Through the Eluvian
By J.C. Vascardi
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Act III, Part I
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Feasting Hall, Ironrath, The North; 29 Frostfall/Tenth Turn 298 A.C.
To say that Lady Elissa Forrester, wife of Lord Gregor Forrester and the Lady of Ironrath was surprised when Duncan Tuttle, castellan of Ironrath, informed her that he'd caught several people, including Lord Robb Stark and King Jaeherys Targaryen coming upstairs from the Forrester family crypt, would be an understatement.
Seated at the high table in Ironrath's feasting hall, and flanked by four of her six children: Rodrik, 24, twins Ethan and Talia, 16, and Ryon, 13, Lady Elissa smiled and said, "Welcome to Ironrath, Your Grace," to Jon, before she turns to address Robb and Catelyn, "Lord Stark, Lady Stark, and companions."
"Thank you, Lady Forrester," Jon said. "I'm sure you're wondering how we all got into your crypts."
"The thought did cross my mind, yes," Elissa said. "The entrance that Duncan caught you emerging from is the only one."
"Well, not quite," Robb said before he explained about Eluvians and the hidden Eluvian Chamber in the crypt. "I apologize if our appearance caused you any distress, but it was the quickest way for us to get back to the North from the Stepstones."
"No need to apologize, my lord," Lady Elissa said. "While we may be sworn to the Glovers of Deepwood Motte, they are your vassal house, so you will always be welcome here, Lord Stark."
Rodrik and his siblings nodded at this, before Rodrik said, "We'd be honored if you'd stay and join us for dinner."
Before they could respond, Lady Elissa added, "Unless I'm very much mistaken, tomorrow is your name-day, is it not, Lord Stark? We'd be most pleased to hold a small feast in your honor."
Jon and Robb shared a look with Aegon and Theron. They had to consider distances because while it was true that they could likely get to Winterfell faster aboard Theron if he transformed into his dragon form, he'd still have to make several trips back and forth to transport everyone.
Fewer if Morrigan was willing to pitch in, although she had not made any indication thus far that she'd be willing to carry even one person on her back in her dragon form, let alone four as Theron did. Of course, judging by her personality, everyone kind of assumed she would balk at being used to transport anybody.
Barring her mother ordering her to do so, Jon and Robb assumed that her son Kieran might be the only one that she would make an exception for.
Of course, even if she was willing, it was likely that there were at least a few among their party who would not be willing to fly on a dragon. While they hadn't confirmed it, Jon and Robb were pretty sure that Catelyn and Myrcella, for example, would not be willing under any circumstances.
They also knew that Gerold, Arthur, and Oswell weren't, which is why it had been Barristan who accompanied them to treat with Aegon and Daenerys, as the others all expressed a strong preference for keeping their feet firmly on the ground. This left overland travel as their only option.
Located roughly a hundred miles east of Deepwood Mott, Ironrath was still about two-hundred-and-fifty miles northeast of Winterfell. Even on horseback, taking into consideration the need for pack animals to carry gear and provisions and the likely presence of at least one wheelhouse, it would take over a fortnight to reach Winterfell.
With this in mind and the thought that it would be nice to celebrate his twentieth name-day in a nice warm castle instead of in a tent somewhere between Ironrath and Winterfell, Robb nodded and said, "It is and we'll gladly take you up on your offer, Lady Forrester."
"Excellent," Lady Elissa said with a smile. "Duncan, please have rooms prepared for our guests."
"Forgive me, my lady, but I'm not sure we have enough rooms," Duncan said. "Other than the family bedrooms, we only have five guest rooms."
Lady Elissa nodded, and said, "Yes, true, well, Talia and I can double up in her room for two nights. Then King Jaeherys can have Gregor's and my room."
Knowing that the Forresters were the vassal of one of the Stark's vassals, it didn't surprise Jon or Robb that they wouldn't have a large number of guest rooms. Winterfell did, but then they were the North's Great House and former royal house, so it made sense.
For the smaller seats, like Ironrath, it was a fairly common practice in Westeros for the Lord and Lady of a given castle to temporarily surrender their room, which was usually the largest and best in the castle, to visiting royalty, so Jon didn't object to Lady Elissa's suggestion. Instead, he motioned to each in turn as he said, "Robb, Aegon, and Theron can share with me."
Duncan nodded and after a few minutes of conversation, the other room assignments were worked out. It took some shuffling of the Forrester family, for example, Rodrik would move into Ethan's room with him for two days so that Catelyn and Sansa could have Rodrik's room.
As the Heir of Ironrath, Rodrik's room was the second largest in the castle, so since Robb would be sharing with Jon, it was agreed that Lady Catelyn should have the second largest room since she was the widow of the late Lord Stark.
Meanwhile, since they were only two years apart in age, Bran and Tommen would be bunking with Ryon for two days. With some sharing, such as the four elder Kingsguard knights and the newest one Prince Trystane, or Morrigan and her son, everyone was accommodated.
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Lord and Lady Forrester's Bedroom, Ironrath, The North; 30 Frostfall/Tenth Turn 298 A.C.
As the morning sun rose and filled the room with its light, Jon smiled as he kissed Robb's forehead, who stirred and smiled up at his longtime lover.
"Good morning."
Jon smiled. "Happy name-day, old man."
"Old man?" Robb asked. "Who are you calling old?"
Jon grinned. "You, since you're no longer a teenager anymore."
Robb mock-glared at Jon and said, "Yeah, and you won't be either in like fifteen days."
Jon groaned. "Oh don't remind me."
"Yes, please, don't remind him," Aegon said, as he woke up. "His name-day only brings me that much closer to my own the following month."
