"I was wondering when would be the right time to give this to you."
She reached behind and in her small hands lay a circlet of hammered bronze, engraved with runes of the First Men and nine black iron longswords, as sharp as if they were just forged.
A crown, Jon realised at once, red eyes widening. Robb's crown.
"I saw my mother down in the Riverlands," she explained. Her bottom lip quivered before she caught it between her teeth. "I want you to have this. Robb would want you to have this."
"I cannot accept that, Arya." His voice was hoarse, scraped raw with emotion. "I've been told the stonemasons finished work on the statues of Robb and Grey Wind. We can put the crown back where it belongs."
"You are his heir," she stressed. "We all heard the will. It should be with you. Honour him by wearing it."
She shushed him. "I will hear no more of it. Bend down."
He did as he was told, and with the gentleness of a bird plucking seeds from a palm, Arya rested the crown upon his head. The weight of it was heavy, as heavy as the burden that came along with it.
Your own burden is a crueler one, I fear.
It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg.
You have the strength in you to do the things that must be done.
He suddenly remembered the touch of Maester Aemon's hands as they felt his face carefully, mapping out the planes of his features. As if he was trying to see him.
Kill the boy, and let the man be born.
"It suits you," she told him, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He could feel the heat of her skin seeping through his clothing, and her smile was just as warm. "You look like one of the old Kings of Winter now."
It was all he could do to snort. "If so you say, dear sister."