The Warg Lord (ASOIAF)(SI)

[GrimmKenway8646]

The most crazy unbelievable thing was that he was cruising along with the ship but there was no boat or plank supporting, there was... nothing underneath his feet. H-He was actually standing on water as if...


"As if a ...GOD..." he whispered and that was the last thing the noble saw before an arrow claimed his life.

Click to shrink...

Sweet Jesu- wait..... THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!

 

[Monmonstar]

Cring but it's on the sliding scale going past [hehehe] but not [are you approaching me?] at the end of said scale is [I am atomic!]

 

[Ahtu]

True,but how he do not lost his arrows in water ?
And,Tyrand had a point - it is impossible to be sure when exactly ironborns start drinking poisoned ale.

Click to shrink...

Unlike what most think, quivers were usually made to have a slight grip on the arrows(they weren't just rattling around freely and getting dull), and if he jumped down onto the whale(feet first), he would never even have gotten wet.

It's true that they couldn't know exactly when each Ironborn would start drinking. But they could count on them being thirsty slobs and doing so soon enough, for the most part. And that's what happened, it wasn't everyone that was in that state - But a good portion of them were.

They could ofc never be 100% certain the plan would work, but that's always true, of pretty much every plan.

 

[Monmonstar]

I agree with cat boy

 

[HydraSwarm]

And people saying he couldnt be that good with a bow you got to remember back in the day longbow men were known to have been able to put a arrow through the vision slit of a knights suite of armor from 100 yards a bow men on a boat could do what he did easily the speed is a little hard to think of tho

 

[ATP]

And people saying he couldnt be that good with a bow you got to remember back in the day longbow men were known to have been able to put a arrow through the vision slit of a knights suite of armor from 100 yards a bow men on a boat could do what he did easily the speed is a little hard to think of tho

Click to shrink...

They supposed to kill small flying bird from that distance.

 

[LazyWizard]

"Fuu... And that's the last one," Jon murmured while letting go of the string and the arrow immediately soared through the air and found its mark in the back of the last running Ironborn raider.


His quiver was nearly empty, and his hands were paying the price for his prolonged shooting. One hand throbbed with pain, while the other had gone completely numb. Despite spending long aching hours with the bow in the training field, it was the first time he had shot arrows for so long in an actual battle, which was completely different with all the adrenaline involved.


"Where next, Jon," came the eager question from his excited ride. Her head and snout bobbed just above the water's surface, and she seemed to think that it was a fun game and was having a grand time watching each arrow disappear into the Ironborn ranks.


"That's it for today, Cory," Jon smiled as he hung his bow on his shoulder and kneeled for better balance, "You were great, my friend. Thank you for helping me," Jon stroked her smooth skin gently with gratefulness. She'd been a perfect ride during the whole battle, in fact, Jon would go as far as to say that he was a better archer on her back than he was on the ships because not only was she an excellent swimmer, but she was also as stable as a rock and was able to carry him wherever he wanted to so he was able to access a lot more ships.


"No problem, Jon, It was really fun," she said, happily spraying a burst of water.


She wasn't actually saying all these things obviously instead Jon had just become so skilled at interpreting the thoughts of animals, even outside of his wargs, that it almost felt as if he was talking to a human instead of the massive killer whale.


Since Cory wasn't his warg, they didn't share the deep connection that he had with Frost or even Tweety, his new warg. With them, he could almost completely scan their mind at all moments and they would have complete access to his desires and emotions so that they are able to respond instantly.


With Cory, it was different, as he communicated to her through a complex language involving projecting and reading various thoughts, emotions, images, and sometimes even memories and then he could interpret those broken pieces into a common tongue and understand them.


*Ki*Ki*Ki*


"Eh... Who are you talking to, Cory?" Jon asked curiously as he felt Cory communicate with someone through her unique methods involving whistles and pulsed calls.


"My Mother," Cory answered casually as she slowly guided Jon toward his main ship. "She's hunting nearby with my brothers and sisters."


"Oh! Are they all down there..." Jon raised an eyebrow before a realization hit him, "Wait!—" he abruptly raised his head and looked around to find that he was surrounded on all sides by corpses littered in the sea because of the recent battle, "D-Don't tell me they are eating Humans!"


"Oh! No! Only fish," Cory replied innocently, "Humans don't taste good,"


"That is good," Jon immediately sagged in relief.


While he didn't worry too much about what happened with the Ironborn after they died. He still had no desire to be in the vicinity of killer Orcas while they were feasting on human flesh.


There are mostly two times when a predator is most difficult to control, one would be when they are on a hunt and their killer instincts take over them and the other is when they are fleeing for their lives from a bigger predator.


Suddenly sounds of jubilation and raucous cheering erupted from all the ships in the distance at the same time. It seemed the people on board finally realised that they had won the battle and completely annihilated the Ironborn.


Celebrations were rare after sea battles, given the usual high casualties and potential ship damage. but hearing the booming hoots and loud laughter coming from the ships, he was sure that there was no one alive on board who wasn't happy or relieved, and Jon was quite happy and proud to admit that he had a huge hand in it.


For the whole duration of the battle, he had tried his hardest and utilised his mind to the fullest. Using the omnipotent view he had of the whole battle, Jon hadn't let a single die person die if he could help it. Every time he came across someone who was getting ganged up or someone who was injured and was on the verge of losing, he immediately sent help in the form of his arrows and saved them.


His archery had long since left the realm of normal people and every time people saw him make those impossible tricky parabolic shots, they were left in awe, not to mention his speed and accuracy had gotten so phenomenal that he barely missed now even when he was on a wobbly ship with unpredictable sea waves.


Jon was absentmindedly watching the celebrations with a contented smile on his face when out of nowhere Cory suddenly jerked to a stop launching him straight into the frigid sea.


"What—"


He coughed and spluttered as saltwater filled his mouth. Panic gripped him for a moment, but he managed to regain his composure and when he resurfaced with a confused look on his face, it was to find his ride, Cory, running or rather rapidly swimming away in the distance and she wasn't alone as there were similar sized silhouettes along with her which he assumed were her family members.


"What in the seven hells happened?"


Jon was completely bewildered by the sudden departure of the friendly whale so he immediately tried to connect with Cory's mind to find out why she was fleeing. But the moment he touched her consciousness he was completely blasted away by the sheer amount of panic and fear she was feeling at the moment.


Her flight response had been fully triggered, her body was pumped to the brim with adrenaline, leaving no room in her mind for any thoughts other than fleeing for her life. But just before he was unceremoniously kicked out of her mind, Jon barely managed to capture a single image from her mind... an image of a large looming shadow hidden in the depth of the sea, which the Orcas associated with the ultimate invincible predator representing absolute death... that they must always flee from; it was something inherited from their ancestors and coded in their genes.


"What is it? What could the creature be?" Jon wondered aloud as he peered into the dark abyss of the unfathomable ocean with intense curiosity, "Could it be 'that' myth?"


The ocean depth was an unknown field even to a warg such as Jon. He had no idea at all as to the kinds of creatures that could be present in the sea of Planetos. And it wasn't like he hadn't tried to scout before, he did... but the results were always disappointing.


He had tried warging into all kinds of different marine species, from colourful tiny fishes to huge whales, from electric eels to killer sharks, but no matter what type of creature he used, after a certain depth all of them started losing their bodily function due to the pressure, and even if he found those rare few that could handle the pressure they would start resisting his control after a certain depth as if they weren't allowed into that part of the sea.


There seemed to be some kind of an invisible line in this world's sea that separated the ocean into two parts, the upper part belonging to the normal creatures while the lower part... well he didn't know who the other part belonged to, and he was dying to find out about it.


Floating in the same place, Jon hesitated for quite a while as his gaze alternated between the ships and the sea depth. A fierce battle was raging inside his mind between two parts of his mind, one side wanted to sate his curiosity immediately and find out about the mysterious creatures that had sent the Orcas running away while the other one was the more rational and cautious one that thought it was absurdly stupid of him to mess around looking for a dangerous predator in the sea while being surrounded on all sides by dead bodies.


"Ah! Fuck it!" Jon finally cursed to himself as curiosity and recklessness ultimately won the day. Crushing the rational part of his mind, he immediately closed his eyes and started to project his consciousness downwards.


Jon had come a long way from when he used to train with Robb and could only extend his mind a few meters at a time but now... now he didn't even know what his limits were.


As his consciousness descended into the depths, he encountered a colorful array of marine life fleeing for their lives. Gradually, the number of creatures dwindled until, just before he reached his limits, he managed to connect with a purple, thin-scaled fish longer than his own height.


He spent a few moments calming the fish's instincts, a skill he could only apply to simple-minded creatures. Then, he gently urged the gullible fish to swim deeper. Darkness enveloped him as he ventured beyond the reach of light. If he had relied on his human eyes, he would have seen nothing, but the fish's vision offered some clarity.


And then it happened.


A monstrous, tentacle-like appendage, thick and several meters long, slithered into his field of vision. Jon's mind nearly recoiled in instinctual fear, but he clung to the fish's consciousness at the last moment.


He swam around at the location where he had glimpsed that thing and before long he managed to capture it, and what he saw sent his heart beating like a drum. A tentacle, thicker than several meters, stretched towards the surface, dragging down the human corpses sinking in the water.


Jon's mind went blank as he struggled to comprehend the reality of his discovery, that his guess had actually been right and that the creatures that he had only considered myths till now actually existed.


If this one existed, then what about the others? What if the giant squid or rather the Kraken he was seeing now wasn't the only one that was real? What about leviathans? or Bloody Sea Dragons? What if all of the myths were actually true?


Greedy thoughts swirled in his mind as he started dreaming about riding Sea Dragons and commanding Krakens to pull down enemy ships for him or making them search the ocean floor for all the treasures and gold that had been sunken to the sea bed over the years.


The very idea had Jon practically drooling with excitement, and he wasted no time. He used the fish's mind as a stepping stone and swiftly sent his consciousness towards the source of the tentacle.


"WHO... IS... IT???!!!"


Out of nowhere, his mind was suddenly blasted with an immense consciousness, his sentience was like a small fishing boat caught in a fierce storm, just about to capsize from the tsunami-like waves continuously boarding him.


"STOP!!!!"


It was almost overwhelming, and he screamed unconsciously just as he was on the verge of losing his mind and somehow miraculously the consciousness battering him actually listened to him and stopped... giving him a much-needed breather.


"Who are you..." the voice repeated its question this time a bit more softly.


"I am Jon Snow, A Warg, I am here—" Jon began to answer before the haze in his mind cleared and his brain caught up with the situation and he realised that he was actually speaking in Old Tongue, "What? How can you speak?" he asked, baffled that he had found a creature using words, especially in the Old Tongue.


Even amongst his personal Wargs only Frost had begun able to speak and too was only in a somewhat broken common tongue, the language he most used. It was completely absurd that he came across a creature using words... words from the Ancient First man language that he learned from Old Nan in his childhood.


"So you're a Warg, huh..." The voice mumbled before answering his question, "Yes, I can speak the Old Tongue. You're not the first warg I've come across.," The Kraken helpfully supplied memories and thoughts along with his reply.


In those memories, Jon glimpsed a burly northern man in rugged leather clothing who had raised the Kraken from a young age. The Kraken went on a lot of adventures with that man, and the most noticeable thing about that man was the variety of animals he always brought with him. Sometimes it was a bear and sometimes it was a couple of direwolves and other times just an eagle.


Jon immediately connected the dots. "The Warg King."


"Yes, Some people did call him that," the voice replied in a musing tone, "Are you his descendent, perhaps?"


"Er... Y-Yes... Yes, I am," Jon said hesitatingly, as while it wasn't a completely truth, technically, he wasn't actually lying.


The Warg King was an ancient myth mentioned in a few dusty old texts in the library of Winterfell. He was a monarch and a skinchanger who lived in the North at an unknown point in history, ruled the Sea Dragon Point when he was alive and was said to have been an ally with the children of the forest.


But like all the other petty kings of the North, he was also defeated by the Kings of Winter of House Stark, and as was their custom at that time, the Starks killed his sons, beasts, and greenseers, but took his daughters as prizes... so in a skewed way he did share some blood with the man.


"Good... Good... How long it has been..." the voice said in a nostalgic tone as if it was remembering all the fond memories of his younger days.


"I don't know... A long long time,"


"Hmm... I know what you came to me for boy," he voice suddenly changed tone, "But you're too late now... I am old now and don't have much desire to go on adventures anymore... the only thing I can do much of now is just eat and sleep..."


Jon was immensely disappointed when he heard that, he already envisioned all kinds of scenarios in his mind about what he would do with all the gold that he would retrieve from the sea bed with the Kraken's help and now to hear that he wouldn't come with him was almost devastating.


"But—"


Thankfully the voice continued, "I have a young granddaughter who was always very interested in all the tales of adventures that I used to tell her when she was young, so I am sure that she'll be happy to accompany you for a few years,"


"Really!" Jon exclaimed, "Where is she? Where can I find her?" he asked excitedly.


"Oh! She's hunting not that far from here. Let me call her," Without waiting for Jon's response, the Kraken sent out a massive sound pulse, outside of a human's range, that Jon could only sense through the sudden waves created around his real body.


While they waited for the Kraken's granddaughter, Jon realized a crucial detail he had overlooked "Wait! You said that she's young, right? How young are we talking about?"


The Kraken replied casually, "She's just a toddler. But give her a few decades, and she'll be big enough..."


'But I don't have a few decades...' JJon's heart sank. He didn't have decades to wait. He wanted a fearsome sea creature to explore the world's seas from Bravoos to Quarth to the Sothoryos unhindered and not a baby squid that he would have to raise, "T-Then what about you son or your daughter?"


"My Son? My son is with his mate in a far far away place..." Jon immediately saw an image of a mysterious peninsula shrouded and hidden inside enormous poisonous clouds of smoke... probably the Old Valyrian stronghold, "And besides he's not much of a fan of you humans, so I don't think you should go anywhere near him if you don't want to become food—Oh, she's here,"


And indeed Jon could make out another mind approaching them at astonishing speeds. The new consciousness while still absurdly big compared to the normal living creatures he usually saw, was a lot smaller than the old Kraken's consciousness.


"Grandpa! You called?" the newcomer immediately asked her grandfather using sounds and vibrations and Jon picked up her meaning from her mind through the usual method instead of the almost human conversation he was having with the Old Kraken in Old Tongue. But that made sense as it would be too absurd for the Kraken to be able to teach Old Tongue to his Progeny.


"Remember Child, you once told me that you wanted to go on adventure like your grandpa when you were young?"


"Yes, I remember," the young lively mind replied.


