Chapter 32 – Home again, part 1

Their return to Winterfell was full of surprises.

As they had travelled though the North to Winterfell, they had seen a massive amount of activity going on throughout the North. Fields were being prepared, ploughed and planted where fields had not existed before.

They had also seen massive amounts of wood being cut and prepared for various purposes, some of which was explained as they saw repairs being made to houses and holdfasts and the walls being reinforced for winter. There were more cattle, tough northern cows being crossbred with some bulls from the Vale. Tyrion guessed that the breeders were trying to breed a sturdier and hardier cow that could not only survive the harsh winter cold but also provide more meat per animal. It was the same with the sheep breeders apparently.

Gossip from their hosts along the way told them stories of the Gift and New Gift was being populated by Wildlings, all of them learning how to farm in the more fertile earth south of the Wall. Apparently, Lord Stark had sent out messages asking farmers to help the Free Folk learn new ways to farm the land and had paid them well for it. They heard rumours that the Nights Watch had opened up, repaired and populated at least seven of the old abandoned forts along the Wall with a mix of Northmen, Nights Watchmen and Free Folk with more forts currently under repair for occupation.

According to one old man whose son had volunteered to help out at the Wall, there had been some problems between the men of the North and the Free Folk but while blood had been spilt, no one had died…yet.

As their caravan approached Winterfell, they were astounded at the size of the massive outdoor marketplace between Wintertown and Winterfell's walls. There, Free Folk and Northerner alike were hawking their wares to all comers. There were furs from north of the Wall, thicker and more luxurious then any found in the south, textiles and fabrics from Winterfell and other Northern Houses, rare gems also from North of the Wall, food, drink, livestock and seeds, vegetables and fruit being sold from both the North and North of the Wall and even goods from south of the Neck were being hawked for sale.

It was loud, vibrant and the smell of the cooking food and spices were mouth-watering.

As they passed down the main thoroughfare of the market, they could see mixed patrols roaming around the market. These patrols had a mix of Stark men, Free Folk and even some of Tyrion's Lannister guards, most of which he had left in Winterfell under Linkon's command, all roaming the market and keeping the peace between Free Folk and the Northern citizens. They had seen the same sort of setup outside the walls of White Harbour as well. Lord Manderly had told them that Lord Stark had "suggested" that the Northern Lords host such open marketplaces not only to increase trade but also as a way of keeping the peace between two different cultures that had spent thousands of years killing each other before being forced to co-exist with each other for the sake of survival.

It seemed to be working though.

Lord Manderly had also told them while he hosted them for the night that his fortunes had increased significantly and had while there had been a few incidences, the mixed patrols of the more level headed men and women from both peoples had worked well in keeping the peace and when they were called to intervene, they would police their own people.

Tyrion though had been eyeing the market with interest.

"I do believe Jon that your father had beaten me in realising my idea. He's already established trading posts in the North. Now what am I going to do?" he complained good naturedly as they made their way towards Winterfell's gates.

Jon just smiled. He wasn't fooled. He knew Tyrion had evolved and modified his plans somewhat after they found the books in Valyria and he still had possession of the old map that had locations of untouched mineral and gems deposits. Jon knew that Tyrion was desperate to make a name for himself that was separate from his father's "Lannister Legacy." Jon was also positive that Tyrion would build his own legacy that would rival if not outstrip his fathers.

Davos on the other hand was looking around in quiet contemplation at what he was seeing. When they had docked at White Harbour, there had been a raven message addressed to Davos from Lord Stark asking Davos to come to Winterfell but no reason was given. Only the simple fact that Lord Stark, Warden of the North was asking him to come was the only reason he was here.

This was far from his first time in the North, but he had never seen anything like what he was currently witnessing. Free Folk and the people of the North interacting in a peaceful manner. Oh there were still looks of hard hatred being passed around for sure but that wasn't getting in the way of honest business.

What he was witnessing was amazing and it was more evidence that the story that Jon and Tyrion had told him was real. He still had his doubts but it was damn hard to deny the proof he had been shown that confirmed that at least part of their story was true and if that part was true, then who was he to say they lied about the rest?

