Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at

http://download.archiveofourown.org/works/1377847.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: Major Character Death
Category: Gen, F/M
Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire
& Related Fandoms
Relationship: Oberyn Martell/Lyanna Stark, Petyr Baelish/Lysa Tully Arryn, Lysa
Tully Arryn/Robert Baratheon, Cersei Lannister/Brandon Stark, Jaime
Lannister/Catelyn Stark, Arianne Martell/Viserys Targaryen
Character: Lyanna Stark, Bran Stark, Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, Cersei
Lannister, Arianne Martell, Willem Darry, Gerold Hightower, Jon
Snow, Viserys Targaryen
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Canon, 5 Times
Stats: Published: 2014-03-28 Words: 2536

I Believe The Children Are Our Future

by l_cloudy

Summary

Five times diplomatic fostering changed the history of Westeros.

(Or, the raised in different Houses AU. Five children, five families.
Lyanna and the Martells; Bran with the Greyjoys; Cersei in Winterfell; Arianne and the
Targaryens; Jon Snow in Oldtown.)

1. Lyanna Stark, House Martell

Lya is barely six when Ned is sent away to the Vale, and she spends one entire week crying after
hes gone, begging for Father to bring her brother back.

He doesnt; and the years pass, until Lyanna is about to turn nine and Ned comes home for a brief
visit, looking so much taller than hed last been, his voice different from how Lya remembered it.
She knows enough about the world now to understand that Father will never allow Ned to stay,
wont ever dare slight Lord Arryn in such a way; but still, she has to try.

Can I go South with Ned, then? she asks instead; and, Lord Rickard decides, there is wisdom to
the idea, even if Lyanna meant it as a joke.

He considers House Tully and House Lannister but, in the end, is the Lady of Dorne he writes to.
Her daughter will marry the Crown Prince, or so has been rumored since King Aerys refused
Tywin Lannisters offer, and the North has never had ties with Dorne before.

Besides, he thinks, his wild daughter might like the sands.

Lyanna leaves with Ned, as she wanted, but she takes the longer way, to the desert and the rocks
of Sunspear, and to the new life that is waiting for her there. They barely see each other from that
day, once at Riverrun for Brandons betrothal and not long after in Kings Landing for Prince
Rhaegars wedding; but Lyannas letters are as regular as a Myrish clock, to Ned and Brandon
and occasionally even to Ben, telling her brothers of the Water Gardens and stuffed peppers and
the silken trousers that are the latest fashion.

She writes of a endless Summer, of marvels shed never thought could exist, and how she has
been learning how to use a spear, she writes, to Prince Dorans amusement.

Lya also, occasionally, writes about Oberyn Martell. Ned doesnt really notice, which fine; and
Brandon does but Lyanna knows that he wont make fun of her, so that is fine, too.

2. Bran Stark, House Greyjoy

House Lannister joins forces with Aerys during Roberts Rebellion, and Jon Arryn is the one who
proposes to ally with the Greyjoys, then.

The Ironmen are raiders, he explains to his two foster sons. They will do it, if only for the
possibility to sack the Westerlands while Tywins army is not there.

It goes, frankly, even better than they would have expected. Ned doesnt like it at first, calling
Balon Greyjoy a pirate and a criminal, and his brothers an even worse lot; but hes the one who
started calling Robert Your Grace first, and cannot do anything but obey.

The krakens fight dirty, but is a dragon we need to kill, its all he says; and the dragons have
Lya, so Ned cannot quite find the heart to object. The war at sea is a bloody affair, every bit as
dangerous and unforgivable as the battles theyre fighting in the riverlands; but it all ends with
Roberts hammer in Rhaegars chest at the battle of the Trident, and Ned wonders how will they
manage to keep the Greyjoy under control now.

There is no possible alliance to be had through a wedding. Robert marries Cats sister Lysa once
everything is over, like hed promised to do in the case of Lyannas death, a clause of Hoster
Tullys that had Ned almost change his opinion of the man. Robert is still mourning Lya, almost as
much as Ned does, for all that he never really knew her; but they are still brothers now, somehow,
and this takes off the edge of it. The Greyjoy matter, though, is still on the plate; and is only solved
by Lord Arryn asking Lord Balon for heir to remain in Kings Landing. Rodrick Greyjoy is made
Master of Ships, but this doesnt stop the Kraken Lord from asking for a son of Roberts in return.

