Asher Forrester is the second-born son of Lord Gregor Forrester and Lady Elissa Forrester. He had five siblings Rodrik, Mira, Talia, Ethan and Ryon. For as long as he could remember he was a trouble maker and his father was always forced to intervene on his behalf many times. This one time a miller's boy started to torment his younger brother Ethan. Ethan, being a sweet child never complained to anybody but Asher heard about the incident. Ethan was his younger brother and Asher doted on his brother quite a lot. So when he learned about the miller's boy he personally beat up the boy and knocked a few teeth out in the process. The shouting match that followed this incident was epic and he had to lay low for a while lest his father went into another apocalyptic rage. Already he was on thin ice so to speak with his tendency to start brawls in taverns, sleeping with whores, being drunk out of his mind and so on.

It was into all this the Old Gods cursed him with the most terrible of curses. He fell in love and that too with a daughter of House Whitehall who was a sworn enemy of House Forrester. Gwyn Whitehill was everything he found attractive in a woman and meeting her at the edge of Ironwood forests was the day that his heart skipped a beat. Everything became more complicated when Gwyn returned his affections and soon they became lovers. Inevitably both of their fathers found out about the affair and a small scale conflict was fought where Asher slew a number of Whitehill guards. This incident worsened the resentment that the Whitehills nursed against his house and his father had two choices, one was to go for war and the other was to exile his second son.

This was how he found himself in the ancient halls of Winterfell. The Warden of the North had requested his father to accompany Jon Snow to Braavos. In all honesty, this was the best option his father had as it would not be an exile but at the same time, it was one. The only upside in this whole mess was that he could get to see Braavos and the downside was he could get to see only Braavos. At least in exile he could have wandered off to anywhere he liked but being saddled with babysitting duty prevented that. Then again there was still a chance that this Jon Snow might turn out to be a kindred spirit and they would be exploring Essos together. With that happy thought, he skipped over to Winterfell's training yard where he assumed Jon Snow would be. He had heard the boy had returned to Winterfell last night and unfortunately Asher was drunk enough to forget his own name so he was in no position to meet the infamous bastard of Winterfell.

Before the courtyard came into his view he could hear the clanging sounds made by swords. As the courtyard came to his view he could see two boys engaged in a fierce exchange of blows. He knew one of them was Robb Stark as he had met the fellow when he arrived at Winterfell. Outside the yard, Theon Greyjoy was cheering on for Robb. The Ironborn ward of House Stark was very much similar to Asher and that's why they hit-it-off pretty quickly yesterday which ended with both of them drunk out of their minds in a brothel.

"So this is Jon Snow eh?" Asher asked as he stood next to Theon as he observed the other fellow fighting Robb Stark

"Yes. Don't let him move you around Robb!" Theon called out as Jon started to rain down a flurry of strikes that quickly made Robb move back

"He is good." Asher commented as he watched Jon Snow expertly weave around Robb Stark and disarm him with a sharp jab of his blunted sword

"You want to try out?" Theon asked as he nodded at the yard

"Sure why not." Asher shrugged indifferently although he was getting a little excited on the inside.

"Ser Rodrik, et Asher have a go at Jon!" Theon shouted and the old knight gave a brief nod giving his permission

"Just keep in mind not to call Jon any names. He will humiliate you in the yard and you will end up regretting that moment for the rest of your life." Theon advised as he led Asher to some of the blunted swords

"Speaking from experience, are you?" Asher asked and was amused to see the squid turn red from embarrassment

"Just get inside the yard and we will see how you fare." Theon pushed Asher into the yard

Asher smirked as he realised there was most certainly an interesting story behind the squid's embarrassment. But that could wait for a little while because he had the fight to win. While he didn't like to brag he knew he was pretty decent with a sword and this would be a good opportunity to learn about his future travel companion.

"It was a pretty nice move back there. Think you can do that one more time." Asher challenged as he gave a few experimental swings with the blunted sword in his hand

"Sure, if you can handle the defeat." Jon countered as he took a stance with both his hands on the sword ready to come swinging

At Ser Rodrick's signal, Asher and Jon surged forward and their swords met with a clang. Asher tried to overwhelm Jon with superior strength which he succeeded as Jon yielded any contest of strength and began raining down swift jabs and strokes that left Asher on the defensive.