Davos's mind cast itself back conversation and smiled.

"You're fookin' mad! This is fookin' madness!"

Jon sniggered and held his hand out to Tyrion, rubbing his fingers and thumb together in the age old symbol for "pay up". Tyrion grumbled as he handed five gold dragons over to Jon.

He knew he shouldn't have taken that bet about Davos's reaction to their story but he had honestly expected him to react like most of the others who had heard their story did, speechless and dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the old man to outright accuse them of madness.

Well, not straight away at least.

Obviously, Jon did but then again, he did know the man a lot better than he did.

Davos was pacing behind his desk, throwing disbelieving glances at the pair in front of him. The story they had just told him was utter insanity, but as he looked at Jon sniggering at Tyrion over his loss of some bet, he couldn't help but wonder if it might be true. Jon had obviously known what his reaction to such a story would be but, he reasoned that Jon could have also know how he would react as he had gotten to know the two lads, and to him they were just lads, during their journey. Davos shook his head. It was crazy but it DID explain much of their behaviour and actions. He looked at them again and had to smile just a little watching the boys bicker and tease each other like brothers do.

"You lads bet on my reaction didn't ya?"

Jon sniggered again and nodded his head.

"Apologies Ser Davos but it was just a too good of an opportunity to miss. We made a similar bet years ago about you. Of course Tyrion lost that one as well. You'd think he learn by now not to bet on other people's reactions." Jon was smirking at Tyrion as he spoke.

"Now Jon, that wasn't a fair bet and you know it. At that point, you knew Ser Davos much better than I did. It was a suckers bet. I admit it; I got sucked in when I made it." Tyrion grumbled.

This time both Jon and Davos sniggered at him.

Davos sighed and retook the seat he had jumped out of in his surprise. He looked at the two young men sitting in front of him and studied them intently. Despite the joking and laughing, they both had a serious demeanour when they turned back to him. He could see the seriousness in their eyes and could feel their conviction and force of will that this time; they will NOT fail in their fight.

Davos sighed again.

"Alright lads, settle down will ya? I'm sorry but come on; even you have to admit that it sounds like a madman's dreams. I mean, what possible proof could you offer me that your story is real, that you have returned from death, that you have returned from a different FUTURE for the Gods sake! It's crazy, it's completely insane!" Davos's practical nature just couldn't accept what he was told. Unless they could offer him some hard proof that at least a part of their story was real, then as much as he liked the lads, he couldn't bring himself to believe them.

Jon sighed internally. He knew that he only way he could even get his friend to even start to believe them would be for him to reveal his greatest shame and betrayal.

"I have your proof." Was all he said before he removed his shirt, baring his torso to Davos's curious eyes.

Davos went white with shock as the blood rapidly drained from his face. Davos was no innocent and had inflicted his share of mortal wounds so he knew that those wounds that Jon had obviously suffered were lethal in their placement.

Especially the one located directly above his heart.

"My GODS! You really did die for your people didn't ya?"

Jon gave him a sad smile and a nodded as he recalled the last time Davos said those exact same words.

Davos shook his head in wonder then asked Jon a question that had been on his mind since he saw the scars.

"And you said that I was there. I was there when you died and I was there when you were brought back by this "red priestess? Millie something?"

Jon put his shirt back on and answered him.

"It's Melisandre and sort of. You weren't with me when I was killed but you were there when I returned to life. You took charge of my dead body and along with a few others, protected me until Edd and Tormund came to your rescue. You weren't there when I came back but you did walk back into the room a few seconds after I returned and saw me, buck naked and sitting up on the table I had been laying on." Jon gave a small smile as he remembered the look on Davos's face when he saw that Jon was alive.

