XXI.

Late in the second moon of 298 AC. Winterfell, The North. Westeros

"His blood ran black." Yoren about Benjen Stark. AGoT, Arya III

"Why haven't you accepted the royal forgiveness that Jo-Aegon offered you?" Ned asked him in exasperation while he shook his head, as Benjen told him firsthand about his refusal to leave the Watch more than seven moons ago.

"Because I made some vows Ned! For that reason, I don't care if one of the damned old gods or the new gods showed up to tell me I had to leave the Watch. After seeing what is coming, I cannot leave my position as Watcher on the Wall." Benjen replied to his older brother with more aggressiveness than he had intended at first, but making it clear that his position now more than ever was defending the kingdoms of all men, and not playing at being a Lord.

Although he and his brother Ned were alone in the Forest of the Gods, with the Weirwood Tree and Lya's gigantic she-wolf as witnesses, the talk never had the peaceful overtones that were presupposed in a place like where they were. Although Benjen did not want to admit it, all the

truths that came to light, along with the appearance of the Others, had made his brother Ned the favorite target of almost all his anger.

'At this point in my life I am not going to marry and take over a castle. Let Ned give Rickon the new Sea Dragonpoint seat and a fiancée and let me be. I would have no problem supervising the construction and I would continue to honor my Watcher vows. But when my brother gets something in his head ...' Benjen thought with certain resentment.

"Benjen, now more than ever the family needs you. Winter is Coming..." Benjen's brother tried to reply, making use of the family motto to take him by his side, with a pleading but hard and firm voice.

But Benjen wasn't going to budge and held up his hand for his brother to let him finish. 'I did not give in to my sister, I'm not going to do it now at Ned's petition. Lya would feel offended and with reason.'

'From everything Jon and Lya told me, if not for the ritual of Visenya Targaryen, Ned would have gone to the grave with the secret of the true identity of their nephew, the last scion of the greatest dynasty that ever knew the world.' Benjen thought with some disgust as his brother stared at him with his cold gray eyes, judging Benjen for not helping him with the reconstruction of the North in which Ned was immersed.

"Yes ... And so much that winter comes, Ned." Benjen said ominously to his brother. "That is why, as I have already told you, my current position in the Watch is of greater importance and utility for the real war, than the work that I could perform as Lord. Something for which I have never studied or been prepared." He finished his proclamation of why he preferred to continue being a Crow to being a Lord. 'Same thing I said to Lya in Eastwacth'

Although officially Benjen was still brother of the Night's Watch and its First Ranger, since the events that had taken place at his return to the Wall after the expedition with his nephew Jon, Benjen's position was rather that of being the link between the Watch, the Freehold, the Free Folk and the North. And the latter was because it was ruled by his brother, Ned.

Despite everything Benjen knew that had fallen on his brother's shoulders in the recent moons, Benjen paused in his narration of the events at the Wall to say something to Ned, to whom since Benjen saw Lyanna return from the dead needed to tell him a few things.

Steeling his posture, straightening himself in full, Benjen did not shy away from his older brother's reproachful look, on the contrary. He fixed his eyes on Ned's, to tell him with a cold tone that dripped acid.

"Also, if you remember correctly, it was you who sent me to the Wall so the secret of the romance between Lya and Rhaegar in Harrenhal would be kept away from the ears of Your dearest Robert." Benjen ended practically spitting the name of the man who sat on the site that legitimately belonged to his nephew.

Benjen's brother was half astonished, partly because of the anger and resentment in his words, and partly because it was the first time he had faced Ned in his entire life. Benjen had always been the calmest of his brothers, being the ideal counterpoint to Lya and Brandon's wolf blood. On the contrary, Ned, although rarely showed it, was capable of more character than his other two siblings and had the same stubbornness as them. This is why Benjen was unable to convince Ned of everything he knew during the rebellion. For that reason, now Benjen saw how his brother was surprised that Benjen was able to antagonize him.

"If you had told me the truth, I could have raised Jon. We could have claimed it as the bastard of Brandon... We could have done a thousand different things than what you did... But as you have now shown me, you thought that you could make decisions for everyone else and that only your opinion is valid." Benjen growled coldly, voice laced with disgust.

The defeated attitude in his Ned's position at the end of the sentence, the lost eyes on the verge of tears, for a moment made Benjen feel guilty for everything he had said to Ned.

However, Benjen did not regret what he said. Although deep down he knew that his brother Ned had been another pawn of the great game board that was Westeros, he could not help feeling that they could have done more for Jon after Lya's death.

'At least I could have saved him from the scorn of the damn trout.' Benjen thought, before finishing telling him everything he thought about the events that transpired almost sixteen years ago.

"And all of that, without entering into the role that your beloved foster father, your father-in-law and his family had in the death of our father, brother and sister ... and almost all of our politic family... Or so the world think..." Benjen finished saying, calmer now after having let out some of the resentment he had against his brother.

Ned went from being defeated and reproached, to having an attitude of confusion, which was perfectly reflected in his gaze and in his half-open mouth.

"W...what? Have more Targaryen come to life?" his brother Ned asked in a trembling voice far removed from his cold and serene lord's voice.

'I forgot that Ned had seen firsthand the aftermath of Visenya's ritual at the First Keep. Without a doubt, like Jon, Ned must have gained some apprehension before magic and blood rituals.' Benjen thought as he shook his head and placed a hand on Ned's left shoulder, to let him know that despite the reproaches and discussion he was still his brother and part of the same pack.

