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. . . but then the flower bent back over and dumped out the dead body of Lady Stark!

“Nooooo!!!!” cried Bran.

Chapter 22: Child of the Forest!


EDRIC

“Wait! Wait!” said Margeary, who had closed her eyes. “She’s at Highgarden!”

“What do you mean?” asked Sansa. “How can she be there if she’s here?”

“He body is here, but her mind has been transferred into a new body in Highgarden,” explained Margeary.

I was quite relieved I would not need to summon her spirit to confirm her death.

“We need to get there quickly,” proclaimed Margeary. “She’s freaking out!”

“What means: ‘Freaking out’?” asked Bran.

“She just woke up naked and green in an unfamiliar garden full of strange plants,” explained Margeary.

“Green?” asked Sansa.

“Green,” confirmed Margeary, as she, herself turned green for us for a moment, before turning back.

“Did it work?” asked Jon, who had just arrived, still holding his step-sister.

“It worked, but now we need to get to Highgarden to rescue her,” explained Margeary. “I can’t go the same way because she is using my body there. Is there some Force way to go there very quickly?”

“No,”said Jon. “How about magic?”

“I can’t apparate somewhere I have never been to before,” I explained. “I don’t know how to get there.”

“Could you send a raven there and follow it?” asked Sansa.

“You could send your owl there and he would fly right to her,” pointed out Bran.

“And you could follow the owl on your broom,” suggested Margeary.

“You don’t need to follow him,” said Bran. “You can stay here and warg in your owl.”

“I’m not as good at warging as you are and it will take several days to for him to make the trip,” I explained.

“I can help you,” offered Bran, as he moved to sit on the tree, but had moved to the side, leaving me enough room to sit with him.

“We should write a letter to send first,” I reminded.


MARGAERY

I wrote a letter to Grandmother explaining what was going on, which we tied to leg of Edric’s owl. Then Edric and Bran sat next to each other in the weirwood tree. Their eyes turned white and they released the owl, who immediately flew to the South. After that, it was a waiting game. Most of the time, they would stay inside the owl at the same time. But sometimes they would take turns so the other could sleep or eat or use the privy. This went on for two days before Bran announced:

“He’s there!”

Bran stayed in the tree, his eyes still white, while Edric’s eyes turned normal, as he stood and disappeared with a:

POP!


TRYSTANE

I was just passing by Highgarden and decided to pop in and see if Margaery was there. So I danced into the wereworld and made my way to garden but she was no where to be found. But she could be elsewhere in the castle. It was, after all, a rather large castle. So I danced through the walls and went room to room until I got lucky. She was in a nice bedroom sitting at a desk reading a book. I shifted into her world as I came up behind her, wrapped my arms around her and kissed the side of her neck.

“Good evening beautiful!” I whispered in her ear.

She squealed and jumped up and away from me.

“Who are you? What are you!?!” she screamed.

“You’re not Margeary!” I exclaimed.

Now I realized what was wrong. She was wearing normal clothes, but she was green. Come to think of it her green hair looked more like leaves than it normally does. I hadn’t realized there were two Plant Women.

“She’s at Riverrun,” the scared woman gasped.

“Thanks babe!” I said, before giving her a quick peck on the lips, then dancing away, back into the wereworld.


EDRIC

POP!

I appeared in front of an elderly woman whose meal had been interrupted by my owl, which had landed on the table and was sticking the leg with the letter tied out to her.

“Um . . . Hi! I’m a friend of Margeary’s. The letter is from her. I’ll be back with her in a minute.”

POP!

I appeared back in the Riverrun Gods’ Wood.

“I can now make a portkey to get us there,” I announced. “So who is going?”

“Me! said Bran.

“I should go too, so I can explain things,” announced Margeary.

“If a portkey is magic, then I’m not going,” replied Jon.

“I want to go,” said Sansa.

“All right, everyone grab onto this rope,” I announced as I waved my wand over it, silently converting it into a portkey. “Three . . . Two . . . one . . .”


MARGAERY

It was like being inside a tornado, the way we spun, as Edric magically transported us to Highgarden. We appeared in front of Grandmother, who was reading my letter while Edric’s owl help himself to food from her plate.

“Margeary, what in Seven’s name is going on?” asked Grandmother. “How did you all get here?”