In the end, Ned is the one who bends, because thats always been his role. A lord could not ask
the king for nothing, especially not a son; but the Lord of Winterfell, on the other hand

It seemed easy, then, to pledge the life of a child who was not yet born.

Brandon Stark is put on a ship to Pyke the day of his sixth birthday, and only meets his father
three times after that before Ned Stark is killed, beheaded on the steps of the Gran Sept by Queen
Lysas order. There are rumors that it had really been Littlefingers doing, the shrewd Master of
Coin who some says was the queens lover.
Coin who some says was the queens lover.

It doesnt matter.

The North rises in rebellion and Balon, who has always toyed with the idea of creating a kingdom
of his own, follows the war with interest. Brandon Stark, the Sea Wolf as the Greyjoys men call
him, is the one to send a letter to the brother he hasnt seen in so long. When Robbs right hand
man, the Bastard of Winterfell, arrives in Pyke, hes received with a smile and a proposal to renew
the old alliance.

He says yes.

3. Cersei Lannister, House Stark

Cersei is ten when Lord Tywin promises her that shell be a queen one day; and its not quite a
fortnight later that King Aerys crushed all her newfound hopes with a mocking laugh. But I do
have another son, the king adds, still laughing. Your girl might suit him well enough.

Viserys Targaryen is barely old enough to walk, and Cersei would be an old maid by the time
they could marry. Had the king not offered, Tywin might have thought the alliance worth the
waiting. Had the king not offered, things would have gone differently; but the dismissal in Aeryss
words is close enough to contempt that the Lord of the Rock finds himself refusing.

If his grandchildren will not rule over a kingdom, he decides later that day, theres no reason why
they cannot have half of it, at least.

Tywin Lannister writes to Rickard Stark before Lord Tully does; and history changes.

Cersei is ten when she leaves the westerlands for Winterfell, and five-and-teen when she
exchanges her crimson cloak for a grey one under the heart-tree, the way the northmen do. Jaime
is there, of course, the way hes come to visit her every year; but this time his betrothed is with
him, the Tully girl Brandon might have married had things gone differently.

Eddard Stark is there as well, the new good-brother shes only met once before; and his friend
Robert Baratheon, who seems too eager to tear at her clothes, even in the presence of his own
betrothed. Cersei has heard only good things of Lord Baratheon from what Brandon told her of
Eddards letters, and nothing but bored contempt from Lyanna, and she is more inclined to believe
her new good-sister. Lyanna is pleasant enough company, if a little unpolished, and over the years
she has shown herself a friend and taught Cersei all the things she wasnt allowed to do at Casterly
Rock.

She leaves the North again one moons turn after her marriage, for a whole year. They travel to
Highgarden and Oldtown and attend Lord Whents tournament; and Cersei decides that she has
missed the South, but not overly much. Brandon is as charming after their wedding as he was
before, with laughing eyes and a handsome smile, and Cersei can almost ignore the rage she feels
when occasionally he finds another bed for the night; especially after the master informs her that
she is with child.

All in all, life is as good as it could ever be.

They are on the way to Casterly Rock for Jaimes wedding when they hear about Lyanna; and
that is the last time Cersei Stark sees her husband alive. Her son, her only son, is born with a price
on his head, already Lord of Winterfell two days after Brandons death. Cersei isnt told about it
until after the birth, after she lays her eyes on her son for the first time and names him Willam, a
Stark family name that sounds Southron enough for her tastes, because she will not name him for
the dead.

The child has her green eyes and features and Brandons hairs, and one day will rule the North.

She will make sure of it.

4. Arianne Martell, House Targaryen

There hasnt been a House Targaryen since Arianne was a little girl, only the exiled king and
Daenerys Stormborn and Ser Willem Darry.

Still, it is enough.

She meets the boy she is to marry for the first time when she is two-and-ten; two years later than
she would have had her mother not interfered. In the end, though, they finally meet; in Tyrosh and
not in Braavos where the marriage contract had been signed, because Ser Willem was forced to
leave the city years ago.

After I meet your uncle, the old knight tells her, some of the Usurpers men must have realized
where we were living. He tells her of knives in the night and a robbery attempt and of servants
slowly poisoning him. Queen Cerseis men, Ser Willam says, and Arianne has heard enough
stories of Lannister cruelty to believe him. Had the Prince not sent his own men

Ser Willem lets his voice fade, and Arianne shivers at the thought. What would have happened,
she wonders, to Viserys and his sister had Ser Willem died? Living on the streets like common
beggars.

