I'm sorry about this chapter, I was writing this at 2am like a zombie. But I have a plot in mind, and I'm crossing my fingers that you will like it.
Again, thanks to all the reviews and follows. You make me excited to check my email!
So I hope you like it. Take care all of you and Ciao!
NED
Arya tried to keep her frustration to herself but she could not help it. Not that Robb was bragging about the hunt, but Bran has been asking for all the precise accounts for the past three hours.
"Oh, please Bran! I've seen father take down a boar from a mountain. You are blowing this whole shot out of proportion!"
"I just wish I could have been there, you know. Can you teach me how to shoot arrows, Koreen?" Bran asked innocently.
"I thought I was teaching you?" Robb asks.
"You have been teaching me, Robb... I think I'd better consult another instructor." Bran answered casually.
Ned chuckled at his young son.
"Keep practicing , Bran. Koreen did not get good with out endless repetitions."
"Hundred twenty eight arrows, Bran, before I was to hit my first rabbit."
"A rabbit as a target is small and bouncy, you were a born markswoman, Koreen." Robb praised the girl.
Koreen twitched her lip, trying to constrain her smile. But her blush was evident even within the darkness of the night and the dim light of the bonfire.
Ned's gaze went to Jon Snow next, who was quietly seated next to the fire, staring at it and vaguely throwing tiny matters to the fire.
Ned noticed that Jon has not been speaking much during dinner, or through out the day. It was not difficult to notice since his children were all cheery the entire day.
Although Jon had always been quiet, even when he was an infant, he liked playing games with little Bran, tease Arya and engage in conversations with Robb and Theon. This he knew.
But as the boy becomes a man, he's growing distant and reserved.
Maybe that's really how he was. He has always been quiet.
The last conversation they had was yesterday at breakfast, he realized.
Jon was always busy at something. If he was not in Ser Rodrick's sword training, he was practicing bow and arrow, or at the stables tending the horses. And help Mikken tend to his men's broken weapons. He was always busy.
He had a feeling that his son was avoiding him, but he changed his mind when he also felt how much Jon had missed him.
"Jon, I might need a hand with this tent." Koreen called on Jon.
Jon looked at the girl and threw the tiny pebble onto the fire before arising.
"What do you need?" Jon simply asked.
"This. This tent, it's wonderful but I don't know how to put it up."
Jon went through all the fabrics to look for the corners and tie it up with the rope.
"You need help with that?" Koreen offered.
"It's alright." Jon then turned his back to her and tie the end of the roofing's rope on a treebranch.
It took only Jon three full minutes to set up the tent.
"Do you need anything else?" Jon asked Koreen.
"No."
"All right, then."
"Lord Stark is your father, right?"
"That's a great way to say thank you."
"You heard me."
"Yes, Koreen . He is my father."
"You and Robb,you're brothers. Same with Bran and Rickon. Sansa and Arya are your sisters."
"Is that a question, Koreen?"
"Then why are you acting like a servant? You do as you are commanded, you call your family with their titles."
Jon breathed out before answering.
"I'm a Snow, not a Stark. Lady Catelyn is not my mother. I'm a bastard, Koreen. Do you know what that means?"
"No. Not exactly."
"It means that I'm lucky my father acknowledged my existence, let alone take me to his castle and raised me as his son."
Koreen fell silent.
"I do not understand beliefs of the North, Jon. That's absolutely unreasonable ."
"And sentencing an infant animal to die, for its mother you killed, is rational?"
"You's still angry about that?"
Jon chose silence.
"Ugh! Why ar'you so upset about it? It's just a young deer-"
"If you had no one to take care of you when you were younger, without the married hunter who took you in, do you think you would have survived?"
"Yes." She was confident.
"Then you're lucky nobody did you the favor of killing you for you were young, helpless and weak."
Koreen fell still. She did not look at it that way.
Jon turned his back and started to trail his way to his seat.
"If you did not want to kill the stupid animal, you should have said somethin'! If it was against your will then why did you kill it?" Koreen questioned Jon angrily, following his steps.
Jon stopped on his path, faced Koreen, angered.
"I was ordered by Robb! I was commanded by my future lord! It was not like it was kindly suggested by my dear half brother! I am a bastard son, Koreen. I'm a Snow, you're a Lastliv! I was born a bastard and going to die a bastard, same as you are going to die a wildling."
Jon was enraged, furious even.
"I am a free person..." Koreen defended, tears on the brink of falling.
Jon seeing Koreen's tears welling, tried to calm himself down.
"I don't know what it's like where you are from, Koreen." he looked intently into her eyes, catching his breath, "But you are at the wrong side of the wall, if you think you are still free." Jon declared.
