CATELYN

She felt a sting as the maester dapped the wound on her neck to clean it out, and she let out a hiss in protest. Cat had a feeling that the man was punishing her for her actions.

She could see it in his eyes that he was judging her, and Cat couldn't find it in herself to be angry for that, because he was right. She had shamed herself and her family by getting in a fight with her sister, in the middle of the great hall no less.

But that was not the worst of it. No, the worst thing was that Sansa, Arya and Arya´s little friend had witnessed the fighting between her and her sister.

Catelyn could feel the shame bubble in her gut at the very thought. She shouldn't have fought Lysa, but that slut made her so angry, all she did was complain about everything and blaming everyone but herself about what had happened to her.

But Cat knew better, everything that had happened was Lysa´s fault, and no one else's. Lysa had been the one to cheat on her husband with little Petyr.

Cat was still not sure what to think about Petyr and his role in the fall of house Tully from grace. Petyr had always been a weak little child and a romantic, like how he had fought for Cat´s hand against Brandon and lost.

It seemed a little strange to Cat that Petyr had been having an affair with Lysa, when he had been in love with Cat. But Jon Arryn had walked in on them and he was famous for his honor and truthfulness and Lysa had also confessed that Petyr was the father of her bastard.

Why on earth was Petyr with Lysa, and fathered a bastard on her when he was in love with Cat? That didn't make sense to her.

And the fact that Lysa had attacked her in the middle of the great hall of Winterfell was unthinkable, what would Ned think when he found out that Cat had been fighting with her sister in the hall and that it had ended with Lysa violently attacking her?

Cat knew that soon everyone would find out that the lady of Winterfell had been fighting with her sister and that it had ended with Lysa acting like a beast.

Cat held in a sob, how could this have happened? a few months ago, house Tully had been respected as one of the great houses of Westeros, but now Lysa seemed determined to drag their names through the mud by any means necessary.

There was knock on the door that brought her out of her thoughts. "Come in." Maester Luwin called as he continued to treat her wound at her neck, making Cat winch once more.

She was just glad that he was done treating her scalp, it had been so painful when he had put the lotion in her scalp, and she could still feel the burning in her skin. The maester had told her that her hair would grow back, but it would take some time, much to Cat´s horror.

Catelyn would have a small bald spot in her scalp before the lotion would work its magic and help her hair grow back.

The person who knocked turned out to be Sansa. It was strange to see her little face look so serious, then again, she had started to look more and more serious over the last half a year.

With every day that passed, Sansa reminded her more and more of the lord of Winterfell, her father. Sansa had flawlessly adopted the stony mask that Ned used when dealing with the lords, and she used it indiscriminately when she felt that it was needed.

And Sansa was using that face now.

Catelyn was torn between pride and anger, she was proud of Sansa for being so lady like and well put together, but Cat didn't like the look Sansa was sending her.

"Ah, lady Sansa." The small grey man greeted the elder daughter of house Stark. "Is everything down in the great hall under control?"

As the man asked her seven, almost eight-year old daughter if the mess that Catelyn herself had made, had been cleaned up and she could feel shame bubble in her stomach.

"Yes, everything is fine now, and everyone is going about their duties." Sansa replied with a smile as she placed her hands behind her back. "But how are you doing here?" Sansa looked over to Cat.

"How are you mother?" Sansa asked with her stoic look back on her face, and it made her heart drop to her stomach. Was her daughter so ashamed of her now after what had happened with Lysa?

"I am fine, I suppose." Catelyn replied in a low voice. Sansa looked her over with her Tully blue eyes and Cat could see concern in them.

"That is good, but if I may ask what were the two of you fighting about?" Catelyn almost closed her eyes in dread, she didn't want to tell Sansa, she was too young to know about what Lysa and her were fighting about.

"Nothing for you to worry about, sweetling." The lady of Winterfell replied with a small smile.

For a moment Cat thought that Sansa would drop it, but she was very disappointed. "Usually I would agree with you mother, but as I had to be the one to clean your and aunt Lysa´s mess, I think that I deserve an explanation."

Catelyn felt the irritation wash over her at her daughter's words. Sure, Cat had made a mistake, but that didn't give Sansa the right to lecture her, Cat was still her mother.

