Hey friends, I hope you all have been well in this last week and sorry it took this long to update. I just wanted to thank you all for your kind reviews, favorites, follows and overall interest on this story. I will try to match up to your expectatives of this story and I really hope you can enjoy the adventure that is ahead. I will try to update every weekend. Remember that all criticism is welcomed and appreciated.

With all being please enjoy this chapter.

Ned I

280 AC

"You're a very skilled fighter, young Stark, but try to be less rigid while you fight. No amount of practice will save you in battle if you stick to the basics every knight in Westeros knows by heart" said the master-at-arms as he offered a hand to the downed second son of the Starks. Ned took the hand and got up as he grumbled "I know Sir Johnson, it's just hard to improvise while a poleaxe is coming down at me".

The master-at-arms laughed and patted his back hard "Worry not young Stark, when the times comes to bloody your blade, you will know what to do". As Ned tried to avoid falling again to the ground, a messenger came rushing into the courtyard "Lord Stark! Lord Arryn has summoned you into his solar, he says it's urgent." Surprised, Ned turned to Sir Johnson with an apology before following the messenger out of the courtyard.

As they made their way through the halls and passages of The Eyrie Ned pondered on what could have happened that required his presence ' Usually Lord Arryn collects us personally when he needs to scold us, so it really must be something serious. I only hope it doesn't involve Robert in any sort of way, the gods know that if Lord Arryn didn't have him on such a short leash half the castle's maids would be expecting by now'.

As he prayed for it to be anything but related to the antics of his best friend they finally arrived at the castle's solar. After knocking and being given the go-ahead Ned entered and found a disgruntled Jon Arryn seated behind his desk massaging his temple with an opened letter in front of him along with a sealed one and a half covered by a fur blanket basket.

"You called for me sir? Is something wrong?" Ned asked with some worry.

Lord Arryn looked up and motioned him to come closer "Depends on how you look at it Ned. Please grab a seat, if the letter addressed to you is anything like the one to me you are going to need it". As Ned seated Lord Arryn gave him the sealed letter and with some dread in his heart, he opened it and started to read.

" To Ned,

Greetings son, I hope your stay with House Arryn has been good since the last time we wrote and that the Old Falcon has been keeping you in good health. I wish I was writing this letter to just check up on you and exchange pleasantries but sadly this is not the case.

Your brother, the wild being that he is, has kept up his old habits since the last time I wrote but this time he bit more than he could chew. Not only has he knocked up another poor maiden of the north but this time it was a daughter of one of our most important vassals, so supplying the poor girl with some gold on a monthly basis wasn't gonna cut it this time.

Furthermore I have been negotiating a betrothal for him with the Tullys to strengthen our ties and guarantee a steady supply of wood for the next winter and a hiccup this big might endanger that. In the basket that hopefully arrived with these letters is the result of that hiccup and what I'm going to ask of you is something I wish I didn't need to, but there is no other option.

Please take care of this child so that in the event that her mother's house discovers her existence we can show them that we have taken good care of the little hiccup, even if she is a bastard. I know it is a lot to ask of you Ned but I'm sure that you will succeed.

When the time's right I will arrange for others to take her from your hands but in the meantime I pray that the child doesn't give you the same trouble her father has given us. Good luck and take care, Ned.

- Rickard Stark"

Ned couldn't believe it, he read it again and again but it said the same thing, his damn brother had done fucked up again and not only that but he had mange to screw him over too ´Damn you Brandon, damn you and your damn "Wolf's Blood" . Next time I see you I will cut-off your manhood with a burning iron and-´. As he continued to curse his brother silently Ned felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up see to the ever-calm face of the Lord of the Eyrie "Calm yourself Ned, nothing will be solved if we approach this with a hot head and as we have clearly seen that's more of your brother's forte. So let's take a breath and find a way to get us through this".

Ned took a deep breath and asked him " What am I going to do Jon? I know nothing about taking care of kids, I was eight when I came here so I didn't take care of Benjen and Lyanna when they were newborn, and to top it all off this is Brandon's kid we are talking about. She might attempt to bite my neck off if I try to pick her up".

Arryn chuckled and motioned Ned to stand "I know that feeling well, son. All though no children of my own, the first few months after you and Robert came here I was worried Robert might set fire to one of our battlements. But eight years later and now I see you both as my own flesh and blood. So cheer up and let's take a look at this little demon". Touched by Jon's words Ned smiled and moved to grab the blanket that was covering the basket, some dread still filling his mind.

´Come on Stark , get a hold of yourself. She's just a child, how bad can she be?´

Clearing his doubts, Ned lifted the blanket revealing the offspring of his brother. The child was of average size but what caught his and Lord Arryn's attention was the piercing black eyes that she had, which seemed to be looking right to his soul as if trying to judge who he was. It honestly disturbed him.

"She seems… more silent than what I expected of a child sired by Brandon'' Ned thought out loud without noticing, Arryn nodded while grabbing the small child.

"Aye and from the accounts of the couriers when they delivered her she was like that during all their journey too, only making noise when she appeared to be hungry and other necessities", he said as he inspected her," Many things can be said about your brother but he sired a healthy and intelligent child from what I can see, do you want to hold her?"

Although a little apprehensive Ned nodded and took hold of the child. Having never done this before he took a hold of her as if she was made out of glass and after making sure she didn't slip from his grasp he took another long look at her. Although she was still looking right at him her gaze seemed to have softened, becoming more curious than apprehensive, and after having a more detailed look he noticed that she resembled the gaze of Brandon when he was studying something.

"Did my father say what her name was in your letter sir?" Ned asked as he tried to find the right way to hold his niece.

The Lord of the Eyrie leaned against his desk and shook his head " I am afraid not. He only asked me to help you manage the child, so I suppose that he has delegated the task of naming her to you as well."

After taking a minute to think Ned took another look at her deep black eyes and suddenly one name rushed to the top of his mind "She will be named Karliane" he finally announced .

Lord Arryn nodded with approval "A fine name Ned, and one with profound ties to your family. Let us hope that one day she will be able to help house Stark as her namesake once did".

"What do you think, little demon? Do you like it?" Ned asked the baby not really expecting an answer but was surprised when a small smile appeared on her face. Happily surprised, Ned began to ease into the idea of taking care of her when a sudden thought rushed to him "How are we going to explain this to Robert?". Knowing his best friend, he was going to have a field day with this turn of events.

Lord Arryn raised his palm to stop him from worrying "I will explain the situation to him, Ned. With how he usually is it's better to explain it thoroughly to him before he jumps to-" he was interrupted when the door to the solar flew open, revealing the oldest son of house Baratheon in all his tall and boisterous self.

"Old man! Have you seen Ned? We were supposed to meet for training an hour ago and if I find out he ditched me to keep reading those damn books of his again, I swear I'm going to-" Robert stopped his loud promises of bodily harm in its tracks as he entered fully into the room and noticed the small babe in Ned's arms. He looked at Ned, then at the babe, then back at Ned and finally back at the babe. A full minute of tense silence passed and Ned swore he could see the gears turning in his friend's head trying to process the scene in front of him. Finally a big grin appeared on Robert's face before he loudly exclaimed "Ned! You self-righteous sly dog!".

As Robert approached him patting him on the back while asking a thousand questions and Lord Arryn tried to calm down the Baratheon's heir, a single thought crossed through Ned's head.

´By the old gods, in what have I been gotten into?´