As Ned promised himself, he went in search of Robert, only to find he was still sleeping off last night's wine and whores. Ned left him to it, Ned can catch up with Robert during mid day meal and started asking some discreet questions about anything odd in the woods, only to quickly discover that it is well known within Lannisport that there is a ' Maggy the Frog ', who is a half mad witch and that she stays in woods. When he enquired further he learnt that said witch provided love potions, cure all's and told fortunes. While the first two made Eddard doubt whether this Maggy is the person he was looking for, that last one made Ned pause and reconsider, it is probable that this one is the one he felt, since prophecy is actually the most common gift of magic there is. So, he asked for directions and bid the servants good day. In the meanwhile Ned found out that Robert woke up, and when Ned found him, he greeted Ned enthusiastically and launched into the tales of his prowess in the preliminaries of yesterday's squires melee and boasted about how he will win it today and went of to tell of the wine he drank and whores he bedded, Ned continued to listen to him with one ear and thought of what to tell the Prince in the morrow.
Ned decided to attend the tourney as Robert may as well win Squires Melee, and he wanted to be there to either congratulate or console depending on the outcome. And his friend didn't seem to be one of empty boasts after all, as Ned has always known, he won the melee and a three hundred gold purse. As soon as the was done receiving congratulations Robert invited Ned to a brothel he found to celebrate, Ned declined, but promised that word of his debauchery will not reach Lord Arryn from Neds lips, Whichever woman that marries Robert better not expect a faithful husband, Ned thought.
After Robert went his own way, taking Elbert with him, Ned went in search of a training ground, his vow to become more powerful in magic still on mind, he wanted to try something.
After having found a adequate one, Ned entered the semi meditative state and felt for the bond and found that Ironeyes is napping in a sunny clearing. Instead of pushing himself through the bond as he does for Warging, Ned pulled, he didn't know what he expected but what followed wasn't it, the world exploded with new sensations, colors more vivid, scents more sharp, a great sense of balance and the pleasant feel of wind on his skin. As suddenly as it came it went away, and everything returned to normal, when he once again felt the bond, he felt Ironeyes sending curiosity through it, the direwolf seemed to be fine, when enquired if he had seen through Neds eyes he replied with a no, and when asked if he was okay, he replied that he felt like a bit of his energy was felt pulled through the bond, but he is overall fine.
So the bond could be used this way too, Ned gets better senses but Ironeyes looses a bit of energy, if so this won't be very useful on a battlefield, Ned will need all his concentration in the fight and Ironeyes will need all of his energy. But if Ned ever had to fight a one on one duel, this will come very handy indeed. Ned decided to train the skill, but not here and now. Does every Familiar gives such gifts or are direwolves being magical beasts are a special case? He will find out , Ned supposed after writing an encoded letter to Winterfell.
So what else can magic do to help me fight better? Ned tried a few things but none were successful, maybe I need a partner to test out these things, I should probably do all of these tests after checking in with Berek anyway, and Ned needs to write to his family about the Prince and everything that happened, Ned should just send to home that he secured some aid from the Crown for the Wall, everything else he can just send from Eeyrie in longer encoded letters.
So Ned returned the practice blade and padded training leathers to the stand and returned to his rooms to write home.
The sixth day of the tourney false dawn broke as the Prince sent a Targaryen household guard for Ned, and said guard found Ned and his escort ready to mount their horses. Ned led his men outside the city and some distance on the road before they came across the Prince's party, Ser Arthur is in a plain armour along with four more well armed and equipped men with no insignia and the Prince in a black cloak with its hood up to cover his silver hair, which is bound tightly in a braid some Northmen with long hair use.
Ned cantered upto the Prince before bowing still seated on his horse and said in a low tone, " Your Grace"
" Lord Eddard, shall we on our way and please no formalities, we are out of public eye and these are my trusted men, you may address me as Rhaegar in privacy", The Prince replied with a smile.
The Prince seemed lighter, more expressive compared to yesterday, but perhaps that was his Public Face. Ned returned with a smile of his own, "If you so wish it, your grace, I mean, Rhaegar, I insist you call me Ned, some of what I am about to share are secrets my family has kept for near two years, as I am already extending that trust, I will have you call me as friends and family does."