Although Bran told Benjen that it was information only for him and that except for Jon, no one else knew, Benjen knew that he had to tell Ned the truth about Rhaenys, Jaime and Rhaella. 'Or at least part of the truth.'

"They haven't come back Ned. They never died in the first place. Or so I think. They have been hiding for fifteen years. Rhaenys, Jon's sister is alive. Like Rhaella Targaryen and Ser Jaime..." in this name he hesitated, because he knew the opinion that Ned had on the kingslayer. And since the circumstances in which Ser Jaime killed his biological father were still unknown to Benjen, he preferred to keep that information aside.

Not to mention that Benjen knew it wasn't his story to tell. Although Ser Jaime should probably already know that he was Aerys's son by now, even if he accepted the legitimation with the Targaryen surname, it was not Benjen's place to announce to the Lord Protector of the North, even if this one was his brother. He also didn't want to add more stress to Ned by mentioning that a Blackfyre, Waters or Targaryen, depending on your point of view, was the Queen Consort of Westeros.

Before Ned could interpellate, Benjen recounted what Bran had told him, without incurring personal secrets, or really revealing how he got the information "I don't really know how, but apparently Ser Jaime managed to escape from the Red Keep with Rhaenys, to then somehow reach Dragonstone where they found Rhaella Targaryen dying, but not dead. They escaped from the island, to once recovered, exiled their selves to Essos. According to the information Jon had, when they left for Braavos, his sister and grandmother were there." Benjen told Ned in a fast and agitated

voice, trying not to make any reference to his true source.

"But how is it possible? Great Jon and Martyn Cassel, among others, saw the charred bodies. The armor and golden sword of the Kingslayer were melted onto the ground and the bodies. Are you sure of what you're saying?" Ned asked hesitantly, frowning.

"Absolutely sure Ned. As I have already said, the circumstances of Ser Jaime's escape are diffuse but a certainty. Like his presence with both Targaryen women in Braavos. "Taking advantage of the place where they were, Benjen did not hesitate to add "As well you will understand Ned, this is a secret and I hope you promise me that it will remain between the two of us until the official notice arrives. By the banner of the Freehold of Valyria, which you will soon have waving over your new walls, I suppose it won't take long to get to you. But when they left the Wall for Braavos more than six moons ago, only Bran and Jon knew this information." Benjen said seriously and firmly to his older brother, but exuding warmth for the sigil they had chosen.

At hearing Bran's name, Ned raised an eyebrow, but then ignored it. 'Ned may believe that what Aegon knows, his squire also knows.' Benjen was internally glad not to have to clarify more about Bran, at least for the moment.

"I swear before the Old Gods. Now tell me what is so special about the sigil that makes you think that they have reunited with the Princess and the Mother? Grandmother? Dowager? Queen." Ned asked with curiosity and a hint of humor, accepting for the moment the survival of both women.

Ned's last question was something Benjen could never answer 'By the Gods, the hierarchy and family tree is complicated in the current house Targaryen. More so when the head of the family is the youngest and at the same time the predecessor of all the others.' thought that made him chuckle.

Smiling at Ned, while looking into his brother's eyes Benjen said with a joking tone. "Can't you imagine what they may have chosen between Aegon and Rhaenys reborn, with Rhaegar and Lyanna along with them?"

Ned put his hand to the chin and made the gesture of thinking, but immediately made the gesture of surrender, spreading the arms with the palms forward, while raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but I bet that the damn rampant three-headed dragon in scarlet red will be in it." said Benjen's old brother with a certain bitterness and sadness.

What little he had said about the way Jon had embraced his Targaryen heritage with Ned, showed that his older brother felt a kind of jealousy at the absence of any mention of Jon's heritage as a wolf .

"Hahaha...You are not wrong in that, brother. When I finish telling you all the news from their journey through the Wall, you will understand that they are not called Dragons only because of their sigil and their mounts, but because they are themselves the human incarnation of the mythical creatures. Creatures which I hope not to climb on it never again... Hahaha."

Benjen finally spoke relaxed with Ned, who was also sharing the laughs with him now. He was grateful that after putting in order, or as much as possible to put in order, the events from Harrenhal to Lya's death and, before getting into the bulk of what was happening at the Wall, he and Ned could have a fraternal moment between them.

"Well Benjen, don't keep me in the doubt. Tell me, what will the banner that will fly over my new walls be like?" Ned said with warmth and some sarcasm.

"Along with the special package mentioned in Aegon's scroll." the mention of it alone, caused a change in the atmosphere, dissipating all possible joy and relaxation. They both returned to their upright position, sitting at the base of the white tree at the edge of the pool of hot water.

"I have brought you a pair of banners. But I anticipate it; It is on a black background, with the ineffable rampant dragon with three heads in scarlet red, as you have mentioned before. From the dragon hangs from its left claw a growling white wolf with scarlet red eyes and from its right claw a white sun pierced by a scarlet red spear. Between the two, hangs a huge dark blue winter rose."

"They use the sigils of their maternal houses in reverse." Ned said, having noticed quickly. "Jo- Aegon still takes badly having been treated like a bastard, right?" Said Ned with a voice half broken and full of guilt.

