Disclaimer: I don't make any claim o this fandom or the characters here.
AN-1: I am really sorry for the long wait, but well I was busy with my other three stories, and Ascension got a double update within a single month, so TIC got a little longer waiting period than usual.
As Always, chapter 5 is available for advance reading on my discord, which is the best place to chat and connect with me. There are hundreds of other readers there too, and several dozen for this story alone, so you can join it if you want. The Invite code is on my profile, just type it in the join server box of Discord.
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AN-4: A very big thanks to Lordlexx, Rezurex for the amazing work they did as the editors for this chapter.
"Huh?" Was all I could say to my uncle as he walked across the length of the room between us and kneeled before me, his expression surprisingly sad and remorseful at the same time.
"Jon," he said as he squeezed my shoulder. "Lady Mormont and I have agreed upon Lyanna being fostered at Bear Island, and Maege has also invited you with them. The day after tomorrow, you are going to Bear Island with your sister and the Mormonts."
"Uhh, okay?", I mean...what do I say to that? 'Thanks for kicking me and my sister out finally?' or another variant of the thing, because whichever way I looked at it, all I got from this was that Ned Stark had just killed two birds with one stone.
We are out of Winterfell within the next 48 hours, which means neither will he have to deal with his sister's and Rhaegar fucking Targaryen's twins under his roof, and nor will Catelyn be a pain in the ass for him anymore.
"Thank the gods," he smiled and closed his eyes. "I had thought you would have needed more convincing."
"Well, it isn't as if there is really something worthwhile for me here besides my sisters," I shrugged, taking some pleasure in the wince he gave off. "Bear Island sounds fun."
He gave me a shaky nod at that before he stood up and moved behind his desk. As he was sitting down, for some reason I couldn't help but ask about my mother's identity.
"I will tell you when the time is right," he said in a firm voice as his expression hardened. "Not until then, Jon."
A scoff slipped out of my lips, and I crossed my arms while running through all the ways this could go down the lane as I began to speak.
"But what if some wildling gets me first? I would die, perish from this world without ever even learning my mother's name or identity."
"I said when you are older!" He bit out, his fist clenching on the table, the sound of his knuckles popping echoing throughout the room.
Giving him a glare of my own, I turned around and stomped out of the room, slamming the heavy door extra hard on my way out. I then stormed off towards the training yard, knowing some loudmouthed asshole would be present there, perfect to vent my frustrations.
"That's it Lyanna, flick your wrist just like that-no! Don't twist your torso that much!", Dacey Mormont's voice reached my ears, my sister's name causing me to turn my head towards the voice in interest and move my legs faster to get to the owner of the voice. When I arrived at the yard, I saw Dacey and Visenya fighting with blunted knives, the woman catching my sister between each strike they unleashed. Watching them for a few more moments and taking note of the small welts and bruises over Visenya's arms, I grabbed one of the blunted bastard swords from the rack and rushed into the fray, launching a surprise stab at Dacey, making her jump away at the sneak attack from the side.
"Hey! It is my practice time," Visenya yelled, pointing the little knife in her hand at me. "Go find someone else to fight with!"
"Sorry," I shrugged, spinning the sword in my hand. "But I wanted to spar one more time today, you can sit out this one."
She must have realized something had happened because she frowned and turned towards the solar's window before she gave me a worried look and moved towards the sidelines. Dacey meanwhile had procured a bastard sword and was lazily twirling it between her fingers as she moved towards me, her eyes flashing murderously at me, no doubt remembering my comment from this morning.
"Jon Snow," she began as she stabbed at me, making me jump back. "I was wondering when you were going to show your face to me again."
Before her sword arm had even started pulling back, her left leg shot forwards towards my midsection and it was only through reflexes honed with my practises with Visenya that I was able to turn my body in time and push her leg upwards. Instead of stumbling like I had hoped she would, Dacey pushed off the ground with her right foot and resumed her attack on me with a diagonal slash. Parrying the blow, I moved inside her guard and slammed my elbow into her stomach with all the strength I could muster while at the same time ducking underneath her swinging arm. A gasp escaped her mouth as the hilt of my blade dragged against the leather covering her chest and sides before I was thrown off balance as a solid punch landed right on my temple.
It almost put me out of the fight as I blinked away the spots in my vision and swayed for a moment. In the background, I could hear the 'ohhhs' from the people spectating the whooping I was getting and laughter that escaped many of them. However, before I could do anything, Dacey kicked me hard on my ass and sent me crashing to the ground.
