AN: Trying to keep up momentum on writing, so usual AN will be found at the end.

JON SNOW

WINTERFELL

THE LORD'S SOLAR

Jon stared at the familiar door for longer than he felt he should have. The words his father had spoken to him were echoing in his mind.

He had done as Ned had ordered. Luwin had made him stay in bed for four more days, and after that he had spent the next two days building up his strength. After not bending for so long, being back in the training yard had been just what he needed.

But he doubted he would be able to practice as much tomorrow. Afterall, tomorrow was the day that the master waterbenders would arrive to assess if Robb was ready to be called a master himself.

Luwin had informed Jon the first day he woke up which lords had been chosen. Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort would be one judge. Another would be Lady Maege Mormont of Bear Island. And the final judge would be Lord Wyman Manderly of White Harbor.

Even now, after supper, Robb and Theon were back in the yard, working out what Robb should do to prove himself to the judges. Jon wished he could be there to help, but his father had told him to come here two days after he was rested, and so here Jon was.

With a deep breath, Jon opened the door to the Solar. Standing behind his desk was Jon's father, Lord Eddard Stark. His back was to Jon, looking out the window, and Jon noticed his father's hands clasped together behind his back. It looked like he was gripping himself with all the force he had.

"You're here. Good." Ned Stark said without even looking behind him. "Please Jon, take a seat."

Jon gulped nervously as he took the first step into his father's solar.

'Why am I so nervous?' Jon thought. 'It's not like this is the first time I have been here.'

With more confidence, Jon walked over to the seat facing his father's desk, and sat down.

While Ned remained staring at the view, Jon's eyes were drawn to the desk itself.

Immediately, Jon noticed a new item on the desk. A single snowball, smoothed and packed until it was a perfect sphere. Summer snow was not the best time for making snowballs, but it was possible. The reason why it would be in Winterfell's Solar though, that escaped Jon.

Ned finally turned around and noticed what Jon was looking at.

"An old training exercise." Ned explained. "This goes back a very long time in our family. My father showed it to me only once, in case my children were benders."

Ned held up the small ball of snow.

"Robb may be a master soon, but it is important for you to keep up your own training as well. While we talk, I want you to keep this suspended in the air with your bending."

Jon frowned, confused. Father never really involved himself in bending training. He left that to Ser Rodrik.

Still, Jon did not want to disappoint his father. He began to move his fingers while focusing on the ball. He could feel the familiar cold of the ice as it came under his control. It floated out of Ned's hand and stayed above his desk.

"Good. But can you keep it up without sight?" Ned asked as he began to move. "Don't worry about it melting. If it starts to melt onto the ground, don't try to stop it. Just focus on the center of it.

Ned did not sit at his desk. Instead he walked past it and picked up the other chair next to Jon's. He moved it so it was behind Jon's in a line. Jon kept the ball floating, but also moved his chair so he could face his father. Now the floating ball of snow was behind him. But still he kept bending it with small movements of his fingers. He could feel some of it start to melt and fall to the floor, but he did as his father said and let it drip.

Ned took a deep breath.

"I am sure you are confused about what happened to you…" Ned began. "I will try to explain to the best of my ability, but there are some events that I had hoped would never occur. And what happened to you is one of them."

Jon was unsure what to say to that. More than the words, what threw Jon off was how his father was acting. To Jon, his Father had always been a stalwart man. A man who always seemed to know just what to do. To see him show signs of doubt in himself… it almost made the great Ned Stark look smaller.

When Jon did not speak, Ned took it as a chance to talk. "Many of our ancestors are buried down in the Crypts. The deeper one goes, the more ancient the tombs get. And Rickon had led you to some of the deepest parts. Parts that had been built around the same time as The Wall itself. Jon… The grave you were at, the grave I found you… It was of the Founder of House Stark. That was the grave of Avatar Brandon, The Builder."

Jon took in a sharp breath at the news of whose grave he had seen.

Avatar Brandon. The man who had built House Stark, then Winterfell, and finally The Wall Itself. The man who, according to stories, was also responsible in part for the construction of Storm's End.

The first person in recorded history to be an Avatar, although writings from other Avatars claimed it went back even further.

"So Rickon found the grave of Avatar Brandon." Jon began. "But he never touched it. So when I reached my hand out to it… what? It stirred his spirit? I thought that he and all the Avatar spirits would have been killed with Rhaegar?"

Ned nodded. "There is only one Avatar, so any ideas on what may occur when the cycle is broken is mere speculation."

Ned took another deep breath. "But Robert was always of the opinion that Rhaegar exited the Avatar State before death, allowing a new Avatar to be born… And as much as I prayed that Rhaegar was the last Avatar, so that Robert may finally come to know peace, I know he was right, and that a new Avatar was born."