"Truthfully, Ser Davos, I owe you a debt that no matter how many lifetimes I live, I will never be able to fully repay. I was lost and confused when I returned. I was hurting and I was scared out of my bloody mind. I didn't know what had happened to me and for a moment, apart from Ghost, all I had in the world was you. You gave me an anchor to this world. Your presence grounded me here. Your words of wisdom kept me from going completely insane. I doubted myself so much in those first few moments. I had felt as if I had failed everyone and couldn't figure out why I was allowed to come back. You know what you told me when I told you that I failed? You told me "Good. Now go fail again." And that is what got through to me. You always had faith in me Ser Davos. You always trusted me to do what I thought was right for my people in order to kept them safe. You stayed by my side when I came back, you stayed by my side after you had learned of Shireen's fate, when all you wanted to do was leave and get justice for her and when the Northern Lords proclaimed me King of the North, you stood by my side as my Hand and helped me be a better ruler. You're a good man Ser Davos Seaworth. You are the best man I have ever known and a damn good friend and I want you and I to be friends again because I need you to help me once more."

And there was the stunned speechless reaction that Tyrion had been expecting earlier.

Davos had no idea what to say after Jon had finished speaking. Honestly, what could a person say to that? That Jon had been brutally honest hadn't escaped Davos's notice and in that moment, he realised something.

All Davos had wanted since Stannis had knighted him was to serve a good man. An honest and just man. A fair man. A man willing to fight and give everything he had to help his people, to die to save his people if necessary and Davos thought that he had found that in Stannis.

Apparently, he had been wrong to put his trust in Stannis to be that man.

Jon though had been all that and more to his future self. He could read between the lines of the boy's stories and had seen that he had become something of a father figure for Jon when he desperately needed the reassurance and guidance of a father.

It had been a role he had been happy to provide. That much he could easily tell. He realised that he would have adopted Jon as a surrogate son as he had lost his own sons in the madness that had been Stannis's grab for the Iron Throne. He couldn't understand for the life of him how Stannis could have actually listened to this mad priestess and sacrificed his only child!

The thought of it still made him want to throw up and beat Stannis to a bloody pulp.

Shireen was a paragon of kindness and love, a bright spark in a dark world despite the greyscale scars that would forever mark her face. Even now to Davos, she represented all that was good and pure in this world and he already loved her as if she was his own daughter so the thought of his "daughter" being sacrificed to the flame, a more painful death for a child he couldn't imagine, made him determined to kill this red witch if she ever showed her face around Shireen.

His sons were all very fond of her too and while they were respectful and remembered her station, they mostly treated her like a little sister and Shireen glowed with happiness and acceptance every time they did. The greyscale scars didn't bother his son's in the slightest because he and their mother had taught them to judge a person by their actions and words and not on what family they come from or how they looked.

Although from what he had been told, he was going to have to watch Stannis's actions VERY closely in the coming months and in regards to Shireen…

She would be so proud of him for his progress in learning how to read and write properly thanks to Tyrion.

"Ser Davos?"

The sound of Jon's voice interrupted the flow of his thoughts.

"Hmm yes? Sorry lad, I was deep in thought." Davos focused his attentions on his surroundings and realised that they had reached the main gates of Winterfell.

Jon smiled.

"It's fine Ser Davos. I'm the one who should say sorry for disturbing you. I just wanted to say thank you for all you've done for me, for us, my family and the North and I wanted to give you fair warning. Behind those gates, there is a Doom awaiting you the likes you never would have expected." Jon's voice started out light and turned into a sinister warning tone.

Davos look at Jon with a raised eyebrow that Jon knew so well that he had to will himself not to laugh.

"Oh? Is that so? Well then my lord, what dark and grievous fate am I to expect?" He replied in a serious tone of voice that didn't match the amusement in his eyes.

Jon shook his head, his manner still grave.

"I am sorry Ser Davos, I am so very sorry but you are about to have inflicted upon you the worst torture the Gods could ever devise. Behind those gates lives the most dreadful demon you will ever meet in your life. It a relentless beast, it won't stop until you give it what it wants. It'll study you, stalk you and learn your every weakness before it goes for the kill." Jon was trying not to smile. He really was.

"Oh and does this demon have a name?" Davos was also trying very hard not to smile while the rest of the company looked at them in confusion.

Jon nodded his head

"Yes it does."

"Ah. So what is the name of such a fearsome creature?" was the amused question

"Arya Stark."

The entire party, including the gate guards who had heard what Jon had said, were laughing as the company entered Winterfell.

