A/N: Hey, so I know it's been a while since I updated any of my stories. I really don't have any excuse. I've been so busy these past few weeks with IRL stuff and exams. I lost the motivation for updating. That and I haven't watched any game of thrones, read any fanfics, or watched any videos. Once again I want to say, this story is not abandoned but I will need beta readers to read my chapters and improve them. My Fate In Our Hands Story will be updated, and it is NOT abandoned.

1-4

In Winterfell, Bran Stark has a nightmare in which he sees a raven with three eyes, sitting on one of the stone direwolves outside the doorway to the Stark crypts.

Bran twitched slightly at that memory. It was after all the first time the old raven, Daryn had tried to contact him.

He wakes up to find his direwolf Summer by his side. Theon Greyjoy summons Hodor,

The Stark children from the future smiled at seeing their old innocent friend well and alive in a sense again.

the castle's dim-witted stableboy, who can only say the word "Hodor", to help carry Bran down to the great hall, where Robb Stark is hosting a meeting with Tyrion Lannister and Yoren, both traveling down from the Wall to King's Landing together. Robb very pointedly offers hospitality to any man of the Watch, silently letting Tyrion know he is not invited to stay at Winterfell.

Catelyn sighs silently. Her oldest certainly had a good mix of the Southern and Northern temperaments.

When Bran arrives, Tyrion sympathizes with him for being a cripple, which annoys Bran, as does asking him if he likes to ride, but Tyrion simply says it is the truth, no less so for being a hard truth. He gives the Starks the design of a saddle which will allow Bran to ride even in his current state. He does it to repay Bran's half-brother's friendship and because he has a weakness for "cripples, bastards and broken things." Due to this kindness, Robb says he can stay, but Tyrion says he would prefer the brothel in town.

"Typical" Tywin said in disgust while Tyrion just smirked at him.

As he prepares to leave the castle, Theon comes to Tyrion and rather condescendingly sends him off, recommending the prostitute Ros at the brothel. Tyrion asks Theon why Lady Catelyn was not present to receive him and concludes that Catelyn is not in Winterfell. He also taunts Theon about how the son of the ferocious Balon Greyjoy has been reduced to playing lackey in Winterfell to his captors, which infuriates Theon, and gives him a coin, assuming that he has not already had sex with Ros.

"That was good" Jaime whispered to Tyrion whose smirk got bigger.

Samwell Tarly joins the new recruits at Castle Black.

Jon smiled at his best friend. Oh, how the scared fat kid had grown up to be a brave man of the watch.

At Castle Black, a new recruit for the Night's Watch has arrived: Samwell Tarly, the son of the famous Lord Randyll Tarly.

"He looks different from Lord Tarly's other son" Ned mused. "Combat doesn't suit him very well. He is more of a mind" Jon said softly. Ned nodded and watched his bastard son... no his nephew.

Samwell is fat, soft, and pampered, and in his first practice fight does dismally. Ser Alliser Thorne has no time for his weakness. He directs the other recruits to attack 'Ser Piggy', but Jon Snow finds this cruel and unfair, and takes pity on Sam and fends off the attackers. Thorne tries to turn it into a game, ordering three trainees to take on Sam's protector, but Jon nevertheless fends them all off.

Lyanna smiled proudly at her son on the screen.

Samwell is naive and self-deprecating, claiming to be a coward and craven, to Jon's astonishment. No one admits to being a coward, and Grenn says that they shouldn't even be seen talking to him. Sam joins Jon on the Wall for sentry duty, even though he says his eyesight is weak, he is afraid of heights, and can't take the cold. Jon asks why he joined the Night's Watch because he fears everything. Sam tells him that on his eighteenth name day his father offered him a choice. Sam was a man and his heir, but he was not skilled at combat, he was unworthy of his name and birthright. Samwell's father forced him to join the Night's Watch and told him that if he refused, he would arrange a "hunting trip" with his son in the woods, and implied that Sam would be killed in a way that looked accidental.

"Never would have thought Lord Tarly would stoop this low" Catelyn hissed in rage joined in by Lyanna and Sansa. Ned sighed, it was a surprise to him but he could see Randyll Tarly do something like this. He was a ferocious warrior and hated weakness after all.

Jon is shocked that a true-born son of high birth should be treated worse than he himself had been as a bastard.

Catelyn blinked as her anger was quickly replaced by guilt and she shrunk into herself slightly. Lyanna wanted to say something at that moment but knew that the secret wasn't to come out yet, no wonder how much it hurt.

Sam knows that the next day he will be made to fight again and expects it to be bad. At the Wall, Jon orders the recruits to go easy on Sam, but Rast refuses, saying that if Ser Alliser orders him to fight 'Lady Piggy', he will slice himself off a side of bacon. In response to Rast's comments, Jon goes to his bed that night and uses his direwolf Ghost to intimidate Rast into playing along.