"Let's say that you are not his favorite uncle at the moment and that with your actions you are going to have to earn his trust and affection. The latter has it for you. Both for you and Robb. But also, both of you are going to have to prove yourself worthy of that love. If not, you're only going to widen the gap that you with your lies and Robb with his attitude of spoiled and arrogant lord have created with him." He said bringing up a topic that Lyanna and Rhaegar had mentioned to him and that Benjen thought was a good time to bring up.

"Ned, even if you saved him from Robert's wrath and Tywin's greed, Jon, Lya, your brother-in-law and even Arya know that if Robb or Bran had been the usurped, you would not have taken a sigh to defend their rights ofo birth. And you know it too. On the other hand with Jon ... Just seeing who sits on the Iron Throne tells everything about you."

Ned's lies smelled more of protection towards Robert than of from Robert. While his nephew Robb's attitude towards Jon and Rhaegar, as well as the way Robb sided with his mother when the whole truth came out, showed an alarming immaturity, pride and vanity. And so Benjen intended to tell Ned.

"I hope you put Robb pride down before you go to Essos, the same way I hope you get him into his head that he should kiss the ground his cousin Jon is walking on for not decapitating the damn trout at that moment." He said in a dry tone, but without reprimand or demanding. 'Rather a suggestion, as Lya told me to do.'

Sometimes Benjen didn't know whether to thank or curse the gods for his sister's return. Although he would never tell anyone, for Lya he would reach the end of the world. A thing that in the past made him get carried away by Lya's ideas and plans. And now, when it came to Jon, Benjen was firmly on his sister's side.

His brother Ned, looking at him coldly, putting on his most stoic countenance straight posture, as he sat cross-legged on the enormous root of the Weirwood Tree, commanded respect. But Benjen knew that if his family wanted to survive the winter, they should stop behaving like summer children. It was time to hit his brother with a bit of realism.

"Don't look at me like that Ned. The body presented before the Iron Throne was my nephew too, you know? And you did nothing but complain a bit and go back to the North with your tail between the legs, believing that if you lock yourself up here the rest of the world would forget about you and you about them. But it doesn't work like that, Ned. And that's why I am here. To help you do what you have to do, at least until the Harvest Festival. After that, if there is no prior emergency, I will return to Eastwacht and from there to Castle Black."

Benjen communicated his plans for the next three months to his brother. He hadn't mentioned Eastwacth's current name yet, because that would raise even more questions. Questions that

Benjen preferred to answer before Ned asked.

As in within two moons Ned was going to announce to the lords of the North the events that had been taking place in the North and Beyond the Wall for the last seven moons, Benjen had come to his ancestral home to bring a key piece in the future Harvest Festival gathering where his brother planned to reveal much of what was going on.

However, Benjen has also come to see Ned and update him on everything that was happening in the Tar-nu Fuin, province of the Valyrian Freehold, on the direct orders of Jon and Maester Aemon.

Much of the future of future events would be marked by the meeting with the lords of the North. If his brother Ned could convince them of the need to live with the people from the other side of the Wall and to agree to once again kneel before the dragons, they would no doubt have already taken a great step.

Benjen's primary reason as the sworn brother of the Night's Watch was to oversee the delivery of a special package to his brother. A Proof that the ultimate enemy still existed.

This proof was achieved at a great price by the Free Folk, but the ten elders who sacrificed themselves for this mission knew that it was essential for those who did not know the enemy to believe in it. Mance Rayder was never going to be Benjen's friend but the decision of the Lord on the Wall made on the dilemma of how to convince the lords of the north would be something Benjen would never forget.

"Have you come here to be the voice of His Grace?" Ned almost hissed in a caustic tone, coming out of the stupor and rage that had possessed him with Benjen's previous outburst.

"No brother, don't confuse things. It is time for you to understand that we fight against The Others. They have no honor, they have not hungry, they do not have pride or political vanities, nor do they have greed. They don't tire, they don't fret and don't stop before anything other than fire or Valyrian steel, at least that with the wights. With the Others, we still do not know how to defeat them, but we intuit that if there is something that can work, it is Valyrian steel. We know that the castle steel they transforms it to ice upon contact and that it is useless against them. The fire only seems to slow down their magic, even if it the fire of the Black Dread itself." Benjen stopped soon Ned's outburst.

'It seems that I am going to have to tell the story of almost my last eight moons of life.' Benjen thought as he contemplated Ned's reaction.

His brother had turned pale with Benjen's narration, to the point of shaking by the end of his presentation. His intention was not to be crude about the matter, but he could not allow Ned to continue to have doubts about his affiliation with House Targaryen. Which in Benjen's eyes, apart from being family, were the only ones capable of ending what he had seen.

"That is why I really have come home Ned. To tell you everything that happened in the Wall and beyond of it since Aegon's arrival there, until I came here three weeks ago."

And so, Benjen begin to tell his tale to his brother Ned.

"It all began one late afternoon when I was on duty near the Hardin Tower, when suddenly a roar like no other that I had heard in my life spread throughout the Wall, shaking the foundations of it ..."

Hours passed as Benjen told Ned about his journey beyond the wall on Balerion. The encounter with Bloodraven and the Singers of The Earth, with a lot of omissions recounting that part. The appearance of the Army of the Others and Benjen's subsequent flight with the half-hand through kilometers of labyrinthine tunnels that ran under the Enchanted Forest and that left them less than a fortnight's walk from Castle Black. Jon's purchase of half the Wall and Brandon's Gift. As well of the subsequent constitution in these lands of the Tar-nu Fuin Province of the Freehold of Valyria in Westeros and a seat as capital for this in Forlond, the old Eastwacht.

