A loud horn bellowed from atop the walls of the Winterfell, and almost immediately there was a quick flurry of activities as guards ran forward to open the gate.

A few minutes later, a small but wide procession consisting, of guards, hunters blacksmiths, and merchants arrived, some on horses and some on pulling carts. Leading from the very front were three Starks children, one big red-haired one and two small black-haired ones.

Each of them had bright expressions on their faces as they rode into the courtyard on their personal horses.

Robb Stark, with his tall height, and solemn expression he inherited from his father made him look more a man than a boy and on either side of him were his two excitable siblings whose eyes were restlessly searching for something.

"Sansa! Mother!" Bran and Arya screamed simultaneously when they finally caught sight of their target, and then without waiting for Harwin's help, both of them dismounted from their ponies and excitedly ran towards their sister and mother who were waiting for them along with their brother Rickon.

"Slow down, you two," Catelyn lightly admonished, "You should not run—" she abruptly grunted, not even able to finish her sentence as her little children, who were not so little anymore, ignored her warning and slammed into her midriff hugging her tightly.

Not to mention the mama's boy Bran, but even Arya had missed her fiercely after not seeing their mother for so long.

"Hmm, If I did not know any better, I would have guessed that you two missed your poor mother..." Catelyn commented with a quirk of her lips as she rubbed their little heads, "But that cannot be true, after all, you both had been so eager to get away from home, even going as far as to give up eating so that your father would allow you to go,"

"I-I did not miss you," Arya denied with a pout as she hurriedly pushed away from her mother as if she hadn't been the one eagerly hugging her just a few seconds ago, "Bran was the one who was always crying mother along the way,"

"No, I was not,"

"Yes, you were,"

And so they went as the sibling easily got into their familiar back and forth with their mother and their sister watching with exasperated but fond smiles on their faces.

"Ro! Ro!" Baby Rickon squeaked excitedly and pulled away from Sansa, who was carrying him, with his hands stretched out towards his biggest red-haired brother, who was finally free and coming towards them.

"Oh, ho, Rickon, you have gotten quite big, haven't you?" Robb said exaggeratedly while taking his little brother into his arms, "I feel like I have not seen you in years," he said while rubbing the toddler's belly making him giggle in delight.

"It has not been that long, has it?" Bran said confusedly while trying to count on his fingers, "I don't think Rickon has gotten any big either..."

"We have only been gone for three moons," Arya snorted proudly as she remembered one of the merchants mentioning the time he had been away from his shop, "Robb is just being stupid,"

Robb rolled his eyes at his cheeky siblings while Cately tried to reprimand Arya, "Don't call your brother, stupid, Arya,"

"But—"

"So how was the White Harbour, Bran," Sansa interrupted loudly before the Mother-Daughter pair could go on their usual route, "I was so envious when you three got to go, and I didn't,"

"It was amazing, Sansa, and so—so! big," Bran exclaimed with stars in his eyes while stretching his hands as wide as they could go.

"Yes! Yes! And there were so many people there, that you would not believe it, Sansa," Arya jumped in with an excited expression on her face, "I have never so many people together in one place before a-and I once even got lost in the port market for a bit," she recounted with a pleased expression as if getting lost was something to be proud about.

"And everything was so white and clean,"

"A-And I saw ships that were bigger than a castle,"

"And the knights, I saw the knights, Sansa. The Knights!" Bran jumped, excitedly waving his hands in the air, "There were so many of them,"

"I saw them too,"

"And—"

While the children were eagerly regaling their tales of their first trip outside of Winterfell, each trying to outdo the other, Robb had finished greeting his mother and asked her something that had confused him since he entered the castle, "Where is father? Is he not in Winterfell?"

"No, he is, and he was even supposed to welcome you with me but..." Catelyn replied a bit distractedly, as most of her attention had been grabbed by Arya's tale of what happened when she met the fat Lord Manderly and his granddaughters, "A letter suddenly arrived and he went away with the Maester and he had been in his solar since,"

"Letter? From whom?"

"I don't know, he did not tell me, but—"

Before Catelyn could continue, the answer to Robb's question arrived in the form of the guard captain of Winterfell.

"Lord Robb!" Jory Cassel called as he approached them from the Great Hall's direction.

"Jory, How have you been?"

