Severus had never been a believer of Gods in his whole life, he had however started to believe them after the strange shit they had pulled on him.
He had died after being bitten by Nagini and even managed to transfer the knowledge to the Potter boy. He knew what a piece of soul meant and he knew that if the Dark Lord used the killing curse there was a chance that Potter would still be alive because the smaller soul would be ejected first from his body leaving him with his own soul. It was a crazy idea of Dumbledore which he had deduced but if it worked he could say that he will once again lose to the Old man's calculated machinations.
He had hoped that perhaps in the afterlife he would simply roam around and do nothing but sleep peacefully. He hadn't thought that he would be born in another world and the worse in a medieval world in which even to shat he had to use a chamber pot.
Oh hell, he was going to introduce the use of indoor plumbing in these desolate and wretched world. Oh he certainly loved his new family, technically he was an adult in mind but the human brain was not matured fully in a child which was half the reason sometimes he had childish urges or feelings. Atleast he liked his new family more. His childish brain latched into the concept of a mother and father and loved them fully. It proved one of another Dumbledore's words which they had in secret that the human mind was a concept about which even the best of legillimens knew nothing much about as it had a untapped potential to it.
Still it felt nice having parents who cared for you and some siblings who even being noisy could be adoring, the latter which he would never admit. His mother was a redhead lady Catelyn Tully nee Stark and his father was Lord Eddard Stark, Lord Paramount Of North and Warden Of The North.
He resembled his father strongly along with his twin sister Arya. He had been shocked to find that he had a twin but with time he had learned to accept it, just like how he had accepted that Lily was never worth it. He had put her on a pedestal too much high because she had been a friend and despite that he had delivered the prophecy, there was high chance that they would have been killed in the war.
He looked at the Maester Luwin who was overseeing their numbers. It was no problem for him even as a six years old. They didn't knew that he was a genius in both muggle and magical studiesin previous life. He had seen and firsthand heard about the Apollo mission, after that event muggle science had made his way to his heart. He never told anyone but learning muggle science had made him more knowledgeable and given him an edge in various things. Even during the holidays, he visited and toured the world. Sightseeing, learning architecture and visiting ruins and learning some new magic from different parts of the world were his favourite things to do during summer. Those breaks made him relax from the thoughts and headaches of brats who could not brew a simple potion nicely.
He was now seven years old. His mother had given birth to Bran when he and Arya were around 2 years old, Rickon had been born just two months ago. His mother was busy with Rickon which gave enough leeway for Arya who bunked Septa Mordane lessons regularly to practise with him in the Godswood.
He was amused at his sister's actions, his father referred it as the wolf's blood. Apparently the Starks had in their blood which excited them to pretty extreme levels in thrill seeking, he honestly discarded it as a theory. It was probably some made up rumour, he thought inwardly.
Atleast Arya never shied away from numbers or studies, it was just the womanly activities of this world she detested such as sewing or singing. He still didn't knew why his father kept the Septa around, they were to follow the Old Gods, why the fuck he allow her to teach them. It was not like they will convert to the faith of seven, otherwise the Northern Lords would pretty much rebel. He already knew that the Lords were not much happy but they weren't saying due to their loyalty.
His father's honour really caused large problems, he thought inwardly. His father was a good Lord but a little bit more honourable than needed. Even his elder siblings and Bran clinged to the teachings of honour while he kept the situation in mind and acted accordingly.
Arya was not much into honour but then again she largely did what I or Jon did. Jon Snow, my half brother and the bastard child of Lord Eddard Stark and the bane of my father's eyes was a boy of twelve who was far too honourable and gentle like father. He didn't hate Jon, why would he do so infact?, the boy had no control of his birth and it was just his bad fortune that my mother seemed to disapprove of her largely. Still he hanged around Jon mostly as the boy was a better company than Robb who was either too busy with father about the studies of being a Lord or with Theon fucking Greyjoy whose attitude grated on his nerves.
Arya adored Jon and me mostly because the three of looked more similar in our looks due to our hair and eyes. He had seen the true and happy smile at Jon's face when he was with Arya and him so there was no reason to not hang around him when the boy was an extremely good swordsman.
He looked at Arya who had completed her numbers too and both of them showed them to Maester Luwin who inspected them clearly and gave his approval to them.
"You may go Lord Torrhen and Lady Arya" he said respectfully to which I nodded whereas Arya just jumped from her seat and ran out of the room.
