Chapter 2: Arriving at Cintra

It took a total of four days for the group to reach the Cintran harbour. In those days, when they weren't sleeping or eating, Jon and Ciri were sharing personal stories of each other's family. Jon was told all sorts of stories about Ciri's uncle Mousesack, her grandmother, her father, mother and uncle Crach. The man who dropped her off. Ciri learned more about Jon's father, sister, brother, his uncle Benjen and Greatjon. (Who often visited the boy).

Once the boat hit the harbour, Jon and Ciri jumped of and said a quick goodbye to the kindly family, before rushing off. "So, where are we going?" Jon asked, running slightly behind Ciri's right shoulder. "The castle." she replied. "That's where me and my family live."

"Do they work there?"

"Yeah, it's all boring stuff though."

Accepting her somewhat vague answer, Jon stopped questioning her and soon they passed under the open gates of the city's castle. Jon was slightly disappointed by its size; the entire thing could have fit in the space he passed to get from the great keep to the east gate in Winterfell. For the country's capital's castle, it had very poor defenses: it had no moat, only one curtain wall, a middling drum tower keep, a small forge/armoury, stables only fit for a dozen horses, a barrack that could only hold a hundred men and the training hard could only fit twenty! Seeing this Jon asked Ciri, "Are you sure this is Cintra, the Royal capital?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"It's just... from what you told me. I was expecting it to be bigger." he said, trying desperately not to sound rude and push his new friend into hating him. "Hmm, I might have exaggerated some things. But it's still one of the largest castles in the northern realms." Jon nodded thinking, I guess Westeros just makes things big.

It didn't take long for the two to cross the miniscule courtyard and get to the surprisingly normal sized doors. With as much hesitation as when he first met her, Ciri pushed open the doors as if she owned the place and walked right up to the woman on the throne. Jon quickly knelt, having been drilled in his courtesies by Lady Stark as to not bring further dishonour to "her" house, but Ciri kept standing. Impudently.

Jon, from his kneeling position, looked up to the pair on the raised dais. The woman, the queen or consort he supposed, was a handsome woman. Her lightly lined face was very pale as was her hair. Her sea green eyes seemed to exude power and authority. The way she dressed made her look like a warrior queen and she radiated the aura of one too.

The man standing to her right shoulder was much less impressive. He was older that the queen, by at least a decade. His long hair and beard were flaxen, sprinkled with grey. The look in his black eyes seemed to dissect him where he knelt. The man's nose even seemed to sniff in Jon's direction. When he seemed to finish with his... inspection, one side of his mouth curled into a smirk and then he bent down to whisper in the queen's ear.

Jon was too far to hear what he said, but it clearly caught the warrior's interest. She turned her imperious gaze to him and he felt as though the air became heavier. They whispered back and forth until the queen gave a slight nod, then the older man smiled at Jon.

The queen's sudden voice made Jon flinch, "Cirilla... what are you doing here." her beautiful yet powerful voice commanded a quick answer. Yet Ciri, to his dread, was just as impudent as before as she replied. "Mother had uncle Crach send me home early and I don't know why! I didn't do anything!" Jon's eyes widened as she raised her voice, AT THE QUEEN!

Jon quickly got up and grabbed Ciri, clamping his hand over her mouth to keep them from being executed for her audacity. "I'm very sorry for her disrespect, your grace." he said, doing his best to keep a struggling Ciri from getting herself killed. "We just need to find her grandmother and I promise this won't happen again. Please forgive her, your grace."

Jon thought he did well when the queen smiled, but grew worried when she started laughing while the man next to her chuckled. The pair kept laughing at them and just when he thought they would stop, they would look at his confused face and laugh even harder. This went on four to five minutes. When they finally wound down, the queen choked out something that confused Jon even more "Nothing to be forgiven and while I appreciate the effort, Cirilla will never change that side of her. And with finding her grandmother, look no further." The queen spread her lean, muscled arms, "You found her."

Jon gapped, staring silently. His eyes went from the queen, to Ciri, to the Queen and back to Ciri. He slowly let her go as his mind caught up. Ciri and the queen share pale features and green eyes, though a different shade. Her family works and lives in this small castle, doing boring stuff. Father does boring stuff, he thought dumbly. "By the Gods..." he breathed, "You're a princess."

"Duh, can't you tell by looking at me." she said, puffing out her chest, lifting her chin and slamming a fist to her chest.

Jon responded with a solid and simple, "No."

Before Ciri could say anything to help soften the blow to her pride, the queen spoke. "As amusing as this is, I have questions and Ciri." She stopped to make sure Ciri was looking at her instead of pouting at Jon, "You will answer me and the boy will remain silent until I say otherwise." the queen stopped again, waiting for Ciri's "Yes grandmother" to come. After a moment it did and the queen started to interrogate her.

"First, who is this boy-child." she asked, pointing to Jon.

"Thats Jon." Ciri stated, petulantly.

"And?" the queen prompted.

"I adopted him." Ciri said quickly, which earned a raised brow from the queen.

"You adopted him." she repeated for clarification.

"As my brother. I didn't have any and now I do. Besides he had nowhere to go."

"You did not think to ask me, the head of our house. First." Queen Calanthe said, nigh speechless.

"Nope." Ciri said, popping the p and grinning.

Calanthe was silent for a moment, a moment long enough for Jon to fell a cold sweat down his back, before saying "So what will your new brother do?" her answer filled his heart with warmth.