"I have been well," Jory nodded with a smile before he continued in a low voice, "Your Father called you to his solar,"

Robb was confused as to why his father was calling for him the moment he entered Winterfell, but he nodded nonetheless, "I understand." he said while handing Rickon to his mother, "I will go change my clothes and then meet—"

"No, I think it would be better if you meet with him first," Jory insisted quietly.

"Oh," Robb looked surprised for a moment before complying, "Very well, lead the way, then," he said before following after Jory, leaving behind his Mother who was now interrogating Arya on her choice of attire when she presented herself before the Manderly's.

"Do you know why Father is calling for me, Jory?" he asked as they walked along the long cold hallways of the castle.

"I don't, he just told me to get you immediately," Jory replied, then he hesitated for a moment before continuing, "But he looked very serious when I saw him, so I do not think it is good news,"

"Hmm," Robb nodded nonchalantly, but he increased his pace nonetheless so that barely a few minutes passed before he was standing in front of the solar.

"Father," he called while knocking on the door, "You called for me,"

"Come in," came his father's familiar deep voice and Robb immediately opened the door, and saw his father sitting behind his desk with the Maester sitting on one of the two chairs in the front, with both of them sporting grave looks on their faces.

"Sit," he was ordered and then, not asking him about his recent trip as Robb had expected Eddard handed him a letter, "Read this,"

By now, Robb's confusion had turned into complete bewilderment as he took the letter in his hands and saw that it was from Lord Manderly.

Now more than a little nervous, wondering if the wealthiest Lord under his father had sent him a letter complaining about him or his conduct on his trip, he rolled the letter open. But the moment he read the words written on the small piece of parchment in his hands, all his confusion turned to shock and amazement, "What?! Jon killed a Pirate King?"

"So he did not tell you about this either?" Lord Stark sighed as he leaned back in his chair with a disappointed look on his face.

"I told you, My Lord," Maester Luwin said with a small shrug, "Robb would not keep such a thing from you if he had known about it,"

"I know, but... I had hoped," Eddard sighed in frustration before shaking his head.

"But wait, Father, is this news really true? Has it been confirmed? if so, why did Lord Manderly not mention this to me while I was there?" Robb asked with a dazed expression as he finally finished reading the letter and realised that in the short time that he had been gone from Winterfell, and was out of touch with Tiger, Jon's shadow cat, such a big incident had happened in Essos without his knowhow.

"He must have only gotten the news recently, as the letter arrived barely a few hours before you did, but that is not important," he said while looking at Robb with a grim look that immediately him sit up straight, "What is important, is that I had to get such an important piece of news about my own son from the Manderly's. I know how 'close' you keep in touch with Jon, so tell me, why were you not even aware that Jon was entangled with the likes of this Pirate King?"

'Damn you, Jon,' Robb internally screamed at his brother, swearing to beat the shit out of him, the next time he saw his ugly face, for putting him in this situation, "I think, Father, that Jon was probably concerned that if he told you about it, you would worry and—"

"Of course, I would worry," Eddard let out irritatedly in an unusual show of emotion, "These are not common bandits he is up against, but cruel merciless pirates, without a shred of honour or compassion in their blood. And Jon is out there fighting them with his life on the line, with me none the wiser, how am I not supposed to worry?"

There were a few seconds of silence after Eddard finished his tirade before the good Maester cleared his throat and hesitantly spoke, "I do not think Jon is at fault here, My Lord. The Northern Wolf Shipping, that your son established in Essos, is turning out to be very very lucrative, so it was obvious from the start that it would attract all kinds of greedy people... And I feel that with his intelligence, Jon must have thought things through before deciding to attack the pirates,"

The old man was quite fond of young Jon, who had spent almost half a decade learning under him in the Winterfell library, asking him all kinds of curious questions that made even the experienced maester think deeply.

"You do not understand, Maester," Eddard sighed while massaging his forehead, "If it were just one or two pirate captains, I would not be this worried but this is a well-established Pirate King we are talking about here and one that controls almost one-third of the route that goes through the Stepstones. He would have had more ships and sailors under him than even the Manderly's, and the letter clearly states that Jon not only killed the Pirate King but also dismantled his whole fleet... and that is not something to be taken lightly,"

"But, if that is true, My Lord, then where did Jon even get the man for something like this?" Maester Luwin asked with a frown on his face, "Because I did not think that the shipping company under him already possessed enough men to do this?"

