Ned, his Father and their party finally reached the Moat Cailin twenty two days after leaving Duskendale. During those days on road, Ned shared his discovery about drawing on the bond for enhanced senses with his Father and they put to test whether all Familiars provided the benefits by asking the Shadows, it turned out that they don't, Ned and his Father agreed that probably only magical beasts gave out these benefits. And they wondered what benefits a direbear or even dragon might give, but all of it is theoretical anyway.
They finally reached The Moat and it took Neds breath away, the Durnkards tower is torn down, the Childrens tower and the Gatehouse tower are already repaired and there are two new towers being built, one to replace Drunkards Tower and another positioned so that the four towers will make a square. The two towers are halfway done already and the workers and men guarding them are staying in the repaired towers. Once those two towers are done the work on central keep and four more towers will begin simultaneously. The work will continue for some part of Winter too, only stopping for the harshest period of it.
After inspecting the reconstruction work, Ned decided to visit the lands north of Moat Cailin. What he saw only reaffirmed what he already learnt. The lands are a treasure trove and Ned decided that he will turn his lands into breadbasket of the North.
Ned and Father decided to wait for at least a year before sharing the news of her betrothal with Lya, both knew she won't take the news well but Ned is sure that the match will be good for Lya and that she will be happy.
Ned stayed a week at Moat Cailin before deciding to return to Eeyrie. But before he left Ned insisted on knowing every scrap of information the Shadows collected on Tywin Lannister and House Lannister. What Ned learnt disturbed him greatly, Tywin has monsters under his thumb to do his dirty work, like Amory Lorch. The man is a depraved monster, torture, murder and rape of innocents only begins to describe his crimes, Tywin knowingly shields these kind of men, because to him they are useful tools. Grand Maester Pycelle is Tywin's creature and spies on the Royal Family and Small Council for Tywin.
Tywin hates his dwarf son with a passion, he blames his son for death of his wife and being born a dwarf. For months now, since tourney at Lannisport, Tywin has had forges of Casterly Rock and Lannisport churn out weapons and armour, as if in preparation for something. And Tywin's twins Jaime and Cersei seemed to be inappropriately close even for twins, and have apparently sexually explored each other. Ned didn't know what to do with that last bit of information, but he asked his Father to order the Shadows to keep a closer eye on that situation, that information may come in handy down the line . But everything that Ned learnt only cemented his opinion that Tywin Lannister needs to be dealt with, sooner the better and definitely before Rhaegar and Lyanna get married.
After Father assured Ned that he will make good use of Shadows, Father and Son duo once again parted ways.
Neds return to Eeyrie was uneventful and on his return he was received enthusiastically by Robert and Elbert, asking about Neds daring rescue of the King, but Ned insisted that his part was minimal and credit should go to Ironeyes and the Kingsguard. Robert also shared that his father, Lord Steffon was choosen as new Hand of the King replacing Lord Tywin. Whether Lord Tywin was dismissed from or voluntarily resigned the Office Robert didn't know. If the King had dismissed him in an insulting fashion the Realm would have known already. Either way Tywin will take losing the office as an insult.
Ned can tell that Robert has mixed feelings about Lord Steffon being made Hand. Ned just hoped Lord Steffon and Rhaegar can keep the King from spiralling into madness, at least for five more years. Once Lya and Rhaegar are married and have an heir, the King could be dealt with one way or other.
Year 278 AC
The days went by and before Ned knew it a new year has come. The Starks involvement with the King's rescue gained them interest in the South and the King has apparently made some comments praising House Stark in the intervening time and it became widely known that Ned is good friends with the Prince, which gained Ned some notoriety in the South. While Ned wasn't comfortable with his newfound fame, he dealt with it in his trademark stoicism and solemnity.
Brandon's spy ring came into operation and they are sending a steady stream of information to Winterfell. Lya's magic was woken by Lord Father and her years of training in meditation paid off spectacularly, she took to magic with remarkable ease, bonding and Warging into the lone female sibling of Ironeyes, whom she named Winter, with ease and already talking about making a bond with a snowy owl for her second Familiar. Benjen was doing well in his studies, he was informed that he will be have the Lordship of the castle and port being built at Sea Dragon Point. That information has apparently lit a fire in Ben's belly as he dove into his studies and training with renewed vigour. When Ben turns twelve his betrothal will be announced along with his fostering with Manderlys for four years to learn about seafaring and naval warfare. Lya will be disappointed about Ben going away, but by that time she would have Brandon and his new wife at Winterfell and her own marriage to prepare for.