"Sansa, I love you and I am thankful for you handling the situation in the great hall, but I think that you are still too young to know about these things." Cat could see her daughter's nostrils flare at her words.

"Mother I am trying to help you, but I cannot do that unless I have all the facts." The flash of anger that had been on Sansa´s face before had quickly been buried under the mask that revealed no emotion, and Cat couldn't begin to guess what Sansa was thinking at the moment.

The anger that Cat was feeling quickly evaporated and was replaced by love and grief. She loved how caring her daughter was and Cat was now surer than ever that Sansa would make a wonderful mother and wife one day, but Catelyn grieved that Sansa was trying to take on too much responsibility too soon.

Cat smiled kindly at her elder daughter. "Don't you worry sweetling, I will handle this, why don't you go on and play with Jeyne Pool?" Over the last half a year, Cat had noticed, much to her concern that Sansa had been distancing herself from young Jeyne. While Jeyne was beneath her in their status, the steward's daughter was well behaved and good-mannered girl.

Sansa stared at her mother for a moment before she turned to maester Luwin. "When you are done here, why don't you go and take a look at aunt Lysa, but be sure to take a guard with you, she is still raving in her room." The maester smiled and nodded at Sansa.

Sansa turned back to Catelyn. "I hope you will recover soon mother, but why don't you take tomorrow of from your duties, I will make sure that they are all completed." Cat opened her mouth to protest, but Sansa spoke before she could say a word. "You need your rest mother, and I am sure Winterfell wont crumble if you take one day off." Sansa sent her a small smile, that warmed her heart.

Sansa was such a beautiful girl when she smiled like that.

JON

Jon woke up slowly and he could feel the slight ache in his scars and his muscles were stiff. He looked out the small window and judging by the sun and the light it seemed to be around noon. He let out a sigh, he had intended to get up much earlier than this and do something with his day.

He could feel his stomach protest angerly at having missed breakfast, so Jon decided to get out of bed and go and get something to eat.

Jon got up and dressed slowly in his grey clothing with the white direwolf on them, that Sansa had thoughtfully made him. He always made sure to dress with care when he was dressing into clothing that Sansa had made for him, as he didn't want to damage the beautifully made clothes.

It made him smile that Sansa had taken the time to provide him with clothing, and even he could see the care and attention that had gone into making this for him.

When he had finished dressing, he heard a throat clearing itself and he jumped around, only to see the Stranger giving him a cold smile.

"Hello." The Stranger crossed his leg over the other as he sat on Jon´s cot, like he belonged there. "Feeling better?" He asked as he gestured at where the arrows had pierced Jon´s body.

Jon nodded. "Much, thank you for asking." He answered as he turned to fully face the Stranger and placed his hands behind his back as he waited for the Stanger to speak.

"Good, I am glad." The Stranger fixed his colorless eyes on Jon´s grey ones and not of the first time Jon felt like he was reading his thoughts. "You found the chamber I take it." The Stranger´s words weren't a question but a statement.

"Aye, I did." Jon answered with a low tone and he could see the young girl´s face flash before his eyes. When he closed his eyes, he could still see her lying there on the table, strapped down and staring with her unseeing eyes into the air. "Why did I have to see that?"

The Stranger looked at him for a moment. "Remember how you killed Daenerys Targaryen to protect the people from her wrath?" Jon closed his eyes and nodded, yes, he remembered that well, he could still feel the hot blood wash over his hand after he had stabbed her in the heart, and he could still see the life drain from her violet eyes.

"I didn't want you to forget that lesson you learned that day." The Stranger was looking at him and there was no emotion in his eyes as he said those words. "What you did that day, was more Kingly than all of your ancestors actions, you sacrificed everything for the welfare of your people, and that was the moment when my siblings and I decided to send you back to try again."

Jon stared at the Stranger in shock, there were no words that came to mind as he tried to process what he had been told.

But the Stranger continued. "I also wanted to drive the lesson home that not all of the horror happens to people are in times of war, and the fact that if war isn't being fought, that doesn't mean that you can rest easy when you are sitting on the throne."

Jon walked over to the cot and sat down beside the Stranger. All his thoughts were in a turmoil and he felt so strange having to listen to this, the gods had respected that he had killed his own aunt?

The silence was deafening as the Stranger waited for a moment for Jon to gather his thoughts on what he had told him.

