6 Crystal clear

Ned

"I can see them!" Bran shouted from the top of the battlement walls.

"Get down from there Bran before you fall." Catelyn chastised.

Bran scurried down the wall and ran off to stand with the rest of the household. As much as Ned worried, he was still impressed with his son's climbing ability.

"I worry about him sometimes, I worry I'm gonna find him flat on his back, unmoving one day." Catelyn said to him.

"He's just excited to see all the knights, he'll grow out of it Cat." Ned explained as they both made their way to the courtyard to await their guests.

Ned was dreading this day ever since he read the letter a month ago, a couple of sleepless nights here and there. All the while worrying if the King knew what he'd done and was here to personally deal with him.

Cat was adamant the King was travelling here for different reasons however and the fact that the King was bringing his unwed daughter and sister with him fuelled her speculation.

All the children had new clothes and fresh haircuts but Cat had spent the most time making sure Robb was perfect for the arrival of the Royal procession. She was convinced a betrothal was imminent between Robb and one of the Princesses and the journey all the way up to Winterfell was the sole reason for their visit.

Ned wasn't convinced.

He was also quite confident Robb wouldn't be that interested anyway if the ravens he and Lady Alys had been sending to each other were anything to go by. The pair of them were smitten with each other when Lord Karstark visited three weeks ago. Him and Lord Karstark have kept in touch about a possible betrothal between the two love birds.

That was something Cat wasn't interested in now that there was a bigger fish to catch and she was confident her son would get his princess.

Him and Cat reached the group lined up to greet the Royals, everybody was there in their best clothes and freshly bathed and groomed, even Arya. The promise of sparring sessions with Jory a great motivator, though by the looks on her face, she was hating every second of it.

The guards raised the main gate and allowed the group in, three mounted knights in Kingsguard armour galloped in first, followed by the King himself on his black stallion, decked out in his black plate, the same armour he'd worn at the trident.

Following the four men was a carriage flanked by Targaryen guards and a Kingsguard on either side. Following up the rear was the rest of the guard.

His family and household kneeled as the King dismounted his horse.

"Rise." The King proclaimed.

Ned and the rest of the group rose to their feet as he noticed Queen Elia and two younger women exit the carriage along with her, most probably the two Princesses.

"Lord Stark, it's been too long." The King said as he shook his hand.

"That it has, Winterfell is yours your grace" Ned replied as he nodded his head.

The King looked to Ned's right and took in his family "And this must be the family" He looked at Cat, "Lady Stark I presume?"

Catelyn bowed her head "It's an honour your grace."

He moved on to his children as Queen Elia approached him with the two young ladies in tow. They were both beautiful and Ned could already see Catelyn in the corner of his eye eyeing them up.

Ned placed a kiss on the back of the Queen's hand as she presented it to him and spoke "It's good to see you again Lord Stark."

"The honour is all mine your grace." Ned replied.

"Allow me to introduce my daughter, Princess Rhaenys." She said as the young Princess handed him her hand to kiss. "And this is my sister in law, Princess Daenerys." The Queen finished as the young lady also handed him her hand to kiss.

As the women made their way down the line, he took note of some of the Kingsguard who'd made the journey along with the Royal family. He recognised the Lord Commander, Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Oswell Whent, Ser Jonothor Darry, Ser Jaime Lannister and last but not least, Ser Arthur Dayne, who, at the moment was looking at him like he wanted to run Ned through with Dawn. 'He must know, which means Rhaegar knows, I'm a dead man walking.'

Ned collected himself as the King returned to him "Lord Stark, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, Elia and I would like to visit the crypts to pay our respects."

He knew that would be one of the first things he'd ask "Of course, your grace, if you would follow me." He turned to Catelyn "Could you show the Princesses to their rooms."

"It would be my pleasure" She turned to Robb "Robb, could you help me escort their graces to their rooms."

"Of course, mother." As he led the way into the keep.

Ned made his way to the crypts with the King and Queen, Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell standing guard at the door as the three entered in.

The three of them were quiet as they made their way to the one tomb he knew they were there for.

They finally reached her statue and all three stood in silence as they looked at the visage of her likeness.