“Grandmother, this is my new husband, Ser Bran Tully and his sister, Sansa Stark,” I began. “Their mother almost died so I had to transfer her mind into my spare body here. Ser Edric Peverel, here, used his magic to help us get here.”

“Well, thank the Seven!” exclaimed Grandmother. “I thought you had gone mad, insisting that you were Lady Stark and parading around green in front of everybody.”

“Where is she now?” I asked.

“We locked her in your room,” said Grandmother. “The Maester has been unable to cure your madness. I should have known it wasn’t you!”

I led Bran and Sansa to my room, leaving Edric alone with Grandmother. After relieving the guards and unlocking the door, Bran and Sansa rushed into the room. But both of them were a bit taken aback at being confronted by a green version of myself. She was wearing one of my green and gold dresses, but her hair looked more like leaves than the green hair I usually had when I was Plant Woman. I realized that I had been subconsciously making myself look more human when I was green. But Caitlyn Stark was unable to do that. In fact she couldn’t change her appearance at all. In spite of being in one of my spare bodies, she didn’t have my abilities. Sansa and Bran seemed afraid of seeing a green, plant version of me and refused to come any closer to her. In fact they backed away when she tried to come closer to hug them.

“Sansa? Bran? It’s me, your mother. Don’t be afraid of me,” she said in a perfect imitation of my voice.

“What happened? Why are there two of you? And why is one of you all green?” asked Bran.

“That’s your mother,” I explained. “It really is her. You asked me to save her. The only way I could, was to move her mind into a copy of my body. That’s why she looks so much like me.”

“It really is me,” said Catelyn.

Sansa was the first to allow herself be hugged by her mother. Bran was more hesitant, but finally joined them for a group hug. When they finally released each other, I said:

“I think we should go rescue Edric from my grandmother”


EDRIC

As soon as the others had left the room, the old woman turned on me:

“So . . . what exactly are you?” asked the old woman. “How did you appear out of thin air and how did you bring the others here?”

“I’m a wizard,” I explained. “I used magic to bring them here.”

“l’ve heard about you,” sneered Olena. “There are some nasty rumors coming out of King’s Landing about you and my grandaughter’s new husband. Exactly how many babies did you have to sacrifice in order to transport them here?”

“I didn’t kill any babies,” I defended. “My magic, comes from inside me. Real wizards, like me and Bran are born that way.”

“That’s not what our Septon says,” growled Olena. “But then, again, he always was an idiot.”

“I think you should be prepared,” I warned. “Any children Margeary and Bran have are likely to be magical too.”

“How marvelous!” exclaimed Olena “It seems our family really is Growing Strong!”

Just then, they returned to the room, Margeary, Bran, Sansa and a green copy of Margeary.

“Thank you for taking care of her for us, Grandmother,” said Margeary. “But I guess we should go back to Riverrun now.”

“Oh nonsense!” exclaimed Olena. “I was just breaking my fast until that owl ate it. All of you join me! We can have the servants bring us some more food and do some catching up!”


JON

I was waiting in the God’s Wood when they returned, still holding my baby stepsister. I was quite surprised to see two Margearys, one of which was green and housed Lady Stark’s soul.

“Mother! You’re looking rather green,” I said, as I handed her my stepsister, and kissed her on the cheek.

“You really believe it’s me?” asked Lady Stark.

“Of course I do! The Force tells me who you are, even if my eyes tell me something different,” I explained. “And speaking of the Force, your daughter is going to be powerful in the Force. When she is older I will teach her how to use it, as I do. But I don’t know what to call her. Have you thought of a name?”

Lady Stark looked down at the baby in her arms.

“Edmina, I think. Edmina Star- . . . . Edmina Snow.”

In response, the little girl started to cry.

“Looks like she needs changing,” said Lady Stark, as we started out of the Gods’ Wood.

As she walked through the castle, Sansa asked:

“Why is everyone looking at us that way?”

“They are afraid,” I explained. “They saw you levitate Lady Stark’s blood covered body through the castle, then you all disappeared for for a while and came back with a plant version of Lady Margeary.”

“It should blow over in a few days,” said Margeary.

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” replied Edric.

After changing the baby, Lady Stark had tried confronting Lord Tully with her new form and bastard child. That had been enough to tip him over the edge. Lord Hoster Tully died that day. At the funeral, Bran was able to hit the boat with the flaming arrow on the first attempt.