The jeers and calls doubled in volume instantly as I slowly stumbled to my feet, my face and clothes covered in dirt. I heard Dacey come closer to me and feeling a grin tug at my face, I turned around and threw a handful of dirt right in her face. Her eyes widened before she closed them reflexively, but the damage was done. Her left hand rose up to her eyes in an effort to clean them, while the other started swinging her sword around in all possible directions at dizzying speeds. But temporary blindness made it easy for me to slam my sword into hers with all of my power, sending it sidewards, and then my blade was resting on her shoulder, right beside her slender neck.
A wide smile started to form on my lips before I felt something poke my ribs. I turned my head sidewards and gulped at the sight of her sword's tip touching the place right where my heart was supposed to be. Even blinded by the dust as she had been, Dacey was experienced and talented enough to predict where my heart would rest once I came too close to her.
"You shouldn't get too comfortable when everything seems to go your way," Dacey said as she lowered her sword. "That is a sure way to walk into an ambush."
I opened my mouth to say something, but all of my thoughts evaporated as she opened her own eyes, without any problem, as if she had not just received a face full of dirt. She grinned at me as she removed my sword from her shoulder and patted my head.
"You are a few years too late to use that trick on me, Snow," she revealed, her smile all teeth. "Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I like your sister, I would have really beaten you into the ground instead of the little hits I gave you."
With that she moved away, her dark, midnight-black hair swaying in the wind and her blade resting upon her shoulder as she moved into the keep, my eyes drawn to her lithe figure and the hypnotic movement of her hips.
"Are you fine?" Visenya asked as she moved towards me and inspected my palms. "What did she say to you?"
"Nothing," I choked out, suddenly feeling a part of me come alive as Dacey finally disappeared into the grey walls of Winterfell. "I think I am in love."
"Ugh! Come on you fool," she groaned and grabbed me by my shirt. "Let's get that hand cleaned up, you can profess your undying love for Dacey tomorrow morning!"
That night, Robb's nameday feast occurred and as was the norm, We weren't allowed to attend the occasion. Therefore, with nothing else to do, we decided to spend the night with our dragons. Caraxes was visibly pleased by our presence, the female dragon spending all of the time with her head in Visenya's lap and her tail idly swishing through the snow. Vhyraxes was happily munching on some animal he had minted and Gaelithox, well the fiery dragon was sleeping, once again.
At an age of three months, each of them was coming to our knees, with Vhryaxes being the largest by a small margin, followed by Gaelithox and then Caraxes. While it wasn't discernible easily, Visenya and I had realized that despite hatching at practically the same instant, Gaelithox and Caraxes both listened to the black and purple dragon.
But another thing which vexed us was that despite every rider having claimed a dragon for his or her own in our house' history, we didn't really feel anything special for any single dragon. Despite Gaelithox being a grouchy lizard, he too listened to our words and received equal affection from us both.
Visenya said it was because both of us were present at their hatching and they saw us as their parents, while my mind said that it had something to do with the Stark blood in us, for if it could make the dragons grow two more limbs, surely it was magical enough to twist and turn the psychological bond between a rider and his dragon.
My thoughts upon the dragons and our bonds with them were derailed when Visenya sat down behind me and rested her chin on my shoulder before wrapping her arms around me. The body heat of the dragons, who had all curled up around us, was enough to ward off the chill from the air and the ground.
"Where are we going to hide them?" Her muffled voice came as I covered her hands with my own.
"There are two small islands around there for them to hide on," I replied. "And Bear Island itself has a vast and thick forest."
"Hmm," she nodded. "How will we meet them once we are with the Mormonts?"
My lips grew into a tight line at that. Despite the island being largely uninhabited and full of places for the dragons to conceal themselves, their discovery was inevitable. The only thing I could hope for was that by the time Caraxes, Vhyraxes and Gaelithox would be revealed, Visenya and I would have grown much stronger and would be ready to wage war for the throne.
"We will not."
"What?!" She gasped as she disengaged from the hug and came in front of me, her silver hair shining gold from the single torch we had with us.
The dragons also stilled momentarily before they stood up and moved behind Visenya, their growls echoing through the trees around us as they bared their teeth.
"We cannot let out even a single hint of their existence until they have grown large enough to swallow a man whole, at least,'' I replied calmly, my words meant for the dragons too as much as they were meant for Visenya. "Despite what you or I may want, that is the course of action we will take, for neither we, nor our dragons, are ready to face the wider world yet. We will train, we will fight and we will better ourselves while Vhyraxes, Caraxes, and Gaelithox do the same."
Visenya just shook her head and glared at me, but I knew that she had also realized the truth of my words when she just turned around and wrapped up all the three dragons in a massive hug. The three reptiles flapped their wings and slightly squawked in discomfort but they quickly wrapped their own wings around her. Gaelithox growled slowly and the other two dragons looked at him before, as one, the three of them turned towards me as they unwrapped themselves from around Visenya. They crawled towards me slowly and flared their wings above them.