Ned had been changing colors through the narration and his brother's attitude and features had oscillated between disbelief, surprise, stupor and even denial at times.

"Everything you are telling me seems incredible to me. And when you tell me about the banners of the Freehold, that you bring me real proof that the Others exist...it seems so contrary to what I had ingrained in my mind, that it is almost impossible for me to reconcile the reality you has presented to me with my own previous thoughts." Said Ned with a trembling and nervous voice, higher than normal, while ran the right hand over and over again through Ned's dark brown hair.

"Benjen, think that I dealt with Aegon for only three days, which were actually three nights, and most of the time was spent making plans to reinforce and strengthen the North or discussing the events of the Rebellion. As much, I participated in discussions about what could happen in the future once he had a strong position in Essos to return here and claim his own." Benjen's brother continued by telling him why this new reality was so shocking for Ned.

Benjen now knew something that before arriving at his family home he did not know. Ned had not been aware of Aegon and Rhaegar's intentions regarding plans that they both had formed and almost concrete about exactly what they would do regarding Essos and Westeros.

This made the surprise in his brother more understandable after Bejen's enumeration of events from the arrival of his sister with her son to the Wall, until they went east.

'Ned for his part, until now had not been aware of the ambition and scale in the Targaryen plans. It is difficult to process that your nephew in a not too distant future may be the owner of the destiny of 60 million people.' Benjen thought, sympathizing with the feelings his brother might be experiencing, the whom took a deep breath and continued his explanation.

"For a moment I even fooled myself and I thought that maybe just by restoring Valyria, our nephew would not claim his Throne here, because I never imagined that The Others could really return or even exist in the first place. Or that if Jo-Aegon came back to claim his inheritance rights, by the time he could do it, Robert and Jon Arryn would already be dead. Now you tell me that my nephew has founded the first Province of the Freehold of Valyria in the North of Westeros, that although they are not my lands, they are directly in contact with them. Just the New Gift separates the Targaryen from the North. And that makes the option that I have to confront who I considered my second father and my brother in everything but blood on the battlefield so real and feasible that it shudders me." Ned confessed to him, something that Benjen already sensed beforehand.

Surely to Ned that the wildlings had organized around a King-from-Beyond-the-Wall seemed crazy enough. But that then this wildlings gave up their power in Jon and that all the Free Folk except two thousand or three thousand, had submitted to the contract and the double oath and then adopted a sedentary lifestyle with a city of their own in Brandon's Gift seemed impossible to him to happen. Though it was happening nonetheless.

By having to omit the contributions of Bran or the skin-changers, Benjen had to convince Ned of the potential of giants, mammoths and dragons so that he would not think that it was impossible that a 180-kilometer wall and a citadel, was being erected at such speed. With a huge tower and the largest port in the history of the North inside the latter.

Benjen decided it was time to explain to him the power that it was gathering at the Wall and how his nephew had gathered that power around him.

"But I have not come only just to tell you how the first province of the Freehold was founded or how I witnessed the return of the Others." Benjen told his brother with a cold and dry tone.

The so far quick, efficient and practically bloodless implantation and creation of the Freehold of Valyria and Westeros is something that never ceased to amaze Benjen every day. At times it was incredible that Jon was achieving all that.

'And I have at least had more time to get to know Aegon, his plans, his methods and his ways.' So Benjen didn't want to imagine what might go through his brother Ned's head when Benjen brought him up to speed on everything. The last news Ned had from his Targaryen family in Essos dated from when they left for Braavos. More than five moons ago. And were brief and to the point. Therefore Benjen believed it was necessary to tell Ned everything, although his brother interrupted him before he could do it.

"I don't know what else you might want to tell me, Benjen. If it weren't you who is telling me and where you're telling me, I would judge you as a mad or as a liar. Everything you've told me so far is incredible to me. But according to you, you even bring proof of the real enemy..." replied his half-decomposed and pale brother. Ned's gaze seemed lost and his eyes sunk in the cheeks.

In a moment, was as if Ned seemed to have ten days of the name more than he really had. 'I don't want to know how he will be when we finish this conversation.' Benjen lamented internally.

"Apart from this, there are certain things I need to tell you since they will affect the Harvest Festival in a certain way." Benjen said dryly to his brother, speaking in a firm, determined and cold tone. "Ned I have seen them. I have seen the Others and their infinite army. And when I saw it, I froze in panic, as did the Half-Hand. Between us we add more than forty days of the name serving on the Wall. While we were pissing on ourselves, unable to do anything, our nephew, Jon, charged only with his dragon against them to defend my retreat and try to end the Others once and for ever right there, quoting his verbatim words in the latter. If there is anyone capable of defeating them, it is the person who unified this shitty continent to face them three hundred years ago, and who now thinks of unifying almost all the living to defeat them once and for all, whatever the cost."

Benjen was firmly convinced of what he was saying. Because he was. He believed in his nephew.

