He was completely taken by surprise when he was reborn.

Not the way mortals do. Rebirth has never been a problem for an immortal.

It was what he was reborn as that was the surprise. No more was he the green-eyed lean and tall swimmer. No longer could he feel the connection to his sword. No longer could he feel his connection to the sea.

Things were getting out of hand. He was a fucking baby, of course.

The whack to his bottom should have been expected. And he should've been indignant to his new body's response. But no, that didn't matter as much. The confusion was too strong to even give way to a sliver of the physical stimulus.

And in that confusion - trapped inside the mind of a baby boy for about a week or so, he guessed, he found clarity. Or perhaps, more accurately - information that justified the cause for the previous confusion. But that caused a different, more indignant, confusion in him as a result.

He wasn't completely himself. That should've been obvious - considering he was sure he wasn't in his body anymore. But that wasn't the important bit.

It was the fact that someone else had tagged along. And from what he could sense, that other person was a reincarnate as well.

He was stalled from this train of thought when the door to the room opened harshly. Not with a bang, per se, but with a certain urgency, and in walked a - perhaps fifty-year-old man. Greying black hair with grey-green eyes, and a windburnt face. The smell of the sea which accompanied the older man, who stood at an intimidating six and a half feet by his estimation, was what put him at ease.

Well, if this was his father, then this new life would definitely be an interesting one.

The man walked closer to him, and he took the moment to rove his young eyes over his form. He wore a tanned, likely seal leather, overcoat. Under that, he could see a green linen shirt. Accompanying it were dark, dyed woolen pants, and scuffed leather boots.

On the overcoat - at the heart - the man had a pinned gold ornament. It looked like a stylized octopus, and that made him smile. He could see himself taking a sea creature as an identifying tag, and it being gold indicated he was probably not a peasant.

He brought his attention back to the man's face and saw a stony expression. And when he started to speak, he thankfully felt his godly power of understanding the words of the unfamiliar language kick in.

"He's a big one Balon, mayhaps even twice the size you were a week past birth."

The man stalked forward and came closer - barely half a foot from his face.

He noticed movement in the shadows and noticed a pair was standing behind the old man. His bulk hid them from his sight originally, but even after the words spoken - which probably indicated him being the grandson of the giant looking him in the eyes right now, he couldn't move his eyes away from the ones staring deep into his.

"Mayhaps he will have twice the father's brains as well," he whispered, before promptly turning around and nodding at the golden-haired woman and making his way out of the moon.

When his eyes fell on the duo that was likely his parents, he couldn't help but be slightly underwhelmed. The father was not like his grandfather. Standing slightly hunched at less than six feet - he looked at everything as if the world existed to spite him. The woman was not much better - he would eat his foot if she was even five feet - and slight of build - as if she would keel over if she missed a meal.

She walked over to the crib he was laying in and picked him up. With a slight smile on her face, she started rocking him, before bringing him close and kissing his forehead. "My son, don't be afraid. Your grandfather is a hard man, and never pleased."

He felt another kiss while noting the sound of receding footsteps again. That was probably his father walking out the room - likely to throw a fit from what mutterings he could hear.

"You will be a strong one, Rodrik Greyjoy. You will do old Quellon proud. Mayhaps he will smile again then."

He felt a sharp pain in his head then. The other reincarnate living there he assumed, suddenly cried out in what he could guess was panic.

'Oh hell no! Not a Greyjoy! What the fuck, man!'