12 Chapter 12 - The letters.

After a few seconds of looking at me, my father sighed deeply.

"Arthur, sit down." Ordered my father.

Sitting in a chair in front of him, I waited for what he was going to say.

"Since you were a child you have always surpassed others your age in both intellect and physique, the master-at-arms came to talk about your prowess today, and amazing as it is, I wasn't surprised, I stopped being surprised by you a long time ago, now you come and throw this bomb at me, something that could send the entire seven kingdoms into a goddamn frenzy"

"I don't know if you're hiding something from me, or even if the Old Gods gave you any blessings, and really, I don't care, I just want you and your brothers to be happy, but that's not what I want to tell you, that's about it."

Opening the desk drawer, my father pulled out some letters from inside.

"We found this with Meistre's body, since I no longer have an advisor, I want you to help me with these letters, read them and give me your opinion." My father said.

Taking the letters from his hand, I started to read, although I had read them once, my father didn't know that, after a few minutes of reading I handed the letters back to him.

"Alright, let's go by parts, I think all the letters are coming from the Citadel, one of them says to get rid of the child as soon as possible, and these others dictate what the Maester must do, one of them says he must make sure if the wedding between Brandon and Cattelyn Tully and especially Robert and Lyanna happen, and the final question, what is Lyanna's favorite type of flower."

"And about these arranged marriages, do you know anything?" I Asked.

"During the War of the Ninepenny Kings, I got very close to Hoster Tully, Jon Arryn, Steffon Baratheon and Twyin Lannister, that's when the idea of Jon Arryn adopting Ned and Robert Baratheon came up, we talked about marrying Brandon to Catelyn Tully and Lyza Tully to Jaime Lannister and Lyanna to Robert Baratheon, thus unifying all the great houses, Maester Wyls was the main person who made me accept the idea of marriage, but I always postponed the answer", explained my father.

"Now it makes sense why Ned was adopted by a southern house, and this child they are referring to in the letter I believe is me for the simple fact that I am the only one different from his children, I have Valyrian traits, Valyrians who are known for magic of blood, and everyone knows the maesters' aversion to magic, now the reason for these marriage unions they so desperately want, I'm still not sure, maybe..."

"Maybe what, son?" my father ift.

"What if, with the alliance of these houses, they create a force strong enough to end the reign of the Targaryens, putting an end to their bloodline of dragons, and if perhaps, the tragedy of Summerhall, even the Dance of Dragons are orchestrated by the Maesters?, there is one in every house in Westeros, advising their lords in their decisions, they are there in their weakest moments, they are at birth and at death, they are the doctors of their homes, and perhaps most importantly, they send and receive letters from their masters. " I said

After my speech, my father's face completely closed, anger overflowing from his eyes, after all, to hear that a man you trusted, who gave advice, is a traitor and worse, had his son's murder in mind, makes anyone angry.

"What about Lyanna's flowers?"

"That's what's bothering me, I can't imagine what that information is useful for at the moment."

"And what do you think we should do with this information?"

"Information is power, and our enemies don't know we have it, leave it at that, a new maester will come, and if it's a rat, we'll use it to our advantage." I Said.

"Thank you my son, for your advice, I will authorize your request for subordinates, be aware that you will be responsible for their actions, food and lodging" Said my father.

"Thanks for the trust my father, I promise I will not disappoint you, I only ask for two things, I will need a part of the profit, only until I have an external income and complete freedom in the training and decisions of my subordinates, they will not accept orders from nobody but me" I Say.

"Okay, I'll ask you to round up some orphans your age." Said my father after some thought.

"Thanks dad."

"By the way Arthur, I've never talked to you about your life goals, and I think this is the perfect time to have this conversation, I won't live long, the loss of Lyarra and her mother has affected me, I only live to give to you and your brothers security and stability, by the time your brother is mature enough to become the new protector of the North I intend to take the Black"

"Dad..."

"Let me finish son, I made a promise to your mother, one that I will keep, I promised that I would legitimize you when you reached your man age, but keep in mind, that even if I legitimize you, unless your brothers abdicate or die, you cannot inherit Winterfell, so answer this old man, what is your dream, what do you yearn for?" My father spoke with a sad, tired expression on his face.

I confess I didn't expect this question, I planned to keep my goals to myself, but looking at my father like this, I think it's better that he knows, maybe it takes some of the burden on him, and maybe I can give him some hope.

Thinking about the answer, I rose from my chair, looked into my father's eyes, and spoke with the deepest conviction I could muster.

"What I'm looking for father is quite simple, in fact, I want to keep all of you and the north safe, I want to be the shield that will defend us from our enemies and the executioner that will execute them, I want to be like Theon Stark, the Hungry Wolf, who defended their lands from the Andals, that all those who humiliated us all these years, who denied us help in this cursed winter, when children, men, women and the elderly died of hunger and Cold, I want everyone to know, that for every action there is always a reaction, that when they hear the wolves howling they will know that winter has come for them, I want them to engrave in their minds, that the North remembers"

When I finish talking, my dad gets up from his chair and walks slowly towards me.

"And if it depends on me, it will be like this my son!" Said my father hugging me.