JON

As he watched the Wall rise higher and higher on the horizon, he could feel a whirlwind of emotions rise in his breast, anger and guilt was the most dominating emotions that kept rising in him as he recalled deciding to take the black, thinking that it was a noble order and not a collection of criminals and those who had no place in the world.

It had taken him a long time to get over the anger at his uncle, who he thought was his father, that he hadn't told Jon what the night´s watch really was. Jon did his best to shove the anger back down, being angry at the man now didn't serve any purpose.

Ned Stark was helping him now and Jon would never again take the black if he could help it, he had been ready to dedicate his life to the watch, but he had been betrayed by the men who had been his sworn brothers.

They had been riding for hours now and Jon could feel the aching in the now closed wounds all over his body and it wasn't improving his mood at all and neither was the cold wind that kept blowing the snow up into the air all around them.

The sun was setting and making the Wall, that had been weeping all day, look pink and purple and blue and there were a few stars that had started to peek out in the sky.

The Wall had rarely been so beautiful, and Jon was glad that they had arrived at last. He could hear the lords and ladies around him chat happily about how beautiful the Wall was now.

But not everyone was participating in the conversations. Lord Ryswell and Lady Dustin had been very silent ever since they left the Dreadfort.

Jon had his theories about why, the one that he kept thinking about were that they suspected that Roose Bolton had killed his second wife, lady Bethany Bolton of house Ryswell, who had been lord Ryswells daughter and lady Dustin´s sister, and all they knew that she had died of a fever.

Could the lord of the Dreadfort have lied about she had died, and done the same thing to her as he had done to the others in the chamber under the Dreadfort?

Jon had to admit that it was likely that he had, he hadn't exactly been the paragon of kindness when he had been alive.

The lord of Winterfell and the hand of Robert Baratheon where riding at the head of the party along with the Wull of the mountain clans, lady Mormont and Ser Wylis Manderly who was representing his father, as lord Wyman Manderly, the lord of Newcastle and the White Harbor, didn't feel up to riding such a long way.

Jon was thankful for that, as lord Wyman would have time correspond to Sansa about the trade deals that they were making in Essos and to the Vale and the Riverlands, as much of the good would be transported to Gulltown as it was the easiest and fastest way to the Vale, and some goods would be transported by ships to Maidenpool in the Riverlands, but most of the Riverlands trades would be going through the King´s road as well.

As the approached Castle Black, Jon could see the look of wonder of many of the lords and ladies transformed into a look of shock. They had all known that watch dearly needed help, but Jon could see now that they hadn't expected the situation to be so dire as this.

The once proud stone walls were run down as was the King´s tower, but it was still habitable, and it would be used by the visiting lords and ladies for their stay in the castle. Castle Black was exactly like Jon remembered it being like when he had first arrived at the wall, a young green boy thinking that he was joining a respected order, so that he could bring himself some honor in life.

It was a bittersweet moment for him, riding through the gates of Castle Black and to see all the black clad men in the courtyard.

Jon could recognize some of the men that had gathered in the courtyard, like Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, who was just like he remembered, large and with gray almost white beard and his hair that was starting to thin out on the top of his head.

He was flanked by two of Jon´s uncles, Benjen Stark and Aemon Targaryen. The old maester was just like Jon remembered him from when he had seen him before Jon had left beyond the wall to rescue the Freefolk from Hardhome.

Guilt started to gnaw at his insides again, he felt so guilty that he couldn't tell the old man that he had a relative right here, when he thought that the last of his family was beyond the Narrow Sea in Essos, fleeing from Robert Baratheon.

As he dismounted, he could feel the exhaustion overwhelm the guilt he felt, as he was still recuperating from his injuries, but Jon was glad that he no longer had to use the blasted cane.

He handed a stable boy the reins, so that his horse could have it´s well-earned rest. The bay gelding had very considerate about Jon´s injuries all the way from Winterfell and he seemed to react more to Jon´s thoughts than any other command.

Jon glanced at his cousin who was dismounting his grey horse and together they made their way over to the lord of Winterfell, who was greeting the lord commander and the senior command of the watch.

While seeing Benjen and maester Aemon brought him happiness, seeing Bowen March and Ser Alliser Thorne there made Jon feel the phantom pain as he remembered his stabbing by their hand, and Jon had to fight the instinct to rub at the places where the knifes had landed in his body.