"Well I found you a friend who will take you on those adventures—"


"Really! Where is he, Grandpa?" she interrupted him impatiently and immediately started searching the depths excitedly.


"He is there... on the surface,"


Not even a few seconds after that Jon felt that mind approaching him rapidly through the depths, and then instead of the baby squid that he was expecting a massive surface appeared below him and started to raise him above the surface.


"Waaa...."


An absurdly massive octopus head had suddenly appeared below him and if not for the night every single person onboard the ship would have seen her.


Jon had never seen a creature so big in his entire life, even the biggest blue whale he had seen in his previous life seemed like a small fish compared to it.


"Hello! Are you my new Friend!"


'If she's a young one,' Jon thought in horrified fascination as he looked at her massive size, 'Then how fucking big is the Old Grandpa,'


...


"Did ya finish the task?" Mance inquired without turning around.


"Aye, the fucker is dead," Tormund responded as he approached. I've brought his wives or daughters, whatever they are," he added, his face scrunching up in disgust. "Left 'em with Dalla, so now they're your problem."


"Don't fret 'bout that" Mance replied while handing the red-headed burly man the pouch of ale at his waist, "I am sure we can find work for them," he smirked while jerking his head towards the valley below them.


Both of them were standing on a small hill covered with snow, not far away from the coast, that overlooked a vast valley filled with trees. In the valley, Wildlings from various clans, men and women alike, were working together without the usual bloodshed, a sight almost miraculous.


The Freefolk were toiling with all their might on all kinds of things, some were cutting trees, others were turning them into smaller pieces for handling, some were just moving stuff from one place to another, and some more were bringing sacks on their back that were filled with metal mined from a distant mine.


"I don't know why you're doing so much for some southern shit!" Tormund grumbled after taking a hearty swig, and almost emptying the pouch, "That bastard's got our folk working like thralls here, and now he wants us to off folks like Caster. You gone all soft from your trips south, Mance?"


Jon had been pretty clear in his recent letters that Mance needed to cut off all sources of information the Night's Watch had north of the Wall. If they got word of what was happening here and snitched to the lords, All their trade plans would die in their infancy


"Slaves work on orders and they work 'cause they got no choice and get nothin' in return for it. What we are doin' here is called trade, and these people are working hard not 'cause I told them to but 'cause they want to get their hands on the food that I promised them," Mance replied patiently. He had already repeated the same words too many times when he explained to the clan leaders of all the different tribes so by now he was already used to all the questions and scepticism, "We are going to get a lot of food in exchange for anything we trade... You like food don't ya?"


"Ah! Whatever! I don't understand it, but I'll go along with it for now." Tormund grumbled. He then nodded toward another hill across from them, where clan leaders who had refused Mance's offer gathered. Among them stood the Magnar of Thenn and the Lord of Bones, also known as Rattleshirt. "But you do know that not all of them are happy with what you're doing here,"


"Don't worry 'bout them," Mance reassured Tormund. "I've talked to Styr, and he'll join once he sees the trade workin'." the Thenns were one of the most sophisticated tribes this side of walls and they also had regular deals with the Giants so if they joined in this project it would be a huge boon, "Many others are probably waitin' to see results before they make up their minds. As for the Rattleshirt... he's just a little man with some savages, he'll not be a hindrance,"


"I wouldn't be so sure 'bout that," Tormund replied with a sceptical shrug. "Heard Rattle shirt's called on Varamyr Sixskins... probably to help him loot the ships of your man from the South when he arrives,"


"Did he know... And how did he know about Jon being a warg—Ah! Ygritte!" Mance shook his ruefully as he realised who was the leak, "That girl talks too much for her own good,"


"So... Are you going to warn your southern partner 'bout this situation,"


"No need," Mance replied with a knowing smile. "If I'm right, he likely knows everything already..."


///

 

[ZavellDragar]

Good! The Squid Lords of Pyke will be stunned in awe of the Great Kraken of Adventures!!!

 

[ATP]

Good! The Squid Lords of Pyke will be stunned in awe of the Great Kraken of Adventures!!!

Click to shrink...

Well,once they see Jon friend,they would forget about starting anytching.And Varamyr thinking that he could take on Jon - kinda cute,really.It was not nice to meet him.
Orcas actually could eat humans,but Jon do not need to knew that.

 

[LazyWizard]

*sigh*


"I... am... tired..." Frost thought ruefully as she flew aimlessly over the endless expanse of the dark blue ocean, with no land in sight in any direction


"No. You're Not," Jon's absentminded reply sounded in her mind, "I know for sure that you fly and maintain a state like this without flapping your wings and skillfully using the surrounding winds for weeks and weeks... So I know that you're not tired."


About a month and a half had passed since the last battle with the Ironborn ships and during this time Jon had made a lot of very profitable trips all over the western coast, even managing to add two more Trading Galleons to his fleet. The Starkhorse business was not the only one that was booming, in fact, other Northern products were also in enough demand that he was already in talks with Lord Glover of Deepwood Motte for a second port for ease of transport from the Mainland.


The Ironborn hadn't been up to any of their usual mischievousness around these parts since that ambush and his minions who had been keeping an eye on them told him that Balon wanted to keep a low profile at the moment and that most of the extreme-right pirates had already gone to the Stepstones, which is said to be a thriving home to them. And while he knew that it wouldn't be the last he would battle with them, Jon was at least relieved to know that he wouldn't have to deal with those scrouges for quite a while.


At that moment his physical body was at the Bear Island port preparing all the ships that he would take for the upcoming trade with the Wildlings. And while he had managed to acquire enough ships during the last battle so that this trade wouldn't affect his Southern one, he wouldn't be able to take too many of them because of the need to keep secrecy. He was only going to bring the most loyal of crew and even then he would try to make sure that he only brought the most essential crew required.


And while overlooking the loading of ships, his mind was connected with only the thinnest of threads to Frost, which meant that he could neither see nor hear anything that she could like he usually would. So instead of sharing any senses with Frost, this connection only enabled them to talk with each other in their minds without interruption, and because it was really efficient, they could do this for hours... it was almost like a phone call from his previous life.


"I am tired," Frost replied firmly, "Seeing nothing but blue sky and the blue sea in all directions again and again, every day is so... so..."


"Boring," Jon supplied helpfully, "So that means you're not tired, but just bored,"


Frost was still learning all the nuances of the common tongue so from time to time, she had trouble finding the words to express herself but it was already very remarkable that she was able to learn so quickly. 'Now she just needed to develop one of those voice boxes that those parrots like birds possess and she would be good to go...' Jon thought absentmindedly while imagining all the pranks he could pull on his siblings if she even developed this ability.


"Yes! Yes, that word. Bored! I am very bored right now," Frost said in a whining tone, "So can I not do it from now on, please... and it is not like it's turning out to be any useful anyway... if I haven't been able to find anything until... there very little chance that I would in the future..."


The reason she was flying aimlessly was that Jon had tasked her to carpet search the complete west side, from the shore near the wall to as far as she could go in a few days and then back to shore and begin once again while moving a little South each time so that in the end she would have completely scouted the accessible part on the West side of Westeros which was still a mystery to everyone.


The main reason for this carpet search was that he wanted to have somewhat of a backup plan for the Wildlings, in case the White Walker turned out to be too overwhelming in the future. So he thought that if during his search Frost was able to find some kind of a big enough island there that no one knew about, then even if the Northern Lords prove to be too stubborn in the future about giving the Wildlings a place to live, then he would have some other place to settle them... somewhat of a safe haven, so that at least the Wildlings don't get exterminated completely and turn into the walking dead.


Jon thought about it for a while before he said, "It has really been unfair on you...huh! Fine, then, you only need to search for a few more days and if you really can't find anything then we'll call this a failure..."


*Squeak!* Frost immediately cheered at that, "A-And you also need to get me a good gift this time for all the hard work that I've been doing... And not something like the last time when you said you'd get me a gift and instead you bought that stupid bird with you..."


"Hey! I thought you would become friends with Tweety... and I remember clearly that Tweety was incredibly excited when she met you..."


"That stupid bird is excited all the time," Frost snorted derisively, "And why would I ever want to become friends with the critter... she is about the size of one of my little claws and I could eat her in a single gulp, and she is stupid and..." and so on, Jon had to listen for quite a while as Frost started to badmouth Tweety with everything that came to her mind, "And just because she was a little helpful during the last battle doesn't mean that she's special... that bird brain can't even learn the common tongue, Humph! Humph!"


It took a while for Jon to pick up the reason behind Frost's sudden hostility from her mind... it seems that Frost was a little jealous because of all the new companions that Jon had been getting lately and in addition to feeling left out she was also a little scared that he would leave her when she became less useful.


Jon didn't waste a single moment after finding out the crux of the issue and immediately tried to fix the situation, "You're absolutely right, my friend. There's no one in the world who can compare to you. No one is as smart as you or is as beautiful as you or has such pretty feathers—"


"I see it!"


Jon's shower of praises on Frost was suddenly interrupted by her, "What is it? What do you see?"


"I think I see an island,"


"What—" Jon immediately put down the work he was doing at that moment and immediately concentrated his mind, widening the connection with Frost he was immediately able to see what Frost was talking about.


Far off in the distance was a very small green dot barely visible even with Frost's magical eyes, "That looks too small doesn't it? Could it be another dud?" And it wouldn't be the first time if that was the case, there were a couple of close calls before where they had gotten incredibly excited about their discovery only to later realize that the island they found could barely hold a thousand people so was completely useless.


"No! T-This one may just be it—" Frost said excitedly, being able to see better with the same eyes and then without waiting for his answer she immediately flapped her majestic wings a few times and zoomed across the sky, the acceleration was a joke as she had suddenly increased her speed from a leisurely helicopter to a fighter jet.


It only took them a couple of minutes before they were close enough for Jon to see the Island or Islands in its entirety. There were a total of five islands in front of them, two very small ones, two medium-sized islands about the size of Pyke, and the biggest one was almost double the size of Bear Island.


"This is it... you did it, Frost," Jon said with glee in his tone as he looked at the islands filled to the brim with greenery, not only that but he was also able to hear some faint bird calls from the Islands, which meant that life already thrived here, which was just the cherry on top.


'Looks like we finally got our backup plan...'


....


While Jon and Frost were working hard to try and counter the Long Night, on the East side of Westeros his business was facing some difficulties in Braavos.


"Alright, Boys, get on with it," Sam shouted towards workers after the ships had properly docked. "We don't have much time so pick up the pace!" They had bought a total of five ships loaded with Starkhorses from White Harbour to sell in Bravoos, so it would take a long time to unload them.


Merchant Sam had come a long way from only doing leather business in the North. Now Jon had placed him in charge of his whole operation on the eastern side. But even though he had tried his hardest, there wasn't much wiggle room available here for a new Merchant group to establish itself.


Unlike the western shore where there had been no trade between the North and South via sea for centuries, it wasn't the same on this side. Here the Manderly already had their hands in pretty much all kinds of Northern products so Jon had ordered him to only focus on selling Starkhorses for the moment, which meant that the profit was a bit less here compared to the other side.


"Be careful with that, You Idiot! Listen up! If I find a single scratch on any of the Starkhorses because of your carelessness then you can forget about stepping even a single foot off the ship—"


"Boss!" His aide suddenly interrupted him and when turned towards he saw him sporting a dumbfounded look on his face while pointing at something behind him.


"What!" Sam barked as he was feeling uncomfortable at having his tirade getting stopped mid-way, it was as if there was a bone stuck in his throat.


"I-It's here again!"


"What's here again—" he began while tuning around but his words got stuck in his throat as he saw a familiar pristine white paper stuck on the wall behind him, it was a wall on the port near the place where they always docked. "Oh! No! No! No! NO! Please don't let it be us..." he prayed to the old gods while slowly walking towards the notice.


Only one institute in the whole of Braavos was wealthy enough to waste an expensive piece of paper to give out a simple notice, the one place every single debtor was scared of, The Iron Bank.


Sam didn't know what they had done to incur their wrath but starting a few months ago, they had started getting notices from the Ironbank that their import tax for Starkhorses had been increased. And it wasn't just a single time instead after every couple of trips they would be greeted with the same notice that was slowly strangling their business.


And his dread turned out to be true when he got close enough to read the paper...


"Did they increase it again, Boss," the aide asked anxiously when he saw Sam standing there with a deathly pale face.


"Y-Yes... by 10% once again,"


"But that is... that is just absurd," the aide replied frustratedly, "How are we supposed to do business then, our orders have already been decreasing lately due to the harsh import taxes and the resultant sudden increase in prices and if we increase them once again I am afraid the orders would stop altogether," the main selling point Starkhorses had always been that it was cheaper than a horse in the long term, so if that wasn't on the table then they would lose their target customer base.


"I-I'll do something about it, Don't worry, " Sam said resolutely after taking a deep breath, "I'll go straight to the Iron Bank and try and reason with those greedy bastards.... to see if they can stop this absurdness."


"They didn't listen to you the last time... How would it be different this time,"


"I have to try though," Sam said with a helpless smile, "And if nothing else, I'll at least try to find the reason for this unreasonable tax that is only applied to Starkhorses,"


"I hope you succeed boss... For all our sakes,"


...


The evening Sun was just about to set and the otherworldly orange colour reflecting on the water flowing through the city created a picturesque scenario that all the artists around the world would die to see. But the aide who had been standing outside the massive building, also known as the temple of Money, was in no mood to enjoy that scenery.


The aide had been waiting there outside the bank in the shade of a tree since early morning, waiting for his boss who had gone inside early in the morning but he still hadn't left the premises. The whole day his stomach had been in turmoil over the thought of whether he would still have a job or not... or maybe he was just hungry.


Ever since joined this ship his life had completely changed, his parents were proud of him, he had gotten married to a comely Northern girl and he even had a child on the way so it would be very devastating for him if he lost his job as the future would be very bleak.


'There he is,' The aide sighed in relief when he finally caught a glimpse of Merchant Sam coming down the stairs, but his relief was killed shortly when he saw the slumped shoulders of his boss, along with an absentminded expression on his face, it just spelt bad news.


With dread pooling in his stomach, he approached Sam who also caught sight of him and met him halfway. He immediately asked when they were close enough, "H-How was it, Boss? Did you convince them?"


Sam opened his mouth to answer but it seemed that the words were stuck in his throat as he was able to get anything out of his mouth, so he just shook his head with a self-deprecating expression on his face.


The colour completely drained out of the already deathly pale face of the aide when he got the answer he was dreading the most, "T-That can't be it, boss... there has to be something that we can do. What if... What if we ask the Lord Manderly for help, I am sure they wouldn't mind helping us out just this once—"


"We can't," Sam shook his head after clearing his throat, "That greedy bastard already warned me about that..."