On the outside of the room, he found her waiting for him.
"So what are we practising today, Torrhen?" she asked eagerly, already bouncing on her toes about wanting to learn more about swordmanship. He sighed, really she must have been born as a boy with the amount of interest she had over swords and fighting.
"I am going to meet with father about some plans" he said calmly as he looked at her.
"What plans? are we going to sneak to Wintertown to meet the commonfolk like before" she asked eagerly, it was a little amusing to notice the difference between the two sisters. One on her way to become a perfect lady while another one just rebelling more and more.
"A plan to earn some more coins via trade. If I do this correctly then we might even get a chance to have a Waterdancing teacher for you " he said simply to the eager look of Arya, he knew he had got her at the last part.
"Why would I need a dancing teacher, I don't want to learn to dance" she protested. Torrhen or Severus at the moment, felt banging his head to the stone wall of the castle.
"Arya, Waterdancing is a techinque in which the person uses his body's agility to fight. It is a type of sword technique used by the Braavosi" he explained as he looked at her.
"Really?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes, now I must go to father to meet, if you want then you can go and feed my ravens" he said as he looked at her.
Arya nodded eagerly and ran off to the tower where his Ravens were perched. Ravenry was something he indulged in after watching Maester Luwin, after learning quickly from Maester quickly tamed Ravens and with some mild legilimency and small bands engraved by little runes placed on their toes which helped them to fly faster than ever and cover the distance in one third or fourth of the time as the runes helped in removing air friction and gave their body a little boost of energy as well as speed due to the lightweight charm and propelling charm engraved as runes.
Ofcourse the runes expired after eight months but that much time was enough for him to send and receive letters more fast and recharge them. Technically he had met the Lords of North in the feast and they looked very intimidating with their faces and the aura they gave. Most of the Lords were after Robb as he was the Heir but he had observed them from distance. He didn't had his wand and only the knowledge of runes and legilimency which made him more determined to survive. It was the reason he pushed himself to extremes during training with Rodrick Cassel and also exercised heavily with push-ups and other ones. He wanted to have his body at it's finest after which if he needed more, then he could use rituals given the ingredients could be found nicely or lest he had to kill someone and use a human sacrifice. However the first man runes he had found in the library books were also magical but they were a little less powerful than that of the wizarding ones. The problem with first man runes was however that they needed a little strong magic to be avtivated, which was not much present in this world as the dilution of blood had happened for thousand of years. However smearing blood of people who were descended from first men also helped though that was no problem for him as he simply pushed his magic into them to work. The runes here were much varied and he still need a little more to decipher them fully as much of the runes disappeared with time. To gather the complete set of runes, either he had to go beyond the wall, but even that was a gamble.
He had long ago accepted that it was to kill or be killed in this world, still it didn't made him happy or gave him any joy to do so. But for himself to live, he would need to strengthen himself.
He reached to his father's solar as the guard entered inside to ask the permission of his father to send him in.
The guard came out after some moments and gestured to go inside.
He gave a nod to the guard as he entered inside and found his father along with Robb and his mother Catelyn holding a baby Rickon who was sleeping. It seemed he had interrupted them in something.
"Father, mother, brother" he greeted them politely "I hope I am not interrupting anything useful" he asked politely looking at them as they were seen to be having a discussion of some sort.
"No, we were just finished teaching Robb" his father said in his usual calm and collected tone, ohh so Robb was having his lessons with father about being a Lord or whatever, he thought inwardly.
"If you want to ask about using live steel in your practise, then I want you to know that my answer is no" his father said sternly looking at him.
Okay he will admit that one of his demands was going to be that, considering Rodrick Cassel had been denying him to practise with it as he said that it will be dangerous to him. Dangerous, he was the man who had gone every day to a mad man who would have killed him if he ever knew about his loyalties. What would be a little blade for him now.
"Actually, I wasn't going to ask about that, I wanted to ask about a possible business venture" he said slowly as he looked at his father seriously, as serious they could think a seven year old can be.
"Torrhen, the winter will be here within five years, as predicted by the citadel. If we spend our treasury fivourously now, then ther is a chance that we may have not much left to buy food for Winter" he said looking at him, behind him he could see Robb agreeing as in North's history it had happened many times.
"But this is what I was hoping to talk with you, my plan would need not much spending in coin, just enough for paying some labours and not exporting anything of value to us while at the same time earning much coin for us" he countered back and at that moment he knew he had gotten everyone's attentions.
