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Chapter 2

Jon Snow was tired, exhausted.

He felt like his problems were piling up, accumulating and never being solved. Every time he thought things were becoming easier, something happened.

Like now.

They were on the first year of what promised to be a very long winter and facing an eminent invasion by the White Walkers.

The main problem was that due to the wars and neglect from the Boltons the North was totally unprepared for the long winter. His people might starve.

As for the White Walkers, Queen Daenerys had offered her help to deal with them, as long as Jon bent the knee.

The North refused to. The Lords didn't want it, his sisters –cousins –didn't want to. Jon didn't want to.

However, Daenerys was adamant: no help would come unless Jon kneeled.

It was, actually, the topic of conversation now.

He had every single Northern lord on his hall, demanding some kind of action or, at least, answers. The noise inside was only aggravated by the blizzard outside, with its howling winds and freezing temperatures.

The lords were accusing Jon of wanting to bend the knee, because of his Targaryen blood and Arya had already threatened violence a hundred times. Not even Sansa's charm and good manners could control the crowd tonight.

A gust of wind blew through the hall and all the candles –even the fireplace –went out, leaving them in the dark for almost a full minute, before coming back to life on their own.

When the light returned, though, there were four strangers standing in the middle of the hall.

Everybody was frozen in astonishment for a minute, and Jon could only look in shock at the two men and two women –who also looked perplexed.

"What the actual fuck?" Arya said from his side.

That made all of them snap out of their trance and the lords started pulling swords and yelling at the same time. The two men in the middle also pulled their swords, preparing to defend themselves.

Lord Glover took a threatening step forward, and one of the women with a blue jacket turned around desperately, until her eyes fell on him.

"My lord!" She cried. "Please! We'll put down our weapons, if you promise me my siblings will not be harmed!"

"Susan!" The blond man barked at her.

"Quiet, Peter!" She snapped back, then turned her blue eyes to him again. "Please, I beg, my Lord. You have my word if I can have yours."

"MEN! Hold your swords!" Jon called, his voice thundering on the hall. "You have my word, my Lady. Lay down your weapons and no harm will come to you and your siblings."

"Susan, no!" The blond man tried to grab her arm.

"Peter, just do it!" She snapped once again.

Then she proceeded to put down her bow and quiver, and unstrap her sword belt. The other woman followed her example still hesitantly. The other two traded looks, but did the same eventually.

The lords were still shouting and demanding answers, yelling about witchcraft, but they were staying put.

"Arya. Brienne." Jon spoke to the two women without taking his eyes from the visitors. "Check the women for hidden weapons. Davos, the same for the men."

The four siblings had their hands up, obviously in surrender and let themselves be inspected. Arya pulled an alarming number of knives from the woman in yellow and Davos did the same with the man in green.

"Take them to the cells." Jon ordered. "Nobody is to touch them until I call them forth again."

The lords kept demanding answers, even as Brienne and Davos escorted the four out of the hall. As they kept talking loudly, Jon chanced a look at Sansa, but saw that her eyes were fixed on one of the windows. The blizzard was gone and the sky outside was so clear he could see the moon.

XxX

"Well, I guess we're in trouble." Lucy commented as she looked around the cell.

Edmund just rolled his eyes, while Peter sighed. "Now what?" He asked Susan.

The other woman just sighed. She had no idea.

When she realized the danger they were in she looked for their leader, because it would be the only person capable of giving them protection. As she looked around the hall it was surprisingly easy to find the man; he was in the center of the room, on a dais. Even without a crown it was obvious he was their leader.

She appealed to him and she was relieved he was a man of his word. At least so far.

"It's cold in here." Lucy shivered from her position.

"I haven't felt cold like this since we arrived in Narnia." Edmund murmured from his place against the wall.

They all traded looks, because they were all thinking the same, but Edmund was the only one brave enough to say it.

"Do you think…" Lucy started, but Peter shook his head, silently indicating the tall woman that was guarding their cell.

"We can only wait." Susan said. "Once their lord gives us an audition we can explain this."

Her siblings gave her a look, because what could they explain? They had no idea of how they ended there.

"I'm cold." Lucy sighed.

There were only two blankets there and the boys had given them to their sisters, but it was not enough, not really.

"Sit with Peter, I'll sit with Ed. We'll try to keep each other warm." Susan smiled at her sister.

They all bundled up together and Susan saw Peter drop a kiss on Lucy's temple. She hoped they'd make out of this alright. They had to.

XxX

"What should we do?" Jon asked the people around his solar.

"The Lords are screaming 'witchcraft' outside." Sansa informed him. "They're demanding answers. The good news is that they forgot about the Dragon Queen for now." She finished dryly.

Jon sighed. "What do you think, Arya?"

"I don't know about witchcraft, but I know that hall like the palm of my hand, and there's no way they could've gotten there that fast. The candles just blinked."

"We can all say we've seen stranger things." Ser Davos indicated.

It was true. Arya had trained with assassins that could change their faces, Jon had died and dragons had flown over Westeros.

"Well, someone here has more experience than us with those things." Sansa reminded them.

They all traded looks and Arya groaned. "You mean the Three-Eyed Bran, who only speaks when he wants to?"

Sansa gave her a warning look, but Arya knew that her sister shared the feeling. Bran was an odd sight these days; he only spoke if he wanted, rarely slept or ate, and when he did speak, it was in riddles. It was extremely difficult to get a straight answer out of him, but who else could they ask?

Ser Davos excused himself to look for Bran and Jon took a deep breath. He didn't need this kind of problem in his life right now.

Not when the North was still reeling from the revelation that he was a Targaryen –a fact that he still hadn't completely accepted-, not with the lives of so many people on the line, not when there were two Queens ready to destroy the land for a throne.

His mind went again to the woman that talked to him. She had something regal about her, like she was a highborn lady. She was also smart; she'd figured out that asking Jon for protection was the safest bet and went for it. He didn't think she was the oldest, but the other three had heard her.

She was also… Beautiful. Extremely beautiful.

Jon had seen beautiful women before: Sansa was exquisitely beautiful, but there was something different about her. Something beyond mere beauty.

Susan. That was what the other man had called her.

"Your Grace." Davos cleared his throat as he entered the room

Jon looked at Bran as Meera pushed him into the room. His cousin had an air about him, like he only did what he wanted. Even now, when he'd called him to be there, it looked like he'd expected it and was only there because he wanted to. Bran certainly wasn't the boy Jon remembered.

"Bran." He gave her a short nod. "What are your thoughts about our visitors?"

"I had a vision about them yesterday." He replied placidly.

Arya snorted. "Of course, you did."

Jon ignored Arya and pressed Bran. "You knew four people would appear in the middle of Winterfell's hall?"

"I knew four siblings would come." He explained. "I saw them: fighting battles, bringing Spring."

"Excuse me?" Sansa looked at her. "Bringing Spring? We still have years of Winter ahead."

"They've done it before." Bran continued, his voice still without any inflection or emotion. "Ask the one they call Gentle Queen. I saw her riding the back of a Lion, fighting an army. She can confirm it or deny it."

Arya rolled her eyes so hard Jon feared she was going to lose them.

"The blizzard stopped after they arrived." Bran reminded them.

"Which one is the Gentle one?" Sansa asked.

"Just call the name." Jon decided. "See if one of them answers to it." He looked at Ser Davos. "Bring me the Gentle Queen."

Notes: Next chapter...

Jon and Susan meet and sparkles fly!

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