"No. As far as I know, he doesn't even have close to that number of men," Eddard denied with a thoughtful look on his face as he wondered how much he even knew about his own son these days.

The moment Robb heard the Maester's question, his eyes abruptly widened as he suddenly remembered something, and after a brief moment of hesitation he decided to open his mouth and come clean, "Er, Father, I may know something about that,"

"What?" Eddard eyes immediately narrowed as he turned back to his son, "What do you mean?"

"Do you recall the massive order that all the blacksmiths in the Blacksmith Alley had been working on for the month leading to my trip to White Harbour?"

"Yes, of course. What of it?"

"Well, you remember how I had told you that the client was a sellswords company called the Company of the Rose from Essos and that it had some Northern roots" he said to which Eddard slowly nodded as he seemed to realise where his son was going with this, "I think that Jon somehow completely brought that company under him and has them working for him."

"Hmm... and how many men does this company have," Eddard asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I would guess around five hundred,"

"That should still not be enough for him to risk something like this,"

"But if you add his other skills..." Robb slowly added in a low voice with a meaningful glance that immediately had his father's eyes light up comprehension but made the Maester frown in confusion.

But before they could continue with their conversation, all three of them suddenly heard a hushed cry of delight from outside the thick door.

"What?! Jon defeated a Pirate King?" came the amazed whisper from Arya.

"Shush, Arya! Not so loud," hissed Sansa in a panicked tone.

"Robb, go deal with your siblings," Eddard said in a tired tone.

"Yes, Father," Robb said with a somewhat relieved tone as he immediately sprung up from his seat to go towards the door. He was quite thankful for his sibling's interruption, as their eavesdropping gave him the excuse to no longer face his father's intense interrogation.

After a momentary stop at the door, Robb abruptly slammed it open, startling his three siblings, who had their ears to the door, into scurrying back in panic as if they were a bunch of cats who were caught stealing milk.

"What were you doing?" Robb in a grave tone, trying his best impression of his father.

"Um,"

While Sansa and Bran guiltily looked away, Arya was just too exhilarated to care and hurriedly asked, "Is it really true, Robb? Did Jon really hunt down the pirate king?" she asked while waving her hands in the air as if she herself was wielding a sword against the said Pirate King, "Wait! Does that mean he will become the King of Pirates now?" she questioned in a hushed voice, her whole body trembling in excitement.

"Of course he will not, Pirates are evil, and since Jon killed them, he is a hero," Bran immediately refuted before turning back to look at Robb with a hopeful look, "He will become a Knight now, right?"

"I don't know," Robb said shaking his head before his voice abruptly became stern as he began chiding them, "And it is not you who should not be asking me questions," he said with his hands on his hips, "Do you not know how rude it is to listen to other people's conversation? And you, Sansa, how could you go along with them?"

"I really did not mean to, it's just... I heard that Jon sent a letter and I just came to see what he sent, but then..." Sansa's eyes wandered and her voice slowly disappeared as she tried to come up with an excuse that didn't make her look a sneak, but in the end, she couldn't come up with anything, so she just gave up, "But did Jon really do it?" she asked with a fascinated look on her face as if she was listening to one of the fairy tales books she liked reading when she was little.

"You!" Robb was rendered speechless when even the most mature one amongst his siblings became like this, but he knew that he could not leave them like this. So, before his siblings could bombard him with anymore questions, he took a quick glance behind him and slowly closed the door, while acting as if he was still scolding them, "You three should be ashamed of yourself..."

While Robb 'dealt' with his siblings, back inside the solar, the Maester tried to comfort the distressed Eddard in the best way that he could.

"My Lord, at least we are sure that young Jon came out fine from this ordeal, otherwise Lord Manderly would have mentioned it in his letters,"

"Maybe he was fine this time, but what about the next..." Eddard replied with a wry look, "He in the midst of ruthless killers... a small mistake could easily lead him to his death. I don't know what the boy is thinking and why he is taking such big risks?"

"He is not a boy anymore, My lord," Maester Luwin said gently after a while, "That was no skirmish he fought in, but a small war— a war that he led and won, so I think he has earned the recognition from this,"

"I am afraid that other people would also see it that way..."

...

296 AC, KingsLanding

The stands in the overused tourney grounds outside the city were filled to the brim once again but unlike the usual smaller tourneys, that happened every few months at the whims of King Robert, where only the nearby nobles attended, this one was a bit more grandiose, as today was the tenth name day of Prince JoffreyBaratheon, the heir to the crown.