Sam could still remember the smirk on that bastard face as he sat behind his desk and declared that there was nothing he could do about it.


...


"I know that you earn enough from that contraption of yours, so what's the problem with sharing a part of it with us too..." he had said with those unfeeling eyes.


"But, my lord, the tax was already too high, and with this new tax increase, no one would want to buy from us anymore..... we would simply not be able to sustain it—" Sam had tried to plead with the man to no avail.


"That is your problem, isn't it? Not mine," he had said nonchalantly as if he wasn't just putting dozens of people out of jobs.


"B-But My Lord—"


"That'll be all, you can leave now," and with that cold dismissal Sam had stood up from his chair with a helpless expression on his face and went to the door, but not before hearing his last shot, "And just so you know, I wouldn't contact the Manderlys if I were you, the last you called them to intervene I had to honour them because of our long history of trade but this time... I wouldn't be so lenient so if you don't want to harm our relations then don't call them,"


...


"But I don't understand... Why? What exactly did we do to deserve such animosity from them..."


"That I was able to find out about," Sam said with a fierce look on his face, "And while it cost me a big chunk to bribe the guards, the information was worth it..."


"What is it?"


"It turns out that there is some kind of election upcoming for some high positions in the bank and as you'd expect from those greedy bastards, the candidates are selected from those who bring in the highest revenue no matter their methods... so that bastard decided that we were a soft target and decided to squeeze us dry..."


"Just because of a silly..." The aide was left speechless at this new knowledge before he shook his head with a rueful expression, "So this is the end, huh..."


"No it isn't..." Sam said with a resolute expression on his face while looking towards the North, "Now that I've tried all avenues and failed... It's finally time to call 'him'... the only one who brings us out of this predicament..."


"Who?"


"The Boss of you Boss..."

 

[Ahtu]

and that most of the extreme-right pirates had already gone to the Stepstones

Click to shrink...

They have modern political parties/philosophical sects in their pirate nobility? XD

"But, my lord, the tax was already too high, and with this new tax increase, no one would want to buy from us anymore..... we would simply not be able to sustain it—" Sam had tried to plead with the man to no avail.


"That is your problem, isn't it? Not mine," he had said nonchalantly as if he wasn't just putting dozens of people out of jobs.


"B-But My Lord—"


"That'll be all, you can leave now," and with that cold dismissal Sam had stood up from his chair with a helpless expression on his face and went to the door, but not before hearing his last shot, "And just so you know, I wouldn't contact the Manderlys if I were you, the last you called them to intervene I had to honour them because of our long history of trade but this time... I wouldn't be so lenient so if you don't want to harm our relations then don't call them,"


...


"But I don't understand... Why? What exactly did we do to deserve such animosity from them..."


"That I was able to find out about," Sam said with a fierce look on his face, "And while it cost me a big chunk to bribe the guards, the information was worth it..."


"What is it?"


"It turns out that there is some kind of election upcoming for some high positions in the bank and as you'd expect from those greedy bastards, the candidates are selected from those who bring in the highest revenue no matter their methods... so that bastard decided that we were a soft target and decided to squeeze us dry..."


"Just because of a silly..." The aide was left speechless at this new knowledge before he shook his head with a rueful expression, "So this is the end, huh..."


"No it isn't..." Sam said with a resolute expression on his face while looking towards the North, "Now that I've tried all avenues and failed... It's finally time to call 'him'... the only one who brings us out of this predicament..."

Click to shrink...

Get a hold over them, and squeeze the slimy fck for every penny they stole from his ventures.

 

[ATP]

They have modern political parties/philosophical sects in their pirate nobility? XD


Get a hold over them, and squeeze the slimy fck for every penny they stole from his ventures.

Click to shrink...

1.Indeed,all sides had the same philosophy then,they fought over who would be boss.Well,except wars of religion.But - there was no extreme-right religions,too.
2.Find his weak points using familiars?

P.S It is strange,that bird of pray is capable of flying so long over sea.

 

[LazyWizard]

THE BAY OF ICE... it wasn't exactly what it sounded like.


This expansive bay hugged the northwestern coast of Westeros, flanked by the imposing Northern Mountains to the east and bounded by the Wolfswood and the Sea Dragon Point to the south. Bear Island occupied a significant portion of the bay, but it was only at its northernmost tip, where it brushed against the frigid shores of the True North, that it earned its ominous reputation. Sailors who ventured here quickly understood the treacherous nature of this icy expanse.


Five Ironborn longships, their sails bearing the colours of the North, elegantly sailed through these frigid waters toward their ultimate destination—the True North. The sea was littered with icebergs of varying shapes and sizes; some were mere fragments, while others resembled colossal mountains, dwarfing even the largest of ships.


Navigating through this perilous maze required utmost caution. These frozen monoliths concealed much of their bulk beneath the surface, luring unsuspecting vessels to a watery grave. But these five ships were sailing through the last part of their trip towards the true North quite easily as they seemed to not be afraid of the icebergs at all, and they Navigated amidst the chunks as if they had a ready-made map of this place.


Any other seafarer would have already furled their sails, proceeding with extreme caution, calculating every move to avoid deadly collisions. These five vessels, though laden with cargo, maintained their full speed without fear. The reason behind their confidence was no surprise, considering the man at their helm.


"I am telling you, Jon. You're doing an absolutely stupid thing here," Val warned Jon with an anxious look on her face but Jon who was standing at the bow of the ship in front of her, didn't seem to be taking her seriously as he leisurely looked at the passing scenery without a care in the world.


Both of them were wearing their winter clothes; Jon was in customary black attire with an additional brown jacket made of bear pelt and leather gloves while Val was wearing her own wildling clothes that had somehow survived until now and were as good as new after having been washed and cleaned once, making her once again look like a real wildling.


"Hmm... What are you talking about?" Jon asked off-handedly.


"Are ye deliberately being dumb? I am obviously talking about this—This!" she exclaimed while waving her hand through the empty air encompassing the desolate decks of all the ships, "These nearly empty ships with only a handful of sailors, this is the force you're taking for a trade with the Free Folk…"


Jon had deliberately kept the crew to a bare minimum—just five sailors per ship—selecting only the most loyal, those with little animosity towards the Wildlings, and those who could maintain their silence. The only reason he could even get away with sailing with so little crew was that Bear Island was one of the closest places to the true North.


"If you go to them with this little protection— then they are going to eat you up, chew you out, and not even let out a burp—Stop Smirking! You bastard!" Val cursed frustratedly when she saw him smiling and not taking her seriously at all. She knew that getting angry wouldn't get her anywhere so she took a deep breath and tried once more a bit calmly, "I know that you're not that stupid... so you must have some kind of a secret plan, and I just want to know—"


"Oh!" Jon suddenly exclaimed and interrupted her while turning his attention towards the sky with a curious look on his face, "It looks like the welcoming party is already here..."


"Welcoming party? What—" Val asked in a confused tone while turning around before she caught sight of a small eagle flying high up above in front of the ship, looking at the ship with a look that was too curious for a bird. "That's not one yours, is it?"


"No, it's not mine," Jon replied, a sly smile gracing his features. "Since they've gone to the trouble of preparing a welcome for us, I'd hate to be impolite and not reciprocate."


Jon's cunning grin sent a shiver down Val's spine, and she silently pitied the Wildling who had earned Jon's displeasure.


...


On the other side, a few minutes from the Frozen Shore's coast stood deserted houses constructed from wood and stone. These homes once belonged to the Frozen Clans, who lived here before joining Mance's army. However, these dwellings were no longer empty; they had been claimed by the Warband led by the Weeper, plus an unexpected guest.


A peculiar group had congregated around the largest house in the village's centre. A massive snow bear rested outside, accompanied by three small wolves and a Shadowcat. Gathered around them, outside the house's entrance, were the wildling men from the Weeper's Warband, with the Weeper himself at the forefront. They all gazed inside the house at a small, bald, grey-faced man with wide-open eyes, eyes that were completely white and his consciousness was far away inside the eagle at the moment.


The instant he spotted ships through the eagle's eyes, he severed the connection and summoned the Weeper before returning to the eagle to check on the ships and report exactly when they would reach their ambush site.


After taking note of every single detail, Varamyr was just about to leave the eagle's mind when he suddenly caught sight of the most beautiful wildling he had ever seen on one of the leading ships. He recognized her instantly, having heard tales of her beauty and how she became lost south of the Wall during a raid.


He decided then and there that she would be part of his reward, in addition to the ship Weeper had promised him, as it would be pleasant to have some company when he decided to head south to the warmer climates.


As he was admiring his prize, it took him a while to notice the man conversing with Wildling Val and the moment he looked into the man's eyes he was almost scared to death as the Man was staring right back at him as if he knew that Varamyr was inside the eagle.


At that moment he immediately realised that he was the warg that Mance had seen south of the wall. The man said something to Val beside him before he suddenly gave him a sinister smile that sent alarms ringing inside Varamyr's mind but before he could do anything about it something huge slammed into him from above *BAM!* taking all the air out of his lungs, making the eagle scream in agony.


"SQUEAAAAAK!!!!"


Huge claws suddenly appeared out of nowhere and snapped his spine in two sending an unimaginable pain directly into his mind. Thankfully the neck was snapped next and the eagle died before Varamyr could go insane from the pain and he was snapped out of the eagle's mind.


...


Back inside the house, all the wildlings had backed from the warg who had suddenly started screaming out of nowhere with his eyes rolled back. The man was shivering and thrashing around on the ground like an insane lunatic. His pets were equally agitated, growling anxiously around him.


"Is he dyin'?" inquired a thick, blond-haired man, known for his weeping eyes, the Weeper, who stood there with a massive, curved steel scythe and a curious expression.


"Don't think so," answered one of his men hesitantly. He attempted to check on the warg but was driven away by the growling animals.


The warg's open eyes suddenly regained their pupils at that moment as he became aware of his surroundings and stopped screaming himself hoarse. With his body still twitching, and his head screaming from pain, Varamyr wasn't doing so well at the moment.


"Are they here? Are the ships here?" Weeper asked impatiently, showing little concern for the struggling warg's well-being.


"Yes," Varamyr answered hoarsely as he slowly stood up trying to regain control of his body, "Yes, the ships are on their way not that far from here...


"Good! That means we can't waste any more time—"


"Wait! I-I want the warg from the South as my reward... and I want him alive... that bastard somehow killed one of my pets... I want to roast that cunt alive... I want to torture him within an inch of his life..." he said hatefully gritting his teeth, "He will cry and beg for death but I won't give him that until I make him regret—"


"Yes! Yes! You can have him," Weeper interrupted the warg's monologue impatiently, "Now show me where the ships are..."


...


"They'll come through here in a few moments," Varamyr said while pointing towards a narrow strip of water, between the shore and a huge mountainous iceberg, that was the only way for the ship to pass through to reach true North.


They were all hiding behind a small snow-capped hill near the shore from where they got a good vantage point towards anything that was coming towards them, this natural barrier was one of their trump cards that was going to be useful in capturing the southern ships said to be laden with rich goods.


"That is good," Weeper smirked, already thinking about what he would do with all the riches he would loot from those soft Southerners, "Listen good, you fuckers, the moment the ships start passing through that area we are immediately going to run and jump abroad the ships and seize control... We'll kill all those soft-cocked fuckers from the south and take all their food and drinks... and then we feast TONIGHT!!"


"AYE!!!"


All 40 wildlings belonging to the Weeper's warband screamed while banging their weapons in the air. They had six archers among them, while the rest carried spears and a few bronze swords. Only Weeper bore a steel scythe.


"Remember my reward," Varamyr reminded Weeper from his seat on the female bear's shoulder. "And I want that girl as well along with the bastard and the ship..."


Weeper wanted to gut the shit right there and be done with it now that he had outlived his usefulness but he reconsidered when he saw the bear, wolves and the Shadowcat surrounding the warg, who were watching him vigilantly.


"They are here!" The lookout suddenly shouted from atop the snowy hill while pointing towards something on the other side.


The wildlings excitedly climbed the hill and sure enough, there in the distance they were able to see five big ships slowly coming towards them. All of them started breathing heavily at seeing the wooden boxes placed on the deck of the ships that were probably filled with all kinds of exotic food from the South.


"Wait! Let them come closer," Weeper said, stopping some of his over-eager clansmen as the ship came closer to the ambush site.


And then, out of nowhere...


One moment all of them were waiting for the signal to attack and in the next moment an arrow suddenly pierced the eye of one of the archers, sending the wildlings into disarray.


"Fuck! Where did that come from?"


"How can the fucker see us?" "We are hiding behind a hill! It's impossible!"


The one thing Wildling knew better than anything else was how to ambush and they also knew that you need to cut your losses and run once your ambush fails. Two more archers fell to arrows while the wildlings bickered, further intensifying the chaos.


"You bastards! don't forget, he's a Warg!"


"That's not how warging works—a warg has to leave his body so he can't shoot arrows..." Varamyr attempted to explain, but no one paid him any heed. The wildlings hesitated between attacking and fleeing. At that moment, Varamyr was hiding down under the female bear using her as a shield to hide from the arrows as he knew that it was futile to run with his weak body.


"Don't panic!" Weeper yelled at the wildings, "We can still attack—" but before he could try to calm them down another tragedy stuck them. One of the wolves suddenly howled loudly, broke free from Varamyr and started attacking the archers.


"What the—" "Warg! Control your beast AHH—"


And soon after the other wolves followed the first one and not long after went the Shadowcat, all of them suddenly turning on the wildlings and feasting on their flesh.


"What the fuck! Warg! What are you doing?" Weeper screamed.


"It's not me," Varamyr cried, feeling another connection break in his mind "It's the enemy warg! He is controlling my animals—Ahhh!!"


At last, seeing the pandemonium around him, Weeper knew that the ambush this time had failed and immediately decided to run away, "Retreat! RETREAT!!" he screamed while backing away and trying to save as many of the warbands as he could from the arrows and the feral animals.


Varamyr had fallen down from the bear's back during the sudden rebellion of the animals under his control. Everything was blurry and his head was hurting from all the broken connection when he suddenly felt hot air behind his ear and his body suddenly froze up.


He slowly turned around his head to find the female bear growling at him from an arm's distance away and, he wasn't able to find a single trace of compassion in those massive eyes instead her cruel red eyes were filled with hate, hate that spoke of years of slavery and suppressed cruelty that she'd endured.


"W-Wait! Don't! I Am Your Master! OBEY ME!" Varamyr screamed incoherently as he stumbled backwards, his eyes turning white intermittently as he tried to regain control over the beast but it was futile as he was rebuffed again and again due to an additional sphere of protection around the beast's mind that he was sure was the work of the warg from the South.