Jon followed Robb to the lord of Winterfell with a small limp. Jon watched at the Lord Commander greeted all the lords and ladies happily, as this was likely the first time in a long time, when the lords of the North came all the way here to see how they could help the watch.

The northern lords had always helped the watch the most of all of the nobility of Westeros, but when his uncle had called all the lords of the north to Winterfell to discuss how to help the watch, it had set a precedent as no other lord had done so before him.

After all the lords had been introduced to the senior command, they were shown to the King´s tower where lord Stark and some of the other lords would be staying. The chamber that Jon would be sharing with Robb was small with two small cots that they could use to sleep in, and it had a small window that could let in the light, it also had a small wash basin, filled with cold water that they could use to freshen up before dinner.

But it would serve just fine, Jon thought to himself, just before he looked at the face Robb was making.

Robb, being the heir to Winterfell, had always received the finest things he could wish for, and he had never had to stay inside such a rundown room before and had never been made to sleep in such a small cot.

"Jon," The red headed boy looked at him with surprise in his Tully blue eyes. "Are you sure that this is the room where are supposed to use?"

Jon could see in his eyes that Robb hoped that there had been a mistake and the steward that had showed them the room, would come back and show them to another room, but Robb would have no such luck.

Jon walked over to the basin. "Aye, I am sure that this is the room, as lord Stark and lord Arryn are in the room next to us." Jon started to clean his face of the dirt that had gathered from the road.

As Castle Black had so few available spaces that were habitable to use, all the lords would have to share with someone else to make sure that everyone would have room. But Jon doubted that many of the lords would really mind at all, as most of them had to share a bed with someone in the coldest time of winter so that they wouldn't freeze to death.

As Jon started to splash the cold water in his face, he could feel some of the exhaustion flee, but he knew that soon he would just as tired again, then he could hear Robb let a sigh as he came over to clean his face as well.

Robb let out a startled yelp as he splashed his face, and Jon had to stifle a laugh at his expense. It didn't take them a long time to get ready for the feast that was being held in the honor of the lords of the North.

The feast was held in the shield hall was it was the largest of the halls in Castle Black, and it was just like Jon remembered, build with dark stone and adorned with colorful shields that hung on the walls.

Jon had been seated next to Robb at one of the tables in the hall with the other heirs of the lords of the north, he did his best to follow the discussions around him, but he was growing more and more tired by the minute.

He glanced at his cousin as he took a swing of the ale that the watch had been brewing for around eight thousand years, and he couldn't help the snort that escaped him as he took a swing himself.

Robb like the other heirs, chocked on the ale like Sansa had done when she had arrived at the wall in their last life. Words couldn't describe how much he missed her; she truly was the only person that he could be himself around.

When he was with Sansa, Jon didn't feel like he was playing a role to please her. No, when he was with her, he was just Jon and no one else, and he felt that he could tell her anything and he wouldn't get judged by when he said. Even with his uncle Ned, Jon felt that he was playing a role, the role of the future king and it was exhausting.

The only time when he could see her since he had left with the lords, was when he warged into the dragons at night, she had been coming around every so often to visit the three dragons in the Wolfswood, and seeing her even though the eyes of Algernon, Earendil and Illyrion and not his own, made him feel much better.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that the heirs to the lordships of the north were daring each other to take bigger and bigger chugs of the ale. But Jon didn't partake in their merriment, he was getting so tired that he was starting to fight to keep his eyes open.

Jon hurriedly excused himself from the table, so that he could finally get some well-deserved sleep.

SANSA

Her father, brother and Jon had been gone for around a month, and she couldn't wait for them to come back.

Sansa had been working hard on the trade deals, after Jon had found the journal by this mysterious M.F. They had to change a little in their plans, but most of what she was doing was just adding to them.

The herd of wooly cattle that they had bought of the mountain clans were already here and thriving and they had started to plant wheat, barley and rye that would be used both for food and alcohol, if the experiments would work.

She was already making plans to send more lumber to White Harbor and from there it would be sent to Essos, as they had already reached an accord with merchants from Pentos and Braavos. The merchants from the free cities had also expressed interest in buying fine yarns that had been already worked from the wool that was abundant here in the north.

She had already started to hire workers to work the wool into fine yarn that was dyed in rich colors that were popular with the rich and noble people of both Westeros and Essos.

Sansa was very glad that she had used that idea from the journal, because not only would they get higher prices from the sold wares that had been made here in the north, it was also creating jobs for the smallfolk, which would make them a lot happier.

