endlessdel | (no subject)

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bran

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She hesitated, fingertips twisting at the hem of the long sleeves covering her arms. Fidgeting, she tucked herself behind a tree sighing at the unfamiliar and unpleasant sensation in her stomach. Twisting and fluttery and despairing but happy too. She clutched the box to her chest, hugging it tightly as she glanced down and stared at bare, chubby feet. Looking up Del smiled vaguely at her older sister blowing a kiss towards her.

You are nervous Sister, that is all. Stop treading into my realm or I will keep you here.

She nodded, squirming in the formal dress before she ignored the fluttery, despairing feeling and her sister before she creeped around the tree. Wandering down the path, she tugged the hem of her dress up as she skipped from place to place. It was the sight of an unknown boy that made her slow down. And she stopped suddenly, freezing in place with wide eyes before she lifted her fingers and wriggled them in greeting.

Sucking in her breath, she smiled and took a step closer trying not to fidget in the dress.

"Hi," Del said smiling as she tugged the box to her chest, hugging it close. Ignoring the way her sister, nottherenotthere, brushed a kiss against her ear. "Hello."

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Summerfell was ringed by a tall and dense forest, a jungle, wetter and more filled with life than the great woods of the North. There was one wood-lined path that led to the rest of the island and, beyond that, the sea. Bran hadn't seen it yet, but he could hear under the chirps and rustling of the jungle. Tomorrow, he would see if it was as wide and blue as everyone said.

This afternoon he was in the yard practicing with the borrowed wheeled chair with Summer watching every move. Moving himself was tiring and hurt his arms if he did it too long, but if he wanted to go places without being carried or pushed Bran would have to get better. For now he was doing slow, imprecise spins.

When he spun all the way back into place, there was a woman standing there. Her long, rich dress was more like something from home than anything else wore, and Bran liked it immediately. "Hello."

Delirium swallowed taking a nervous step forward before she stopped, her face lighting up at the sight of the direwolf. Delirium took much more eager, quick steps forward still clutching the box of treats for Robb's brother.

"Hi Big Puppy! Hi!" Delirium said smiling brightly, bending down in the dress and offering her hand out in greeting as she approached the boy and his direwolf. Delirium put the box down on the floor before pushing her hands in her sleeves and bringing out one of her homemade dog treats. Delirium offered in on a flat hand before looking up at the boy. "You have a direwolf, he's so peachy keen. Yes, you are Big Puppy. What's his name?"

Summer was a direwolf of like size to his siblings, large enough that his shoulders came up to the handles of Bran's chair with sharp teeth to match; he was not what one would typically call a puppy dog, no matter how sweet a disposition. He trotted over to the woman and sniffed her suspiciously as though confirming that she was indeed alive and not something undead in disguise. Convinced, he stepped forward and delicately took the treat from her hand.

"Summer," Bran said as he watched the woman. She seemed kind- everyone here was uncommonly nice with hardly any askance glances at his broken legs. Her Tully coloring reminded Bran of his mother, but this woman's eyes were strange. "I'm Bran."

Delirium smiled, staring at the dog and leaning forward as he delicately nibbled the treat from her hand. Dropping to her knees, she didn't care that the edges of her dress were getting dirty as she reached out, hesitating before scratching the Big Puppy's head lightly.

"You are as beautiful as my Robb's Grey Wind, yes you are." Delirium told the dog, looking up startled at the name. Delirium blushed but grinned at Bran happily. "Are you? Are you Bran Stark? Really? I have presents for you, ohoh but I'm all slobbery."

Delirium looked torn between Big Puppy, presents and Bran before she finally wiped her hands and then offered one to Bran. "I'm Del, hi."

The treat disappeared in one quick bite and then he leaned his nose in close to the woman's face to sniff her. Bran wished he could slip into Summer so that he could smell her and find out about her too. That had been taken away though, and, anyway, it would be rude to do it right in front of her. Whatever Summer smelled, he seemed satisfied and licked once against her cheek in greeting.