And the Lannister Queen would be remiss in her position as the most beautiful and most powerful (self-proclaimed) person in Westeros if she did not make a grand spectacle out of this. This meant that the full cost for this excessive splendour was borne by the Lannister family, meaning heavier prizes for the competitions, resulting in larger crowds.

News had been sent to all the major and minor noble holdings nearby, and all the people whom the queen felt were proper and important had been invited.

So considering the amount of gold listed as the prize, almost everyone who could come had arrived, whether they be the mighty longbow archers from Stormlands and Riverlands or the valiant Knights from Reach and Vale, and of course, warriors from Westerlands were the most numerous considering whose name day it was.

In fact, the only notable absentees were the warriors of Dorne and the North, but no one noticed them missing anyway...

On the stands, in the front row sat rough men shouting and screaming at the fighters below while excitedly handing their hard-earned coins to the Merchants taking bets, above them sat the noble ladies from the smaller families, gossiping with each other while sending occasional lustful glances at the men fighting in the ring, even a few brats were there standing on their seats eagerly watching the dance of death with awe in their eyes.

Inside the Royal Pavilion, the King sat at the very top with the best view of the ring. But at the moment, he was more interested in the ass of the maid serving him alcohol, than in the men fighting to entertain him.

Below him, sat his small council, with Lord Stannis and Lord Arryn in the middle, while Lord Varys and Lord Baelish sat on either side of them.

The two old lords were discussing state matters in low voices, with Baelish and Varys intermittently dropping their opinions in the form of wise comments.

The last member of the small council, Lord Renly, had left his seat in boredom and was now standing beside his royal nieces and nephew, more interested in watching the melee with them than in the conversation behind him.

"... and with Tyrosh being the closest, they were the first ones to notice, so they immediately sent a quick force to take advantage of the opening left by the sudden vacuum and take possession of the route. But it is expected that none of the other cities, especially Braavos or Volantis, would let them have this piece of pie, as no one wanted a repeat of those sky-high tariffs from history, so they all should be sending their own force to keep the others in check... this has made the whole narrow sea more turbulent than ever, and while trade has not been particularly affected yet, it is only a matter of time,"

"And you are telling me... that all this happened because of Jon Snow, Ned's boy?" Lord Arryn asked incredulously and Stannis nodded his head with a grim look on his face, "How? The boy is less than fifteen years old, how can he achieve something like that?"

"The boy is quite famous at the moment, Lord Hand," Varys suddenly entered the conversation with a small smile on his face, "From Braavos to Volantis, sailors in almost every port city in West Essos know his name now. His shipping company is even more famous amongst the wealthy nobles and merchants of the free cities. My little birds tell me that the space on his ships had been booked in advance for months," he then leaned forward and whispered as if telling them a big secret, "I have heard that they are even calling him the next Sea Snake,"

"Who are 'they'?" Petyr Baelish asked with a thin smile on his face.

"Merchants, Sailors, Captains and even Pirates," Varys replied without skipping a beat, "That reminds me, Lord Baelish, did you not comment that the boy is just a lucky bastard who was reaching for more than he could digest and that he will sink sooner or later," he asked with a very innocent look on his face, "It seems your prediction turned out to be wrong this time. Not only did the boy not sink, but he is thriving as if he were a fish in the sea,"

Petyr's lips twitched as he replied, "I do not recall saying that,"

"You don't? Ah, then I must have remembered incorrectly," Varys replied with a simpering laugh, that immediately made Stannis grit his teeth in annoyance and regret his decision of taking a seat beside the eunuch.

"Regardless," Lord Arryn cleared his throat and tried to bring the conversation back to the topic, "Lord Stannis, do you think this incident... would also affect the trade between Westeros and Essos?"

"Most probably, yes. But how much of an effect it would have is hard to say.," Stannis frowned before shaking his head, "The boy has been very open about his Westerosi roots, so it would be very easy for the Nobles and Keyholders of Essos to assume that we are backing all of his... adventures, and that could make them more wary of us,"

"Ah! This is a mess," The old Lord Hand groaned while massaging his forehead, "All this just because the boy killed some pirate whose name I have never even heard of,"

While Jon Arryn was quite knowledgeable about the affairs of the Seven Kingdoms, the same could not be said of the lands and seas outside of it, so it was hard for him to comprehend the intricate webs and the delicate balance that lay between the free cities.

