The Warg Lord (ASOIAF)(SI)

Our story starts on a normal day in November, in a city that never sleeps. The pedestrians could be seen tightening their scarves to save themselves from the frigid wind while the sun could be seen setting on the horizon. The office workers were rushing along the sidewalk trying to reach their homes a little faster. A few people suddenly started looking up after they felt something wet on their faces. It had started snowing and as it was the first snow of the year there was a sense of merriment on the street.

On the outskirts of this city, there was a hospital that had been there for so long that people were not sure when it was first opened. Its original color was unrecognizable because of grime and its machines were older than the oldest patient in the hospital. It was still well-known in the neighborhood for being cheap but still being surprisingly competent.

On the third floor of this hospital outside the emergency ward, a couple of nurses could be seen gossiping beside the water dispenser.

"Did you hear that the patient in Room 401 might not have long to live"

"Yeah, the poor boy was unlucky to have contracted COVID after all this time, when it's practically over and done for."

"Exactly, just the other day I was telling my mother that I don't have to wear masks all the time while going outside because no one's getting COVID anymore. She going to nag me so much when she hears about this."

"At least you have a mother to nag you, I heard in the two weeks that he's been here, not a single person's visited him"

"Yeah, and every time that I've gone to check on him all I've seen him do is read online web novels, I mean how can someone be on their last few days and still—"

A door opened abruptly behind them and a doctor's voice shouted over,

"I need this patient transferred to the emergency room ASAP, his condition has deteriorated"

One of the nurses rushed to do the doctor's bidding and help transfer the patient, while the other one ran to set up the emergency room.

...

John could see the doctor rushing around him while performing various checks on his body while simultaneously instructing the nurses. The doctor shouted for the nurse to get some kind of instrument while asking the other nurse to administer some kind of syringe to the IV connected to his hand.

"We are losing him, doctor," said the nurse looking at the heart monitor.

"I know, I know... gi..ve ...me ....the....." the doctor's voice started to get garbled and incomprehensible.

John was slowly losing his vision but he could see the pretty snowflakes falling outside through the window behind the doctor. It was a really peaceful view for being the last thing he sees before leaving this world.

As John was slowly moving towards his last breath on this planet, the only regret on his mind at that moment was that he had been not been able to read "Winds of Winter" from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. That guy on youtube had assured his subscribers that Martin was definitely going to release it this year.

...

283 AC, Tower of Joy

In the middle of a great expanse of desert, where no matter where you looked only the color yellow would be visible, a lone tower stood. Outside of that tower on its steps, three men could be seen sitting and sweating inside their full body armor. One of the knights with two swords attached to his hips stood up abruptly and shouted something while pointing toward the distance. Seeing the same thing as the first knight the other two also stood up as well. All three of them fastened their armor and made sure that their weapons were in their place and then they stood still, waiting.

A few miles away on the horizon, a party of seven could be seen approaching the tower and anyone who had seen how they were dressed would instantly conclude that these people were very away from their homes and were not made to survive in this weather.

...

While history was being written outside of that tower, at the same time inside a room on the second floor of the round tower, a heavily pregnant young girl could be seen sweating and writhing from pain. The girl's face was red from exhaustion and fever and looked just about to give in. An olive-skinned middle-aged lady could be seen trying to comfort the young girl.

"Just one more push m'lady, I can already see the head"

The young girl screamed with all her remaining strength and fell back on the bed while breathing feebly. A few moments later another scream could be heard but this time of a newborn, the olive-skinned woman came out from between the legs of the young girl while carrying a newborn child.

The midwife rushed the remaining procedure and cleaned the baby hurriedly because she knew that at moment the mother needed her more than the baby.

"Pl..please bring my..my baby, to me. I..I want to hold him"

"Here m'lady I'll just lay him down by your side"

The young girl looked at the miracle laying beside her, she could not believe that this new life had come from her. The baby looked just like her, from the color of his hair to his light grey eyes, the only feature that she could see of his father was his nose.

"M'lady you are losing too much blood we need to get you to a maester immediately"

The midwife was right she could feel the strength leaving her body very fast. She knew that she didn't have much time, but she didn't want to look away from her son for even a moment. The second she had lain her eyes on him he'd already become more important than anything, even her life. She kissed the baby's forehead while crying softly.

"I hear the sound the sound of swords clashing outside m'lady"

The midwife frantically looked towards the door with wide eyes. She knew she was helpless before a knight.

"It's alright, take my son and go to the other room and wait for me to call you out"

The young girl looked towards her baby very intensely, trying to imprint every single feature of her son inside her brain before, she very reluctantly handed her son to the midwife. The second the midwife had closed the door to the other room she could hear footsteps running up the stairs.

...

He did not know how much time had passed before his foggy mind started to clear up. It was as if every thought of his was submerged in deep water. He was feeling sluggish while having trouble being able to link any two coherent thoughts together.

After some time, when his jumbled thoughts had become untangled enough to be coherent, he felt as if he was in a very constricting space. His body felt pressured from all sides and before he could make head or tail of the situation he suddenly felt himself being pushed through a very narrow tunnel, head first. It was suffocating and confusing for him.

The second he came out of the tunnel all of his senses started working simultaneously. He could breathe, listen and feel his skin tingle at the same time, it was too much for him to handle and before he could stop himself he started screaming out loud.

"AAA.... aaaaa..... uaaaa"

His scream was in sync with another scream from somewhere above him and it sounded like it belonged to a young girl. Her voice went from screaming loudly to just breathing heavily whilst he continued to cry his heart out.

'Where am I, I was supposed to be in the hospital dying from COVID. Why am I not wearing an oxygen mask and where are the nurses or the doctor and, ....' he thought incoherently

He felt like he was moving on a wild rollercoaster ride. He couldn't open his eyes fully and had no control over his hands or his legs. Every sense of his body was muted and it felt like the connection between his brain and the various body parts that make the human body work has not yet fully been established.

He started to open his eyes slowly and at first, all he could see around him was the blurry shape of a person who was cleaning him. And as his vision started to clear up he could make out the features of the person.

She was a plump woman with olive skin and dark hair, she looked to be around 40-something years old and was wearing some kind of medieval clothing. She was looking at me with something akin to fascination and after she had cleaned him, she looked above him and replied to someone out of his line of sight, took him into her arms, and brought him along. She laid him on a warm bed beside a 16-17-year-old young girl.

'Looks like I've been reincarnated into a medieval setting judging from their clothes and the lack of technology. This young girl is most likely my mother and the woman from before must be a midwife' he thought while looking at the young girl.

She was a pale young girl with soft brown hair, grey eyes, and a small nose with very symmetrical features. Her hair looked to be wet with sweat and she had dark circles under her eyes and she was breathing feebly. But the look she gave me was filled with so much love and warmth, it felt like I was looking toward the sun. She hugged me close to her breast as if she was afraid that I would disappear any moment now.

'Oh well, it's not like I had any kind of attachment in my previous life to anyone and I've always wanted to live in a medieval world so I think that I am pretty thankful for whatever deity dropped me here'

The midwife said something about hearing some kind of sword fighting, and the young girl asked her to take me to the adjacent room to hide. She kissed my forehead and looked at me for a moment before handing me over to the midwife.

'Man, why do I have the feeling that this will be the last time that I will see her? Looks like I will be an orphan in this life too'

The moment the midwife put me down in the crib, my body started craving sleep and I fell asleep faster than the speed of light.

....

The morning sun had not yet fully risen on the horizon and yet the temperature was still too much for the two men who were from the north of Westeros. The place where a lone tower used to stand, now only graves marked with stones from that same tower could be seen.

The Dornish midwife could be seen feeding a newborn on the remaining rubble of the tower while the two northerners were discussing over a cart.

"When I went to get the cart from the nearby village and sell the extra horses, I also took the liberty to buy us enough supplies to last for a while, My Lord" Howland said while wiping sweat from his brows.

For most of his life, he'd never left his home, The Greywater Castle, so these past months have been tiring on his body. Trying to adapt to all kinds of different environments from the constant rains of Stormlands to all that greenery in Riverlands and now the scorching heat in this desert has been a nightmare.

"That was smart of you Howland, I'd been so caught up in my thoughts that I only remembered about our dwindling supplies after you'd already left,"

"You give me too much credit My Lord," Howland replied while bowing slightly.

"Now, open that map you bought yesterday. We should decide on the path we are to take, I don't want to get lost in these cursed red mountains" Eddard said while looking around the sand dunes that looked indistinguishable from one another.

Howland went and got the crude map he got from the nearby village as well as their map of Westeros. He spread both maps beside each other on the cart. There were two paths leading toward the North from where they were, one along the western side of Westeros via Starfall and the other one along the eastern side. Eddard looked at the map for a while before speaking.

"If we take this path then it should eventually lead us to Starfall," he said while drawing a line along the said path.

"If you want Ned I could return the Dawn to Starfall and come back here..." Howland said while not looking into Eddard's eyes, "I thought after what happened in Harrenhal you wouldn't want to meet Lady Ashara,"

"I've already broken my promise to her once and now with her brother's death..." Eddard took a deep breath, "The least I could do is not dishonor her by hiding like a coward"

"As you say, Ned but does that mean that we will not be going to King's Landing and heading straight toward North"

"No, I will have to bring the news of Lyanna's demise to Robert myself and be present for his coronation and if Tywin had managed to convince Lord Arryn then maybe attend Robert's wedding too," He said while making a sour face at the thought of attending a wedding with Tywin.

"Will it be alright to bring little Jon to KingLanding?" Howland asked hesitatingly.

"NO! Jon and Robert will not be in the same room ever if I can help it. The atrocities committed there still haunt me to this day, even the thought of Jon anywhere near Kingslanding makes me..." Eddard closed his eyes while repressing a shudder.

They were silent for a moment while looking at the midwife fussing over little Jon who had just now woken up. Little Jon was apparently hungry because the midwife pulled down her blouse to feed the toddler without hesitation. They both looked away awkwardly at the same time and without saying anything went back to the maps.

"I think after I've returned the ancestral sword to the Dayne's we should part ways at the port, you can take Jon and head straight towards Seagard and from there towards The North, while I can go towards that snake's pit of a city and try to make polite conversation with people I want to kill," Eddard said while making a tight grip on his sword and looking as if he was looking at their faces. He shook his head for a moment and after gathering himself, he looked towards me solemnly.

"Will you make sure that Jon reaches Winterfell safely Howland?" Eddard said while looking Howland in the eyes.

"I will protect your nephew with my life, My Lord. And even if you had not asked me to do so, I owe too much to Lady Lyanna to let any harm come to her son."

"I am so glad you came with me Howland, you are a good man" Eddard smiled while putting a hand on his shoulder.

"It was an honor, My Lord," Howland replied with a small smile.

"Now when we reach Starfall, I will request their maester to send a letter to Benjen at Winterfell. So you can expect either an escort of guards or Benjen himself at the neck."

"That would be helpful, My lord." Howland paused for a moment and hesitatingly asked "What are you going to do about Lady Catelyn, Ned"

"What about her," Eddard asked while tilting his head.

"Well, you told me that you are going to claim that little Jon is your bastard and from what I've heard, the Faith of the seven is not kind towards bastards and Lady Catelyn is as faithful as they come. So are you going to tell her the truth about Jon's parentage?"

"While I would like to think the best of her, I think the fewer people that know about this, the better. I will tell her that he is my bastard and beg her forgiveness for straying from our marriage and even if she doesn't accept him, at least I will make sure that he has a father's love if not a mother's. And if she is a little less cordial towards him then I think that would be another form of protection for him, as because of her no one will suspect that he is anything other than a bastard"

"If you would be alright with it, I could take him with me to Greywater's watch, My Lord"

"No, while that is kind of you Howland. Little Jon has the blood of Starks in him and I want him to grow up in his Ancestral home with his siblings, like his mother and I were bought up. I will love him as much as my true son and make sure to raise him into an honorable man," Eddard said, his voice thick with emotion.

"You are right My Lord, I think Lady Lyanna will be happy with that," Howland said while bowing his head.

"And when we were in Kings Landing, I had gotten the news about Catelyn being pregnant, so hopefully by the time I arrive at Riverrun, she'll have already brought our child into this world," Eddard looked toward the horizon with hope in his eyes.

They packed up after that and started their journey toward their home, The North.

...

Since my reincarnation in this medieval world, I only woke up sporadically for a handful of minutes, and that too with only the desire to eat and shit and then go back to sleep after a few minutes.

As days passed, my control over my body as well as my eyesight improved gradually and I was starting to be able to see some colors too. The only thing I had been able to gather in between my frequent visits to the dream world is that I was in the company of three people.

One was the olive-skinned woman who I first saw when I was bought into this world, so I would hazard a guess and conclude that she is a midwife, because from her absence I can conclude that my mother didn't make it past my birth.

The other two were both men barely out of their teenage years, one of them was a bit taller than the other. The tall one had a long handsome face and soft brown hair as well as a solemn face with his dark grey turning soft every time he held me.

The shorter one of the two was a weird amalgam of contradictions, he looked like a child but had the voice of an adult and his eyes were a bit too big to be considered normal.

The mystery of the world I had been reborn into was solved by me picking up some words from the conversation between the adults, particularly "Stark", "Dorne", "Lyanna", "Ned" and most damningly "Winter is Coming".

It was not long after that, that I was able to put together my background in the world of planetos. I was born as Jon "You Know Nothing" Snow, the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen and the bastard of Winterfell.

A few days after that revelation we reached some kind of a castle on an island that I think was Starfall. Only Eddard went in there, while we stayed in the nearby village because I don't think he wanted anyone to ask too many questions about me.

When Eddard came out of the castle he was even more moody and grim than before. At first, I was confused about his behavior as I had no idea what could have happened but then I suddenly remembered that Ashara Dayne had committed suicide around this time. Then it all started making sense because it was rumored in the books they became a thing for a time in Harrenhall.

We reached the port the next day and I found out that Lord Stark was not coming with us to Winterfell directly because he had to go to King's Landing. We had to part ways immediately because our ship was set to leave that very day. Ned held me in his hands for a few moments and kissed my forehead before giving me to the midwife.

After some time ship had enough time to supply itself and the captain started calling all the passengers to start boarding. We had barely climbed the ship when it started to sail away from the port.

The time spent onboard the ship was very boring to me, even though I slept most of the time. Howland was not much of a talker and the midwife who was called Wylla spent most of her time knitting something. She had heard some things about the cold in the north and wanted to knit some clothes for me.

The ship only stopped for resupply two times after we started our journey, once in Oldtown and the other time in Lannisport. Both times only Howland went into the city to get some necessary supplies while Wylla and I stayed cooped up in our cabin.

I had wanted to go into those towns to check them out but when I cried aloud to make my voice heard the only thing I got for my trouble was a nipple in my mouth. I sighed and thought 'Well, what can you do when life gives you lemons you suck on them,'

A couple of weeks must have passed by before I was jostled awake by Wylla. We were finally going to go down from the ship. We went toward the front of the ship and eagerly waited for it to dock, I heard from the nearby talking sailors that we had reached the port of Seagard.

If I remember correctly then it is the seat of House Mallister who were sworn directly to House Tully of Riverrunn. It would mean that we are not that far from the north now. We went down the ship immediately after it had stopped, and Lord Reed started leading us straight out of the market at the port. I tried to keep my eyes open as much as possible and to look at every single thing I could at the same time, and because of that, my head kept swirling around from left to right. Wylla tried to keep me still as she tried to follow the unusually fast crannogman through the crowd of peddlers.

When Lord Reed took us straight out of the walls of the city without stopping for resupply, I thought he had forgotten about it, and from the looks of Wylla, she thought the same. But the second we had passed some distance from the city and were in the shade of trees, out of nowhere we were suddenly surrounded by a handful of people covered from head to toe in green with bows on their backs while holding some kind of a trident weapon.

Wylla screamed when one of the small people started running towards us and attacked Lord Reed by jumping on him and the lord instead of running stood still with his arms wide open. It took some time for us to understand that they were the people of Lord Reed and that the person in Lord reed's arms was his fiance. Apparently, Lord Reed had somehow gotten the message to his people while we were on our way to ask for an escort.

The journey towards the north got a bit interesting after we gained our new companions, we never took the main road and only passed by unused paths that were only known to crannogman. Lord Reed's fiance played with me sometimes when the midwife got tired from the walk and I always smiled whenever she made some faces at me to try to keep me entertained.

I had barely felt the cold when we came closer to the Neck but, the way Wylla kept shivering I think she must have been feeling the cold a lot more than me. After thinking about it, I felt that it made sense because, in the place where she had been born, people had to be more used to the hotter climate so her genes may have evolved that way. And because I had the blood of the starks who had been living in harsh winters for thousands of years, our genes must have evolved in the opposite direction so that we can feel almost comfortable in cold.

There was this one time when I saw a documentary about how there was a place very high up in the Tibetian plateau where only the natives can survive comfortably because their bodies have evolved to be able to live with the concentration of oxygen in the environment much lower than a normal person is used to. It made sense for people with this much history in Westeros to evolve if even the people on earth with barely centuries of history could somewhat evolve to adjust to their surroundings.

A couple of days later we came across an escort of guards waiting outside what seemed like a ruined collection of huge towers that I later learned was The Moat Callin. The escort was led by a young boy who had a remarkable resemblance to Ned, he had a huge smile on his face and relief in his eyes when he held me. Wylla and I parted ways with the company of crannogman after that and started the last part of our toward the castle of Winterfell.

As days turned to weeks I saw more and more vast empty wilderness, forests, pine-covered hills, and snow-capped mountains and the beauty of it started to grow on me. We very rarely stopped on the way because I think uncle Benjen was really eager to get to his home. It was a couple more weeks before we saw the huge castle of Winterfell in the distance.

 

I was rolling around inside my crib while making random noises. It had been a few days since we in Winterfell and I was already bored out of my mind. I was inside a nursery in the Great keep, which had been used by generations of stark babies and most recently my mother and benjen. The room looked like it had been recently cleaned which would make considering it had been left empty for almost 15-16 years.

The room was colored in gray colors with a crib in the center in which I was staying, while two other cribs were thrown haphazardly in the corner, I guess they could be repaired or cleaned if more than one child arrives in the Stark family. There were half a dozen toys strewn around just beside the door which consisted of little wooden swords, a wooden wolf, and a wooden horse on which you could ride.

The door opened and I immediately stopped rolling around. A woman around 25 years old entered the room. She was a bit plain looking with brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes.

