I own nothing. Game of thrones is property of David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. and A Song of Ice and Fire series if property of George R. R. Martin.
A/N: This story was written in an afternoon. There is probably grammar and spelling errors. I self edit.
You will travel far, my little one
But we will never leave you, even in the face of our deaths
The richness of our live shall be yours.
All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel – all this and more, I bequeath you, my son.
You will carry me inside you all the days of your life.
You will make my strength your own
And see my life through your own eyes, as your life will be seen through mine.
The son becomes the father, and the father the son.
Lord Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, was travelling along the Kings Road, accompanied by his small contingent of 40 men, on his way back home to Winterfell. He had been summoned to King's Landing when the King Robert Baratheon's heir, Joffrey Baratheon, was celebrating his first name day. His wife, Catelyn, along with his young son, Robb, had joined him on the journey but he could tell that Catelyn was eager to return home, especially once her stomach started to expand to fit the new life it held within.
Their caravan had stopped for the night just another day's ride from Winterfell. They could all see the mountain ranges of Winterfell in the distance. The camp was set up quickly and before long night had fallen. Ned was seated outside with his guard and friend Jory Cassel for the first watch.
One hour after the camp had fallen into slumber Ned and Jory lapsed into silence. Both men stared into the flames between them, lost in thought. The silence did not last long. A flash of light streaked through the sky and a dull bang was heard in the distance. Ned and Jory sprang from their seats and look around them trying to see if an attack was imminent. After a few tense moments Ned sent Jory to awaken the others.
Ned, Jory and Rodrick Cassel took to their horses to investigate what had occurred. It did not take them long to find scorched earth and scattered metal shards in a nearby valley.
"What could have caused this kind of destruction?" Ser Rodrick asked as the horses slowed to a stop and the men dismounted.
"I know not. Step carefully, we do not know what is scattered along the ground." Ned advised the two men and the trio started searching the area.
Ned heard a noise in the distance and hushed his two companions.
"Did you hear that?" asked Ned.
"Aye, it sounds like a babe" Jory agreed and the trio rushed towards the sound.
The closer they got the more destruction they witnessed. At the centre of the valley lay a crate and directly in the centre covered in soot was a small babe.
'He must be around the same age as Robb' thought Ned as he observed the small child sitting in the crater cloaked in a rich looking dark blue fabric.
Ned approach the child and spoke in a soothing tone.
"Hello little one" he said and crouched down on the ground putting himself on the same level as the child.
"Ehrosh Bem" the small child muttered.
Ned furrowed his brow and tried to decipher what language the boy spoke. He turned back to Rodrick, the eldest of his present company, and asked "Do you recognize the language?"
"I do not my Lord. It is foreign to me"
"I was afraid of that" Ned muttered before turning back to the child.
"Ned" he said and pointed at his chest to signify that it was his name, "Jory" he said pointing at the young man that stood behind him and to the left, "Rodrick" he said pointing behind him to his right.
"You?" he questioned the child pointing at him.
"Kal-El, Zrhythrev Ehl"
Ned was once again confused by the words and tried the process again. The boy seemed to understand a little better and just said, "Kal-El" this time around.
"Kal-El…odd name" Jory said.
"That's assuming the little one understood and that is truly his name"
"Considering he said Kal-El twice during the introductions I am taking that to be his name, although what the other words are I have no idea"
Ned stood back up and moved to stand with him companions.
"What shall we do with him, my Lord" Rodrick addressed the young Lord of Winterfell.
"We have no other option. It is clear that he is alone, no other settlement is around for miles. He will be coming with us" Ned decided after a moment of thinking. He wasn't sure what would happen to the boy afterwards but until they reached Winterfell and he discussed the situation with his wife he had no other options. He could not in good conscience leave this small boy to fend for himself.
"Very well" Rodrick nodded and went to pick up the boy. The boys screamed bloody murder and only calmed once in the arms of Ned Stark.
"He seems to have taken a liking to you Ned" Jory said with a smirk and the trio mounted their horses and headed back to camp.
"Speak of this to no one. As far as anyone is concerned the babe was found in the wreckage of carriage, his mother and father perished dues to a fight with bandits." Ned said sternly.
"Yes, my Lord" Rodrick and Jory agreed.
In no time at all the trio was greeted back at camp by the whole company awake and ready to fend off any attack and protect their Lady and the young Lord. That was still slumbering in the carriage.
"Cat, what are you doing awake?" Ned asked once he spotted his auburn-haired wife amongst him men.
"I heard all the commotion and could not get back to sleep. When I came out to try to find out what happened you were gone. I decided I might as well wait up to see what was happening." Cat explained.
Ned nodded and saw his wife finally take notice of the small child in his arms.
"Who is this?" She asked quietly.
"This is Kal-El. His family was attacked by bandits and is the only survivor. He will be travelling back with us to Winterfell" Ned announced.