"I really am," he said, polite and curious as he shook her hand. "Hello. You're Del, Robb's lady friend?"

Delirium scrunched up her face, smiling brightly as Summer licked her cheek and left a rather sweet, slobbery trail against her skin. Doggies were much easier than human mortals when it came to her meeting them. Well, they at least didn't have opposable thumbs to throw things at her if it went badly just teeth and she was good at avoiding teeth. She always managed to avoid Dream's Corinthian after all.

"Then it is very peachy keen to meet you Bran Stark," Delirium said shaking his hand with a pleased smile. He wasn't nearly as intimadating as Arya but then Delirium doubted there was anyone more indimidating than her... maybe her own older brother but that was it. "Robb is my love, so I suppose I am his Lady. Mmm... yes. Yes, I am."

"It's nice to meet you, Lady Del." Her speech was strange, she looked like one of the ladies from home but didn't talk like one. No one did. She looked too old for Robb, but then Robb was too old for Robb here. One of her eyes was so very blue.

Bran met her eyes and looked at her like she was a puzzle as much of a person, something that he had to figure out. Robb had spoken of her in passing, but Bran only knew what she wasn't. Not Robb's wife, not Reynald's mother. She was Robb's something else. Bran didn't know there could be a something else.

"Robb's courting you."

"Hee, just Del. No one has called me Lady for a very long time," Delirium said scrunching her nose up at the thought of being called a Lady. Unlike Stick-in-the-butt, Delirium had only ever collected a few names and titles and very rarely used them. She knew who she was; Del, Delirium, Delight. It was a certainty she had never been able to afford at home. "Yes, yes he is. He is my Robb, my Robb Stark. And I am his. He makes me very happy."

That would have been a problem if they were at home, worlds would have ended and humanity would have changed just because she was happy. She didn't have to worry about that here, she didn't have to worry about the world changing because of her and who she would have to become. She could just be herself.

"And you have not asked about your present yet Bran Stark. Can I give it to you now?" Delirium asked smiling at him.

He blinked at her. A person didn't get to just be called a lady: she either was one or she wasn't. If she was...then she was and that was the end of the matter. Maybe it was like kings here. Maybe there weren't ladies either.

Bran wasn't sure if he liked that there weren't any rules, but it meant Arya could wear men's clothes and carry swords, which made her happy. He wanted Robb to be happy too. "And you're going to get married."

"Yes, um, you didn't need to get me a present. But thank you."

She was older than time, she had existed in one form or another since the beginning. She did have fears, the same fears as other mortals. She did not fear death because Death was her sister, she understood her and knew its inevitabilty. She did not fear destruction because he loved her, held her when she changed. She did not fear nightmares, not the Corinthian or the Rantipole or whatever monsters her brother created. She wasn't scared of her siblings But there was something, something old that still made her heart flutter uneasily. Something old, something new, something borrowed and something terrible and blue

Marriage. It was such a small word. It didn't terrify her as much now as it once had but it still made her reach for the charms around her neck and touch them for reassurance. She took strength from her family's sigils. She loved Robb, she wanted to spend more than one lifetime with him but marriage meant that he would leave her. Marriage meant that he would hurt her. She wanted him, she loved him so much but she did not think she could stay sane if Robb left her at the altar like He had done.

"Mmmm." Delirium agreed, though her lips pressed tight together. She reached for the box, something to do with her hands, before holding it out for Bran. The box was cool and inside was a small homemade tub of Stark ice cream, surrounded in slowly melting ice to keep it cool whilst she walked. "It's ice cream. It's Stark ice cream. See it tastes like mint and it has wolf shaped biscuits with it. I thought you might be too hot and Robb seems to like it and Reynald loves it even if I do give him a little too much."

Ice cream was much easier to talk about than the M word.

That was not an answer in the slightest, it was a very polite way of saying no. Bran frowned. Robb shouldn't get married because he's not old enough, except that he is, but regardless people should want to marry him, because he was kind and strong and handsome. If she didn't want to there was something the matter with her, not Robb.