Sansa leaned back into her father´s chair. Her lord father had loaned her his solar while he was away, and she couldn't be gladder that he had done so.

It was one of the few places that her aunt Lysa wouldn't come and bother her, ever since Sansa´s father and lord Jon Arryn had left Winterfell, aunt Lysa had made it her mission in life to be as insufferable as she possibly could.

Every time that Sansa laid eyes on her aunt, she felt as she was back in the Eyrie when the older woman had tried to kill her by throwing her out the Moondoor because Petyr Baelish was obsessed with her.

She had to fight the shiver when she thought about that lying snake, while she was glad that Littlefinger wasn't in a position of power in the capitol and hopefully wouldn't have such an easy time killing Jon Arryn anymore, she was worried that she couldn't predict his movements anymore.

When he had been in the capitol, she had more or less known what he was going to do, but now he was in the wind, and there was no way for her to know what he would do next.

But she did know that he wanted her mother, lady Catelyn and he wanted the throne. At this time, he hadn't been obsessed with Sansa and all his efforts had been with trying to get the iron throne and Catelyn Stark.

So, she had to assume that he wanted the same things now, but she had to be ready to adjust any plans they came up with if anything changed.

Sansa took the letters that she had been writing and placed them in one of the drawers of her father´s desk, they could wait until tomorrow, when her eyes weren't as tired as they were now.

As she moved to place the letters in the drawer, she could see a leather-bound journal in there. Sansa frowned and took it out and looked it over, it didn't have anything that could give her a clue on the owner on the outside.

Sansa frowned at the journal and then she decided to open it and see if she could spot the owners name written on the inside of the cover.

She opened it and immediately she recognized the name written in a spidery scrawl on the inside of the cover. Septon Maynard, the very septon who had married Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark on the isle of faces.

She could feel her heart race as she hurriedly looked for the passage where the septon stated that he had married the prince of Dragonstone and the rose of Winterfell.

And there it was, the proof they would need to prove that Jon was the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and the heir to the Iron Throne.

She could feel the happiness swell in her heart as she read those words, but that happiness evaporated when she wondered why was the journal here rather than at the Citadel in Oldtown?

As far as Sansa knew, her father didn't know about the journal, or maybe Jon had told him about it and the lord of Winterfell had sent someone to retrieve it?

That didn't sound like her father to be honest, but he had been trying to learn from his mistakes, just like Sansa and Jon had been trying to.

Sansa jumped as the door swung open and Arya and her friend, Jorelle Mormont hurried in and closed the door with a bang. Sansa hurriedly put the journal back into the drawer and closed it.

She could see the anger on her little sister´s face as both the girls took their seats in front of the desk that her father. It was clear to Sansa that their aunt had done something to anger Arya a lot this time.

Their aunt seemed to delight to torment Arya for some reason, and it bothered Sansa to no end. There were only two women that Sansa hated more than her aunt, and that was Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen.

Just thinking about the silver queen made Sansa burn with anger and jealousy. She still hated the fact that Jon had been with that hateful brat. When she came back, Sansa had resolved not to let that woman get her hands-on Jon again, and that resolve hadn't lessened with time, if anything that resolve grew stronger and stronger with every passing day.

Sansa loved Jon with all her heart and she wanted what was best for him, and Daenerys Targaryen defiantly wasn't the best for him, the mad queen had demanded that Jon would keep his real identity a secret so that the dragon queen could claim the throne instead of giving it up.

That made Sansa burn with anger, why should Jon have to give anything up for that woman to become queen?

Sure, she had freed the slaves from centuries of oppression and that was really impressive, but she hadn't done anything to help them build their life up again after the slave revolts. And it wasn't like she had done it alone, the only reason she had managed to free the slaves was because of the dragons.

When Daenerys had been in Winterfell with the two dragons, they had been a source of fear and anxiety for Sansa, but now the three dragons that were hidden in the Wolfswood made her smile with fondness.

Ever since Jon had left with the others, Sansa had been sneaking out to the Wolfswood to visit the dragons, when she was with them, she felt closer to Jon. Over the last half a year, Sansa and Jon had grown so close, and she could feel that she loved him more with every day that passed.

She hadn't thought that she could feel this way after what Ramsay had done to her, but Jon with his sincere want to protect her and his kindness had broken down all her walls, and she just hoped that one day he would love her back.

Sansa noticed that her little sister was giving her a strange look, so she decided to bring herself out of her depressing thoughts.

"What is it?" Sansa asked her sister, even though she knew that Lysa had done something, she felt that asking the girls what had happened was the polite thing to do.