Almost all of them smirked at that. Lyanna was proud to see that her son had grown up to be such a loyal man.

The next day, no one will fight Sam. After Grenn takes a very weak blow from Sam and yields, Ser Alliser scolds Jon for his rebellious actions. Later, when Jon and Sam are cleaning the dining hall, they talk about how neither of them has been with a woman. Sam tells Jon that he has not had success with girls, while Jon reveals he'd rather not risk siring a child that will have the life of a bastard like himself.

Ned sighed while Catelyn shuffled uncomfortably. Sansa put a hand on Jon's shoulder and looked at him apologetically. Jon smiled at her and patted her head.

A furious Alliser Thorne comes in and tells Jon that this charity won't help Sam harden up to survive the winter that is coming. He tells them about the truly horrific experience he went through trapped by a blizzard north of the Wall that ended in cannibalism.

"The snow beyond the wall can be ruthless" Tormund grunted.

Linebreak

Khal Drogo's khalasar arrives at Vaes Dothrak, the Dothraki city. There are no city walls, but there is a large gateway arch made of two statues of rearing horses. Viserys is annoyed that Drogo has been taking 'his' army in the wrong direction. Later, he bathes with Doreah and tells her about how he was raised with stories about the Targaryen dragons and his own destiny. He recites the names of several dragons and tells her about the skulls of dragons that once decorated the throne room at King's Landing, but she starts to annoy him with talk of dragons, reminding him that they are dead. He tells her to finish pleasuring him in silence.

Viserys is enraged when Daenerys sends Doreah with an invite for him to dine with her, as he interprets this as his sister commanding him to come. He drags Doreah into Daenerys' tent and insults her dinner and the gifts of clothes she tries to give him. He is still dressed in his now ragged clothes from Pentos, having refused to dress like a Dothraki, whom he regards as savages. He sneers that next, she will try to braid his hair like a Dothraki. Angered by his ingratitude, Daenerys retorts that he has no right to braid his hair until he is victorious in battle, which further infuriates him. In his anger, Viserys tackles her to the ground and tries to strike her, calling her nothing but a "horse lord's slut", and warning her that she's "awoken the Dragon", but this time she fights back, hitting him in the face with a metal and leather belt. She tells a stunned Viserys, who can only gawp at her in astonishment, that she is the Khal's wife, and is carrying his child, and warns that if he raises a hand against her again, he will lose his hands._**

Dany smiled to herself. This was the first time she had stood up to her 'brother' and that had helped to groom her to be the woman she is today.

Later, Daenerys confides in Mormont her realization that Viserys will never become King of Westeros. He is so weak and ineffectual that he couldn't command an army even if Drogo gave him one, to which Jorah agrees.

"It was obvious from the moment I saw him," Jorah said honestly with a chuckle. Dany smiled at her oldest friend, "Yes. He was too weak-willed and relied too much on domination" he said. "he would never have made a king if the people never trusted or liked him" Rhaegar added which Dany accepted with a smile and a nod.

In the Red Keep, Sansa Stark visits the Great Hall, where the Iron Throne sits. She and Septa Mordane discuss the expectation that Sansa will have to provide Joffrey with an heir. Sansa thinks the realm will hate her if she only has daughters, along with her belief Joffrey is still angry over the incident by the river and her anger at her father over Lady's death.

"The septa never taught us anything about the duties of being an actual lady did she?" Arya whispered loud again startling Sansa. Sansa shook her head after a few, "just all needlework, marrying a lord and bearing heirs. No training in politics or how to maintain a house properly" she said with a hint of bitterness. Ned and Catelyn watched their daughters with set jaws. They needed to speak to the Septa after this was done.

During a meeting of the small council, Lord Eddard learns that the forthcoming tournament to celebrate his appointment is seeing the city swell with visitors, and has already resulted in a tavern riot, a brothel fire, three stabbings, and a drunken horse race. He tells Littlefinger that money will have to be found to strengthen the city guards, as well as giving twenty of his own men to Janos Slynt's command until the tournament is over. After the meeting, Eddard talks to Grand Maester Pycelle about Jon Arryn's last few weeks. Pycelle said he did all he could to save Jon Arryn, but the illness was sudden and severe. He recalls that shortly before his sudden illness, Arryn had borrowed a truly boring book about the lineages of the Seven Kingdoms, and his last words were, "The seed is strong."_**

"Weird parting words" Ned frowned.

Taking the book with him, Eddard comes across Arya in the hall standing on one leg as part of her training with Syrio. Arya asks whether Bran would be able to live in King's Landing with them now that he's awoken, but Eddard states that he would have to regain his strength first. Arya then comments that Bran had always wanted to be a knight in the King's Guard, but will no longer be able to due to his paralysis.