After a minute, Queen Elia broke that silence.

"It doesn't look like her."

"The sculptor had never met Lyanna, this was the best he could come up with from our descriptions of her." Ned replied. It truly looked nothing like her.

"She'd probably tell us to stop brooding over a lump of rock." Rhaegar said as Elia chuckled.

"She was truly a breath of fresh air to this dull world." Elia finished.

"I miss her every day." Ned said as he looked down in sadness...and shame.

"Like us all Lord Stark, like us all." Rhaegar replied.

Another silence took over the group as they paid respect to the dead that laid there. The fresh winter rose Ned cut from the glass gardens earlier this morning lay resting in the outstretched hand of Lyanna's statue that he'd placed there earlier that day.

After a couple of minutes of silence, the King spoke.

"I'm sorry about your son Lord Stark, it's one of the most difficult things losing a child."

'Oh god, why did he have to bring that up at this very moment.' He thought.

"I appreciate your condolences your grace but he's not been found yet so there's still a chance he's still alive. He a strong and smart lad, I'm confident he's out there." Ned replied, the entire situation feeling surreal right now.

"Hope. It must be a wonderful thing to have that option Lord Stark. We lost most of that the day Lyanna and Lyarra left this world." Elia replied.

' Lyarra ? '

"Lyarra, your grace?" Ned questioned.

Elia looked at him and smiled "Lyanna's daughter. She was unnamed so we gave her the name Lyarra, named after her grandmother." She blinked at him "That is if, of course, you don't mind? We've been calling her that for the past 16 years."

'I'm an awful person' Ned thought.

"Of course, your grace, a beautiful name." He replied, chest compressing as he felt the deceit burn his throat on the way out.

After a few more minutes of silence, the three of them made their way back out of the crypts. On the way out, he passed Ser Arthur as the man once again shot him a look of disgust.

'What have I done to deserve that?' He wondered as the Kingsguard followed the three of them back up to the keep.

The King turned to his wife "Elia my dear, would you check up on the girls to see if they are getting settled in well. I would like a quiet word with Lord Stark in his solar."

"Of course, my love." The Queen replied as she bid him a farewell and walked towards the guest wing, Ser Oswell in tow.

He, the King and Ser Arthur made their way to his solar in comfortable silence, well as comfortable as a man could be whilst having a hole burnt into the back of his head by one of the greatest fighters to ever live.

Him and the King entered the solar as Ser Arthur took his post outside of the door, Ned was actually relieved when he closed the door behind him, he would have to have a word with the man to find out the reason behind the looks. Ser Arthur was giving Arya a run for her money to see who could turn him into dust with just their eyes.

Ned took off his cloak and draped it across the back of his chair, he offered the King some dornish wine from his personal stash and poured them both a goblet each. 'He would probably need it for what was about to transpire.'

This was it, he knew it, this was the quiet talk with the King he was dreading. He was about to be accused of treason and Ned for the life of him couldn't challenge the accusation, he was guilty.

Guilty of tearing a child away from his father's family so he could grow up with his mother's family, all without the father knowing he existed.

Guilty of neglecting his own household and allowing the resentment to build up so much that said child grew up and left home prematurely...all because Ned didn't have the balls to tell him about his mother. Because he was scared he would not only lose his son but also lose his family from the fallout.

He was a coward.

He'd have to make sure the King knew that nobody else in the family was aware of the treason he'd been committing for 16 years and that only he should be the one punished.

He placed the goblet of wine in front of the King as he sipped on his on the way to his seat. He took a deep breath as he placed his goblet on the desk and looked at his King. As he was about to talk, the King spoke up before him.

"So, Lord Stark, what has been happening up here in the wild North?"

Ned just let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Daenerys

"Thank you, Lady Stark." Dany said as Lord Starks wife bowed and left the room.

The room in question she'd be staying in already had a roaring fire when they entered and her belongings had been delivered shortly after they'd arrived at the room.

She sat down on the bed and ran her fingers through the soft fur blankets that laid on top and got lost in her thoughts as she looked into the hearth.

Winterfell seemed nice, in a warm and safe kind of sense. The Starks were nice people although she hadn't missed the look Lady Stark had given her and Rhae, like she was deciding something important.