"Elaborate" his father spoke simply as he looked at him curiously.
He nodded and started to explain "Maester Luwin was telling me that unlike North, most of the areas donot snow much in winter and that the free cities had high temperature as well as areas such as Dorne and the rest six kingdoms. I was thinking that what would happen if we pack some ice and store it safely and ship them to other places so that the nobles could use ice with their drinks or something like that" he finished looking at his Lord father.
His father remained thoughtful and he spoke after some moments "that's not a bad idea at all" he finished looking at him curiously.
"I think that you have prepared and thought everything" he spoke curiously as he looked at him.
"I have, I was hoping you would allow me to go to Manderly's so that I could discuss it with them, the snow around winterfell has still not melt as well as around most of the North. The sooner we can get over this, the faster I think we can acheive more money which could help in buying food for us" he said as he looked at his father hoping the man would agree.
"Absolutely not, you are only seven namedays old, it would be better if Lord Manderly arrive here for the talks" his mother spoke up sternly from his father's side.
His father looked thoughtful and he looked at Robb and asked calmly "what do you think about the idea?"
"This is an unusual idea but it does have merit" he replied slowly to his father.
"Anything else Torrhen like certain conditions?" his father asked curiously looking at him with a knowing look.
Torrhen took a breath and spoke slowly "I want a share of profits for some projects of mine" he finished looking solemnly at his father.
"Projects?" his father asked curiously looking at him.
"It's a surprise for now" he said seriously which most probably sounded like a child's whine. Frankly he knew his father would be better if he didn't knew till the last moment.
"I hope they are not illegal" his father spoke with a warning edge.
"It won't" he said simply as he was just bypassing the laws.
"So how many people you need as labours and soldiers to accompany you to White Harbour" his father asked him after some moment of consideration.
"Many people of Wintertown enjoy our patronage even though they hardly do any work and only get in quarrels with each other. I will take them as labours, we have many furs and spare gloves with us in the castle which are in the store room, I will give them some to dig the snow and pack them. As for Soldiers it would be upto you father, though I would like Jon to accompany me" he said after thinking for a moment.
His father nodded "why Jon though specifically?" he asked him with a neutral tone.
"The others will be busy with lessons, Robb takes lessons from you and Sansa is with Septa Mordane. Arya will be more than happy to join me however I don't think you would want that. Jon normally don't have lessons and he will be a familiar person to travel with" he said smoothly to his father. Besides Jon was someone whom he could trust with his crazy plan.
His father considered his words and nodded "okay, though I will write a letter to Lord Manderly about your arrival and that he goes over your proposal" he said after a moment of silence.
"Father, I have another thing to show you" he said as he brought out a folded piece of parchment which he had sketched.
"What is it now, Torrhen?" his father asked him as he looked at the incredibly complex design.
"It is a tool that I am planning to build, it will loosen the soil more easily while at the same time help the seeds to be planted at the same depth in the soil evenly" he explained to his father astonishment.
"Will it be possible?" he asked skeptically to him, looking at the design.
"I am sure it will work, I will be working with Mikken to make it while you order the Soldiers and Labours, I hope to finish it before going White Harbor" he said to his father informing him about it, as he was the Lord and it will not be nice if he heard about it from Mikken or any other.
"Once completed, the seed drill will help farmers cover more space in less area which will mean an increase in farm size as the tool will help lessen the workforce in a field" he explained to his father, who was looking at the paper blankly.
"Hmm, you can proceed with this plan. If it works as you said, then instruct Mikken to make more like this, we will be sending it to nearby keeps and the design will be sent to the other Northern houses. Have you verified it with Maester Luwin?" he stated after which he finally asked about the approval from Maester.
"He was confused a little at first but eventually agreed to try it. I hope you warn him about not sending the idea to citadel though" he said, pressing the last part.
"Why would you not want Maester Luwin to send the idea to Citadel?" Robb asked a little suprised by his request.
"It will be beneficial for the North aye, I admit it. But the Citadel is located at the Reach, which is famous for it's fertile lands. If the tool gets there, then there is a chance that many farmers and people will find themselves jobless, which may cause a large smallfolk revolt. If our farmsizes are increased, then it will also lead us to buy less food from Reach. The increased production of food will be beneficiary to us and the Reach and their Lords had always overcharged the prices to us when we ask them for grains during winters, since the time of Targaryens. The Reach will also suffer a loss of coin and at the same time we have a chance to grow stronger. And why do we bother to give them the advantage which we have, it would be a foolish thing to do, besides they never cared for us, so why should we care for them" he explained to Robb who looked pensive at the words.
