Hello all. Sorry this update took so long.
The hardest thing about writing a fic like this one is not letting the latest season influence the story to date. It's hard to weave what's just come out into what I had planned for this story.
This chapter has a mind of its own. I've re-written it 4 times before I realised that this is how they wanted it. At least the Bran being in the tree seems to have some advantages. He's got his personality back for one thing lol.
Chapter 25 – Explanations of the weirdest kind
Jon growled and turned on his heel and walked towards the Weirwood tree. Divine intervention his ass. Jon had his suspicions as to how those wolves came to be here and the Gods had nothing to do with it.
"Jon, where are you going? We leave for Castle Black soon." Ned called out to his son.
"I need to speak to the bloody tree" was the only answer Jon gave as he continued his trek to the Weirwood tree.
Ned was confused for a moment until he remembered that the greenseer was connected to all the Weirwood trees and that Bran's older soul resided within the tree as well.
"You think…" Ned yelled at Jon.
"YES I THINK THAT" Jon yelled back
"Ah ok. Well I think we shall be going Mance. Jon will be along when he is ready. Will you make sure no harm comes to my boy please?" Ned asked Mance.
Mance smiled at Ned and gave his assurances that no harm would come to Jon as he was still under guest rights which the Free Folk took as seriously as their southern cousins.
"If he's not finished, doing whatever it is he's doing by nightfall, he can stay here the night and return to Castle Black in the morning." Mance offered and Ned nodded his acceptance of the arrangements. Ned turned to Benjen and went to help his injured brother over to the horses. Before they had moved a single step, Benjen turned to the wolves.
"Lya, stay with Jon please? Make sure he's safe. Torren, come with us please but stay a decent distant away from the horses as you will scare the life out of them." The wolves, which were highly intelligent, split away from Benjen. Lya headed for the tree and Jon while Torren moved off a fair distance so he wouldn't disturb the horses.
Jon reached the Weirwood tree and hoped that he could communicate with Bran. He was absolutely positive that this was Bran's intervention, not the Gods and Jon needed to know why he was bringing the wolf that Benjen called Lya into their lives sooner.
Lya was the mother of the dire wolf pups in the Time Before.
He knelt before the tree and said a brief prayer to the Old Gods and then touched the tree. Mance, who had followed Jon after the Stark brothers left, saw Jon's eyes turn white.
"Warg. The boy is a Warg." Mance muttered to himself. "But how is able to warg with the Weirwood?"
He decided not to mention this to his people for they generally despised Wargs on principle. There was always the underlying fear that if they could take over an animals mind, could they take over a human's mind as well?
Jon was completely unaware of Mance standing there observing him as he linked with the tree. Bran had taught his siblings how to warg and how to use that ability to speak with the each other over long distances with the aid of a Weirwood. Jon clearly pictured in his mind the cave under the ancient Weirwood tree far to the north of him, seeking to speak with the three eyed raven.
As his conciseness left his body and entered the tree, he felt something blocking him from reaching Bran in the cave. Jon was not impressed and pushed against it with all his considerable will power.
"I am Jon Snow, Azor Ahai reborn. I am the Prince who was Promised, The Watcher on the Wall and King in the bloody North. I will NOT be denied by anyone!" He shouted as he pushed at the barrier as hard as he could. Suddenly, Jon stumbled into the ancient cave. He looked around and smiled, he had made it through the block.
"Who are you Man of the First Men to cross our magic? The First Men have no Magic. It is known."
The Children had him surrounded as they hissed their questions at him.
"Aye, the First Men have no magic. This is known. Unless, you're a Stark. We are kin you and I. I have you blood in my veins." Jon told them. "My ancestor married one of your own to seal the pact between the Children and the First Men."
The Children were reacting to Jon's statement but Jon couldn't tell if it was a good reaction or not.
"This is true. She married the First Man to seal the Pact. This is known. This makes us kin and explains how you could get though our magic. Welcome Kinsman."
Jon smiled at the small but ancient beings as they scattered back into the tunnel system beneath the cave. He turned and walked carefully among the roots on the floor and walked up to Bloodraven who was watching Jon's approach
"I wish to speak with Bran. I take it you saw what happen with Benjen?" Jon asked Bloodraven. Bloodraven nodded his head.
"This is a new event. In the Time Before, yes Benjen broke his leg and yes a wildling woman saved him but he was never that far north on that ranging. There was no white bear to attack him and certainly no wolves to save him. That was Bran wasn't it?" Jon asked Bloodraven again.