She was from winter town and had been brought in by benjen to feed me as the wetnurse who had arrived here with us all the way from Dorne went back home. Benjen had tried to persuade her to stay and take care of me and she did try to stay for a few days but she couldn't stop her teeth from clattering and her body from shivering constantly, so benjen finally took pity on her and gave her enough money for a trip home and some more, as well as sent a couple of guards to escort her to White harbor from where she could catch a ship to her home.

"How are you today little lord," the wetnurse cooed to me while taking me out of the crib. She always called me little lord even though she knew that I was a bastard and not some lord but I guess to normal villagers, everyone who could live in a castle without being part of the staff is a lord.

"You are going to grow up to be a big man, little lord," she said while feeding me from her breast, "You are always so eager to drink milk, I wish my little sam back home, could drink as much as you, he always turns his face away from my breasts. But you like my milk, don't you,"

The wet nurse put me back in the crib after I had my fill and went away after thinking that I fell asleep. I don't know about the exact amount of time, but enough time had passed since my birth that I could now stay awake for more hours every day. So at first, I thought that it would be fun being in the legendary castle of Winterfell and exploring it, but my body, unfortunately, disagreed with me as it was not yet strong enough to walk or even crawl yet.

So besides staring around the room and looking at the dull gray walls, all I had to simulate myself was when the wet nurse came to feed me or when benjen could find the time to come entertain me. Benjen would come into the nursery at least once per day to spend some time with me. And he would always try and make faces that were supposed to be funny but were really not, but I liked him so I indulged him with a laugh now and then, and that always seem to make his day.

Anyway, other than that I was pretty much left alone to my devices, and that was slowly but surely driving me up the wall. I was a man who had lived in the 21st century, a man who was online 90% of the time he was awake, and a man who never spent more than a week without reading some kind of novel online (like light novel, web novel, or manga, etc), or watching an anime, or watching some youtube videos. In short, I was a man (like everyone else from my home planet) severely addicted to the internet.

So being cooped up in a room with almost nothing to entertain me, it was only a matter of time before I suffered through some kind of withdrawal symptoms from my internet addiction. I don't know what they would look like but I didn't want to go through them, so I tried to find other things to capture my attention, things that would not require me to use anything other than my mind.

The first thing I could think of was MATH. I know! I know! it's a nerdy thing but I was pretty okay with math when I was in school, nowhere near good enough to go for something like a Ph.D. but good enough that I enjoyed it.

Anyway, there was a video that I saw in my last life about a kid from somewhere in Asia who could do all kinds of complicated calculations in his head and I was told in that very video that it was a good exercise for the mind, and who knows maybe it would help me increase my mind potential or something, and if not, it would at least be useful if I ever wanted to be a merchant in the future.

I started small, by taking any random 2-digit numbers and performing addition and subtraction with them in my head like 93-15 or 27+15, etc. And when I get comfortable enough with those I would make the numbers 3 digits then 4 digits, and so on. And when I eventually get bored with those maybe I could even make it more difficult by doing multiplication, or division and if I was ever comfortable enough with doing the multiplication of 4-digit numbers in my head, then maybe I could even open the box of calculus.

Now, while doing maths did keep me busy for a while, enough not to get bored. But there were times when I would just get sick of seeing numbers after a while and that is when another thing that I saw in an anime (don't remember which) came to my mind. I think it was called something like Image Training, it is where you train yourself against an imaginary opponent inside your mind.

Anyways, when I tried to do that, it turned into a total failure, I could not even make an image of a simple stick or rod in my mind last long enough, let alone create a stable enough image of a person for Image Training. So I backtracked a little and thought that if I ever wanted to do image training in the future, I would need to start small, then maybe I would eventually get better.

So what I would do is I look at any object in my room like say the small wooden wolf hanging above me in my crib and try to remember all of its details, from its exact color to its texture, to where it had been chewed in its leg and to what shape it was, and when I had retained enough details of it, I would then close my eyes and try to recreate the exact replica of that object inside my head.

To be honest, when I had the idea in my mind, I thought it would be very easy, I mean it was from an anime, how hard could it be? Right!

Wrong! It was very hard and It had not been going so well for me. I could never get the image of the object inside my head stable enough, it would always be a little wobbly and its shape kept on changing with its color reverting back to black. It was as if my mind was not under my control at all and would make whatever random shapes it could without listening to my desires at all.

It was all very frustrating for me, but I didn't give up and remembered the mantra PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, and went right back at it.
...
It was around midday and the wet nurse had just exited the room after feeding me and I was hesitating between doing math or image training, as I was starting to hate both of them equally when the nursery's door slowly opened and Benjen's face peeked through.

"Hey little wolf are you awake," Benjen whispered while looking toward my crib. I immediately stood up in my crib and gave him a big smile as I welcomed the distraction instantly. He came into the room when he saw that I was awake. He stopped beside my crib and took me gently into his arms, and sat on a nearby chair while still holding me.

Benjen was a very young-looking man with blue-grey eyes and long black hair. He had the long face of the starks which always looked a little sad, and slouched as if the weight of the world was on his shoulder. Losing almost all of his family so young must have been hard on him.

"I have very good news to share with you little wolf," he said while smiling slightly and bouncing me on his lap "Your father is going to be home in a couple of days, you remember your father, don't you? He's the one whose face is always a little grumpy, "

"And you know what's even better news, he's bringing along your little brother with him, so you won't have to be so alone anymore, and you would finally have someone to play with. Isn't it the best," he said with a long look in his eyes as if remembering something.

"I used to play with your aunt all the time you know, there was not a single place in the whole of Winterfell that we left unexplored. I was very close with your Aunt Lyanna, not so much with your father as he had been fostered in the Vale since I was a baby and your uncle Brandon had all those older friends of his to run around with so..." his voice took on a morose tone by the end and it looked as if he'd forgotten about me before he shook himself off and looked toward me again.

"What am I talking about, you don't care about that at all do you?" he said with a bitter tone before he smiled, "you know now that you're going to have a brother how about when you grow up a bit, I could teach you all kinds of tricks to annoy your brother. I used to take Lyanna's brush or her sword to annoy her all the time and then she would chase after me all around Winterfell from the kitchen to the training yard to the broken tower.

Whenever father caught us, he would always scold me instead of lyanna because she was his favorite you see, in fact, I think she was everyone's favorite. Not a single person in the whole castle had anything bad to say about her... " he went a little quiet for a while.

I had just been fed just before benjen came so I was starting to get a little sleepy and my head started to roll around in benjen's lap.

"Oh! looks like it's time for the little wolf to go to sleep," he said while standing up and bringing me to my crib before laying me down and tucking me in.

"How about I sing you a little lullaby, huh," he said while taking a seat on the ground beside the crib and started to slowly swing my crib back and forth. He sang in low voice, it was a very sad song. I couldn't remember the whole lullaby, just that it was about a wolf pack and a cub who got lost, it was really soothing.

"Lyanna used to sing that to me," Benjen continued after the lullaby finished, "Whenever I was sad or I had a nightmare about something she would always be there to comfort me and hold my hand. I lost my mother at a very young age, so lyanna was the one who took care of me most of the time.

"Every single place in this castle reminds me of her, of her smile, of her fierceness, of her gentleness. Everywhere I look I see the faces of my sister or father or even Brandon and they haunt me every waking moment," his voice started to crack and he started sobbing while lying on the ground in a fetal position.

"I think I will join the Night's Watch after Ned gets here," benjen said after his tears had dried up and he was half asleep "I don't think that I can stay in this castle any longer. And there will be nothing holding me here after Ned gets here, he will have his new wife who will look after him and you and Robb too. And if I join the Night's watch I could even atone for all my sins, because if it had not been for me then maybe lyanna could still be...still be..."
...
Two days later, the whole castle woke up before the morning fog had cleared and while it was still dark out there, there was a sense of excitement in the inhabitants of Winterfell. The Lord of Winterfell was finally coming back and was bringing along with him a Southern wife as well as a newborn heir.

Some were happy that their Lord was coming back after winning a long war, while others were sad that only one, out of the four Starks that went away, was coming home. A scout had spread the news while eating in the great hall that he had seen the party only half a day away so people started to rush even more in a bid to make everything better.

Jon was already awake by the time the wet nurse came into the nursery in the morning. After finishing the usual morning routine, she took Jon out of the nursery and down the stairs straight into the throng of people that were gathered in the courtyard. Apparently, Uncle Benjen had instructed her to bring Jon here so that he could be present when they welcome Ned into Winterfell.

Jon didn't think that his being there was a very good idea because, while Eddard might be happy to see Jon again. Happiness or Joy will definitely not be the emotion that Catelyn would express after she sees him and Jon didn't want to be present for that.

The courtyard was filled with servants standing in different clusters according to their cliques while almost all the guards were gathered on the wall of the castle and looking into the distance. Just behind the open gate, standing in front looking regal in his new clothes was Benjen, and standing just beside him was Maester Luwin along with the steward, Vayn Poole as well as the Master at Arms Ser Rodrik Cassel.

Jon was just behind them in the hands of the wet nurse who was fussing over his clothes. They must have been standing there for about half an hour before a guard suddenly shouted from above that he could see the party in the distance. A nervous current suddenly ran through the crowd with the steward trying to straighten his clothes while one maid was trying to hide the stain on her clothes.

Everyone stopped what they were doing when the sound of horses came into their ears and they simultaneously looked toward the open gate in anticipation. In just a couple of minutes, the party entered through the gate bringing along sand clouds in their wake. In front of the party, wearing leather armor and riding a black horse was Lord Stark and along with him came a handful of guards in stark sigil and they all looked incredibly travel-worn.

Behind them came a white carriage with four huge wheels along with half a dozen guards shadowing it on both sides. Behind the carriage came a couple of carts carrying chests and almost a dozen servants and maids. If anyone had looked closer then they would notice that almost half the guards had the fish sigil on their chest, so it looked as if Lady Catelyn had brought quite a household along with her.

Lord Stark stopped his horse in front of the welcoming party and just looked around the castle with relief and nostalgia in his eyes. It was a couple of minutes later that he was able to break himself out of the trance and get down from the horse in one swift motion.

Benjen had silently waited until Eddard was standing in front of him before he bowed and spoke, "Winterfell is yours My Lo—" Eddard stopped him from bowing with his hands on Benjen's shoulder and brought him into an embrace and hugged him with all his might.

"I missed you a lot, Ben," Eddard said in a voice thick with emotion.

"I missed you too Ned." Benjen croaked with moist eyes hugging him back just as tight.

While the stark brothers were reuniting with each other after a long time, Lady Catelyn had gotten down from the carriage with a bundle in her hands. She looked around the castle and all the servants with a timid gaze before she started walking toward where her husband was. She stopped just short of reaching them and then stood waiting while fussing over the toddler in her hands.

Catelyn was a young girl about 17 years old. She had luscious auburn hair that seemed to shine in contrast with the snow. Her eyes were sky-blue eyes and she had white smooth skin without a single blemish anywhere, along with a symmetrical face she was one of the most beautiful women any of the servants had seen in their whole life.

The brothers broke up their hug after a few moments and Eddard finally noticed his new wife standing beside him.

"Benjen, Let me introduce you, this is my wife Lady Catelyn Stark," Eddard said while putting a hand behind Catelyn's back.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, good-sister," Benjen said while blushing.

"Likewise, Lord Benjen." Catelyn smiled a little, benjen reminding her of her little brother back home, and did a little curtsy while awkwardly holding the toddler in her hands.

"And this is my son and heir Robb Stark," Eddard said loudly with pride in his voice while taking Robb from Catelyn's arm and raising him a little so that everyone could catch the sight of their future Lord.

"He is a really beautiful child, Ned," Benjen said with a soft smile while touching the sleeping toddler's cheek with his fingers.

They stood there in the courtyard for a few minutes getting acquainted with each other while the crowd slowly started to thin as people started going back to their duties.

"You all must be very exhausted from the long journey, I've already had rooms prepared for you in the great keep with warm baths and the kitchen had also been notified so a meal will be waiting for you whenever you want," Benjen said while looking at Lady Catelyn who looked to be dead on her feet.

"A warm meal sound's like a wonderful idea," Eddard said in a grateful voice and started walking toward the direction of the great keep, before he abruptly turned around, "Oh, I forgot to ask but where is Jon?"
Benjen looked around for a moment in confusion as he had been very sure that he had seen Jon there just a while before.

What had happened was that our little Jon was not in the mood to participate in any kind of drama, so when he had seen that Lady Catelyn had gotten down from the carriage, he used "the most potent weapon" available at his disposal to make the wet nurse take him inside, "THE SHIT MISSILE". The wet nurse was helpless against the weapon and could only admit defeat and take him inside to get him changed.

"Oh he was just around here somewhere, the wetnurse must have taken him inside. I will send for a servant to fetch him immediately," Benjen said while turning around and raising his hand.

"No it's alright, I'll meet with him later," Eddard said while putting a hand on benjen's shoulder to stop him from calling a servant.

"Who's Jon?" Catelyn asked quietly while tilting her head.

Benjen looked toward her with a confused expression while Eddard's eyes widened comically as he suddenly remembered that in his haste to travel from Riverrun to Winterfell he had totally forgotten to tell his new wife about his "bastard" son.

IT WAS AT THAT MOMENT HE KNEW THAT HE FU**ED UP

There was complete silence in the courtyard with not even the horses making any sound. All residents would swear that they all collectively felt a sudden chill in the air as if the Long Night had come back.

 

I was standing at the bow of my ship looking far into the distance with the help of a far eye. My assistant was standing beside me giving me a report.

"Only 2 ships need an emergency repair, Captain. The rest of them are working in optimum condition" He said to me while reading from a notebook.

"2 ships out of the 115 ships I have in my fleet falling to pieces, is a lot better than I expected. How about our food stock" I asked.

"We should be fine for the return journey, as long as we reach Valariya in 5 days, Captain," he replied after looking at the report in his hands for a while.

"Well then, that should not be a problem, because I can see the smokes of valyria in the distance," I said while handing him the far-eye. I started shouting immediately.

"Bring out the filter masks and give one to everyone on the ships. You! Flagbearer! Send a signal to every ship in our fleet for them to..."

"Jo... Jon ... Jon... JON"

An irritating voice was shouting from somewhere far away and jostling me and I was telling it to stop.

Suddenly the fog inside my head cleared and I found myself inside my room. The source of that irritating voice was my brother,

"JON! JON! WAKE UP!" who will get the beating of his life if he doesn't stop shaking me.

"Go Away Let me sleep," I shouted back and pulled the blanket on my head. For a moment of bliss I thought he had gone away and the next second I felt my blanket pulled away from me. I sat up on my bed angrily and looked at him standing in the corner with that infuriating innocent smile on his face.

"I'll KILL YOU, STARK," I said through my gritted teeth.

"You'll have to get up for that," he replied smugly.

I fell back with a groan on my bed. Now wide awake but too tired to walk across the room and beat the snot out of that annoying brat.

"Why in the seven hell did you wake me up at this ungodly hour, Robb," I sighed and started slowly getting out of my bed.

"You promised to teach me to swim," he said eagerly, "and If we don't go now then everyone's going to be awake and someone will catch us,"

"You already know almost everything you need to swim," I grouched while changing my night clothes into something suitable for the cold outside, not that they are going to be any help while swimming naked, I shivered at the thought.

"Yeah, but what If I drown because I am all alone out there? You'll lose your favorite brother," he said while making a sad face.

"You just want someone to be there to share punishment with you if we get caught," I snarked toward him while walking toward the door, "And you are my only brother,"

He stuck a tongue at me and went outside the door with me following right behind him. I closed the door behind me and as I looked around, I noticed it was still quite dark outside and it would be an hour before the sun rises. As I was slowly walking down the stairs, I found Robb, already at the bottom of the stairs, waving at me to hurry up.

I sighed and went down the stairs two steps at a time. We silently crossed the courtyard toward the armory. We only had to hide twice, one time because of a maid rushing to the kitchen and the other time because of a sleepy guard doing night patrol.

After that, it was a smooth journey, we passed the armory and went straight into the godswood. We kept walking silently between the thick canopy of trees which mostly consisted of birch, oak, and ironwood. The ground was hard and packed with moss and thousands-year-old humus.

The godswood was a dark primal forest that had been left untouched for thousands of years, and the silence was only broken by the sounds of unidentified creatures of the forest and leaves crunching under our feet, so it could have scared a grown man into running let alone two kids. But we had been coming here for so long, mostly with Father, that the place had lost its mysteries to us.

We passed by a couple of more trees before we came into a clearing with a tall weirwood tree. The weirwood had bark white as bone, dark red leaves, and a long and melancholy face carved in the bark, its deep-cut eyes red with dried sap. In the center of the clearing was a small, dark, and cold pool.

We both kept walking in until we stopped in front of the weirwood tree and then simultaneously knelt there to pray. I prayed to the old gods for the autumn to end a bit sooner and for the health of everyone in our family, even Catelyn.

When I came into this world I had not been a particularly faithful person, never quite believing in any of the gods. But as Lord Stark began to bring me and Robb to pray here once or twice a week, it became a habit for me. And I found it so calming to pray here that before I knew it, I was a follower of the old gods not that there were any particular requirements for it. The old gods don't actually demand anything unlike the faith of the Seven.

After a few seconds, I stood up and found Robb stripping his clothes in front of the pool.

"What are you doing?" I asked while moving toward him.

"Going for a swim, the thing we came here for, you know," he said while rolling his eyes.

"Not in this cold pool, I thought we were going for the three pools by the guest house, where the water comes from the hot springs," I said speaking slowly as if talking to a particularly dimwitted child, "The summer has not arrived yet, you do know that,"

"I heard old Nan say that it's almost autumn, so the water's not going be that cold," he said while stripping the last of his clothes to stand in front of the pool naked while looking at me in anticipation.

"You are insane!" I said while not moving at all to join him.

"It's called being valiant and manly," he said while puffing his chest and standing with his hands on his waist.

I stared at him in silence for a few moments before speaking in a deadpan,

"You look stupid,"

He looked sheepish for a moment before he took a few steps away from the pool and then after giving me a challenging smirk took a running start and jumped right into the pool.

"Whoohoo... " his excited shout echoed in the silent forest before he went under the water. It took a few seconds before he came back up and looked toward me with a wide grin on his face.

"Come... onnn...ittsss...noottt... thaaat... cooooldddd," he said with his teeth clattering.

"I believe you," I said sarcastically while taking a seat on a rock.

"You're not going leave me all alone here, Are you?" he said smoothly after a few minutes, having already gotten accustomed to the cold water. It gets really hard to doubt magic is there in our blood when looking at the sight of a kid adapting to almost freezing water in a matter of minutes.