Dany and Rhae weren't stupid, this had happened countless times. Unwed Royals paying a visit to their vassals, said vassals assuming a betrothal is in the works and ending up poorly disguising their disappointment when nothing transpired.

Lord Robb seemed like a charming boy, thick auburn curls and pretty blue eyes, something any lady would be interested in, especially if those things were attached to the heir to the North.

Unfortunately for him however, her and Rhae had talked numerous times on their perfect kind of man and none of their descriptions matched the heir to Winterfell.

They both had very similar tastes, tastes they seem to share with Rhae's cousin Arianne, unfortunately for her brother, Viserys. Dark and dangerous were the main two attributes but they also wanted someone with a soft heart and a kindness when it mattered. Somebody they could joke and laugh with and not sit in awkward silence for the rest of their lives.

They also wanted somebody adventurous and not boring, nothing like Rhae's dullard cousin, Quentyn. They were both Princesses of the realm and they knew what they wanted to Rhaegar's annoyance.

She was snapped out of her thought process as Rhae knocked and walked into her room.

"So, what do you think of them?" Rhae asked her as she joined Dany on the bed and folded her legs underneath herself.

She got up to start unfolding her clothes out of her trunk "They seem nice, though I did sense a little coldness from the younger girl, Arya I think her name was. She didn't look at all comfortable with the whole situation."

"I noticed that as well. I asked Lord Robb if she was okay and he said she'd been like that ever since her older brother disappeared." Rhae replied as she stretched on the bed like a cat.

"Understandable I suppose, must be really missing him." She said as unfolded the dress she'd thought about wearing for the feast tonight. "What did you think of Lord Robb by the way?"

Rhae shrugged her shoulders "He's handsome enough, very courteous but I couldn't really get a good idea of the boy with his mother starring at us like she was waiting for something to happen."

"I think she might be looking for a bride for her son, with the assumption that the one of the two of us are to be sold off since we travelled all the way here." She said as she took her boots off and sunk her toes into the warm fur in front of the hearth. "It couldn't possibly be because we wanted to travel and see more of the world, that would be preposterous."

Rhae snorted "Your sarcasm is truly inspiring Dany." She said as she cracked her knuckles, something that went through her something rotten. "Speaking of travel, has father said anything more about that trip to Essos you were planning? I wouldn't mind coming along with you, and Ari, Obara, Nym and Tyene have expressed an interest as well."

Dany shook her head "I Don't think it's going to happen anytime soon I'm afraid. Rhaegar said Essos is very dangerous place right now, the Golden Company seem to be on a tear at the moment, ripping towns and villages apart, sieging cities. The Dothraki have apparently took offence to some of their actions and have been attacking them, to put it simply Rhae, it's a warzone at the moment and Rhaegar wants me nowhere near it." Which was a huge disappointment, Dany had really set her heart on visiting soon.

"I wonder what's got the Golden Company so worked up about. They're normally quiet unless money is involved. Does father know if they're funded by anyone?" Rhae asked as she twirled the ends of her hair.

"According to Rhaegar, reports suggest a great insult occurred and they are now trying to remedy it, whatever that means." She said as Elia walked in.

"What are you two gossiping about?" She said as she joined Rhae and sat on the bed.

"We were talking about Dany's cancelled trip to Essos, apparently it's chaos over there at the moment." Rhae explained.

"Well enough of that, I want to know what you think of our hosts." Elia replied.

Rhae huffed at her mother's change of subject "They seem nice enough, the younger daughter seems a little cold but Lord Robb believes she's missing her older brother who disappeared not long ago." Rhae answered.

"We talked about that in the crypts with Lord Stark, he believes the boy is still alive wherever he is. You have to admire the hope I suppose." Elia responded

Dany could see the melancholy from Elia a mile away, Lyarra being the cause most probably. She tried cheering Elia up and also Rhae who had joined her mother in feeling down.

"Right, who wants to help me pick out a dress for tonight's feast?" She asked.

"Sorry Dany, I've not even picked out one for myself yet, but if you want my advice, I'd pick that light blue one you were unfolding just a minute ago." Rhae suggested.

