The Son of Winterfell

Prologue

The long winter had finally ended but it still had it's fingertips within the spring, the snows that lashed at the walls of Winterfell were proof enough of that with the drifts of snow pooling around most people's ankles, but for Old Nan it was almost to her waist and the bite of cold in the wind felt like steel against her cheeks as she pushed through all the same.

Many and more would call her mad, she would have been one of them once but she would not shy away from her task.

The snow storm had attacked Winterfell for the past five days and nights, if it were not for the fact that there was the occasional break between the falls then one would assume that were still in the heart of winter but Nan knew better, she had lived through enough winters after all.

But the little one might not.

Both her little ones had fallen ill, both boys who were so close in age that if not for their colouring then they could easily be mistaken for twins, but one had his mother, his father and the new maester who had taken the place of old Walys.

The other one had none other than her.

The cold that had struck them both down and it had only gotten worse and worse, to the point when the little grey maester had made it clear to her precious Eddard and his southern wife that he could only save one of them by devoting all his efforts to one, to keep his little heart beating.

Lady Catelyn had begged and Nan didn't think she had ever seen her Eddard so devastated, and so conflicted, but in the end he had chosen his trueborn son and heir and that was that.

But Nan would not accept it, when all their backs were turned Nan scooped up the bastard boy who looked more like a Stark than his trueborn brother and carried him out of the room, her hearing had started to fail her so she did not know if anyone called for her to come back but in truth she did not as she held the boy close to her chest and carried him out the bedroom and out of the keep.

Once she would outside the kitchens she hammered on the door until one of the maids opened it for her and she walked inside, into the warmest part of the castle she could think of.

Gage walked over to her, the cook frowning heavily. "Nan, what in all the hells do you think you're playing at? You could catch your death out there tonight."

Nan didn't answer him with words, just showed him the boy who was clutched close to her chest and shivering.

Gage only frowned deeper for a moment before he sighed and shouted at one of the kitchen boys to bring a chair, Nan sat down next to the fire and rubbed the boy's back as the long night carried on and wet coughs continued to escape him.

And as she sat, other would come over to her, kitchen maids would brush the boy's curls back and give him tiny bits of bread covered in honey and Gage brought her a paste of mustard, garlic and ginger and few herbs to rub on the boy's back and chest to try and help him breath a little easier.

At one point in the night her Walder came in from the snow and knelt in front of her chair and cupped the back of the bastard boy's head gently with one of his hands, said "Hodor" and left to go back to the stables.

"Mama?" a little voice asked and Nan looked down to see two cloudy grey eyes staring back up at her, Nan cooed at the boy and brushed her fingers through hair and shook her head before speaking gently.

"No, my little love. Not your mama, just your silly old Nan but I love you all the same," she spoke before pressing a kiss to his warm forehead and holding him all the closer to her.

And she kept on holding him, until the storm broke and his fever broke and her precious Eddard came looking for him and gently took him off of her and thanked her for looking after him when he could not, looking ashamed all the while.

And the next day, when he and his brother were both back to normal, they came looking for a story and Nan told them one and when Robb ran off to play when it was done Jon stayed just for a moment longer and stood on his toes to press a kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you Nan," and then he was off after his brother and Nan...

Nan treasured that kiss more than any other she had ever had.

End of Prologue

So this is the last of the three new story ideas I had, I'm sorry that this chapter is so short but here it is regardless and hopefully the next one should be longer.

With warmest regards,

DiscordantSymphony