"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked as I stood up from my position. "I am reall-oomph!"
With all the force of their several stones of weight, they slammed into me and sprawled me over on my back before they sat beside me and laid their long necks over my body, the wings covering me the same way they had hugged my sister.
A deep humming sound emanated from them as they nuzzled their heads against my body and after some time, I couldn't help but hug them back, knowing that this might very well be the last time I would be touching those three for years to come.
"Are you crying?"
"What?! N-No, I am not!"
"You are," she crowed. "Your voice hitched."
"It's called growing up," I said back, feeling my face heat up, the crack in my voice audible to even my own ears. "Happens to everyone in this world, you idiot!"
"Aww," she cooed, pinching my cheeks from the side. "You do love these little guys."
"Visenya!"
"DON'T GO! JON YOU PROMISED TO TEACH ME ARCHERY!"
"Arya," Visenya sighed as she kneeled down and hugged the wailing girl. "We are not going away forever. We will come back after a few years and until then I want you to become strong and quick so that you can be the best archer in the whole of the North when we return!"
The Septa moved forwards at that, no doubt to reprimand Arya and take her away but amazingly, my uncle raised his hand without even looking and made a dismissive motion towards her. The whole courtyard—or at least the ones who saw it happen—gaped at the action of the normally quiet respectful Lord Stark.
"Ned!" Catelyn hissed, making the retreating Septa stop for a moment before she once again came forwards. "What are yo-"
"Silence!"
This time the whole courtyard did hear the growl in my uncle's voice and everyone stilled to watch the spectacle. 'The Quiet Wolf' raising his voice at his own Lady Wife was something that had never happened before, and yet somehow, in just a span of twenty-four hours he had changed enough to glare down both Catelyn and the Septa into submission.
"My children are leaving the only home they have ever known," he said. "And if Arya wants to express her grief and hug them, then no one is going to disturb them, Am I clear Septa Mordane?"
"Yes, Lord Stark." Came the whispered answer as she bowed her head.
Nodding once at the response, he came towards us and looked at us both for a moment, before he laid his palms upon our heads and whispered, "I know, that I have not been the father you deserve, that I have been distant and always silent in your lives, but never think that I am sending you both away to please my wife or to remove you from my sights and Winterfell. You are my children, and will always have a palace in Winterfell regardless of what anyone says."
While the heartfelt confession certainly sounded nice, I was not trusting enough to believe him on face value, not when just this morning we had been prevented from stepping into the leaving feast for the lords by the Septa, right in full view of Maege and my uncle both.
One more thing which made the words sound hollow to my ears was because of the thought—which amazingly was something my sister realized—that sending us to Bear Island also had the bonus of making me familiar with how Wildlings were pillaging over there regularly, and thus that could be used to remove the only Targaryen male heir in the world by motivating me to join the Wall.
There were a hundred and one things I wanted to shout at him, scream at him about how dare he let Visenya be struck by that banshee of his wife and that Septa, about how our mother would have gutted him if she saw us right now and about how I was really glad to leave his home, but none of that made it past my lips.
When both of us didn't say anything for a few moments after his confession except looking down at the ground, he just sighed deeply and squeezed my shoulder before he stood up and moved back towards his family with Arya clutching onto his hand. With a smile and a wave at Arya and the Old Nan both, we moved towards our saddled horses and mounted them swiftly before we trotted out of the gates of the keep.
"You don't look too sad," Dacey said as she came to our right atop her own beautiful brown mare. "You are going to a faraway land which is unfamiliar to you and leaving the only place you have known for all of your lives. And Bear Island isn't even fractionally as warm as Winterfell."
"We will manage," I said. "As long as I am with her, I don't care if I am in Bear Island or in the Summer Isles."
"Aww, thank you, brother."
"It is because I will need someone to act as a shield against the heat and cold you idiot, you will be frozen or cooked while I lounge about in your shadow."
Visenya gasped at that and tried whacking me, but I spurred on my horse and moved a little faster, Dacey's laughter and Visenya's indignant cursing causing everyone in the party to look over for a moment before they turned around.
"How many days will it take us to get to Bear Island?" I asked the soldier riding beside me, Borys, if I remembered correctly.
"Hmm...the snows are currently melted along the main path, so I would say it would take us 'bout a fortnight to Deepwood Motte, and from there about two days till we cross the forest to the docks where we will take our boats to the island."
"Then why is Lord Glover not coming with us?"
"I dunno, ask the Lady lad." He shrugged.