"It is time for you to fight for the same. I know Robert is like a brother to you. I know that lying and playing to the Game of Thrones is something you hate. But I know, as do all the people who are following Jon, that he is the only real option to defeat the enemy on the other side of the Wall. You have to stop feeling like you are betraying Robert and Jon Arryn, when you are working for our nephew to defeat the Second Darkness, Ned." He said with some harshness and firmness, but not without warmth and affection to his brother.

"It is to him that you owe your allegiance. Not because of his rights, but because he knows what the real threat is and he is the only person capable of defeating them. They on the other hand used you and betrayed you first. For their fault, our nephew, the King and supposedly, the one who was born to face the Others, was being raised as a bastard who would have ended up exiled among rapists and thieves in the Wall. Where he would have ended up facing the Others as well, except who knows in what situation and with what support ..." Benjen tried to introduce his belief that Jon really was the one who would defeat the Darkness.

By simulating whatever scenario that Benjen simulated in his head, one way or another, Jon would have ended up having contact with the Wall and the Others in some way. Even without knowing who he was, Jon possibly would have emerged as the leader in the fight against The Others.

'If that's not being predestined to something, I don't know what predestination is.' Benjen thought with some disgust at the weight that fate had placed on Aegon's shoulders, and to a lesser extent, on Bran.

"What do you mean with that Jon was born to face the Others? He is a person like any other... " Ned interrupted Benjen in his inner thoughts with curiosity and doubt.

Seeing his brother's reaction, Benjen realized that it was not yet time to tell Ned that he seriously believed that Jon was the Promised Prince, or The Last Hero, or Azor Ahai from the legends and lore.

'Perhaps by the time I finish telling him everything, Ned understands the greatness and power that was hidden in the boy who was hiding in the shadows of his castle.' So Benjen decided to change the subject entirely, to focus Ned on the reasons why he had come to Winterfell.

"As you know, seventy-five wards have come with me to act as squires and pages at Winterfell. Despite the turbulent past between the wildlings and Northerners, they have proven to be good lads, eager to please and gain the trust of the Freehold. Many of them have clear that when they reach six and ten days of their name, they will enlist in the Black Army." said Benjen, assuming that his brother would not ask many questions, but the Gods were not with him on that day.

"Black army?" Ned asked in a hesitant voice.

"I don't know what Ser Jaime, Rhaegar and Jon will be doing with the armies in Essos, but Rykker is bringing the old legions of Valyria to life. It has almost 9,000 men, all enlisted for fifteen years in the Army of the Freehold, that really is the personal army of house Targaryen in Westeros at the moment, because is sworn to Aegon and not to the Freehold itself. They are motivated, becoming professional, eager, hopeful of promotion, and some of the soldiers are so tough they could chew iron bars and shit nails. It is an army that will not be broken and to defeat it, it will be necessary to kill every last of its soldiers. They fight for their lands, their freedom and their families. And there is nothing more powerful than fighting for what is dear to you." Benjen told his brother about Rykker's achievement, with some admiration in his voice.

'No wonder many saw him as the other great candidate for First Ranger when I was elected.' Benjen thought to himself about the King's guard of the Targaryen.

In the same way, the creation of a permanent army was something that seemed a real stroke of genius on the part of his nephew, since almost all of the military plans were Aegon's. 'Although which of the two Aegon the idea came from, it would always be a doubt unsolved.' Benjen affirmed internally.

"But I imagine it will be poorly armed, right? Aren't they mostly wildlings?" asked Ned with a certain contemptuous tone and rejection at the idea.

'If Aegon's uncle reacts like that, I don't want to know the reaction of the High Lords or the Slavers when they learn of the existence of a professional Army at the exclusive and sworn service of house Targaryen.' Benjen thought with certain humor.

In the end, much of the power the lords had, rested on their ability to recruit levies from their serfs, servants and sworn people. Most of whom were peasants with no knowledge of war. The existence of a permanent professional army was going to put into question the entire military system of the lords in Westeros. And so he intended to let his brother Ned know.

"That's where you're wrong Ned. They are citizens and soldiers of the Freehold of Valyria. Salaried, well fed, and entitled to land and booty. All armors are Qohori-imported, emulating Aegon's armor design in black steel imported from Qohor. Hence the nickname the army has received. The armament of the Black Army of the North it is varied. The standard armament of heavy infantry is a rhomboid shield, long sword, short sword, and a dagger. Add to that a light infantry with maces, axes, double-sided axes, pulleys, or warhammers, depending on the particular soldier. The spearmen are an improved and able to reproduce version of the Unsullied. Using 7 meter spears made of oak and finished in half a meter of forged steel pikes." Benjen paused, before the silence and the gesture made by his brother's head, made him continue the description of the army that was being trained at Forlond.

"The shields of the latter are rectangular almost one meter high, with the option of nailing them to the ground and joining it with that of the spearman on both sides to make a continuous wall of shields. Shield made of Ironwood." Benjen concluded with a half smile, at the surprise he had dropped.

'Sometimes it is true when the Free Folk say that we are Southerners and that we do not know the true North.'

"That's impossible, only the Forrester have access to that kind of wood." Ned negated with his head, as well with his words.

"It turns out that the Forrester are not the only ones in the world who have such trees. The Enchanted Forest is full of them and they are using their wood for everything." Benjen commented

wryly, to get a frown and misunderstanding look from his brother. "Archers use a standard longbow of the Freehold made in ironwood, about 1'80 tall, firing up to four hundred meters. Also the crossbows are being made of that wood. Have less range, but serve to cover long fire. Ironwood which is also being trade uninterruptedly to the Freehold provinces of Essos."

