Pride Cometh Before a Fall

[thekittenqueen]

WHO: Margaery and Robb
WHERE: The Stark Bungalow
WHEN: After this
OPEN TO: Robb
WARNINGS: Mentions of violence and animal death
STATUS: Closed

After the exhausting events moments before, Margaery wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep for the rest of the day. She felt spent, drained emotionally and physically. Save for the throbbing of her eye, she felt as though she weren't even present in her body and mind. It was the first time in a long while that she had been struck. The memories it raised were painful and frightening, threatening to return her to the nightmares that she had finally shaken away.

She didn't want to dwell on any of it. Her anger and hysteria had run dry, leaving her feeling like a husk. Along the way, her eye had begun to swell. The light summoned tears, stinging her eye and ratcheting up the pain. She covered her face with her hand and pushed on, finally reaching the bungalow with a sigh of relief.

Once inside, she started to head towards the bathroom, passing Robb in the hallway. Not expecting him to be home, she glanced up at him in surprise before hurrying her steps. She had no desire for him to see her this way. It was humiliating enough that the rest of the village witnessed it.

"Everyone is outside, near the inn. There was an attack." She said casually, as though she didn't have obvious signs of injury on her face.

Comments

[king_in_the_north]

"I don't understand," Robb continued on, oblivious to Margaery's explanations. "How would you even know she was a Wildling? Did she tell you herself?"

He supposed if this woman had claimed she lived north of the Wall, that would explain it, and it gave him a chill to think of Margaery's conversation with the woman being long enough for them to establish such details.

"You're lucky she didn't cut your throat, then or today." Secretly, he thought having the reminder of a black eye would be a good lesson; Margaery could see it every time she looked in the mirror, which was no small amount.

[thekittenqueen]

"Some of the things that she said and did lead me to that conclusion." It was hard to explain to him or to anyone. Her life had centered around reading others and rooting out exactly who they were and what they wanted. Given that Wildlings didn't live their lives with the same sort of intrigue and politics, there was no mask for Ygritte to hide behind.

It hadn't taken long for certain phrases and terms to be used that it alerted Margaery to the truth. Once she knew enough, she had excused herself and stayed away from the woman.

She was hardly in the mood for a lecture or more disapproval. She had heaped enough on herself. "That is stating the obvious," Margaery said, pulling away and getting once more to her feet. "I brought this on myself, I know that already."

[king_in_the_north]

Robb watched as she drew away, and his lips thinned a moment before he let out a long sigh.

"I'm not cross with you," he said at length, his voice more gentle, although he made no attempt to follow after her, thinking it best to let her have her space if she wanted it. "I know you've never had to deal with these people before. But they are truly dangerous, Margaery. Don't speak to her again, and stay out of the woods unless you have a capable escort. All right?"

[thekittenqueen]

He would know better than she did about what the Wildlings were capable of. All she knew, she had heard from her septa and from the Night's Watchmen that would come appealing for more men for the wall. Robb, however, grew up with the overhanging threat of them. She had acted rashly and stupidly. It was as he said, she was fortunate to have only been hit.

"All right," she nodded, moving closer to him to place her hand on his shoulder. "But she is in the village now, not the woods."