"I'll help you pick out something nice Rhae, we wouldn't want you looking anything less than stunning when you enter the feast." Elia told her daughter.

Rhaenys looked at her mother in suspicion "Why is it so important that I don't look anything less than stunning? Are you plotting something mother? Because if this has something to do with Robb Stark, I won't be part of your game." Rhae huffed.

Elia sighed "Rhaenys listen to me, I want you to be happy, okay, smite a mother down for helping her daughter find that happiness." Elia shook her head, "You're getting of an age now where you should be looking for a husband, I'm just trying to help you find him, no pressure. I want what's best for you...for the both of you." Elia finished as she looked at her.

Rhaenys hugged Elia and apologized for her outburst, she let go after a time and got up to leave along with her mother.

When Elia reached the door, she turned and looked towards Dany "I'll send some handmaidens up to help you get ready Dany." She said as she smiled at her "Rhaenys was right by the way, the light blue dress will be perfect for the feast." She finished as her and Rhae left the room.

Her dress was picked and the handmaidens had bathed her and groomed her hair ready for the evening feast, two simple braids that met in the middle was sufficient.

As the last of the laces to her dress were tied by her handmaidens, a knock on the door was heard, she asked whoever it was to come in and in stepped a young man.

The man bowed and looked at her, oozing confidence "Your grace, Lady Catelyn has asked me to escort you to the great hall for the feast."

She wasn't sure who the man was "My apologies my Lord, I didn't quite catch your name." Behind the man, in the hallway, she caught Ser Jaime's trademark grin.

The man didn't seem pleased with her not knowing who he was and was hiding his annoyance very poorly but answered her nevertheless "Lord Theon Greyjoy your grace, Heir to the Iron Islands." He finished with a grin.

'Ah, the hostage'

She smoothed down her dress and slapped on a fake face of curtesy, one that she'd mastered in King's Landing, and looped her arm through his.

"Lead the way Lord Greyjoy." She said as the pair of them made their way down the corridor towards the courtyard, Ser Jaime closely following them.

She attempted to make idle chit chat with the Greyjoy boy but in the end, he just tried to charm her with cocky words and false confidence. The journey to the great hall not being quick enough for her liking.

She turned to him as he finished his story about defeating a grizzly bear single-handedly "Wow my Lord, you seem like a very accomplished fighter." She fluttered her eyelashes for effect, Ser Jaime coughed to hide his laugh "There must be somebody better than you though, otherwise you would have blocked it."

He looked at her in confusion. 'Too easy'

"Blocked it? What's that supposed to mean?...your Grace." The boy replied with annoyance, remembering who he was talking to at the last second.

"Somebody made a real mess of your nose my Lord, I'm surprised a man, who single-handedly defeated a grizzly bear, couldn't block a hit to his face. Of course, it would make total sense if the creature that made this mess was bigger and more ferocious than a bear, then I would totally understand. Was it a dragon perhaps?"

At that Ser Jaime didn't even try to hide his snicker as the boy fumed "No, it was a bastard, caught me off guard while I wasn't even looking at him. You could go ask him about it but I'm pretty sure he's rotting in a hole somewhere now." he finished as he dropped her arm and stormed off towards the feast, leaving her and Ser Jaime chuckling at his retreating back.

"Bit bitter isn't he." Ser Jaime commented as he offered his arm to her which she took.

"I was getting bored of his lies the little braggart. The bit about the bear was my breaking point." She explained as they crossed the courtyard.

"Well, I imagine somebody in there must know if he's lying. You could end up really embarrassing the lad if you really wanted to." Ser Jaime suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

She pondered the idea "Well, if he acts like an idiot in there, I'll have to find out won't I, Lord Robb will probably know if I ask him." She finished as they entered the hall, warmth and the smell of cooked meats hitting her nose.

Ser Jaime escorted her past the tables, one of them Theon was sitting who was avoiding eye contact with her, and led her to the high table that hers and Lord Starks family were sitting at, she bowed before her brother and said her greetings to the Lord and Lady of Winterfell. A place in-between Lady Sansa and Lady Arya was reserved for her, the latter looking like she'd rather be anywhere else right now.