Ned looked at his crippled son and a pang of hurt hit his heart. His second youngest son had big dreams of being a knight, a member of the king's guard, to be someone strong. But it would seem fate had other plans for the boy.

Eddard confirms this to be the case but states that Bran will be able to do many other things such as become lord of a holdfast, sit on the King's council, or raise castles. When Arya asks if she would be able to become any of those, Eddard instead tells her that she will marry a highborn lord and have lords and princes for sons. However, Arya is not pleased with this response, telling her father, "that's not me." She goes back to balancing on one leg as Eddard looks on. Littlefinger meets with Eddard and suggests that he keep his investigation into Jon Arryn's death lower in profile. He also gives Eddard some interesting intelligence: Jon Arryn's former squire has been knighted and will fight in the forthcoming Hand's tourney. He also advises him to investigate an armorer located in the city. Eddard decides that Littlefinger may be more trustworthy than he first thought, but Littlefinger discourages him from thinking that way.

"Should have listened" Sansa muttered.

Eddard sends Jory Cassel to question Jon Arryn's former squire, Ser Hugh of the Vale. However, deducing that Jory was not a knight, Ser Hugh simply rebuffs and refuses to speak with him due to his much lower rank. Eddard's investigation leads him to a smithy in the city, where he meets master smith Tobho Mott and his apprentice Gendry, whose work Jon Arryn was also apparently interested in.

Jon grinned to himself seeing his newest ally as a wee trainee. Arya though kept her surprise to herself at figuring out who exactly Gendry was.

Eddard realizes that Gendry is one of King Robert's bastard sons, but can't work out why Jon Arryn would be interested in this: Robert has many bastard children and shows little interest in any of them.

"Got that right" Robert rumbled.

Later, Eddard sends Jory with a message for King Robert, but upon arriving at his quarters, Jory hears the voices of a number of women coming from Robert's chamber. Ser Jaime Lannister happens to be on duty and is angry that the king keeps him guarding his chamber while he cavorts with other women inside, flaunting his dishonorable treatment of Jaime's sister in his face. He and Jory reminisce about the Greyjoy Rebellion, in which they both fought for King Robert's forces to put down an attempt by Balon Greyjoy to secede the Iron Islands from the rest of the realm. Jory tries to leave Eddard's message with Jaime but is rebuffed, as Jaime angrily states that he does not serve Lord Stark.

"Good times" Robert boomed out in laughter. Nobody was sure if he was talking about the war or just playing around with women.

The tournament begins and Sansa watches from the stands. Ser Gregor Clegane, the elder brother of Sandor Clegane, the Hound, takes the field. His first joust is with Ser Hugh. However, the friendly joust turns nasty and Gregor kills Ser Hugh "by accident", with a splinter of the lance impaling his neck. Littlefinger sits next to Sansa, and remarks that she and Joffrey have had a lover's quarrel.

Catelyn narrowed her eyes.

Baelish then tells Sansa that Gregor, the "Mountain That Rides", has a dark reputation: he pushed his little brother Sandor's face into a fire for taking and playing with a toy of his when they were young, burning him severely. Littlefinger recommends that Sansa not spread that story around. Cersei visits Eddard at his chambers, remarking at how the Hand is not at his own tournament. Though Cersei attempts to start the conversation in an attempt to put the incident on the Kingsroad behind them, Eddard correctly deduces that she has an ulterior motive for her visit.

"Like always" Stannis said.

Cersei then wonders aloud to Eddard what his true purpose is for being at King's Landing, as she knows how little Starks enjoy being in the capital. When Eddard tells her he is there to faithfully serve their King, Cersei remarks that just as his brother Brandon was born to lead, Eddard was born to follow.

"She needs to watch what she says" Lyanna growled. Tywin wanted to defend his daughter but thought better of it. He was after all surrounded by his enemies. He needed to be smart and pick his battles.

At the Crossroads Inn, Catelyn and Ser Rodrik Cassel, traveling in secret to Winterfell, are eating a meal while troubadour Marillion tries to ingratiate himself with them. They are surprised when Tyrion Lannister and Yoren arrive. When told there is no vacancy, Tyrion holds up a gold coin and asks if someone has a room for him; sellsword Bronn agrees to give his to Tyrion. Marillion draws Tyrion's attention to Catelyn's table, by offering to serenade him while he eats, singing of his father's military victories. Tyrion is surprised to see Catelyn and inadvertently ends her anonymity. Catelyn tells the stunned inn that Tyrion tried to murder her son Bran twice and that she asks for their help in bringing him to the king's justice. The inn is located in the Riverlands, in the territory controlled by her father, so the knights present owe him their fealty. Tyrion finds himself surrounded by half a dozen men with swords, and in Catelyn's custody.

Ned sighed to himself. Things just got complicated.