While we both are only 3-year-olds we are taller and more robust than any 5 or 6-year-old kid out there. We very rarely get sick with a cold and while other people would shiver uncontrollably on a particularly cold day we barely feel it.

"Are you coming in or not!" he shouted.

"I am not"

"If you have the blood of starks of winter in you then you will not be afraid of a little cold and If you don't come inside then you're not my brother," he said while pouting and looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

"You think your childish provocation will work on me," I said while raising an eyebrow with a little smile on my face.

"Come on pleaaassse..." he whined like a 3-year-old.

"Alright! Alright! I am coming don't start crying," I said before standing up and divesting my clothes beside Robb's. I took a breath and jumped straight into the pool.

The cold water knocked the wind out of me and I felt like needles were pricking at my skin, all over my body. I swam to the surface of the water and took slow deep breaths while keeping my eyes closed. Only a couple of seconds later, my body got used to the cold water and I could almost feel the pores across my body shrinking and blood circulating faster.

After a moment of just enjoying the coolness of the water on my skin, I opened my eyes and was instantly splashed with a huge amount of water out of nowhere. I started coughing and rubbing my eyes while listening to Robb laughing his ass off. I opened my eyes and glared at him with murderous eyes.

He must have seen something on my face because he immediately started swimming away from me.

"Get back here, You Bastard!," I shouted while swimming after him.

"I am not the bastard, You are!" he said while laughing out loud and when he looked back to check on me, he squealed like a little girl when he found out how close I was and tried to swim away even faster.

We played in the pool till the sun's rays could be seen on the horizon, and after having our fill of the fun, we wore our clothes and lay down beside the pool to calm down our breathing.

After having sufficiently rested I stood up and walked toward the trees in the godswood. I walked around for a while before I found a tree that I considered appropriate for a beginner then I took some distance from that tree. While facing the tree I took a deep breath, and then ran toward it at a moderate speed, just before reaching it I took a jump and then started climbing it, I didn't even make a meter above the ground before I fell toward the ground hard.

"Ow Ow..."

As I lay there trying to catch my breath, I felt a shadow on my face, when I opened my eyes I found Robb standing there with his face crunched up in confusion.

"What are you doing?" he inquired.

"I am training to become a hunter," I said while standing up for another try at it.

"By practicing how to fall from a tree," he asked, bewildered.

"No by learning to climb a tree very fast," I said before I ran and tried to climb the tree, this time I was able to reach a higher place before falling down on my feet.

"How are you going to become a hunter by learning to climb a tree?" he asked in a skeptical tone as if questioning my sanity.

"Do you remember that old hunter in Wintertown who hunted that big stag last year?" I asked while not stopping my training.

"Yeah, Old mark, right. What about him?"

"Well I asked him a couple of days ago, about what should I do to become a good hunter, and he said that the most important thing for a hunter is how fast he could climb a tree. Apparently, there is a saying between the hunter, 'The faster a hunter climbs, The longer he survives ', so that's why I am training so that if I come across a wolf or something, I could climb a tree in a heartbeat... Ow..ow..."

I was able to almost reach the first branch this time but I lost my balance before catching it. Robb had already found a rock to sit on.

"Well, why do you want to become a hunter all of a sudden?" he said while watching me from his seat.

"Do you know how much money Old Mark got for that big buck?"

"Enough to last him for a while, I guess"

"Well he got about 70 silver stag, if it was not so full of arrows he could have even gotten a gold dragon," I said to him while stopping for a moment to catch a breath.

That old mark had gotten quite lucky to be able to hunt down that big of a beast. While they were not a rarity, they almost always escape because they are not slowed down by a couple of arrows at all. The second he had gotten that money, he married his daughter to our blacksmith Mikken's son.

"Why would you want to earn money ?" he asked bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Do you remember what I told you two days ago?"

"What are— Oh, about your dream to travel the world" he replied quietly.

"Yeah, and you need a lot of money to do that so I have to start early. I don't want to turn into an old man before I earn enough money to go to White Harbour, Do I?" I said while laughing lightly.

But Robb wasn't laughing, he was looking at the ground morosely. I sighed and went toward him and sat beside him before putting a hand around his shoulders.

"Hey what happened? Why are you sulking?"

"I'm not sulking," he sulkily said while looking at the ground.

"Of course, you are not. Now tell me what happened,"

"I don't want you to go," he said while looking up at me with moist eyes.

"Hey! Hey! I am not talking about going anywhere soon, You know. It'll probably be a decade before Father even allows me to step foot outside Winterfell," I said while rubbing his shoulder in comfort, "So you don't have to worry about me disappearing tomorrow,"

"I am not worried about you," he said while looking away from me and rubbing his eyes.

"Of course, you're not," I said while standing up and walking toward the exit "Now come on let's go before the grumkin comes looking for you,"

"She'll be with my mother, so we don't have to worry at all," he said while catching up with me.

"How is lady stark by the way?"

"She's alright, just angry with father because he told her that she was not allowed to go outside." he said before continuing with a crunched-up face, "And she doesn't like being fat or being called fat,"

"Well it won't be long before we have a little sister"

"Mother thinks that we'll have a baby brother but father said he wants a little baby girl," he said while kicking a pebble before continuing, "But I don't understand how mother getting fat will get us a baby brother or a baby sister,"

"Did you not ask Lady Stark," I asked while imagining Catelyn's face when Robb asks her about where babies come from.

"I did, but she said I am not old enough," he said before turning toward me, "But you know about that right, so you can tell me,"

"I do know but she's right, you're not old enough yet to know about this secret," I said in a mystifying tone.

"Hey! We are the same age. Come on, tell me! Please!" he whined while swinging my arm back and forth.

"Alright! Alright! Tell you what, if you win the race then I'll tell you," I said while taking my hand from him.

"What race," he said while tilting his head.

"The race to the kitchen that starts..." I said before bending to get into the runner's position and then took off with a shout of "NOW!"

"Hey! that's cheating!" he shouted from behind me before I heard his footsteps as he ran behind me.

We ran for a while between trees and then went straight out of godswood. As we were passing by the armory and I took a turn around a corner, I came to a complete stop.

"Hey, why did you stop," he asked while slowing down after seeing me stand at the corner looking toward the other side.

"Look's like the grumkin found us!" I said to him in a whisper as he came to stand beside me and when he found out who was in front of me he immediately understood the reason I stopped.

"Where are you two up to?" Septa Mordane said while looking at us with suspicion in her eyes.

Before I could reply to her with something that would definitely not be appropriate for a child, I saw Robb looking at me with wide eyes, silently asking me if I wanted to mess with her. I obviously replied in an affirmative via rapid blinking of my eyes.

"Nothing!" We shouted simultaneously.

She looked at both of us for a few moments before turning toward Robb.

"Lord Robb, I've told you this before but you should not associate yourself too much with him," she said while pretending as if I don't exist.

"And why should I not associate with my brother, Septa," he inquired as if genuinely curious.

"Because he is a bastard," she said while looking at me from the corner of her eyes to see if would react, but I only smiled back not offended at all, "And they are creatures born out of sin and lust so they are not to be trusted,"

"Oh! they are," Robb said in an exaggerated tone, "And are children of bastards, bastards too, Septa,"

"Of course," she replied while directing a smirk at me

Robb nodded as if he understood everything she was telling him and then abruptly turned toward me.

"Do you remember Jon?" Robb asked, "What Maester Luwin was teaching us two days,"

"Of course, he was teaching us the history of Baratheons," I replied while hiding my smile, having understood where he was going with this.

"And wasn't the founder of House Baratheon, Orys Baratheon a Targaryen bastard,"

"That's what it says in the history books," I replied while trying to hold my laughter in.

"And isn't there a very important man who is a descendent of Baratheon," he asked while turning toward a rapidly paling septa.

"Yes, I think the King, the ruler of Seven kingdoms is a Baratheon,"

We both started advancing toward the septa who slowly started stepping backward while looking as if she had seen a ghost.

"So what the good Septa here is telling us is that the king is a creature born of sin and lust,"

"No, I didn't mean tha—" she tried to say but I interrupted her.

"And isn't Lord Stark a very old friend of the king?"

"Yeah, he is and we should definitely tell father what the good septa here is saying about his childhood friend," Robb replied while we both looked maliciously toward the septa.

...

A few minutes later the septa walked out of that corner looking as if her soul had left her body, she hurriedly walked toward the great keep with her head down.

"She will definitely leave us alone for a while now,"

"Where did you learn to blackmail people like that," I asked Robb as he was dipping freshly baked bread into his soup.

We had gotten some breakfast from the kitchen and were sitting in the great hall. It was mostly empty with the occasional guard coming for an early breakfast.

"From you," he spoke while spraying food from his mouth everywhere.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," I said while moving my plate away from his.

"You sound like my mother,"

"Just because Lady stark is not here, doesn't mean you should forget your manners," I replied while hitting the back of his head, "And when did you see me blackmail someone?"

"That one time you blackmailed my mother into letting you sit at the head table or the other time when she tried to move you into servant quarter but you somehow suddenly persuaded her, or the—"

"Alright! Alright! I get it, you don't need to say anymore," I interrupted him when he looked like he would go on for a while, "And you should not do it anymore, or else your mother will really murder me in my sleep,"

"If you can do it, then I can do it too,"

"I am more mature than you, so you should listen to me," I said while trying to make my voice firm.

"We are the same age," he said petulantly while sticking his tongue out at me.

Before I could teach the brat about respecting his betters, a guard suddenly came into the great hall and started walking toward us intently. He came to a stop beside Robb before he started speaking.

"Lord Stark requested your presence in his solar m'lord,"

Robb nodded to let him know that he had gotten the message and then tried to hurriedly finish the rest of his food.

"Is today one of your lordly lessons?" I asked while eating slowly.

"Yeah, today he is going to teach me all about our army and how to call for them," he said excitedly, before standing up, "I'll tell you about it later, Bye"

He ran out of the hall toward the great keep while dodging between the maids. Once or twice a month Father calls Robb into his solar for long lessons where he teaches him about things a Lord is required to know. They are supposed to be secrets that Lord passes onto his heir, but Robb always tells me everything that he learns in there.

After cleaning my plate of all the food, I slowly stood up and went out of the great hall. As I looked toward the sky I felt that it should be around the time that guards start their daily training, so I turned toward the direction of the courtyard and started walking leisurely.

Almost the whole castle had woken up by this point so it was really bustling, I passed many servants, guards, the steward, or the stable boy rushing toward their daily chores.

It only took a couple of minutes for me to reach the courtyard, it was filled with men of all kinds of ages. From the elderly master at arms to young new recruits being drilled by the Guard captain.

I passed by everyone only stopping occasionally to say hi, before I came to a stop in front of a ring where some of the guards were having impromptu duels. I found my regular spot which was an out-of-the-way tree stump and sat on it while looking toward the ongoing duel.

Since I had been able to walk, I had been coming here to observe the guards practicing their forms or competing against each other. And while I was too young to practice my arms for a few years yet, I thought that I would still learn something from watching them.

The most important thing that I learned was all the different kinds of forms the guards used in their sword fight. I slowly started noticing a pattern, like a particular form is used by most guards when they are on the defensive or the other form they use while on the attack.

I still had the habit of doing the complex calculations in my mind and doing image training and after all this, it had paid off here. My memory retention was outstanding, so whenever I saw a guard use a particular, I would remember everything about it from the location of his hands and legs to when it was being used, etc.

So after I've got enough data from watching all these duels, I should be able to predict what my opponent would do next by the position of his arms and legs as well as his center of balance. It was all a theory for now but when I start practicing for real, that is when I would find out If it would pay off.

 

The Lords Solar, Winterfell

Eddard was sitting behind the desk while looking over the reports sent by his bannermen on their remaining food stock. Winter had just ended and he needed to see what was the overall conditions of his lands. To prepare better for the next winter, he needed to see which of his bannermen were struggling and which were thriving. It was the duty of every Lord of Winterfell to make sure the next winter is better than the last.

If the winter had lasted even a year longer then a lot of the population in the villages all over the north would have starved. Not that it would be a new thing, it's how people in the north have lived for a long time, whenever times get hard the older men will go out to hunt in the night and never come back. Things like these make the smallfolk dream of a summer that lasts forever, however, the Starks know that no matter how long summer lasts, Winter is Coming.

He put aside the report after a few minutes while massaging his forehead and looked over a message from the mormonts, they reported an increase in raids from Ironborn and also noted large patches of forest disappearing, most probably stolen by the reavers for their ships. Eddard hoped that it was just a couple of drunk rogue reavers and not something more sinister. He still decided that he would write a letter to Robert to tell him about the ironborn problem.

He was going over a message benjen had sent from Wall when a knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts.

"Come in!" Eddard said while putting the message aside. The door to his solar opened, and Maester Luwin came inside while closing the door behind him.

"You called for me My Lord," Maester Luwin said while coming to stand before his desk.

"Yes, please take a seat," Eddard said while pointing toward the seat, "How is Catelyn doing now, Maester? Is her fever down yet,"

"Lady Catelyn is fine now and even her fever has come down," Maester Luwin said while shuffling his chains, "so I don't think there will be any complication with the birth,"

"That is good news, Maester!" Eddard said while sighing in relief.

"Why don't you visit her, My Lord," Maester Luwin said with a kind smile, "I am sure she will be happy to see you,"

"I don't know about that," Eddard said while squirming in discomfort, "The last time I went to see her she threw a glass at me,"

"That was partly your fault, My Lord. You should have knocked before entering," Maester said in reproach.

"I know," Eddard said while covering his face with his hand and looking away in embarrassment, "I just didn't expect to find her in such a... distressing position,"

"The young lady was quite mortified after that," the maester said while shaking his head, "but I assured her that you would not be angry,"

"Yes, Well thank you for that, Maester," he said before composing himself and hurriedly asked, "How long until she gives birth Maester,"

"You can never be too sure about these things, but if all goes well then she should give birth before the week is over, My Lord,"

"Good! Good!" Eddard said while looking out the window, "And the weather today is clear too, so it seems a good day to go on a hunt,"

"Oh, are you talking about the tradition of going on a hunt before the birth of a child," Luwin asked curiously, it had not been more than a decade since he became Winterfell's maester so he was still new to some things.

"Yes, It is a long-standing stark tradition to hunt an animal and offer it to the old gods before a child is born. I still remember when I went on a hunt with Brandon and Father when Lyanna was born," Eddard said while reminiscing, "While I was not able to do so for Robb and Jon, this next child should have the old god's blessing,"

"Then I hope you have a very successful hunt," Luwin said while standing up, "If that is all, My Lord. I should go back to Lady Catelyn,"

"Yes, thank you Maester," Eddard said while standing up to follow him outside and closed the door behind him

"Do you know where Robb and Jon are," he asked the maester who was already at the end of the corridor,

"No My lord, they both ran away halfway through their lesson," Maester Luwin while shaking his head.

They both shared a bitter smile over the mischievous kids before Luwin went away and Eddard went out of the great keep. He walked around for about half an hour looking for them but couldn't find them anywhere so he forgo looking for his kids and went toward the courtyard first.

The courtyard was half-filled with recruits drilling under the command of the old guard captain along with his apprentice young Jory Cassel. Ser Rodrik Cassel was watching from afar having already finished his morning training. When Rodrik noticed Eddard, he immediately started walking toward him.

"Keeping a watch on your nephew's practice, Ser Rodrik," Eddard asked Rodrik while nodding toward where Jory was going through his forms.

"Yes, My Lord. Just making sure he's not slacking off,"

"He is a good lad just give him a few years and he will be ready to take over the guard captain's position," Eddard said and Rodrik looked at his nephew with pride in his eyes. They talked about the various recruits and who among them was talented or particularly hard-working.

"I came here to tell you to gather a small hunting party," Eddard said after a while," It will be a short hunt so you don't pack too much stuff. Just gather the usual people and meet me at Hunter's gate in an hour,"

"Yes, My lord," he nodded and went away briskly.

'Now, the last and hardest job, to find those two troublemakers', Eddard thought and went off in search around the castle.

He had been going around the castle and asking people along the way for about 10 more minutes when a young maid pointed toward them while hiding a smile. Both the boys were standing on top of the wall beside the east gate and had piled up a small mountain of snow beside their feet. Eddard sighed tiredly and started walking toward them.

"Why is no one coming?" Robb whispered to Jon while looking out of the gate.

"Someone will come, we just have to wait," Jon whispered back before turning toward Robb, "And you have to remember Robb, 'HIT and HIDE', you always forget the hiding part,"

"But If I don't see them getting hit, where would be the fun in that," Robb said while whining a little.

"If you see them then they may see you too," Jon said while rolling his eyes in exasperation, "And don't you remember what father said to us the last time he caught us?"

Robb cleared his throat before he deepened his voice and tried to imitate Eddard, "If I ever catch you, boys, pranking again, I will make you collect horse shit from dusk till dawn,"

"That's right, so we can't be caught," Jon said while looking out the east gate.

"Don't worry, I chose this place after a lot of thought," Robb said while patting his chest, "Father won't catch us here,".

"Won't I? Robb," A deep voice said from behind them suddenly.

Robb and Jon both turned around wildly, startled from their conversation like a stag from a hunter's arrow, and Robb hurriedly tried to hide the small snow hill beside their feet by kicking it sneakily while standing up as if to hide the evidence of their crime.

Eddard just continued to stare at them blankly without saying a word until they started to squirm in discomfort. Robb stared at anywhere but his father's eyes while Jon stared resolutely ahead with a poker face.

"What were you two doing?" Eddard asked quietly, even though he had heard everything.

"Nothing," Robb replied a little too quickly.

He stared at them with an ice-cold face without blinking, waiting for one of them to break and confess. Robb started to move his hands awkwardly and his face looked the part of a child caught in the act.

"We were just watching people come and go," Jon said hurriedly when it looked like Robb would cave in.

Over the years they have pulled many pranks on the household staff. Mostly it was them taking revenge on someone who had said one thing or the other about Jon being a bastard. He had punished the boys of course but also subtly made sure that the staff was out of the castle by the end of the week.

But it looked like they were in the habit of pranking people now and had started to turn their attention to random passersby.

"I don't have time for this today but when we get back, you both will be cleaning the stables for a week," Eddard said and they both started to protest before he overrode them, "And I don't want to hear any excuses. Do you understand," he glared at them until they nodded. He turned around and started walking downstairs with both of them following him.

"But where are we going, Father," Robb asked while Jon looked on curiously.

"We are going on a hunt,"

"Yes," they shouted in unison and started jumping in excitement.

