As dawn broke he was aware of a presence in his room he shot up grabbing his knife from under his pillow that was his mother's gift to him. His arm was caught by Ser Jorah who smiled at him "Easy my lad. It is only I."
John surged up to sitting position as he hurriedly put his blade away "My lord I beg your pardon. I am unkempt, and not anywhere near presentable."
He held his hand up "It is alright my lad. I came here on matters not of official standing or like."
John was very confused but nodded his head once. The Lord continued on with a smile "I saw what happened with my lady wife. I am very sorry for her rudeness, but you did say some very wrong things. My lady is Lady of Bear Island after all."
John instantly got upset his temper burning hot like a forge. He slowly inhaled and shook his head as he grabbed his wits about him. After reigning in his temper, he spoke slowly "You yourself my lord said that I was no child, and to not let anyone speak to me as if I were. I was following your orders to the letter. I was under the idea that anyone also included your wife and you yourself."
This caused Ser Mormont to laugh as he stood up "Aye so I did. You have proven yourself as a loyal boy. It seems to me that you value Loyalty above all things. Including sense. I find that best put indeed. Still, I also came to tell you that the Maester is looking for you." with that he left John's room.
No sooner had he gone than John was dressed and rushing to Maester Rorok's tower. As he arrived the Maester turned holding a sheath. The handle looked new and the pommel was shaped like a storm cloud. John rushed to the Maester and took the blade in hand. He unsheathed it with a smile "It is a most beautiful blade Maester Rorok. Thank you so much."
The Maester smiled as he looked at it "All the Valyrian steel blades are named you know."
John thought a moment as he held his blade in front of him "This is Stormbringer."
John valued that blade with all his being. As he practiced with Mara she seemed to have no memory of what had happened the night before, much to John's relief.
Later that night, however, John was in the kennels helping the maester to give birth to two litters of hunting hounds. John hadn't spent a lot of time with the hounds before this, but they all seemed to have a love for him that he couldn't seem to understand. Still, as he helped bring a dozen pups into the world it was a moment that caused him to fall in love with animals. Each day he would come to the kennels and check on the pups and each day his love for them along with all animals grew. For a year he watched them, helping them learn how to hunt. He would train them in all the things they would have to know about hunting in the best way that he could.
As his hounds grew he taught them, even more, lessons than just hunting. He trained them in determining the difference between friend and foe by using the ironborn captives they had. He taught them the differences in taste of armor and taught them to even avoid blades. It was a very long process to be sure and took him many weeks but he got to a point where he felt confident in putting them to the test. During the last fight on Bear Island, John let his dogs go and they leaped into action. Much to the amazement of everyone the hounds could kill two men a piece before they fell in battle. When the battle ended only three of his hounds remained and he was truly heartbroken as he put the fallen to rest. That night he dreamt, he dreamt he was a great hound on the battlefield that had just passed, he dreamt of looking up at himself loving the affection he was being given. John had no idea what a dream like this meant, but he woke up the next morning moving to Lady Alysane's chambers to seek out her counsel.
The young She-bear smiled at him fondly "You are a skin-changer, but more specifically a warg. You can enter the bodies of beats, and birds alike perhaps even more than that. I'm not sure how all that magical essence works, but what I have told you is what I do know. You are a very lucky boy John."