"ROAR!!!!—"


The bear already very irritated at the puny two-legged turned even more angry at the repeated attempts to control her so she released all her anger and slammed her massive paws down on the little human head, "No! Sto—" and splattered the head in one shot over the snowy grounds.


Varamyr was even denied the chance to a second life that he had envisioned previously as all of his wargs were denied to him giving him a true death...

 

[ATP]

Could not happened to nicer people.But...how jon is taking over animals belonging to other warg?
As far as i knew,it should not be possible.

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

Varamyr was even denied the chance to a second life that he had envisioned previously as all of his wargs were denied to him giving him a true death...

Click to shrink...

I don't know if this character existed in the books but damn did it feel good for him to be offed.

 

[VtrCst]

Could not happened to nicer people.But...how jon is taking over animals belonging to other warg?
As far as i knew,it should not be possible.

Click to shrink...

The impression i got was that Varamyr skinchanged by oppressing/ overwhelming/ repressing the animal's ego, as seen in :

He slowly turned around his head to find the female bear growling at him from an arm's distance away and, he wasn't able to find a single trace of compassion in those massive eyes instead her cruel red eyes were filled with hate, hate that spoke of years of slavery and suppressed cruelty that she'd endured.

Click to shrink...

while John works by symbiosis, his companions have personality, agency and Ego, therefor there are at least two ways to warg, you can imagine John's actions nudging the slumbering angry Ego of the mistreated Beast,

"W-Wait! Don't! I Am Your Master! OBEY ME!" Varamyr screamed incoherently as he stumbled backwards, his eyes turning white intermittently as he tried to regain control over the beast but it was futile as he was rebuffed again and again due to an additional sphere of protection around the beast's mind that he was sure was the work of the warg from the South.

Click to shrink...

and worked some more advanced magical cyberwarfare, with added magical firewalls

and as far as what is known in canon is just the 3 rules:

The wargs among the wildlings have loosely developed three rules to govern their power: never enter the mind of an animal while it is having sex, never enter the mind of an animal while it is eating human flesh, and never attempt to enter the mind of another human.

Click to shrink...

but even those i think are there more for possible mental contamination, and that in itself is an expected side-effect of "normal" warging,

Wolves are harder, as one has to forge a lasting bond, much like a marriage. Birds are tempting, but a skinchanger may soon lose contact to the mundane things of earth and want only to fly. Cats are cruel and vain beasts and cannot be easily controlled, only forced. Elk and deer are prey whose skins can cause a man to become cowardly

Click to shrink...

however loosely described Skinchanging is a Telepathic Connection forged between beings, given that John has mental training since he was a baby, that connections developed much more that is common

 

[ATP]

The impression i got was that Varamyr skinchanged by oppressing/ overwhelming/ repressing the animal's ego, as seen in :


while John works by symbiosis, his companions have personality, agency and Ego, therefor there are at least two ways to warg, you can imagine John's actions nudging the slumbering angry Ego of the mistreated Beast,

and worked some more advanced magical cyberwarfare, with added magical firewalls

and as far as what is known in canon is just the 3 rules:
but even those i think are there more for possible mental contamination, and that in itself is an expected side-effect of "normal" warging,

however loosely described Skinchanging is a Telepathic Connection forged between beings, given that John has mental training since he was a baby, that connections developed much more that is common

Click to shrink...

That explain everytching.Jon win by liberating Varamyr animals,and it is up to them if they want to stay or not.

I don't know if this character existed in the books but damn did it feel good for him to be offed.

Click to shrink...

Yes,existed,and was cunt,too.But,he made mistake of taking his eagle to spy on Stannis when he come fight wildlings and Melly burned poor bird when Varamyr was warging it.
Dunno,what happened to him after that.

 

[LazyWizard]

"Yes! Put that with the rest," Mance shouted towards the spearwife who arrived last minute to deposit a sack filled with all kinds of animal pelts that she'd collected over the years, "Go and stand over there..." he directed her after she placed her sack with the rest, toward the ragtag group, filled with folk of all ages, men, women, and little ones, all kinds of free folks who had worked over the past few weeks for Mance as well those who had brought their goods to trade and were eagerly awaiting their promised share of food.


Mance and his closest aides were all standing at the very front near the shore, waiting for Jon. And placed some distance away from them were all the goods that they were going to trade, goods which included a massive pile of wood logs, another one of pelts (only the pelts that Mance was sure were good enough were selected as there were quite a few wildlings that had tried to sneak in decade-old half spoiled stuff that not even beggars would use as blankets) and the most precious one was a small pile of unprocessed silver ore.


No fixed exchange rate had been established between Jon and Mance yet as there was no proper currency on this side of the wall, so they had decided that at the start, they would work with a simple barter system where Mance would try to provide as much high-value goods as he could while Jon would try his best to feed as many wildlings as possible.


This system depended on the goodwill of both parties, leaving room for exploitation, especially on Mance's side. However, he had no choice, with Winter looming and an impending danger beyond his ability to combat. It was the best option he had, at least until he somehow managed to gather enough strength to breach the Wall.


Furthermore, without a proper currency, Mance hadn't paid the free folk who'd worked for him with anything but his word and the promise of a fair share of food. Luckily, his word held weight on this side of the Wall, and there hadn't been any issues so far. Now, all he could do was hope Jon would hold up his end of the deal and deliver the promised food, or else he feared even his reputation wouldn't save him from the wrath of the disgruntled wildlings.


"Don't see Weeper among 'em.," Tormund quietly grunted beside Mance while jerking his head towards the group of leaders who were standing to the side. The group consisted of all the other wildling leaders and clan mothers such as Magnar Thenn, Rattleshirt, Harma Dog'shead and a few others, all the leaders who were still on the fence with Mance's whole idea of trade with the people from beyond the wall, so they were all here to watch and see how this all goes through before deciding if they wanted to join hands with him or...


"So?"


"So I think that he went through with that convoluted plan of his with his Warband to attack the ships midway," Tormund answered with a raised eyebrow, "Aren't you worried that your little friend is getting taken down right at this moment?"


"No... Not really," Mance shrugged unconcernedly as even though he didn't have much of an idea of where his confidence came having never met the boy face to face after he grew up, he just knew that a man like him with all the wargs under him would probably never be taken down with just a simple ambush.


"Hmm... You say that but the sun is almost above our heads," Tormund pointed his finger up towards the sky, "Isn't that the time he was supposed to have arrived... so doesn't it mean that either he's late or he's already been taken—"


"I see them!!" a scream suddenly pierced through the atmosphere and they both along with everyone else turned around to find Dalla, Mance's other half pointing towards the distance in the sea where five blurry shapes were gradually becoming visible as they sailed towards them, expertly navigating through the Bay of Ice.


"They are here!!"


"The Southerners are here!"


"I heard that all of them ride on horses there! Do you think they brought horses with them?"


"Do you think they bought their army with them?"


"Mother, can we eat them?"


An electric sense of excitement spread through the throngs of wildlings present there at the sudden appearance of the five ships and everyone suddenly whispering and shouting at each other, some with excitement in their heart, some with fear, some with hope and a select few with aggression and greed.


As the ships got closer and closer the whispers slowly started to die down as tension began to fill the air, when abruptly out of nowhere all the ships halted simultaneously and started lowering their anchors at quite a distance from the shore.


"What? Why are they stopping all the way there?" Tormund voiced the question that everyone had in their mind with a confused expression on his face.


"I-I don't know..." Mance too was bewildered by the sudden situation as he had no idea what Jon was doing here. And the wildlings gathered behind him also started to get unsettled and started shouting their own questions.


"Do you think they got cold feet? Maybe they got scared after seeing how many of us are actually here..."


"That wouldn't make sense, after coming all the way here..." Dalla countered with a scoff.


"Wait! I think see a boat! They're lowerin' a boat!!"


And sure enough, everyone saw a single boat being lowered from the foremost ship, with two faint silhouettes visible inside it—one in white and the other in black.


The ships stayed at the place where they were anchored while the boats slowly rowed towards them. Everyone including Mance's mind was completely filled with confusion at the moment... Why did the boats stop so far away? Why were just only two people approaching them? And where the fuck was the Army, the force that was supposed to protect the goods?


The only reason Mance had been somehow able to dissuade most of the wildling leaders from immediately attacking and looting the ships for themselves was by telling tall tales about the huge Southern armies beyond the wall, about how they could easily decimate all of them with their mighty steel weapons, their tough armours and their fast horses... And now with only two defenceless people rowing towards them... it suddenly made things a lot more difficult for Mance.


While Mance grappled with his internal turmoil over the situation, the boats had covered nearly half the distance, gradually revealing the figures aboard to the wildlings on the shore. Almost immediately, someone recognized a person on one of the boats, and jubilant cries filled the air.


"VAL? THAT'S VAL!! ISN'T IT, VAAAL!!!" Dalla suddenly started shouting in excitement while waving her hands in the air when she saw the one wearing white was her lost sister.


Overwhelmed with joy, Dalla nearly made a dash for the icy water before Mance managed to physically restrain her, "Yes, that's Val, Dalla, but you need to calm down... she's coming towards anyway so you'll meet her soon enough..." Mance somehow managed to soothe the woman, though her focus remained fixed on the small boat approaching the shore with eager anticipation.


As the boat barely touched the shore, Dalla shook off Mance's grasp and sprinted straight for Val, who had also jumped out of the boat, ready to embrace her sister, whom she hadn't seen in months.


"Val! Val! It's really you. I was so worried... and I am so relieved now..." Dalla said, hugging and kissing her sister, tears welling in her eyes.


"Y-Yes, it's good to see you too, sister... I missed you..." Val choked out with a wet smile on her face before noticing the people coming toward them. "Mance, how are you? And Tormund, you bear fucker, you look the same as ever..."


"I look the same but girl, you've already gone beyond the wall and survived the South now, you shouldn't cry like a snot-nosed brat," Tromund snorted jokingly.


"Shut up you brute," Val replied with a chuckle before she noticed that someone important was missing, "Where's Ygritte? I don't see her,"


"She's stuck back home guarding the tents," Tormund explained with a shrug, "Apparently she's getting punished for being too much of a snitch..."


While the heartwarming reunion took place, the guest of honour, Jon, arrived not long after Val, leisurely making his way toward Mance.


"Mance Rayder, The-King-Beyond-The-Wall," Jon greeted with a smile, extending his hand.


"Jon Snow, The Son of Stark," Mance nodded, shaking Jon's hand. "It's the first time we're meeting face to face..."


"Hmm... Probably not the first time..." Jon raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smile.


Mance was confused for just a moment before he realised what Jon was talking about, "Ah... I would rather forget about that embarrassing encounter..." he said while shaking his head with a rueful smile recalling his embarrassing situation when Jon suddenly came in front of him in the form of a Shadowcat.


While Mance and Jon were exchanging pleasantries, Dalla had managed to gather herself and was now nagging Val, "Don't worry, Val, you'll have plenty of time to meet, Ygritte in the future. Because I am not letting you out of my sight anytime soon..."


"Ahem! That is going to be a problem sister," Val said with a sheepish smile before she jerked her head towards Jon and continued, "He gave me a very important job so I'll probably not be able to stay at home for as long as you are thinking about..."


"What?! What are you talking about?" she said in a half-alarmed voice while fiercely turning towards Jon and Mance who had been paying attention to the conversation from the start. Mance was also looking at Jon with confusion in his eyes at Dalla's question.


"Oh! It's nothing much," Jon replied with a nonchalant expression, "She's just talking about becoming the captain of the ships," he waved his hands behind at the faraway ships, "After all I can't always be here going back and forth carrying goods for you can I? So she's going to be the one who's going to be the captain on my behalf and the one in charge of all the trade that would happen in the future..."


Jon had already put her through the accelerated course at the Bear Island Navy School over the past few months and not only that, after she had passed from there he had also taken her under his wing and tried to cram as much knowledge as he could inside her head, knowledge that would make it easy for her to navigate as a captain. So he was confident that she would be able to handle all the responsibilities of the fleet in the future and even if she was lacking somewhere she could make up for it with the experience in the future while sailing back and forth.


"B-But... But..." Dalla was distressed and speechless for a few moments at the sudden dilemma in front of her, on one side she didn't want to lose her baby sister again and on the other side, it would be a boon if Val, a familiar face was the one in charge of the trade as that would smoothen a lot of the hurdles and she didn't want to hinder the trade by denying her the chance.


"We'll talk about the details later," Mance interjected, realizing that the rest of the Wildlings were growing restless as they conversed in hushed tones. "Tormund, offer Jon some white bread, and then I'll introduce you to the other leaders."


Tormund nodded expressionlessly and brought forward the already prepared plate of bread but just as he was about to present Jon with the guest rights, someone suddenly interrupted them.


"STOP!!"


A loud shout came out of the crowd and echoed throughout the gathering filled with the Wildlings and all of them turned around to find a small man with a knobby chin, thin moustache, and pinched cheeks come out of the crowd. He was wearing a yellowed broken giant's skull as his helm and also had a boiled leather armour covered with loosely tied bones from all kinds of animals such as aurochs, cows, elk etc, bones that rattled as he moved, which also gave him his infamous name, Rattleshirt.


"Don't be rushin' to grant him guest rights, Mance," Rattleshirt croaked out. "We still need to see if this pretty little cunt deserves it," he finished while looking towards Jon with a malicious look in his eyes.


"Don't fuck with me, Rattleshirt," Mance said dangerously, with his hands on his sword, "You already agreed not to intervene in the trade today so what the fuck do you think you're doing right now?"


"I did agree with that... We all did, I remember that quite clearly," Rattleshirt said nodding his head mockingly, "But I also remember everything else you said to persuade us... You said that he was Magnar from the South, that he was the Son of Stark, that he had an army of thousands upon thousands of well-trained soldiers under him. Soldiers with armours and weapons of steel, soldiers with fast horses and countless archers among people, you said all of those things, but..." he made a show of looking left to right searchingly, "But I see no signs of that fucking army here,"


"I am warning you—"


"So I say fuck what we said before," Rattleshirt ignored and interrupted Mance while turning towards the crowd of wildlings as well as the other leaders who were looking at him with interest in their eyes, "I say we kill this little fucker right here and then we take over his ships and all the food he so generously bought for us and WE FEAST!" he finished with a smile showing his cracked brown teeth and mad yellow-tinged eyes.


His speech immediately had a profound effect on most of the normal wildlings, who started nodding their heads and whispering to each other with greed in their eyes. Attacking and forcefully taking things was after all the norm here, but sadly for Rattleshirt, the people whose opinion actually mattered, the real leaders, the ones who commanded their respective clans, weren't so easy to sway.


