Signs of fealty were like sweeties to Robin Arryn. He gobbled them up, and finally found the sense of self to grin at the bastard boy kneeling at his throne. Alayne Stone did not kneel nor did she curtsey, but Robin suffered it because she was sweet and she sang to him and she let him crawl into her bed when he was cold and frightened. Even now, he teetered off his seat and rushed to her skirts. Claiming her, in his own childish way.

"Now, Sweet Robin," she chided him with a honeyed voice. A mother, cajoling a son. "This isn't very lordly!"

It was an act. She wasn't the quiet and thoughtful girl she'd shown to Gendry, but a vibrant creature prone to smiling. This was the biggest lie of all, and it was an exhausting one to maintain. "Tell Gendry about what you found in the godswood, yesterday."

Robin was persuaded to stand on his own two feet, separate from Sansa. And he shared his news with such earnestness: "A hare! We found a hare, but its fur had gone all white -- all white! Alayne says they turn like that when winter is come."