Hello !

Here comes the seventh chaoter of the story!

Sakra95: No, Eragon won't be a meek sheep here. He has to be respectful (after all, he's a stranger invading people's lands with a dragon) but he knows he has the power. Sansa obviously stills has some rests from her spoiled childhood and wants to be in control and in charge. I hope you will appreciate the chapter, the meeting with Dany will come soon

Obviously, I own a computer, some books and even a cat. However, I own nothing in the Inheritance Cycle and Game of Thrones franchise. They do belong to Christopher Paolini and G.R.R Martin.

Without further ado, here comes the chapter !

Finally, Jon made it back to his horse. He started to make it back to the castle with the four newcomers following him. The soldiers came behind, effectively surrounding them. Within fifteen minutes, they had made it back to the castle, through the gates which had remained opened.

Eragon and his friends were sitting on a high table in the great hall of Winterfell. They had been brought there by Jon, Davos and Tormund. An enormous white wolf stood close to them. His red eyes, full of intelligence, were locked on him and Saphira, probing them. He was ready to attack them at the first sign of danger. It looked like a Shrrg but the face was slightly different. Moreover, a tame Shrrg was impossible. While he would probably be able to defeat it, it would pain him and require some effort. He'd have to learn more about it.

They had arrived here minutes ago after crossing the town and were waiting for the last people to get in the hall.

They had met many suspicious and fearful faces on their way in. He didn't blame them, barging in with a dragon, unannounced. Hopefully, they would be more acceptant after hearing their story. But he knew words meant little for these people. He saw a lot of Carvahal in them. These people had faced multiple wars, had faced harsh winters and lived with only a few goods. Being a dragon rider and having magic tricks wouldn't matter to them unless he was able to create cereal fields out of nowhere, which he couldn't. If what Pyke had said was true, he was now being perceived as a new source of trouble, which greatly amused Saphira for some reason.

Actions would probably earn him their trust, more so than any words, Elan's birth had proven that before.

But for now, they had to convince the lords present at Winterfell that he wasn't there to cause harm. About forty of them were now assembled in the great hall. A battle had recently been fought and they were still dealing with the aftermath.

The snow had covered and erased most of the marks left by the battle but Saphira had been able to smell the blood. Many had died here it seemed.

They were seated as guests of honour, next to Jon and his sister Sansa and they were now facing an assembly of about a hundred people, mostly composed of seasoned men. All eyes were on him and his friends, until their attention shifted to Jon who had risen from his chair.

"We gathered here today after the appearance of a dragon. These people came with the dragon and claim to have quite a story to tell. They also came with a letter from Commander Pyke, from Eastwatch by the Sea. He claims that we should listen to them. We will listen to their story and from there, take our decision." and with that, he sat back.

Once again, all the eyes turned on him

"Talk Eragon, they won't wait forever" admonished Saphira

"Give me a moment. I'm always the one doing the talking after all" Eragon answered, grumbling

"Go on little one, you'll be fine" came her answer, with some reassurance but also some teasing

"Hello and thank you for having us in this castle and in your hall. As you may have gathered, my name is Eragon" said the young Rider "and these are my friends. "and with every name he spoke, an elf rose, gracefully.

"We've come from a far country called Alagaësia …"

People started to mutter and talk, rising voice, talking about this imaginary country and more nonsense. "Liars" could be hear above the noise.

Suddenly, Jon rose and silence met him. With a cold glare, he looked at the lords

"These people have been offered sanctuary and you call them liars. They came from the Wall. They've been touched by the Wall. Now my lords, remember that people have called me a liar when I talked about the Night King." His gaze seemed turned towards lord Glover who started to shift uncomfortably "But the Long Night is here, as you know my lords"

Facing the whole assembly with his severe gaze, he concluded

"For now, let's hear their story. I won't treat guests as liars without solid proof" and with that, he sat back

A long silence followed, only broken by Saphira's amused voice

"I like this one, he reminds me of Orik. Straight to the point"

Eragon turned towards Jon and after receiving a small nod, returned to his story

"Thank you. I know this sounds unbelievable but I urge you to listen. Our story only gets stranger, and with what I've seen at the Wall, you'll probably want to interrupt me, scream, laugh at me or call me a liar. I can only ask you to wait until the end of our story which will take a few hours. We will answer after all your questions to the best of our capacities"

Eragon was met by many calculating, curious or even surprised looks but he decided to carry on. During their travel to Winterfell, he had had time to improve his speech, find flaws and made their story easier to understand. And he could see them now, hanging on every word and every gesture, their eyes going wider and wider. Some had started to open their mouth to protest or interrupt him at one point of another but a look form Jon stopped them every time.