After all, it wasn't like they hadn't already considered everything he was saying before, as if they hadn't the idea to loot the vessels from the beginning, they did... and they would have followed through with it if it was just a one-time thing, but it wasn't. It was a trade that would impact the future survival of their whole people, so they weren't as short-sighted as the other common Free folks.


They knew what was at stake here and they weren't too interested in the momentary satisfaction of eating good food for just a few weeks. They knew what the real danger was, the danger that was slowly encroaching on their territory, destroying their homes and the ones that they were completely helpless against so these supplies would be a well-timed lifeline for them in the future, which is why most of them were almost unaffected by Rattleshirt's speech... but the mad brute wasn't just done yet.


"I know what you're all worried about," he said looking directly towards the leaders, "But we don't have to depend on this brat's charity to survive... Because we could have something that we never had before... The ships," he said dramatically pointing towards the ships in the distance with a maniacal gleam in his eyes, "We steal his ships and then we use them to raid his home where we can steal even more ships... And then after that, we can go where we want, loot whoever we want and we won't have to depend on the bits and pieces that this brat throws us instead we can do whatever the fuck we want like we always Have!!"


"AYE!" "AYE!" "AYE!"


Quite a lot of wildlings followed suit and replied to his shout enthusiastically and this time even some leaders had excited expressions on their faces, and more importantly even the atmosphere in the periphery of Jon seemed to have shifted as Jon saw from the corner of his eyes Tormund nodding in agreement and even Mance displaying a momentary hesitation in his eyes before he controlled himself.


Seeing so many wildlings getting rowdy and banging their weapons while shouting with savage expressions, anyone else would've already peed their pants. But even as a lone man amidst thousands of hostile wildlings around him who were looking at him as if he was a piece of meat, Jon still maintained the comfortable smile that he had on his face from the beginning of the speech.


After all, it wasn't like Jon hadn't envisioned something like this happening from the start. In fact, he had agonised over this matter for quite a while as he knew that it was impossible for anyone to control all the wildlings and that sooner or later some brutes would get greedy and try to loot his ships. This would mean that he would have to maintain a sizable guard on the ships constantly. Which wouldn't be feasible in the long term, even after considering the sizable chunks of silver in the pile that he could see nearby.


So Jon had decided that he would need to do something.... something that would put the fear of God in all these savages, something that would completely dominate their minds, something that would make them piss their pants at even the thought of putting their hands on something of his... So when Rattleshirt started his speech Jon was quite happy as he had gotten the exact opportunity that he was craving for.


Mance saw that the situation was getting too out of control so he finally decided that he needed to do something to control them before something irreversible happened but just as he took a step forward someone else beat him to it, "Don't worry, I'll handle this..." Jon said to him with a smile before moving towards the centre.


The shouts abrptly started to die down which confused Rattleshirt who was enjoying all the attention, and when he looked towards them he realised that their attention was on something behind him so he turned around only to find that brat he was talking about killing brazenly walking straight towards him.


"Are you here to beg for your life, boy?" Rattleshirt asked loudly with a guffaw as Jon came to stand before him in a leisurely stance, "Because I am not in the mood to be merciful—"


"You're quite talkative for a wildling, Aren't you?" Jon interrupted with an amused expression on his face, "I mean even I was moved for a moment after hearing your impassioned speech and convinced you were a cunning southerner like me, not a Free Folk."


Rattleshirt immediately scowled as he heard the Wildlings behind him scoff and snort at that, "You can try and mock me all you want, but it won't change the truth about you dying today... This is True North, boy, here only the strong survive while the weak perish in the storm, that's how it's always been and how it would—"


"You're right," Jon interjected calmly, and Rattleshirt bristled with anger. "In fact, I agree with everything you've said. So why don't we settle this in a fair and square manner?" Jon drew his sword swiftly, mid-sentence. "If you somehow manage to kill me, you can have all five ships behind me." He gestured to the vessels. "But if I kill you..."


Jon paused for a moment, contemplatin', then shrugged. "Eh, you don't really have anything I need, so we'll call it even with your death."


Rattleshirt almost agreed in his fury but caught himself just in time. While he was quite confident when it came to a fight, this one was a bit different. He could see that even in this situation the boy looked too relaxed, so either he was bluffing or he was a really good fighter, but either way Rattleshirt didn't survive till now by risking his life when he didn't have to, "It seems that you still don't understand where you are boy... there's no such thing as 'fair' this side of the Wall," he smirked while making a gesture with his right hand and almost immediately some fifteen wildlings came out of the crowd one after the other with fierce smiles on their faces and slowly started to approach him along with Rattleshirt.


Seeing the situation go awry, Mance at last decided to step forward to stop this nuisance before something happened that would bring down the fury of Starks on them but he was once again halted in his tracks by Jon making a subtle stop sign with his hand behind him pointing in his direction without even looking towards him.


"What the hell does the boy think he's doing," he asked Val in a frustrated whisper.


"Don't know," Val shrugged while watching the happenings with narrowed eyes, "But it doesn't seem like it is out of his control yet," her eyes flicked to the sky for a moment where she managed to catch the fleeting blue shadow calmly circling above.


"Aww... Now that just cheating, " Jon said with mock sadness on his face while blatantly ignoring the warriors slowly approaching him, "You know cheating just takes all the fun out of the game," he shook his head with a disappointed sigh while putting his sword back in its sheath.


"So you finally decided to give up," Rattleshirt said with a gleeful tone while ignoring everything Jon said, "It's a wise decision, at least this way you'll get a quick death—"


"Blah! Blah! Blah!" Jon mimicked a mouth with his finger and mocked the lord of bones loudly, "Is that all you can do? I am almost falling asleep here after listening to all your drivel, Is that how you kill your enemies? By boring them to death—"


"ARGH!!! That's it, you arrogant brat! You've done it now, " Rattleshirt said with an enraged expression on his face, "I am not going to kill you now, I'll just cut off your arms and legs and then I'll bring you along with me and make you watch as I kill all your family and fuck all—"


"You talk too much," Jon cut him off in a dangerously calm tone with emotionless eyes before he abruptly raised his hands above his head and almost simultaneously something absolutely miraculous happened as an absurdly massive tentacle rose out of the sea right beside the shore mimicking his hand's movements making a visually horrifying spectacle that scared the shit out of every living wildling present there and left Rattleshirt and his clique frozen with shock.


Before they could even think of running away Jon suddenly slapped his hand towards the wildlings who were about to attack him and simultaneously the tentacle smashed into them and they were sent flying away like a pile of dominos destroyed by a child's tantrum.


Disgusting crunchy sounds of bones breaking echoed into the surroundings making even the hardened Wildlings nauseous and scream with terror.


"Ah—" "It's a monster," "Don't kill me,"


The Wildlings started to look at the bodies in terror and started backing away from the situation. The condition of the men and woman who set out to kill Jon was quite dreadful, almost half of them had died immediately from crushed organs while the rest were lying around haphazardly with broken limbs and crushed ribs, groaning in agony, but the most miserable one was their leader.


The tentacle had skillfully captured Rattleshirt during the attack and was holding him tight in his grip and playing with him as if he were a toy. Almost everyone who heard his pain-filled screams flinched and shivered as the tentacle shook him like a drum. Unfortunately, it didn't last long as the tentacle was too excited and accidently shook him too fast and broke the poor bastard's neck putting him out of his misery.


The entity with the tentacle seemed to be quite peeved when the screams suddenly stopped, then after trying a few times with no further sounds, the tentacle got angry and like a child upset when her toy broke she flicked and threw away the corpse far into the distance before going back to her standby position above the sea like a pillar rising towards the heavens.


"Ah... It doesn't seem like he'll be coming back anytime soon," Jon said nonchalantly while looking towards the distance where Rattleshirt had disappeared, "Ah! Well... so does anyone else want to try their hand at stealing my ships," he said with a smile while turning to the wildlings around him who were looking at him horrified awe-filled eyes and almost simultaneously everyone shook their heads like a rattle at his question and backed away.


Jon shrugged and turned towards the leaders in the distance who also seemed to be stuck dumb with what they had just seen, "How about you then?" Jon asked them the same question with an amused expression but none of them replied to him, in fact, all of them had their faces down and didn't even dare to look him in the eye.


"It looks like that'll be it for today, " Jon said while stretching his upwards with a lazy sigh before he nonchalantly turned to Mance and asked with a smile, "Shall we get back to it?"


Mance immediately gulped and nodded, "Y-Yes!"


Whatever happened in the future, if there was one thing Jon was sure of after seeing the sheer terror in everyone's eyes, it was that anything with his name on it would be safe on this side of the wall for quite a while.


///

 

[Logos01]

"Now, Mance. I believe you were offering me bread and salt?"

The genius of having that line (should it be added in) is that it reminds all present that Mance was this close to binding Jon to peace by the ways of the old gods before Rattleshirt fucked the duck.

Which reaffirms Mance's leadership among the wildlings.

... so long as he doesn't piss off Jon.

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

Jon shrugged and turned towards the leaders in the distance who also seemed to be stuck dumb with what they had just seen, "How about you then?" Jon asked them the same question with an amused expression but none of them replied to him, in fact, all of them had their faces down and didn't even dare to look him in the eye.


"It looks like that'll be it for today, " Jon said while stretching his upwards with a lazy sigh before he nonchalantly turned to Mance and asked with a smile, "Shall we get back to it?"


Mance immediately gulped and nodded, "Y-Yes!"


Whatever happened in the future, if there was one thing Jon was sure of after seeing the sheer terror in everyone's eyes, it was that anything with his name on it would be safe on this side of the wall for quite a while.

Click to shrink...

Like the kraken really was a surprise. Giant squids aren't a common site north of the Wall I believe.
Also, careful Jon, you're kinda imitating a certain crazed monarch who liked scaring the shit out of people. (I just realized how many Targaryen kings that described but y'all know who I'm talking about)

"B-But... But..." Dalla was distressed and speechless for a few moments at the sudden dilemma in front of her, on one side she didn't want to lose her baby sister again and on the other side, it would be a boon if Val, a familiar face was the one in charge of the trade as that would smoothen a lot of the hurdles and she didn't want to hinder the trade by denying her the chance.

Click to shrink...

Now we're really sure Val is gonna end up in his bed.

 

[ATP]

Rattleshirt would be Rattleshirt.Nobody would not miss him.

P.S Next Ironborn Rebellion would have funny end,when Jon introduce his friendly Kraken.

 

[LazyWizard]

It was a clear sunny day in the North, and the people residing in the little town of Winterfell were bustling with enthusiasm as they went about their daily work. Merchants peddled their wares, blacksmiths pounded their anvils, and the cooks prepared their meals.


Usually, Winter was the time when Winterfell became fully occupied with the nearby Smallfolks gathering here to hide from the cold and to stave off their hunger. But it was the peak of the summer right now and the town was easily full, almost to the point of bursting. From blacksmiths to woodworkers, Merchants to Hunters, nobody seemed to be sitting idle and everyone seemed to have plenty of work on their hands.


The reason for all this could simply be attributed to the Starkhorse factory or rather factories on the outskirts.


The abundant work there was creating all kinds of direct and indirect jobs and was attracting workers from all over the North, not only that miraculously some families had even migrated up from the South, which must have broken some kind of long-standing record considering how rare it was for people to travel to North to find work instead of the other way around.


The east gate of Winterfell was lively with people from all walks of lives coming and going, some were Merchants who came to ask permission to do business and open shops, while others were regular Smallfolks looking to settle their petty disputes. The gate remained open most of the day, necessitating guards to stay alert all the time and were kept busy as beavers.


But on the complete opposite end was the Hunter's gate; it was exactly what its name implied, it was the gate that the hunters used for their hunts as it directly opened into the nearby Wolfswood.


It was calm here, as the only traffic this gate saw was in the morning when the Hunters left for the day and in the evening when they came back. In fact, the guards even considered it their break time whenever they were rotated here. There was nothing to do here except to just laze around, gossip and sometimes even take a nap.


So as usual the guards were standing on one side of the gate with their heads stuck together and were having fierce discussions about which maid was the prettiest and which one had what qualities. But suddenly out of nowhere, their lazy afternoon was interrupted by a loud piercing yell.


"STOP HER!!"


The guards were immediately scared out of their minds, thinking that they were being attacked and they instinctively stumbled for their weapons before their eyes looked up and they realised who the culprit was.


It was the youngest daughter of the Stark, a naughty brat barely tall enough to open doors. And here she was, riding on the back of that massive majestic horse, that belonged to Jon Snow, like a veteran. She had an ecstatic expression on her and was periodically looking back at her pursuer with a naughty grin as she headed straight for the gates.


"Stop her, you idiots!" Lady Stark shouted furiously at the dumbfounded guards, who hastily sprang into action as they saw her enraged face while chasing her unruly daughter.


The guards immediately ran towards the middle of the gate and stood in front of it with their hands spread apart forming a human barricade. However, the horse displayed no intention of stopping. Instead, it sped up even further scaring the shit out of them. They briefly hesitated on whether to use their weapons before they looked at each other and decided that they didn't want to be slain by Jon and simultaneously leapt out of the way, leaving the horse to easily bypass them with a quick jump.


"HaHa... Too slow, Stupid!" Arya shouted while giggling loudly before she waved her hands, "Good day, Losers!" and taunted before disappearing straight into the Wolfswood forest not far away.


The guards had funny expressions on their faces at being outwitted by a snot-nosed brat but all their amusement immediately left them as they caught sight of a fuming lady Stark coming towards them, and almost immediately they shuddered and scrambled to stand up straight and tried to put on as remorseful of an expression as they could, hoping to be gain some sympathy by the Stark Matriarch.


"Why didn't you stop her, You Idiots!" she berated the guards the moment she reached them. "And why were the gates left open at this time? Are you slacking?!"


The guards felt wronged by the questions but upon seeing the lady's eyes spitting fire they knew better than to argue back, fortunately for them someone else caught up to her and spoke up for them, "It's not their fault, Mother." Sansa said calmly, not being out of breath despite the light jog, unlike her Mother, "This gate typically remains open during the day, and the hunters must have just departed for the forest."


"Fine then," Catelyn said turning her head away from the guards who immediately felt relieved at getting spared and sneaked away at the first chance while she was looking into the forest, "What do we do now? The stupid girl went into the forest alone," she said in a mixed tone of frustration and worry, "What should I do, Sansa? Should I go after her?"


Thankfully before she could do something as foolhardy as going into the forest, Jory appeared from the direction of the stables, "Did she manage to get away?" he asked immediately after seeing their faces and the absence of someone.