She greeted them both as she sat down and placed a napkin across her lap. The food was warm and delicious and went down well with her dornish wine. Her favourite was the beef-and-bacon pie with onion gravy, she embarrassed herself when she moaned at the first bite, Lady Sansa looked to her lap grinning and Arya, who she found out detested being called a lady, laughed out loud.

A loud boisterous laugh was heard across the room as she caught site of Theon roaring at something, clearly drunk, whilst Robb was trying to shush him. The men around the table with him were also laughing.

She turned to Lady Sansa "Has he always been like that?" She said as she nodded her head in Theon's direction.

"Who? Theon? Yeah." She nodded, "Our brother, Jon put him in his place not long ago but ever since he left, he's returned back to being the same bragging Theon."

Arya interrupted "He's stupid. He's one of the reasons our brother left home, always reminded him on a daily basis that he was a bastard. Now Theon has a daily reminder of Jon whenever he sees the mess he did to his nose." She smirked as she flicked a pea at Theon.

The food hit its mark and Theon glared at Arya and then glared at her for a second before turning back to his group, she heard the word "idiot" muttered under his breath and she smirked. Time to have some fun.

She spoke up so Theon's table could hear her "I'm surprised you didn't block that pea Lord Greyjoy, if you can vanquish colossal beasts then a tiny vegetable must be child's play to you."

The table that Theon was sat at grew quiet, so did Theon and Robb with the latter looking confused.

It was Arya who spoke next "Colossal beasts? What are you talking about?" She asked bluntly, not one for pleasantries. The girl was growing on her.

She snuck a look at Theon, whose eyes went wide when he realised what was about to happen. She replied to Arya in a louder voice so that Theon's table could hear.

"Why, Lord Greyjoy here was regaling me on the way to the feast on how he'd taken down a grizzly bear all on his own. I wasn't convinced in the slightest but I assumed the Heir to the Iron Islands wouldn't lie to a princess of the realm so I took his word for it." She finished with a sip of her wine.

Arya started full belly laughing and even the reserved Lady Sansa started to giggle. She saw Robb looking down with a grin and Theon glaring at her, fully red in the face with embarrassment or anger, she wasn't quite sure.

Arya spoke up after finishing her laughing fit "The only colossal beast he's fought is that green-eyed monster." She carried on chuckling as Theon stood up and stormed out of the hall as the table he was sat at, including Robb, laughed at his retreating figure "He's stolen that story off my brother."

She looked at Arya with intrigue "So it was your brother who fought the bear?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow and looked back at Robb who was still laughing with the men at the table.

"Not Robb, Jon. And he did kill the bear himself, he showed me the pelt he skinned, it was huge." She smiled, a sad smile in Dany's opinion. "He told us about the fight and how he survived, it was the last story he ever told any of us." She finished as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. The poor girl looked away to wipe her eyes but Dany had seen it. She really missed her brother a lot.

Her side of the table went quiet after that, both Arya and Sansa looking down after everything that was said. It gave her chance to think about this mysterious boy, no...man. A man who'd survived a bear attack and gained not scars but furs for his troubles. He sounded dangerous this man, this Jon.

She had her material for tonight's bedtime thoughts.

Rhaegar

Rhaegar sipped on his wine as Lady Stark finished talking about her son, the woman was obviously a very proud mother and he had to agree that her son did sound like the perfect successor for warden in the north after his father.

She spoke about her other children as well but not as much as her eldest who by the sounds of it, was her favourite.

"Well, Lady Catelyn, it sounds like the North will be in good hands for the foreseeable future. The crown had neglected your land for too long due to the distance and I feared the worst but it seems my fears were misguided and I hope the Crown and the North can be close allies once again." He finished with a raise of his glass to the matriarch of the family who returned the gesture, a gleam in her eyes as she looked on at her son.

Whilst this was happening, another conversation was taking place between his sister and the two young Stark girls, the youngest of which being hard to look at for him and Elia. Dark brown hair, grey eyes, although Lya's were lighter, more of a silver than a grey, and an attitude to match made it hard not to envision a young Lyanna when looking at the Stark girl.