On Ned turning fourteen, Robert procured three young gyrfalcons and gifted one to Ned, another to Lord Jon Arrryn and keeping the last one for himself, he admitted that he procured them to commemorate their time in Eeyrie. Neds gyrfalcon is a beautiful silver plumed female, which grew to have massive two and half feet wingspan and weighing near near six pounds. Ned named her Northwind and Robert made fun of Neds unimaginative naming sense for days.
Ned had to admit that Robert was right about his lack of naming sense, but Northwind didn't seem to have any problems with her name so Ned shrugged and moved on. While training Northwind didn't prove as easy as Ironeyes, bonding her brought a whole new joy that Ned didn't know existed. Warging Northwind and taking flight was an indescribable rush, Berek warned repeatedly that most Wargs who lose themselves to their Familiars were those with bird Familiars, and that the lure of sky is too strong, only after having warged Northwind for the first time during flight did Ned realise why Berek was so insistent in his warnings. But bonding Northwind has brought obvious benefit of having a secure messenger bird for his own use. Ned is training Northwind in identifying people and places, it is harder to Warg into her at a distance than warging into Ironeyes. Ned is teaching her to carry messages but Ned will have to take her to the place and show her the people he wanted to identify before they made any real progress. Northwind was the final motivation for Ned to take the tour of Seven Kingdoms he has been planning for sometime. Once he reaches majority he will visit every Great House and most important of the lesser ones before taking up his Lordship, when he shared this plan, Father approved.
By the end of this year Roberts fosterage will end and since Lord Steffon is busy with his duties as Hand he commanded Robert return to Storms End as soon as reaching his majority and take up his duties as the Heir. The minute Robert received this news he started badgering Lord Arryn to declare Neds fosterage over a year early so that Ned may accompany him to Storms End for a year before Ned reached his own majority and had to take up his own duties as Lord of Moat Cailin. He reminded Lord Arryn that Neds education is on par if not better than Roberts and that he is Roberts equal in the training yard and that of the two Ned is most certainly the responsible one. And he stated that he will need Neds help for at least sometime. After months of badgering by Robert, Lord Arryn who always had a soft spot for him had relented, declaring if Lord Stark agrees to it, he is willing to declare Neds fostering finished a year early. After that Robert started badgering Ned to convince his Lord Father, that didn't take as much time as it did Lord Arryn. Ned wrote to his Father and asked permission, stating that allowing Ned to stay a year at Storm's End will only cement the ties between the North and Stormlands. Father agreed with Neds reasoning and gave his blessings.
In the mean time Neds correspondence with Rhaegar continued. Apparently Rhaegar and Marwyn deciphered at least one function of Glass Candles, now Rhaegar could spy on anything and anyone that happens to be in a radius of hundred miles. But apparently Rhaegar needs a clear picture in his mind of what or who he is looking for and sound doesn't transmit, he also admitted that anything that happens in complete darkness he cannot watch through the Candle. Rhaegar sharing this function and it's intricacies with Ned is an enormous show of trust and Ned decided to reciprocate it after some internal debate by sharing how Warging works. Rhaegar wanted to give another Glass Candle to Ned after he and Marwyn worked out how to communicate between two Glass Candles. He also revealed that Glass Candles didn't work anywhere else except on Dragonstone, but he has a feeling that, that was going to change in the future. Ned in turn suggested a theory that a Glass Candle may work in the immediate vicinity of a Weirwood, but testing that theory will take some time.
In the middle of the year Father finally shared the news of betrothal with Lyanna, unsurprisingly she didn't take the news very well, apparently she didn't speak with Father for half a month and on learning that the betrothal was Neds idea she wrote a strongly worded letter to Ned, after that letter she didn't reply to the letters from Ned for three months, before relenting and writing a letter to Ned stating that if the Prince expected her to be a Southron flower then he will have a rude awakening and if the Prince didn't respect her for who she is, a true northern woman, and if he tries to forbid her training with the bow and the sword, then Father and Ned should say farewell to any plans for marriage as she will run to Essos.
To that Ned wrote to Lya assuring her that the Prince is a good man and that Ned already told him about her training and The Prince doesn't have anything personally against it, if she can keep her training discreet when they were at the Court that is enough and he won't ask more. Ned aslo assured her, that she can write to Rhaegar herself once the betrothal is announced to the Realm in a years time. He promised her that even after writing to the Prince, meeting and getting to know him if Lya wasn't satisfied with the match then Ned will help break the betrothal. He finished the letter saying that her and their family's happiness will always be a top priority for Ned.
That letter seemed to have soothed her worries and she grudgingly acquiesced to the betrothal.