"What do you think?" Lady Stark replied curtly, without taking her eyes away from the trees as if hoping that the girl would wise up and come back.


"Umm..., I'll immediately prepare a search party then," Jory said as if it was a regular thing which it was, considering the number of times the Stark children had gone into the woods, "Don't worry, My Lady, We'll easily find her," he bowed before running away towards the courtyard.


Catelyn sighed wearily. "I swear that girl is going to be the death of me. It's all because of her father and her brother; they spoil her too much. And you!" She turned to Sansa, accusingly, "Did you have to inform her that he's coming home? This all began because she wanted to go with him."


"She would have found out sooner or later anyway," Sansa shrugged nonchalantly, "And he's our brother she should know about it,"


"She doesn't have to! Look what happened because of that—" Sansa's eyes immediately narrowed making Catelyn change her words midway, "—because of Jon... And now my little girl is all alone in that forest... Oh! Crone, please guide her home safely,"


"She's not alone, Mother," Sansa said gently while rubbing her mother's back, "Peggy's with her, she wouldn't let anything hurt her,"


"P-Peggy?! Are you joking? Or am I the only one sane here? How can you even think that it would be fine to leave your only sister in a forest under a horse's care?"


Sansa knew that it wouldn't be possible to explain anything to her without making her even more hysteric so she didn't even try to reason with her about why the rest of the family was so trusting of Peggy, "Don't worry Mother, Well find her—Oh! I know! I'll go and call Becca, she always knows where to find her..."


Catelyn hesitated for just a moment at that, before she nodded her head, as she knew that the girl Becca was one of the few people who had an affinity with her daughter.


"I'll go get changed then," Sansa said, running off.


"Wait!—No! I don't want you to—" Catelyn attempted to stop her, but Sansa was already out of earshot, leaving her exasperated., "Oh! Sevens! What has happened to my sweet little girls?"


Not only Arya, even her perfect little girl didn't listen to her anymore, and Sansa had gotten fond of learning to fight and was too comfortable in breeches and bows for Catelyn's liking, "How am I supposed to find them good husbands like this? Why did this all happen?" she lamented to herself and her mind immediately supplied an answer in the form of an image of a handsome man with an evil smile making her grit her teeth.


...


"Go! Peggy! Go!" Arya said excitedly while holding on to the reins and trying to ride the horse through the sparse trees, not that she was doing much of the riding, in fact, she was doing the exact opposite of that with her wild moments, making the horse, the one who actually held the figurative reins, work even harder so that she doesn't fall off, "Let's go straight to Jon!" she shouted as if she had any idea about where he was.


The horse just rolled her eyes at the command and didn't pay it any mind as she knew that the little two-legged didn't completely comprehend what she was asking for, so Peggy decided that she would just indulge her for a while by taking her to the nearby clearing before bringing her back to her home.


It would also give Peggy some chance to enjoy some fresh air too as she had been too cooped up for quite some time inside the stables with those common horses which was almost insulting to her. And while she knew that something like this could get her punished by that mean old lady, she also knew that Jon was coming home so she thought that she wouldn't be here for much longer which meant that the mother of two-legged helpless wouldn't be able to do anything.


As for why she was here and not at Bear Island... well that had to do with Jon's consideration. Jon thought that, since he was at the sea most of the time over the past few months, Peggy would be lonely all on her own, so on his last visit to Winterfell he decided to leave her there so that his family could take care of her. Before he left, he half-jokingly told Arya that it was her responsibility to be Peggy's friend, and the young girl took this responsibility very seriously.


So from then on, whenever she could find time on her hands, Arya would run straight for the stables. She would try to feed her, water her, walk her and do everything that she could do, even if her Mother made her bathe every time she came back because she smelled of horses.


Plus, whenever something upset her or if her Mother made her really angry about something and Sansa wasn't nearby, Arya sought out Peggy as if she was her friend who would listen to her pour out all her grievances. The horse would even nod at all appropriate times as if she could understand the little girl's tirade and sympathise with her.


So, obviously, with time, the two became quite close with each other. And one day when Arya saw that no one was watching her, she decided to try something that she wanted to do for ages and hadn't been allowed to. She went near the horse and immediately jumped and tried to get on Peggy's back with all her might to ride her but alas she was far too short and couldn't reach it.


Peggy having gotten fond of the little critter finally decided to go along with it and lowered herself to help get on her back and then took her for a short ride around the stables. The small short ride was the happiest she'd been in ages. For the whole week, Arya couldn't wipe the wide grin from her face as she felt found the best hobby in the world.


So she would try and sneak into the stables every day so that she could ride Peggy to her heart's content at least until... her Mother caught her.


Obviously, there was a massive row that followed after that and from then on she was completely forbidden from the stables.


Alas, if it was so easy to control her daughter, then Lady Stark wouldn't have so many stress lines and grey hair at such a young age.


Sometimes in the early morning, sometimes while she was praying in the sept, and a few times even during the night, and the girl was very creative when it came to sneaking out to the stables giving Lady Stark and the stable master countless headaches.


No matter how many times she forbids it, her nimble daughter somehow finds a way to break Peggy out. So finally Lady Stark got fed up and threatened her that if she's caught one more time then she will free the horse into the wild and then she would never be able to see her ever again... which ultimately led to the situation today.


Peggy expertly navigated between the trees as she had been through this path many times when she used to live here with Jon so she was very familiar with this area and knew all the nooks and crannies and all the safe areas.


Not long after the trees gave away and they came out to a small beautiful clearing beside a slow-flowing river. Since it was summer the bedside was filled with all kinds of herbs and beautiful flowers making it a very good place to rest.


"Eh! Why are we stopping here, Peggy?" Arya asked with a confused look on her face as the horse came to a stop before the river and lowered herself so the young girl could get off, "Are you thirsty?" she asked while patting the pretty horse who nodded before ducking her head into the clear stream.


"Fine, then but don't take too long, alright, otherwise they'll catch up with us and find us and then we'll not be able to—" the girl suddenly screamed excitedly while jumping and pointing towards the fish, "A Fish! I saw a Fish!" and then without another thought, she lunged straight into the ice-cold water after the fish.


"HaHa... I got you—Eh? Where did it go?" she exclaimed when her hands came up empty.


Watching the little girl jump and splash in the cold water while searching for the elusive fish, Peggy sighed and shook her head tiredly at how stupid the young ones were. She knew that the lady would somehow find a way to blame her if the brat got sick so she immediately stepped into the water and gently bit Arya's nape to pull her out of the water.


"Hey! Stop it! You'll scare the fish away!" the brat screamed and flailed her arms but her struggles were futile as the horse easily lifted the child into the air and deposited her onto the shore unceremoniously, "Why did you do that? I was just about to catch that fish!" she shouted indignantly and tried to go back but Peggy blocked her way and didn't let her no matter how many times she tried.


"Fine then," Arya said while sitting on the soil and pouting, "But it would be your fault if we get hungry later because we could have been eating that fish and now we don't—" Arya abruptly stopped when the horse suddenly raised her head toward the bushes with a snarl while pushing the young girl behind her.


"W-What happened Peggy?" Arya whispered timidly, hiding behind the horse and peering at the shaking bushes with a worried expression. "Is someone there? Is it a wolf? Is it here to eat us?" she asked nervously.


The girl was scared for the first time since leaving Winterfell and now she was even rethinking her decision to leave home. She had heard all kinds of stories from her brothers over the years about all the real and mythical beasts that were said to reside in this forest and she didn't want to come across any of them, not unless she was with her Father or Jon or Robb or even Sansa.


"What are you doing? Let's run away! Quickly, get down!" Arya urged, trying to climb onto the horse, but the tension seemed to have suddenly left Peggy as she came out of her defensive position as if there was no more threat.


But the bushes hadn't stopped shaking instead the disturbance was approaching them even more quickly and then the next second a massive Shadowcat suddenly leapt out of there almost making the girl pee in her pants before she realised who it was, "Oh! It's just you, Tiger!" she said, relieved to see her brother's Shadowcat, instead of a wolf.


"Wait! No! Why are you here? Does that mean that your sister also knows," Arya rattled off, her relieved expression quickly turning to panic. "Oh! No! Peggy, We need to leave before Becca finds us," she anxiously said, rushing toward the horse. However, Peggy didn't seem to be paying attention; instead, she stared into the trees and then suddenly out of nowhere she dashed straight into the forest in the opposite direction of Winterfell.


"No! Don't leave me here," Arya screamed after the horse but Peggy didn't look back even once leaving the kid feeling betrayed, "Come Back!"


"Argh! Stupid Horse! What do I do now? How will I go to Jon now? Mother will kill me if she catches me!" she mumbled to herself frustratedly while pacing back and forth when her eyes caught something out of the corner of her eyes and almost immediately a bright candle lit up in her mind.


"Tiger! Oh, Tiger! I haven't seen you in a while, You've gotten so big," Arya said with a creepy smile as she slowly approached the Shadowcat, "You must be so fast now, huh? Can you help me, Tiger? Don't worry, it won't bother you too much."


Tiger watched with amused eyes as the girl approached him cautiously as if he was a street cat, "You just stay still and it'll be fine I won't hurt you, I am just going to—" and then she lunged straight for the beast's back but he wasn't a Shadowcat for nothing as he nimbly dodged the girl denying her the right to climb atop him and ride him.


"No! Come back!" Arya screamed and went at it again... and again... and again...


It seemed to have turned into a game of tag with the girl running and jumping all over the place trying to catch Tiger who always moved at the last moment as if taunting her. And if she got tired every once in a while, the playful Shadowcat approached her real close tempting her and starting all over... and the girl fell for his bait every single time.


And that is how Becca and Sansa, found her, rolling around in the mud wrestling with a Shadowcat in the middle of the forest with no care in the world. Arya's hair and her clothes were not only wet she also had mud and grass sticking all over her making her look like something straight out of Lady Stark's nightmare.


The girls exchanged helpless glances with each other as they could almost imagine all the shouting and screaming that would resound through the Winterfell tonight when they went back home.


Tiger's sister, the other Shadowcat, stood beside Becca and seemed eager to join in the fun game before Becca put a restraining hand on her while Sansa went towards her sister, "Arya! Stop!"


"Eh?" Arya turned her head and her eyes comically widened the moment she caught sight of her sister, "Oh! No! Why are you here?" she screamed and immediately tried to bolt but Sansa seemed to have been waiting for that and nimbly lunged and caught her in a death grip, "No! Leave me! I don't want to go back!"


It took quite a while and a whole lot of screaming and struggling before they managed to calm her down.


"Look at how dirty you've gotten, Arya," Sansa said while gently patting her sniffing sister all over her clothes and her face to try and remove as much dirt and mud as she could. She wanted Arya to at least look like a human so that her Mother didn't immediately have a heart attack, "You know how angry Mother will be when she finds out that you've ruined the pretty dress she brought for you,"


"I don't care! I hate her," Arya said, puffing up her cheeks and turning her head away in anger.


"You don't hate her," Sansa replied calmly, while gently pulling her cute sister's cheeks "You just don't like it when she makes you do stitches and wear dresses,"


"I'll just go find, Jon and then I'll go with him and then she won't be able to order me around,"


"Speaking of which, Where's Peggy?" Sansa said while looking around the clearing in confusion.


"That stupid horse betrayed me and ran away," Arya said with a huff, "I'll complain to Jon and have him punish her when he comes back, Humph!"


"Really? She left you here? All alone!" Sansa asked incredulously, while looking towards Becca who was similarly bewildered with the situation.


"I wasn't alone! Tiger was with me!" she said defensively.


"But that doesn't make sense! There's no way she would leave you here alone! How would she know—Unless!" Sansa eye's suddenly widened as she realised something and at that exact moment a very familiar voice came from the trees behind them.


"Well well well!" All three heads turned toward the source of the voice, where they saw the white horse emerging from the trees, carrying their most favourite person in the world. "Quite the welcome party, isn't it?"

 

[ATP]

And then,once and future harem King of Westeros,Essos and Sothorys come to see them.Maddness incarnate,Jon Snow himself!
Jokes aside - if you want something practical made with wood,made clocks.Russians till 1917 made good clocks made from wood.Bikes...sorry,you need good roads for that.

 

[LazyWizard]

"JON?!!"

The moment the trio of delighted girlish screams echoed in the surroundings, Jon immediately dismounted from Peggy in one swift and prepared himself with his arms open and he wasn't a second late as in the next one his torso was suddenly hit with a duo of small missiles one red and one brown.

*Uffff!!*

Jon grunted with an amusingly overdramatic expression of pain and said, "Ugh! I think you girls just broke one of my ribs..."

"LIAR!!" Both of them shouted simultaneously with wide grins, hugging him even harder.

"No! Seriously!" Jon continued with a warm smile, rubbing their heads, "You girls have gotten too heavy now... I may just have to visit Maester Luwin for a look."

Arya giggled loudly, but Sansa asked with a cute tilt of her face, "But Jon, I thought that you wouldn't be home for another two days... How come you're early?"

"Oh that was just a coincidence," Jon answered with a shrug, "There was a ship going for Torrhen's square, so I hopped on it instead of taking the usual route from Bear Island through the forests. It turns out that travelling by sea cut a surprising amount of time, so I was able to come home quicker." He caught the third occupant in the clearing who had been silently watching so far. "No hug from you, Becca?" he teased. "Your teacher's very sad..."

"I think you would have broken more than just a rib if I jumped towards you like these little ones..." Becca replied with an eye roll while giving him a one-handed hug.

"Hmm, You're right about that... You've grown up quite a lot since I saw last you," Jon said while putting a hand on her head to measure their height difference, which was no more than a few inches. "If you keep this up... It won't be long until you reach my height."

His once naughty little student who always used to run away from Maths had grown up quite well. She looked like a mature warrior now standing there with a tight bun, a strong leather jacket and breeches, and a spear by her side that spoke of the hours she spent in the training yard honing the skills he had laid the foundation for at a young age.

"Ah! That'll be the sight..." Becca replied with a wistful expression on her face at the thought of being taller than him, as it was quite irritating to be looked down upon by Jon who was six years her junior.

"ME! ME! What about me, Jon?" Arya questioned, jumping up and down excitedly while pulling his hands, "I grew up too, didn't I?" Didn't I?" she asked with a proud grin while subtly standing on her toes and raising her head to make herself a little taller.

"Hmm, Let's see..." Jon said, with a pondering expression on his face while looking at Arya. He maintained his appraising eye for a moment before he shook his head with an overly disappointed expression, "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! I am sorry, little sister, but sadly you haven't grown a single inch... In fact didn't you actually shrink instead? I think Bran might actually be taller than you now..." he turned to Sansa who was also trying to hide her smile and seriously asked, "Tell me, Sansa, is bran taller than—" he didn't get to finish his sentence as his teasing was too much for the little girl and she punched him in the gut with all her might.