"It is not the pirate who is important, My lord, but the route that the pirate controlled involved an important choke point through the Stepsotnes, the most valuable sea route in the Narrow Sea," Petyr Baelish explained with narrowed eyes, "If the boy has the ambition to follow the likes of Daemon Targyrean, then he could very well establish himself on that little island and call himself the King of Stepstones and Narrow Sea," he finished with a smirk that implied that what he was not saying that as a compliment.

"That would definitely not happen," Lord Arryn immediately denied with a shake of his head, "Ned would not allow it,"

"Ned?! Did you Ned?" The good King Robert who had been until now completely ignoring the discussion as useless gossiping, immediately latched on to the name of his best friend and leaned forward with a curious look on his face, "What would Ned not allow?"

Jon Arryn sighed in vexation, thinking that his former ward was only ever interested in state matters when it concerned the people he liked, but he turned back and slowly explained everything nonetheless, such was his job.

And the moment his Lord Hand finished explaining, the King burst out laughing, "Haha, I knew that the boy was going to big when you told me about him in that last meeting, but even I did not expect that he would make his name this soon... and to do it by hunting down a Pirate King and his crew of degenerates. Ha! This is the kind of thing they write songs about, the boy is living the life," he finished with a hint of envy in his voice.

The Kingsguard on guarding duty that day was the Kingslayer, and having heard more than enough praises from these small council members about that Northerner's bastard, he couldn't stop himself from commenting, "Surely Lord Varys was exaggerating the boy's tales, you grace. He is barely fourteen, isn't he, so how could he have the ability to fight and lead a battle against pirates? Or maybe, he just hid at the back and let his father's men do the job for him," he finished with a snort.

"He is a northerner, Lannister, and they don't order their men from the back like cowards," King Robert retorted before Varys could and while he did not say it, it was heavily implied that he wanted to add, 'Unlike your father,' at the end.

"You are right of course, your grace," Varys said with a small smile and a bow, "As far as my little birds tell me, Jon Snow did not in fact receive any help from his father, all the boy seems to have used in this endeavour of his were the sailors under him as well as a small sellswords company with faint Northern roots dating back to the time of Aegon Targaryen I,"

"Ha! I knew it!" he said while looking smugly at the kingslayer whose lips twitched in annoyance but he nodded nonetheless acknowledging his loss, "Ah! This won't do, we need to reward the boy," he said with a thoughtful frown on his face before he abruptly slapped his meaty palm on his thigh, "I know! we should knight the boy," he announced in excitement.

This startled the small council members who looked at each other with helpless looks on their faces, and once again it fell onto the bent shoulder of old Jon Arryn to dissuade his king from his stupidity, "I do not think that is appropriate, your grace. First of all, the boy is barely fourteen years old, and even the youngest knight in history—" his eyes flickered to Jamie Lannister who had stiff look on his face, "—was 15 years old before he was knighted,"

"That's even better, the title of youngest knight ever would be perfect for him," the more the king thought about the more excited he got, "We could make an event out of it, even organise a big tourney, haha,"

Thankfully the queen had already left, after getting irritated by the King's promiscuity, otherwise who knows how livid she would get if she knew that her Lord husband was planning a Tourney in the honour of some Northern bastard while completely ignoring the one that was happening on her son's name day.

"But your grace, you need to remember that the boy is from the North and he surely follows the Old Gods, so maybe he would not even agree to be knighted,"

"He will agree to it when he knows that it is the order of his king," Robert said stubbornly, "Besides he is a bastard, and like all bastards, he probably craves name and recognition more than anything, so you just need to send him a letter and he will come running,"

"And how you grace..." Petyr Baelish suddenly interjected with a raised eyebrow, "Do you want us to send this letter? Because, as far as I know, this Jon Snow, is a wanderer who spends more time at sea than on land. He could be in any of the free cities at any time, how can we even reach him,"

"I don't care about that," Robert huffed waving his hands impatiently, "Varys, it is your job to get the news to the boy and have him present in Kingslanding,"

"As you wish, your grace," Varys said simply with an unperturbed look on his face.

"Ah, maybe this would finally force that cold brute in the North to move from his seat and come visit me," The king murmured in a wistful tone before he once again got distracted with the maid standing behind him.

/