retorted.​

"They will learn and you will teach them." Robb was not deterred. 

Val's gaze flickered away from him at that moment, her shoulders tensing as Grey Wind growled, a deep reverberating noise that even made his own knights stand on edge. "What makes you think they will listen to me?" Val asked. 

"That is because the reason you are called the Wildling Princess," Robb answered. "You are no Princess, but you do hold influence over the Wildlings and that is why you gained such a title. Convince the Wildlings to bend the knee to me and I shall allow them and their tribes to come south. Tell those who come to me first that they will be the ones to gain the richest lands I have to offer you following the distribution of rewards to my other noblemen." 

He had no intention of truly empowering the Wildlings greatly. 

They were a savage people and it would take time to truly integrate them into the ways of the North, but they would have to learn. That would be the duty he would give Jon and Mance Ryder, if the Wildling Chieftains that ruled these lands could not abide by his laws, it would be up to them to punish and replace those chieftains with those that could. 

In the end, they would all conform and slowly lose their Wildling habits.

 Though it would certainly take time. 

However, in the end, they would never be able to pose much of a threat to him. 

He already knew which lands would be distributed and to where, it had taken time and had been the one thing to occupy his time the most during his time in the North. Carefully planning which lands went to which nobleman, which titles and positions of influence to best reward them for their deeds yet also retain balance within the realm. The Wildlings was a piece he would use to ensure that power would be divided and that the Starks firmly remained in power. 

Yet in turn, he knew that Mance would have kept the chieftains most loyal to him in the lands Beyond the Wall by his side. By giving those already south the opportunity to come to him first he would be able to rob Mance of gaining too much power.

Politics. 

He hated it. 

However, Robb knew that this was a new theatre of war he would have to become adept in or else he would fall. 

With the threats to come, Robb would not allow himself to fall. 

He had far too much left to accomplish. 

The Wildlings were simply a stepping stone upon that path. 

If they could not fall in line. 

Then he would simply ensure they could not be used to empower the Others even further.