But he was too polite to say any of that to her face. He would ask Robb, in secret. Or Jon, maybe. Jon would tell him all about it.

"Thank you," he said politely and took the box to put in his lap and lift out the tub inside. The ice was cold against his fingers, only now it felt refreshing and cool instead of freezing. Inside the tub was cold and soft, pale like milk. "It's a sweet?"

Delirium wasn't sure if that was the right answer for Bran but it was the right answer for her, for the moment. She hadn't said yes but she hadn't said no either. And that was all she could give one of Robb Stark's family, Robb would have gotten an entirely different answer but that was for Robb and no one else.

She tried to put aside fears of white and terrible and fear and instead smiled happily at Bran Stark, finding him the wooden spoon before offering it to him.

"Mmmm," Delirium agreed, nodding her head up and down. Her necklace clinked and sang as each metal charm bounced off each other but she ignored it. "It's sweet and creamy and cold. I can't do what I did at home but I can do this for you."

Taking the spoon, he dipped it into the dessert and looked at it for a moment before trying it. It was sweet and cold, and then his mind is back beyond the Wall, back to the nights with snow in his mouth until it melted down enough to swallow. When it was so cold he thought they might not wake up even if they were all curled up together.

I'm not beyond the Wall now. I'm here, where it's warm, safe. It wasn't the hottest part of the day yet and already his shirt was sticking to his back, and his siblings were just inside. A little wan, Bran smiled at her and made himself take another bite to just taste it instead of remembering bad things. This time it was better. "Thank you very much. I like the mint. How do you make it? How do you get it to stay so cold?"

"You make a custard and you flavour it and then I put it in an ice cream maker which keeps it cool and churns it so it's really smooth and delicious. It's harder making things here on the island, I have to work at it instead of just being me." Delirium said smiling as she tried to explain how it was that she made the ice cream. It was easier thinking about that then... did Robb want to marry her? Had he not told her because of how she was? She always wanted him to tell her everything. "Mmm?"

Delirium looked up, staring at Bran with wide eyes before letting out a soft oh. "Oh, I have a freezer, a really big one to keep it cool. I can show you, you can come and visit my new realm. It is much smaller than my realm at home but I like it all the same."

Bran scooped a little more out and caught Summer looking it over. "You wouldn't like it," he told him and scratched one of his ears. "You can go hunt if you're hungry." But Summer stayed right by his side and secretly Bran was glad. "Do you use electricity power to make it work?" It was what made the lights work without fire and the machines in the kitchens. Magic but now.

Now he looked more interested. Realms were something he understood, and he wanted to know more about Robb's lady who wasn't a lady. "You were a queen?"

"Yep, you could do it without electricity but it's much harder and slower." Delirium said, reaching into her sleeve to pull out another treat before offering that to Summer instead. She liked the Big Puppies, they were like large versions of Barnabas. Delirium held her hand out flat as she looked up at Bran and his question. "Oh, no silly... Queens are mortal. Although I suppose big brother was called the Dream King sometimes. I was One of Seven."

Delirium paused, wondering if he would understand that. "Ohoh, er... you have Gods in you realm, don't you? Like that but Endless."

Bran blinked at her.

He looked openly and exceedingly skeptical.

"Are you trying to tell me you're one of the Seven," he asked, and no matter how courteous he was trying to be his voice was flatly disbelieving. "That you're- the Maiden."

Delirium smiled at the look of disbelief and skepticism. Turning her head, Del laughed at who he thought she was before shaking her head.

"No, I'm not the Maiden. The Maiden is a God and Gods fade and Gods die, I don't. I'm one of Seven, the oldest seven in all of the realms. I'm Endless, I'm one of the Endless." Delirium said simply. Delirium reached her necklace and removed it, holding it out for Bran to see each of the six charms she had left. The sigils of her family, all there except her own. "Seven siblings, older and more powerful than Gods. Seven siblings who have existed since before time began and will exist after it all ends. Seven siblings named Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and me. Why did you think I was the Maiden?"

