18 The Council of Winter

The North

Winterfell

303 AC

One year and a half. Bran, Aemon, and the Wolf Pack have been gone for one year and a half. Sansa thinks to herself as she looks at the pile of books and parchments on her father's desk; her desk now unfortunately.

Throughout that time, when she was not seeing to the North and Winterfell's affairs, or spending time with Arya and Rickon, she was in the godswood; praying for their safe return.

The thought of prayer brings her mother's unused sept to mind, the only tribute to the Faith of the Seven in the North outside of White Harbor.

As a young child she had prayed to the Seven in the hopes of emulating her mother and making her proud, but King's Landing had made her a non-believer and she had only gone to the wretched city's godswood for the privacy. Then Aemon had completed one magical ritual and since then she had believed in the Old Gods, for how could she not when she felt the power and changes the ritual brought. How could she not when she was witness to the specters of the previous Kings of Winter give their approval to the current generation of House Stark. How could she not when she and her siblings are living proof of their magic at the very least.

Sansa thinks that had King Torrhen not been the last Lord of Winterfell to practice the old rites then mayhaps House Stark would not have suffered so in two consecutive generations. Mayhaps father, mother, and Robb would still live and they would have been prepared for the treachery of the South.

It is a futile thought to entertain, "what if?". But it is a thought that crosses her mind nonetheless.

Looking down at the collection of books and parchments on her desk, as well as her extensive notes on the changes she feels the North and the Riverlands should address during Rickon's reign, Sansa decides to take a short break to the godswood.

Making her way through the halls of Winterfell, Sansa acts as though she does not notice the stares of awe and wonder the men and women give her.

Ever since the ritual she has been on the receiving end of such looks and her enhanced senses had made sure that nothing escapes her notice. Like the serving girl walking past her who has recently been coupling with a soldier or forge worker judging by the faint scent of steel that clings to her but does not belong to her. Or her companion who has recently eaten a dessert from the kitchen, apple cake judging by the smell.

At times Sansa wishes that she could turn her heightened senses off, at other times, most of the time, she is glad for them; like now.

As she rounds a corner, she makes sure to give the guard a reproachful glare while staring at his ruffled uniform. Judging by the folds and his eyes she can tell that he had been asleep on his feet. She would not have their enemies sneak spies, saboteurs, and assassins into Winterfell because of their guards' lack of attention. Not after the attempted assassination on Bran, certainly not after Aemon caught one of Littlefinger's spies living in Wintertown and frequenting Ros' new brothel, and especially since Winterfell will be at the center of Westeros' attention in the moons to come.

With Aemon having sent word back of their victory against the White Walkers all the lords who had sworn fealty to Robb will convene at Winterfell for a grand council to decide the future of the two kingdoms. "The Council of Winter" Arya has taken to calling.

Reaching the entrance of the godswood, Sansa nods to the saluting guards as she enters. These two seem to be quite vigilant during the night shift, and ever since their training with Aemon's men they hold themselves to better and more professional standards. She may have to substitute the sleeping guard with one of them, or subject him and the others to the same training Aemon had put those two through.

Perhaps Arya will want to do it. She has been growing restless recently and has been asking for ways to put her skills and training to use. A thought to entertain later, Sansa thinks to herself.

As she comes into view of the heart tree, Sansa briefly pauses when she senses another presence.

"Arya." Sansa calls out as she hears her sister through the branches before landing next to her.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Arya asks.

"No, just taking a break from the books and parchments." Sansa replies, causing Arya to wince before she replies.

"Aemon and Bran should be back soon." Arya says. "Jon will be with them." she adds excitedly, causing Sansa to raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"You know what I mean." Arya whines as she playfully slaps her on the arm. "He may be Jon, but it's not the same. Jon's quiet and observant and sometimes sullen, not…not…not—"

"Charming and roguish." Sansa supplies as she sees Arya struggle with the words.

"Yes." she agrees. "He doesn't know how to be in the spotlight or command men or politics." Arya says before sullenly adding, "He's not our Jon."

Sansa agrees, Aemon is not their Jon and he's made that clear from the beginning. They may have been both given the name Jon by their uncle, and raised as the man's bastard son but they are not the same.

"He doesn't smile like Jon either." Sansa absently comments.

"Jon doesn't smile." Arya retorts in jest, causing Sansa to smile.

He smiled more as a child, Sansa wants to say, but she fears Arya would not take it well. Arya has always been protective of her bond with Jon and Sansa fears that telling her that Jon smiled much more as a child, before they truly understood what being a bastard meant, and before Arya's birth, would upset her.