"Yes Jon. I sent the wolves to save him. They were meant to save him in the Time Before but he never got that far north last time."
Bran's voice sounded of the right of Jon. He turned and looked at his brother's soul.
"What's going on Bran? Are you meddling in the timeline as well?" Jon asked his brother. Bran smiled at Jon.
"Sort of. I'm not so meddling so much as I'm correcting certain events in the timeline. Uncle Benjen was supposed to be that far north last time. He was supposed to be following the White Walker he had spotted in the Time Before. In the Time Before, the Walker somehow sensed that Uncle Benjen was following him and used its magic to make Uncle Benjen break his leg." Bran started to explain when Jon interrupted.
"Hold on, why didn't the Walker just kill him? It had no reason to keep him alive."
"Stark blood brother. You said it yourself. We are kin to the Children of the Forrest. Their blood flows through our veins and as a result, it makes it bloody hard for the Walkers to kill us. We are the guardians of the prison of the Great Other. The Gods made sure that the Starks would have the strength and cunning to beat the Walkers in battle. You know what happens when you kill a Walker Jon. Those it's raised fall to pieces when the Link is severed. The Walker used its magic to break Uncle Benjen's leg so he couldn't follow him."
"Seeing a Walker is one thing, seeing the Night King alive is another. Uncle Benjen would have followed the Walker all the way north into the lands of Always Winter in the Time Before. The Walker couldn't allow that to happen but killing Benjen at that point in time would have brought a more rigours investigation by both Watch and the Wildlings then the Night King would have wanted at that time. I don't know how it was able to sense him. The Walkers and the Night King aren't supposed to sense a Stark's presence as that is part of the magic in our blood." Bran told him.
"This time, I was able to shield his presence just in case it happened again. Uncle Benjen was tracking the Walker when a rock beneath the snow shifted and he fell, breaking his leg. I knew that the white bear would attack and kill him so I sent the dire wolves to him in order to save him. Even a white bear treads softly around a couple of fully grown dire wolves brother." Bran finished off.
Jon was stunned. Bran had somehow grown more powerful for he never had this type of control over his powers. If Bran had done what he said he had, then Jon was now just a little scared of his brother's power.
"How are you able to do all this Bran? You were never this powerful before. What has changed?" Jon asked him.
"I can't swear to it but I think it's the result of being here as a soul and having Bloodraven's powers as well as my own. When a Greenseer dies, his power is supposed to cross over with him but his knowledge goes to the next Greenseer. Bloodraven passed his power and knowledge onto me before he died because we were both in the same vision. So it stayed with me when I died and because the Weirwood tree protected my soul and I didn't cross over, none of that power was lost. As a result, I can do more with it."
"And seeing the future? You told me that it was beyond even a greenseer's abilities."
Bran frowned.
"I'm not seeing the future really. It's more I'm seeing…possibilities."
Jon thought about what Bran was saying and decided it made sense.
"And the Nights Watch finding out about the Wildling camp in the Frostfangs?" Jon asked.
"Same sort of thing. The Walkers were using their powers to divert the rangers away from the camp. The Night King wanted the Free Folk for his army. They were the biggest mass of bodies in the north. I've been countering the Walkers magic so the ranges could find the Free Folk camp earlier. Oh and tell father that he's doing the right thing in letting them have their independence. Tell him not to let anyone try to go to war with them. The Long Night is a fixed point in time. It will happen because it has to happen but if some idiot Lord declares war on them, we won't have the men to fight off the coming dark." Bran informed Jon.
Jon was deep in thought, processing what he had just been told when a question popped into his mind.
"What will happen to that extra power when you merge with your younger self?" Jon asked him.
"It will merge with my younger self as it merged with me in the Time Before. Young me will be very powerful Jon, very powerful and very scary when pissed off, so don't piss me off ok?" Bran said to Jon with a laugh.
Jon just gave him a look that only an older brother could give.
"Fine. So you have been influencing events. How does brining the wolves to us earlier influence the timeline? Also why two wolves? It was only the she wolf that we found. And why are they not attacking Benjen or the Wildlings? Are you still warged with them? Are you that powerful now?" Jon asked the question he had originally come here to ask.
"Ok. First of all, I am not that powerful and second, no I am not warged with them. Apart from making sure they would reach uncle Benjen in time, I've not done anything else in regards to the wolves. As to how they aren't acting like mindless wild animals, well that is Stark magic."