"Well Jon Targaryen, we won't be seeing each other for a while after this," This made Jon look up sharply at the black and white clad figure that was before him. "But I will leave you with this, you are going to be given a great gift today, you should strive to know it well, because if you do, you shall be richly rewarded." The Stranger said the last part with a sly smirk and then he was gone like he had never even been there in the first place.

Jon buried his face in his hands as he sat there for a moment on the cot. Every time when he thought of the moment, he stabbed Daenerys that day in the throne room, he felt guilt wash over him like a flood.

The guilt wasn't because of having stabbed her; no, it was because the fact he hadn't acted sooner. If he had killed her on Dragonstone, she would never have killed all those people in King´s Landing.

So many deaths could have been avoided if he had only acted sooner, but there was no use in dwelling in the past, all he could do now was to learn from his mistakes and hopefully do better than last time.

When he heard his stomach loudly protest from hunger, Jon stood up from the cot, he had to get something to eat.

He grabbed his dagger and attached it to his belt and left the room, but as he opened the door, he walked straight into his cousin Robb, who looked shocked to see him awake and out and about.

"Jon you are awake?" Jon had to frown at the surprise in his cousins' tone, while Jon was usually up early, it was alright to sleep in occasionally. "I was getting worried." Wait why on earth was Robb worried?

"Robb, why on were you worried?" Jon asked the red headed boy with a raised brow.

The heir to Winterfell looked at Jon strangely for a moment, before a look of realization dawned on his face. "Jon, you have been sleeping for little over a day."

Jon just stared at his cousin in surprise. He had lost a whole day? No wonder his stomach was protesting so angerly. But still having lost a whole day was extreme, even if he was still healing.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat," Robb said with a smile as he dragged Jon out of the room. "Sansa will never forgive me if you don't eat enough."

Jon was dragged from the King´s tower to the mess hall, were the food was served, by his cousin. The hall was filled with lords and black brothers and Robb lead him over to where Ned Stark was sitting with Lord Arryn and lord Commander Mormont.

Robb sat him down in front of the lord of Winterfell. "Jon stay, I will go and get you something to eat." Then the red headed boy was gone before Jon could insist on getting his own food.

Jon turned to looked at the men in front of him, and he could see the merriment in their eyes as they watched Robb go, to find his bastard brother something to eat. Jon felt his cheeks start to heat up for a moment, he wasn't used to people running around, doing things for him, even when Sansa had been helping taking care of him.

Sansa had been helping him, because he was injured, but now he was fine and didn't need Robb to run around getting his meals. But he knew better than to say anything, he didn't want to seem ungrateful to Robb, who was being so kind.

"Are you alright Ser Jon?" Jon looked at lord Arryn who had just spoken, he was still getting used to be addressed as a knight.

"Aye, I am well, thank you for asking lord hand." Jon smiled at the man, Jon like his namesake as he was kind and didn't treat him differently from others even though he believed Jon to be a bastard.

"We were worried about you Jon, you were sleeping for such a long time, but both maester Wolkan and maester Aemon told us that after the long ride here it was best to let you sleep." uncle Ned looked him over like he was trying to see how he was.

Before Jon could reply, Robb returned with two plates filled with mutton stew and black bread on a tray.

Jon only half listened to the three men as they talked about the situation here at the wall, as he was so absorbed into his meal. But he did turn to listen when his uncle turned to both Robb and Jon to address them. "I want the two of you to come to the shield hall, there is an announcement that lord commander Mormont and I would like everyone to hear."

Jon looked at his uncle as he spoke, and Jon could see a glint in his eyes as the older man looked at him. As he nodded along with Robb, Jon couldn't help but to wonder what his uncle wanted them to hear.

After they had finished their lunch, Jon and Robb decided to wait in the shield hall. As they walked to the hall, Jon couldn't help but to notice that Robb was sending him guilty glances.

"What is it Robb?" When he asked, Robb stopped and bit his lip, clearly having an inner debate with himself if he should tell Jon what he was thinking.

But it didn't take him to decide. "I´m sorry Jon, I went with uncle Benjen to the top of the Wall yesterday when you were sleeping." Jon felt a little bewildered at Robb´s words, that is what he was worried about? "I am sorry that we didn't wait for you to wake up to go."

Jon smiled at his cousin´s words and throw his arm around the red head´s shoulders as they continued their walk to the shield hall. "Don't worry about it, we can go up there together before we go back south."