Asher backpedalled away to get some breathing space from Jon's relentless assault. He realised he was out of breath trying to keep up the pace with Jon Snow and it was then that he understood what set Jon Snow apart. Jon was too fast and precise for him to keep up and the guy never tires. Every swing of Jon's sword was precise and fast which left the opponent only one chance and that was to quickly end the fight in a flurry of blows.

Asher took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the sword and charged with a roar. He began with an overhead slash which surprisingly enough Jon was defending with his sword instead of deflecting like he usually did. He didn't let go of the advantage and pressed his attack. Slowly Asher felt that he was making progress as this time around it was he who was forcing Jon into the defence and never letting the younger boy go into the offence.

Unfortunately, his sense of victory came crashing down when Jon changed sword hands and caught Asher's blade with the flat of Jon's blade. Jon slid his blade over the periphery of Asher's blade and gave a violet twist to his wrists. Asher flinched and by the time his eyelids opened he had a sword to his neck and his own sword was sticking upright on the ground quite far away.

"You are something else, Snow!" Asher managed to say as he recovered from the shock

"You are not so bad yourself. If you had a mace or an axe then you would certainly have won with that tactic towards the end. Also, call me Jon."

Asher smiled as he shook hands with Jon Snow. Looks like he found a good training partner at the very least.

Dacey Mormont watched the whole fight from one of the windows. She had only arrived at the castle and that only happened because she pushed her party to travel last night. Between Deepwood Motte and Winterfell she never stopped anywhere and her only resting time was on the ship from Bear Islands to Deepwood Motte. She rushed to Winterfell because of the message she received from the raven. She was asked to present herself in Winterfell as soon as possible with an added instruction to pack for an undetermined long stay in Braavos of all places. It was only after she arrived in Winterfell this morning that she was further informed of what was going on and she had to say she liked it!

While she loved her home and the North who wouldn't be happy to travel all the way across the Narrow sea and see new lands. She had dreamed about going on a voyage across all known oceans but her obligations as the heiress to house Mormont always got in the way. Right now she was being given the opportunity to travel into distant lands. Not just travel but she also had to bring back Jon Snow to Bear Islands as her husband.

Mormons women rarely take a husband but in her case, she had no choice. The dishonour and stain brought upon house Mormont by her cousin Jorah had to be washed away and what better way than marriage. Unfortunately, according to her mother, the Umbers have rejected the proposal for one of their own to marry her and strangely Lord Stark was open to let his baseborn son marry her. Observing Jon Snow she could see why her mother was over the moon with the match. For one she could see the uses of having an extremely martial oriented husband for her. Bear Islands is a target for Ironborn and Wildling raids and the people in her home island is extremely militaristic and someone like Jon would be easily acceptable for her people. There is also the added benefit of marrying a Stark. Jon may not have the Stark name but he does have the Stark blood and that was all the Mormonts cared about. They always married from their own islands for the simple reason of maintaining their skinchanging abilities. But a Stark marrying into their house would increase the potency of the Mormont bloodline especially if her mother's guess about Jon's parentage is true. Watching Jon fight in the yard even she suspected that he was Ashara Dayne's son especially with his more lithe build and skin tone.

"Do go and meet him, Dacey. You will be needing to work on this one to bring him back to our home. This too good an opportunity pass up. With him as your husband our house will be blessed with the potent blood of Daynes and Starks." said Maege as she pushed her daughter away from the window

"Don't say it out loud mother. Lord Stark has always denied those rumours." Dacey admonished her mother

"Pfff… Anyone that has seen that boy in action will tell you that he most certainly has the blood of Daynes. While I was not personally present in the Tourney of Harrenhall, I do know that Lord Eddard was smitten by Ashara Dayne and the feeling was mutual if rumours are true. If not for the war Jon Snow might have been Jon Stark. Now, enough with these talks. Go and introduce yourself to Jon." Maege pushed her daughter forward and they claimed down a flight of stairs to the yard

If they would have looked behind them they would have noticed a pair of blue eyes watching them leave from the shadows.