Jon looked confused.
"Think of it like this Jon, only a Targaryen can ride a dragon right? Well it's the same sort of thing here. Only a Stark can tame a dire wolf, well tame them as much as a dire wolf can be tamed that is. It's said a Targaryen has dragons blood in their veins and it's also said that a Stark has wolfs blood in ours. I'm not sure how it works exactly but it does." Bran explained it.
"Oh, I think I understand what you mean. I saw the connection Deanery's had to her dragons. I think we had the same sort of connection to our wolf pups. But I thought it was because we raised them from the day they were whelped." Jon said.
"Exactly. That connection is the reason we can warg into them so easily. It's a true partnership between man and wolf. This is why I brought them to uncle Benjen. We will need more time to bond and train with them. They will react to our emotions though the bond so if we're angry and want to kill someone in unthinking rage or our lives feel threatened, they will act upon it."
Jon's mind couldn't take any more talk of mystical matters.
"So, how does this affect us? How do your changes affect the timeline?" Jon asked Bran, needing this information so he could change his own plans if necessary.
Bran's eyes went white in the way they did when he was using his Greenseer powers.
"What I've done doesn't affect the timeline in a major way from what I could see. It just gives us more of a chance to win this time and better protection for our family but nothing is certain." Bran replied.
Jon suddenly had a worrying thought.
"Bran, are you able to check the spells on the Great Others prison? I can't help but wonder if they've degraded somehow. If the Night King and his Walkers aren't supposed to sense the presence of Stark, then how DID it sense uncle Benjen for that matter, or how did the Night King even sense me? The Night King didn't come that day we captured the wight to kill a dragon. That was just bad luck for us and fortuitous timing for him. He couldn't have known that Deanery's would come. I think he came to kill me."
Bran looked disturbed at the thought.
"It would explain some things. I'll look into it Jon. Anyway, it's time you went back. Do you remember how do find your way back to your body?"
Jon nodded and concentrated on his body and within seconds, he was back.
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Jon groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He was slumped against the tree where his body had fallen when he broke link between himself and the Weirwood. It was the one drawback to this form of communication, it took a lot of energy to keep the link active and his body always felt like he'd been beaten after the link had been severed. This feeling was caused by the body tensing up while in the Link.
"Here lad, drink." A water skin was pushed into his hand as a pair of hands helped lower Jon into a sitting position.
Jon raised the skin and drank deeply as his eyes looked around. It was almost nightfall. He had been speaking with Bran for a few hours although it hadn't felt that long to him. Lowering the skin, he looked up and saw Mance squatting in front of him, a look of curiosity and concern on his weather beaten face.
"Are you all right lad? Kneeling for that long, with your body all tensed up can't be very comfortable." Mance asked him in a light tone. Jon gave the older man a pained smile.
"Yes, it isn't very pleasant but unavoidable I'm afraid." Jon replied as Mance gave him a searching look.
"We have much to speak on, Jon Stark. But first, let us retire to my camp and get a meal and a real drink, not that horse piss you southerners drink." He said with a smile as he helped Jon up off the ground.
Jon smiled as he followed Mance. Dinner with the Free Folk. This should be interesting.
And fun.
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While Jon was speaking with Bran, the Northern party retuned to Castle Black in silence. No one wanted to speak as their minds struggled to comprehend what they had just witnessed with their own eyes.
When they reached the outer gate of the tunnel, Ned dismissed them with a notice that he would be calling a meeting tomorrow in the council chambers sometime in the afternoon. He encouraged the gathered men and women to eat and speak with others about what they had witnessed. Ned, Benjen and Jeor waited for the group to enter the tunnel when Ned dismounted his horse and handed the reins to Benjen.
"I'll escort the wolf through the Wall and keep him in my chambers for now. Later when things quiet down, I'll let him out to stretch his legs." Ned explained to a curious Jeor and Benjen.
"You're sure Ned? It is a dire wolf after all. It might just decide to attack…" Jeor trailed off as Benjen starting laughing.
"Ah, Ned will be fine. He's a Wolf of Winterfell. Wolves don't attack their own pack." Benjen said to Jeor and laughed even harder at the confused expression on the Lord Commanders face. Jeor just grunted and moved his horse into the tunnel with Benjen following, still laughing at his old friend.