Ciri, smiling at her small victory, made a rather poor suggestion. "Play with me."

The queens silent glare changed Ciri's answer, "Whatever you think is best." she said meekly.

"Better." she said to Ciri, then turned to Jon and said "Boy, you will train with my head guard and Mousesack." she finished by pointing to the man beside her.

Jon quickly knelt and thanked Queen Calanthe profusely.

"Enough with the kneeling. You heard Cirilla, you are family now. You must simply excel in your training." she finished with a smile. "You may go."

POV Calanthe

Calanthe watched as the young ones ran from the throne room. "Are you certain?" she asked Mousesack. "Yes, my queen. Accepting him as Ciri wants is the best course of action, we must bind him to us. The boy's potential is worth the hit to our reputation. Even after Duny. I am sure of it."

"Explain it to me in more depth." she commanded.

"I sensed two powerful magics in him, not just the ability to control it like most who are taken by Ban Ard or Aretuza, but inside him. That alone is very rare. The two are both very powerful, yet also different. One feels like a mutated variation of mind magic; I don't know exactly what at this moment, I must do some tests, but I do know it's mainly a bonding type. The other is less rare, but more powerful. It is a variant of Hydrokinesis."

"What do you think of him."

"He seems earnest, his emotions on his sleeve. We'll have to train that out. He is intelligent and mature for his age."

Calanthe pondered his words for a moment, "You will put all your other tasks behind this one. Go now." she ordered.

"Yes, my queen." She heard him say, quickly followed by his retreating footsteps.

So very interesting.

POV Mousesack

It didn't take the druid long to find the boy. He and the princess were about to play fight using sticks. Mousesack stopped for a moment to watch them. "I'm The Dragonknight" the boy cried, "Well I'm The White Wolf" Cirilla yelled back. Then they clashed, even with Mousesack's negligible experience with the more physical aspect of combat. He could see how poor their swordplay really was, but that was to be expected. They were only six after all.

Mousesack did nothing but watch until one of the children won. While he was doing so, the captain of the queen's guard came up to watch beside him. "They both have potential, but they'll have to be taught differently." the large man said.

"What do you mean?" Mousesack asked, curious to what the guard means

"Nothing much, just what type of sword they're both naturally attuned to. The boy'll take better to a Claymore and the princess to an arming sword." Albin smirked then continued, "I suppose I'll be trainin' both now?"

"Yes, do so however you think best. Bear in mind you can't bruise the two too much."

"Even the boy?" Albin asked, still smirking.

"That's correct, I will also be training him. I need him focused and not moaning over welts."

"You teachin'im your magics?" the man asked, genuinely surprised.

"No, I am teaching him how to control his own magic." Mousesack answered.

They stood silent then, neither moving until Cirilla won. She had hit the boy in the groin while he was in the middle of one of his large, around the head, horizontal swings. "That's gotta hurt. Smart of the princess, cruel though." Albin said.

Mousesack said nothing as he walked to the children. After hitting him, Cirilla seemed confused by her friend's sudden collapse, but a second later she tried to help him. Nothing she did could help; all men knew that. When Mousesack reached the pair, Cirilla noticed him and quickly begged him to help her "Brother".

"There naught anyone can do princess, he must wait for it to pass." he said kindly

"But what happened, is he dying?" she fretfully asked

"No, you just hit him in a weak point is all." he told her, before reaching down and pulling the boy to his feet then leading him away.

"Where are you going?"

"Just time for his first lesson."

POV Jon

It didn't take long for Jon and the druid to reach... wherever they were going, Jon couldn't really tell what was happening. He was more focused on the pain pulsing from his groin. Once they got there, the man gave Jon time to pull himself together.

Once he did, Jon noticed how strange the room was. It was filled with odd glassware and jars of... jars of things Jon would rather not know the origin of. Another thing that was odd about the room was the animals. Cage after cage of small animals, everything from mice to grass snakes to swallows.

"Child, before we commence, we must formally introduce ourselves. Otherwise, this could go poorly. For example, I haven't referred to you by name even in my thoughts. So, before we set of on the wrong foot. I am Mousesack son of Minissa, pleased to meet you."

Jon didn't fully understand, so he just assumed that the druid was just odd. "I'm Jon Snow son of Ned Stark."

"Very good, Jon Snow son of Ned Stark. Do you know why you are here with me now?" Mousesack asked.

"No."

"You are here to learn how to control and revel in your magic." he said, adding extra emphasis on revel.

"Magic?!" I can use magic? But I'm just...

"Yes Jon, you have something rare." Mousesack said, interrupting Jon's incresingly self-deprecating thoughts. "In born magic, it's in your blood. All we have to do is wake it up and for you to control it."

"H-how?" Jon asked Mousesack, in a shaky voice.

"It's quite easy actually, as a druid I am very attuned to the elements and the spiritual world. Much like you are, but you have a much deeper connection to two specific parts versus the overall connection that I have. Only because of this deep and powerful connection, you will never be able to use any other kind of magic with any ease or skill.

Now, that I have explained my theory. Well will commence practical exercises." Mousesack then led him closer to the animals, "You will try and make a mental connection with one of these animals."

"Yes! Umm..."

"You may call me Mousesack, or master if you prefer. Since you are my apprentice."

Jon swiftly nodded with "Yes master!" and immediately started with his exercises.