The year starts off hard and stays that way, as first
Jon vanishes, and
then Jeyne, and then, because the island is relentless,
Sansa, Caspian and their children. There is a small reprieve, bittersweet though it is, when
Jon and Susan's daughter Helen is born on Robb's birthday. It is not only Starks who are sad, and he finds
Guenever and Ygraine being quiet and
Arya in a fight. Robb, Susan and Edmund
visit the memorial, where their loved ones' names have been added. Bad weather continues, and becomes a hurricane, but they survive it. There is a party for new arrivals, and although Robb and Reynald are not new, they go anyway, and talk to
Sonya and Edmund, and Edmund makes Reynald fly. Susan takes the children to the island
Halloween party, where Robb picks up his son after patrolling, and
says happy birthday to Arya.
Right on schedule, the
snow falls, and Robb and Reynald fight off a surprise attack by Richard and Alexis Castle. For certain values of 'fight off'.
Reynald plays in the snow, and Sonya and Delirium each wander by with wolves and children.
For the first time in a long time, Grey Wind
finds a dragon, accompanied by a one-legged Viking boy named Hiccup.
Delirium has a birthday party and wants Robb to kiss her. Reynald
tries to make friends with Sam Crew, who isn't so sure. He and Grey Wind
take a rest while Arya hunts, and she makes fun of them. They encounter
Hiccup and Toothless again, and while Grey Wind might not be ready to make friends with a dragon, Reynald definitely is. But he has his bad nights too, and when he
has nightmares, Robb takes him for a walk, and Kate, Delirium, Edmund, Helen and Bush come to talk while the exhausted child sleeps.