"And this is how, after two months of sailing, we reached Westeros, at Eastwatch by the Sea."

Finally, after two long hours, Eragon stopped his story. A long silence met him and the seconds tickled one by one. Time seemed to stop until everyone started talking at once: people raising their voice, wide gestures, questions being screamed… Madness, all of it.

Saphira was openly laughing this time and was sharing her thoughts with the elves and Eragon.

"It seems you won't get any rest soon little one"

Eragon only groaned and turned to face Jon. The King met his stare and only raised an eyebrow with a smirk. He too was enjoying this and expected Eragon to clean this mess! No doubt he also had some questions.

After a few more seconds, Eragon decided he had enough. The screams were bothering him and he wanted to sleep, meet Saphira or simply meditate in peace. The Eldunaris remained silent, observing him and their surroundings.

"Brisingr" whispered Eragon

At once, all the fires from the great hall surged to life. The noises dimmed down and the people looked at him with fear in their eyes. Jon's sister, Sansa, let some surprise broke her cold appearance.

"Show-off" muttered Saphira

"I take after you" answered Eragon through their bond before turning to the room "I'm sorry for this little display of power but my friends and I are tired. We promised to answer your questions and we will honour our promise. Please, one by one"

"How did you do that! Are you a red priest too?" whispered Davos

Eragon turned to face him and noticed his worried face. Ser Davos, which had maintained a neutral face during his story was now looking at him with some fear in the eyes.

"I don't know about these priests. I will admit that I'm not the most faithful person but I believe in something above us. What are these red priests?" asked the young Rider.

"The Red Priest believe in what they call the Lord of Light or R'hllor. They are most zealous and believe in the power of fire and blood. Some of us have had … difficult encounters with such people, be it good or bad. I've lost someone dear with them, sacrificed. But someone was also brought back to life"

Eragon was flabbergasted. Human sacrifices were not unheard of in Alagaësia, he had witnessed some of them first-hand in Helgrind. He was disgusted by these methods and didn't believe these sacrifices held any value. However, resurrections were unheard of! Each and every trial had resulted in the death of the caster, without any exception. And yet, it seems that such events were common.

For the first time since they arrived in Westeros, Eragon felt some anxiety. However, he felt the gaze and saw that he had been lost in his thoughts. The others hadn't warned him as they were in the same state. Quickly, Eragon gathered his spirits and answered them

"I'm truly sorry for this clumsy demonstration of magic, which scared some of you. We weren't aware of this religion and its practise. I'm strongly opposed to human sacrifice which I find barbaric. Regarding resurrection, I'm at a loss. This is one of the few rules of our magic. We can't bring back the dead. The energy required for this is simply too important." finished Eragon.

Ser Davos and a few others relaxed and the sailor gave him a short nod and a quick thanks.

"Could you describe this magic of yours" asked one of the only men in the room without a sword with a sulky voice.

Eragon felt the atmosphere of the room shift. He noticed Sansa straightening in her chair and Jon frowning. Somehow, that man was different, Eragon could sense it. His eyes were calculating and his appearance more kept than most women Eragon had met. He was thankful he hadn't spilled everything about his powers. So far, they believed only a dragon could use mental communication and they intended to keep it that way. He would have to learn about that man, quickly.

Carefully, he explained the concept of magic and many questions followed suit. Eragon ended up repeating much which had been said at the wall. One of his friends would sometimes answer. The question kept going and the day was slowly coming to an end.

But one of the lords grew bored of Eragon's polite and well-thought answers. Lord Glover wasn't known for being the cleverest man but he wanted a reaction from these strangers. After Eragon finished answering lord Cerwin's question, he rose up and directly asked

"And what about that dragon of yours? Will that beast start to eat our men and cows? Do we need to keep it with a leash?"

Eragon knew he had to quickly intervene before things get messy. Unfortunately, Saphira beat him on this one. Swiftly, she englobed the people in the room with her mind

"I hope you're not talking about me small two legged. A dragon is not a pet and will certainly not accept a leash!"

Her voice was a mere whisper in their mind but contained all of her anger and indignation.

Eragon decided to speak before the situation got out of control. People were already pale and looking for their swords, at Jon or at the elves with mistrust in their eyes.