His father meanwhile looked at him strangely before nodding "I will have a talk with Maester Luwin about it" he finally said.
"Thank you father" he said as he took his leave from the room.
Ned Stark was a man who had seen love, hate and death all in his life. However even his vast experience failed him in dealing with his son Torrhen.
Robb was a nice boy and an excellent Heir with a mind for strategies and fights, Arya had the Wolf's blood like Lyanna and Brandon, Sansa was trained by her mother and Septa to become a perfect lady whereas Bran and Rickon were children.
He had seen the death of his father, brother and sister during the last war which was a reason he was very protective of his family. Torrhen was an anomaly though, he was warm towards his siblings even treating Jon as his own sibling. He had seen how Arya and he were the ones who were most adored by Jon.
Speaking of Jon, he took another sigh. Lyanna forgive me, he thought depressed as he was finally alone in his solar. Jon was entertaining the ideas to join Night's Watch, Ned knew that it was the safest place for him but he felt a pang in his heart. Safest didn't meant, that he liked his decision. The Silver Prince and his madness had taken everything from his family.
Torrhen was another of his worries, the boy was exceedingly smart and even Maester Luwin had said and requested him many times to send him to Citadel to forge some links. He had however refused Maester Luwin's decision, Torrhen was going to be Robb's bannerman. Besides he knew Torrhen had little to no interest in becoming a Lord, he was happy in his own way.
He had heard news from his soldiers about how Torrhen sneaked to Wintertown and mingled with people there, hearing their tales and sorrows and giving advices.
He had even heard a rumour that he took children under his wing who wanted to train to be soldiers or knights, he even heard that he had allies in Brothel. On investigating the rumour apparently he found that Torrhen had arrived there with his soldiers who guarded him and asked the owner for whores who could read and write. Apparently the owner terrified of his warnings and that he was son of Lord of Winterfell had instantly agreed. He had taken the young girls who had recently flowered or knew a little about learning or writing and given them a cottage with the task to teach the children some numbers and how to write and learn. He knew Torrhen sneaked to meet them every two or three days along with Arya sometimes. Apparently he also told them he would pay them and actually paid them from his own money which he recieved from him sometimes.
He had a suspicion of what he was doing, his son was trying to establish a spy network. He had never talked with Torrhen about it as he had faith in him, besides he wanted to see how far his son would succeed. He detested the idea but it was a useful thing to have, he was not fond of what Torrhen was doing. But at the same time he was also the Warden of North and it was his duty to do what was best for the North.
Today his son had brought another two ideas which if proved worthy and right would make the North much more of a better place. The seed drill would help in farming greatly, while the coin from the ice was still to be seen. Land was incredibly tough to plow after winter and if the tool could help in that then he will be able to get more land to farm with the help of farmers.
Torrhen too had the Wolf's blood in him, it made him impatient mostly on some work if it was taking long. His sword handling was good but he hadn't reached the level to practise with live steel. Yet the boy always tried to use the live steel, Rodrick had complained him about this for more than thirty times.
He knew that he and Arya practised sword fighting along with Jon sometimes. Her daughter also gave another headache to him and his wife.
Catelyn demanded her to respect and show herself in Septa Mordane's lessons, whereas Arya always bunked those lessons to sneak upon her brothers training. He knew about Arya's wish to learn swordfighting and he couldn't help but feel the pain in heart with the amount of similarity Arya showed to Lyanna.
His ward Theon Greyjoy brought another worry to his mind. He was happy that Robb and he were getting along but the boy's mannerisms were not much liked by Jon or Torrhen. Having the Heir of Iron Islands as his ward was another thing to worry about, the boy was skilled with a bow but he had too much of a tendency to gloat. His vanity would come in his path to victory, which he had seen Rodrick pointing out to him. The boy had always scoffed at the words and remained like the same.
He looked at the letter which he had written to Lord Manderly as he decided to tie the letter to one of his son's ravens who could flew faster than any raven he had seen. Another of his son's various accomplishments, he thought with a smile.
Perhaps there was a chance for the North to change, he thought with a smile. He just hoped as a father and Lord that Torrhen's ideas proved fruitful.