Arya´s cheeks were flushed with anger and she was clenching her tiny fists in her lap, and Sansa could see that young Jorelle wasn't faring any better than Arya.

"That hateful hag happened." Sansa stared at her five-year old who would soon be turning six, in surprise. She had been clearly spending too much time around the boys for her own good. "She called me a beast."

Sansa saw Jorelle nod furiously at Arya´s words. It really warmed her heart that Arya had a friend that she could relate to, sure the relationship between her and Arya was now much better than before, but Arya needed a friend.

"Why did she do that?" Why had their aunt called Arya such a thing? While Lysa Arryn had always been criticizing and needling everything that Arya did, she had never gone and call her a beast or anything of the like before.

Arya looked a little guilty at that. "Well…I kind of splattered a little mud on her dress as Jorelle and I were running past her." Arya bit her lip as she answered her sister.

Sansa frowned when her sister said that, a little mud on her dress wasn't enough for a gown woman to call a five-year old girl a beast.

"Arya, don't listen to that hateful woman." Sansa told her sister and looked her straight in the eyes. "She is just a sad woman who is lashing out in anger and you can't pay her any mind." She looked at Jorelle who was also looking at her. "Neither of you."

She didn't want her aunt to lash out at Jorelle either, young Jorelle was a lovely girl and didn't deserve to be the on the receiving end of Lysa Arryn´s anger at the world.

Both girls nodded at that, but Sansa could see that they really didn't understand, as they were so young.

Sansa smiled at them. "Come on let´s go to dinner." As they left the solar, Sansa glanced at the drawer where the journal was lying silently.

They made their way to the great hall and as they could hear a ruckus in the hall, as they got closer Sansa could recognize the voice of her mother and her aunt, and it became clear to her that they were fighting.

The girls walked into the Great hall and she could see her mother and aunt standing close together and shouting at each other. All the servants and a few guards were standing by and staring open mouthed at the two Tully sisters as they screamed at each other.

"You are just a sad old hag." Aunt Lysa screamed at the lady of Winterfell, and her face was red spotted, and her red hair was wild and uncontrolled.

Sansa watched as her mother turned even redder than her hair. "And you are a stupid slut that has shamed us all in front of the lords of Westeros, father is ashamed of calling you his daughter."

As soon as her mother said her last word, aunt Lysa let out a primal scream and threw herself at her sister in her rage, they fell to the floor yelling and screaming and Lysa was grabbing Catelyn Stark´s lovely red hair as they tumbled around on the stone floor.

Sansa turned to the guards as the two ladies fought on the floor like they had been drinking at a cheap tavern. "Guards get lady Arryn of my mother." She shouted at the terrified guards, it didn't take them a long time to rush over and try to separate the two women.

While the guards managed to separate the two ladies, they hadn't managed it without injury, one guard had scratch marks on his cheek from lady Arryn and another had a black eye from Sansa´s mother.

"Take lady Arryn to her room, where she can calm down, and make sure that there were guards stationed outside of her chambers." Sansa ordered, and the guards were quick to follow them.

Sansa turned back to her mother, who was being held upright by a guard and Sansa could see her bright blue Tully eyes glancing wildly around her. "Take my mother to maester Luwin to see to her injuries." Sansa ordered as she noticed that her mother was missing a chunk of her hair, and her lip was split, and she had a scratch mark on her throat.

She could hear Arya snort quietly behind her. "Look who´s a beast now." Sansa´s little sister whispered to her friend, who had to stifle a laugh.

Sansa had a feeling that this evening would be a long one for her.

VARYS

He rubbed his face with his hand as he let out an irritated sigh. With the name day of "Prince" Joffrey fast approaching, Cersei Lannister wanted to hold a tourney and a feast in his honor.

While normally this wouldn't be a problem for them, but after Robert Baratheon had denied the north funding for the reconstruction of the castles on the Wall, it would anger the lords of the north if Robert started to throw a lot of money for a tourney and a feast.

Even the small council were all hesitant to start spending a lot of money on such extravagances like the Lannister woman wanted, after Robert rejected the northern lords.

While Varys was thrilled that the Lannister woman was so intent to giving her bastard a feast and a tourney to celebrate his name day, as it would anger to northern lords and make them more inclined towards the rightful king when the time came, it was too much too soon.

Both the north and the king´s dragons needed to grow stronger before they had to overthrow Robert Baratheon.