"Dragons are proud and intelligent creatures. They don't take well to insults and Saphira perhaps more than the others. She won't be a threat if treated with respect." he said with calm and reassurance before addressing his partner "you should have been calmer. I know he insulted you but they didn't know. This situation won't be the last, you need to control yourself. Please Saphira, help us to ease the tension" implored Eragon

After a moment of silence, Saphira once again spoke to the assembly through their mind

"I am sorry for my previous outburst" the worlds were spoken slowly. Saphira hated it but she knew that Eragon counted of her and for this one time, she would apologise. "But as Eragon mentioned, I'm not a mere pet. I would like to thank you for the warm welcome you've provided Eragon and his friends. Dragons don't interfere with humans and I can take care of myself without troubling you. But any harm inflicted on Eragon will be met by fire and blood"

Saphira stopped talking and retreated from their minds. Everyone had blanched at her last words. It seemed that most had forgotten about the dangerous dragon laying a hundred feet from them.

"I don't know if I should thank you or not. They're completely afraid now" chuckled Eragon

"I know, that was the purpose. And don't worry, I won't eat them, the majority are skin and bones and they wear too much furs, that's bad for my digestion. Let them fear dragons." added Saphira

Lord Glower was currently hiding on his bench. Clearly, he hadn't expected Saphira to hear him and while she had apologised, he knew his words had started this.

This outburst seemed to dampen the mood and the meeting quickly finished. A few more questions had been asked, but Eragon had felt the people were more cautions with their words and would need time to judge him. For now, he would try to remain discrete and learn more about the Night King. Learning about the Targaryens would be quite helpful too,

A servant had shown them their rooms and they had been quick to bring their belongings. Eragon was amazed by the walls of his room. They were hot, almost burning.

"How are you Saphira" asked the young Rider

"Well, the snow is cold and there's no way to hide from it. But I will survive Eragon don't worry, rest now, you have a long day awaiting tomorrow' answered

"Thank you Saphira, you're amazing. Sleep well and don't eat too much of Lord Glover's men, will you" teased Eragon.

Saphira grumbled but he was already asleep, lost in a word of colours and ghostly sensations.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast in the great hall with his friends, Eragon met with Jon, Sansa, Ser Davos and a few other lords in a rich solar. His friends had decided to wander around the castle and discover the nature of the region while Saphira had decided to hunt.

As a result, only Eragon and the Eldunaris, who were still in their dimensional pocket, were listening to their report. The recent battle had taken its toll and unfortunately, many more would die from their wounds in the coming days. Eragon knew he couldn't simply heal everyone, but he would try to save some.

The castle had been taken back a few days ago but they were in a rush to prepare against the coming threats. Two major problems had been identified. The war against the Night King and the stocks of food for the coming months. According to Jon, who had been crowned in the wake of the battle and only a few weeks before their arrival, the fight against the dead would happen rather sooner than later. They probably had a year, if not two, to prepare against this foe. The enemy had won the battle at Hardhome but had to bypass the water and seas. Jon had faced them and lived to tell it. Eragon knew he would have to talk to him, preferably alone, to learn more about it, but he didn't want to expose his abilities. News tend to travel very fast in castles and some secrets had to remain well, secrets.

The latter problem was the result of a complicated past and an uncertain future. And the situation was dire. The stocks of grain were low and Eragon understood that the people here had suffered a lot in the past few years. He was still not completely sure what to make of winters during several years. He had lived his first fifteen years as a farmer and he remembered how important the weather was and how difficult winters could be if the summer before had been complicated.

"How long would it take to bring food from other regions? Is that even possible?"

"Of course, we sent ravens to the rest of the Kingdom. As soon as we were done with the Bolton. But it will take time and the snow doesn't make it easier" snapped Sansa, clearly not happy with his presence.

"I didn't mean to disrespect. We've just arrived and we're still discovering and learning about the region. If the snow is an issue, Saphira may be able to melt some with her fire. It's not optimal but it can be useful"

"Thank you for your offer, we will certainly think of it" answered Jon.

They quickly switched to another topic and by noon, they were mostly done. News were expected to arrive in the coming days and they would probably adapt their plans based on their content.

This is the end of the chapter! I hope you've enjoyed it!

As always, reviews and critics are appreciated! A good incentive to publish faster! Critics help me a lot to improve and adapt!

Thank you all and stay safe!