I was up at first light the next day. I was incredibly excited. This was the beginning of a brand-new start. I'd be starting the day at the training yard. I felt jittery, filled to the brim with energy. Being a child was really weird. I had energy. A lot of it. I could barely go to bed last night and I woke up really early today.

I had learnt my lesson from yesterday, so I waited for a servant to come fetch me. It wasn't Serra today. It was someone else. A young boy a few years older than this body. He was polite and cheerful, so I didn't hold his gender against him for long. He led me to the training yard and informed me that he would be waiting for me to finish and then he'd lead me to the small hall the Lord's family used for breakfast.

I approached the man who looked to be in charge and introduced myself. He sneered down at me while pulling on one of his gray whiskers and replied, "I know who you are, Squid. I am Rodrik Cassel, master-at-arms of this castle. Lord Stark has placed me in charge of your training. I don't see the need in training something like you, but I cannot disobey my lord. When you are in this yard, you will obey my every command. You will not slack off and maybe one day I'll make a man out of you" He spoke simply with a rough northern accent that seemed to fit his gruff, worn appearance.

After I told him I understood, he had me join the newest recruits being trained up and practice with them. He started by showing us basic slashes and thrusts. He made us practice each move at least a hundred times. The youngest person here was six and ten but as we got more and more into the practice, I noticed that I wasn't getting tired as quickly as they were.

Don't get me wrong, I still felt exhausted after my hundredth consecutive thrust. The difference between me and them was that my form didn't suffer, and I recovered in a quarter of the time it took them. Rodrik quickly noticed this and started pushing me harder than he pushed them. He might not have liked me but he seemed well invested in making me the best I could be.

After the third hour of training, he announced that the training was done for the day. I went back to the servant who had been watching the training with a wistful look on his face. I asked him to lead me to my room and that's where we went. I was pleasantly surprised to note that a hot bath had been prepared for me ahead of my arrival.

There was no servant here to help me with that though. Seems like the Starks didn't subscribe to that luxury. I shrugged off my sweaty leathers and got into the bath. It was warm and refreshing. It felt divine on my aching muscles. I washed off and got out of the bath to get ready for breakfast.

I changed into some of my clothes. I'd gotten weird looks from a couple people because I wasn't dressed for the weather at all. Even during a summer like this one, the North was still ridiculously cold. The cold didn't affect me though. I noticed it but I didn't feel it.

The benefits of being a super soldier were numerous and far reaching. I'd noticed another one yesterday when I was reading. OI was able to focus on the book for much longer than I had ever been able to, and I remembered everything I'd read even though I was simply reading to pass the time.

When I got out of my room, the servant told me it was much too late to join the Lord's family for breakfast, so I had to break my fast in the kitchen. I didn't mind this at all and I'd purposefully delayed in the bath in the hopes that this would happen.

On the way to the kitchen, I noticed that I hadn't asked him for his name. It felt much too awkward to do so right now though. I'd find out his name later.

The kitchen was incredibly large and seemed to be a place where everyone was constantly busy doing something. The servant left me to whisper to someone and then came back with a tray of food. He led to me to a hall pretty close to the kitchen where I was going to break my fast. I'd barely gotten started on devouring the bread when he interrupted me by speaking.

"Milord?" He said hesitantly. I looked up to him in irritation and he shut up. Fuck. Need to be polite. A reputation for scaring smallfolk definitely would not be tolerated by The Stark of Winterfell. "Yes? You had something to say" I said while plastering the most welcoming look I could imagine on my face. He seemed to think for a bit before saying-

"I just wanted to say that I don't blame you, milord." What? "For being a squid, I mean" He added awkwardly when he saw the confusion on my face. This boy must be either very brave or very stupid. The earnest look on his face told me it was the latter. He genuinely wasn't trying to offend me.

"Thank you for that…."

"Stones, milord"

"Thank you, Stones. Now if it pleases you, I'll be going back to my breakfast." I was going to be polite but I sure as hell wasn't going to be nice. Especially not to this idiot.

I polished off the meal in record time and I asked him to lead me to the Maester. He kept silent throughout the journey there, but I could tell he felt embarrassed from the looks he kept sneaking at me.

Well, I would be the bigger man here. I am a kind and generous master after all. "I apologize if I seemed short with you earlier, Stones. It was not my intention" It was, but a little white lie.

"No need to apologize to me, Milord" He stated but I already walked into the Maester's tower by the time he finished his statement.