"He's Not!" Arya replied hotly, her face turning comically red almost like a tomato.

"Argh! I think you just broke another rib, little sister," Jon said with a grimace before he staggered and kneeled, giving a convincing performance. The little critter packed a surprisingly strong punch.

"Don't lie, You LIAR!!"

It seems that his acting wasn't enough for the little girl as she showed him no mercy, and immediately started hammering him with her little fists as if he was a drum. Each hit of hers was accompanied by a loud shout of "Liar!!". Becca and Sansa snickered from afar at watching Jon crouching while hiding his head from Arya's furious barrage.

"Stop! Stop! I am sorry!" Jon apologised and when Arya showed no signs of relenting, he finally gathered her swinging arms by her side and picked the struggling girl up, "I was wrong, little sister. Please forgive me!" he said with a pleading face.

"No!" she snorted while turning her head away with a pout, "I hate you!"

"Oh! No! Do you really hate your brother, Arya," Jon asked in a sad tone.

His puppy dog eyes made her hesitate just for a moment but she still persisted with her reply, "Y-Yes, I do!"

Anyone else in their family would have been hard-pressed by the girl's stubbornness but Jon knew just what to say to persuade her.

"That is very unfortunate then... since that means that you wouldn't want all the gifts that I got for you, so they would go to waste..." Jon said sadly before he suddenly said in a sly, "Maybe I'll see if Bran wants them—"

"NO!" Arya screamed as he head whipped around in panic, "Don't give them to Bran! I'll take them! Where are they?" she asked, her eyes wildly looking around.

"So you don't hate me, then?" Jon asked with an amused expression.

"No, I don't," she quickly shook her head like a rattle, "I love you, Jon, you're the best," she said with a wide grin while giving him a quick hug, "Now, where are they? I want them?"

"They are right there," Jon said while pointing towards the two sacks on Peggy's back. Arya immediately struggled while extending her hands towards them, but Jon stopped her. "But you can't open them now, you need to wait until I get you home..."

"Why? I want to see them now!"

"Because if we don't get you home to your mother soon... I think she's finally going to lose whatever little patience she had with me and decide that it is time to bring out her dagger to welcome me at the gate..." Jon said, his eyes going comically wide with horror.

"No! But I don't want to go home," Arya said in a pleading tone, "That's why I left... I want to go with you and travel here and there..."

Jon knew better than to deny her with something logical, like that she was too young or that it would be too dangerous for her or that her mother would probably send an army after him if he did that... instead he decided to give her an offer that he knew she couldn't refuse.

"Tell me, little sister," Jon said while sneaking a wink towards his Shadowcat, "Was my Tiger here very rude to you before I came here?"

"Yes! Yes, he was," Arya nodded her head like a chicken as she suddenly remembered the tussle she had with the cat a while back, "He ran away from me and didn't even let me ride him even though I am so small... he is a bad tiger, Jon. You need to punish him," she said while giving a prideful grin at tiger who just rolled his eyes.

"So, How about this? If you agree to come home with me, I'll punish Tiger by making him give you a ride all the way until the forest ends," he said while sending a look towards Tiger that promised him future rewards if she complied with his little request. The Tiger shook his head with an exasperated sigh, but he stood up nonetheless.

"Really! I can really ride him,"

"Yes, you can... You'll be the first girl in the whole world to have ridden a Shadowcat,"

"I want to! I want to! let's go! let's go home," she shouted excitedly, her Mother having completely left her mind.

...

"... And that was how Queen Nymeria led her surviving people on Ten Thousand Ships across the narrow sea to Westeros during the Spice War..." Jon finished in a soothing tone, barely above a whisper. He closed the book that he was reading from, it was one of his gifts that he had bought from Oldtown.

Jon was sitting on a small chair between two small beds, the same that he and Robb used to occupy when they were little. But at the moment they were being used by the next wolves, with Bran on the left side, who had already gone to sleep at the start of the story reading, and Arya on the right side.

Jon slowly tiptoed to Arya's bedside and closely looked at her face suspiciously for a few seconds checking to see if she'd squirm and give herself away but thankfully nothing like that happened as it seemed the little wolf had finally gone to sleep.

"I think she's already asleep..." a whisper came from behind him, and Jon turned around to find his other student, Emilia, standing against the door with an amused smile on her face. Jon waved his hand at her to keep quiet before slowly lurking towards the door.

"Well, she's already faked it two times before, so I just had to be sure..." Jon said in a hushed voice while closing the door behind him.

The little girl hadn't left his side since the moment he had set foot inside Winterfell. She knew that she did wrong by running away and making her parents worry and that she would surely be scolded and punished for it, especially by her mother, so she stuck by him for the whole time... probably hoping to use him as a shield.

This seems to have worked for the moment as the moment she laid eyes on him, all of Lady Stark's displeasure and her scrutinizing glares had been automatically transferred to him.

And even when she occasionally caught sight of Arya, she didn't do anything more than send a few glares at her that promised future scolding. Because if there was one thing in the world that Catelyn hated more than anything... then it was when she lost her temper, especially in front of Jon.

Jon guessed that it was probably a trauma from all his childhood pranks.

"You're quite scared of her, Aren't you?" Emilia asked with a smile when she saw him being so careful to not wake up the little critter.

"Terrified!" Jon said with a fake shudder before he grinned widely and asked her, "Now tell me, How are you doing, little Emy? How is life as the Lady Stark's assistant treating you?" he hadn't been able to talk her too much with her when they met at the gates before, because he was too busy greeting his family.

"There's no such thing as an "assistant"," Emilia said with air quotes, a habit she'd picked up from him, "I am more of a helper... most of the time I just follow her around and help her as she goes about doing all the tasks that she has to do to manage the castle. For the rest, I am mostly babysitting your sisters, and teaching them their number, stitching and most recently... about the Faith," she glared at him at that last bit as if it was his fault, "While there's nothing exciting about it... I get to learn a lot so I am quite happy with it..."

"No! No! I am not asking you about those mundane things," Jon said shaking his head with gleaming eyes, "I am asking you if there were any embarrassing stuff that you found out about her... like if she ever tripped absentmindedly, or if she ever picked her nose when she thought no one was looking, or if she ever stole treats from the kitchen... you know, all the juicy details, things I can use against her," he finished with a villainous giggle.

"There are no such things," she replied while looking at him with an exasperated expression, "And even if there were, I wouldn't tell you..."

"What? Why?!" Jon asked with an overdramatic betrayed expression.

"Well... because I like her... and I think she's quite fond of me too..." Emily shrugged with a small smile, "We spend most of the day together, and she teaches me all kinds of things and she even takes me with her when she goes to pray in the Sept... which is quite soothing, in fact, I think I've taken quite a liking to the Seven pointed star and the Faith because of her..."

"Y-You! You Traitor!" Jon breathed with an exaggerated shocked expression, "Here I thought that I finally got my spy beside her, but it turns out that the Evil Southern Lady was just too smart for you," he looked at her with a disappointed expression, "I don't know how she managed to enthral you to her side but... I expected more from you, my student..."

"Yeah right!" Emilia nodded her head sarcastically, "I have already been charmed by her, but don't worry too much, I'll try my best not to spill too many of your secrets..."

"You shouldn't and remember the most important thing is..." Jon said while grabbing her shoulders with a serious expression, "Whatever you do, don't let her turn you into a septa..."

Emilia rolled her eyes but still nodded her head, "I won't, I promise..."

"Thank you..." Jon sighed in relief, "And also please don't pick any of her bad habits, particularly the one where she makes that expression, you know, the one when she scrunches up her nose and her mouth curls up as if she smelled something funny," he helpfully accompanied his explanation by making a face as similar to pig as he could.

"Pfft... and then you wonder why she hates you so much," Emiia snorted while shaking her head with a small smile.

"HeHe..." Jon smiled before he suddenly remembered someone he had forgotten about until now, "Oh! That reminds me, How is our other resident Southerner doing?"

"Who? Oh! You're talking about Sam!" Emily said and continued after he nodded, "To be honest I don't know much about him since, most of the time he's either in the Library reading a book or with Maester Luwin in his tower, either helping him or asking him questions, I think the Old Maester is quite delighted to have some company, so he's should be doing fine for the most part..."

"What do you mean "for the most part" ?"

"Didn't you place some kind of restriction on him before you left him here? You know, about how he needs to spend about half the time that he reads in the library, training in the courtyard..."

"Ah! I did do something that..." Jon said with an enlightened expression, he remembered that when he had seen the ecstatic expression on Sam's face at the sight of Winterfell's Library, he knew that if it was left to him he would spend all his time in there so he had placed that restriction on him to help him with his abysmal body as well as his martial skill, hoping that the lure of books will at least make him try.

"Well, the boy was quite half-hearted and slacked a lot when he first joined the courtyard at least until... Becca caught sight of him during her training, and she was absolutely flabbergasted at seeing him blundering around like that, so she decided to take him under her wing and made sure that his form was correct and he was not just going through the motions..."

"Something like that happened...huh," Jon said with a weird expression, "To be honest... I had just been hoping for him to get into the habit of regularly using his body... so this quite the happy coincidence,"

"Yeah... while I am sure he's quite miserable under her, he's also a lot healthier than before," Emily nodded slightly, "In fact, even though it hasn't been that long, Becca told me that he has gotten quite good with an axe..."

"Is that so..." Jon murmured with narrowed eyes, he was wondering if the boy was already ready to accompany him on his adventure. Because he could definitely use someone, who could read and write and someone who had gotten the basic noble education, for his future plans in the Esoos.

"Oh! No! I completely forgot!" Emilia suddenly exclaimed with a panicked expression, "You need to go to the Lord's Solar, Quickly!"

"Huh? What?"

"Lord Stark asked me to call but it completely skipped my mind because of all your questions," Emily said while hastily pushing him towards the stairs, "Now, quickly go! They are waiting for you,"

'Who's they?" Jon wondered while going towards the stairs leading towards his father's solar.

///

 

[ATP]

Mother of all cliffhangers.
Jokes aside - Sam as murdermachine trained by Beccy would be funny.

 

[LazyWizard]

"...And because of that, not only has our supply finally been able to catch up with the demand but this stable period has also given us time to place the foundation for new factories so that we can always be ready for any sudden demands in the future." Jon overheard Robb say before opening the door to the Lord's solar.


"That's excellent news, Robb. It should prove beneficial for us in the—Jon!" Eddard interrupted mid-sentence, looking up with a warm expression as he caught sight of Jon entering the room. "You're finally here."


"Apologies for being late, Father," Jon said, smiling apologetically while closing the door behind him.


Eddard sat comfortably behind his desk which was heavily laden with neatly placed documents. There were three chairs placed in front of the said desk, of which two were already occupied by Robb and, of course, Catelyn, whose face barely even twitched at Jon calling Eddard, 'father'.


"Don't worry, Jon, we haven't started yet," Robb said, vacating his chair for Jon and taking the middle one as a buffer between Jon and Catelyn. "I was just updating Father on the status of the factories."


"...And as a result, not only has our supply finally met the demand, but this period of stability has also allowed us to lay the foundation for new factories. Now, we can be promptly prepared for any sudden demands in the future," Jon overheard Robb say before opening the door to the Lord's solar.


"That's excellent news, Robb. It should prove beneficial for us in the—Jon!" Eddard interrupted mid-sentence, looking up with a warm expression as he caught sight of Jon entering the room. "You're finally here."


"Apologies for being late, Father," Jon said, smiling apologetically while closing the door behind him.


Eddard sat comfortably behind his desk, neatly arranging documents. Three chairs were in front of the desk, with two already occupied by Robb and, of course, Catelyn. She didn't seem bothered by Jon calling Eddard 'father.'


"Don't worry, Jon, we haven't started yet," Robb said, vacating his chair for Jon and taking the middle one as a buffer between Jon and Catelyn. "I was just updating Father on the status of the factories."


"Thank you," Jon nodded towards Robb before taking a seat. Turning to his brother to ask something, he noticed Catelyn, who hadn't moved her head since he entered he decided to greet her, "Lady Stark, I didn't get to see you before... How are you doing?" he asked with an overly bright expression.


Catelyn's eyebrows twitched but instead of giving her usual replies she held it in and cooly replied, "I am fine,"


If it was just a few years before, it would be completely natural for Lady Stark to be short with Jon. After all, she was the Lady of the house, while he was the bastard of her husband, who lived with them and whom he refused to kick out no matter how many times she told him to.


But about two years ago something happened... something that made their relationship suddenly go from an extreme end to a neutral one very quickly, and even almost touching cordial for a while...


And, the simple reason for that was— Lord Stark's decision to leave Jon behind at Bear Island for an indefinite period.


Jon had heard it from very credible resources that Lady Stark had almost squealed like a little girl when she heard that her husband had finally decided to fulfil her most ardent wish.


She was on the clouds for a whole week after hearing that news... she smiled every time she greeted someone, and there was a subtle skip in her steps, and even when she caught Arya doing her usual naughtiness instead of scolding her, she just fondly rubbed her head... which scared the little girl more than anything.


It seemed as if a massive weight had been lifted up from her shoulders... all her fears about Jon one day usurping her children, all her resentment when she felt like an outsider every time her family took his side instead of hers, all her insecurities about Jon looking more and more like his father as he grew up ... all of them just went up in smoke instantly as if they were nothing more than illusions in the first place.


And she was so happy with the decision that she didn't even mind Jon's occasional visits, in fact, she even somewhat welcomed them after seeing how happy they made her children. She thought that it would be alright as long as he grew up to be someone like Benjen in the future... a very close family member but one who only visits them a few times a year.


So over the past few years, their relationship started improving at a slow but steady pace. Starting from occasional greetings to short but cordial conversations, neither of them snapped at each other anymore or constantly found things about each other to ridicule to get the upper hand and it got so good to the point that one time she actually... smiled at him. *Shudder*


Jon swore countless times that it was the truth, even though none of his siblings actually believed him.


It had happened during one of his previous visits. As usual, he had brought various gifts for his siblings and friends, but this time, on a sudden whim, he decided to get one for Catelyn too (which he had never done before, thinking that she would just chuck it back at his face).


So with trepidation in his heart, he gave it to her after making sure that she was all alone (since he didn't want an audience in case something embarrassing happened). After she got over her shock at suddenly receiving the gift, she sceptically looked at Jon and carefully opened it and... immediately gasped, as she was simply amazed by the sheer beauty of the soft dress that came out of the packet. Jon had bought her the very best that the markets of Reach could offer which left her so pleased that she involuntarily gave him a heartfelt smile and thanked him.