"He smiled for days when you were born." Sansa says instead, for it is true. Jon had smiled plenty with Arya's birth, no doubt her features making him feel more included in the family.

"Did he really?" asks Arya.

"He did, and when he was one of the first people you crawled to he laughed quite a lot." Sansa adds as she sits on one of the roots of the heart tree, her back to its carved face.

They sit in peaceful silence for a while, taking in the tranquil nature of the godswood, its beauty under the moonlight, and the crisp night air.

"What do you think of training the guards?" Sansa asks.

"Like Aemon trained his men?" asks Arya.

"Not quite. With the council coming soon and all the guests that will be in Winterfell they will need to be vigilant." Sansa replies.

"Are you still thinking about that spy?" asks Arya, causing Sansa to nervously bite her lip.

"I can't go back there, Arya." Sansa tells her after a brief moment of silence. "Littlefinger has a network of spies as extensive as the Spider and he's an opportunist. I wouldn't put it past him to abduct me for some nefarious plot to gain power." she says.

"We won't let him." Arya says fiercely, her fist tight enough to draw some blood. "If he comes anywhere near you I'll carve his face out with Needle, and Aemon will feed him to Caraxes, and Jon will have Ghost tear him apart, and Bran will warg into him to make him simple." Arya says, causing Sansa to laugh.

"That's a bit much don't you think?" Sansa asks between laughs.

"Never." says Arya as she stares unwaveringly into her eyes, making Sansa feel touched and warm inside. "It's never too much as long as long as it's to protect the pack."

"Besides, Aemon is going to have him abducted soon." Arya adds.

"He won't." Sansa says with a shake of her head. "Joffrey being assassinated by him, and Tywin going missing due to him are two things the other kingdoms can tolerate, but going after a seemingly innocent Lord Protector with no grievances against the North would have repercussions from the other kingdoms and our Lords."

"But he's not innocent." Arya argues.

"Yes, and what will we say to the Lords when they ask for proof, 'Bran saw him do it.'?" Sansa responds.

"They know that magic is real. They've seen Aemon perform feats of magic and have fought the White Walkers." Arya says.

"It would set a very dangerous precedent. Anyone could be found guilty if the accuser used magic as an excuse and the Lords wouldn't be happy with that." Sansa explains.

"Fine." Arya huffs before walking away.

For a brief moment Sansa feels guilty for her response before quickly burying the feeling. It's best that Arya understands that even if they possess magic their actions have consequences.

With her sister gone, Sansa spends her time enjoying the cold breeze in the godswood with her eyes. She stays there for gods know how long, enjoying the cold breeze and the peace of the godswood, her stress, troubles and worries far from her mind.

As she begins to doze off however a soft sound coming from deeper into the godswood brings her back to reality.

Eyes wide open and senses alert, Sansa stands and reaches down to the dagger sheathed on her thigh and under her dress. Before she can begin to panic, the soft sound she hears turns into a whimper of pain and difficult breathing.

Still alert, yet with a calmer mind, Sansa slowly approaches the sound, making full use of her enhanced senses.

As she reaches the sound, Sansa's breath catches in her throat as she looks upon what she's found. There, lying on the snow covered ground of the godswood is a heavily injured red wolf, its eyes snapping towards Sansa and its hackles raised when it hears her approach.

Making herself seem as non-threatening as possible, Sansa approaches the injured wolf, carefully keeping her hands away from it whenever it snaps at her. Eventually its injuries seem to catch up with it and it falls unconscious.

Gently cradling the injured wolf to her chest, Sansa cannot help the slight fondness she feels for it. In a way it reminds her of herself when she was in King's Landing. Injured, not trusting, and in need of rescuing.

With that thought Sansa decides to tend to the injured wolf, and if the gods are good mayhaps it will become her bonded animal.

It will never be Lady but it need not be.

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"The Council of Winter, the first Grand Council of its kind in the entire history of Westeros and Essos. A council attended by every Lord and Lady in the North and the Riverlands, held in session for half a year, and responsible for laying the foundation for The Winter Kingdoms, aptly named after its monarch, The King of Winter.