Maester Luwin was an old gray man. He really fit the description of an 'old fart' to the tee. He welcomed me with a smile and spent the next two hours testing my knowledge of numbers, letters and history. I impressed him with my knowledge of numbers (high school level math would be high science to these people), I could read and write, which was apparently the extent of education on letters. My history was lacking in all the ways that mattered. I knew some stuff but most of my knowledge was either wholly wrong, partly wrong, or just insufficient.

He planned out a timetable for my lessons with him and was about to dismiss me when I asked suddenly, "Maester, can you teach me to speak other languages?"

He turned contemplative at that before replying, "Your knowledge of the common tongue is more than sufficient. I see no reason why we could not work through high Valyrian. It is a requirement for every master to speak, read and write the language, you know?..."

I nodded as he continued to drone on about the merits of the various languages and the history of the low Valyrian dialects. He was clearly one of those types.

I waited for him to finish while nodding along before he realized I was still here and dismissed me. I left the room and met Stones waiting for me outside. I had him lead me to the stables. Theon had been a passable rider and I'd always wanted to ride a horse.

The journey from the Maester's tower to the Stables was a long one, made even longer by Stones' constant ramblings about the castle. "Milord, over there is the fourth courtyard, the Lord's family don't use it much, so we servants are allowed to use it to play. I used to play there all the time, before I was recruited to be a kitchen helper and now your personal servant, milord." Interesting, no not interesting at all.

"What about your parents?" I finally asked. If he was going to talk constantly, might as well find out more about him as he did.

"Me ma died in bed, milord. No don't be sad for Stones, milord. Most mas die in bed, giving birth. The gods don't give life for free, Anya always says" No idea who Anya was but it is interesting to see how normalized maternal mortality has become in a world like this one.

"And your father?" I was genuinely curious about this one.

"Me da never came. No one knows who he was. Anya says I must be a gift from the old gods." I nodded at that. The 'old gods' must be code for Stark. His grey eyes and black hair made his parentage suspect in my mind. His lack of knowledge about his father made my suspicions even more plausible.

We arrived at the stables before I could ask more questions. I walked towards one of the stable boys and asked for a pony to practice my riding on. He ran of to get the stable master and I waited as patiently as I could before I started getting jittery. I wanted to do something. All that time spent sitting still was getting to me.

There were no stable boys here, so I opened one of the docks and released a horse. A milk white one with the most beautiful silky black mane of hair. I calmed it and climbed on like a pro, or what I felt a pro would climb on like. I spurred the horse into motion and started racing around the track.

It was exhilarating. There was no better feeling that the wind in my hair as the horse moved at speeds, I'd never be able to match in a sustained manner. The horse kept on going with little direction from me and I just held on for my life while I enjoyed the ride. It was about twenty minutes, in my estimation before I started hearing shouts from the area around the track. I paid them no mind until I saw someone on a horse beside me. His horse kept pace with mine instantly and then he turned to me and spoke, "Stop the horse, Squid. You've put yourself in enough trouble already".

He was right. I'd be in a lot of fucking trouble once I got off this horse. So why would I get off? I spurred the horse even more to go faster and I enjoyed my joyride around the track ignoring the man's threats and shouts of rage.

I ended up enjoying another thirty minutes before the horse was simply too tired to continue. I got off when the horse finally stopped and the man that had been following me wasted no time in grabbing me by the ears and dragging me to one end of the stables where I was surprised to notice Eddard fucking Stark watching me.

"You've already started causing trouble, I see. Since this is a first infraction, I will be lenient and will not whip you for this" At his mention of whipping, I went white. Corporal punishment was an option, fuck.

"Instead, since you like horses so much, you will spend the next few moons caring for them. After your lessons with Maester Luwin, you will report to Rick and take your place as one of the stable boys. You'll start today since you are already here." He finished off and left the stables.

Fuck. I thought I'd get a severe scolding, maybe getting banned from the stables for a bit but to be forced into working here for the foreseeable future.

This was not ideal. Ha. Not ideal was an understatement. I took a deep breath to calm myself. Being a stable boy couldn't be that bad, could it?

It could, it really could. I'd spent the last few hours shoveling dung and hay in equal amounts. The man who had told me to stop was apparently Rick, the stable master. He was less than pleased at my behaviour and gave the stable boys the rest of the day off and had me performing their duties.

Stones escorted me to my room in silence and I jumped into the warm bath already drawn for me in bliss. I went to bed that night without lunch or dinner. I was hungry, but too exhausted to leave my room to get a meal.

A/N; Just to confirm that I'm still continuing this. The next chapter will probably contain a massive time skip.