JON

A plan had been worked out. Aegon and Daenerys would fly directly to Pyke taking only Lady Melisandre and Theon Greyjoy with them. There they would burn Euron Greyjoy and anyone loyal to him and leave with any sailors and warriors who would swear fealty to House Targaryen. Theon would make his offer to the smallfolk on behalf of Robb and King Kevan and sail with them to the mainland. Meanwhile, Jon would take Viserion, Ghost and everyone pledged to House Targaryen and sail in the Pentoshi cheesemonger's ships from Eastwatch to White Harbor to Gulltown to Maidenpool to Duskendale to buy supplies and attract sworn swords for the quest to Valyria. From Gulltown they would then sail to Sunspear, where they would be joined by Aegon, Daenerys and Melisandre. There the three Targaryens and their advisers would meet with Prince Doran Martell, Aegon's uncle.

Jon had wanted to fly to Pyke to battle Euron Greyjoy, but Robb had pointed out to him that Ghost would be unable to accompany him and Viserion. Reluctantly, Jon admitted that he was right, as he knew that he could never bear to be parted with Ghost, even though he hated the idea of being stuck on a ship while Aegon and Daenerys and even that Greyjoy prick saved the day from the one-eyed kraken.

Even though Jon would not be participating in the action on Pyke, he was still apprehensive about it. Lady Melisandre had insisted that Euron Greyjoy and all who were loyal to them should be burned as sacrifices to R'hllor. She claimed that doing so would bring them good winds and good luck for their quest to Valyria. Neither Jon nor Aegon nor Daenerys had liked the idea, but if what Melisandre said was true it would be of great help to them; if not, they were only killing traitors and murderers and kinslayers. Balon Greyjoy had bent the knee to Robert Baratheon once Pyke had been breached, so Jon surmised that most of the Iron Fleetwould swear fealty to House Targaryen in the face of three dragons. But what if the ironborn later tried to betray them? Then they will burn.

Most of the surviving Night's Watch had sworn fealty to House Targaryen: Donal Noye, Pyp, Grenn, Qhorin Halfhand, Bearded Ben, Dolorous Edd, Cotter Pyke, Jarmen Buckwell, Ulmer, Garth Greyfeather, and several dozen others. Jon was saddened that Yoren, Arya's rescuer, had been killed in the battle with the Others, but Arya's friend Gendry had fought bravely and survived unscathed and had pledged himself to House Targaryen. Brienne of Tarth, who had returned from the journey to Eyrie, had also pledged her sword. As the huge woman warrior rose from kneeling she gave a gasp. "Renly?" Jon and everyone else stared at her blankly. Before anyone could ask her what in the seven hells she was talking about, she pointed at Gendry. "King Renly—you look just like him—how can that be"—

All eyes turned from Brienne to Gendry. She means Renly Baratheon, King Robert's younger brother. Jon remembered seeing Lord Renly, as he was called then, when King Robert had come to Winterfell. He hadn't actually spoken to the man, though, as Renly Baratheon no doubt did not think bastards were worth talking to, and now Jon was trying to recall what he had looked like. Then Jon remembered that Robb, as Lord Stark's trueborn heir, most probably would have spoken to Renly at least once. Jon turned to see what Robb's reaction was.

"I met Renly Baratheon almost three years ago, when he came to Winterfell with his brother the king. This boy does look quite like him," Robb said, looking puzzled. Jon noticed Gendry's chagrin at being called a "boy" by Robb, who was no older than he was.

"Maybe Gendry's Renly's bastard," Grenn suggested, bluntly and rather rudely.

"No," Brienne said, sounding rather offended that anyone would think that Renly had fathered a bastard, "Renly was only twenty-two when he died. This boy must be King Robert's bastard." Gods save us. Can she be right?

"I never knew who my father was," Gendry said, astonished. "My mother died when I was little. I was born in King's Landing sixteen years ago."

"That's a year after Robert Baratheon took the Iron Throne," Robb pointed out.

"Your father, Lord Stark, he came to ask me questions about who my mother was and what she looked like," Gendry said to Jon, sounded as astonished as Jon was. "He asked me about Lord Arryn coming before him to ask the same questions. But why would they care about my mother and what she looked like? She was only a tavern maid."

"Because you look like a Baratheon and none of Robert's supposed trueborn children did," Robb said. "My father found out, that's why the Lannisters killed him. That's how Stannis knew as well."

"So you're a king's bastard," Pyp exclaimed, awestruck. Jon wondered how Gendry must feel about being told all of a sudden that his father was King Robert Baratheon. The way I felt when I learned who my true father and mother had been? But Jon had been raised as the bastard of a great lord alongside Lord Stark's trueborn children, whereas Gendry had grown up in Flea Bottom.

"It don't matter if my father was a king or a beggar," Gendry said. "I never knew him, and I'll certainly never be a king myself. I'm a smith and I'm a warrior and that's all I want to be." Jon wondered to himself whether he wanted to be a king. What are dragons for, except forconquest? But what would I be king of? Perhaps I shall find out in Valyria, where my Targaryen ancestors and their dragons came from.

Now that the Night's Watch was no more, Robb had decided that he and the lords of the North should take the Wilding hostages with them. Jon was completely unsurprised at how unenthused Robb's bannermen were about this.

"The Wildlings have plagued House Umber since before the Wall was built," the Greatjon growled. "My own cousin was carried off by these savages. Now that there's no Wall to keep them out we're to take their spawn into our own castles where they can turn on us whenever they wish?"

"The blood of the First Men runs in the Wildlings the same as the Starks and the Umbers and the rest," Robb said. "And Wildling fathers love their sons as much as we do. They will not raid across the border of the Gift into my kingdom as long as we hold their sons unharmed," he said placing a pointed emphasis on the last word. "A former Wildlling spearwife has served at Winterfell for over two years now and has even helped care for my younger brothers because she was treated well in captivity. Theon Greyjoy came to Winterfell a dozen years ago as a hostage and we grew up as close as brothers. He has fought alongside me against both the Lannisters and the Others and will return to Pyke to help put down the uncle who murdered his father. The Wildling boys can become as sons and brothers to us as well if we treat them as such. I will take thirty-two Wildling boys with me to Winterfell and send seventeen each to foster at Karhold, Bear Island, Deepwood Motte and Last Hearth."

"Why do we have to take them and not the rest of your bannermen?" the Greatjon asked angrily.

"Because you all border the New Gift where the Wildlings have settled. You will take them in and swear an oath before the old gods that you will let no harm come to them as long as their fathers keep the peace. Your king commands it." The Greatjon looked most displeased at that, but seemed resigned to obeying his king's order. Let's hope that both he and the Wildlings keep their oaths. Otherwise there will be yet more bloodshed.