The council began in the middle of the third year of the third century after Aegon's Conquest and would not end until the very end of that year. Every ruling lord and lady, major or otherwise, within the borders of The Winter Kingdoms was required to attend by decree of the King's Regent. Many lords of the Riverlands questioned Lord Aemon's decision to gather every ruling lord and lady to Winterfell, leaving their lands to be ruled by a castellan and open to attack from the Lannisters. In response to their worries, Lord Aemon swore that their lands would be defended by his men personally in addition to the massive wolf pack that already defended the Riverlands. The lords could do nothing but begrudgingly accept.

As such, half a moon after their arrival in Winterfell, Commander Cregan and 15,000 soldiers of the Wolf Pack marched south of the Neck while the remaining soldiers stayed at Winterfell as a policing force.

The beginning of The Council of Winter was anything but peaceful as Aemon's true parentage, along with Jon Snow's, was revealed when Lord Ryswell questioned Lord Aemon on Caraxes' origins before the Lords. Many historians still wonder at Lord Ryswell's motivations, for when Aemon openly admitted to his parentage he did not seem pleased.

According to the journal of Last Hearth's heir, Lord "Smalljon" Umber, "I've never seen the smug smile leave a man's face as fast as it did that cunt Ryswell, and to this day I still think of it for a good laugh whenever I'm in a foul mood."

With Lord Aemon's confession, this Great Council of Lords deteriorated into a massive shouting match as detractors of House Targaryen shouted their grievances at having a Targaryen serve as Regent to The Winter Crown, and longtime supporters of House Targaryen shouted their support of Lord Aemon. The meeting of that day, the very first day of The Council of Winter, was not even carried out to term.

The rest of the moon turn was spent alleviating the concerns of the lords who wanted nothing to do with a member of House Targaryen, bastard or otherwise. Lord Aemon's first concession was stepping down as King Regent; which, according to the accounts of many attending lords and ladies, did not seem to bother him or the other members of House Stark at all. In fact the members of House Stark seemed to have anticipated this for no sooner did he resign Sansa Stark named herself King Regent with the full support of House Stark in its entirety along with House Tully, and with them came the majority of the Lords.

Lord Aemon's detractors would not realize their folly until later, for Lady Sansa did not take their treatment of him kindly and would look to make them all know it.

After the uproar of Lord Aemon's parentage, the following meetings would take place in a more orderly manner as foundations upon foundations were laid for The Kingdoms of Winter, beginning with The Rights, a codified document listing the rights of every citizen in The Kingdom.

At the time of its inception The Rights was a highly controversial document for it protected the smallfolk from the nobility. With it Lord or Lady could no longer do as they wished to the detriment of the smallfolk, for any Lord or Lady found guilty of violating the rights of the smallfolk could be subject to fines, sanctions, loss of land, imprisonment, and even death if the offense was severe enough.

Many a lord loudly protested this and many more threatened violence. Lady Sansa, unphased by such threats, refused to compromise on the creation of such a document and would only compromise on some of its content. As such the following moons were spent pouring over its contents, adjusting it until Lords deemed it acceptable. The end result is a document that still protects the smallfolk 8000 years later. Some historians partially credit the document for House Stark's neverending position as the most powerful House in Westeros despite no longer being The Kingdom of Winter's absolute rulers.

Despite The Rights being the most controversial topic of the Great Council, the following topics were no less divisive as a map of The Kingdom was brought forward and official borders were drawn to properly cite which lord or lady owned which land. Some lords had their territories increased on account of their loyalty and contributions, while others lost land on account of their questionable loyalties. Other lords willingly reduced the size of their territories in exchange for one favor from The Crown.

In the end the official map was copied and handed to the lords while the original was kept in House Stark's hands, and is still there 8000 years later. Modification of those maps without The Crown's approval under any circumstances would result in severe punishment.

The last few moons of the council did not see any more radical changes being made to the governance of The Kingdoms, but rather developing the identity of The Kingdoms in an effort to completely separate them from the Iron Throne. This resulted in the creation of the very first iteration the national flag of The Kingdoms of Winter along with its name.

As the last moon of the council, and the year, began, The Council of Winter was put to a close with a massive feast and ball. The feast was aptly named The Founding Feast and would eventually become an integral part of The Kingdoms' culture, celebrated by nobility and smallfolk alike on the same date every year."

~ An excerpt from 8000 Years Later by Aemon Tully, Lord of Riverrun

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Author's Note: Here it is, the last chapter before Daenerys lands on Dragonstone. I originally planned on writing The Council of Winter from several character povs but that would take too many chapters, so you got an excerpt from a published book by a lord 8000 years in the future. The next chapter will have a one year timeskip to Aemon's arrival to Dragonstone as an ambassador. Tell me what you guys think.