We spent the next few days debating what to do and what to tell Brans father, Lord Stark about this. The wedding guests departed, including Margeary’s father and the Reachlanders. It took a couple of days for Edric’s owl to return and then it needed a day of rest before Edric and Bran repeated their trick of warging the owl to Winterfell so they could travel there the same way as they had to Highgarden. But, since Lord Stark was in King’s Landing, we’d have to go there first. After some debate it was decided that Bran would stay behind. He was the new Lord Tully and the people needed to see him growing into his new role. I certainly wasn’t going, not if they were using magic to travel there. So the ones who went to King’s Landing were Lady Stark, baby Edmina, Margeary, Edric and Sansa. The Northern Troops that had come with them where sent back without them as they would be arriving quicker. Lady, went with them.


MARGAERY

When Edric’s portkey stopped spinning, we found ourselves in the Red Keep’s Gods’ Wood. We sent Edric to retrieve Lord Stark, while the rest of us waited in the Gods’ Wood. When he arrived, I could tell he was shocked by the sight of two of me, one of which was green and clearly made of plants.

“I know this is going to be a little difficult to understand,” I began. “But your wife had a difficult delivery. She almost died and I was only able to save her by transferring her mind into this copy of my body. Lord Stark, this is your wife, Lady Caitlyn Stark.”

“What!?!” gasped Lord Stark.

“It’s true, Ned. It’s me, Cat!” said Lady Stark “And this is my daughter, Edmina.”

“It’s true, father. This is my mother,” agreed Sansa.

“And there is more,” announced Lady Stark. “Jon says that Edwina has the same Force power that he does. He wants to foster her when she is older.”

“And I found out I have magic!” said Sansa. “Ser Edric has been teaching me!”

“I- . . . I- . . . I need to pray on this,” said Lord Stark. “Can you give me some time?”

“Of course, Ned,” said Lady Stark.

We all strolled away, as Lord Stark knelt at the Weirwood tree to pray. We kept our distance, but were close enough that we could see when he had finished, and returned to him.

“This is what I have decided,” began Lord Stark. “This change will be too confusing for Rickon. So my wife is dead. You, are a new servant I have sent to help take care of my children. You will replace Septa Mordane, who will be sent back to the Stoney Sept. Also, the Sept in Winterfell will be closed. You will not reveal to Rickon that you are his mother until he has come of age and is old enough to understand. You may bring your daughter with you. But everyone will know her as my late wife’s daughter, Edmina Snow.”

“Oh, Ned! You can’t mean it!” whined the former Lady Stark. “How can you end our marriage like this!”

“I will alway love the memory of my late wife and shall never re-marry. However, if a certain servant is willing, I may find comfort and sharing my bed with her when I return to Winterfell,” said Lord Stark, more tenderly.

“What about my magic lessons?” asked Sansa.

“You will go back to Winterfell and remain there,” replied Lord Stark. “If Ser Edric wants to teach you magic, he will have to move there.

“I need to stay at Riverrun to teach Lord Bran magic, replied Edric. “But after today, I can easily travel to Winterfell to give her lessons.”

“That would be acceptable, as long as they are properly chaperoned, said Lord Stark, glancing at Catelyn.

After saying our goodbyes, Edric made another portkey and whisked us off it Winterfell. We appeared in a very large Gods’ Wood next to the Weirwood tree. After leaving the God’s wood we entered a large courtyard that had a wight in a cage in the center of it. Everyone was starring at us.

“A Child of the Forrest!” exclaimed an elderly woman. “I thought you’d be shorter!”

“Hodor!” said an enormous man.

Once we had explained everything to Acting Lord Rob Stark, who was quicker to believe it than his father had been, we were invited to dinner, all except the former Lady Stark, who was put to work serving us food. Once everyone was seated and the food was on the tables, Rob stood up from the high table and made some announcements:

“I would like to introduce, my brother, Bran’s wife: Lady Margeary Tully, and Ser Edric Peverel. They have brought us a new servant: Cat. You may have noticed she’s a little different: I hope you will not hold that against her. She will be in charge of the education of my father’s children, replacing Septa Mordane.”

“Child of the Forrest!” someone cheered. Then another took up the cheer, soon almost everyone was cheering for their former Lady, now turned servant. It had been agreed that after dinner, she would be in charge of telling Rickon about his mother’s death.