" Of course, Ned. So when are we going to speak of these secrets? ", the Prince questioned in a jesting tone.
" We will ride upto the woods and leave our horses there with maybe two of our men, then go on foot from there, I was told, it will be an hour's walk to our destination and we will talk as we walk ", with that they began riding and reached the woods , after leaving one Stark man and one Targaryen man to guard the horses, remaining guards we told to form a perimeter out of earshot and to travel in the direction Ned gave.
" So Prince Rhaegar, you trust Ser Arthur to keep your secrets, even from your father The King ?", Ned asked solemnly
" Yes, Lord Eddard, I do", the Prince replied in same tone.
" Good, that is good Rhaegar, because what I will tell won't be just your secret, but mine too. When I told the story of how I gained my direwolf, I left one thing out, when I returned to Winterfell from the Wall, there was a man waiting for me, when questioned why he arrived, he said that he was there to teach me, that he saw a vision of a winged wolf standing guard in a gap in the Wall of Ice, snarling at something in the distance, when he asked other Seers he knew if they had same vision, they said no, but some of them had the vision of a female direwolf birthing four pups infront of Winterfells Heart tree. And that in the beginning he just came to investigate but coming to Winterfell, he decided to stay and teach. And I asked what is it that he will teach, to that he said: Magic. We were sceptical of course, but he proved what he can do and taught me what he knew as we both have same magic, Warging. One of the first lesson he taught me is to sense another's power, after learning that skill, I could always accurately point out where he was if he was in my range and how far he is from me. And Rhaegar, I sensed power in you, it's is of a different flavour from the magic I know, but magic all the same".
" Eddard, Ned, you are sure I have magic? How can you be sure? How are you even sure that you yourself have magic? " , The Prince asked with wide eyes.
" I knew you will have such questions, so I brought these to help prove existence of magic. Ironeyes is just ahead in a clearing with some rocks to sit on, and I will give you your proof there ", Ned said taking out charcoal and some parchment, and led Ser Arthur and Prince Rhaegar into the clearing. After Ironeyes sent that there were no guards in listening distance ,Ned handed the parchment and charcoal to Rhaegar and had the same test performed on Berek done on Ned, with Ser Arthur standing and keeping Ned under watch and Rhaegar showing what he wrote to Ironeyes, Ser Arthur flinched and tightened his grip on Dawn when Neds eyes turned milk white.
After the test done and Ned had proved his magic, the Prince and Ser Arthur continued to stare wide eyed at Ned for a while, getting self conscious, Ned cleared his throat and began, " As is just proven, I have magic, I can sense you have some too, Prince Rhaegar"
" So I can do what you do, see through an animal's eyes and control it, like your Warging?" , Rhaegar asked excitedly
" I do not think so, yes, you have magic, but it is of Valyrian variety I believe, when I sense another Warg, there is a feel of forests and whatever beasts he bonded with, but with you Rhaegar, I feel as one would feel when they are too close to a fire. There are some parallels, between Valyrian and First Men magic, like Dragon dreams and Greendreams and Bonding Dragons and Warging. But I fear there may be subtle differences, and those differences will make most of what I or anyone else with First Men magic teach you useless. But there is one skill that can be taught to help control magic and few warnings about dangers of magic that apply all the same to your magic as they do to mine.", Ned said in a somber tone.
" So you cannot teach me magic because mine is different, but there is one skill that will help and few warnings. What are those then?", The Prince asked a little less enthusiastically
" The skill is meditation, it helps in controlling magic, improves memory and focus and an all round useful skill to have when emotions run high. It is a simple skill could be self taught and even with instruction only takes about a week to learn the basics of it, but requires a lot of practice to master. Warnings are simple and those that will apply to you will be only two, First, Magic is dangerous, losing control of it is even more dangerous, those who lose control of magic lose their minds. Second, Sacrificial Magic is always trouble, it twists the minds of those who practice it, it brings sorrow to everyone around it. When I sensed you, I also sensed someone else in the Woods. That was my initial reason for coming in to these woods, as I get closer, I have a better feel their power, Maggy the Frog, lives here, she is known as a witch around Lannisport and whom I wanted to investigate, her power feels like freshly spillt blood, huh, she is a minor blood mage. Most she would be able to do is taste someones blood and tell their most probable future and curse them if she wanted, as they already gave their blood like moron. Let's stop Rhaegar, there is no point in meeting this Maggy the Frog, she is appropriately named, a frog in a small well", Ned said disappointed.