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Arya raced towards Winterfell's courtyard, dodging around the servants in the halls and narrowly avoided crashing into two maids carrying a basket of freshly laundered sheets. Arya yelled an apology over her shoulder as she took off once again towards the courtyard where she would welcome Jon home.

Arya was so happy to be home. Her tenth name day was in a few days and her mother had insisted that she celebrate it in Winterfell instead of Bear Island. It was a long way to come but Arya was happy to do so. She wouldn't admit it, but she had missed her family. Even Sansa which had surprised her but she had to admit that they had been getting along much better these days and the fact that Sansa had stopped being stupid helped a lot. It also helped that they both trained with blades and Sansa had gotten very good with her chosen weapon. Good enough that she could hold off a grown man with a pair of daggers.

Arya was so proud of her sister.

Bear Island had been a revelation to Arya. Never before had she seen women learning how to use weapons. Even little Lyanna Mormont was being trained. The inhabitants of Bear Island knew that due to their isolated home, they were a regular target for Wildling raids and they didn't have enough men to fight off the raiders so the women fought alongside the menfolk as one people.

To the women of Bear Island, the right to bear weapons and fight to defend oneself and one's family was a Gods given right. They knew that those without swords could still die upon them and as they didn't have that many people in the first place, they all had to work together to survive. There was no such thing as women's work or men's work because they all worked together. One of Lyanna's cousin's by the name of Beth was a Master Blacksmith, proving to Arya once and for all, that there was nothing a woman couldn't do.

While Arya was revealing in her new found freedom to learn how to fight properly, she was also learning that while fighting was important, she was a daughter of the Lord Paramount of the North and therefore had obligations expected of her. She still had to learn the lessons that any noble girl had to learn but Maege had seen the problems Arya had when Septa Mordane had been teaching her and decided that the carrot and stick approach that she had used with her own daughters would see more success with Arya then outright commands.

Arya was no southern flower, she had too much of the North in her to be that but she was also wild in her ways and the legendary stubbornness of the Starks had manifested in her particularly strong. Arya still hated her "how to be a Lady" lessons but was now committed to learning them as best she could as Maege had sat her down and spoken to her about her obligations and responsibilities to her house, especially as she was a daughter of the Lord Paramount of the North.

Arya made it into the courtyard just moments before Jon and his party entered Winterfell's main courtyard to see her father, mother, Robb and Sansa waiting for her to join them. In addition to the family, Samwell Tarly was also waiting with them.

"Arya, where have you been? Never mind. At least you look respectable and not covered in dirt. Maege has taught you well." Cat told her proud that her daughter seemed to be settling into her role as a Northern Lady.

Cat had fretted and worried about having her children fostered out, especially Arya. She had been worried that Arya would come back even wilder then she was when she left but the She Bears had worked wonders on her.

Arya now had a firmer grip on her courtesy's and manners then before and while her manners were still a little raw, they were much more refined then they had been. Cat had pretty much given up on Arya learning how to sew and play the harp with any great skill, but her dancing was much improved and she had learned some of the histories and policies of the houses of Westeros that didn't involve famous fighters so it had been decided that after her name day, Arya would return to Bear Island for a while longer to continue her education.

Ned smiled at his youngest and thanked the Old Gods that he had listened to Jon in regards to Arya's education. She was so much like Lyanna that it worried Ned endlessly and the decision to send her to the Mormont's for fostering was the best thing he had ever done for her. She was now more willing to listen to her mother and even wore a dress on occasion without a fight! That had amused him to no end, especially when he had seen the look of shocked surprise on his wife's face the first time Arya had complied with wearing a dress without a fight.

"Sorry mother, I was overseeing the transfer of valyrian steel from the store house to the smithy as you requested. It took a little longer than expected." Arya replied to her mother with her patented cheeky grin.

Cat just rolled her eyes to the heavens and prayed for patience with her difficult daughter. She knew full well why it had taken Arya so long to complete the task that was asked of her and it worried her to no end.

Ned had managed to secure Tobho Mott's services to Winterfell as he was the only Master Smith in Westeros that had the knowledge to reforge valyrian steel. Tobho had left his smithy in Kings Landing in his eldest son's charge and had brought the rest of his family to Winterfell, including his apprentice Gendry who Arya had seemed to develop an interest in.

