Disclaimer I own nothing of a song of ice and fire or any other fictional works.
8 Moons later
"Okay Jon, deep breaths… " I say aloud to myself, everything had to go according to plan.
I sat and watched as the fire within the hearth roared, the hot air it created filling the large balloon structure. The vessel which was what people in my old world would call a dirigible or a zeppelin, though honestly she had more in common with hot air balloons. Its main structure resembled the hull of a small ship barely large enough to fit five grown men with a large balloon instead of sails, her figurehead was that of a wolf. Gracefully I steered her down into the flat ground just outside of Winterfell.
"Jon!" I could hear Lord Stark call out to me as he came running over with several guards. The smallfolk had all come out to see what all the commotion was about as well, "It works, Lord Stark, it works!" I announced with a laugh as I climbed down from my sky ship, "I name this ship the She-Wolf!" I smile widely. I've just done something no man in this world has ever done since the last dragon died. I have flown.
"Jon, what is this contraption?" Lord Stark asked, looking at my newest invention in both wonder and suspicion. How would a five year old boy build a flying machine? Maester Luwi, however, is looking at me as if I held all the secrets of life, the universe and everything. "A sky ship, Lord Stark. My latest invention" I respond, looking at my greatest accomplishment. With the She-Wolf I would be out of range for most weapons and the only thing that could challenge me for air supremacy in the future would be a dragon... Thinking about dragons gave me ideas for how to deal with them; later generations of sky ships would need a number of Scorpion ballista and a larger crew in case Daenerys proved hostile.
2 weeks later
Travelling by sky ship is really one of the best ways to travel in my opinion. Lord Stark gave me a lecture about keeping secrets like this from him and Maester Luwin. Honestly, the man can be a bit of a hypocrite… I know he's keeping the secret of my parentage to keep me alive but still. Oh well. I did manage to convince him to let me keep the She-Wolf, citing that I had built her with my allowance with my own efforts and an attempt to take her would be theft, and therefore dishonorable. I felt bad manipulating his sense of honor but I needed the She-Wolf for my own plans. I also convinced him to let Luwin give me more advanced lessons, allowing me to take advantage of all the knowledge I could. Lord Stark even gave me free reign of the library. Hopefully there will be some interesting books in that tower… In my past life I was a bit of a bibliophile and loved reading. Even in this new life, that hasn't changed and now that I think about Rhaegar, my father was also said to be a prolific reader.
Heading to the library makes me think of more things I needed to invent; sheets of paper, ink pens and a printing press. Paper would be the easiest of the three but it would still take time to get right. The printing press will also take a while to put together. If I remember right, the first press was made using a wine press with letters carved onto blocks of wood that could be moved within the press. Getting started was definitely going to be a pain... The She-Wolf was already a huge cost to build and I just didn't have the finances to get started yet, but after a few moons of savings I should be able to start.
289 AC
Time can really get away from you. So some things have changed. The Starks have welcomed a new baby this morning; little Arya. Honestly, even if I didn't know how she would turn out she'd still be my favorite Stark. Lady Catelyn has forbidden me from visiting her. But this helps confirm for me that it's the year 289 AC which means the Iron Born have started rebelling or soon will.
"Robb, Jon, come here" I heard Lord Stark call as he led us into his solar. As we entered I could tell this was serious; he had his serious face on, "Robb, Jon, I will be heading off to help His Grace, King Robert Baratheon put down the Greyjoy Rebellion. While I am gone, you Robb, will be the Stark in charge of Winterfell. Keep each other safe, and remember 'When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives'." He said, looking at us both, "But Lord Stark, what about you?" I asked, looking up at him, "I'll have our men with me and the rest of the King's forces. Jon, both you and Robb are forbidden from coming with me" Lord Stark answered, his tone clear that there was to be no arguments from either of us.
Later that night
Sneaking out into the night really wasn't as hard as it should have been. With most of Winterfell's forces heading off to war the guard patrols where lessened. After half an hour of sneaking through the dark I finally came upon the She-Wolf. I knew that if I disobeyed Lord Stark's orders there would be consequences, even though I knew the canon story said he'd be fine I was still worried. He was family and he'd done so much to protect me. He'd kept the secret of my birth from King Robert, he'd defended me from his bitch wife and even had me educated as best he could. Making sure he was safe was the least I could do… And hey, I might even get some loot to uses as funds for later experiments.