" Wait, wait explain those warnings, and why is someone who could tell future insignificant?", Rhaegar demanded in a slightly raised voice.
" Okay come let's sit down, this will take time. Once Magic is in a state, it wants to stay in that state, if its dormant in a person it wants to stay that way, it only wakes due to external stimulation, like being in the brink of death or visiting a place of power or another magic user deliberately expends their magic to awaken yours. But once magic is awake, it wants to be used. Seers receive visions whether they want them or not, Wargs reach out to animals without knowing they are doing it, Greenseers will lose themselves in their power without training. As someone said magic is a blade without hilt, it cuts you as much as it's cuts your enemies. Even with all the training I have there will be consequences for my use of it. There already is some personality bleed over from Ironeyes, due to our bond, that will only increase as time passes, my enthusiasm for vegetables has decreased since bonding with Ironeyes, even after I carefully raised him since he was little, there is bleedover , Wargs who forcibly bond mature beasts have it worse. So even trained Magic users have to pay the price for magic, untrained have it worse, much much worse. ", Ned said with funeral note in his voice. The Prince and Ser Arthur turned ashen. Ned continued, " All of this can be avoided and unavoidable costs can be managed with the learning simple skill of meditation. Meditation in a summary is knowing your own mind and keeping it in control. This skill I will teach you basics of and ask my Lord Father to find a more qualified instructor later for you. And for why a woman who could tell future is insignificant, as I said there are different types of Prophecy. The Absolute kind is usually about events that will happen without any human effort. Those prophecies are given by men or women with great amounts of power, and usually in different eras and regions with no prior contact with each other, completely independent of each other, they prophesize the same thing. You and I could no more influence their outcomes than stop the tides or bottle the winds. The other kind of prophecy, the ones that come in visions, which I suspect you have Rhaegar are more like possibilities. Things that could happen if something is not done about it. Everyone has free will, we aren't puppets dancing on strings, there is no guarantee that these visions are what should be, only what could be. Maggy the Frog is a minor blood mage, and only future she will be able to tell is a possible one and to do that she will need blood of the person who asks for their fortune told. Blood has power, everybody's blood is inextricably linked to themselves, it is a stupid stupid thing to give that to a Blood Mage, by giving blood to a Blood Mage you give them power over you. And a powerful enough Blood Mage can bend you to their will. Never ever give your blood to anyone willingly. Unwillingly or unknowingly taken blood has power too, but only one hundredth fraction of it compared to willingly give one. So no prophecy given by Maggy the Frog is worth the cost paid for it and any of her prophecies can be meddled with, since she doesn't have the power to give a Absolute one. About Sacrificial Magic, most of this magic is done as rituals, the act of sacrifice has power and a lot of it, one could do wonders with it, anyone with a bit of magic can do Sacrificial magic, Valyria used this rather freely, the Shadowbinders of Asshai and Red Priests aren't really shy about using it either, but blood magics rules apply here too, for full power to be released the sacrifice and the one who is doing the ritual, need to be of the same mind, they had to be dedicated in achieving their goal. But how many are there in the World that they are so dedicated to achieving something that they sacrifice their life for it. So any non sentient being, like animals, birds will always be unwilling sacrifices, and most people want to live, so they would be unwilling sacrifices too. Even with unwilling sacrifices there will be significant amount of power released and that power is malleable enough for old Valyrians, Shadowbinders and Red Priests to use Sacrificial magic, but what happens to other ninety nine parts of power released, why it curses the magic user, blackens their soul. Even sacrificing animals leaves a mark on the soul, a faint one but a mark nonetheless, but to sacrifice a human life, that twists the mind and blackens the soul. No Sacrificial Magic user who sacrificed unwilling sentient life will have a good or happy life and their ends are gruesome. With all that said, let's get to your first lesson in meditation, presence of a Weirwood would have made this easier but we will manage."