"Jon..." Arya called on his brother. Standing with her was Ned, confused at the commotion.
"Lord Stark." Koreen taken aback by the two coming out of nowhere. he nonchalantly wiped her tears rather than letting them fall.
"It's time to receive your presents, Jon. Bran can't wait to give you his." Arya broke the quiet.
Ned looked at both of them, heaved a sigh before speaking.
"What is wrong here?" Lord Stark asked. "I demand to know the truth, both of you."
"N-nothing's the matter, Lord Stark." Koreen answered.
"Jon? I expect no lies."
"I've killed a fawn today, Father. The doe we hunted today had an offspring. We thought it did not have a chance without its mother."
"There is no reason to be upset of it, son. If it was not you today, it will be starved by tomorrow. If it did not die of hunger, a predator will kill it defenselessly."
Ned tried to comfort Jon. But he felt that he failed.
"I understand, Father. I'll try not to be bothered by it." Jon said meekly.
"Let's go back to the camp fire, Jon. Bran and Theon are eating all the butter cakes." Arya said, trying to hide her discomfort.
"Come on, Arya." Jon said to Arya, still tensed from the argument.
They were a few feet away when Lord Stark addressed Koreen.
"Koreen, if my son offended you in any way—"
"That's impossible, Lord Stark. Jon will not knowingly offend anyone." Koreen defended Lord Stark's son.
Ned smiled at Koreen. He knew her to be honest.
Jon was sincerely grateful for the gifts he received, but found it too difficult to pretend that he was enjoying his nameday any longer.
Robb gave him a small knife fit for hunting. Arya a pair of snow gloves, knitted by Septa Mordane. And Bran sneaked in the buttercakes, although the boy was the one who mostly enjoyed it,
Ned never sleeps whenever he goes out camping, especially if he was with his children. Winterfell castle is the only place in the world that he trusted.
When he heard no more chatting and all the children have slept, he kissed Bran's forehead before going out of their tent.
Theon was to take the first watch, but he was somberly sleeping a few feet away from the fire.
Ned heard water tinkling behind him. He thought it might be a deer trying to find food in their packs or having a drink on their water supply. When he looked, he saw Jon kneeling on the ground, his top shirt off and wiping his body with a wet cloth.
The fire from the middle of the tents was faint but he saw the marks on his back.
Ned felt his own skin hurt. His worries and fears realized...
Oh, Jon.
He had seen wars, and he knows wounds. He felt miserable for his son.
When Jon was done, he quickly dressed and put on his fur coat, and collected his laundry. He intended to walk to the fire to warm up.
Jon was startled when he saw his father feeding the fire with woods. Ned was the first to leave the bonfire hours ago. He carried the sleeping Bran inside their shelter.
"Did you need anything, Father?" he asked.
"No, son."
"Theon was supposed to take the first watch, I just cleaned up. I'm going to take over his turn." Jon said calmly and seated across his father.
"Is there anyhing you want to tell me, Jon? Anything at all."
Jon felt his heart pound louder.
"No, Father." he answered quickly. "Did I do something wrong?" curious at his father's probing.
"Are you sure you're not lying?"
"Yes, Father. I can never lie to you."
"But you are keeping secrets."
Guilt painted on his face. He truly can not lie to his father.
Ned knows that Jon will never tell on his wife. Jon was so keen on impressing Catelyn even as a child. The boy had yearned love and acceptance from her for the longest time. But to hurt the boy so hard it leaves a mark is downright cruel.
"All honorable men has their own secrets." Lord Stark affirmed. He himself keeps secrets.
"I don't have secrets worth keeping, my lord." Jon said simply.
"How about anything worth sharing?"
Jon looked at his father more intently. And then he looked down.
Countless times, Jon asked about his mother. Ned never told. Until the boy finally gave up asking.
And it made him feel more miserable for his son.
"I have loved you since I laid my eyes on you, Jon. I was not able to give you the name I gave your brothers and sisters, but the love I game them I also gave to you. I hope you always believe that."
"I've always known, Father. I have always believed. I understand I can not have your name. Naming me Stark will stomp on Lady Catelyn's dignity. I do not require the Stark House to know you love me, Father. Please, do not think I do not appreciate what you've done for me."
Ned thought the boy is mad for thinking that.
"All the time I was away, I was worried." Ned confessed
"I pray every day and night for your protection, Father. We were worried of you as well."
Ned was worried that Jon would one day give up and flee the North.
"I want you to promise me, Jon. That you will never leave Winterfell without my permission. Is that understood?"
He sunded hoping. Pleading, confusing Jon.
"I have no other place to go, my Lord."
"Promise me, Jon." Ned's voice grew stern.
"Yes, Father. I promise ."