Title: Silent Prayers
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Rating: G
Length: 430
Warning: None.
Summary: When Catelyn Stark prays, she prays to the Seven. Pre-Series.
Notes: Also under 'Family' and 'Kindness' Challenges.



When Catelyn Stark prays, she prays to the Seven.

She prays to the Father to provide her husband with the wisdom he needs. Let him send the boy away, she begs. Let him know that it is not right to raise one’s Bastard son amongst his trueborn children.

She prays to the Mother to protect her sons, her daughters, and to ensure they grow old with children of their own. Let them not forget who the boy is; let them always remember who his mother is.

She prays to the Warrior to give her courage to stay strong in the face of adversity. Her husband wants to continue to raise the boy in the castle she now calls home, and she needs strength to look upon the face that looks more like her husband’s than her own son.

She prays to the Maiden to take this hatred from her heart. She hates the boy no less than when he was a babe. He is almost a man-grown and he plays with her children as if they are his true brothers and sisters.

She prays to the Smith for strength to understand that the boy is innocent. He has been raised by her husband, and his face and countenance is as sullen as him. He was an innocent child brought to her for her care and she has never granted him such.

She prays for the Crone to grant her wisdom in her dealings with the boy. She hopes that one day she can look upon that face and not hate him as much as her heart allows. She hopes for her words to not hold anger or pain. She hopes to someday speak to him with kindness rather than curt distaste.

Lastly, she prays to the Stranger to grant her freedom. “Take him from me”, she prays, words that would bring her shame had her husband or her children ever heard her speak it. “I do not care if it is to take him South or North, across the sea or beyond the Wall. I do not care if he is taken or if he leaves by his own will. I do not care if he is sent away or if death claims him. Take him,” she prays, her words soft and more sincere than before. “Please take him from me and my children.”

She never says these words aloud amongst others, for these prayers are only for the Seven and no one else. For no one else would understand, she knows. No one else would forgive her for such thoughts.