Ned smiled, shook his head and took a deep breath of the crisp, clean, cold air as he thought back on today's meeting. He lost his smile quickly when he remembered the "proof" Mance had presented to the Northerners. It had been more than enough to cement his belief that the Long Night was coming for them all and the thought of an army of those things terrified the life out of him. His smile returned slightly though when he remembered that Jon had just sat there calmly while the rest of the Northern group and literally shit their small clothes and scrambled like children trying to get away from the nightmare come to life in front of them. The council meeting tomorrow would be interesting.
Just then Torren came into view and ran up to Ned.
"Hello big fella. I'm going to escort you thought the Wall and to my chambers where you'll be safe for now." Ned decided to speak to Torren as if he could understand him. He had witnessed them obeying Benjen's commands and got the sense that these dire wolves were more intelligent the normal wolves.
Torren cocked his huge head to the side and gently bumped Ned forward as if to say 'well, lead the way then'. Ned smiled and put his hand on the wolf's head and scratch behind Torrens ears as they walked into the tunnel, the sound of clanking chains echoing through the tunnel as the gate slid slowly closed behind them.
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A little while later Ned and Benjen were having dinner in the council chambers. Ned had decided to eat in there because it had more space for Torren to fit into.
The brothers were catching each other up on what had been happening since they last saw each other although Ned had so far said nothing to Benjen about Jon and Tyrion's experiences. Currently, Benjen was explaining to Ned, why he had been so far north on this ranging.
"I couldn't believe it Ned. I just couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. A Walker Ned. A bloody White Walker with a small group of wights." The look of shocked awe on Benjen's face would have convinced Ned if he didn't already know about the Walkers.
"They were heading back north, so I decided to follow them. I was hoping see where they had come from. I followed them for almost five days before I broke my leg and lost them. By that time, I think I was close to the boarders of the Lands of Always Winter, for it was bitterly cold and getting colder my the minute. I managed to drag myself a short way to the very scant shelter of a small group of trees when I spotted the white bear and it spotted me too. Dear Gods Ned, those bears are huge and I was sure that I was in the last moments of my life when I heard the growls of the wolves as they put themselves between me and the bear."
"What happened then?" A fully curious Ned asked his little brother.
"Well they were snarling and growling back and forth for a while and then the bear just left. I guess I wasn't enough of a prize for it to be willing to take on two fully grown dire wolves. Anyway, I the wolves watch the bear until it was out of sight then they approached me. I had managed to draw my sword by then but knew it wasn't going to be enough so I prepared myself to die, the only regret I had is that my Brothers would never know that the ancient enemy walks once again. Got the biggest shock of my life though when they just sat down in front of me and just stared. "
"They just sat there and stared at you?" Ned repeated.
"Yes indeed. I don't know Ned but something in me was saying 'trust them, they won't hurt you'. Now you know I'm not one for flights of fantasy but I just knew they wouldn't hurt me so I put my sword down. As soon as I did that, they got to their feet then same and sat down one on either side of me, like a couple of big furry pillows. They stayed like that all night and I think it's only because of them keeping me warm is the reason I wasn't suffering from hypothermia. In the morning, I was half pulled, half climbed onto Torren's back and then the three of us headed south." Ned looked at Torren awestruck.
"Well, Torren, I thank you and Lya for the life of my brother." Ned said to the wolf, not feeling the slightest bit silly for thanking an animal for his brother's life. Torren, who had been lying between them while enjoying a bone from the kitchen, gently nudged Ned's leg as if to say 'you're welcome'.
"And the Wildling woman?" Ned asked Benjen, determined to get the rest of the story.
Benjen started chuckling.
"Oh that was all Lya. We were resting when Lya suddenly takes off. I didn't think anything about it as Torren wasn't upset and she'd done that before, usually coming back with a rabbit or some other small animal to eat. Anyway, it would have been, oh about a half hour I think? When suddenly, I hear a voice yelling for something to leave them alone. I was just about to crawl back onto Torren and go see when I see Lya, half dragging, half pushing a Wildling woman into the clearing we had been resting in. I had no idea why Lya was dragging this poor woman to us. Lissisa, her name is, probably thought Lya and Torren were going to eat her until she saw me." Benjen started laughing harder.
"It was the funniest thing. Once I managed to calm her down and told her what was going on, she swung back around and starting telling Lya off for dragging her here so fast and if the wolf was as smart as it thought it was, she would have grabbed Lissisa's healing supplies before dragging her to me."
Ned joined his brother in laughter when the door opened and Tyrion walked in.