"You are to go straight to your room and change," Eddard turned toward them when they had reached downstairs, "Then meet me at the Hunter's Gate, and If you are late, then I will leave both of you behind,"

He had not even completed the sentence but they were already running away, Eddard just sighed while looking behind them before shaking his head in exasperation and walking toward the Great Keep.

'These two were already a handful and there would be another little wolf in a few days.' Eddard thought while shuddering and prayed to the old gods to grant him patience.

An hour later the party was gathered at the hunter's gate ready to set out. The hunting party consisted of a total of 10 people.

Three of them were hunters from Wintertown of which two of them were carrying bows on their backs while the last one had a spear and every one of them had a skinning knife on their waists. They hunted regularly for the kitchens of Winterfell so they were quite experienced.

Four of them were part of Winterfell household guards, each of them was carrying a sword while two of them had hunting spears as well. And along with them were Ser Rodrik Cassel and his nephew Jory.

Eddard was speaking to Ser Rodrik and Jory about something when Jory started laughing while looking behind them and when they both turned around, what they saw made Eddard facepalm in exasperation.

Robb and Jon were both running toward them with big smiles on their faces, and while Jon looked normal in his leathers, Robb looked ridiculous wearing his toy helmet while carrying a wooden sword on his waist as well as a small bow in his hands.

"Robb, what are you wearing," Eddard sighed after both of them came to stand in front of him and glared at Jon who was snickering at his brother non-stop.

"I am going on a hunt so I wore my hunting clothes," Robb said while smiling widely.

"You are not going to be hunting, We are," Eddard said while kneeling before Robb and removing his helmet and taking the bow from his hands, and giving them to a nearby guard, "The only thing that you will be doing is watch from a safe distance and learn,"

"I told you, they won't let us hunt," Jon said while rolling his eyes.

"Well, I don't want to go If I can't hunt," Robb huffed and looked to the side while folding his little hands.

"Well Jon," Eddard said while standing up, "it looks like it'll just be the two of us then, let's go,"

He turned around and started to walk toward his horse, with Jon following behind him while waving his hand at Robb mockingly. They had almost reached the horse when Robb came behind them running and shouting.

"Wait! don't leave me, I want to come too,"

"Are you sure you'll be able to go without being able to hunt?" Eddard asked while hiding a small smile and looking down at Robb.

"Yes,"

"Very Well, then," Eddard said before lifting Robb by his armpits and placing him on his horse before doing the same with Jon and putting him just behind Robb. After making sure that they were not at risk of falling, he mounted the horse in a smooth motion and sat behind them. The hunting party started to move slowly out of the Gate and toward the forest of Wolfwood.

...

About an hour later the hunting party stopped just before the dense part of the forest started and got down from their horses. Two of the guards went around collecting all the horses and tying them to trees.

"Why are we stopping here father?" Jon asked.

"Because it's dangerous to go inside the forest on a horse, it's easy for them to lose their footing, and we may fall down," Eddard replied while patting Jon's head.

"But why didn't we stop out there where the trees started," Robb asked while pointing toward the trees that they had left behind them.

"This is where the proper Wolfwood begins, while those are trees that have grown in the past few decades and will be cut down before long. Now stop asking questions," Eddard said before waving at Jory, "Jory, it will be your duty along with two of the guards to look after them. Alright,"

"Yes, My lord," Jory replied and stood behind the two of them.

"Now, boys it will be dangerous inside the forest so once we go inside, you are to listen to anything I say at once, and not cause any kind of mischief. And you are not to move too far from Jory. Do you understand?"

"Yes," they shouted in unison.

Ser Rodrik left two guards behind to watch over the horses while the rest of the party slowly entered the forest. At the front of the party was a hunter who acted as a scout while just behind them were Eddard and Ser Rodrik. In the middle of the party were Jon and Robb along with Jory, while bringing the rear of the party were two guards and two hunters.

The wolfswood was a very large forest that stretched across almost half of North. There were very large varieties of trees in there like oak, sentinels, beech, ash, ironwoods, etc. Weirwoods could occasionally be found in there mostly isolated or in pairs. The wolfswood was named after the great many wolves one can hear howling in the night, but one can also find boars, deers, elks, rabbits, and the occasional bears in here.

They were slowly moving while being careful of their surroundings, while the hunters were looking for footprints or any other sign of animals on the ground.

"Why are you using a spear, Father?" Robb suddenly asked Eddard after he realized that the only ones who were wielding a sword were Ser Rodrik and Jory while everyone else was either holding a spear or wielding a bow.

"It is much easier to use a spear than a sword while hunting and safer too," Eddard said while thrusting his spear, "It keeps the animals at a distance,"

"But I like swords," Robb said.

"Every weapon has its uses, they just need the right condition for them to shine. For example, while a sword may not be the best for hunting, it is the best weapon when you are against peasant levies whose only form of protection is useless against a sharp weapon. And the safest option is probably to shoot from a distance with a bow," Eddard said shrugging. He hid his smile when he saw what Jon was doing from behind Robb, and continued in a whisper, "Until your enemy gets too close to you..."

"BOO..." Jon suddenly shouted in Robb's ear which made him scream like a little girl and jump. Robb immediately started chasing after Jon while the party started laughing at the antics of their lord's children.

"Isn't it a bit early for them to learn about having to kill peasant levies, My Lord?" Ser Rodrik asked in a low voice from behind Eddard.

"While they are a bit young, they won't be that forever, and we can never be too sure of the future," Eddard said while looking at his two sons, "But one thing we can be sure of is, Winter is—"

"Winter is Coming. Yes, My lord, I Know," Rodrik said while rolling his eyes.

"I do say that a lot don't I," Eddard said and smiled slightly while patting Ser Rodrick on the shoulder.

The hunter who had been sent to scout ahead came back running toward them while looking a bit out of breath. He told the party that he had found the traces of a boar. Everyone started to get a bit serious after that and silently followed the hunter who took them toward the trail of the boar.

Eddard kept getting distracted by Robb's constant questions, he felt that Robb would scare their prey away. So Eddard caught Jon's eye and looked meaningfully at him while pointing toward Robb, Jon rolled his eyes but still went toward Robb.

"Hey, Robb! How about we play a game," Jon asked Robb while walking beside him.

"What game?" Robb asked while looking at Jon a bit warily.

"Don't worry I am not tricking you, I swear," Jon said while putting a hand on his heart and when Robb nodded he continued, "The game is every time you see a small animal like a squirrel or a bird you silently point toward it, and I will do the same. At the end of the hunt whoever found more animals wins. How about it?"

"Alright, Lest play," Robb said enthusiastically.

After that, it was silent with the boys just pointing now and then toward their surroundings while the hunters were able to pay attention to their surroundings.

They must have been following the trail for about half an hour when suddenly a hunter in the front found the boar. Ser Rodrik and two of the hunters went ahead to circle around and surround the boar from the opposite side.

"BOAR! INCOMING!" Ser Rodrik's shout came from the front.

"Everyone spread out! Jory, take Jon and Robb toward the back." Eddard shouted.

Everyone rearranged themselves, two of the guards stood in front of Lord Stark on the left and right side while holding their spears. A few seconds must have passed before a great boar suddenly came barrelling toward them from between the trees. The boar went straight toward the guard on the left who panicked and thrust his spear toward the boar a bit early, the boar changed direction before even coming close and charged toward its left where Eddard was.

Eddard stood still, waiting for the charging boar to come toward him with his spear lowered, he was as calm as still water. When the boar was just a couple meters away and Eddard still didn't move, and Jon's heart lurched into his mouth.

"FATHER!" Robb shouted toward Eddard in a scared voice.

Just before the boar hit him, Eddard suddenly thrust his spear straight into the boar's face with a squishing sound while sliding and jumping backward skillfully to kill the boar's momentum. After a few seconds, he suddenly plunged the spear downward into the still-screaming boar and held it there until it stopped twitching.

The second Eddard pulled the spear out of the now-dead boar, the boys came running straight toward him. They both started shouting together while jumping up and down.

"You were so cool father and when you thrust your spear, that was so... so..." Robb said while feeling a bit breathless.

"I think I like the spear now," Jon said while looking at Eddard a bit reverently.

Eddard laughed out loud while putting the spear away and patting both their head, feeling very happy to receive compliments from his sons.

The hunters gathered around the boar to tie it on a stick so that it would be easy to carry. The boys had calmed down by now and were watching them from afar while feeling a bit squirmish.

"Will we eat the boar at dinner father," Robb asked while looking toward Eddard.

"No, after we perform a small ceremony in the godswood we will donate toward some of the poor in Wintertown,"

They were silently waiting for the party to pack up and move back when Robb suddenly looked away and pointed in the distance.

"What are you doing, Robb? The game is already over," Jon said while rolling his eyes.

"No look!" Robb said while thrusting his finger toward a tree.

Jon looked and immediately ran over when he found out what it was. Jon stopped before a tree and looked at the ground. What Robb had found was a small baby bird that looked a bit injured in its wings. Jon very gingerly took the bird in his hands and looked toward it with wide eyes. It was blue and white in color with yellow eyes and was probably a few weeks old.

"It looks like a baby snow eagle, probably fell from its nest," Eddard said while coming behind them.

"Can I keep it, Father please," Jon said while looking at Eddard pleadingly. Jon had felt a connection with the eagle the second he held it in his hand, and from the sound of its happy chirping, the baby eagle was happy too.

"It will not be able to survive for long without a mother,"

"I will take care of it every day, so please, Father," Jon said while making his eyes look big.

"Alright, you can keep it. But only if you promise to clean after the bird yourself, I will not have to bother the servants with this. And it may not survive anyway, and you will be the one who will have to bury it when that happens,"

"Yes," Jon shouted with a wide smile and looked toward the baby eagle, "I will call you Frost,"

Their journey back toward their horses was a bit slow, and when they finally reached Winterfell it was almost dark. So they hurriedly took the dead boar into the godswood before it went bad. Jon, Robb, and Eddard performed a ceremony in front of the Heart tree while asking the old gods to bless the newest stark.

A very happy Jon went to sleep that night while thinking about the baby bird and how he had finally caught his first POKEMON.

 

It was afternoon and I was in my room kneeling down and watching frost waddle around slowly, I would occasionally place obstacles in front of her as a game and she would move around them while making cute chirp noises. Either her wings had not been healed or she was not yet old enough but she hasn't been able to fly yet.

From time to time she would fall and I would gently stand her back up and she would go right back into the game. I didn't know her exact diet yet but I have been feeding her strips of meat leaving a small water bowl beside her, and she hasn't complained yet.

'I should borrow a book from Library about birds,' I thought.

Right after the morning lesson with Maester Luwin had been completed, Robb had run straight toward Catelyn's room to see if we could be allowed in yet. It's been two days since Catelyn gave birth, but Robb and I have not been allowed to see the baby yet, Robb has been throwing tantrums about that around the clock, so instead of going along with I came back to room play with Frost.

The reason we had not been allowed in yet was that a light snow had fallen the day after our hunt and considering that Catelyn had a fever just before the birth, Maester Luwin didn't want to take any risk or at least that's what the maids were gossiping about in the kitchen.

Suddenly the door of my room was slammed open and I looked up while Frost fell from surprise. Robb came inside looking as if he had been running a marathon, his face red like his hair from exertion.

"Father says we can see the baby," he said while huffing and puffing.

I immediately stood up and gently took Frost in my hands and put him in a box on the desk, while making sure that there wasn't a risk of her falling.

"Stop playing with your bird and hurry up!"

"She's not a bird, she is an eagle Stupid," I said while placing a blanket around the box before rushing toward the door, "And her name is Frost," I said while hitting him lightly on the head and closing the door behind me.

"Whatever," Robb said while rubbing his head, before turning around, "Now, let's go,"

We both ran down the stairs and cut straight through the courtyard without heeding any passersby, Robb almost knocked down a maid who was carrying laundry, but other than that we made record time toward the room where the baby and Catelyn were staying.

We reached outside the room and found Lord stark standing outside and waiting for us. Robb made to go running straight toward the door but Eddard caught him by his scruff and dangled him in the air.

"I am going to see the baby," Robb said while wiggling like a worm.

"Stop and listen to me first," Eddard said while placing Robb down beside me.

"But you said we can see the baby," Robb said accusingly at his father.

"You can, but you have to follow some rules," Eddard said while looking at us sternly, "You will not talk loudly inside, you will not disturb Catelyn's rest, and you will be very careful with the baby as she is very fragile so there will be no pranks. Do you understand,"

"Yes, Father," We both said simultaneously while nodding our heads like chickens.

Lord stark looked at us for a moment before turning around and opening the door and ushering us inside the room. This room was one of the warmest in Winterfell and along with the burning fireplace, it was like summer inside, and the air was a bit stale with the smell of sweat and fresh clothes lingering around.

Lady Catelyn was sleeping on the bed under a pile of blankets, while a crib was placed just within reach of the bed. Robb and I ran straight toward the crib while Catelyn opened her eyes blearily hearing some sounds.

"What is he doing here," Catelyn said when she saw me with Robb.

"He is my brother, so he will stay," Robb said while glaring at his mother before turning back to the baby.

I rolled my eyes and ignored her, instead looking toward the small thing wrapped in bundles laying inside the crib. Over the years, Catelyn had tried to be mean toward me to make me stay away from Robb and scare me away, but most of the things she said goes inside one ear and out the other. While a normal child would be distraught and shy away from her, to my adult soul she was just a bratty 17-year-old teenager who was throwing a tantrum.

"She is so pretty," Robb said while looking inside the crib with wide eyes.

"Yeah and she looks like you, Robb. You both have the same hair," I said while watching the baby yawn with fascination.

"He is my son, Catelyn," Eddard said in a low voice while sitting on the bed beside Catelyn and taking her hand.

"Well he is not my son," Catelyn snapped toward Eddard while snatching her hand away. I turned around while holding onto Robb's shoulder when it looked like Robb would shout at his mother.

"You have to understand one thing Lady Stark, that while you may not be my mother," I said while looking into Catelyn's eyes resolutely and pointing toward the baby, "She is my sister and she is part of the pack now, and while you may not know what that means. Know this 'When the snows fall and the white wind blows, the lone wolf dies..."

"...While the pack survives," Eddard and Robb completed my sentence, hence proving my point.

Catelyn looked toward all three of us in succession before she fell back on the bed with a pout after seeing a losing battle.

"Look she opened her, Jon," Robb said excitedly and I immediately ran to join him back beside the crib.

"What is her name, Father," I asked.

"Her name is Sansa," Eddard said while running his hand along Catelyn's hair as a way of apologizing.

We stayed for about half an hour while making faces at the curious toddler who was looking around in fascination. At some point, she suddenly started crying and Lord Stark immediately ushered us out of there while saying that the baby needs to eat.

We wandered around for a while after leaving the great keep while discussing all kinds of tricks we would teach her and how we would steal her from the hands of Grumpkin when she grows up and my feet automatically started taking me toward the library.

"You are not going to the library are you," Robb said when he realized where they were going.

"Yes, I have to take a look at books about birds for Frost, "I said before turning toward him, "and you should come too and you can work on your old tongue,"

"Ugh... I thought Luwin's lesson was enough for the day, now this too," Robb said while slouching, "Alright, you go ahead and I'll go get a quick snack from the kitchen before I join you,"

I've been learning how to read and speak the old tongue from Old Nan since a year ago along with the regular lessons on the common tongue from Maester. When found out about it he was really excited about it and thought it would be cool to have a secret language only both of us could understand.

While I wanted to learn the old tongue because while searching in the library for books on wargs and the magic of the first men, I found a whole section of a library filled with books written in the Old Tongue which have been sitting there for centuries without anyone to read or translate them. They were only copied word to word by an acolyte whenever the books started to get old and frayed.

I reached the library and slowly climbed the stairs because they were slippery sometimes. When I entered the library, I found Tom the acolyte sitting at the desk and copying some book about flowers that was fraying at the edges.

"Hello, Tom," I said while waving at tom.

"Hello, Jon. Going toward the old section today too," Tom said while looking up from his book and raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yes, They are very fascinating books,"

"Well have fun then. At least it's good to know that the work of acolytes over the years has not gone to waste and someone will read the books we copy someday...," I went away deep into the library without listening to the rest of tom's sentence.

Tom was a bastard of a Lord of a masterly house in the north and was learning under Maester Luwin. I say learning, but mostly he does some odd jobs for the Maester like looking after the ravens, copying old and fraying books, buying herbs from wintertown and he also looks after the library. His relationship with Maester Luwin is a give-and-take, where he works under the maester for a few years and if the maester is satisfied in the end, then he will give him a recommendation so that he may study at the citadel to become a maester.

After reaching the old section, I searched around for a few moments before I pulled out the book I had been reading yesterday. I took the book to a table and started reading silently. It was a bit hard to comprehend the words in these books because they had been mostly copied by people who don't exactly understand the old tongue. They just copy it as it is like a picture and that results in some of the words having a very different meaning than intended.

About half an hour later Robb arrived and after fetching a book about the basics of old tongue sat down across from me and started reading, while occasionally asking me about some stuff that he couldn't understand. I had told him that he could go and learn from Old Nan like I did but he said that he gets my explanation much better than her.

The books I was reading were mostly diaries, reports, and accounts written by maesters from centuries ago. Some of them mention the length of winter that year, or where the famine struck and destroyed a noble family but most of them were about wars and who died in which war with the wildlings or the andals.

I was reading my third book of the day and was just about done for the day when I came across a text that was written by a maester who was also the brother of Lord of Winterfell at that time. He was complaining about how his nephew, the only heir of Starks at that time had zero talent in the secret art. After reading the text about 5 times I basically understood the gist of it.

This maester talks about a secret art that has been passed among the Starks for ages from father to son. This secret art makes the user be in control of their emotions at all times, and have a very clear feeling about their thoughts and personality. This secret art is the reason that whenever a Stark, wargs into their direwolf they never lose their sense of self or get trapped inside the mind of the animal.

The nephew in question had zero talent for the secret art which is taught at a very young age so the maester was worried the art will be lost in the annals of history, because of that he had written a book in the old tongue and hidden it in the library so that a future stark may find it.

I was so excited that my hands started shaking, I didn't lose a second and immediately turned the page and read about what the secret art was. There were mainly three things that you have to do to learn the secret art.

The first thing you have to do was wake up early in the morning and try to empty your mind. When you think that your mind is emptied, then you fill your head with random images and smells and intense emotion until your mind is clustered. After that, you have to start emptying your mind again, and you need to do this every day until you can clear your mind in a second. The main benefit of this exercise is that when you warg into an animal you have a very clear sense of self and you won't be mixed with the mind of the animal.

