At the harbor of King's Landing, the sea breeze carried the stench of silt and salted fish.
Looking exhausted, Lord Eddard Stark was bidding a final farewell to Lord Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King.
The long journey to Tyrosh had been like a nightmare that left him drained in body and mind.
He had spent more than half a year in Tyrosh. It had still been 294 AC when he left, and by his return, half of 295 AC had already passed.
On his first day back in King's Landing, Eddard received a letter Maester Luwin had sent half a month earlier.
In the letter, Maester Luwin said that Catelyn was well, but her time was drawing near, and he hoped Eddard could return to the North before then.
The news sent Eddard's heart flying across mountains and rivers, back to that gray stone castle in the North.
He wasted no time reporting to King Robert on the truce and the arrangements for the noble captives.
The king seemed somewhat distracted, until Eddard mentioned the whereabouts of the Targaryen brother and sister.
When he heard that Eddard had let the Targaryen siblings go, King Robert's fury erupted at once.
He pounded the table, roaring obscenities Eddard had never heard him use, accusing Eddard of betrayal and weakness.
Eddard endured it in silence, his heart heavy with sorrow.
Eddard knew that the bond between him and Robert was stronger than gold.
Yet even so, when Tywin Lannister had allowed the Mountain to brutally murder Princess Elia Martell and her children, Eddard and Robert had bitterly disagreed.
Eddard had considered such an act utterly unjust, while Robert had insisted that they deserved to die.
He had therefore left King's Landing in anger, leading his army alone to support Stannis at