Jon's eyes widened. His heart began to beat faster. He used his waterbending on the ball of snow even faster, just to be able to have a sense of doing something. He could feel the snowball get smaller and smaller as it continued to melt in the warm solar.

He did not like where this story was going.

"So… The Avatar is somewhere in the world." Jon said, trying to accept this revelation with as much grace as he could. "And since they live, Avatar Brandon's spirit lingers, and that is why I was stricken with strange visions and dreams when I touched the grave?"

Ned shook his head. "You are not the only one of our family to touch that grave. My father took myself and Brandon down there many times, usually to pray directly to our ancestors for wisdom. I have touched it myself, as have many Lords of Winterfell."

Jon remembered his constant dreams of the crypts. Of the way the Statues had stared at him, denying him. "So, it was a punishment. Avatar Brandon rejected me for not being a Stark."

It made sense to Jon. More than sense, it was a confirmation of how he had imagined the ancient Starks would view him. A stain upon the family honor.

Ned reached over to Jon and touched his shoulder. "You are a Stark. You will always be a Stark. But I am afraid that you are wrong. It was not rejecting you. Indeed, I would say it was acknowledging you. Acknowledging that the spirit in your own body… had returned to its previous form."

Jon's breath stopped. 'No.' He thought. 'Surely this can not be right.'

The next words spoken, Jon could barely hear them over the sound of his own heart.

"Jon…" Ned said slowly. "I am truly sorry for this burden. You did not deserve to have this responsibility thrust upon you. But it is the truth. You are the Avatar. The fourth Avatar to be a member of House Stark."

Jon stopped his Waterbending, and he heard the ball of snow fall onto Ned's desk.

"Pick it up." Ned said, somewhat more commanding. "Without turning around."

Jon was briefly confused by the order, but he resumed his bending on sheer instinct even as his mind reeled. As he thought over this revelation, he also felt the cold of the snowball and he resumed bending it in the air.

He and Ned sat in silence for several minutes. Jon's bending movements the only activity being done.

"You're wrong." Jon said at long last. "I can't be the Avatar."

It had to be a mistake. Jon half expected Theon to pop out of nowhere and reveal it was all an elaborate prank.

Ned stared at Jon. Jon could see the regret in his eyes. It was clear that at the very least, Ned himself believed what he was saying. But it had to be wrong. It just made no sense.

"Look back at the ball you've been moving in a circle." Ned said simply.

Jon turned to his back, confused by the sudden change, but then he saw it.

The snowball he had thought he was moving had melted onto the ground.

What was circling in the air was a stone, perfect sphere, about the size of a Gold Dragon.

"This is not just any stone." Ned explained. "This stone came from the Land of Always Winter, found by Avatar Brandon himself. It has some sort of connection to Khionne, allowing it to be sensed by Waterbenders like it was ice, but no waterbender can actually move it. It can only be moved by Earthbending."

As Jon stared at the stone, he stopped bending with his fingers, and watched as the stone shook on the string before it came to a stop.

"And it was because of that," Ned continued, "that it has been used to identify Avatars who were born as Waterbenders."

With those words, Jon felt his very heart freeze over.

NED STARK

WINTERFELL, LORDS SOLAR

The look of shock on Jon's face pained him greatly. Ned wished he could take it all back. Make this conversation never happen. Jon was not the Avatar. He was Ned's son. That was all he needed to be.

But he had promised Lyanna he would protect Jon. And coddling him with lies may make them both feel better, but when Winter finally came, Jon would freeze to death without Ned. Failing to prepare Jon for manhood would be too great a sin for Ned to ever have a peaceful death.

No matter how much Ned wished he could protect Jon, the moment he saw Avatar Brandon's grave glow, he knew Jon's Winter had begun. Now all that was left was to prepare him for it as best he could.

While Ned thought all this over, Jon had placed his head in his hands, and was staring at the floor.

"A…Aunt Lyanna." Jon muttered. "Did I… Di-"

"No!" Ned practically yelled in order to knock Jon out of those kinds of thoughts. "Rhaegar's crimes are his alone. You are not beholden to his actions. Rhaegar did what he did, but you can not allow such thoughts to control you. I say this as Lyanna's brother. I swear to you, she would NEVER blame you for any of what happened."

Jon returned to his silence.

Ned waited. He had done enough talking for now. He could not overwhelm Jon. Better to let Jon approach this in his own way.

"...Rhaegar was a Firebender." Jon said. "I'm a Waterbender. If I was the Avatar, shouldn't I be an Airbender?"

Ned's mind returned to Starfall. A grieving mother. An act of mercy to save the suffering of one child only to end up forcing the burden on another.