That incident left him stunned (and scarred,) for a whole week, his mind constantly wondering if it was just a delusion he had conjured.


Anyway, coming back to the situation at hand... The obvious question at the moment was that, if their relationship had gotten so good recently then what was the reason that she was being so cold to him? What had he done to make her angry at him once again?


And the answer to that was...


"It's good that you're fine..." Jon replied before curiously asking, "But what about Septa Mordane... I didn't get to see her too, is she—"


"Shut up!" Lady Stark abruptly snapped, as if he had touched a sore spot. Her eyes spat fire, and her indifference turned to anger in a millisecond. "As if you don't know—as if it wasn't because of you—"


"Huh? What are you talking about?" Jon asked with a completely innocent expression, while his brother tried to calm his mother.


"You really don't know?" Robb asked sceptically as he too wasn't completely buying his brother's innocent act, but Jon still shook his head ignorantly, prompting Robb to explain, "Septa Mordane isn't here anymore... She had been banished from the North,"


"What? Why?"


"Umm..." Robb took a quick glance at his mother before speaking, "It seems that the Septa Mordane was scared that she would be kicked out of Winterfell before long, so... she stole a few pieces of jewellery from here and there probably hoping to have a cushion for her future..."


Jon didn't know if this was something that had also happened in the original timeline and she just wasn't caught or if this had only happened here because the Septa was under so much pressure because of him, (instead of it being the other way around in the cannon). Anyway, the moment he had caught a whiff of her naughtiness Jon had sent her straight towards the trap.


"Oh!" Jon exclaimed, wide-eyed as if he genuinely didn't know, as if he had nothing to do with it. However, it would be hard for anyone who knew him to believe that something like this could happen in his own home without him knowing, "But how is that related to me? After all, I wasn't even here at that time, How could I—"


"How dare you say that! She did all that because of you! If you hadn't been so—" Catelyn almost screeched at Jon in her anger. It seemed that losing Septa who was almost like a friend to the woman was too much for her, and her instincts were screaming at her that the boy was definitely behind it after all, he was after the poor septa from the start.


"Enough!" Eddard said sternly in a low voice, stalling the argument before it could go any further, "What is done is done, and talking about it wouldn't change anything."


"But—" Catelyn wasn't satisfied with not getting her way yet and wanted to get to the bottom of things and for Jon to admit that he was behind her getting caught, after all, it can't just be a coincidence that the maids just happen to gossip about the jewellery going missing (something that Catelyn had been trying to suppress) and Eddard happening to walk by.


"I said enough, Catelyn! The Septa confessed to it herself so it doesn't matter what her reasons were..." Eddard was honestly quite relieved when he found a reason to kick the Septa out of Winterfell as he wasn't too fond of her and didn't particularly like the way she taught his children, but he didn't want to antagonise his wife so he kept her employed, "I merely banished her on your plea for mercy so we should leave it at that and forget about it..."


"Humph" Catelyn knew better than to argue against her husband when he got like that, so she kept her mouth shut even though she was dissatisfied with it.


"Now we got sidetracked enough already so let's get back to the reason as to why I called you here," Eddard said with a serious expression and continued after making sure that they were paying him attention, "Which is this," he pointed towards the thick open book on the desk in front of him.


Jon and Robb took only a moment to recognise what it was, "Isn't that the..."


"Yes, this is the book that contains the finances and accounts over the past decade of not only Winterfell but also the whole North and this..." he turned the book around so that all three of them were able to see it and then his finger pointed towards the page end, "this is the pure profit that we've accumulated over the past year according to the last count by the Maester..."


"Oh! My!" "Sevens!" "Really! This much!!"


All three of them had varying levels of shocked expressions on their faces at seeing the amount written there, though Jon's was a bit more subdued as most of the money had passed his hands before reaching here, so he had already expected something like this to happen.


"Yes," Eddard nodded with a small smile, "I was similarly shocked when I first laid my eyes on it... This is the most profitable year the North has ever seen in not only this decade but this whole century, according to Maester Luwin. And this amount is the one that was calculated after deducting all our expenses, such as our management ones and the taxes to the crown," he emphasised as if afraid that they wouldn't understand what pure profit means, which turned out to be true for someone as Jon saw Catelyn's eyes widen even further from the corner of his eyes, "And this number has been increasing with each passing month and would continue to do so if nothing goes wrong... And the reason behind this is very obvious," He directed his heavy gaze towards his son.


"Jon... I knew that you were a smart kid from the very start, but... even I never expected you to do so much. What you've accomplished in just a few years for the people on the West Coast and even the whole of the North is nothing short of miraculous... I don't think anyone else, not even an adult, would have achieved what you've been able to."


"Thank You, Father," Jon replied with a humble but pleased smile on his face as Robb patted his back proudly.


"And Robb," Eddard turned to Robb next, making him immediately straighten up nervously. "Maester Luwin and I have been keeping a close eye on your work with the factory... And I can proudly say that we've both been completely satisfied with it, You've outdone our expectations time and again. And I can sleep soundly knowing that you're my heir and that Winterfell and the North would be left in very good hands."


"I didn't do that much," Robb replied with a small blush while Lady Stark looked at him with a proud smile and Jon rubbed his head with a fond grin.


*Cough*


"... Anyway, coming back to this," Eddard brought their attention back to the book in front of them, "Every time there have been any excess profits in the past, all previous Lords Starks have mostly done the same with it... That is buying food to stock up and prepare for Winter. But our food stores are already being filled at an unprecedented rate, mostly due to the trade with Reach making food unreasonably cheap. This means that even without any special help from this money, our stocks are estimated to be fuller than ever before so that we will be comfortable even if the Winter lasts a long time."


Eddard continued after seeing all three of them nod, "Now if it was before, I would have simply deposited this money into our vault with the rest of our reserves and forgotten about it until there comes a time when we urgently need it, but... I suddenly remembered something Jon said to me a few years and it made me reconsider my choice." he turned towards Jon who looked as if he had no idea what he was talking about, " 'You're losing money, if your money is not working for you,' that is what you said," Jon's eyes widened with enlightenment as he suddenly remembered that particular conversation where he had explained to Eddard why he always reinvented most of the profits in new and different ventures, "So I need you three to think carefully and give any thoughts and ideas that you have about how we can use this amount in a way that would not only benefit the Starks but the North as a whole, now and in the future..."


The three of them immediately fell silent, chewing over their thoughts, trying to come up with ideas while Lord Stark brought out an empty piece of paper so that he could write down any idea that he liked.


Not long after, Robb became the first one to put forward his thoughts, "Um... Father, How about Moat Callin? We could repair it to its former glory... After all, It's been left in disrepair for too long,"


Eddard shook his head with an amused smile at that, "That is the very first thought that comes to every Stark Lord's mind since the Conquest whenever they get their hands on a little amount of money... Sadly, because of some very glaring reasons, they have always been forced to abandon it before even starting."


"Eh? What are these reasons? I mean other than money..."


"You're right, money was always the most important reason that it never went past conception, but the second one was that repairing it would mean that we would have to man it in the future. Which would immediately send a signal to every single Lord in Westeros... A signal that the North is getting ready for a fight—And we don't want that, Do we?" Robb immediately shook his head at that and Eddard continued explaining calmly, "In addition, it is an absurdly massive piece of Architecture and would take a ridiculous amount of people more than just a few years to even put a dent in it.


"Not to mention if Winter arrived mid-way through and we were forced to stop construction, then it would be the same as throwing money away. Plus it's not a place that sees much use outside of war and what we have at the moment is already sufficient for small ones, so repairing it isn't very feasible at the moment." Robb humbly nodded his head, accepting his father's rejection and then went back to thinking of other solutions.


Jon was the next one to present his idea, "What about the roads, Father," he said presenting the very staple thing a lord should do when he thinking of improving his realm, "It would not only make travel and trade a lot easier and faster, investing in roads would also be a massive boost to the North's Economy for a long time in the future."


"Hmm... It is a good one and also one of the ideas that Maester Luwin presented to me, but..." Eddard sighed and shook his head, "It is also not feasible for the same reason as before... North is too vast and laying down roads is a massive undertaking that would take years and years of summer, and they wouldn't be of much use if they are not completed before Winter, so—"


"But Father, What if we don't create new ones?" Jon interrupted Eddard with a smile on his face, "What if instead of laying new ones, we supply our manpower into repairing and improving the existing ones, which should not take more than a few years of dedicated work? Even if we are only able to bring up the quality of our existing roads, including the Kingsroad, to the level of the other kingdoms in Westeros, it would be a massive boon..."


"That's right, Father," Robb eagerly nodded his head supporting his brother's idea, "Not only would it have a lot of direct benefits for trade in the North, but it would also indirectly help our smallfolks by creating many jobs, which are especially needed now more than ever before... And it would greatly improve the time it takes for us to gather our forces which has always been a massive weakness of the North,"


Eddard closed his eyes and thought long and hard about whether this would be feasible. After a few minutes he opened his eyes and took a deep breath before nodding his head, "It sounds doable. I would have Maester Luwin start drawing the outline for it the very next day, if we work fast then a team could be ready by the week's end to survey and scout the best possible location to start..." he mumbled to himself while jotting down on the paper in front of him before looking up.


"That was a very good idea, son." Eddard praised Jon who gave a pleased smile before he continued speaking, "Now, Jon, even with this undertaking, it would take a long time before our money came into use, so I was thinking about investing in our business in the East. You're leaving for Bravoos soon, right? So do you think, it is time for us to expand further?" If there was one thing, Eddard had learned over the years then it was that there was no safer and more lucrative investment than any business Jon has his hands in.


"That is a wonderful idea, Father," Robb said in an excited tone, "If we are able to increase the reach of our sailors in the East and open up new markets and tap into not only Essosi cities such as Lys, Pentos but also the remaining Westerosi cities such as Kings landing, Gulltown and other, that we haven't accessed yet then it would mean a huge growth for our business."


"That was what I had in mind as well," Eddard said with a nod before turning to Jon, "So how about it? Do you think it is time?"


Jon had been very hesitant to enter the Eastern cities such as Kings Landing, Gull Town and Pentos for two very obvious reasons(One tall and slimy, the other short and fat). But, perhaps it is time to start—Not directly, but maybe through a proxy, "I think that we should divide this problem into two, Father... I will handle the Essos side of things and I don't have any money at the moment since I have an idea of how to procure it (An idea involving a tentacles monster that was currently moving through the depths to the other side of Westeros,) and as for the remaining Westerosi cities, I think it is time for us to let go..."


"Let go?" Robb asked in a confused tone before he saw his brother's eyes and caught up to what Jon was implying, "You mean to open up? But..."


"Don't worry, it won't affect our profits too much instead... it may even increase if we are careful with it," Jon reassured Robb before turning towards to Eddard with an expectant look on his face.


"Hmm... If you think so then I'll write a letter to Lord Manderly so that he knows to expect you soon...I am sure he'll be quite happy with the news."


Catelyn had no idea what in the Sevens these three were talking about with all this vague talk, but she had too much pride to directly ask, especially in front of 'him'... But still, not wanting to be the only one who didn't put forth anything useful, Catelyn said the first thing that came to her mind, "W-What about the Wall?"


Three heads simultaneously turned towards her as she continued, "Benjen always says that the Wall is very poor and that it is always in need of supplies, right? How about sending some aid to them... It would also look good in front of the other Northern Lords," she finished with a hopeful look.


"That is not a bad idea, Catelyn, but..." Eddard said to his wife while glancing towards Jon, "But something regarding just that had been in the works for a while now,"


"Huh? What do you mean?"


"Jon had already been in talks with Lord Commander Mormont, with the help of his niece Lady Mormont. Since Bear Islands has already become somewhat of a trade hub and is also one of the closest castles to the Wall. We thought that if we are able to open Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, one of the abandoned castles west of Shadow Tower and one that is closest to the sea, then it would be very easy to carry the supplies directly to the Wall from the Sea,"


"So did the Lord Commander agree to it then?" Robb asked curiously.


"Yes, he was very happy to do it as it would help the watch more than anything," Eddard said with a smile, remembering the enthusiastic letter he had gotten from the Commander of the Watch, "He is trying his hardest to make sure that it is up and running by the year-end by which time regular shipment should start sailing from the Bear Island to the Watch."


Catelyn was disappointed that her idea didn't pan out but at least she wasn't completely useless—


"Too bad, Lady Stark," Jon said in an innocent tone, "Better luck next time..."


"You—"


Eddard sighed as the bickering started in front of him once again with Robb trying and failing to mediate between them. If there was one thing he didn't miss about Jon not living in Winterfell anymore, then it was this...

 

[Ahtu]

I don't think anyone else, not even an adult, would have achieved what you've been able to."

Click to shrink...

What "even an adult" the vast majority of adults in westeros don't seem to accomplish shit! It's a joke to compare them.

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

"...And because of that, not only has our supply finally been able to catch up with the demand but this stable period has also given us time to place the foundation for new factories so that we can always be ready for any sudden demands in the future." Jon overheard Robb say before opening the door to the Lord's solar.


"That's excellent news, Robb. It should prove beneficial for us in the—Jon!" Eddard interrupted mid-sentence, looking up with a warm expression as he caught sight of Jon entering the room. "You're finally here."


"Apologies for being late, Father," Jon said, smiling apologetically while closing the door behind him.


Eddard sat comfortably behind his desk which was heavily laden with neatly placed documents. There were three chairs placed in front of the said desk, of which two were already occupied by Robb and, of course, Catelyn, whose face barely even twitched at Jon calling Eddard, 'father'.


"Don't worry, Jon, we haven't started yet," Robb said, vacating his chair for Jon and taking the middle one as a buffer between Jon and Catelyn. "I was just updating Father on the status of the factories."


"...And as a result, not only has our supply finally met the demand, but this period of stability has also allowed us to lay the foundation for new factories. Now, we can be promptly prepared for any sudden demands in the future," Jon overheard Robb say before opening the door to the Lord's solar.


"That's excellent news, Robb. It should prove beneficial for us in the—Jon!" Eddard interrupted mid-sentence, looking up with a warm expression as he caught sight of Jon entering the room. "You're finally here."

Click to shrink...

Uhhh... LazyWizard, you kinda left your early draft in the chapter...

 

[Silverbladestar]

Haven't read it yet, but there is a repeating part at the start.

 

[ATP]

Cat would be cat,and septa was lucky this time - she would not lost her head here.Probably.
And,Jon is most magnificiant troll!

making money with tentacle monster...he would attack rich pure maiden in Essos and demand money?
Or pretend to defeat it,and take money from parent for saving their daughters virtue?