[the dire wolf collects his due while the boys sing 'round the fire]

[learned_to_die]

WHO: Eddard Stark
WHERE: Around the village
WHEN: November 16, the beginning of the ice storm
OPEN TO: OTA!
WARNINGS: Will update as needed

---

The steadily dropping temperatures has filled Ned with a certain vigor, one he has not felt for quite some time. He has yet to experience a winter within the village, and while he has come to expect short and fleeting seasons here, unlike the seasons of Westeros, he cannot deny anticipating the frigid temperatures with which he's so intimately familiar. He will therefore enjoy the impending winter as deeply as he is able, for long as he is able.

It is in the early morning hours, when the village is still cloaked in darkness, that Ned is stirred awake by the sounds of rain pelting the roof of the cabin. No, it must be something harder than rain, given the noise and percussion of the sound; perhaps ice? He thinks to check on the others but, as he always is, he is concerned with being too overbearing and too meddling with their lives. None of them are children any longer, and though he does not anticipate having his usefulness wear out with them, he does not need to treat them as though they were still the children running around the yard at Winterfell.

He attempts to find slumber again but finds it impossible with the noise. He goes to the window to glance outside and, indeed, it seems as though ice is falling and crashing against all that lay on the earth. He busies himself until first light, donning the Westerosi outfit he'd received as a gift some time ago, as well as the heavier of the two fur-lined cloaks he'd also received as gifts. Quietly, he slips out of the house and out into what feels like a transformed world.

The village he knew as of the night prior has been turned into a wintry, sparkling land reminiscent of the North - the trees cocooned in layers of ice, the rain and ice falling from above. There is a particular smell in the air that always follows these colder, more frigid conditions, and if he closes his eyes and inhales deeply through his nostrils, he can almost convince himself that he's been transported back to the Godswood.

The thought of it reminds him of the small Weirwood sapling just south of the cabin and, after checking on it, he decides that perhaps he should build some sort of shelter for it, to protect it from the dagger-like ice.

He can be seen wandering about the village, checking the inventory at the Inn, trying to figure out a way to shield the small, white-barked tree from nature's harsher elements.

Comments

[learned_to_die]

Ned isn't quite sure what to make of that. What a ridiculous name, he thinks, and the slight contortion of his face mimics the sentiment. He glances from Raleigh to the snuggie to give it a better inspection, as though the thing might've changed now that it's got a name, however .. ridiculous and silly it might be. Still, the fabric seems to be thick and insulating; it would, despite its absurd state, be better than leaving the poor sapling to fend for itself. Even if it is a tree of the North, the circumstances are all together different. Ned has never planted or raised a Weirwood on his own, with nothing to say of the difference of soil and all other elements.

He kneels to take away as much of the ice collected at the base of the tree as he can before replacing it all with the coiled and strategically wrapped snuggie. He isn't sure if he'll ever be able to say the word aloud, but at least he knows what it's called. He might have to come up with a better name, though.

"Thank you, for assisting me," he says, standing and dusting the ice from his knees. Ned sizes Raleigh up for a moment or two before softening a bit. "It is of great comfort to me that you understand the importance of symbols such as these. Of course, we need not the Weirwood - or this Sakura, as you say - to remind us of our strength or resilience or of home, but that doesn't lessen the importance of them or their meaning."

[rangerbecket]

"No, but having the tree helps us remember what it means, keeps it up in the front of our minds," Raleigh says. He likes Ned a lot, actually, and thinks he would even if he wasn't dating Sansa. As it is, he is dating Sansa and so the fact that he likes Ned is a very good thing. He just hopes it's mutual.

"Do you think it will be okay in all the ice? Sansa says it gets cold where you're from but this is a pretty young tree so..."

[learned_to_die]

"Aye, that is my worry," Ned says, glancing down at the warm fleece wrapped around its base. "The tree is of the North, however, and it is my hope that it will flourish here as it does back home." He raises his eyes to the sky overhead, then to the foliage surrounding them, all of it covered with snow and ice. "I believe that helping to keep it protected from the worst of what the weather has to offer will ensure its survival."

[rangerbecket]

"I'll do what I can. I don't want you guys to lose what's important to you. From what I understand from Sansa, you guys have lost enough. You don't need to go and lose something that reminds you of home."

He thinks he'll be coming out to check on this tree as often as he can and if it looks like its floundering a little, he'll go see Mark and see what he thinks about making it survive the winter - even if it means taking it up and potting it like Raleigh has his sakura.

[learned_to_die]

Ned doesn't quite verbalize a response to that bit of information, instead letting his gaze travel over to Raleigh's face. He seems sincere, honest, true. It seems as though he speaks not out of wanting to appear as though he knows all there is to know about the Starks or their lives prior to arrival in the village, but rather out of empathy and kindness. After his time in King's Landing, being betrayed by almost everyone around him, Ned's come to sniff them out like his house's sigil, and he's come to recognize them easily in other people.

In a show of respect, he reaches out and places a hand on Raleigh's shoulder.

"You're a good man, Raleigh. And I'm glad Sansa's found a partner in you."