Dany was conversing with the girls and overheard Lady Arya talking about her brother, Jon, and a story about a bear. It seemed he wasn't the only one who overheard as he spotted Lord Stark lowering his gaze from the corner of his eye.

He decided to talk about the situation to Lord Stark.

"Lord Stark, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between my sister and your daughters about your son. I assume there hasn't been any news or sightings of the boy since you ended the search?"

The man visibly gulped, it was clearly hard for Lord Stark to talk about this "There's been nothing your Grace, it's been over a year since we stopped the search and nobody has seen or heard anything about him since." Lord Stark sighed "I just hope he's alive out there and is doing alright for himself."

"I'm sure he's okay Lord Stark, if the story about the bear is anything to go by, he should be able to take care of himself." He replied as he placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.

Rhaegar decided to change the topic to something he'd been thinking about for a few months now "I was wondering, Lord Stark, if I may have your ear and opinion about a topic I and the small council have been discussing for a few months now."

Lord Stark nodded "Go ahead your Grace, you have my ear."

"Excellent. The subject topic is in relation to the 300th anniversary of Aegon the Conqueror's crowning next year and how the realm could celebrate this. The majority of the council agree that a tourney, the largest tourney the realm has ever seen, be the perfect way to celebrate this event."

Lord Stark seemed to sigh in relief for whatever reason and answered "That sounds like a fitting way to celebrate, your Grace."

He smiled but what he said next was going to be the difficult part "As you know Lord Stark, with the tourney being lauded as the biggest the realm has ever seen, we need to hold this event in the centre of Westeros where everybody can reach it without travelling for months to get there." He looked at Lord Stark to see if he realised what he was saying, by the looks of it, he did.

"That being said, we were hoping that I and the council have your blessing to hold this tournament at Harrenhall. I know there's not a lot of fond memories of that place but along with the castle being rebuilt and my father no longer being with us, we were hoping to create some new memories, better memories."

Lord Stark sighed and nodded his consent "Aye, you have my blessing. You have the right of it, that place needs new memories."

He nodded and a comfortable silence overtook the pair of them, both of them deep in thought and probably thinking of the same person right now.

As he was contemplating, the tables were moved to the sides of the room for the dancing to commence. Elia had asked him whether or not he'd be playing his harp tonight but he thought the time and place didn't seem appropriate.

Lord Robb approached his daughter Rhaenys and asked for a dance which she agreed to and Lord Brandon, bless his soul, walked up to Daenerys with bright red cheeks and offered her a dance which his sister kindly accepted. She probably made the young boy's night.

Many more pairings got up and started dancing, he turned to Lady Stark to offer her a dance but the look on her face as she watched her two sons like a hawk was unsettling. He decided to ask Lady Sansa, who looked a bit put out that she didn't have a partner.

After dancing with Lady Sansa, then his wife, who had finished her conversation with Lord Stark, Lady Catelyn and finally his sister, Rhaegar called it a night and escorted his wife out the hall to their chambers to end a very taxing day on his soul.

Jon

The arrow pinged off the rock as he missed the hare by an inch.

"Little prick." He muttered under his breath, not wanting to alert anything in the area.

Not that there was much else in the area other than snow, rocks and...snow.

He'd been on this mountain for roughly a month now, a month since he said his goodbye to Gerion and Master M and told them not to die. Gerion, as always laughing and embracing him in a hug that was unexpected but not at all unwanted.

Master M had been more reserved in his farewell, putting his hands on his shoulders and explaining to him that he needed to stick to the task at hand. Straight to the point, that was Master M's style.

The Journey to begin with was simple enough, climb, hunt, eat, sleep. But as the weeks went on, the rations ran low, cliffs got steeper and the air got thinner, something Master M had forgot to mention.

He'd nearly died using his spiked boots and picks to climb a formation of rocks, losing one of his said picks in the process. He'd not had to use them since but was dreading it when he did.

Every night, when he set up camp and closed his eyes, he would dream the most lucid dreams he'd ever had. It started the night before his journey began and they'd been getting more and more clearer the higher he climbed. He'd chalked it down to lack of air which in turn was making him delusional.

'B ut they felt so real.'