The second thing you have to do is every night before going to sleep, you have to sit in meditation and review everything that happened that day, from things you ate that day to where you went, every minute detail, along with every intense emotion you felt that day and why you felt it. It is said to be a very draining exercise and would take a very long time to perfect. But it is said to improve your memory drastically as well you give you excellent control of your emotion. One side-effect written here is that when people look at you they think that your face is carved with ice and you are an unfeeling man so while it's suitable for unnerving your enemies, it also makes little children cry and run away from you.

And the third and most important step is to care for the animal you want to warg into from a young age. The bond you form with the animal will be very strong if the animal knew you for its whole life. This would make the animal willing to share its mind with it since it would consider you his family.

The pages after that were filled with unintelligible sentences, of a legendary warg born in the Stark family who was able to control multiple animals and was even able to warg into an animal while still in control of his body.

I sighed in satisfaction and fell back into the chair, I had finally found a clear direction to follow to become a warg. Before this, I was a bit afraid of it as in this book it was said that only a person who hated himself would become a successful warg, like bran because he hated his cripple body. Now I found a different and safer method to become a warg.

"Hey, Let's go get lunch. I am starving," Robb said bringing me out of my delusions of an army of animals under my control.

"Alright," I said while putting every book back into its place except for the one about wargs and followed Robb to the exit.

"Wait for a second, I forgot something," I said and ran back into the library and came back two minutes later while carrying a book about northern birds of prey and walking toward Robb who was impatiently tapping his legs and standing beside the door, "Just forgot a book. Let's Go,"

We had a quick lunch of meat and soup, and Robb was yawning throughout the meal. Sitting two hours in the Library and learning an old language must have been too much for the kid. After we finished eating we went toward the Great keep. While Robb went straight to sleep after going into his room, I simply placed the books I borrowed safely into a chest, and after checking on a sleeping frost and filling her bowl of water, I left my room toward the east gate.

"Hey, Adam," I said while waving to the guard at the gate.

"Where are you going today, Jon," Adam asked while chewing on some kind of bark to relieve boredom.

"I am just going to Old mark's house,"

"Well come back before Night falls. Or else Lord Stark will send a search party again," He said while smirking.

I groaned and walked a bit faster toward the snow-covered houses of Wintertown. About a month ago, I lost track of time while in the town, and by the time I came to the gates of Winterfell Lord Stark had already sent a search party. I was grounded for a week and had to give all my desserts to Robb. That was a dark week.

Wintertown felt emptier and emptier every time I walked through the houses. Every few days two or three families will leave to go back to their farms now that winter is over. The only time Wintertown is ever filled is at the height of winter when people leave their farms and gather here to hide from the harsh snows and cold winds. By the time summer arrives almost half the population here will be gone.

I passed by the somewhat bustling market while looking at different kinds of wares, mostly hunters selling pelts and meat or some housewives selling arrows they made while trapped inside their homes in winter, or blacksmiths repairing farming tools.

If it had been my previous world then it would have been very strange for a small kid to wander around by himself but here in this world, where it is the norm for a person at the age of 13 to marry and if they are tall enough then can also join the army. So normal rules don't apply in this world, children are forced to grow from a very early age.

About 15 minutes later I passed the densely packed houses and went into the woods on the outskirts of the town. I walked between trees and arrived at a wooden cabin that looked to have been repaired many times over the years. Outside the house was a man sitting on a tree stump and sharpening an already sharp knife and beside him was the carcass of a boar. He was around the age of fifty with his head full of white hair, his filled with wrinkles, and hands covered in scars, but he had the muscles and agility of a younger man.

"Hey Old man! What are we learning today," I said in a chipper voice while walking toward him.

He looked up for a moment and grunted before he went back to doing his sharpening. I rolled my eyes at his gruffness and sat on the nearby grass. Old Mark was a very famous hunter in wintertown known for hunting very large animals and was one of the few who can hunt for prey during full winter when all the animals go into hiding, and while the rest of the hunters return empty-handed, he always returns with a game in his hand.

After a lot of begging and pestering the old hunter had finally agreed to take me as an apprentice, to teach me everything he could about becoming a hunter. And considering he had become old in a profession where most people die young, he would have a fountain of knowledge to share. I've been coming here every other day for about two weeks.

He had already taught me two things, one is how to spot a trail and whether I should follow it or run for my life in the opposite direction. And the other one is how to walk through a forest silently and without leaving a trace. While it would take me years of practice to get good at those things, his instruction was really good and to the point.

He suddenly stood and without any kind of gesture toward me walked to the carcass and started talking while inserting his knife into the dead boar.

"The most important thing about skinning a boar is..."

He explained all the intricacies involved in the process and for an hour talked about the anatomy of the boar and which parts were most valuable and which parts were tastiest. Whenever I asked a question, he would either answer in small sentences or give me a practical demonstration. Halfway through skinning he gave me the knife and made me do the remaining process while critiquing me occasionally.

At the end of the process, I was covered in blood and guts while the half-ruined pelt and unevenly cut flesh lay there at my feet. He didn't say anything about wasting the boar only telling me that were done for the day.

I walked toward the bucket of water in the distance and after removing my clothes, started washing all the blood. When I was done and had worn back my clothes the door to the cabin slowly opened and a little girl with twin pigtails appeared while carrying a glass of water. She was about 6 years old and had brown hair and green eyes.

"Hello mister Jon," she said while shyly giving me the glass of water.

"Thank you Emy," I said gratefully while smiling at her. Even though she was 3 years older than me, I was almost as tall as her.

"You can bring the charcoal and wooden slate out now, Emy. Your grandfather won't be teaching me anything else today," I said and Emilia nodded with dimples on her face and ran back inside the cabin.

Oh, did I forget to mention it? My begging and persistence didn't work at all on the old hunter. And the only reason he even agreed to teach me anything was that I offered to teach his granddaughter Emilia how to read and write. Old mark's daughter and son-in-law had died during the previous winter, and as her only living relative left, Emilia came under his care.

For about an hour and a half, I taught Emilia about the verbs in the common tongue. She was a really smart kid and picked up things at a fast rate. I would have to find new things to teach her before long or else she would be done before Old mark had even taught me half of the things he knows.

I was almost late returning to Winterfell and had to endure teasing from the guards about how they were just about to send a search party for me.

 

My eyes shot open abruptly and I looked around wildly for a few seconds, what came into my view was my room at Winterfell and not my apartment in my previous life, which made me fall back onto my bed in relief. I had a really absurd dream that I went back to my normal life in my previous world. It was not a dream but a nightmare, the past few years in this new life had been so invigorating that even the thought of going back to my mundane life makes me scrunch up my face in disgust.

I had stayed up late last night so I was a little tired and a bit sleep-deprived. Robb and I were in Sansa's nursery playing with her as she refused to go to sleep.

I flicked the blanket away and got up from my bed, there was a bucket of water placed before the now unlit fireplace. I took a piece of cloth, soaked it in water, and then washed my hands and face with it. When my eyes were properly opened, I found my way to the window and opened them, instantly the frigid wind of the north hit my face and scared away any traces of sleep from my body.

The box with a nest made of blankets in it sat empty on my desk. Frost had started flying about a week ago and since then every evening she would go out to hunt in the wolfswood nearby and return sometime during the day. I was worried for the first few days but after that, I was reassured that she could take care of herself.

I took a couple of breaths of fresh air and then went back to my bed and sat on it cross-legged. I took a moment to calm down and then started to breathe according to the instructions in the journal of the maester I found in the Library. Two deep breaths inside and five quick exhale, and then repeat it until my mind is clear of every thought.

Every few seconds a stray thought will pop up inside my head like what would be for breakfast today, and from there it would lead to the face of the one who cooks our food and if he washes his hands. And every time that happened I would have to open my eyes, take a couple of seconds to calm down and then start over.

I didn't know how much time had passed but my mind suddenly emptied of every thought and I was as calm as still water. I could feel as if I was not inside my body but inside my mind and my mind was not a physical organ like a brain instead it was a wobbly sphere of consciousness and its surface was undulating with every wave of thought inside my brain and the excitement of achieving this state of mind immediately made the surface of sphere get washed with tsunamis of my stray thoughts and I was brought off my mind. I was breathing heavily in excitement and I could not keep the wide grin off my face.

It's been two months since Sansa was born and I've been practicing according to the journal every day. Every morning I try to wake up a bit early and try to meditate. It's incredibly difficult to rid yourself of every thought, and only once before I was able to achieve this state of being where I could feel my sphere of mind. It was said to be the first step of techniques inside the journal. When I could dive into that state at the drop of a hat, only then would I be ready to start proper warging.

And every night before I go to sleep, I try to remember every single thing that I've experienced that day, this was a lot harder than just emptying my mind because it involves a lot of introspection, going through every emotion you felt and why you felt them, that was so emotionally draining that for the first month I could only go halfway through my day before giving up.

The thing is that you are only supposed to start these exercises when you turn 11 because by then you have a somewhat developed personality and these exercises won't hinder it. But because I already have an adult soul, I could practice them and that is also the reason I've not told Robb about these exercises.

There still hasn't been much progress in having complete control over my emotion but I didn't want to give it up, so I still persisted to try and process all the memories of the day.

When I looked outside the window I found out that the sun was already rising on the horizon, so I stood up from my bed and went out of my room after changing into some proper clothes.

I went to Robb's room and found him already awake and waiting for me, we both went toward the kitchens together. We passed by the mostly empty great hall to the high table where Ned and Catelyn were sitting together with Sansa in Catelyn's hands.

"Hello Sansa," Robb said while going toward our baby sister. I was feeling particularly mischievous today so I came up behind him and stuck my tongue out to make a scary face, but I faced the baby in such a way so that from Catelyn's point of view it seemed as if I was sticking my tongue at her.

"Look, Ned," Catelyn said while pointing her finger at me, "He is mocking me again, by sticking his tongue at me. I told you he always does that,"

"I don't know what you mean by that, Lady Stark," I said with a perfectly innocent face, "I was only playing with my baby sister. Wasn't I Robb,"

Robb looked at me for a moment considering something before turning toward his parents, "I think you might have been mistaken, Mother. Jon always makes that face at Sansa,"

"But... But..." Catelyn shot a betrayed look toward her son.

"It's too early in the morning for this," Eddard said with a groan, "Boys take a seat, and Cat, you don't need to create new things to have a fight with Jon."

"Thank you, Robb. I owe you one," I said in a whisper to Robb.

"Oh Don't worry, I got the perfect thing for you to make it up to me," Robb whispered back to me before he suddenly turned to Father and asked, "Father when do we get to start training in the yard,"

"It's too early for you boys, your bones and muscles haven't properly grown yet," Lord Stark gave the same answer he gives whenever Robb brought up that particular topic over the last year.

"But Father," Robb said, "Jon is already training to be a hunter, why can't I start too,"

"What is he talking about Jon," Ned said while turning toward me. I shot a shocked look toward Robb who silently reminded me about the favor I just owed him and I groaned internally before turning to face Lord Stark.

"Old Mark is just teaching me stuff like how to identify an animal or how to quickly climb a tree to run away, he is not teaching me any of the heavy stuff like archery or something," I said while omitting a lot of things, "And he only does it because I teach his granddaughter how to read and write,"

"As if you are smart enough to teach anyone," Catelyn said in a fake whisper while not looking at me.

"Did you say something Lady Stark," I asked sweetly and when she did not reply to me, I continued, "Say Lady Stark, If a tree has 5 birds on it and Robb shoots an arrow which misses obviously," "HEY!" "So how many birds are left on the tree,"

Catelyn looked like she didn't want to answer but couldn't stop herself and said, "Obviously 5 birds because he didn't shoot any of them,"

"See, that's why I can teach someone and not you," I said smugly while looking at her, and before she could say something I turned toward Father and asked, "Why don't you answer Father,"

"There are no birds because all of them were scared away from the arrow," Father answered while not looking up from his food. Catelyn turned red for a moment, from embarrassment or anger I didn't know.

"Don't Wowwy Sansa," I said in a baby voice to my sister, "You won't have to learn from your mother, your big bwother will teach you,"

And Sansa immediately started giggling cutely, which made the situation even more hilarious, even Father cracked a smile at her. The rest of our meal passed like that with me and Lady Stark and taking a pass at each other mostly me winning at the end, while Robb continued to pester Father for starting in the yard early. So by the end of Breakfast Lord Stark was quite done with everything so he immediately took Robb by his arms and after reaching the Courtyard told him to run five laps.

"Do you want early training too, Jon," Father said while looking toward me. Looking at his face I understood the only training he will give us will be just to run us until we are tired.

"No, I am alright, I need to go into Wintertown anyway," I said while slowly backing away and running away before he could call me back.

'Sorry Robb, but you asked for it, so you will have to endure it alone,' I thought while going out of the gates of Winterfell.

I looked toward the beautiful sky and sighed with a grin on my face, Spring had arrived last month so the temperature had risen a bit.

"Oh shit," I was suddenly startled out of my thoughts by a blue football-sized object suddenly appearing in front of me out of nowhere, "Come on, Frost don't scare me like that,"

I caught Frost in my hand and she immediately started chirping excitedly. Ever since she had learned to fly, she started getting delighted every time she caught me off guard. I brushed along her feathers just the way she liked it, while she closed her eyes in pleasure.

She had grown to the size of my head in the two months since the day of the hunt. For a month or so I had thought that she was a snow eagle that is said to be quite common here in the north. But as she started to grow up, I realized that while the colors of a snow eagle were white feathers with a dash of blue, Frost had her feathers completely sky blue with just a dash of white along her head.

So I went back to the library and after searching for about two weeks, I finally found what kind of species she was. She was one of the rarest birds in the north, The Ice Eagle, also known as the Queen of Skies. This creature was said to have no competition in the air before the dragons arrived in Westeros and even then it was recorded to be the only creature to escape a dragon's hunt with her speed.

When Alysanne Targayrean arrived in the north, Lord Stark at the time took her on a hunt where they saw an Ice Eagle and the Lord of Winterfell, said to the Queen of Westeros that it was the faster creature in the sky, which the Good Queen took as a challenge and immediately saddled Silverwing to try and catch it but alas after an hour she returned empty-handed.

The Ice eagle took the queen's pursuit as a game and toyed around with her by flying circles around her Silverwing while she tried her hardest to hunt it. She was the one who named the Eagle, Queen of Skies, before then it was called the silent death by the people of North. The sightings of Ice Eagles are as rare as of Direwolfs but there have been legends of Commoners having spotted a fully grown Ice Eagle hunting creatures of massive size like bears, wolfs, and stags with ease.

"Did you have a good hunt, Frost?" I asked my friend while placing her on my shoulder. I listened to her squeak while occasionally understanding what she was trying to convey, she was quite intelligent and had an uncanny grasp of human language.

My feet automatically took me through the dwindling population of Wintertown toward the house of my unofficial mentor. I found Old Mark outside his home in his usual attire already waiting for me, and when he saw me coming, he stood up and without saying anything started walking away into the trees. I looked at frost in confusion, who actually shrugged with her tiny shoulders.

'Looks like it will finally be time for a more practical lesson,' I thought while following the old hunter through roots and thick bushes under the dense canopy of trees while trying to create as little noise as possible. Over the last two months, we've only had theoretical lessons about how to behave while on a hunt, like how to always try to stay downwind, identify all kinds of animals in the wolfswood, or walk with absolute silence.

We walked without much interaction for about an hour before he suddenly stopped behind a bush and told me to stay there with his eyes and hands. He turned around and started walking into a clearing in front of the bush. I looked at the spot he was moving toward and found a rabbit chewing on the grass while occasionally looking up warily.

Old mark slowly but steadily approached the rabbit while staying out of its line of sight with ease and after he got unnaturally close to the rabbit he looked toward me to check and make sure that I was watching before he turned back and came back toward me while taking a roundabout way.

"Now, you do it," he grunted while pointing toward the rabbit.

I nodded and placed Frost on the ground, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down, I started walking toward the rabbit while trying to apply all the stuff I'd learned over the last month.

I was still ways away from it, taking all the time in the world to approach it, and was looking toward the ground every few seconds, to make sure that I didn't step on any twigs when the rabbit suddenly looked up straight toward me and quickly sprang away. I didn't know what I did wrong.

I looked toward my teacher with a sigh, expecting him to look disappointed but he didn't say anything. Just turned around and waved his hand, silently telling me to follow him, he found another rabbit about 15 minutes later and told me all the mistakes I made the last time before telling me to have another go.

For a few hours, that was the only thing we did, the old hunter would find a small skittish animal like a rabbit and I would try to approach it without alerting it. About an hour into my training, frost seemed to get bored of just being a spectator, and just as I was about to approach another rabbit, she silently and gracefully glided toward the rabbit and landed just behind it before she turned and looked toward me with a triumphant look.

My bird was actually mocking me, and the worst thing was that I suddenly heard a snort behind me and when I turned around I found my teacher's face which was usually a block of ice actually sporting a small smile. 'Oh it is on,' I thought while looking toward Frost with resolution in my eyes.

About three hours later we were walking back to the cabin, with my shoulders slumped in disappointment, while frost was trying to cheer me up. I didn't even come close to approaching a single rabbit, the second I would go out of our hiding place the rabbit would run away.

When we arrived at the cabin it was to find Emilia sitting along with a girl outside. The new kid was the same age as Emilia but instead of brown hair and green eyes, she had blond hair and blue eyes. When Emilia saw us coming from the trees she immediately ran towards us and took her grandpa's tools from his hand while he patted her head gratefully.

"Hello Mr. Jon," Emilia said while turning toward me.

"Hey, Emy, who is this?" I asked Emilia while pointing toward the blonde kid who was following behind her.

"Oh hello, I am Becca," Becca answered before Emilia could even open her mouth, "I am Emilia's cousin,"

Becca was the daughter of Old Mark's nephew, who was a merchant who regularly buys every animal that Old mark hunts. He travels around a lot so he usually leaves Becca to stay at Old Mark's house.

"Do you really live in the big castle? Have you ever seen lord stark? Emy brags about you all the time but I didn't believe her at all," Becca said all in one breath.

"I don't brag," Emilia said while blushing and pushing her cousin a little.

Teaching Emilia was a little hard that day as Becca kept interrupting us and asking about one thing or the other curiously. By the time I went back to Winterfell, I was absolutely tired. In my previous life, I was an extreme case introvert so dealing with an extrovert who is not family was a little exhausting.