Robb still had a guilty look on his face. "But we talked about going up there together for the first time."

"Don´t worry about this Robb, I am not mad at you for going up there without me." Jon could see that Robb seemed a little reassured by Jon´s words, but there was still a lingering glint of doubt in his eyes.

Jon dragged him into the shield hall, and they took their seats, just below the high table. There were only a few men already here.

"So, while I was asleep yesterday, what was happening?" Jon asked as they had some time to waste while they waited. Jon grabbed the jug of ale and poured himself a cup.

Robb stared at him when Jon offered to pour him a cup, then he shook his head. It seemed that the heir to Winterfell wasn't a fan of the ale of the watch, not that Jon could blame him.

Robb shrugged his shoulders. "Not much, Father, lord Arryn, and the lord commander and his senior command spent all time in the lord commanders solar, talking. Then when they were done, uncle Benjen took me up in the lift."

"You weren't in the meeting?" Jon asked and he couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. His uncle had been making sure that Robb was involved in most of the duties that Ned Stark had to attend as the lord of Winterfell.

"No, father thought that I would just be bored, so I spent most of the day in the library reading." This made Jon frown a little, Robb had taken much interest in the duties of a lord in the last half a year, so it seemed a little odd that Robb hadn't gone with his father to the meeting. "Yeah, I thought that it was weird too." Robb said as he noticed the look on Jon´s face.

Then both lords of the north and black brothers started to enter the hall and take their seats. Ned Stark took a seat with lord Arryn and Lord Commander Mormont at the high table. But Jon couldn't help but to notice that Ser Alliser Throne was sending him the biggest stink eye that rivaled the angry look that the man had sent him when he had been voted lord commander.

"Jon why is that man looking at you like that?" Robb leaned over and whispered in his ear with concern in his voice.

"I don't know." Jon answered truthfully, he hadn't even talked to the man in this lifetime, so he wasn't sure what he had done to anger the man this time. Sure, Alliser Thorne was a Targaryen supporter, and Jon was thought to be the bastard of Ned Stark, but that was no cause to try to kill him with his eyes.

But that thought almost made Jon snort, Ser Alliser had hated Jon because he thought that Jon was Ned Stark bastard, when in fact Jon was the last living son of Rhaegar Targaryen. Thorne would be shocked when the truth came out.

He observed lord commander Jeor Mormont stand up. "Thank you all for coming, we have a few announcements to make before you can all go on with your day."

Jon could see that all the black brothers were on the edge of their seats, Jon could understand as they had probably been hearing about how the lords of the north wanted to help the watch.

Lord Commander Mormont continued. "The lords of the north and lord Arryn are going to provide funding to help us restore our order to its former glory by helping us to rebuild the castles on the wall." This caused the black brothers to start cheering heartily.

When they had calmed down, the old bear started again. "And thanks to the hard work of Ser Jon Snow and lord Robb Stark that made the plans, we can start very soon." Jon could feel a blush coming on as the black brothers started to cheer for him and Robb.

Jon could see that see Robb puff out his chest a little when the black brothers started to cheer, Jon however didn't puff out his chest, but nodded thankfully to the black brothers who were now cheering for him and Robb.

As the men settled down, Lord Commander Mormont continued. "Lord Stark and I have talked and we have come to the decision that both the new gift and Brandon´s gift shall be given to Ser Jon Snow to rule as it´s lord, and he shall pay taxes to the watch instead of to Winterfell."

Jon stared at the lord commander as he said those words, of all the things that he had expected to hear, this wasn't one of them. Jon stared at his uncle, trying to see what the man was thinking, but all be got from Lord Stark was a proud smile.

Jon glanced to his side where Robb was staring open mouthed at his father in his surprise.

"So," Lord Commander Mormont lifted his cup of ale. "Let´s raise our cups to Ser Jon Snow, the lord of Queenscrown." This was met with more cheers as the men raised their cups to toast to him.

Jon was still so surprised at the old bear´s announcements, Jon looked at his uncle Ned as he sat beside the old bear. The lord of Winterfell raised his cup and sent Jon a small smile.

The next few hours passed by in a blur for Jon, as all the lords and ladies came to him and congratulated him on becoming a lord of the realm, as well as many black brothers. And Robb who had gotten over his shock slapped Jon on the back and congratulated him with a toothy grin.