The deep female voice persistently telling him to find them, he didn't know who "them" was. It would always end up with him roaming around the most vivid looking cave he'd ever seen, blues and purples shining from an unknown source. There was no fire or sunlight to guide his way, only this unexplained light.

The dreams would always end with him walking into a large cavern, lit with the same blues and purples that guided him there. In the centre of the chamber would be a large lake of the clearest blue he'd ever seen and looking up into the ceiling he would always see a large hole that allowed sunlight to beam down into the centre of the water. At that point the whole cavern would fill with a white light, blinding Jon and waking him from his bizarre dream, every night for roughly a month.

And now he was close to the top. He could actually see the top for starters, the clouds had covered the peak of the mountain on his ascent but now he was actually above the clouds, which was mad in itself, he could see the finish and hopefully a reason Master M was so confident in this plan.

At a steady pace, he would make it to the summit in roughly 3 to 4 hours but at the moment he was hungry and in need of something to eat. He had meagre rations left and the hare that had bolted off was the first living thing he'd seen in two days, not even birds were stupid enough to be this high.

Unfortunately for him, the hare wasn't the only living thing that was in the area with him, the aggressive hissing sound being prime evidence of that.

Stood perched on a formation of rocks to his right was a four-legged animal that he'd never seen before. Its fur was a whitish grey with black spots on its head and neck, Its body stocky and short-legged. Its muzzle, like its legs, was short as well and its eyes were grey, black slitted and completely focused on Jon's frozen body.

'Shit'

The beast let out another hiss as it leapt of the rock and slowly walked towards him, belly low to the ground, fur bristled and its haunches up. Primed to end Jon where he stood.

He decided to crouch down to seem less intimidating to the beast, it stopped in its tracks when it got about ten feet away from him and it looked into Jon's eyes, right into his soul. It was close enough for him to get a better look at it, it was a beautiful creature to say the least.

His eyes reconnected with the beast after admiring it and before it could pounce at him, Jon blacked out.

He forced his eyes open and felt tension is his legs, he could feel and hear his heart in his chest beating, heavy thumps as he focused in on his adversary .

Powerful, precise footsteps brought him towards the unmoving target, he was intrigued as he smelt the air around it, a familiar smell.

Confusion and fear took hold of his mind, the prey was familiar, recognisable...him.

How?

He could see himself slumped against the cold ground, limbs collapsed, face looking into the sky.

I approached and flinched as I took note of my face, more preferably my eyes.

Milky white staring into the open air.

What? Am I dead? Did the beast kill me?

I look around for any trace of the creature. Nothing but paw prints in fresh snow.

My eyes follow the prints, they lead closer and closer... they're my paw prints.

I gasp and flee as fast as my four legs can take me, trying to shake the pain in my head as I ran.

My vision goes black.

He gasped as he sat up from the cold, damp ground. 'What on earth was that?'

Jon checked his body for any bites or scratches or anything, nothing. 'Was that another one of those dreams?' He wondered.

No...no it can't have been, the creature's tracks are there in front of him, clear as day. It was me, I was the creature...or in the creature's skin, he wasn't sure.

He'd heard of skinchangers, more common with the First Men than the Andals or the Rhoynar. An incredible ability to enter the mind of a creature and control its actions. He'd never met one himself but knew that they existed if the tales of the wildlings beyond the wall were anything to go by.

Him, a skinchanger, was he always this way? Were the dreams he had as a child, running around the woods like a crazed wolf real? Did this have something to do with the dreams he'd been having recently? He wasn't sure about a lot of things lately.

"Mad." He muttered as he shook his head and got to his feet.

He needed to reach the top even more now, a subconscious sense of anticipation spiking through him. Something was happening, something that he feared and greeted all the same. He was anxious.

"I'm going mad, it's happened, it's finally happened." He said to himself as he soldiered on forward. "I'm even talking to myself now...yep...definitely mad."

An hour passed by, an hour of trekking and thinking and an hour closer to the top. He'd hoped to have seen the creature he'd seen earlier again but it seemed it wasn't to be.