How different would Jon's life have been if Artoria had lived? Ned would be in the same situation, but Jon would be free to follow whatever fate he may choose. Had they both lived, he would have passed them off as twins. They would grow up always having each other to turn to for aid. The loneliness Ned knew Jon felt when reminded of being a bastard would have been much lessened with another to support him and for him to protect.

"You were not born on the day of the Battle of the Trident." Ned pointed out. "And babes die far too often for a wide variety of reasons. When you think about it, the fact that no known Avatar has ever died so young that it looks like an element was skipped is practically a miracle. Until now."

Part of Ned wanted to explain the whole circumstance of Jon's birth and his predecessor's fate. He did have a right to know. But Ned could not even consider putting the words into speech.

'He still thinks of me as his father.' Ned thought. 'I can not take that away from him. I… I don't want him to think of me differently. Forgive me Lyanna. This secret will remain for a while still.'

Ned's thoughts turned to Artoria. What would his daughter have been like? Would she have inherited her mother's dornish passion? Would raising Artoria have prepared Cat for Arya? Or would she have taken after him? Reserved and dutiful. What kind of an Avatar would she have been? Would she have accepted it easier than Jon, or denied it no matter what he said?

Jon simply stared off into space. Ned had no idea just what thoughts would be swarming through his mind.

"If all this is true…" Jon began. "What am I supposed to do, Father?"

Ned kept silent. He felt guilty for thinking of the child he had already lost when he had another who needed guidance.

Jon stood up. "...The Watch. I was planning on joining Uncle Benjen on the Wall. I suppose this is as good a reason as any to head there."

Ned frowned. Jon wasn't talking of going because he wanted to, he was speaking of it as a way to atone for Rhaegar's crimes. He would be a crow, and not a Husband of Khionne.

"I do not think The Wall is where you should go." Ned finally spoke. "Make no mistake, The Wall is vital for both the North, and the whole of the Seven Kingdoms, but the Avatar must not be tied down to any specific place. Especially when they are training."

Jon looked at him confused. "Are you saying I should go and master the elements? But once I bend more than one, Robert will find out, and he will kill me."

Ned had thought he had prepared himself for this, even though he considered it a nightmare. But hearing his son fear the man he considered a brother still ripped at his heart.

But that mattered little to what was in front of him.

The choice between Robert and Jon. Ned had made that choice in his heart years ago. He was not going to start second guessing it now.

'Promise me Ned.'

Did Lyanna truly not trust him enough? Did she truly feel the need to have his word? What kind of brother must he have been to make her think he would not protect Jon without being asked?

"The world is vast." Ned said. "And the Avatar must learn all the elements. Perhaps the reason for all the turmoil in this age is because your predecessor died before they could."

Ned sat down. "Look at all the Avatars who failed to master the elements. Myranda Tyrell, Jeyne Lothston, Roger of Pennytree, your… predecessor. Four Avatars in the last two hundred years died before they were fully prepared for the role. It is said that the Avatar is supposed to be the bridge between man and spirit, but each time they died, the bridge fell more and more into disrepair. And in order to even try to fix it would require at least two decades for the next one to come into their role. Ever since Robert's Rebellion, reports of dark spirits have gotten more numerous. The Master of Spirits is said to be overwhelmed, even as Lord Blackwood tries his best. I should know, he has sent many a raven to Winterfell asking us for any records we have on appeasing powerful spirits, but no matter what advice we give, a new spirit seems to make itself known nearly every day. Perhaps… this world is simply too cruel for an Avatar to maintain order. Mayhaps the gods have judged us unworthy after so long."

Jon stayed silent at Ned's theory.

Ned sighed.

Standing up, Ned approached Jon's chair, and kneeled down, placing his arms on Jon's shoulders, and squeezing as tight as he could "Jon, you have been given a burden that may never truly be lifted. I can not know what it feels like. But whatever you need, whatever help is mine to give, you have it. Because no matter what, forgetting the Avatar, forgetting the world, you are my child. And I will always stand by your side."

Father and Son stared at each other. No more words were said.

Ned pulled Jon towards him and into a hug. Both just focused on the other.

Ned could not know what would come next, but he knew that fate would not be kind enough to let this be the end of Jon's journey.

Whatever was to come, House Stark would stand united.

AN: And Done!

Hope you all enjoy this, with this chapter done, I suppose you could say the story can finally truly begin.

Probably the most difficult thing for me to come up with is how to prove to Jon he is the Avatar. We do not know what method Watertribe Avatars are found, so I could not use that for a hint, with the most we get being Kuruk earthbending after being told in the Kyoshi Novels. So that was kind of the inspiration for the Stone from the Far North.

Not much else to say, as this is probably one of my most contained chapters. No POVS in other locations, as I imagined that this kind of discussion deserved to be its own chapter. But now, Jon knows what he is, but still has to find out what to do with this information.

With that said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!