PoV Eddard

A month of digging latrine pits taught Ned why hard manual labour is usually described as back breaking work. Rob fared a lot better than Ned at it. Which is not that much of a surprise Ned supposes, whirling around Rob's warhammer takes a lot more strength than the sword and dagger Ned prefers.

The fact that the legion advanced it's position twice in that month, a direct result of the legion destroying the Black Sons as an effective sellsword company, only increased the work Ned was expected to do as punishment. The legion policy of fortifying the camp with palisades and other earthen works every time the legion changed position explained why every soldier was issued a shovel as part of the standard kit.

The hard labour of digging the pits and the fortifications did give Ned the taste of a westerosi smallfolk's life, and thoroughly disabused him of his fantastical daydreams of a life of smallfolk free of the 'heavy burdens' of life of duty of noble born. Carefree and easy would never again be the words Ned associated with smallfolk, a month of hard labour saw Ned's skin gain a leathery quality, added new callouses to his hands and introduced muscles to him, he never thought of before with deep aches and sores.

But what really amazed Ned is how fast the legion fortified a new position, with half the legion waiting in reserve, ready for a fight, the other half put up the defences in less than a day. It is a combination of insistent drilling for any scenario and how well supplied the legion is the secret of their sheer efficacy.

A quality shovel costs just as much as a spear, the fact that every soldier of the legion is equipped with well made brigandine and boots, a shovel, a polearm, a shortsword and a steel helmet means the legion is richer than many noble houses of the Seven Kingdoms, not enough to match any of the Great Houses and their principle bannermen, of course, but this is just one legion, the Company of the Rose has, according to Master Wylde, at least another four legions and then there is the mercantile arm of the Company of the Rose, the one with the 'actual' money.

Whatever the plan, if there was even a plan, that the last Stark King, Torrhen Stark and his brother, Brandon Snow, cooked up when the Company chose exile, it is now paramount that I reintegrate the Company with the North. But the how of it is the question.

Ned pushed aside his thoughts on future plans and focused on the subject he felt he had been ignoring for what felt like far too long. It has been more than three months since his bond with Ironeyes evolved into something new and unexpected, and Ned had spent little time truly exploring it.

Without need for any concentration or meditation Ned thought of Ironeyes and suddenly Ironeyes thoughts became as easy to access as his own. At the moment Ironeyes is lazily circling the camp of an enemy sellsword company, by their banners of slitted golden-yellow eye, Ned recognized that the encampment belonged to the Leopard's Eye, a sellsword company contracted to and originating from Tyrosh, from the reports Ned read they numbered a little more than two thousand, the camp lacked the palisades and fortifications of the Company of the Rose, sprawling chaotically in every which way and from the putrid scent, a mixture of sweat, blood, shit and rot, on Ironeyes nose, they are not up to hygiene standards of the Company either.

Ned knew Ironeyes gained something of a reputation in their two months in the disputed lands, Essosi wolves are smaller than even normal wolves of Westeros and a wolf bigger than a pony is less animal and more monster of myth in these lands, not that direwolves were not thought of myths even in Westeros. And stories of Ironeyes ripping limbs off men has not helped matters any. Ned is increasingly sure that Ironeyes understood at least some of this and found it amusing, hence his stalking of the enemy encampments in broad daylight and howling at them, spooking both horses and men in the night.

What was interesting in all of this is Ned's growing certainty in that Ironeyes is getting not smarter exactly, and it would be the wrong descriptor anyway, Ned feels, but more understanding of human nature Ned believes. The direwolves Ned and his family have bonded with always had intelligence, whether it is by their nature or due to the bond, Ned does not know, but they understood commands without any training, and among themselves they are incredibly social and communicative. But they never really cared about human affairs, even their bonded human's affairs.

That is changing, at least with Ironeyes, ever since Ned somehow pulled so strongly on their bond that Ironeyes watched through Ned's eyes as Ned does with Ironeyes's eyes while warging, since then somehow Ironeyes figured out how to dive into Ned's memories and he started to make his opinions known to Ned far more clearly. On some things, fortunately, Ironeyes did not care about all of Ned's doings but he shared his amusement at Ned's punishment detail at length, sending along a sense of laughter whenever Ned cursed himself and Rob for landing them in the pits.

And Ironeyes did things like deliberately startling people for his own amusement or toying with their enemies like he was doing to those sellswords of Leopard's Eye, which Ned is almost sure Ironeyes is doing because he somehow understood the sellswords named their company after a type of cat. While things Ironeyes doing is not exactly worrying, at least, not to Ned, there are still issues to consider, Ned felt.

So Ned asked Ironeyes to leave the Leopard's Eye be and return to the Company. It took Ironeyes an hour to make it back, with a leisurely lope. The guards at the gate knew to let him in, Ironeyes is very popular with the Company in truth, he fouled several enemy cavalry charges with his howls and sometimes just his scent.

