Inside the great Hall of the Winterfell, the Queen Sarra Stark, the Prince Artos Stark and the Princess Arya Stark were sitting on the high table breaking their fast. The three of them were accompanied by their three large wolves and a group of servants.
Artos, who was sitting on the right side of his mother, asked "Are they here yet?"
"No." Sarra replied back with a hidden smile on her face.
A few minutes later, Arya asked her mother "Are they here yet?"
"No." Sarra replied back in a flat tone.
A few more minutes later, Arto asked again "Are they here yet?"
Before Sarra could reply, all of them heard a howl "AWOOOOOOOOO"
Smiling at the howl, Sarra said with a sweet smile "It seems like they are here my dear son."
Artos and Arya were on their toes in excitement, because of the return of their siblings. Hearing the howl, the wolves were also excited just like the twins. The four of them ran out of the great hall at breakneck speed, and they left Sarra with her wolf companion.
Shaking her head with a smile on her face, she told her wolf "Come along Morning. Let's go and welcome back our family."
"Woof!" Morning barked out and stood up and they walked out of the great hall shoulder to shoulder.
They went straight to the North Gate of the castle as Sarra was sure that they would be entering through that gate. And sure enough, when she reached there with Morning, Brandon was entering on his wolf Coal, closely followed by Reagan on Fenrir, Alys on Snow and behind them was Lyanna on Fenris who was leading a few Wildlings on top of horses.
They all climbed down from their mounts, and Brandon went straight towards his wife to hug her. The twins jumped on to Reagan, Alys and Lyanna at the same time shouting "Welcome back!!"
Rubbing their heads in affection, the three of them replied in unison "We are back!"
On the other hand, Brandon was whispering something to his wife, and Alys noticed how her mother's face have started to change from happiness to one of irritation and mild amusement. Alys quickly looked at Reagan for some support, but he shook his head in denial and told her "I warned you many times. And you just had to take a wildling prisoner."
"I was in the wrong, I get that. But I am not married to him like his father said!" Alys said in a low voice so that the twins and the Free Folks won't hear what she was saying to her brother.
"I know that." He whispered back, "I know all too well that Ragnar was joking around, and you know father. He likes to sow chaos for the fun of it. Sometimes I wonder who the child is here." He said that as he looked at his father who had a smile on his face that proclaimed that he had sown some chaos.
Sarra slowly started to walk towards her eldest children, with a look that promised many questions to her eldest daughter. Seeing her walk up to them, Reagan told Alys with a smile "As father said, don't expect any support from me in this matter. You didn't adhere to my warning at all~~"
"Traitor." Alys said under her breath and right after that she was engulfed in a hug by her mother. She returned the hug to her and before they separated, Sarra whispered to her daughter "We will be having a talk. Do tell everything, my daughter."
"Yes, mom." Alys said as she closed her eyes over thinking about what would happen during their talk.
Sarra then hugged her future good daughter, which was returned by Lyanna. Lyanna whispered to
Sarra "Don't be so hard on Alys, mother."
Kissing her cheek, Sarea replied "Don't worry. I'm just entertaining my husband."
With a smile on her face, she then hugged Reagan and she stayed like that for almost a minute and Reagan was not one bit embarrassed about it. 'When your mother hugs you, return it to them wholeheartedly. Never think about what others might think, enjoy the moment. You may not get another chance.'
Releasing Reagan from her hug, she looked at the free folks who had entered the castle and asked Reagan "Are they the ones you told me about?"
"Yes mother. Meet Ragnar, the King Beyond The Wall, his wives Lagertha the blonde one and Aslaug the red haired one, along with them is Floki, his trusted friend and Bjorn, Ubbe, Hivtserk, Sigurd and Ivar, his sons." Reagan introduced one by one.
She nodded at each of them in greetings and she got nods in return, which she didn't think much about. Smiling at them she said "Welcome to Winterfell."
"Thank you." Ragnar said and looking at Brandon he said "Your husband, the King said that we could dine together. And that he will give us the special mead from the Kingdom of North."
"Did he now?" Looking back at Brandon with a mock glare, she turned to Ragnar and said "You are most welcome to dine together with us and in my authority, I will give you the guest rights."
"Thank you, my Queen." Ragnar said as he bowed his head a little in respect.
Aslaug, who was silent till then, asked Sarra "My Queen. The Prince told us that there is a Weirwood tree in Winterfell that is the largest in the North. Can we visit it?"
"You surely can. The Godswood is a place for praying to our gods, I'm not going to deny that for you." Sarra gave the permission to visit the Godswood and she saw Floki perking up at the mention of God's, so she made sure to ask her son about it later.
"But for now, let's break our fast at the Great Hall." Saying so, she led all of them into the Great Hall with the wolves as the family went into their den to hunt in the haunting dimension.
Inside the Great Hall, the Royal Family sat on the head table while Ragnar and his group sat at the lower tables. The servants started to serve the food for them and seeing all the different and abundance of food, Ragnar looked at Brandon and said "King! I would like to share this meal with my fellow men."
Smiling at Ragnar, Brandon said "You don't have to worry about that, Lord Ragnar, they're being served the same food as you are. There are no difference in quality and quantity. Everyone in the castle is served the same meal as we are eating right now, so enjoy your meal to your heart's content."
Nodding at Brandon, Ragnar sat back down and started to eat the different foods on the table. His family and friends were no different either, they started to eat slowly but surely enjoying the meal as much as they could. They were served a bowl of soup to resist the morning cold, chunks of meat for improving one's muscles, vegetables to improve their health and fruits for dessert.
When the breakfast was over, the servants cleaned the tables. Sarra stood up from her seat and asked Ragnar "Lord Ragnar, is it true that your son is the wife of my daughter?"
"Pffftttttt" Bjorn spat out his drink and it fell straight on Ubbe, who was sitting opposite to him.
"Hahahaha" The others laughed at it slightly, and even Sarra had a small smile on her face.
Nodding his head in all seriousness, Ragnar told her "You see my Queen. In our culture, when a man kidnaps or takes a woman prisoner and he lives for at least three weeks without his throat being slit, the man and women are married."
"It's that simple huh?" Sarra asked him.
"It is what it is." Ragnar replied as he took a sip of his drink and continued "This is a good drink. Almost as potent as ours."
"Oh yeah! The goat milk thing! You got some?" Brandon asked in an excited voice.
"Husband~~~~" Sarra called out to Brandon and all the excitement just vanished into thin air and his kingly face was back.
Nodding slightly at Brandon, she turned back to Ragnar and said "So according to your culture, Bjorn is my daughter's wife. I have spoken with my daughter during the meal and I have come to a decision to annul this marriage in the name of the Queen in the North."
"Aye aye!" Everyone agreed to it, even Artos and Arya who didn't know what was happening.
As the voices subdued, she continued "If something bloom between them I'm alright with it." Then looking at Bjorn she said "But keep it in your mind that you will be marrying into the Stark family."
Bjorn just shrugged at it as it is not something he is worried about.
"Good. Now, the ones who need to visit the Godswood can do that. We will be having a little family meeting." Saying her piece, Sarra left the great hall followed by her family.
When Brandon passed by Ragnar, he told him "You got lucky my king. She's a wonderful woman."
"Isn't she? I love her the most. You are lucky yourself too." Brandon replied as he pointed at Aslaug and Lagertha.
"That I am." Ragnar nodded back in agreement.