" Stop, stop. Ned, I think I need a bit more time to digest all you have said before learning anything. We can talk more tomorrow, I will send word of time and place this evening, but for today this is enough", the Prince said in a tired note.
" Very well, Rhaegar, we will do as you say. Let us return then, the tourney will begin in another hour", Ned said getting up and starting to walk.
" You said there are parallels between Greendreams and Dragon dreams, any useful advice about how to deal with them?", the Prince asked in a hopeful tone.
" What my master taught me about green dreams is that, memorizing them as accurately as possible is the starting step, meditation helps there. Recording said dreams immediately after waking is the second step. Securing the said record is the third one as any knowledge of future in wrong hands is dangerous thing. Fourth would be careful interpretation of said dreams, it is very important not to jump to half baked conclusions, as Greendreams are often metaphorical in nature. If the dream shows a benevolent future do not act out of character to make it come true. Action should be taken only after very very careful deliberation. But if the dream shows a catastrophe, that's when the fifth step comes in, run to the nearest expert to confirm that your interpretation is the correct one, if said expert agrees, then share the dream with your closest confidants and ask for their opinions, if you and your confidants collectively come to a consensus then ask yourself whether you have the power to effect the outcome, if so act, if not run to someone who has the power to do something about it and convince them to act", Ned replied seriously.
" This seems to be more eloborate and convoluted than necessary", Rhaegar replied with obvious doubt.
" No, it isn't, peoples lives will be at stake, even fate of Kingdoms may hang in balance, anyone who acts without due consideration is foolish and may bring doom upon themselves and everyone they are connected with. I pray to all the gods there are that the Crown Prince of Seven Kingdoms, and one of the most powerful men in the World is not so foolish or careless, won't you Rhaegar?", Ned asked with unexpected boldness.
The Princes face turned red whether in embarrassment or anger Ned didn't know, Ned hoped it was embarrassment not anger, if it is anger then Ned misjudged the Prince on a large scale.
"You have no right to reprimand the Prince, Lord Eddard", said Ser Arthur with a growl and threat of violence in his voice.
" Peace, my friend, Ned has only spoken true, Crown Prince of Seven Kingdoms cannot afford either foolishness or carelessness. I will take your words to heart, Ned, this I promise", the Prince replied in soothing tone.
" Good, even though our acquintances has been a short one, I can say with complete honesty that I consider you a friend. Safety and happiness of my family and friends is my paramount concern", Ned said sincerely.
" I am honored that you consider me a friend, I do not know why, but I too consider you one of my few friends and you have gained my trust faster than any before you", Rhaegar replied.
" The same can be said about you, Rhaegar, and I will promise you that I will live upto your trust, we are bound now, you and I with magic and secrets shared"
" Yes, we are. Come, let us return to Lannisport, I can see the edge of treeline and horses", Rhaegar said.
Rhaegar and Ned mounted their horses and set off immediately at a canter. While there is small talk between them, they remained mostly occupied in their own thoughts, both parties separated before they came in to sights of the city walls, while the Prince's party moved on, Neds party remained behind for another half an hour before returning, after all it would not do for Eddard Stark to be seen in Prince's company more than expected, their walk around tourney grounds yesterday was gossip known by smallfolk to lords by the end of the day. If it became known that they returned together from a ride outside the city walls questions will be raised and that just won't do. There will be speculation of course, but speculation is not fact. Neds gamble on the Prince has paid off remarkably well. The Prince since he is untrained in magic could not keep his emotions and intentions from coloring his magic and Ned could read him like a book, Rhaegar was sincere when he professed friendship and Ned had reciprocated that sincerity when he considered Rhaegar his friend. After yesterday Ned experimented on conveying his feelings through Warging, not by forming a two way bond, but just sending his intent towards someone. The whole time with Rhaegar, Ned has been sending feelings of sincerity, honesty and trust towards him, that might be one possible reason that the Prince considered Ned a friend after spending such a short time together. Has he manipulated the Prince? Ned didn't think so, everything he sent towards the Prince was honest , Ned didn't think that he has the capacity to send lies through magic. Only time will tell, he supposes.