23.
He lifts his head to look at her. He sees her shivering and hands her his cloak, which she wraps around herself before sitting on the forest floor.
He registers her somber face, and the scroll in her hand. He stops cleaning his sword.
NED
Tell me.
CATELYN Forgive me, my lord... there was a raven from King’s Landing. Jon Arryn is dead.
Ned looks at the wet sword, lying flat across his lap.
NED
How?
CATELYN A fever took him. He was healthy at the full moon and gone by the half.
NED Your sister, the boy...?
CATELYN The letter said they’re well.
Ned looks more angry than grief-stricken. He dries his sword with a swatch of oiled leather.
CATELYN He loved you very much.
NED I haven’t seen him in how long, nine years?
CATELYN You couldn’t have known--
NED Of course I could have known. He was an old man. Every year he asked me to visit and every year I told him, “Next year.”
He sheathes the blade. Catelyn reaches for his hand. For a moment they are silent.
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