Varys looked at the reports from his spies from the north, and then he threw them to the fire as he didn't want anyone to read them just to be save. It seemed like the only good news that he was receiving was from the north these days, it seemed that the rightful king, lord Stark and lady Sansa were all hard at work in strengthening the north.

When he had heard that the rightful king had risked his life to save his cousins, Varys didn't know whether to groan and slam his head to the table in frustration or start cheering wildly in in happiness.

He was frustrated that the king would risk his life like this, but he was so happy that the King would be fine, and now the lords of the north would really take well to Jon Targaryen, as he had risked his life to save the heir to the north and the daughter of the lord of Winterfell.

And the fact that lord Stark had knighted the king was a good move on his part, it would make the lords of the south take the king more seriously, as knighthood mattered a lot here in the south. Like how Laenor Velayron had been knighted before he married Rhaenyra Targaryen, the daughter of Viserys the first. The lords of the south had thought it only proper to knight the man before he married the princess of Dragonstone, and the bride's father had agreed with them.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. "Come in." Varys called. The person that entered his solar was none other than Renly Baratheon, he was clad in his signature green and black clothing and as always, he was immaculately groomed.

The young lord of Storm´s End was a youth of eighteen, and he had held the office of Master of laws of a year now, or ever since he had come from the trip he had gone around the Stormlands, to get to know his bannermen.

Varys had always considered the man intelligent, but his false sense of self-importance always got in his way.

"How can I help you, lord Renly?" Varys asked as the brother of Robert Baratheon looked around the small solar. Varys didn't have a large solar, and he didn't have it richly decorated either and the only furniture was the small desk, his chair and a bookshelf. Varys had this solar since the days of Aerys Targaryen had called him to the capitol of the seven kingdoms, but he didn't mind how small it was because it was in a great location of the Red keep.

Behind the bookshelf was a secret passageway that led to the heart of the secret passageways of the Red keep, so it was much easier for Varys to get around.

The young lord gave Varys a condescending smile. "A pleasure as always Varys," lord Renly took a seat on the edge on Varys´s desk, making Varys lean a little back to get a distance between them. "I was wondering if you could answer a question for me."

Varys folded his arms in front of his belly. "And what question would that be?"

"I was wondering if you had any word on the books?" Varys resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the dark-haired man, he had bee hounding Varys for the books ever since they found out that they were missing.

"I regret to inform you my lord, that I have not had a word of the book." That was no lie, not one of the spies in his employ had told him anything about the missing books ever since Littlefinger had been arrested, which was a problem for the new master of coin, lord Mace Tyrell.

Lord Renly sighed. "That is disappointing, it is fundamental for the master of coin to have them to see how much the crown really owes their creditors." Varys bit his tongue to keep from saying something snide to the pampered lord.

"Indeed but rest assured that I am doing everything in my power to find them." He gave the lord of Storm´s End a simpering smile that he had no doubt would make the lord uncomfortable.

Renly gave Varys a fake smile. "I am sure you are." Varys knew that Renly didn't believe him for a moment but he was smarter than to say anything to Varys, as the lord of Storm´s End knew that Varys knew too much about everyone, including lord Renly himself, and the young lord knew that it wouldn't do to make an enemy of Varys.

Renly stood back up and turned to leave the solar, but as he was almost at the door he turned back to Varys. "By the way, have you heard anything about how lord Arryn is doing in the north?"

Varys had to wonder why the man wanted to know about the lord hand, Renly didn't care about anything that didn't directly involve him. "Yes, lord Arryn decided to go with lord Stark to the Dreadfort to search it for proof of the late lord Bolton´s guilt."

The last report actually had been that they had found the proof and were on their way to Castle Black to talk to lord commander Jeor Mormont about the restorations of the castles on the wall.

Lord Renly gave Varys a long look. "Why on earth did he do that?" Of course, lord Renly wouldn't understand why lord Arryn had gone with lord Stark, lord Renly was a spoiled little lordling that didn't understand that when one held a position of power, one had a lot of responsibility.

Lord Renly only had the office of Master of Laws because he was Robert´s brother, and in all the time he had held the office in both lifetimes he hadn't really done anything of note with his power.

"Lord Arryn probably went with lord Stark to the Dreadfort, because lord Stark intended to go to Castle Black to assess the situation of the watch." Lord Renly scoffed at Varys´s answer before he left the solar.

Varys was filled with relief when the young man left, Varys had a lot of work to do, helping to dethrone the young man´s brother.