Chapter 4 – Jon Snow I
"Father has taken the hook," thought Jon while sitting down at his desk. "Now, I have to sell the rest of my plan. Now, why did Sam say Bran was going north of the Wall?" So far, his plan had worked, but that was less due to his plan being good, and more that he had bought time with his prediction, time to plan how to convince Ned and achieve his goals. But, what were his goals, and how would he remember them?
Jon thought for a moment, unrolled a scrap of parchment, and wetted his quill. He couldn't write everything down, because someone might see it, but he had to remember his goals. After some thought, he wrote:
· Stop Others
· Prevent Five
· Lion story
· Find heritage
· Save pack
"This should be vague enough," Jon thought, before rolling the parchment up and sticking it under his mattress. Father was in the Godswood, and there should be some time before Lady Stark brought the raven's note. Enough time to rest; he hadn't gotten any rest since he had woken up in the Lord Commander's quarters several years in the future. Ghost quietly snored, wrapped in a deerskin on the foot of his bed, where Jon remembered he had slept in the future that was no more, and he slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Not surprisingly, Jon fell asleep quickly. What was surprising was the dream. He dreamt he was looking at himself from the rear, but the colours of the room were muted into shades of brown and yellow, like in the wolf dreams he had had during his time at the Wall. He heard a thumping sound approaching, and turned to look at them, but his turn was arrested by something that ensnared his body. A loud pounding noise came from the direction the thumps had come from, and he saw himself jerk upright just before he awoke. Was this what Bran was able to do with Summer? "Who is it?" Jon asked, after the person at the door knocked again.
"The raven came, as you said," his father said through the door. "Lord Arryn is dead. I would hear the rest of your vision." Sadness was dripped from the voice of the Warden of the North; grief for his second father. The kind of grief Jon had felt when news came of Ned's execution.
When Ned entered and sat on the bed, next to Ghost, Jon spoke. "It started off pleasant, with the King coming to Winterfell to appoint you Hand, but it turned dark and full of treasons. While the King's party was here, Bran fell from the Broken Tower and lost the use of his legs; we figured he had been pushed when an assassin failed to kill him. You rode south with Sansa and Arya, then I rode north with Uncle Benjen to the Wall, and none of us ever returned to Winterfell. In Kings Landing, you discovered a terrible secret, possibly the one that got Lord Arryn killed, and were killed to silence your voice, but it was too late. You had told Lord Stannis, and he spread the word that Cersei's children are not the King's. Robb called the banners, declared himself King in the North, and tried to avenge you. But, he was betrayed and killed at the Twins.
"As for me, I ranged north and found that the Wildlings were fleeing, fleeing from the Others. After Jeor Mormont died, I became Lord Commander of the Watch, decided to let the Wildlings through contingent upon their helping defend against the Others, and was betrayed by mutineers. I don't know how much of this will come to pass, but there is one other thing I remember. Before you left for Kings Landing, you told me that, when you returned, you would tell me who my mother was."
As Jon spoke, Ned's face turned into a grimace, and his grey eyes turned to stone. When the story finished, he was silent for a moment, deep in thought, while he absently rubbed his shoulder. The stone melted into fog, and he finally spoke. "Your prophecy is dark, too dark to be false. But, at least, you will not face the world not knowing who you are. Before I tell you, I have to talk with an old friend. In time, you will know who your mother is. Until then, know this: she was a noblewoman, and I am your uncle." Jon's eyes, in turn, melted into dark cloud that rained tears of joy and shock. This had all but confirmed his suspicions of who he was, and there was no sweeter feeling. He knew not what to say, save a "thank you" that he choked out before hugging the man that he had called "father" for his entire life.
