295 AC

Six years. Six long and hard years. I was officially in my majority, as of today. A man grown in most ramifications. I was now old enough to hold lands in my own name, according to Westerosi law.

I'd spent the last six years in a lot of interesting ways. It was both boring and exciting at times. Enough thinking of that though, it was time to report to the yard. I had to follow my usual schedule to the tee. Today was the day, after all.

I got to the yard and said hello to the new recruits before I started my warmups. Six years had given enough time for the effects of my super soldier buff to really show up. I was stronger, faster and better balanced than everyone in the castle. Adding my martial training to that combo meant even Rodrik Cassel couldn't give me a fair fight anymore. I was simply beyond him.

I had no doubts that I'd lose to someone like the Kingslayer or Barristan the Bold if I were to fight them though. Lord Stark only came down to the training grounds once a week and I still only managed to beat him half the time.

After my warm-ups I got into the sparring ring and waited for my opponents- Rodrik and Jory. I was taking them on two-on-one to improve my skill at fighting multiple opponents. They came in and saluted me with their swords while I did the same.

Jory led first with a wide slash from shoulder to hip. I danced around it and parried the thrust that Rodrik sent at me from my blindspot. I locked swords with Jory and closed my eyes before he could spit in them. I'd learned that lesson a while ago. I kicked his leg in and moved aside while he fell. I had to duck under a swing from Rodrik and that gave Jory enough time to get back up.

I took a few steps back and resumed my stance. I decided to take the initiative this time. I walked forward and sent a wide slash at Rodrik to force him to move back. I then engaged with Jory. A left slash to force him to move to the right had me moving in step with him to force his body between mine and Rodrik's. A slash here, a parry there, a thrust here and I swept his legs off the ground before my sword on his neck forced him to yield.

Rodrik jumped over Jory's prone form with an overhead thrust. I was forced to move back. The move he made was something he always got on my case to avoid doing but he seemed to be perfectly fine with jumping around.

I stepped around his shield bash and attempted to step on his toes. He darted out again, He was quick for his age. Not quick enough though. He blocked my slash with his shield. I pirouetted around his body and placed my sword on his neck to secure his yield.

"Your skill amazes me, my lord" Jory spoke up while we cleaned our weapons for storage. If only he knew that I held back noticeably when we sparred. The difference between a super soldier and an average human was exponential.

I went back to my room to freshen up and went to the Stark's dining room for breakfast. After I spent my first month avoiding it, I had my training time cut to ensure I made it to the breakfast. No one said anything but I got the vibe that Lord Stark was uncomfortable with my lack of social interaction.

Dressed in breeches and a nice tunic, I set off to the dining room. I walked in, "Good morning, Lord Stark, Lady Stark, Children" I said with a nod to each person on the table. I accept their returned greetings as I took my seat and started in on my breakfast.

I was placed at the very edge of the table, right between Arya and Jon Snow. It goes without saying that I rarely ever had a boring breakfast. Today's breakfast entertainment was Arya tossing peas into Robb's goblet while he wasn't looking, and Jon was distracting Robb with a conversation about swordplay.

Most people wouldn't even be able to tell that Jon was in on the mischief, but I'd sat between them long enough to figure out their dynamic. I continued to observe while trying and almost failing to hold in my laughter before I heard my name being called. I looked to the head of the table.

"Theon, congratulations on achieving your majority. We will be holding a small feast to celebrate the occasion tonight so do prepare yourself." Lord Stark spoke in that flat tone of his.

"Many thanks, my lord" At that, the rest of the table began to wish me a happy name day. I then went to the Maester's tower for my daily lesson. He welcomed me in high valyrian and I responded likewise. Luwin was, quite surprisingly, going to be the person I'd miss most in this castle. We'd moved on from having lessons to attempting to decode the old tongue together.

We'd even jointly begged Lord Stark for a captured wildling to be brought to the castle so we could further our knowledge of the language. He said no, of course. Looked offended that we'd even thought to ask.

We spent today attempting to translate one of the oldest scrolls in the library. We dated it to a few decades after the Andal conquest of Westeros and the infiltration of Andal technology into the previously underdeveloped first men culture.

After the 'lesson', I headed back to the training grounds. I'd gotten into the habit of practicing my archery every afternoon. It was one of the few things I could freely do without being worried about being so good as to be unnatural. Regular bows simply had hard limits that couldn't be breached without breaking the bow, no matter how strong one was.