"Ah Ned, here you are. I'm only just back from Moles Town myself. How did it go…I'm sorry My Lord, I wasn't aware you had company. I'll come back at a later time." Tyrion was about to turn around and walk back out the door, when Torren knocked Tyrion down and licked him from chin to hairline.
"Gah! Get off me you overgrown fur cloak! Why must all dire wolves lick me like I'm some sort of tasty treat?" Tyrion exclaimed in mock outrage.
He really wasn't as upset as he sounded. Ghost had taken to doing the exact same thing after he had settled into Winterfell in the Time Before. The Stark children had found it hilarious and Tyrion took it as a sign that Ghost was fond of him.
The Stark brothers had collapsed in gales of laughter when Torren had knocked Tyrion down and licked his face and then doubled over when they heard Tyrion's complaint. Tyrion meanwhile had managed to get Torren to move and got back up on his feet. He looked at the laughing brothers and shook his head.
"I'm glad someone's amused." Was his dry comment.
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"This is not good." Catelyn muttered to herself as she read her uncles raven scroll for the second time. "This is not good at all."
Cat had been busy since Ned went north and Arya and Bran had left Winterfell. Sansa and Rickon were the current Starks in Winterfell but it fell to Cat, as the Lady of Winterfell, to run Winterfell and the North in her husband's absence.
By rights, it should have been Robb siting in his father's seat at the High table but Ned had taken Robb with him to the Wall as he wanted Robb to learn about dealing and negotiating with a foreign power which was exactly what the Wildlings were to the rest of Westeros.
Every afternoon, after lunch, Cat had Sansa sit with her in the great hall when she was giving audience to the northern folk. She explained to Sansa why she made the decisions she did and how they helped the small folk who came to them for help. In matters where Cat as asked to dispense justice, she stuck to the punishments the law recommended but for matters such as murder and rape, she ordered the accused imprisoned so Lord Stark may make the final ruling as to the accused's fate.
When representatives from other houses came asking for favour's, Cat would refrain from giving them an answer straight away and at night after dinner, she and Sansa would talk in her solar on why granting the request from one house would upset another if the and how a hasty decision could lead to war between houses. Slowly, the sharp intelligence that Tyrion so often had commented upon was coming out and Sansa was starting to realise that the world is not a song.
Cat was also able to spend more time with Rickon. As the youngest child of five, Rickon was often ignored or left out of his siblings games and as Cat had been focusing on Robb and Sansa more than her other children and Ned too busy to spend much time with any of the children, Rickon tended to act out. Spending more time with her youngest was proving beneficial as Rickon's wild ways were starting to calm down.
But at night, when the castle was asleep, Cat couldn't stop thinking about Lysa and why she betrayed her by speaking her secrets to the population of the Red Keep. It both disturbed and worried her and as for "Petyr", well Cat was starting to see him for the cunning, duplicitous worm he was.
Sansa had received another letter from "Petyr." This time, Sansa came to Cat straight away and showed it to her. She told her mother that she had found it on her bed when she came into change after her knife fighting lesson. It was a proper letter, not a raven scroll which meant that it had been hand delivered and Cat was now certain that they had an agent of "Petyr's" in Winterfell.
Cat's anger had once again erupted after she had read the letter. "Petyr" was apparently trying to arrange for Sansa to come and visit Kings Landing sometime in the next two years so she may meet the prince. He has also mentioned that her Aunt Lysa would be delighted to host her in Kings Landing or The Eyrie if her mother said no due to a lack of acceptable chaperones but "Petyr" was sure he could convince her mother to say yes as Cat was a close personal friend who would deny him nothing and "Petyr" was sure that Sansa was the same generous, kind soul as her mother was.
The mention of Lysa was new as the other letters had only mentioned Joffrey and "Petyr" himself and Cat was wondering what game he was now trying to play with her daughter. Cat had finally had enough after reading that letter and decided to find out more information about Lysa. So she wrote to her Uncle Brynden as he had been guarding Lysa as her sworn sword for years by this point so there was no one better to give her the information she needed.
Cat had been surprised that she had received a return scroll from the Eyrie as she thought her uncle in Kings Landing with Lysa. In his message, he simply stated her concerns were warranted and that he would be coming to see her very soon. That her uncle wouldn't put such issues in writing concerned Cat a great deal.
This really wasn't good.
Next chapter, We'll have our final meeting with the Free Folk and tie up some loose ends before we head back to Winterfell