Author's Note

I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire,


One afternoon, back from an execution, Ned finds Cat in the sept, a smaller figure clutched to her side. Too tall for Arya, and dark haired rather than red, which means it is Jon, not one of their own. The boy is trembling, crying into Cat's embrace as she holds him.

Entering the sept feels like an intrusion, it is Cat's place, but Ned joins them all the same.

"Jon? What has happened?"

Jon only cries, and it is Cat who turns him to face Ned.

"See what your daughter has done?"

Jon's legs are a mess of bloody bandages, and there are more bloody wounds down his arms, mottling black at the edges. Ned cannot find words, so instead he kneels and gathers Jon into his arms. He's supposed to be happy here, in Winterfell.

"How did this happen?"

If it was an animal, he will have it destroyed. If it was a human, Ned will see the same done to them, and then worse. Jon is his blood, all he has left, and he has to protect him. He made an oath.

But Cat only looks at him, and there is resignation on her face. "Ned." Her voice is stern. "Arya did this."

"I wanted to play," Jon whispers, and bursts into tears anew. Cat pulls him against her and continues her prayers.

#

Whatever afflicts Ned's own three children does not seem to touch Jon. He is a quiet boy, standoffish and shy, though Ned sees the way he tries to seek companionship in Jeyne Poole sometimes. She seems not to mind him, but her father mislikes it.

"He cannot stay here," Cat says that night.

"Jon is my blood–!"

Cat takes his hands and presses them between her own. "And I accepted that a long time ago. But he's not safe here."

Ned wants to scream and shout and rage against it. Winterfell is his home, it should be Jon's home too. But he has seen it, Robb and Sansa and Arya, all have hurt him, and Cat has been forced to rescue his bastard from her own children.

"Let me write my father. Jon is a good boy; I can request for him to be fostered at Riverrun. I will see to it they treat him well."

"No."

"Ned. If he stays here, they will hurt him."

"I know."

"He'll be safe at Riverrun."

"I said no, Cat. Jon is a Northern child. He will be fostered by a Northern House."

Jon is known as a bastard, but the bastard of Lord Stark, and his bannermen will give him leniency for that. Cat smiles, and there is relief on her face. "Thank you."

#

He writes Howland first. If not him, then Ned will send notices to his other most loyal lords, but it must be Howland first. Cat never lets Jon alone with the other children while they wait on an answer. Jon doesn't understand the newfound protectiveness, but nor does he chafe against it.

Howland's reply comes in the form of a visit, as he arrives at Winterfell with a small retinue of men and his own small daughter, who must be a little younger than Robb. There is a feast that night, and Ned is careful to seat Jon beside the little Crannog girl and his own children with Cat at the other end of the high table.

"I cannot keep him here with my children," Ned says when he meets with Howland to discuss the arrangement.

"They are monsters of magic," Howland agrees.

"Have you ever heard of their like?"

It is a vain hope, but one he has to try. Howland knows many things connected to magic, and the Crannogmen are rumoured to have witches and magic in their people.

"I'm afraid not. My son, Jojen… We believe he may be blessed with the sight, but your children are gods compared to him."

Gods among men, the way Targaryens had once been described. Or mayhaps such was the way of monsters.

"But Jon is normal…" He catches Howland's look. "Jon is of Stark blood too. Why is he not afflicted?"

"His other half may temper him. Mayhaps it melts what ice is in his blood."

Ned wonders if that is what the children need then, fire to warm their blood, but it is hardly as though he can give them Jon's.

"They're a danger to him. I don't know if they mean to be, but…"

It hardly matters.

"Ned," Howland says, and rests a hand over his. "Lyanna was my friend as much as she was your sister. I will protect the boy. Let him run and roam with my children. He is happy with Meera already, and Jojen does not have the wildness of your children."

Jon has never been able to play with Ned's children.

"Then I entrust him to you," Ned says, and hopes he is not making a mistake.

#

Jon is confused, when Ned explains to him. He remembers how he felt, eight years old and sent away to the Vale. Jon is the same age, now.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asks.

"Not at all. But we believe you will be happier, in Greywater Watch. You like Meera, don't you?"

Jon giggles. "Meera's been playing with me."

"She has a little brother, too. I think he's around Sansa's age."

"And he'll play with me too?"

"You're the one that will have to be careful with him. His father says he's delicate."

Jon holds his head high. "I'll take care of him!"

Jon knows how it feels to be the delicate one, and won't be to Jojen what his siblings are to him.

#

The Reed party remains at Winterfell for a month. Ned arranges to send supplies ahead to Greywater Watch in exchange for Howland taking Jon, though they both know he needs no payment.

When they ride out, Jon is alongside Meera on his little pony, clad in Stark grey and black, and Ned watches from the battlements.

Cat joins him, now large with child. "It's the right thing to do by him."

Ned closes his eyes. Jon is his blood, and he made an oath. But protecting Jon must mean sending him away from Winterfell, at least for now.


Author's Note

Believe it or not, Cat's insistence here on sending Jon away isn't malicious or on account of Jon being a bastard. She actually has some fondness for Jon here, but that's why she does it. She knows if he stays, he'll always be in danger from her own children.

In canon, Ned refused to send Jon away, on account of whatever promise he made and probably fear of losing him. Here, it's become safest for Jon to remove him from Winterfell, at least for now. Why House Reed? Because I think that would naturally be Ned's first choice in this situation. I did consider having him agree to Riverrun, but he's more likely to want one of his own most loyal bannermen to trust with Jon, and the Reeds have to be first on that list.