As the days continued to pass, my progress with the morning meditation was a bit slow but steady. But as I got better at entering the state that I have started to call 'the zone' one thing I've noticed is that whenever I found the time to do image training, my mind power gets absolutely used up and when I wake up the next day my mind sphere grows up just a tiny bit bigger.

I experimented with it by not doing any image training for a week and doing a lot of image training the next one and the result was very stark. So I've incorporated image training into my daily regimen instead of doing it whenever I felt like it so that it may hopefully turn my mind into a powerhouse.

At the breakfast today they served Lemoncakes so I thought about taking some for Emilia but Catelyn got to the last of it before I could take them all the while smirking at me. I went toward the kitchen while thinking how she could have the role of a typical evil stepmother in any movie.

"I need some Lemoncakes, Please," I said to the chef in the kitchen who was sitting and keeping a watch on the rest of the workers.

"They are none left," he said while taking a fleeting glance at me.

"Oh come on," I said, "I know you always keep some for yourself,"

"I don't know what you are talking about," he huffed, "Now go away, I am busy," before he went back to staring at young maids.

"Oh so you want to play it like that," I whispered to myself while narrowing my eyes. I had heard a saying in my world about if you can't be friends with them use them so I applied that with Catelyn, I spoke loudly, "Oh I wonder how Lady Stark will react when she finds out that her favorite maid is playing hide and seek with the chef,"

The cook immediately look around wildly at that and after making sure that no one was too close to us, leaned down and said to me in a whisper "I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Lady Stark will surely be wroth to know that the maid she brought all the way from Riverland was playing with a northern savage..."

"Alright, Alright I will get them for you," he hastily said before he stood up and went toward the cupboard and brought back two lemon cakes. I quickly took them out of his hands and wrapped them in a napkin before placing them in my pocket.

"Don't come back here," I heard the cook say from behind me.

I just looked at him with an evil smile and went out of the kitchen. I suddenly paused in my step and wondered, 'Is this how Baelish started,'... before I dismissed it as nonsense.

There was a skip in my step as I went toward Old marks place. 'I will give one of the cakes to Emy because she was really brilliant in the last class and the other one will be for me because I don't think that Old mark ever ate anything sweet,'

But when I reached the cabin it was to find that there were some extra people there. There was Emy's cousin Becca along with a man in his mid-thirties who looked like a relative of hers.

The middle-aged man, Sam was indeed Becca's father and Old Mark's Nephew. It turned out that he was trying to teach his daughter numbers the last few months but she was not very good at it, but instead of admitting her mistake, she said that he was just not a good teacher and that Emilia's teacher is way better than him.

So he arrived here to discuss if I could also teach Emilia's cousin along with her. He also generously agreed to pay a handsome sum of 10 silver stags a month, almost the amount the maid who works at Winterfell gets. So while I was not able to refuse such a mouth-watering offer, I did haggle and made him agree that he would buy all the prey I would hunt in the future just like he did for Old Mark.

"Oh are those cakes for us? You are so generous Mr. Jon," Becca said while taking the cakes sticking out of my pocket and giving one to Emy. Looking at the face of Becca happily eating the cake that was supposed to be mine, I immediately felt that I had made a very wrong decision, but I was too late by then and made the ultimate sacrifice of my desserts.

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"...and then the knight chivalrously saved the maiden and they got married in Sept," Septa Mordane read to a 2-year-old Sansa from a thin book, "She gave him many baby boys and he loved his beautiful and humble wife forever,"

"But what was the name of the knight," Sansa asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"There is no name written here, he is just a pious knight of the Seven,"

"But how will I know that he is that good knight if I meet him,"

"That is because all knights are honorable and chivalrous," Septa Mordane said while placing the book on the desk beside the small bed where Sansa was sitting.

"But...but brother didn't say that,"

"Which brother," Septa asked her eyes suddenly sharpening, "And what did he say,"

"He said to never trust—" before Sansa could complete her sentence the door to the room abruptly opened.

"Septa Mordane, I saw Mother just now," Robb said with wide eyes while breathing heavily, "I think she was looking for you everywhere, I think it's very urgent,"

"Lady Stark is searching for me?" Septa asked confused, "But she is the one who asked me to look after Sansa,"

"I don't know about that," Robb said while waving his hands urgently, "But I think she must have a very crucial task for you—Come on, I'll lead you to her,"

"Very well," She said with an air of importance, before standing up and following after Robb who was already moving away from the door.

Sansa was left all alone in her room, she sighed and stood up from her bed to go toward the chest beside the desk, to find some dolls to play with. Today was Sansa's name day, but Mother didn't want to get her new dress dirty, so she had forbidden her brothers to play with her.

She had been hoping her brothers will still come, but Robb came and didn't even wish her Happy Name Day, so she was a little sad.

"Psss... Sansa," Sansa immediately turned around and found her brother, Jon, crouching beside the door, waving with his hands and whispering to her, "Come quickly before the Grumpkin comes back,"

Sansa quickly put the doll back inside before she ran toward him with her hands outstretched and he quickly took her in his arms before going out the door, they quickly ran down the stairs and out of the Great Keep.

"Where are we going Jon," Sansa asked, holding onto Jon's neck while he ran across the courtyard.

"We are going to your Nameday Present," Jon grinned while flicking his sister across the nose.

"Really," Sansa exclaimed with a wide smile, "I thought you and Robb wouldn't come because Mother forbid you,"

"Of course, we would come, we aren't afraid of—" Jon said before he suddenly hid behind a corner. A fuming Septa Mordane was striding back toward Sansa's room, she passed by them and Jon covered Sansa's ears because she was muttering things that a Septa was definitely not supposed to.

Jon left the hiding place after she had gone away and immediately crossed the yard. He ran past the armory, straight into the godswood. He stood at the entrance and waited for a while before Robb suddenly arrived while huffing and puffing.

"What took you so long," Jon asked while placing Sansa on the ground.

"I was going to lead the Septa away but bad luck struck and we actually came across mother, so I had to run the other way before— Anyway, Happy Name Day Sansa," Robb said while picking Sansa who immediately squealed in delight.

"Thank you, Robb,"

"Come on, let's show Sansa her Name day present," Jon said before he lead the way.

They entered and passed through the dense canopy of trees while swinging a giggling Sansa between them. They walked for about 10 minutes before arriving at the heart tree.

"Here, A present for the Wolf Princess," Jon said theatrically while pointing toward the tree behind the Heart tree, "Go check it out,"

Sansa excitedly ran forward and went around the heart tree. "But that's just a tree," She said while tilting her head, and looking back at her brothers who stood with their hands on their waists and their chests puffed.

"What do you mean— Robb, didn't you drop it down," Jon asked while walking toward the tree and finding nothing there.

"I thought I had already done it," Robb said sheepishly while rubbing his head.

"You can be so stupid sometimes," Jon said while shaking his head in exasperation. He took a deep breath before taking a running start toward the tree and climbed it in a single motion. He stepped on the lowest branch and walked along it before he threw down a rectangular piece of wood attached to a rope and then he slid down skillfully.

"We both made it just for you," Robb said while pointing toward the swing.

"Come on, let's get you on it," Jon said while picking her up, and walking toward the swing.

"I don't want to fall," Sansa said as Jon gently sat her on the swing, but she didn't let go of him.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall," Jon said and slowly removed Sansa's finger from his clothes.

"And I'll catch you if you do," Robb said while standing in front of them and crouching.

"Alright, Ready—go," Jon pushed the swing and Sansa immediately squealed before she closed her eyes.

It took quite a few more swings and screaming before she opened her eyes and her squeals of fright turned to those of excitement.

"Higher! Jon Higher!" Sansa shouted with a wide grin, "Look Robb, I am Flying just like Frost,"

As Jon was pushing Sansa on the swing, he suddenly looked up into the trees and a second later, the aforementioned bird appeared with a graceful dive. She circled above them for a moment before she started to fly alongside Sansa and chirped along with her.

After a while, Frost got bored of just watching and started to fly in front of Jon's face to obscure his face every time he pushed the swing.

"Stop it, Frost," Jon said while waving his arms but Frost was too fast for him.

She had a very successful hunt just before she came here so she was feeling a bit mischievous. Jon tried to get her to stop distracting him but she didn't stop and ultimately after a few close swings where Jon was almost clipped, she got what she wanted.

"Robb, you push now," Jon said leaving the swing and immediately running after Frost, "I have a bird to kill,"

Jon chased after Frost all over the godswood, and Frost even restricted herself to make the game more interesting by not flying more than 5 trees away or higher than Jon could reach her. A few minutes later, Sansa felt that the game Jon and Frost were playing was more fun so Robb and she joined in Jon's game of CATCH THE BIRD.

They tried to corner Frost so many times but didn't even come close to touching her feathers. The only person who came close was Sansa but that was because Frost deliberately slowed to let her have fun.

They played like that for quite a while before they eventually got tired and laid down on a patch of grass by the pool to absorb the sunlight streaming between leaves. While sunlight was very rare in the North, Summer had arrived a while back, and with that came the news that Lady Stark had gotten pregnant again.

Jon was quite thankful to Ned for that because he kept on making her pregnant which made it very hard for her to run after them.

Jon took a couple of calming breaths while taking in the smell of fresh plants. The calm, warm atmosphere with only the sound of various small insects chirping, made it incredibly easy for him to enter the zone.

One second he was lying in godswood with his siblings and the next he was inside his consciousness. It was only darkness as far as you could see, and in the middle of it, a small white balloon made of his mind.

Over the last couple of years, he hadn't slacked off a single day which was also the reason that he could enter the zone almost at will in a handful of minutes.

He had kept on with his image training daily which slowly increased the size of his sphere of consciousness. After a couple of months of doing this, he found out that there was a pin-sized needle located just outside his sphere of mind.

His sphere of consciousness had touched this pin just last month and the result of that was a sort of communication channel opened up, so that he could actually ask frost to do stuff for him with just his mind.

Exactly like Robb was able to do with Grey Wind when he had him eat GreatJon's fingers. He could call Frost to him whenever he wanted with just a thought and he had a sort of radar inside him that kept him aware of Frost's location at all times.

And he had the feeling that if he kept increasing the size of his mind like this, then it would eventually be pierced by the needle, and his instincts told him that, when that happened it would open up a tunnel straight to Frost and allow him to warg into her.
///
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"I had guessed that I would find you here," A voice suddenly drifted over and broke my concentration and brought me out of my internal world. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs inside my head before I heard Robb shout, "Uncle Benjen!"

I opened my eyes and found Robb already running toward Benjen from where he was lying on the other side of Sansa, who was still sleeping peacefully. I stood up and gently took Sansa into my arms while making sure that she didn't wake up.

"When did you arrive Uncle Benjen," I said while walking up to Benjen, who had already caught Robb in his hands and was throwing him into the air making him laugh loudly.

"I arrived just this morning, Jon," Benjen said while giving me a wide smile while placing Robb on the ground and rubbing my head, "And is that my littlest niece, she's grown so much from the Last time I had seen her,"

Benjen cooed at Sansa who was sleeping blissfully unaware of the new presence. Benjen would make sure to take a trip from the Wall to Winterfell to visit at least twice a year. He stays for about a week before leaving with quite a few essential supplies for the Watch.

"You boys do know that Lady Stark and her Septa had been searching for you and Sansa all over the place," Benjen said while looking at the two of us with a strict face, but he couldn't keep up the pretense, and his face immediately cracked up, "You were really clever, using such a basic distraction tactic,"

We both looked at each other with a grin, there was a reason he was our favorite adult. Every time he arrived, it would be like a party for a week in Winterfell. Even Father loosens up a lot and doesn't mind us roughhousing as much.

"Now come on," Benjen said while putting his hands behind us and leading us toward the gate, "You boys must be hungry and we should really take Sansa to Lady Stark before she turns any redder... nothing more dangerous than an angry pregnant woman," he mumbled the last part to himself.

All the way toward the kitchen, he regaled us with tales about his adventures as a First Ranger, and the wonders he saw when he ventured beyond the wall. While he was definitely hiding a lot of the grim details, Robb seem to be taking it all in with wide eyes.

He was a really good storyteller, and it made it easy to imagine why the previous Jon would consider the Wall such a good option.

By the time we arrived at the Great Hall, Sansa had woken up from her nap and was looking at the stranger in curiosity. She had been too young the last time Benjen arrived, so I introduced Sansa to her only uncle. She was shy at first, but Benjen's charm was enough to make her laugh by the time we were done with our lunch.

"Now, I heard someone say that today is your Nameday," Benjen said with a warm smile while looking down at Sansa, "And I think I have the perfect gift for you,"

Bengen reached into a small bag placed on the table by his side and pulled out a small necklace. Tied to a thin string of rope was a small wolf made of a black material that shimmered and glittered under the light.

"It's made out of Dragonglass, I made it from a broken dagger I found in the Wall's armory,"

"It's so pretty," Sansa said with wide eyes while taking it into her hands.

"And don't think that I forgot about you guys," Benjen said to us before once again reaching into the bag and pulling two wooden swords out of his bag, "These have been made from one of the sturdiest wood found on the other side of the wall,"

"It's heavy," Robb said while taking a sword into his hand.

"It's supposed to be," Benjen chuckled.

"Does that mean..." I asked eagerly while looking at the sword in my hands.

"Yes, Ned thinks that you are finally ready to train. He is already waiting for you in the yard," Benjen said while pushing both of us to stand, "Go on, from today onward, your training to become the finest Stark warriors begins,"

Robb immediately ran out of the yard while carrying his sword, I was just about to follow him but suddenly remembering something, I looked toward Sansa.

"Don't worry about her, I'll take her to her mother" Benjen said and I nodded in thanks before running straight out of the Great hall.

I caught up to Robb at the entrance to the courtyard and we both entered together to find Father standing there along with Ser Rodrik and his nephew Jory.

"Looks like benjen finally managed to find you two, huh," Lord Stark while looking at his sons who were grinning widely.

"Is it true, Father?" Robb asked stars in his eyes, "Uncle benjen said that we could finally start training,"

"Yes," Eddard said with a small nod before he continued with a grim face, "Now before I let you start, there are a few things you need to understand. The training yard is a very dangerous place, even a small mistake could lead to heavy consequences. Do you understand?"

We both nodded with very solemn faces. While to the outsiders Eddard's face would look the same all the time, over the years we became very good at reading his deadpan face, and deducing when he was in a joking mood, and when not, and right now he was dead serious.

"So I am being very serious when I say that if I find you pranking, roughhousing, or causing your usual mischievousness in the training yard. Then, I assure you won't see the face of the training yard again until you are taller than Hodor," Eddard said and stared at them for a few moments to convey his seriousness before he turned to Ser Rodrik and nodded.

"Alright Boys, Lord Stark tells me that you've been doing some stamina training over the last few months, so I don't need to give you the usual Rookie treatment as such we will go straight into the thick of things," Ser Rodrik said gruffly before he turned around and pointed toward his nephew, "Jory here will go through some of the basics sword forms and you are to observe him carefully,"

Ser Rodrik nodded toward Jory, who immediately took a training sword placed on the stand beside the wall. He stood in the center of the yard with a very stable stance and started to go through the various forms.

"Did you memorize them?" Ser Rodrik asked after Jory went through all of them. Both of us nodded eagerly and his eyes widened a bit before he said, "You did! Well let's see it then, go and perform the first form,"

We stood in the center of the yard side by side and went through the first form. While Robb was a bit wobbly, I went through it seamlessly.

Eddard and Ser Rodrik looked at each other in surprise, "Maybe it was a fluke," Rodrik whispered while shrugging and had both of us go through the rest of the forms.

"Looks like someone has been training with the sword," Eddard said sternly while walking toward us after we stopped, "Even though I don't remember giving you permission,"

"Of course not Father," Jon said while not looking toward the fidgeting Robb, "It's just we watched while the guards trained that's all,"

"Yes, Father," Robb nodded vigorously. He had caught me training secretly a month ago and had pestered me to teach him, that's the reason he was not very good as he had not been training for long.

Eddard glared at us for a few moments before he sighed and shook his head before turning back, "Alright, Jory pad them up. Let's see where they are at,"

Jory nodded silently and placed his sword back and took some pads from beside the stand before going toward Robb and tying them on him before he did the same with me. The pads gave us protection toward all the important places while not hindering our movement too much.

"Alright, the first one to get hit or fall down loses," Ser Rodrik said while standing between us, after getting our nods, "Ready, Go,"

Robb immediately ran at me with the wooden sword above his head. My mind automatically predicted what he would do and the many ways to counter it.

I chose the simplest option and just stood there, and when he came close I pivoted on my left leg and ducked to the left. The moment he passed by me I whacked him gently on his head.

"Stop!" Rodrik said and sent us back to our positions. The second one played out the same as well, Robb charged at me and I dodged his strikes twice before I kicked him from behind.

I won two more duels before Robb got smarter and during the fifth duel, when I parried his sword, he immediately abandoned his sword and tackled me into the ground with a wild move.

"I win!" Robb said with a wide grin while sitting on my stomach.

"Yes, you did," I gave him a wry smile while shaking my head, "Ugh... Now get off me, you are too heavy,"

"Alright, boys come here," Ser Rodrik said while waving us over to where he and Father stood watching.

We went toward them while still carrying wide grins on our faces from the rush of having our first proper duel.

"Now, Robb you look like you still need a lot of work on your forms, so you will practice those until I am satisfied with them," Ser Rodrik said before turning toward me, "Jon, while you seem to have a very solid foundation, you still need a lot of work on your footwork and you won't survive long if you just wait and counter,"

Robb pouted and I nodded silently, while I had been training by myself a bit every day, It couldn't compare to getting instructed by a proper teacher.

Ser Rodrik took Robb to Jory to show him the forms once again and correct his posture. I stayed back and went toward the silently watching Lord of Winterfell.

"Father, I wanted to ask you something,"

"What is it,"

"I was wondering if I could learn to wield the spear too," I said while looking him straight in the eyes.

"You don't want to learn the sword," Eddard asked while tilting his head.

"No, I do. I just wondered if I could learn more than one weapon,"

"When you have become proficient in the sword," Eddard said while folding his hands, "Ser Rodrik will make sure that you have the passing knowledge of all the most common weapons,"

"I know that, but I don't want to be just familiar, I want to be proficient in more than one weapon,"

"Jon," Father said placing a hand on my shoulder, "if you focus on too many things, you may not become good at any of them at all,"

"I think you said something similar when I wanted to learn the old tongue," Jon cheekily said.

Eddard looked at him for a moment, before he nodded, "Very well, Ser Rodrik will teach you about both the spear and the sword for a month and if he deems that you can't keep for that month then it will stop. Understood,"

"Yes," Jon nodded happily and started to walk away before he suddenly turned back, "I forgot to ask something,"

"Now what," Eddard sighed in exhaustion.