"All the armament of this army has been forged in the armory of Forlond, the first building to be completed and whose great forge was lit by the fires of Balerion." He paused to let that information sink into his brother Ned. "Donal Noye works as Master Blacksmith. This man is the same one who made Robert's hammer. The first creation of said forge was a long sword for Rhaegar, that removing the Valyrian steel, I have not seen such a forged steel work in my life Ned. And although the general quality is not that, most of the work of Noye and his assistants coming from Qohor, has nothing to envy to the work of the best blacksmiths of the street of the steel in Kings Landing." Benjen declared with a certain pride for the achievements his nephew and his sister's family were achieving in the North.

Although except for fire, they still had no effective weapon against the wights of the Others, it was an army that would not be easily beaten by them without help from their masters. 'And looking south of the Wall, the Black Army had nothing to envy regarding the lordly armies, perhaps with the exception of the Lannister.'

Faced with his brother's thoughtful silence, Benjen decided to continue. "It is an army made up almost entirely of infantry, but it is a multi-role infantry, which can move rapidly over long distances. Almost all of the logistics train has sleds or wagons, and sufficient draft animals. It combine light infantry with archers, spearmen and heavy infantry. It's a force to be reckoned with, Ned." Benjen warned about the possibilities of the army that his nephew had ordered to create in order to face the Others.

"Not to mention the small contingent of ten giants and mammoths, who serve in the auxiliary infantry, which can number up to 15,000 auxiliaries, at the orders of Mance Rayder, under Rykker's leadership. We speak in total of a force of 24,000 men trained as professional soldiers almost for the most part, with forged steel armor and weapons equals to or better than those in the Seven Kingdoms. They are no longer rapists, looters, and gangs of armed criminals in bronze, iron, and furs. They are a society that with its pluses and minuses, is beginning to being stable and sedentary. And when that port begin to operate, is going to have a huge commercial, military and human traffic, which will further establish the roots of the new province and the lordship of Forlond, which I remember you, it means The North Port." Benjen concluded with a harsher voice than he intended. This made Ned's posture stiffen, as he stared at him questioningly and made a disgusted expression with his face.

"Are you threatening me on behalf of Jon? Is that?" Ned asked angrily and with some pain in the voice.

"No, Ned." Benjen replied calmly and in a conciliatory tone. "I tell you all of this so you know that to the North you have a possible ally, as well as a possible enemy. Ser Jaremy carries out the orders of House Targaryen. Failing that, in the absence of nine of the ten members with the royal ring, Prince Aemon is the one who allows any activity of the army. Don't expect that if something happens to you, Rykker and his 9,000 men will come running to rescue you if you don't negotiate with the old ex-maester beforehand. But have no doubt that if you rebel against the Freehold, or any of your vassals are tempted to do it, in three weeks that army will be knocking on the doors of those who would be consider an enemy of house Targaryen or the Freehold in the North."

Thanks to his nephew, Benjen had understood that many times being sincere and direct with his own intentions, it was generally the best way to explain things, without having to go into details

that were intended to be avoided.

'And by all the Gods that I think to avoid mentioning anything else about Bloodraven.' Benjen thought after having mentioned the ten rings. As he let his words sink in on Ned, Benjen decided to continue before Ned asked questions he was in no condition to answer.

"I tell you everything that is happening, because at the same time I want you to understand my position. You wanted me to leave theWatch and get married. I can understand that, Ned. Understand now that my role in the current situation, can be of more help to you than in Sea Dragonpoint and it is not because I do not like the Mormont lasses. It's as Bran told me before leaving for Essos. We all have a role to play if we want to defeat the ultimate enemy. Many of us would prefer to have another role. Better than anyone, I know that when the time comes, it is very possible that I will be of the first killed in the fight beyond the Wall." Before his brother could interrupt him, Benjen waved the left hand stopping any option for Ned's reply.

"It is something that I have come to terms and accepted since I saw the Army of the Death. But that doesn't exempt me from being able to help you while I can. Help you and to the whole family. And that includes avoiding an inside coup of the lords of the North when you tell everything. Including what I'm going to tell you about our nephew." Benjen said, highlighting with his voice the whole family and everything.

Ned's surprised face at the mention that he had to tell everything and that in addition to that, Benjen had to tell something about Jon, were his cue to explain himself.

"You have to tell everything because the North is a Federated Kingdom to the Freehold of Valyria and Westeros and you are the federated lord to the Freehold. Ned, you signed the contract and sworn the now famous double oath. You know what that entails." Benjen smiled, remembering his brother-in-law Rhaegar's cunning at the time of redacting the contract between the Federated to the Freehold. "Any Kingdom, Province or City Federated to the Freehold, attacked externally or internally, or incapable of enforcing internal order in its domains, may be immediately annexed as a Province of the Freehold of Valyria by using all the military potential available by House Targaryen."

The clause was really very vague, because practically every sentence could justify the intervention of house Targaryen and therefore, the Black Army and even the dragons if they were present. Or on the contrary, allow a federated kingdom to be conquered by another that is also a federated kingdom, for not considering it as an external attack. "It was something like that what you signed, right?" he asked with some mischief to Ned.

"So is... how do you know about that clause?" his brother Ned asked incredulously and nervously.