Nodding at the man, I decided to do that later on when we would make camp for the night. Instead, I just decided to see the sights around me as we traversed through the beaten path in the midst of the forest. Being born in the early years of the twenty-first century, there wasn't a single location or forest that hadn't been scanned by the humans for the lack of a better word.
From the Amazons to the Sunderbans to the Indonesian rainforests, we had managed to penetrate almost all of them to a large extent, but here, in Westeros? The forests were wild in the truest sense of the word, even the Wolfswood, the forest just a stone's throw from Winterfell was something that was still feared greatly, with beaten paths and known trails being followed and used for centuries.
According to the map, Dacey had shown us, we were to follow the path we were on until we reached a large, frozen lake, from where we would take a smaller, less walked path which will cut our travel time by three days, but it was not made for heavy luggage, so caravans and carts had to use to the second way.
"Hey Jon," Dacey called, making me turn in my saddle. "Lyanna here says you tell amazing stories, therefore, from now on, it is your duty to tell a good one each night!"
"I want a copper for each one I tell," I said after a few moments.
"How does my fist to your stomach sound to you?"
"On the other hand, for you, it is a completely free service, my lady."
The resulting laughter from each and everyone around me echoed through the trees around us, and strangely, I didn't feel ashamed or embarrassed in the slightest as I too found myself laughing along with them.
Traveling through the wilderness of the North with the Mormonts quickly became the most exciting thing which had probably happened to me—barring the dragons of course. By the day we would travel on horseback, with Dacey being a constant company to both of us. She would tell us about her childhood and the life people led on Bear Island and also of her sisters Alysane, Lyanna, and Jorelle.
When the sun would go down, we would all set up tents around a small campfire, upon which a freshly hunted buck would be roasted while each and every one of us would tell a story as we ate. Some would tell about a fight they had, a hunt they took, or old tales of the North. As ordained by Dacey, I was made to tell stories each night we made camp, and despite forgetting the majority of things about my past life over the years, I retained enough to spin tales based on myths and legends of my world. The story of a Kraken getting frozen to stone was the biggest hit amongst the group, each of them laughing and making japes at the Ironborn's expense as they drew parallels between the pirating assholes and the Ethiopian Cetus.
The next morning we reached the holdfast of the Grovers, from where it took two days for us to reach the shores. According to Dacey, the boats were tied with ropes in the caves along the shore, the naturally existing structures being the only places along the western shore to house the boats, the sea having claimed the existing docks long before any of us had been born after the Northern Navy fell into rui-ashes. When the boats were moved out into the open waters, we all got into the two boats and the soldiers started rowing them towards Bear Island, our destination nothing but a series of mounds at the horizon in the early morning light. For some time we talked about several things, ranging from how Visenya got interested in combat to how the forests of Bear Island differed from those of the Wolfswood.
"Can't believe I never asked you both," Dacey suddenly began, "but do you truly want to foster with us?"
"Mhmm!" Visenya nodded eagerly, "Bear Island sounds fun and exciting, and I always wanted to come here."
"We are more mmm...happy to escape Lady Stark and the Septa, to be honest," I interjected, making Dacey look at me with a sympathetic expression. "But that we are coming to live with you is certainly better than going somewhere else."
"And how do you know Bear Island will be better?" She arched her eyebrow.
"Well, no Septa, no Lady Stark, and of course, your presence certainly helps," Visenya responded with a wide smile. "I have my brother with me, and no one to glare at us for every breath we take, so definitely better than our life till now."
"And you?" Dacey turned towards me. "Why do you think Bear Island will be good for you?"
I stayed quite for a few seconds as I contemplated my answer to that question as the other two stared at me. I agreed with what Visenya had said, but I also liked the newfound absence of my Uncle, Theon, Sansa, and to an extent even Robb from my days. But as my eyes strayed to those of my sister and the absolutely carefree smile she had on her face, the answer to Dacey's question came to me instantly, and the words were out of my mouth with more certainty behind them than anything else I had ever spoken.
"Because she will be happier there, and that is enough for me."
The next moment I almost died due to suffocation as Visenya hugged me harder than she had ever done so, and I could feel warm tears drip on my neck as she sniffled slightly. A small smile came upon my face, and with a kiss on her head, I too hugged her back as I started to run my hand through her hair.
"Well, your happiness is only a few hours away, Lyanna," Dacey said, pointing towards the much more clearly visible Islands she called her home. "Welcome to Bear Island, home to ferocious bears, biting cold and dangerous women."
Now, I want to make one thing perfectly clear, I am not really bashing Ned Stark. This story is being written with an SI's perspective, who already has a negative view of his uncle ever since he first saw him. S if your reviews were gonna be like 'AHH you are bashing needlessly. This story and your writing is shit', think again. I can't really think of another thing to address at the moment, so I will take my leave.