Once Ironeyes returned, Ned asked asked for some privacy and his squad vacated the their shared tent, and Rob is busy at the sparring grounds for next six hours.

Ned sat down in a meditative posture with Ironeyes's head in his lap and concentrated inward. And found himself somewhere without light, no, not without light, it is I that do not have sight, or sense of smell or hearing, or any of the five physical sense.

The only sense Ned had is his magical one, he could feel his bond with Ironeyes, almost see it, as a pulsing glowing silver cord, but Ned did not know if he was seeing it or imagining it.

Almost at the edge of panic Ned thought towards Ironeyes, 'Where are we?'

'In your mind', Ironeyes answered with a wry sense of humour.

'Then why is it so dark?' Ned nearly wailed, still dancing on that edge of panic.

'It is not dark, you just haven't opened your eyes', Ironeyes answered with definite note of laughter in his answer, and Ned could feel Ironeyes tug on their bond in a direction that is not a direction and Ned saw a world of chaos. Colors streaked by before his eyes and he felt another tug on their bond and Ned was assaulted by a cacophony of sounds, another tug and a medley of smells rushed through his nose, another tug, and he vividly remembered his first taste of northern ale, then a taste of sour lemons, then the iron tang of blood, then the taste of Ashara's lips, then another and another, then another tug, before he could be overwhelmed by the everything that Ned ever put in his mouth, his sense of touch came, the memory of an enveloping hug, mother, immediately followed by a hand on his shoulder, father, his head pillowed on soft breasts, Ashara, before another assault on his senses could happen, Ned blindly tugged on his bond with Ironeyes and every sense shut off and the darkness returned.

Panting even though he had no breath, Ned demanded Ironeyes, 'If that is my mind, they why is it such a mess?!'

Ironeyes answered with an easy shrug, 'How should I know?'

Calming himself down, Ned asked, 'How did you dive into my memories then?'

'I asked what I wanted to experience and just dived in, like we used into dive in hot-springs in the Godswood', Ironeyes answered simply.

'Asked who?', Ned questioned.

'You', Ironeyes answered with a sense of rolling his eyes, as though Ned asked a dumb question.

'What?', Ned asked without expecting an answer, and he got none from Ironeyes, just the continued sense of boredom mixed with exasperation, as though Ned asked questions he already knew the answer to.

Ned centred himself and thought about Ironeyes's answers and actions, and his own actions and questions.

First, I am in my mind. Second, even though it is Ironeyes who somehow gave me senses, I instinctively knew how to shut them off. Third, Ironeyes says he experienced my memories by asking me to show him the ones he wanted to see, Ironeyes would not lie to me, so what he is saying is true, without knowing it myself I showed my memories to him.

In conclusion, I am still in control.

Now, test that conclusion.

Ned thought about his first meeting with Ironeyes, concentrated on that memory, and tugged on their bond once, to return his sight and found himself a lot closer to the ground than he is used to being, he did not hear the rustling leaves nor the words he could see are spoken by his father, by Berek, even by himself, Ned did not scent the Godswood, or feel the breeze on his skin, and he did not feel the taste of a meal that should have lingered.

Ned can only see, and even that is blurry at the edge of his eyes, he looked and did not see the trees as they were, but as he imagined them to be, his Lord Father is taller and broader and sterner than he really is, even his brother, Brandon, is more handsomer than he actually is, with a height and definition to his features he had gained years later, does my memory distort? Even with all my years of meditation to gain control and clarity, does who I am now influence what I remember? Should that not be other way around?

Ned shook away his thoughts as he neared Frost in midst of birthing Ironeyes. At the moment of Ironeyes birth in his memory, the actual Ironeyes brushed against Ned, he felt fur beneath his palm, and the scene before his eyes changed to something that happened a few days later, the day when his father and brother formed their own bonds and the day Ned named Ironeyes.

'Do you remember this?', Ned asked Ironeyes.

'Not really', Ironeyes answered with a sense of indifference, but continued, 'I remember the moment you first spoke my name, not with words, but with your intentions, I recognized 'Ironeyes' means me, you saw me and thought 'stark' ,'without deception', 'to see the world unflinchingly', 'to see the path of survival for our pack' , that is what 'Ironeyes' meant to you then, and that is what my name means to me.'

For a moment Ned felt overwhelmed, he does not know why, but the one thing he knew, if Ned had never met Ironeyes, he would have remained incomplete, like a statue unfinished.

Ironeyes sensed Ned emotions and he just leaned into Ned, a man and his wolf, or perhaps it is the other way around, a wolf and his man, either way, they shared a moment of peace, of contentment.

A promise shaped Eddard Stark and a name that is a promise shaped Ironeyes, but ultimately it is they that permitted and accepted that shaping, who they are and who they will be, is their own choice, their lives are their own to live, but they will not live them alone, and that is enough.