Echoes of a winter's rebirth

Eddard opened his eyes, the darkness of the Winterfell night enveloping him. Lying beside his wife, Catelyn Stark, he felt the unfamiliar weight of his reborn body.

It didn't take long for him to realize what had happened; he now inhabited the body of Eddard Stark, the Lord of House Stark and Warden of the North.

Only seconds after the transmigration completed, Eddard exhaustedly fell back asleep, he fell into a coma-like state. The coma claimed him for two hours, two hours for his soul to completely merge with Eddard's original soul.

After the two souls had integrated together, Eddard instantly woke up, he groaned, feeling the remnants of an exploding headache—natural, given the blending of souls and personalities, and accompanied by a flood of Eddard Stark's memories returning to his mind.

Clutching his head, Eddard rose, got dressed, and made his way to the Great Hall, where he assumed his seat on the lordly throne.

Luckily, Eddard had, with the help of his memories, not a single bit of difficulty finding his way around when he made his way to the Great Hall.

After sitting for a while, lost in thought, he was joined by Catelyn, who was awakened by Eddard's absence and decided to come and take a look.

Catelyn walked towards Eddard and looked at him, "What is it, Lord husband?". "You are up so deep into the night? Even the servants won't wake up for another hour."

Eddard, who put a forced smile on his face, looked at Catelyn and answered, "You have nothing to worry about, Cat. It's merely a small headache keeping me awake and thinking about the memories I made in this hall helps ease the mind."

He looked at the Great Hall again and asked, "Do you remember all of the fond memories we created together in this Hall?"

Catelyn, surprised by Eddard's situation, asked, "A headache at night? And yes, I remember it well but reminiscing won't help you know. Come back to bed, Ned."

Eddard, who did not want Catelyn to be unnecessarily concerned, "I'm fine, love. Let us go back to sleep."

Catelyn, though still worried about Eddard, complied, leaving him alone with his contemplations.

A little while later morning arrived. The castle is bustling with activity and all of the Stark family members had already eaten their breakfast a few moments ago.

Eddard was in his solar when he talked to his guard, Jory Cassel, "Let's go Jory, we'll go watch the boy's training this morning. Robb, Jon and Theon should be busy with their training around now if I am not mistaken."

Jory looked at Eddard and smiled, "Aye, Lord Stark, the young lords are already training and Lady Catelyn is already watching them practice."

Eddard and Jory walked over to the balcony where Catelyn was. From here, they could look down on the training square. It's where Bran, Robb and Theon were every other morning around this hour. They enjoyed training, although Bran didn't enjoy the training as much; he preferred climbing all around the castle.

As Eddard and Catelyn are carefully watching, Bran fires his first arrow after receiving some advice from Jon, Eddard's bastard son.

He missed! His shot went over the target, missing it by at least a meter. Robb, Theon and Jon immediately start laughing.

Observing his sons' laughter directed at Bran, Eddard's disapproval surfaced. He disliked seeing his children making jest of one another.

Wearing a stern expression, Eddard addressed his children, "And which one of you was a marksman at 7? Keep practicing, Bran! Continue!"

Eddard starts thinking internally, 'Everything is really going on like I remember.' 

However before he could continue his thoughts, Ser Rodrick Cassel interrupted Eddard's and Catelyn's training observation, reporting a deserter from the Night's Watch.

"Catelyn implored Eddard not to involve Bran, asking, 'Do you really need to go?' However, Eddard was still determined to use this opportunity to impart the lesson of honor to his son Bran."

Eddard wanted Bran to understand why a Lord must personally deliver the sentence but he also wanted to show his own resolve and opinion towards honor in the hope that Bran would understand it.

So when he made up his mind, he called out to Theon, "Ready the horses, we'll leave as soon as possible".

After hearing out the deserter upon their arrival, Eddard enforced the Stark law and killed the man.

Though this time, after his conversation with Bran, Eddard started thinking out loud while mumbling to himself, "I need to send someone to the Wall, I'll need to ask them to scout out the truth, search for traces White Walkers, and that we need to find their location and numbers. Most importantly, they need to burn them with fire."

After thinking for a bit, Eddard mumbled, "Well, I'll ask Benjen when he visits me again."

After a rider arrived with a message, Eddard's party started to make their way back, and on that way stumbled upon a litter of direwolf pups, making Eddard speak out, "It's a tough old beast, it's a shame it's dead. I could've brought it back otherwise."

Upon Jon's suggestion to share pups amongst the Stark children Eddard agreed and bestowed a direwolf pup upon each Stark child, "Alright, you can have them."

However, he added a stern warning this time, making it clear that the direwolves were not to roam beyond the Stark territory. Eddard emphasized the repercussions they would face if they chose to disobey.

"You'll take care of them yourselves, you will feed them yourselves! If they die, You bury them yourselves."