Shaking his head, Theron said, "Okay, all your complaining about not being nineteen anymore is not only making me feel ancient but like a cradle robber on top of it."
Aegon cocked his head and said, "You know, I don't think I even know when your name-day is, Theron? I suppose that's bad, considering that we're courting, but it's just never really come up before."
Robb looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded and said, "You know Aegon's right. I don't know when your name-day is."
"When is it?" Jon asked. "And why haven't you mentioned it?"
"Maybe I thought you'd be scared away if you knew how old I am," Theron said. "So, I figured I wouldn't mention it unless you brought it up."
"Oh come on, Theron," Aegon said. "You can't possibly be that old. You don't look old."
"Thanks," Theron said, sarcastically.
When Theron didn't say anything more, Jon said, "So? When is it? Come on, don't make me pull rank."
That at least got a smile on Theron's face, as he leaned over and kissed Jon on the cheek. With a sigh, he answered, "3 Solace… which in Westerosi is Last Seed."
Left unsaid was that it would be known as Seventh Turn to the commoners, as Theron knew they were all educated enough to know that.
"And the year?" Robb asked.
"9:12 Dragon."
Jon said, "It's currently 9:42 Dragon right?" Theron nodded. "So, you turned thirty, three months ago."
Nodding, Theron said, "Yes, hence why I said you three complaining about turning twenty and not being teenagers anymore was making me feel ancient. As I haven't been a teenager since the year I slew Urthemiel, eleven years ago."
"Well, I suppose thirty isn't that old."
Theron grinned and said, "Don't think for one moment that I don't know you're only saying that because you want to get into my smallclothes, Aegon."
Looking unrepentant, Aegon said, "So what? You're hot. Besides, while I won't say that I'm in love with you yet since we've only known each other for less than a month, the more I learn about you the more I like you and the more I think I could fall for you."
"Same here."
Clearing his throat, Robb said, "Hey, remember me? The name-day boy? Think you three could pay a little more attention to me?"
Jon laughed. "And just what kind of attention were you hoping for?"
"Well, we're already in bed together," Robb said, and this much was true as the four of them were currently in Lord and Lady Forrester's bed.
Although when the Ironrath servants prepared the room for them, they'd stripped off the bedding and furs that had been on the bed and put clean linens on it. The four men in the large bed had then added the furs from their bedrolls to the bed. Between those and their shared body heat, they were left plenty warm throughout the night.
"So what exactly did you have in mind?" Aegon asked in a seductive voice.
"I know we agreed to no sex," Robb said. "But if we're going to be sleeping together like this, then I don't think I can stick to that. Especially after what Theron and I already did."
Jon quirked a brow at that as he asked, "Oh? And what did you two do?"
Theron blushed bright red. "Robb caught me giving myself a handjob in my solar. I didn't realize he was on my balcony until he walked in and caught me."
"I laid down on the chaise next to him," Robb said. "Fully clothed, mind you, kissed one of his ears, and ran a hand over his chest and abdomen while he continued with his handjob."
"I was thinking of all three of you as I did it," Theron said. "As Robb can attest, I was calling out all of your names."
"Well, it sounds innocent enough," Jon said, as Aegon nodded. "As for sharing a bed like this, I can understand where you're coming from, Robb. This might have been a mistake."
Shaking his head, Aegon who was lying on Jon's left—with Robb to Jon's right and Theron on the other side of Robb—moved so that he was lying half on top of Jon, one between Jon's legs, as he said, "Yeah, I don't think it was a mistake."
"Why am I not surprised," Jon said with a grin. "You've wanted to get into my smallclothes since the day we met, Griff."
"Of course, I have," Aegon said. "I mean have you seen yourself?"
Before Jon could say anything, Robb said, "He's got you there, Jae."
"That he does," Theron said with a smile, as he moved to copy Aegon's position, only with Robb, who smiled and wrapped an arm around Theron's lithe waist.
Looking over at Robb, Jon asked, "So, now you're calling me Jae too?"
"Well, I figured maybe I should test it out," Robb said. "See if I can get used to it because you should probably distance yourself from the Jon Snow persona if you want people to take your claim to the Iron Throne seriously."
"He's right, you know," Aegon said. "How do you expect people to think of you as the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms, a trueborn Targaryen, if you continue to call yourself Jon Snow, who's well known as the Bastard of Winterfell?"
"Yes, I suppose you're probably right," Jon agreed after giving it a few moments of thought. "It's going to take some getting used to is all. I mean, I've always known that my name is Jaeherys Targaryen, but after so many years of going by Jon Snow, I admit I've gotten used to it."
"Understandable," Robb said. "Especially since without access to Theron's silencing spell, we never actually called you Jaeherys back in Winterfell, just in case somebody might have overheard us talking."
After a few moments of silence, Jon said, "At any rate, back to the topics of it being Robb's name-day and sex, how about a handjob for now and then maybe once we get back to Winterfell, we can consider taking the next step?"
"I can live with that," Robb said.
Theron and Aegon agreed, as they all moved around on the bed so that Robb would be at the center of any action, as Jon began massaging Robb's chest and abdomen while kissing him. While Theron and Aegon both put their hands into Robb's smallclothes with Theron giving him the actual handjob, and Aegon caressing his balls.
Theron and Aegon also began kissing each other, after a while, as they figured why should Jon and Robb have all the fun in that department?
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To be continued…
And there's Act 3, Part 1 of 'Through the Eluvian.' I had originally thought I'd include Eddard's memorial service in this chapter, but then realizing that they were still a good two weeks away from Winterfell, I figured I'd cut it here. I'll probably cover the small feast for Robb's name day and then they'll get on the road to Winterfell and have the service for Eddard in the next part.