Before Jon and Tyrion had left on their mission to Old Valyria, Ned had sat them down and asked them who would be the best to bring to Winterfell in order to rework the steel. Tyrion had told Ned that there were only three people in the world who knew the secrets to reworking valyrian steel and only one of them was located in Westeros. Ned had heard of Tobho Mott as his work was famous all over Westeros but didn't understand why both and Jon Tyrion insisted that bringing the apprentice as well to Winterfell was important. Both of them had just smirked and said that he would see why they insisted once the boy was here.

Ned had indeed seen why they insisted Gendry be brought to Winterfell the moment he laid eyes on him.

Gendry was the spitting image of his father at that age and Ned had been momentarily taken aback at the resemblance of Gendry to Robert. What he hadn't expected though was Arya's reaction to Gendry and Gendry's reaction to her when they first met.

Naturally, the first thing Arya had done when they had met for the first time was to pick an argument with Gendry when he called her milady. The look on her face and the smile on Gendry's face at her reaction to being called a Lady were absolutely hilarious to Ned and he had left the smithy and managed to get out of sight before he started laughing.

The fact that Master Mott had done the same as Ned just made it all the more amusing.

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"Welcome home my son! It's good to see you looking so well." Ned greeted Jon with a smile and a massive hug.

Ned was happy to see Jon home and in one piece from his journey. Regardless of Tyrion's assurances that they would have an easy time of it, Ned still worried for there was too much that could have gone wrong and if Jon had of been killed along the way, they may never have known what happened to him.

Jon smiled and returned the hug. He was happy to be home and had been thrilled when the raven message sent to him at White Harbour mentioned that Arya was home for her nameday. Jon adored his littlest sister and she adored him right back. That was proven a moment later when Arya threw herself at Jon after their father released him from his embrace.

"JON! I'm so glad your home! Did you fight anyone? Did you kill any pirates? Did you bring me back something?" All these questions were asked in the same breath while she tried to squeeze the breath out of his chest.

Jon was laughing at Arya's enthusiasm. She may be learning how to be a proper Norther Lady but to Jon, she was still that same impulsive, wild sister that had left Winterfell all those months ago.

"Arya! Give your brother a chance to greet the rest of his family. I'm sure he will tell you everything you want to know later. Let the boy breath!" Cat scolded her with laughter in her voice.

Arya grumbled but moved aside so the rest of the family present could welcome Jon home.

"Jon, welcome home. I'm glad to see you unharmed. You have been missed."

Jon's face was a mixture of wariness, surprise, disbelief and pleasure when Catelyn Stark welcomed him home with a hug and a kiss on his forehead. Of all the things he had expected from Lady Stark, that was not one of them, especially considering the last time they spoke before he left, they had had a massive argument over her treatment of him. She had given him a sincere apology before he had left but things between them had been uncomfortable to say the least.

Cat felt guilty seeing the look on Jon's face. She hadn't meant to take her temper out on him, she really hadn't but it had been a bad habit for her to lash out at Jon whenever something had made her angry and to Cat, he had become an acceptable scapegoat for her anger.

Cat had really been trying to accept Jon as part of the family proper and doing her best to amend her old way with him but she still slipped sometimes into old habits. The fact that Jon had lashed back at her had taken her by surprise and it had made her realise while she may be a good Lady, she wasn't a good a person as she thought she was and it made her all the more determined to be a better person for her own sake as well as everyone else's.

"Thank you Lady Stark. I am glad to be home in one piece as well." Jon replied.

"Not Lady Stark Jon, Aunt Catelyn. I may not be your mother but I can at least act like an aunt for you." This much Cat was determined to give the boy.

Jon was surprised once again. He really hadn't expected her to treat him like this. Be nice and polite to him yes, but for her to treat him as one of the family was much more than he ever expected her to do.

"If you insist…Aunt Catelyn." Jon smiled. Gods it felt strange to call her aunt.

Jon didn't get much time to say anything else before both Rob and Sansa mobbed in a group hug along with Arya joining in.