Neds work on partial bonds did not go anywhere but he had an unexpected breakthrough while experimenting in Godswood. Godswood at Stroms End, while not as old as one in Winterfell, was ancient and had a Weirwood with a furious face carved. As Ned was in deep meditation he felt the Weirwoods presence, always before the weirwoods presence was intangible as cool breeze on his skin, calming and pleasant and somehow exuding an inexplicable peace, such as when he feel asleep on his mothers lap or on his fathers chest as a child, but now he can discern a faint pulsing underneath that sense of peace, like a heartbeat and with that pulse Ned can feel magic similar to his own but greater and more potent than what Ned and his family posses, somehow vaster and deeper.
I don't understand, such potent power should be overwhelming to the senses, I should feel it even ten miles away, yet it is faint and I have to be immersed in balance more than I have been ever before to even feel it this faintly. I should be feeling this as loudly as war drum beating at my ear not as a faint pulse. Where is all of this magic the Weirwood pumping into the air going?
After Ned discovered the magic pumping into the World by the Weirwood, Ned tried to determine where it is going, but failed and decided gave it a rest for the day, but before retiring he had a thought, could I use the power from the Weirwoods instead of my own reserves? Its a theory that needs testing, Weirwoods can boost someones warging as it was shown by the Shadows, such as amplifying their range but can I siphon the magic directly to refill my own reserves more quickly or to use their power when my own reserves are insufficient for a grand spell of ancients ? Of course his own ' spells ' as they were few and after years of use, consume only minuscule amounts of power due to his own growing reserves and control, it was only going to be more cost effective in the future. Perhaps I should look in to learning more spells seriously, magic might have dwindled in the world, there should at least be some knowledge somewhere. If tales were to be believed Children of The Forest broke the Arm of Dorne and the Neck with Hammers of Water to stop First Men migration.
Neds experiments continued and the days went by, almost a month after his discovery of magic pumped by the Weirwood Ned was once again in the Godswood, after another futile experiment to form a partial bond with one of the hounds from the kennels Ned dismissed the hound to return to its home and just laid down on the grass in the shade of Hearttree, as he was drifting towards sleep after his mental exertions he spied a spiders web in the trees nook above him, fascinated by the intricate web woven by the spider which is nowhere to be seen, as he was watching a fly got trapped in the web and the more it struggled the more it became trapped and after it got thoroughly stuck the spider approached out of the shadows and started cocooning the fly in its thread. Huh, I wonder how the spider knew it caught its prey, was it watching for it or is it something else ? Ned wanted to understand this phenomenon and started tracking the spider, the Web Ned observed initially was only a small part of a larger web it turned out, and in the time it took Ned to discovered the entirety of it two more small insects got stuck in the spiders web and every-time the same thing with the first fly repeated itself and Ned got the confirmation that the spider was in fact not watching when the insects got stuck, but it somehow knew when and where it happened, how is it doing that ? Obviously its not watching but what senses is it using to find the insects position initially ?
Ned increased his draw from Ironeyes to sharpen his senses and finally after another hour he was able to identify what was happening, when the insects get stuck they are shaking the web imperceptibly and the spider is using that shaking to locate its trapped prey. The Spider knows everything within its web, what a terrifying ability. Can I spin a web of my own with my magic ? Why not try ?
Ned dropped into meditation without effort despite his excitement and started weaving a small web, it was more mental effort than anything he did ever before, he isn't even trying anything as intricate as a spiders web even, just three concentric circles with nine spokes extending from the center, it was hard enough to visualize that image, but it was worse to shape his magic in a circle, every-time he used his magic he visualized it in straight-lines, his bond with Ironeyes and Northwind straight-lines connecting Ned to them like a taut thread, his experiments with the Glass candles there to straight-lines, Ned had to do several mental gymnastics to keep the image clear and shape his magic, after an interminable amount of time Ned finally did it and exultant, Ned stood up and took a step and promptly lost the web and started noticing the blackness at the edge of his eyes and the pounding headache he has been ignoring, as Ned started to fall to the ground like puppet cut from it strings he thought, oh, magical exhaustion, that never happened to me before,and knew no more.