"Well you know how I use both my arms for all kinds of stuff and don't have any dominant arm," I said sheepily. From a very young age, I had forced myself to use both of my arms equally so as to have no weak arms, and now It has finally paid up, "I was wondering if I could learn to duel wield like the Sword of the Morning,"

"Of Course, you do," Father sighed while facepalming.

///

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"Move your legs!" Ser Rodrik shouted.

Jon nimbly ducked under an overhand slash while skipping back to make some space. But Jory, Jon's opponent didn't leave him a chance and immediately sent a flurry of quick strikes while advancing.

Jon kept Jory's body posture as well as leg placement in his field of vision at all times and timely parried two strikes from the right easily, as long as he knew what was coming, he could respond with ample time, but Jory's sword suddenly reversed back after passing him by and the hit was too fast for Jon to respond so he was only able to bring his sword about halfway up and immediately paid for it.

*Wham*

The wooden sword hit the pad on his shoulder and he immediately went down like a pile of loose sand, while losing the grip on his wooden sword.

"Stop!" Ser Rodrik said firmly to Jon when he started to reach toward the fallen sword and moved toward his fallen form.

Jon left the sword and stood up groaning while massaging the new bruise on his body. Ser Rodrik stood looming over him, evaluating his condition, "Do you know your mistake,"

"My footwork," Jon said while taking a deep breath and exhaling all his frustration.

"And what do I always tell you?" Rodrik asked while pressing over the area and making sure that nothing was damaged beyond reason.

"To move my legs," Jon exhaled while looking down, Rodrik had shouted that particular sentence enough times that those words ring inside Jon's head for a long while even after leaving the practice yard.

And it wasn't like Jon didn't want to follow this advice. It's just that he was using all of his concentration to analyze his opponent's posture and using it to predict their next attack.

He was putting all of his brain power into making that calculation an instinct, but that had made it very easy for him to lose focus and, forget the most basic lesson of the yard: Keep Moving.

The only solution to this problem he could see was that he stop doing his Analyze skill, which he wasn't prepared to do as that would make him lose all his progress. So he understood that all he could do about it was persist in it until his mind had gotten used to multitasking and his footwork had become an instinct.

"Exactly Move Your Legs!" Ser Rodrik said sternly before he finished checking Jon, "Alright, you're fine," he gruffly said while gently patting him, "Now get back in there,"

Jon moved to pick up his fallen sword from beside the smug Jory while going over his recent bout inside his head. "And Jon," he turned back toward Ser Rodrick, "Switch your Sword hands,"

Jon nodded silently and took the sword into his left hand before doing a few empty swings to get his mind and body used to the new posture. After warming up, he slowly advanced toward Jory who had moved back to his starting position.

The reason Jon was training with the much older Jory and not with the other young recruits his age where Robb was training was that he already had a very stable foundation in most of the basic forms in which they were training.

And another reason was that whenever he had been placed against them he would easily win, which was not very good for learning. It also didn't help with their confidence or his complacency, or so Lord Stark said.

The most important reason was that there was no one who knew how to duel wield in Winterfell. It was a very rare skill and very few people could ever train in it until they are good enough to use it in battle and survive. So there was no fixed format on how to go about learning it like for the other weapons skills.

The only way Ser Rodrik and Eddard had been able to come up with was for Jon to duel with alternate hands against an opponent until he gets proficient enough to actually dual-wield. And then when he does, they would have him spar against different people and different weapons so that he could come up with a style of his own.

Jon had been quite confident that utilizing both his hands for chores since birth would have made sure that he would have an easy time learning to dual-wield. But unfortunately, he had found out during early lessons that while the strength of both his arms was relatively equal, he still subconsciously considered his right arm to be dominant which made him a weaker opponent while fighting with his left hand.

"Ready to bite dust one more time, Jon," Jory teased good-naturedly.

"I was thinking, maybe it's time for you to taste the ground, it's actually quite delicious," Jon shot back with a grin while trying to keep Jory's whole body in his field of vision.

The second Jon entered Jory's range of motion, he immediately started using his longer reach and faster speed to overwhelm Jon's defense.

It was all Jon could do to dodge and parry, he was still a bit uncomfortable using his left hand to do the maneuvers he was thinking in his mind, so he was having a very hard time defending himself.

The only reason he could last this long was that he moved before Jory most of the time, but Jory had slowly gotten used to Jon's fighting style over their daily spars and had found his weak points. He had started utilizing feints liberally which got Jon quite a few times before he started to recognize them.

Jon was so focused on ducking and trying to find a way to attack Jory instead of perpetually defending, that he forgot the only thing he was supposed to remember.

"Move JON! MOVE!" Rodrik shouted.

"Sorry!" Jon said flustered and immediately tried to move from an awkward position, which turned out to be a mistake as his legs got tangled together *Bam* and he fell very ungracefully.

Jon cursed in a low voice while removing his arms from under him while slowly untangling his legs when he heard a snort, and the second his mind recognized the voice, he groaned and grimaced even further.

When he finally managed to look up, he found Lord Stark standing at the edge of the field looking reproachingly at his side, where Jon's nemesis Lady Catelyn was standing, while hiding her mouth and looking at Jon with mirth in her eyes.

'That's great she's never going to let me live this one down,'


///

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Catelyn's been very jealous ever since Jon turned out to be so good in the yard, and because of that every time Jon makes even the smallest of mistakes while training. She exaggerates it while making a funny tale out of it and tells it to Sansa at their meals, usually making Jon into a particularly dull character.

It wasn't like Jon didn't give it back as good as he got. They had quite the prank war going between them. It all started when Sansa was a bit clumsy with a lemon cake and ruined Catelyn's favorite dress. She obviously went to Jon for help in tears and was very scared that her mother will be angry with her, so Jon took a fall for it.

So Catelyn obviously assumed that Jon had done it intentionally and took revenge. Jon woke up the next day to find his shoes missing and when he found them after searching all over Winterfell, they were stuck in horse shit. She didn't need to say that it was her, the smirk on her face was enough for Jon.

Jon got back at her by making her favorite dress disappear and when Catelyn made a big commotion accusing Jon, who immediately presented Eddard Stark as his witness who swore that Jon had been with him all along. In the end, the dress magically reappeared in her room, which made her look stupid. Frost got a small feast as a reward from Jon that night.

Stuff like that kept on happening, sometimes only her portion of food would become incredibly salty, and when she would complain, it would feel like she was whining since every one of us would say that it tasted good. Jon couldn't control his grin throughout the meal which made Catelyn retaliate the very next day.

It had been going like that for quite a while, and at the start, Lord Stark and Robb tried to intervene but when they became the unintentional victim due to picking the wrong side, they ultimately left the two of them alone.

The reason Catelyn had been particularly antsy toward Jon at that moment was due to the incident that happened two weeks. Some time ago she had given birth to Arya, but unlike Sansa, she wasn't a fan of her mother, she would always cry whenever Catelyn carried her and even refused to drink her milk.

Two weeks ago, during a visit from the whole Stark family, to meet the newest wolf, halfway through, Arya suddenly started crying uncontrollably. So Catelyn had gotten really flustered, so they had all taken turns trying to calm her down. At the end of the visit, it was concluded that baby Arya red-haired part of her family and only sleeps soundly when held by either Jon or Eddard which made Catelyn as a mother pretty jealous.

"JON! Come here," Eddard said firmly.

Jon stood up while patting his pants, and walked toward his father. Catelyn turned away in a huff and went toward where Robb had started sparring with young recruits.

"Yes, Father," Jon said while looking at his shoes.

"Are you alright?" Eddard asked worriedly while looking down at him.

"I am fine," Jon nodded sulkily.

"Jon look at me!" Eddard said while putting a hand on his shoulder and when Jon looked up continued softly, "You need to slow down, Jon. You are not going to become proficient at dual wielding in just a few months, maybe not even in a decade,"

Jon looked at his Father in disbelief, if he was trying to cheer him up, then he was doing a very shit job of it, telling Jon that he can't do it even if he worked hard for 10 years was a low blow.

"But... if you persist in it until the end. Then you could become the greatest swordsman of your age, the best of the best," Eddard said before his eyes suddenly gained a nostalgic look, "There was only one dual wielder I met in my whole life and he was a... monster."

"He would be defending with his left hand and attacking with his right one moment, and in the next suddenly both hands would start attacking you. Fighting him was like fighting multiple people with multiple hands at the same time."

"There were five of us and only him alone, but it still felt like he was ganging up on us..." Eddard said while remembering the memory of that day.

In the beginning, there were five of them against him but when Ser Mark Ryswell had killed the old Lord Commander Ser Gerold, it had been six against him alone, but he still cut through them like they were a bunch of unruly young squires and not the best warriors north had to offer, who had been trained in the art of combat since a young age.

"Anyway..." Eddard said while shaking his head and coming back to the present, "You need to take it slow and not rush into it, it shall take a lot of time and effort but I promise you if you ever reach mastery then you would be like that Man,"

"Can you tell me more—" Jon started to say, but was interrupted midway through.

"Hey, Jon! Are you alright," Robb said in concern while coming to a stop before them, "I saw the fall and it looked bad,"

"I am fine, Nothing's broken," Jon smiled reassuringly while moving both his arms to show him.

"Well if you are fine then..." Robb said before his face suddenly puffed up, "You looked so stupid flailing around like that..." and he started laughing while pointing towards Jon, "Even Sansa isn't that clumsy! You should have seen your face... HAHA,"

"Oh, you find my face stupid do you?" Jon said while smiling evilly before suddenly jumping on his brother and started pulling his face, "Let me make your face stupid too,"

Eddard looked at the sky while asking Old Gods to give him some strength before he looked at his son's wrestling before him with a sigh of exhaustion and immediately broke them up, "Enough!" he sternly said while holding one unruly child in each hand, "go get cleaned up and remove you pads you are done for the day. And after that, you are to head straight for the Great Hall,"

Eddard put them back on the floor only after they had nodded. He looked at them running away still bickering with each, before leaving the courtyard with Catelyn toward Great Hall, watching them practice had suddenly made him hungry.

Both the boy's completed their cool-down stretches and put back their swords and pads on the stand, before immediately racing toward the Great Hall.

The entire meal passed with Robb telling Jon about his various bouts and how very soon he would be ready to join him. Jon only kept nodding along unconsciously all the while frequently yawing. He was so tired that by the time the meal was done, Jon was half asleep.

The day since Jon had started training in the yard, his daily schedule had become fully packed and he suddenly found himself with very little free time.

After Jon's usual morning meditation, he broke his fast before he had to go to Maester Luwin's lesson. The Maester usually taught them about Geography, History, various Noble Houses of Westeros, etc. And Jon had recently started taking lessons in the Valyrian language, so the usual free time he had when Robb learned the intricacies common tongue was also filled.

"Hey!" Robb said while clicking his fingers in front of Jon and he was immediately startled awake, "You were about to walk into that pillar. Why are you sleepwalking? "

"It's nothing," Jon said airily while moving around the pillar, "Frost woke me up early in the morning, so I wasn't able to have much sleep,"

While Frost was the reason Jon was feeling sleep-deprived. It was not the way Robb probably imagined. About a month ago, Jon started to have occasional dreams about flying and hunting in the wolfswood at night.

At first, Jon thought that they were just regular dreams occurring due to his intense desire to become a warg, but when Frost confirmed that the prey she had hunted the night before was exactly the prey from his dream, he concluded that he had already started having warg dreams. So Jon multiplied his efforts at trying to warg into Frost before going to bed.

Jon ate too much during lunch, which along with his intense morning exercise meant that he was dead tired by the time he reached his room.

'I'll just take a quick nap and...' Jon thought while falling on his bed and instantly fell asleep.

///
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I don't know how long I slept but it felt like I had just closed my eyes when something suddenly started poking me in my ribs. I tried to ignore it but it only got more insistent as time went on, so ultimately I had to open my eyes.

"Hmm... what is it frost," I mumbled while rubbing sleep from my eyes. Frost immediately started pecking his beak toward the window, "huh...what's out there Fros— Oh shit, I am going to be late,"

I started panicking and immediately started changing my clothes, and gathering my stuff from around the room, "Old mark is so gonna kill me, that block of ice doesn't tolerate shit," I fretted while tying my shoes. That old man was already so grumpy so I always made sure to never be late or else who knew what set him off and he stopped giving me lessons.

"Aww... Frost couldn't you have woken me up a bit early, the only thing you do during the day is fly lazily anyway—Ow...Ow..." I flinched and shielded my face when Frost started swatting me with his wings, "Alright! Sorry! Sorry! it was my fault," I said while ducking from the overgrown bird, before immediately rushing out of my room.

I dashed straight out of the Winterfell Gates and didn't stop even for a second to take a breath. I completed the journey through Wintertown house in a record time and ran toward the unused path outside town.

"I... I am he...here..." I shouted huffing the second I reached the old hunter's cabin while trying to soothe the stitch in my side, but didn't find the Old hunter at his usual spot which was not a good sign.

The cabin door opened and I looked up hopefully but it was hunter's granddaughters, Emily and Becca, and not the man himself.

"Umm... Mr. Jon," Emily hesitatingly said while coming out of the lodge, with Becca, the merchant's daughter following, "Grandpa went away when you didn't arrive for a while. He said that he would be back after a while,"

"Yeah, Grandpa Mark was very angry," Becca said teasingly, "You're gonna be in so much trouble Jon hehe..."

"Shut up, Becca," I growled at the blonde but the mirth dancing in her blue eyes only increased, so I just huffed before moving to sit on the usual tree stump.

'This is not good, the last time I messed up like this, Old mark had me climb the tree at least a hundred times, he didn't tell me that it was a punishment and not training but my body definitely felt it that night.'

"Come on, go get your stuff, Let's complete your lesson—And stop smirking Becca," I grumbled at them while swearing that I would teach that naughty girl a lesson. Emily immediately pulled Becca inside the hut before she could make any more mischief, they came out a minute later carrying a wooden slate, some charcoals, etc.

"Becca, Show me your homework?" I asked her with a small smile after they sat on the ground in front of me at their usual spot, hoping to get some revenge on the peppy girl.

"Why do you always ask for mine first?" Becca pouted while reluctantly handing me her slate.

"Because Emily is a very good student and always completes her work," I praised the brown-haired who immediately blushed, which made her bright green eyes stand out even more, before turning toward the blonde, "But you on the other hand...Tch...Tch," I shook my head and went back to check her work.

"Hey, what does that mean," She made a wronged face, while Emy's body shook with suppressed giggles.

"This looks completed—surprisingly... You didn't ask for Emy's help, Did you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Of course not!" Becca said self-righteously with pride, "I would never do something like that,"

"That's what you told me the last 5 times you copied from her,"

"That's in the past," Becca said airily.

"Well looks like you dodged extra homework this time," I said feeling a bit disappointed before continuing, "Now, let's pick up where we left off... Umm Emily what was I teaching at the last lesson."

"Mr. Jon you were teaching Becca about Multiplication and adjectives..."

Emily was scarily smart and had already learned all about reading and writing the common tongue as well as simple algebra, So I had already started teaching her old tongue and more advanced stuff that mostly nobles and big merchants learn for administration.

Becca on the other hand didn't have quite as much interest in learning and was more curious about learning how to bash people's heads in. So at the start when she was being difficult to teach, I started incentivizing her by teaching her a trickle of combat lessons every time she completed her homework correctly.

And it turned out that Becca was quite a natural at combat. She soaked all the weapon lessons like a sponge and I would even go as far as to say that she was a prodigy in the spear, a few more months and she could even beat Robb, and while she was about 4 years older than us that was still a big thing.

It was actually quite ironic considering that the hunter's granddaughter Emily didn't like physical stuff much and was into learning while the merchant's daughter Becca, was instead interested in combat and couldn't do the math to save her life.

"Ugh... It's done," Becca said while showing me her work, "Can we do some training now, Please Jon," She said while opening her blue eyes as wide as they go.

"Well let me see..." I said while perusing over her work, "half the answers are wrong or riddled with mistakes and your writing is barely illegible," Becca immediately deflated, "but I guess you did complete it. Fine! go get your stick," I said and Becca immediately ran away, with Emily following after her a bit slowly.

They came back a minute later with Becca carrying a thick wooden stick about her height and Emily with two small wooden daggers.

"Alright, go through the forms I showed you last time,"

"But I wanted to learn a new one," Becca whined.

"Uhuh...Not until you've mastered them," I shook my head, "Now come go through them a hundred times," and they immediately started going through various basic forms I had taught.

I wasn't teaching them any advanced stuff, just making them repeat normal stuff so that they would have a solid foundation.

At first, it was just Becca who trained, but after watching me teach her cousin, Emily had picked up the courage and asked to be taught too, so I handed her the lightest weapon, and while she had not been as good as Becca she was a hard worker.

"No Emily! You need to move your whole body," I said before showing her how to do it, "you need the strength from your hips, not just your arms—Yes! just like that,"

I trained with them for about an hour like that, while Becca only needed to be shown once to correct her mistakes, Emily needed constant guidance. I was just correcting Emily's leg posture when I was startled by a cough behind me. I turned around and found Old mark standing there holding a long package in his arms.

"Old Mark!" I shouted and immediately went toward him, "I am sorry I was late, I fell asleep and—"

He cut me off with a raised hand and just turned around while asking me to follow him.

"We are done for the day girls," I shouted back before following after the old hunter, who was remarkably quick for a man his age.

We walked for a while in silence before I couldn't take it anymore and blurted out, "I know that I made a mistake, but I don't think tree climbing is going to help me much anymore—" I stop mid-sentence when we passed through some bushes and emerged into a clearing.

My breath caught up in my throat, the place before me was a training zone straight out of an anime, there were wooden targets stuck on a stick at varying distances and some targets were also attached to ropes, hanging from branches and they moved along with the wind.

"Is this what I think it is—" I asked while turning around and found Old mark had opened the package he was holding. It was a small but sturdy bow perfect for my size, along with a quiver full of arrows.

"You are ready to learn how to shoot," He said gruffly while giving me the bow and arrows.

I took both of them gratefully into my hands, while over the past few weeks he had been teaching me stuff like how to properly string a bow and how to make my own arrows so I had been anticipating it for a while, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

"Well, what are you waiting for," He interrupted me admiring the bow while pointing toward the target, "Get on with it,"

"Yes," I enthusiastically said before taking the right posture and after holding still for a while, shot my first proper arrow. The arrow sailed and stuck at the edge of the target, which made me wide grin widely.

