"Enough," Eddard Stark said, his had coming down on the hard wood of his desk. Jon and Catlyn both startle, neither having ever seen that kind of reaction from the man they called father and husband respectively. "I made a vow to your mother, Jon, that should you ever which to go to the Nights Watch, I would send for her immediately. She never explained why, and with you pushing for it, I have finally done so."

"Ned!" Catlyn gasped, horrified that the woman that had given her husband a bastard son would be in the walls of her home. "You cann-"

"I said enough, Cat, and I meant it," Ned cut across his wife. He looked to Jon, his nephew that he claimed as a son to protect him. As he gazed at the young man, his heart ached for his lost sister and he hoped beyond hope that, with both Alysandra Gris and King Robert Baratheon in one place, the secret would not come out.

Alyssandra knew the secret, obviously, and had agreed to take the place of Jon's missing mother should she ever need to make an appearance or prevent the lad from taking the black. Lyanna had insisted that she didnt want that life for her son and so, after her death, Ned and Alys had concocted the plan. Alys had been on the battlefield with Ned and Robert at first before she had been racalled home to a small island kingdom somewhere between Westerose and the Free Cities. She had been a formidable fighter and a good friend to Ned in the time she was with him in the tick of the fighting.

She was pulled from the fight when something of a civil war had broken out among her 4 brothers over who would take the head of house duties should Alys die and she had needed to go and quell their idiocy as she would have said. She had returned in time to ride hard with Ned for the Tower of Joy and catch Lyanna's death.

Alys and Lyanna had never known each other beyond what Ned would tell either of the other but Alys, when she declared someone as her friend or family, she would rais the darkest pits of hell for them. Ned, she had declared family, and the loss of his sister rocked him and shook Alys. But she promised Ned and Lyanna that she would do her best by the babe his sister had fought to bring into the world. She had even offered to take the child with her, as no one would bat an eye at her returning with a child but Ned had refused. The boy was a Stark and needed to be at Winterfell.

Alys had relictantly agreed but had insisted that if Ned ever needed her to play any part to the child she would do it gladly. As Jon and Catlyn both pushed for Jon to go north to the Wall, he finally broke down and wrote her, begging her to play the part of long lost mother and keep the child he had grown to love as his own from ending up dead beyonf the Wall. Alys had replied that she would be there as swiftly as boats and horses could carry her. The seal she used for the litter was different that the one used in her younger years and he wondered what had changed in all that time. The letter requested details of Jon and his demeanor, like, interests and intellect. Ned had given as much information as he safely could and Yesterday he had gotten a raven stating she would be arriving in 4 days, two days before Robert was set to arrive.

He looked to his nephew turned son and then to his wife. "I have already arranged quarters for her and she will be arriving in 3 days"

Catlyn was as red innthe face as her hair and Jon looked like he mught faint. "And do I fianlly get to know the name of the woman you took to bed and sired you bastard on?" Cat demanded.

He knew this would be a blow to her ego as it had been when Jon's mother was rumored to be Ashara Dayne. "Alysandra Gris, of Soul Keep on the Isle of the Lost" He watched Cat go white and then turne a vibrant red that contrasted poorly with her hair.

Ned could understand why. Alysandra was rumored to not only be a fierce warrior woman but also a great beauty with hair so black it shone blue in the sun and eye such a vivid violet they were said to glow. Everyone knew there was no Valyrian blood in the Gris line and Alys had told him once that the purple eyes were the result of magic in the blood allowing the women of her family to see past the veil of death. She never told him why it was only women or what she was meant to do with such a gift, but it was there and the color of her eyes matched with moon pale skin that burned in the high sun of the south and her emchanting hair made people on and off the battlefield think she was a messanger of The Stranger, a harbinger of death.

Ned looked to Jon and could see wonder in his eyes. He had been told stories of the woman now marked as his mother as bedtime tales from old nan and his father. There was wonder and hero worship in Jon' amethyst eyes and Ned could only hope the boy wouldn't have his world crushed by the woman who would be coming to claim him as her child.

Catlyn turned before anything of the woman could be said in her presence and stormed from Ned's study. Jon looked at his father, the sound of Lady Catlyn storming off pulling him from his happy daze. "She is realy... really coming, Father?" He asked, hope creeping into his voice.

Ned heaved a sigh and nodded. "Yes, Jon, she is. Be aware, she may call you a different name than the one you have always gone by, it is a tradition in her family that she will explain to you at some point no doubt."

Jon nodded eagerly. "Where will she be staying?" He want, no needed to know. What if she got lost in Winterfell and he could take her back to a good starting point? What if she wandered the halls at night as he did? There were so many queations.

"In the guest wing, I thought it the safest bet so that Lady Stark would not get the wrong idea. Alys will be here for you, after all, not me," Ned said with a thight smile he hoped didn't look too strained to Jon. He need not have worried, the las was lost in his head and Ned could see the questions in his eyes. "Wait for her to arrive, Jon, then we three can sit and you can ask all the questions you want. In the meantime i do believe you have lessons to attend to."

Jon looked put out but nodded and hurried off. Ned sat back in his chair and heaved another deeper sigh, wondering if he would have a head full of grey hair at the end of this all.

~~~~~Line~~~~~Line~~~~~Line~~~~~

Well... this happends. IDK where im taking this. Enjoy.

~Syl