Practice was good. I'd managed to almost double my accuracy in the last six months. My vision was consistently getting better and my ability to calculate things like wind speed and angles in my head before firing had also gotten much better.

It was a bit freaky, to be honest. After the day was over, I headed back to my chamber for a bath. I put on my best outfit and went out for the feast.

Northern feasts must have been quite different from Southern feasts because I couldn't imagine Margaery Tyrell or Cersei Lannister being involved in one of these. The music was loud and the voices even louder. The feast was in my honour but apart from a standing ovation when I entered the hall, I was relegated to the background.

That was fine by me. I liked being the centre of attention but on a day like today, the less eyes on me the better. The feast continued deep into the night, and I only left after Lord Stark had done the same.

I got into my room and quickly changed into my riding leathers. There was a knock on the door and my 'best friend' rushed in. "My lord, everything is prepared. The guards are drunk, and the stables are untended."

I nodded even as I picked up my weirwood bow, I'd carved it in secret. No need pissing off the northerners. I took the last of my belongings yet to be packed and followed Stones through the castle.

We got to the stables safely and I had loaded up the horses. As I prepared to leave, I heard someone approach. "Show yourself" The voice commanded, and I stepped out. "You dirty Squid" was all the stablemaster was able to get out before I put an arrow through his throat.

I got on my horse and handed a panicking Stones a few silver coins before I took off. The gates were open as they always were during feasts, and I rode past ignoring the watchman's calls to stop. I rode the horse hard. Much harder than I probably needed to, and I wasn't surprised when it was too tired to move after a few hours. We had gotten to the intended destination either way.

I dismounted and went into a semi-hidden cave. It contained the horse that I'd had Stones buy the previous day and stash here. I got on and spurred the horse on a sharp left. We were heading straight to white harbour. The journey there would be about a sennight long if I used the roads. Since I was sticking to forest trails and hunting paths, I would get there in just over a moon. That was good though, it would give the guards time to let down their guards, nice one.

I arrived in white harbour after almost a month and a half. I'd had to outmanoeuvre wolves, patrols and even the odd bandit camp to get here. I looked upon the city and got off my horse. I released it back into the forest. Its survival was in its own hands or hoofs rather.

I joined a farmer's caravan and followed them through the gate. No one even gave me a second look. My goal in the city was a very simple one. I needed a ship to Bravos. That would be where I started my new life. I was done with Westeros.

With a war coming, along with fucking zombies, staying in Westeros would make no sense to even the most stupid people. I checked into an inn with my cloak still up. I made sure to pay with copper pennies. Moving around with my cloak's hood up was one thing but paying with silver or gold was sure to get me noticed as odd. I stuck around the bar for a bit before I gave up and went to bed.

The next day, I slept in and at night, I returned to the inn's bar and did the same thing again. Bought a single drink and sipped it while waiting to hear anything from any of the sailors.

It was on my third night at the inn that I lucked out. I heard a sailor boasting of how much gold he'd make once he got back to Bravos. He got up to leave the bar after a few shots and I followed. He got to his ship, and I scouted it out. It was a nice one. Large, but not too large. Dark brown with sails bearing the titan of Bravos.

The ship was good and would satisfy my purposes. I waited for the crew to load up their cargo and then they all went in, presumably to sleep. Considering the fact that they were sleeping on the ship itself, they'd probably be leaving first thing in the morning. Theon might have Ten when he was removed from Pyke, but even at that age, he'd had tons of experience with ships already.

Ironborn children grew up on boats as much we did in castles. I took note of everything I could and then went back to the inn to pick up the rest of my property; A sword, my weirwood boy and a quiver of arrows, along with a couple changes of clothes and the rest of my gold. I'd been receiving 50 silvers a moon from Lord Stark and apart from clothes and the horse I'd ridden here, I'd spent none of it.

With my things in hand, I had an easy time sneaking off into the boat and hiding in a dark corner of the cargo hold. They wouldn't check for stowaways because no one would actually be stupid enough to sneak onto a ship. It was a quick way to die- either by being found out or starvation.

After a few hours of sleep, I felt the ship begin to move and I decided to wait for a few hours before making my presence known.

A/N; Like it, Love it, Can't tell?

I'm a bit ahead of schedule so you can read the next chapter completely for free on my pa-atreon. The link is in my bio and the username is the same as the one I use here.