17. Jon

It's been three days since Blackfish came to Winterfell. He had inquired much about the boy through his guards from the castle guards and servants.

He summarized, that the boy has always been quiet and calm, but lately, he gained some kind of confidence.

The most surprising thing was that the boy didn't act much differently after being legitimized, bearing the humbleness or his aloofness.

It's strange because you can't expect such a temperament in a child of fewer than ten name days.

He had heard "Bastards grow up faster than other children". but now... the boy wasn't one. He thought.

He had asked Catelyn about Jon but she always changes the topic whenever he tries to talk about the boy.

"I can't hate a motherless child who had not harmed me or my family" was all she said, and refused to talk any further on that matter. For Jon, there was neither Love nor Hate in her eyes. It was confusing yet curious.

He had observed Jon these days as much as he could. And after much observation, he concluded that the boy has great focus and discipline. The boy is driven like he is on a mission or has a goal that no one knows.

'But one thing is certain, the boy is not a threat to Cat's children. Jon treats her children as brothers and sisters, there is no trickery in that. He is a Stark, Eddard Stark's son; which alone speaks volumes.' He thought as he prepared to leave Winterfell.

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Jon stretched his hand out and looked at the red hue emitting around his hand. Jon marveled at the Mana surrounding his hand and controlled it to gather in his palm, forming different shapes.

'Good control' He thought.

He got up and opened the window, and a bird around the size of 2 feet came through it and sat on his hand. It was Gale the Golden Eagle. He stroked his feather gently as Gale absorbed Mana from his hand. The amount of mana absorbed was very small.

He had experimented and tried to feed his mana to other small animals like squirrels, sparrows, etc. but it was for naught. At first, they didn't absorb it so he forcefully fed it to them, but the outcome was... quite gory.

So after some trial and error, He concluded that only the Magical Creatures can absorb his Mana.

So he tried it cautiously with the Gale and succeeded.

Now the rate of growth of the Eagle has increased, and his tail turned red from the previous hazel one.

After a while, He got up and released the eagle outside, and exited the chamber.

He headed towards the great hall for breakfast.

After entering he greeted everyone and directly sat on the main table beside Robb.

Blackfish was also here, sitting beside Ned Stark. He was going to depart for Riverrun today, after breakfast.

" Uncle, why don't you stay for one more day?" Catelyn Stark said to Blackfish.

"No, I have to...

Jon ignored their useless talk and focused on eating. His thoughts drifted across the narrow sea as he got the information that Daenerys and Viserys are in Braavos.

Willem Darry is dead and Viserys sold all valuables; soon he will earn the title of Beggar King.

He told faceless ones not to interfere and only to protect Daenerys.

Soon Viserys will start to get mad and inflict pain on Daenerys.

'He can save her anytime but he won't. After all, If you don't know Pain how will you know pleasure? As for Viserys, he will get rid of him when it becomes too much.' He grinned in his heart.

Another thing that he understood these days was that He overestimated House Black and White. He thought he will be invincible in the field of intelligence.

But the reality is that they are only excellent in Active gathering of intelligence of certain targets. They can not cover the whole world and feed on the information passively, as quickly as possible as he would like.

Their training and skills are very costly and harsh with high requirements.

Right now House Black and White has 10 core members and 3 trainees. He ordered them to place one core member each in North, Kings Landing, and Braavos.

He sighed and opened the status window.

---------------------------------------

Name: Jon Stark / Aegon Targaryen

House: Stark / Targaryen

Title: 1. Prince that was promised, 2. Champion of the Many-Faced God, 3. The Hidden Dragon.

Age: 7

Mana: (B)

Str: E+

End: D-

Sen: D-

Dex: D

Int: C-

Wis: C+

Cha: D+

Overall: D+

Skills:

[Warg(S)]: Advanced

[Pyromancy(S)]: Beginner

[Assassination(S)]: Intermediate

[Basic Swordsmanship(A)]: Beginner

[Basic Archery(A)]: Intermediate

[Basic Horse Riding(A)]: Beginner

Perks:

[Resilient], [Nimble]

SP: 700

Inventory: 550 gold coins.

-----------------------------

"Jon?... Jon!" Robb shouted.

Jon came to his senses and said "What happened?"

" What do you mean what happened, you were spacing out while I was telling you about the Horse Riding," Robb said as he was annoyed.

He looked up as everyone was staring at him, and smiled awkwardly "Well I was listening to you and I started to think about the horses too"

"I named my Horse Steele as it's as grey as steel. What did you name yours?" Robb asked excitedly.

"Well that's what I have been thinking but I couldn't come up with a suitable one...

---------------------------------------------

{Greywater watch}

Howland Reed read the letter that he received from one of his men stationed north of the swamps. As the castle is neither traceable nor has those grey rat maesters.

The letter was about Jon. The letter received was late for obvious reasons.

After reading it, his face turned grim.

'Lord Stark is playing a dangerous game here, it would have been better if Jon was raised here,' He thought.

He took the letter with him and went towards a chamber, and saw a man resting on the bed. The man was tall, taller than any crannogmen, with dark hair, and a fair face. The man was not able to move his neck and hands properly as he had a gruesome wound on the back of his neck and spine.

He came in front of the man and gave him the letter silently. He watched as the man looked at him strangely for a while and struggled to take the letter from him and started to read the letter slowly.

He walked towards the window and looked outside as he heard some distinct noises. He saw a juvenile Golden Eagle hunting a snake in the swamps. The eagle took the snake and perched it on a branch, then the eagle looked straight in his direction. It was strange and very rare for an Eagle to be here in Neck. He came out of his thought as he heard the sound of someone laughing.

He looked at the man as the man smiled for the first time in seven years.

He still remembers that accursed day as if it was yesterday. He had struck the man from behind. They looked at each other in loss as Lord Stark immediately ran after the scream that came right at that moment from the tower. And came back soon with the child and left in hurry after telling him to take his sister's body and the wet nurse. Before leaving Lord Stark took the 'Dawn' and asked him to bury everyone.

The man, whom he thought to be dead woke up gasping for air. The knife deviated due to the Chainmail underneath the collar. The man looked at him in the eye, neither asking for mercy nor the gift of a quick death, for the man was Ser Arthur Dayne, the finest Knight he had ever seen.