Bran's fingers tensed around the tub in his lap and his whole body unconsciously drew back to settle into something tense and wary as he stared at her like she was a mystery, but a dangerous one. "Because you're not old enough to be the Mother or the Crone...so there was only one left..."

He shook his as though that would settle her jumble of words into a neat explanation. "No, that's. No. There's only six things there, anyway, and you can't just..." He bit his lip hard enough to hurt. Destiny and Death and Destruction and Despair and bad things, they were bad things, and he didn't know what to do. "Don't pretend, it's not a joke. So stop pretending."

"Robb has the seventh, I wanted to protect him so I gave it to him. I gave him mine to keep him safe, I love him and I want... I don't want him to ever hurt. Not ever," Del replied simply, looking at Bran Stark so very softly before reaching out. She held her hand out before dropping it away, she looked at him gently but her face so often wild and free was serious and sane. "Will it help you Bran Stark if I lie to you?"

Delirium looked at him seriously, curling her hand into a fist before hanging the sigils around her neck again carefully. "Because if it makes you happy I will do that, I can't change who I am but I can pretend if it makes it easier for you."

"No. No." He looked away from her and concentrated on Summer, smoothing his fur down and looking into his direwolf's eyes as he tried to compose himself. If she were really dangerous, Summer would know and he would rip her throat out. Grey Wind too, he's been watching out for Robb this whole time.

Bran wondered what he would smell if he could go into Summer, if she smelled like a person or...something else. She sounded kind, she sounded like she loved Robb even if she didn't want to marry him. And Theon Greyjoy had sat at their table for years and years before he took Winterfell and tried to hunt down him and Rickon.

"Gods aren't people," he told her as he looked at her feet instead of her face. "You can't meet them. They don't make sweets."

Mortals were confusing at times, Bran didn't want her to lie to him it seemed but didn't want to believe the truth about her either. It would have been easier if she could have shown him but the island limited her which she was grateful for most days. She couldn't have had a lifetime if her living had effected the island around her.

"I'm not a God, I'm a member of the Endless." Delirium replied, running a hand through her hair. She ducked her head down as Bran stared at her feet and tried to meet Bran's eyes with her own mismatched ones. "The island makes us human, it takes away powers and magic and turns us into people. And I like making sweets it makes people happy, I like making people happy it reminds me of who I used to be."

"That doesn't sound any different from a god," he retorted, because it was easy to be stubborn about this. He'd had to accept so many impossible things in the past day and here was finally a place to dig his heels in.

Bran stared penetratingly at her like she was a weirwood tree and if he looked hard enough she'd reveal her true face. There was something of the wolf in him as well as the boy. He wanted Jojen or Maester Luwin to be here and explain it to him.

"Which are you then? If your brothers and sisters are Death and Despair and Destruction?"

"It is, it might not sound different but it is." Del replied simply, she was used to stubborn brothers but usually they were related to her. Delirium sat with her legs, tucked beneath her and her dress spread out. Placing her elbows on her thighs, she dropped her head to her hands and stared back at Bran smiling at him as he stared at her quite intently. "Eat your ice cream Bran Stark and I will tell you or it will melt and won't be as peachy keen."

Delirium smoothed the dress down, offering her palm to Summer before going to scratch behind Summer's ears. "I was Delight when I was younger. Then I changed. I liked being happiness though, some days I feel like that again. Robb makes me feel like that. And Reynald and the twins and meeting you even if you don't believe me."

She was so calm and cheerful in the face of his obstinacy, it was easy to see why Robb would like her. Bran softened, a little. It was clear from the way Summer leaned into the petting that he didn't think she was dangerous. He could be as suspicious and protective of his brother as he wanted, but maybe he could be courteous at the same time. That's what Mother would say to do.

Bran ate another spoonful while he listened and tried to keep his expression neutral. "What did you do, if you were endless? Listen to peoples' prayers?"