"I've heard it enough times to know it, Ned." Benjen replied without saying why he had heard it.

His nephew, sister, and brother-in-law had some concern over a reaction from the South and had left clear orders to Rykker that if the situation in the North could harm the efforts for the Great War, he should simply take command of the North militarily on the basis of said clause.

"Ned, you are going to have to tell the whole truth to the lords of the North. That's why I think that since Winter has done the work with his bastard." Benjen stated while pointing to Lya's wolf. "It is time for the Starks to put an end to the Red Kings blood once and for all. If possible, during the Harvest Festival, publicly and before all the lords of the North." Benjen told his brother firmly and decisively.

It was time for Ned to learn something from the house Stark manual and put aside whatever it was

Jon Arryn's goddamn child fucker had taught Ned.

"If we want to survive what lies ahead, we must take examples of the Starks of old, like Cregan, Theon or almost all of the Winter Kings called Brandon." the veracity in Benjen's words and the conviction he had in them were only reinforced thinking about his nephew Bran. But it was not Benjen's place to tell the father of said child, that the one who founded the family with magic, ice and blood, was his nine day of the name son.

Winter, his sister's Direwolf had returned to Winterfell when her mistress left for Essos, to care for Ned and the pups. At least, until the huge she-wolf leaves with Ned in search of the family on the other side of the Narrow Sea. On her way south from the Wall, Winter apparently ran into Ramsay Snow, the bastard son of Roose Bolton. Of whom little was known, and the little that was known, made the hair like spikes.

Apparently, the bloodthirsty bastard upon learning that the mythological creature was near the Bolton lands, tried to find Winter with a pack of hunting hounds and some members of the Bolton servants.

But before the Bolton bastard could locate the trail of the great Direwolf, Winter was leaping out of the bushes in front of the bastard, ripping off his jugular, killing him on the spot. Faced with such an action, all the bastard's companions and hounds fled in terror.

Only a few remains of clothing were found from Ramsay's body. Roose Bolton had demanded that the she-wolf be sacrificed, but Ned was not going to do so and was planning to tell Roose Bolton so at the Harvest Festival.

But Benjen has other information about Roose, which Aegon had obtained from The Small Jon and which he would have to bring to his brother attention later.

Although Benjen knew that right now he was being the mouth of Aegon, Lyanna, Rhaegar and even to some extent, Bran, Benjen could not miss the opportunity to hammer his brother Ned the policies that he should unfold in the North.

'I trust uncle Ned for the reforms and improvements of the Kingdom, but do I trust him politically? It's an answer that only in time can I tell you uncle.' The words of his nephew Jon echoed in Benjen's head.

If Ned wanted his relationship with the one who until eight moons ago was his bastard to return to certain warmth, Ned would have to go through the ring of Targaryen dominance. Therefore Benjen did not hesitate to put in his mouth the words of guidance that Jon transmitted towards Ned.

"The law of brothels controlled by house Stark must be continues to be applied. Men talk after fucking and we never know who the whore can work for, so it's better they do it for you Ned." Benjen said crudely and without turning much, to his brother's surprise at his outburst of advice. "Before going to Essos, betroth Robb to Ysilla Royce or marry him to Alys Kastark on the last day of the Harvest Festival. Depending on what you do with Robb, then betroth Sansa with someone from the North like a Talhart or Robin Flint and give them Dreadfort and their lands as a dowry." Benjen continued in a clear voice, which although low, was audible to both of them.

"Or if you marry Robb to Alys, betroth Sansa to someone from the Vale, if possible a Royce or else to Lady Waynwood's ward. Rickon, betroth him to the youngest of the Mormont girls and marry one of Lord Manderly's granddaughters to Small Jon. Or if you don't want to give the Umber or Manderly so much power to the point that they become the second great house of the Kingdom, marry him to someone under the current vassalage of Bolton - Forrester, Dustin and even a

Ryswell if there are any girl-." Taking advantage of his brother's surprise, Benjen decided to continue.

"You must make mountains clans sworn vassals of Rickon's new seat, especially the Flints, the Wulls and the Liddles. Make its people, who are not too different of the wildlings, settle in the lands of The Ned's youngest son. With all this, you would kill two birds with one stone. The problem of population dispersion in the North and you eliminate the possibility of a future internal rebellion before it is even conceived." concluded Benjen with a determined voice and sure of what he was saying.

Ned looked at him between astonished, thoughtful and worried. Some wrinkles were beginning to appear on Ned's face and eyes, as well as some other gray in his dark brown hair. Ned's mouth was half open as his eyes gazed at Benjen examining him and the wisdom, or lack thereof, in Benjen's words.

"Where did you get all this political knowledge of the North?" Ned asked him in a voice that showed between astonishment and admiration.

Benjen certainly couldn't tell his brother Ned that all he was saying was repeating the general opinion of the Targaryen council. There was a good chance that this would provoke Ned's resistance to it.

"I've been fourteen years at the Wall, Ned. I have had a lot of time to think and get to know the North. You know better than anyone to what extent I felt responsible for the Rebellion. If I had spoken at Harrenhal with you and Brandon, maybe everything would have been different..." It was not the absolute truth what Benjen was saying to his brother, but it was not a lie either.

Benjen was facing the holy Weirwood of Winterfell. His guilt for having been unable to prevent a war that Benjen knew from the beginning was unjust, led him at the time to gladly accept black as punishment for his actions and silences. It was time to do something for everything that at the time he didn't do.