She wonders who she would have married, then. After meeting Viserys, she can think of no one
else.

Her Prince King, she tells herself, he will be king and she will be his queen one day is
everything she would have expected from a Targaryen, so different from the boys shes met at her
fathers court. He is as impetuous as Oberyn and as poised as her father, as mischievous as Tyene
and a better liar than even Lady Nym. Arianne, who is a terrible liar herself, has always
considered it an incredibly useful skill.

She remains in Tyrosh for six months, six months of practicing a language she has never spoken
before and eating food she did not know could exist; six months that are so much more different
from the life she has lived before.

I am glad I came, Arianne tells Viserys the day she is to leave. Glad that Fathers reasoning won
over Mothers pleas, glad that she was given this opportunity, glad that Uncle Oberyn and Ser
Willem will ensure that the boy in front of her will one day become a good king, and a great man.

He smiles then, and his voice is soft enough that she has to lean in closer to hear. Arianne doesnt
mind.

Im glad you came, too, Viserys says. I cannot imagine how my life would be now, without
you.

Arianne smiles back at him. Youll never need to.

 5. Jon Snow, House Hightower

Seven men went to the Tower of Joy, seven against three; and only two survived.

Or so Ned had thought at first, in the heat of the battle, blood pumping through his veins. After,
when everything has been said and done, his sisters body is cooling in bloody bed while the sun
rises in the east and Ned goes out to find the White Bull, not quite as dead as hed assumed.

Ser, he finds himself saying, one hand going to his sword. The man has grey hair and a
wounded leg, but is still the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

Lord Stark, Ser Gerold replies, his voice unsteady. Are you going to kill me?

He should, Ned knows. But it is one thing to kill a man, a knight, in battle; and another to put him
down in cold blood like a rabid animal.

You knew, he tells Ser Gerold. About Lyannas child.

The man nods, but Ned doesnt even see him, keeps going. You knew and still tried to stop me.
Did you think I would harm Lyannas son, my own flesh and blood?

Ser Gerold doesnt say anything, merely looks Ned straight in the eyes; and he knows they are
both thinking of Robert. Dragonspawn.

I dont want to kill you, Ned says, realizing he never answered. Or him. I promised Lya

I promised

Gerold Hightower makes his way to Oldtown, somehow, and Robert is too crushed by Lyannas
death to realize that the White Bull had been there, that Ned must have been the one who let him
go. The former Lord Commander is never pardoned and never asks for it, but simply forgotten, a
stain on the otherwise pristine White Book. Even Robert has the sense not to ask for his death, not
when the peace is so fragile and the Reach still so much richer than the lands where the war was
fought.

Time goes by, simply; as it always does.

Eddard Stark goes back to Winterfell with the boy he claims as his bastard son. The truth, he made
Ser Gerold promise, will never be spoken of until the day the child becomes a man, as hes
promised Lyanna; and after that well, Ser Gerold is old, Ned finds himself thinking, and Baelor
Hightower was a good friend of both Rhaegar and Arthur Dayne, but he would never risk another
war. It will come to nothing, he tells himself; wishing he could believe it.

Ned buys the silence of the man he did not want to kill with the promise of blood, and Jon Snow
is nine years old when hes sent to squire for Ser Baelor in Oldtown. The boy has never been at
more than one days ride from Winterfell before, and clearly regrets leaving his brothers, but
knows his place in the world well enough and welcomes the opportunity. Ill make you proud,
Father, he says, and Ned can almost feel his heart tighten.

Jon Snows life in the Hightower is a complicated one. Its the loss of whatever privilege he has
known, and a renewed faith in abilities he didnt know he could have. Its a life in a place of
wonders and loneliness, of summer wine and courtly songs and just how crude his name might
 sound on a ladys tongue.

Its afternoon spent in a dusty room with an old master and an old knight, waiting for something,
whatever it might be. The room is dark and the only candle doesnt burn, and Ser Gerold only
coughs and looks sideways in his direction. One day, my boy, he tells him. One day.

But war comes before the day arrives, and Jon becomes a orphan and a knight all in a fortnight,
and tries not to think too much that he might be fighting against his brothers army soon enough.
He doesnt, in the end; because the Stranger and Walder Frey take Robb first, and Jons heart is
heavy in his chest all the way home.

He comes back to Oldtown to find Ser Gerold smiling, and a glass candle burning in a room that
was no longer dark.

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