The path he was currently on was incredibly uneven and narrow, to the left of him was the face of the mountain, smooth to the touch which was odd he thought and to his right was a knee-high formation of rocks along the path, acting almost like a wall. Over said wall was nothing but clouds and thin air when he looked over the edge.

"Gods have mercy." He said out loud as he shimmied across the path, leaning his back against the smooth surface.

He made it half way across and reached an overhanging of ice and snow above his head. It shielded him from the wind that was slowly picking up and allowed him a breather.

Leaning his head back against the wall he looked up at the ice that was sheltering him at the moment, on second glance he noticed it was actually a very odd-looking ice.

'Where have I seen this before?'

He reached out to touch it but before he did, the wall behind gave way under his weight and he was falling. Smooth rock aiding his decent as he recovered into a slide, the decent getting less steep and evening out, passing more of the odd ice on the way down.

He could somehow see ahead of him without a light source and he noticed a hole approaching.

'Maybe the ice holds light?'

He reached the hole and prepared to land, if he could, when he passed through. Falling through he noticed the cave he was in as he landed with a huff on his arse.

He just sat there for a moment and looked in awe.

Walls lined with the same odd-looking ice he'd seen on the way down, and his assumptions about the stuff seemed true, it did emit some sort of light. He thought it was safe to say this wasn't ice, but something more precious and beautiful.

It hit him like a hammer when he realised he'd seen this before, he'd seen this exact cave, in his dreams.

"...It's real." He said. Completely baffled.

"Wait..."

'If this was real then how much of the rest of his dream was real?'

"Suppose there's only one way to find out." He said to himself as he got to his feet and carried on forward. He touched one of the gems on the wall as he passed by and accidently cut the palm of his hand on its sharp edge.

It was like somebody had reached into his chest and squeezed his lungs as tight as they could. He tore his hand away as quick as he could and tried to suck in all the air in the room to soothe his burning lungs.

"What...the fuck...was that?" He exclaimed in between gulps of air.

'Look for me'

He heard that voice from his dreams, talking to him through his mind, it was real, it was all real, his head hurt, it felt like a large rock on his shoulders, wanting to collapse and let the darkness take him. He started closing his eyes to ease the pressure.

'No, look for me friend'

There it was again, jolting his eyes and mind open. He needed to carry on even if it was just to ease the pressure on his body and soul, a pressure that made him feel like a weapon, a weapon ready to explode...an explosion he wanted.

"I'm going to die, this cave will be my grave." He muttered.

He walked on, still hearing the voice telling him to look for them, "Look for what?" He said, hoping for an answer, no reply.

After ten minutes of walking he reached an opening in the ground, nowhere else to go but down or back. He'd come too far now to go back and the pressure was subsiding the deeper he went.

"I'm gonna fuckin kill Master M if I ever see him again." He said as he at the edge of the hole and dropped down, thankfully it wasn't a big drop.

Raising from his crouch as he'd landed, Jon looked forward and took in the same large cavern that was always present in his dreams. The pressure from his mind and body had completely disappeared as soon as his feet hit the ground.

He slowly walked forward along the path that took him the edge of the crystal clear lake that resided in the middle of the chamber. Light shining in from the hole in the ceiling, exactly like his dream had shown him.

Something that hadn't been present in his dreams however was the large, crystal structure in the middle of the lake.

It was amazing to see.

Bright blues and purples seem to breathe when the light from the ceiling hit it.

He placed his hand in the water to clean his hand that hadn't stopped bleeding since he'd cut it.

It was clear, clean and warm.

'Warm...why was it warm?'

He watched his blood as it seeped into the clear depths of the water, it looked like it was on a journey with how quick it moved.

It seemed to have a destination as well, the crystal structure in the middle of the lake.

The same structure that was now actually moving, up and down in a slow rhythm.

Breathing.

It was breathing.

Before he could step back, it started to move with more urgency, unravelling like an awakening wolf.

Planes of crystal and flesh spread high and wide from the structure as the ground shook.

Pillars of muscle and power rose from the water.

A colossal whip of strength uncoiled like a snake.

Its thick neck and head rising, teeth razor sharp.

A growl thundered into the silence of the cave from the beast's chest.

Eyes of crystal staring into his soul.

Salvation.

Purpose.

Home.