"Don't stop," the hunter snapped, "You are not to leave until you have stuck dead center at least 10 times,"

"Figured as much," I mumbled under my breath and went back into it.

...

By the time I reached Winterfell, I was dead tired and my arms were shaking from exhaustion, I barely lasted through the dinner, and was half dead on my feet by the time I reached my room.

My body protested but I still didn't go to sleep right away, and instead sat on my bed and tried to warg a couple of times before sleeping. I wasn't expecting much as I hadn't succeeded in the last handful of weeks so I was just going through the motion.

About 10 minutes later my mind had been emptied of all thoughts and I was only focused on the picture of Frost inside my mind, I don't what had happened or how I did it but suddenly a pop went inside my head and my sphere of consciousness pierced the needle outside it.

I immediately felt the path to Frost open up and when I went along it, I suddenly found myself leaving my body behind, I felt as If I was occupying a different mind and when I opened my eyes, I was looking through the eyes of Frost for the first time as she was flying over the Wolfswood.

///

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In the middle of the training ground hidden in the shade of trees near Old Mark's house. I stood at the starting position while holding the bow in a form called the relaxed stance.

I just gazed at the target for a whole minute before finally taking a deep breath and without any break, strung the arrow, raised the bow, and shot it in a single motion.

The arrow swiftly flew and hit the target a bit left of the dead center. I took another arrow from the quiver beside me but didn't string it, instead went back to the relaxed position, and closed my eyes.

I replayed my last shot inside my head and tried to find the mistake I made during the execution.

Was my posture wrong? Was it the wind?

Was the arrow a bit crooked? Should I have held the Bow a bit higher?

The one thing Old Mark always insisted I do, is try to find mistakes in every single arrow I shoot during training.

He didn't believe in learning by repetition, as he believes only stupid people should learn using that method. He thinks that there are basically two ways to learn archery.

The easy way is to learn the bow by the process of repetition. If a person shoots thousands of arrows mindlessly until the routine becomes a bodily instinct then they would eventually get good at shooting the target. But those who learn like this are rigid in Old Mark's eyes.

In his words, "Their body learns to shoot, but their mind didn't do the work involved,". So these kinds of people would be good at shooting at a stationary target or the target they are used to but if a new mark appears then their arrows start to go wide.

The hard is, that from the beginning you learn by deliberating every single step associated with shooting the arrow, and by taking into account every single factor. If they do this then while it could take longer and may be more difficult, eventually they would become one of the few truly versatile archers in Westeros, those who can shoot a bullseye in every situation.

After finding the problems with my last try, I opened my eyes and once again went through my routine, and after observing the target for a few moments, I raised the bow and shot the target in a single breath.

Looking at the target a small grin appeared on my face, this time the arrow stuck closer to the target, which meant I diagnosed the issue correctly.

Observe—Shoot—Diagnose—Repeat

I kept on training my archery like that, and when my right arm started to ache, I switched my arms and started shooting with my left hand while holding the bow with my right hand.

A whole different kind of calculation is associated with shooting from the opposite arm, you need to change the posture, place the arrow differently, take the wind direction differently, etc. Basically, you would need to rewire your brain to respond to foreign situations.

I shot arrows for a couple of hours and whenever my arms got tired I alternated them. But no matter how much rest I gave my arms, ultimately they started to get weary, so after my arms started to really ache I decided that I was done for the day.

I put down the bow on a rock and slowly started to collect the scattered arrows, about a fourth of them were not reusable, but the rest of them could be used a few more times.

While I was collecting the arrows from some bushes, I suddenly felt a ping go inside my head, and immediately looked up, and there she was, drifting through the air at an incredible speed toward me.

The color of her feathers was such a perfect camouflage with the blue sky, that if I didn't have a bond with her, I wouldn't have been able to locate her even if I was looking at her directly.

Reaching an appropriate distance from me, Frost braked silently and glided towards me gracefully before landing on the rock in front of me, as she had gotten too huge to be able to sit on my shoulder.

"Hey, Frost," I cheerfully said while patting her feathers gently, "How was your hunt?"

Frost immediately started chirping and screeching, and simultaneously, I started to get some emotions and faded images from her inside my head like an MMS, which immediately made me understand her.

"What! That shitty bird tried to steal from you again," I exclaimed while listening to Frost chirp, and jump around trying to explain the entire situation to me.

Apparently, a Snow Eagle, the discount offshoot species of the Ice Eagles from which Frost originates, had taken to occupying Frost's nest, located at a high cliff in Wolfswood, whenever she was away from it.

And the second she sees Frost coming, the snow eagle runs away, so Frost didn't bother with her at first just considering her an annoyance but lately, she had even started to steal berries that Frost had hidden inside her nest, so Frost finally decide enough was enough and ambushed the intruder today, and after injuring her heavily she scared the snow eagle away.

"Oh, you showed her who's the boss didn't you, Frost," I said to the smug-looking Frost, who basked in her own glory.

I showered her with praises for quite a while before I remembered and asked her, "Hey, Frost did you notice anyone around here?"

Frost tilted her head for a moment, before shaking her relatively tiny head, I immediately understood the point she was trying to convey. She had seen some animals but didn't see any two-legged creatures.

"Alright then, since you are already here, let's complete our warging quota for the day," I said before moving toward a large flat rock nearby and sitting on it cross-legged.


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"Alright then, since you are already here, let's complete our warging quota for the day," I said before moving toward a large flat rock nearby and sitting on it cross-legged.

It's been about 5 months since my first foray with warging into Frost, and I had been diligently practicing it at least once a day since sometimes even more if I find the time for it.

I pulled an hourglass out of my pocket and placed it beside me. It was made out of glass and had numerous markings made of charcoal outside it. It had been a bit of an expensive purchase, costing about two months of my earnings from teaching Becca, but it was worth it, watching my progress every day reassured me that I wasn't stagnating.

After getting into a comfortable position, I closed my eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and immediately went into my zone of consciousness.

The sphere of my mind had grown a lot since I first accessed this place, and it's also gotten a lot more firm the image training I still did had paid off. The bumps and flailing on the surface of the orb, which represented distracting thoughts have also been smoothed out a lot.

After admiring my inner world for a few moments, I focused on the needle poking at my sphere from outside and sent my consciousness toward it.

Immediately I felt myself connect to a door leading into a tunnel, and without hesitation entered it by concentrating on it. Almost instantly I experienced a feeling of weightlessness, and before I could fully appreciate the sensation, I was suddenly bombarded with all kinds of new sensory information.

I could suddenly see everything, I had an almost 360-degree vision, along with being able to see a new range of colors, and could even zoom at an ant or bug crawling on the ground, I could listen to whole new varieties of sounds.

While feeling all those senses at once was very disorienting, it also made me feel powerful like I was the most dangerous predator around and nothing could stop me.

Frost's thoughts were very erratic and predatory, most of the thoughts passing through her mind classified every living thing she saw as prey and predator. Thankfully when I looked at my body slumped on the rock, she categorized me as family.

'Fly,' I tried to send my request through a series of images and feelings, and while Frost's thoughts were very scattered, she was able to understand my desire and immediately flapped her powerful wings and suddenly I was flying away.

My body felt light as a feather, I felt like could go anywhere and the whole world was just my playground.

The feeling of freedom, the wind rushing across my feathers, the euphoria from this liberation from the solid ground was so addictive, it made me giddy and made me want to remain inside her forever, to leave the domain of earth and fly for eternity.

But thankfully while those thoughts were very prevalent, the meditation in the morning along with the mental exercises I did before going to bed made my mind very resilient, and firm so I was able to suppress those seductive thoughts.

The whole of Winterfell and the town outside were in my view, I could even see the facial feature of every single person inside the town.

And on the other side was the forest of Wolfswood, and almost immediately I could spot about 6 prey located at various distances every single of them was hiding using a different technique, but I was still able to spot them all.

'Higher,'

Immediately Frost flapped his powerful sets of wings again and started flying higher. I didn't actually command her or anything. So instead of being a driver, I was actually just a passenger, and whenever I wanted something I just asked her...politely, and she complies.

I tried not to wrestle the control of Frost's body away from her because while I felt like I could do it, it would detrimental in the long run for the trust between us, and besides I don't think I could control Frost's body better than her, so I just left the steering wheel in her hands while nudging her occasionally.

Frost stopped rising and just started gliding in huge circles, I was so high up that it was cold enough to give my normal body frostbite, but in Frost's body, the cold winds just felt comfortable, almost... soothing.

Alas, all too soon I started to feel the solid orb of my mind start to wear down around the edges. The firm grip I had on my thoughts started to loosen slowly, as Frost's fleeting thoughts and predatory emotions started to affect me so I reluctantly but quickly exited Frost's mind and went toward the tunnel leading toward mine.

It had been written inside the notes I found in the Winterfell Library that one should never stay inside the mind of an animal beyond their mental capacity allows because if they do then the animal's mind swings will slowly but surely start to affect the warg and make them more... animalistic.

The one thing written inside that I had taken to heart was that 'The sign of a good warg was their ability to introspect and to be able to evaluate their mental condition at all times,'

*Whoosh*

I entered back inside my body and immediately felt a sense of incongruity, even though I had only been in Frost for a short while. I was a little uncomfortable having hands instead of wings, and losing all those additional senses also made me feel weakened.

I took a few seconds to get assimilated before standing up from where I had been slumped on the rock. I mostly always warg from inside my own room after locking the door, so I didn't take into account the comfort of my unconscious body.

I looked toward the hourglass and marked the fallen sand with a piece of charcoal. Looking at the previous mark I was a bit happy that I had improved once again and was able to stay a bit longer inside Frost.

//

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After stretching a bit, I collected my bow and the quiver of arrows before heading out. I passed through the dense foliage of trees before taking the familiar path and arriving at Old Mark's house. The door was locked and there were signs outside showing that the home had been empty for a while.

"They haven't arrived back huh," I sighed before leaving toward Wintertown.

Becca, Emily, and Old mark had all left for WhiteHarbour a while back, along with them went Becca's father and mother. They had all gone to attend the wedding of Becca's older brother, who was a sailor on a merchant ship.

'A Merchant father and Sailor son, what a perfect combination' I thought, 'And they said that the woman Becca's brother is marrying owns a storefront in WhiteHarbour, so almost the whole family works and earns, except for that musclehead, Becca... Sigh, I don't think she's going to ever work on a normal job,'

Leaving the shade of trees I moved on to the well-worn but somewhat clean path leading into Wintertown. With the full advent of summer, Wintertown was back to only hosting its permanent residents along with the occasion travelers and merchants.

While passing through the main street I suddenly saw a congregation of people in the middle of the road, with constant chattering of villagers and someone shouting prices as if auctioning something.

Curious, I went toward the gathering and through the throng of people, when I started hearing the neighing of horses.

What I saw in the middle left me very excited. A small herd of horses, small and big, were tied to some carts in a single line, and the villagers were going around and evaluating the various breeds of horses. A young boy about 12 years old was shouting about the various prices and qualities of horses. The owner was in the corner negotiating with the resident innkeeper who wanted to sell his old horse and buy a new one.

I immediately ran toward the young boy and yelled, "Hey! Hey!" The lad stopped mid-shout and looked toward me, "Did your master get any Foals this time?"

"Yes, we got about...Umm," He looked behind him for a moment before turning back, "...Four young ones this time,"

"Alright, Don't sell them! I am coming back right away," I urged him, already running toward Winterfell.

"Don't take too long," He shouted toward my back and I waved my hand without turning back.

I quickly navigated through the streets of the town before going through the open gate of the Castle and hurrying toward the Great Keep. After rushing up the stairs, I quickly opened my room and deposited my bow, before moving toward Robb's room, but he wasn't inside.

I looked around for quite a while, in the courtyard, the library, and the Maester's Turret but I just couldn't seem to find him.

Ultimately a guard told me where my brother was and I immediately ran toward the empty part of Winterfell and found them outside FirstKeep.

Robb was napping at the patch of grass outside the oldest tower of the Castle while Sansa was sitting on the stairs trying to braid baby Arya's hair.

"Don't Squirm, Arya," Sansa said while Arya just babbled incoherently while playing with the sand in front of her, "And don't put that in your mouth," Sansa admonished while emptying her little sister's hand.

Arya's eyes shot up as she noticed me walking toward them and immediately a gummy smile appeared on her face as she tried to crawl toward me, "Where are you going Arya—Oh hey, Jon," Sansa said while holding Arya back.

I smiled and waved toward them while moving toward Robb. Looking at the innocent face of my brother sleeping, I immediately got bombarded with lots of pranks opportunities.

But alas, I didn't have time for that, so while shaking my head in regret, I took a deep breath and shouted just beside the Sleeping Princess's ears, "WAKE UP!"

"I AM UP M-MOM! I-I am looking after them—Oh...it's you," Robb said while flailing around for a moment before his eyes fully opened and found me, "Did you have to wake me up like that,"

"Of course I did," I said smugly, "Now come on, let's go get Father. Shawn is back here in WinterTown,"

"Shawn Who?" He asked while yawning.

"Shawn—The breeder from Barrowtown," I reminded him while pulling him up, "Don't you remember what Father promised us the last time he was in WinterTown?"

"Oh yes! Let's go quickly," Robb said perking up.

"Can we come too?" Sansa asked when we were leaving, coming behind us while carrying Arya who immediately pushed her hands toward me.

"Alright, Come on then," I said while taking Arya into my arms and all three of us ran toward the Lord's Solar, where Father would most likely be.

Climbing the stairs we found the door closed with a guard standing outside, and the moment the guard spotted us he stepped up and barred us with his hands.

"Lord Stark is busy with the Steward, he asked not to be disturbed," the guard said evenly.

"We need to speak with Father. It's urgent!" Robb said.

"I am sure it is!" the guard replied while rolling his eyes, "But it shall have to wait,"

No matter how Robb tried to dissuade him, the guard didn't budge, so I took drastic measures. I turned my head toward Sansa and winked conspiringly.

She tilted her cutely, a bit confused but I kept on winking while pointing with my finger toward the door, while hiding my hand from the guard, her eyes lit up as she immediately understood and pecked her head like a bird.

I moved Arya in my hands in such a way that Sansa was completely blocked from the guard and while Robb was distracting him, Sansa went behind the guard and immediately opened the door.

"Hey Stop—" By the time the guard noticed it, Sansa had already gone inside and when he turned toward Sansa, both of us also took the opportunity to barge into the Solar while dodging the guard. Spotting Father all four of us siblings started shouting at the same time:

"Father you promised that when Shawn came—" "I just saw him in Wintertown Father. We have to go quick before—" "I wanna come too, Father—" "WaWaWa,"

Lord Stark who was talking to the steward Vayon Poole sitting opposite, just looked at us in exasperation for a moment before taking a deep breath, "Alright SILENCE!" He shouted and all of us stopped except for Arya who kept on babbling.

"I am sorry, Milord," The guard said from the door while bowing, "I tried to stop them but..."

"It's alright, Mike," Lord Stark said while sighing before turning towards his children, "Now what is this about—Not all at the same time! Jon, you tell me,"

"Father, the breeder from last time, Shawn, is back in town and he's got some new foals, and you promised to buy Robb and me our own Horses," I said excitedly.

"Couldn't this wait?" Eddard said while waving his hands toward the book opened before him.

"No, he only has limited stock!" I exclaimed.

"Yes father, Come on, you promised," Robb joined me in persuading him and even Sansa turned her big eyes toward him.

"Alright! Alright! Fine," Eddard said while closing his book, "Vayon we shall go over the books later,"

"Yes, My Lord," The steward said while bowing and collecting his stuff.

"Let's go then," Father said while moving toward us before taking Arya from me into his own hands and leading us out.

We set a quick pace toward the gates where some household guards immediately joined our group. Cutting through the townspeople who bowed and saluted when they recognized the Lord of the Castle and his brood.

The second we approached the crowd still surrounding the horses, Shawn the breeder immediately spotted Lord Stark and came towards us eagerly while leaving the innkeeper who was negotiating with him, behind him.

"Lord Stark," Shawn said while bowing, "What would you like to purchase, Milord? I have some of the best breeds of horses this time, all in the prime of their life,"

"I don't come to buy for myself this time," Lord Stark while waving his free hand toward his children who were already closing in on the horses, "Two of my sons want to look at your Foals,"

"Of Course, Milrod. Follow me," Shawn said while moving toward a section behind where all the adult horses were tied up, "Here are my youngest horses, this brown and red one is my best one, comes from a long line of Warhorses and is sure to grow up to be very strong, and it's very docile too,"

"I want this one, Father," Robb said excitedly while jumping up and down in front of the small horse.

I looked toward the foals but didn't feel that any of them were particularly special, I was moving toward the last horse when I found a small foal sitting down and just looking at everyone curiously, it was as white as snow and actually looked bored, if a horse can convey that emotion.

"Hey," I shouted toward the breeder who immediately turned toward me, "What about this one?"

"Oh, that one I am afraid is somewhat of a defective product," the man said while moving toward me, "It's one of the smartest horse I have ever seen, but alas that also make him the laziest one. It would only do something if he was bribed properly and is prone to using his legs and teeth quite skillfully if someone talks shit about him, I would say he would make a very bad companion,"

"Oh, is that so," I pondered while looking at the beautiful creature in front of me, I don't know what it was but I had a strange feeling it was a special horse.

I closed my eyes instinctively and went inside my mind zone, but instead of approaching the needle tunnel leading toward Frost, I just sent a small spike of a tendril in front of me, in the direction of the horse, and immediately I felt myself touching the surface of the horse's mind before my mind snapped back inside my body. I had never done this before with any animal besides frost.

I opened my eyes and found the horse looking at me with curious eyes as if he had also felt what had happened, the horse slowly stood up and approached me. I just stood there and when he stopped in front of me, I brought my hand up and slowly stroked his face, and he closed his eyes enjoying it before he nudged me softly.

"I'll name you, Pegasus," I whispered and he neighed his approval. I turned toward the breeder with a grin and shouted, "I'll take this one,"

"Are you sure?" he said while looking at the suddenly docile horse skeptically.

"Yes, I am,"

Father approached me with Robb and Sansa following behind, "Did you choose this one, Jon,"

"Yes father," I said with a grin before saying to baby Arya, "Look Arya, he's my horse and his name is Pegasus. I'll take you on a ride when you grow some,"

"Howse," Arya babbled and all of us were astonished and exchanged incredulous looks with each other.

"Nobody mention this to Catelyn," Lord Stark said sternly while looking at all of us before he sighed, "I don't think she could take it if she found out her daughter's first word was 'Horse',"
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