"At least this one isn't yours" Cat muttered bitterly before spinning on her heel and heading back towards the carriage to check on her son.
Ned winced at the reminder and thought back to the curly haired child waiting for them back at Winterfell. He knew Cat hadn't forgiven him and he honestly wasn't sure if she ever would.
"Get the boy settled in for the night. Give him a bedroll" Ned ordered before giving the slumbering child to Jory and following after his wife.
After explaining about how they truly found the boy to his wife they laid in silence until Catelyn finally spoke.
"What are your plans for him?" Cat asked her husband as they lay together in bed.
"I do not know. He is special Cat. He fell from the sky and is alone…perhaps he was meant to come to Winterfell." Ned pondered as he slowly ran his fingers through the auburn locks.
"We already have one extra child and one more of our own on the way. Do we really want to take on the added burden of another young child?"
"He has nowhere else to go Cat. We could adopt him. Based on the cloth he was found in it's obvious that he comes from a good bloodline. Perhaps he will grow into a great knight and will guard our house."
"Whatever you think is best my Lord" Cat murmured before turning over and falling asleep.
Ned stay up for a few moments longer pondering the implications of this boy they had found. He was a child of the stars and only the gods knew what the future had in store.
Morning came quickly and Ned, Cat and little Robb exited the carriage to see the little boy sitting and chattering happily with Jory. Ned could see his friend was confused but nodding along anyways trying to keep the boy entertained.
"Ka-El" Ned called out once he was close enough.
"Ned" the boy said happily and grinned up at the imposing man standing before him.
"Catelyn" Ned said pointing at his wife and then he pointed at his son, who was looking at the boys with unrestrained curiosity, "Robb"
"Kal-El" Kal-El said excitedly and pointed to himself. He seemed happy to meet new people.
"We'll break our fast quickly this morning. We should get to Winterfell quickly so that Maester can look over our new guest and make sure he is well" Ned ordered. The men pulled out packages of bread and wineskins full of water and began eating as they cleared up the camp.
"Shpahgh" Kal-El said excitedly as he bit into his bread and jam.
Ned looked at the boy and tried to figure out what he was talking about. The boy was happily eating so Ned pointed at the food and said "Bread" and the boy responded with "Shpahgh".
Ned chuckled and repeated himself, "Bread" and the boy looked at the man than looked down at his food and said, "Bread" with his odd accent colouring the word.
Ned smile and nodded his head and then walked back towards his family.
"He doesn't speak the language?" Cat asked.
"Not yet but he seems like he will pick it up quite quickly. I mean he already knows the word bread. What else does he need to know?" Ned said with a chuckle.
"How old is he?" Cat ask and tilted her head at the boy trying to figure out his age.
"Let's find out" Ned said and called out to Jory to bring the boy over.
"Kal-El" Ned said to get the boys attention on him, "How old are you?" he asked and the boy looked at him confused. Ned thought for a minute and pointed at Robb, "Robb, two" and held out 2 fingers.
The boy still looked confused so he tried again, "Robb, 2 years old"
"Tav zehtol?" Kal-El questioned with a furrowed brow.
"I don't know what that means." Ned said softly, "2 years old" he repeated and pointed back at Kal-El, "2 years old?" he questioned.
"Nanh khuph non zehtol"
"It's no use Ned, maybe wait for the Maester. He should be able to help."
"Perhaps you are correct" However Ned couldn't help the disappointed look on his face from showing.
Kal-El frowned and tugged on Ned's sleeve when he turned away, "Non zehtol" Kal-El repeated and the little boy held up 3 fingers.
"Cat" Ned hissed and when his wife turned around she saw the little boy holding up 3 fingers.
"He certainly learns quick" she said amazed.
"Non zehtol" Ned said and stumbled over the foreign words, "Three years" he said with a nod. Kal-El nodded and smiled brightly.
"Very good…Jory, come pack up Kal-El, we will head out for Winterfell in ten minutes."
"Very good my Lord." Jory answer and swiftly picked up the young boy and carried him over to his horse.
The company pushed the horses and they managed to arrive in Winterfell just as the sun set on another day. Eddard dismounted his horse and pulled Kal-El off the horse. The boy was still wide awake and appeared to vibrate with barely restrained energy while Robb was fast asleep in his mother's arms.
"Take the boy to the Maester, I will take Robb to bed." Catelyn called to her husband and didn't wait for a response before disappearing into the castle.
Ned walked into Hall of Healing startling the Maester. "Maester Luwin. We have a new guest at Winterfell. Please look him over, his carriage was attacked by bandits and I wish to confirm he is unharmed"
"Right away, my Lord" Luwin said and grabbed the young boy and place him on a nearby table.
"I leave you to it Maester" Ned nodded and after a quick wave to the young Kal-El, Eddard left to his solar. He had a few matters to deal with before he could join his wife in bed.
