Chapter 1: Fated Meeting

It has been a few days since Jon woke up on the gravel beach of Kear Trolde's harbor. He had been lightly questioned by the father of the little girl, Larr he said his name was. The questions were rather simple: who are you, where are you from, how did you get to the harbor, what do you remember? Jon had enough presence of mind to know to keep his answers simple and without elaborating: Jon Snow, Winterfell, I don't know, I was looking for my mother.

The questioning stopped after the first day and the family has allowed him to stay for a while. They can't support another mouth to feed for a long time, they said.

Jon spent his days fixing nets with the mother, Alda. His evenings and nights keeping the young daughter, Tarri, busy until she fell asleep, like he would with Sansa. Braiding hair and telling stories.

This routine continued for five days. Then on the sixth the family told him that they'll be going on a trip to Cintra to sell candied fish, caught and prepared by the son, Fril, a boy half a dozen name days older than Jon. Along furs that were taken from animals killed by Larr. They told him that he could come with them, but when they arrive, Jon would have to go on his own way. Or, he stays on Ard Skellig and leaves the house to do work elsewhere.

Jon was still thinking on his options when a large, red bearded man came to visit the family's home. He came with a small, ashen haired girl around Jon's age. He was asking them about their trip to Cintra. If they could take the girl with them. "We have enough room for another." Larr said and the large man thanked him then left, leaving the girl at the door way.

The girl, without a second of hesitation, strides into the house with a grin saying "Hi! My name is Ciri, when do we leave?". Before giving his answer, Larr turn to Jon and asks "Well, coming or not?". Jon glanced to Ciri, she had this... feel about her, like she was important. Following her just felt like the right thing to do. So, Jon gave his answer by nodding his head. Larr hummed in satisfaction, then gave Ciri her answer. "Everything already packed, we were just waiting on this one. We're leaving now."

This revelation surprised Jon. Someone, a stranger no less, had considered him enough to wait for his opinion. Jon was so amazed and lost in his emotions that he didn't notice that Larr and Ciri had left the house. The boy was only broken from his thoughts when Larr called to him from outside, "I- I'll be right there!" he yelled back, running out to catch up to them.

They had just left the harbour when Larr said something rather alarming, "Alright kids, now that we're in open water. I ought to warn you about the sirens. They might look like a right pretty lass at first, but right when you get nice and close. That's when they get ya. They sprout big scaly wings, fangs and claws. Then eat ya. So, if you see a pretty lass swimin' towards us. Let me know and I'll take care of it."

That's when it sunk in for Jon. He isn't in Westeros anymore, he hoped he might have somehow gotten to the far reaches of Essos, but that hope is gone now. There has never been anything even close to 'sirens' in his world. He can never go back home, he can never play with Robb again, never again will Sansa practice her braids in his hair, he'll never get father's comforting words and... he'll never find his mother.

Filled with sadness and despair, all Jon could do was stumble over and sit with his back on the side of the boat. He put his head in his hands and wept. The boy didn't know how long he sat there, back against the railing. It could have been minutes or hours. He only stopped and looked up when the girl, Ciri, came over. After noticing her, Jon quickly wiped away his tears.

"Umm. Are you alright?" she asked

"No." Jon replied

"You can tell me about it, that might make you feel better." Ciri told him and Jon was shocked, again, by these strangers. Who seem to care so much about some boy. Before he said anything else, Jon looked at Ciri. Really looked at her, and four things stood out. The first was her hair, it was ash white. The second was her big emerald eyes, that seemed to look into his soul. Third was her sheer boyishness, if he wasn't told beforehand, he would have thought her a boy. The last wasn't a physical thing, it was more like a feel like what he felt earlier. It made him want to trust her, tell her everything.

"You won't believe me" he said.

"Try me."

"Okay, questions at the end. Let me finish first." he said. At her nod, he started. Jon told her everything that lead him here. He started when his father went to war, then how his life changed, what he learned about his mother and his deciding to run away so he can find her. After some hesitation, he continued on to when the blizzard struck and how he passed out then woke up on Ard Skellig.

"That's it?"

"What do you mean 'That's it?'! "

"Well, it's not that weird. Happens often enough that a lot of people know about it." At that, Jon was floored. "You just fell through a rift."

"What the hell is this world I'm stuck in?" he wondered out loud.

"What me to tell you about it? Then you tell me about yours?" she asked and Jon agreed

She started with something called 'The Conjunction of The Spheres'. It was a mysterious event that brought magic into the world, but with it came monsters and non-humans. The monsters were so numerous and so varied that magic users, sorcerers and sorceresses, had to make mutated people to hunt them. These people were called Witchers. She moved on to the more... normal things. Ciri told Jon about her home of Cintra. It's history as an elven settlement before humans moved in and make their city.

There was so much to say and Jon had so many questions, like a lengthy explanation on doplers, that when Ciri had finished her impromptu history lesson. Day had turned to night. So, they decided to end it there for now.

The next day, it was Jon's turn to tell Ciri of his world and his family. He told her stories from the age of heroes, of his ancestor Brandon the Builder, of Lann the Clever, Nymeria, even the long night and the Last Hero. He told her about the children of the forest and the Weirwood trees he and his people worship. He told her about the Hightower and the Wall. He told her of the Andal invasion and the faith of the seven, how the North was the only Kingdom to stop them. He explained how Westeros used to be seven independent kingdoms: The Kingdom of the Reach, The Kingdom of the Rock, The Kingdom of the Stormlands, The Principality of Dorne, The Kingdom of Mountains and Vale, The Kingdom of Isles and Rivers and The Kingdom of the North. "Then came Aegon and his sister wives" he said, ignoring Ciri's "Ew, gross.".

He told her how they conquered Westeros with their dragons: the death of King Argilac, the burning of Black Harren and his sons (Ciri liked that story a bit too much), the field of fire (which got a "Wow, they're stupid." from Ciri), how Visenya conquered The Vale by giving the boy king a ride on her dragon, how King Torrhen the Wise knelt for the sake of his people and how they never conquered Dorne.

He told her about their short-lived dynasty (by Westerosi standards): Maegor the cruel, Jaehaerys the Old, the dance of dragons, his personal hero Dearon the Young Dragon, Aemon the Dragonknight, Bealor the Seven thumper (As GreatJon liked to call him), Daemon Blackfyre and his family's rebellions, Aegon the Unlikely and Aerys the Mad.

How that king caused a rebellion by burning Jon's grandfather Rickard and killing his uncle Brandon. Jon told her that his father, Ned Stark, and his father's best friend Robert Baratheon, the now king, rode in the rebellion to save his aunt Lyanna from the Mad King's rapist son Rheagar. Jon told her how Robert Baratheon killed Rheagar on the Ruby Ford and that the Mad King was killed by his own kingsguard Jaime Lannister. He then told her that even though his father won the war, he was too late to save his sister, she was already dead.

Now finished with the history of his home, Jon talked about his family. His brother Robb and how they would fight with wooden swords playing hero and pranking the guards together. His sister Sansa, who he indulged in anything she wanted. His father with his wise words and sad smiles. His father's wife Catelyn Tully, who always made sure he felt like an outsider and that he never felt like a part of the family. "Don't worry Jon!" Ciri said, interrupting his melancholy "If that's how it was, then you can join my family."

"What?" he asked

"You'll be part of my family; you'll never feel like an outsider again and if someone tries to make you feel that way... I'll beat them up!" She said, finishing by thumping her fist on her chest. And there it was again, the pull.

"I'd like that" Jon said in a small voice

And that was when, unbeknownst to them both, Ciri won Jon's undying loyalty.