It seemed to Jon that many of the black brothers seemed glad that the gift would hopefully soon become inhabited again, and that Jon would be paying his taxes to the night´s watch instead of to Winterfell.

But Jon noticed that not all of the black brothers seemed happy with the arrangement. Ser Alliser Thorne and Bowen March seemed angry that the night´s watch was giving away it´s lands to him, even if he would be paying all his taxes to the watch instead of to Winterfell.

Not that Jon was particularly grieved to hear how they had protested that Jon should have the gift. But it did explain the angry glare that Thorne had been sending him all through the meeting.

Now Jon understood the Stanger´s words, that today he would receive a gift. But the Stanger had told him that he should know it well and he would be richly rewarded for it if he did.

After the meeting, Jon decided to hurry over to the library to see if he could find out anything new about the Gift and the lands that he would be ruling until they could announce his true parentage to the world and take the iron throne.

Robb decided to stay with his father, as he wanted to see more of Castle Black before they left. The library was located in the vaults under the castle, and Jon knew from his last life that it held many books and scrolls that not even the citadel had.

It had scrolls and books about the language of the children, though they were so faded that they could hardly be read anymore, and books about old Valyria before the doom.

But those were not the book that he was looking for right now, Jon was looking for any and all book containing information on the Gift, and the lands that he was supposed to help grow.

A lot of the information he was finding, he already knew, like how the Gift had great farming lands with rich soil that was easy to work. Jon had been sitting in the library for a few hours trying to find out anything new, when he heard someone behind him.

Jon looked behind him and he could see that it was maester Aemon and his assistant Clydas. Jon stared at his great, great, great uncle, and he felt the familiar guilt rear its ugly head in his belly.

Jon wanted nothing more than to tell the old maester that Jon was his family, but Jon doubted that the man would ever believe him if he did tell him. It sounded unbelievable that Jon was really the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark and for now Jon had no way to prove that he really was a Targaryen.

Sure, he had his dragons, but he couldn't reveal them now, they were still too small and could be easily hurt and killed.

Jon remembered with horror how Daenerys had taken it when he had told her about how he was her nephew. But maester Aemon wasn't anything like Daenerys, Jon knew that the old man would just be glad that he had family so close to him.

"Who is there Clydas?" The maester asked his assistant as he gripped his black cane in his gnarled hand, bring Jon out of his thoughts. The maester was just like he remembered him, small and frail and his unseeing eyes looking right passed him.

"It´s lord Snow, Ned Stark´s bastard." Clydas said the word bastard with no bite, but as a matter of fact, and once Jon would have been a little angry that the man was using that to identify him to the maester, but now he didn't care.

Clydas´s words brought a smile to the old maester´s face. "Oh, I have been wanting to speak to you, my lord." Jon opened his mouth to tell him that he wasn't a lord, but then he closed it. As of this day, Jon was truly a lord in his own right.

Jon offered the old man a seat by the table, which the maester gratefully took, then he dismissed his assistant so that Clydas could go and feed the ravens while the maester talked to Jon.

The maester didn't speak until he had heard Clydas leave the library, then he turned his unseeing eyes at Jon. "So, you are the one that has been making the plans for the castles here at the wall." Jon could see the intelligence in his eyes as the old man waited for Jon to say anything.

"Robb also did a lot of work." He repeated what he had said in the courtyard when they arrived at castle black.

But the maester let out a small laugh and Jon could see the light of the candles reflect on his bald shiny head. "Young Robb has been telling everyone how will listen that you were the one doing most of the work and that he only helped a little."

Jon rolled his eyes at that; he should have expected that to happen.

"If I may ask," The maester continued. "What made you decide on helping the watch?"

Jon was having a hard time with this talk; he didn't know what to say to this man who had always helped him. Jon wanted nothing more than to tell the man that he was the son of Rhaegar, but he had no way to prove it to him, and Jon didn't want the man to hate him and thinking that Jon was trying to trick him.

"Honestly, I knew that the watch needed help, so I just did it." Jon tried to look anywhere but into his uncle´s unseeing eyes, Jon hated himself for not telling the maester the whole truth.

"Humm, are you sure that it has nothing to do with the Others and the dead returning, nephew?"