It took the Maester over an hour to clean all the soot off the boy and give him a thorough examination, though it was hampered further by the language barrier.
Luwin brought the young boy to Lord Stark's Solar. "He is perfectly healthy, my Lord. Not a scratch or bruise on his body" he said with a small smile.
Ned smiled, he was happy the boy was unharmed, though he was confused. The damage and destruction that surrounded the boy was immense. In his mind, he should have at least a few contusions.
"Where shall he be sleeping, my Lord" Luwin asked.
Ned thought about it, "For now he can sleep in the room next to Robb. I shall discuss it further with Cat in the morning" Ned looked over to the boy who, surprisingly, was still wide awake and staring around his solar in curiosity.
"Come along" Ned said to the boy. Kal-El looked up confused followed him none the less. Ned led the boy through the winding hallways until they reached his temporary room.
Over the next few months Kal-El adjusted to his new life in Winterfell. He picked up with language pretty quickly and was now on par with Robb, however, even thought he understood better what people were saying, he still slipped into his native language quite often when speaking.
It was also during this time that Ned and Cat realized something was different with their newest young guest. He seemed to have more energy than their son. The nurses report that he was a terror to put to bed and was always up and running immediately at sunrise. The couple also notice that he was far strong that Robb, and even at the young age of three he had no problem lifting a shield that a full-grown man had to work up to.
Ned finally had to take the young boy aside and explain to him that he needed to be very careful with his strength. He could possibly hurt Robb while they were playing and he could easily hurt baby Sansa when he visited her.
Ned noticed that once it was explained to the boy that he could hurt his friends and especially the baby but became very conscious about doing anything. He would give a wide berth to everyone and he stopped playing with Sansa in fear that he would hurt the little girl.
Ned went to Kal's room one night and was shocked to see the boy sitting on his floor with splinters of wood and crushed pieces of old steel strewn through the room.
"What are you doing?" he questioned the boy.
"I don't want to hurt anybody" the accented little voice said, "I'm practicing" he stated.
Ned's face softened at the thought. The then looked around and was shocked at the closed look. Battered old shields from the practice yard were broken and some hand finger holes where the boy held too tightly. Then he looked at the steel. Excess lumps he had taken from the blacksmith and saw the indent of the little boy's hands.
"I'll tell you what, Kal" Ned started and waited until Kal met his eyes, "Tomorrow morning, first thing, we shall begin your training. Jory shall become your teacher. As you train you will learn to control your strength better"
"Okay Ned" Kal said.
"Now let's clean this up, we don't want Cat to see what a mess you've made of your room do you?"
"No" Kal said with a shake of his head and he quickly rush around his room to put all the odd and ends in a box to be taken out in the morning.
"That's better, no get into bed and go to sleep. You start training in the morning"
Over the next thirteen years a lot had changed in Winterfell. The Stark family had grown exponentially. After Sansa, Arya was born then came Bran and finally little Rickon.
It was peaceful in Winterfell with the only interruption being a very short-lived Rebellion of the Iron Islands which resulted in Theon Greyjoy coming to live in Winterfell as Lord Stark's ward.
Kal-El grew up with a loving family. He had very few memories of his true born family and the only ones who knew of where he came from was Ned, Cat, Jory and Rodrick.
Kal had grown tall. At seven and ten he stood at a towering six foot five inches, taller than even Ned Stark.
His training had progressed well and although Kal had no interest in fighting he kept up his training in order to help protect his family. The family that found him and took him in when he needed it most.
Kal had been taken to work with the blacksmith. He strength lended well to that skill and she was able to quickly shape the weapons needed for Winterfell. In the late evening, he worked on making his axe, his weapon of choice. He had to wait until the smith had gone home for the night to work on it otherwise the smith might have found it odd that the axe would take 2 grown men to carry but he could swing it around like it was made of wood.
The axe was made of steel. The handle was covered in oak before leather was placed over top to help with grip. The head of the axe was a large blade on one side and a smaller blade on the other, also like a pick. The blacksmith also added a spike to the top and left the bottom two inches of the shaft exposed metal. Every part of this weapon was designed to injure of kill someone.
Kal was close with all the Stark siblings. He trained with Robb and John, played with Rickon and climbed with Bran. The girls were a little more difficult to find common ground with but once Arya took an interest in riding and weapon play Kal took time out of his morning to train Arya, just a little bit, with a dagger that he made for her. He also made one for Sansa and taught her a little of how to use it. He would hate for anything to happen to the girls and wanted them to be able to defend themselves.
He didn't truly know what the future held but he felt a shiver run through his spine as dark clouds rolled through Winterfell.
A/N: This story is just a little idea that burrowed it's way into my brain and would not leave. I'm not sure if i'm going to continue the story or not.