"Well let's get out of politics for a while Benjen. How is the family? How are Arya and Bran? How is Lya doing being among the living again?" Benjen's mood must have grew dark, and his brother must have noticed, so Ned asked suddenly, radically changing the subject.

"Arya and Lya are continually being instructed as Crown Princess of House Targaryen. Between the old maester and Rhaegar, they are achieving with our sister and your daughter what neither you, nor father could do with them. It seems that to tame a wild She-wolf you need a Dragon." Benjen told his brother with quite irony, which with his sister still dead, would have been totally out of place.

But Benjen was glad to have his sister again and what that entailed. 'I will never stop being his annoying little brother.' He thought warmly on the inside.

Ned's surprise was obvious. Gods, if Benjen hadn't seen the two spend hours studying Westeros' houses, sigils, and history, he'd have a hard time believing it too. Lya had even started taking lessons in military strategy and tactics, much to Benjen sister's delight.

"They also practice archery, fencing and horse riding every day. Rhaegar has even gifted Lya with Lord Brynden Rivers' ancient weirwood bow, which had been left behind in the custody of Maester Aemon." He said with a huge smile to Ned.

If his niece and sister had something in common, it was that they were both free spirits, who had to

be nurtured and not repressed. And that was exactly what Jon and Rhaegar did with the two of them. Give them all the tools at their disposal, to enable them to successfully carry out roles and functions typically restricted to the male gender. "Lya could possibly already defeat Robb with her sword and shield in a sparring." Benjen jokingly added.

"Hahaha! You don't know what weight you take from my soul Benjen. Knowing that they are well and being true to their true essence, reassures me a lot about their departure with Aegon." Ned said in a relaxed voice and with some warmth.

"Your two children are as close as ever, Ned. They're both squires of the two Targaryen in practical. Sometimes they look like Aegon's shadows, for they are always three steps behind him." Benjen communicated to his brother with affection when remembering the image. 'If they had white cloaks, they could be his little King's Guards.'

"Arya has developed the habit of sweeping the floor of the sparring site with Bran's ass, much to Bran's irritation. However in archery, Bran is practically better than me. I don't think he will ever become a swordsman like Rhaegar, or a warrior like Aegon. But as an archer and commanding armies, Bran has everything it takes to be one of the best ever." Benjen told Ned proudly of his nephew and niece.

Ned's smile, mixed with his warm gaze but on the verge of tears, showed how much his brother loved his children and like Benjen, was proud of them.

"Those certainly sound like my kids. But everything you tell me sounds too good. Where is the but Benjen?" his brother Ned asked him now, the gaze harder than before and in a less relaxed position.

Benjen knew that to reassure his brother of the veracity of Benjen's words, he had to say everything he knew. Or at least everything he could tell without going into blood magic, rituals and legends coming to life. Therefore, Benjen decided to comment on what he did not know if he was concerned or saddened, about their sister.

"However, Lya's return to life seems to have affected her. There are moments when she seems off and without that spark that she had before the Rebellion. On the other hand, it seems that neither she nor Jon are able to understand what is the essence of a mother-child relationship. They have something akin to a sister and brother relationship, which makes Lyanna sometimes seem like she doesn't know how to interact with him. Really, except for Rhaegar, the person closest to her is Arya. They see and recognize each other as sisters, rather than as aunt and niece, both having their devotion to Aegon in common. The latter loves them both madly and I have no doubt that Lya adores him. I think that Jon just hasn't had time to process that his mother is with him yet."

"And Jo-Aegon? How is he assuming his role? Is he still cold as ice with his father?" Ned asked with undoubted warmth in his voice, but some concern. Without a doubt, his brother's question gave Benjen the cue he wanted to deepen in the figure of his nephew.

The absence of questions about Rhaegar's condition and well-being did not surprise Benjen, although the playful touch Ned's tone had when mentioning the initially strained relationship between the Silver Prince and The Dragon Reborn show some bitterness from Ned at Rhaegar.

'Without a doubt, after the resurrection of the three, the mutual doubts between father and son must have been even more evident than at the Wall.' thought Benjen on the subject.

He could never be counted as a close friend of his brother-in-law, but they had a cordial relationship and mutual respect, allowing Benjen to know facets of the more private Rhaegar that

not everyone knew. On the other hand, Jon was his favorite nephew and knew him perfectly.

'Or at least that was true until before the Visenya ritual. Still, I think I know him better than his own father and Ned.' That is why he understood the problems that initially reigned between the resurrected and forever unknown father, with respect to his son in the process of assimilating his true kinship.

Although they both has similar personalities, Jon is sharper than Rhaegar and more calculating. However, Aegon is also more prone to act on impulse than Rhaegar, who sometimes overthink things instead of acting.

In the same way, the fact of having grown up as a bastard and in the North, plus experiencing the life of the Conqueror first hand, had made of Aegon a very pragmatic, direct and at times unforgiving person. Sometimes his kingly nephew had a certain point of cynicism and sarcastic attitude that showed his ability to live with the worst that life could put him in front of.

Rhaegar on the other hand, although a man adored by the common people, could count with the fingers of the hands how many times he had slept in conditions typical of the common people. Rhaegar was prone to idealism, rhetoric and sometimes he was too benevolent. This, coupled with a somewhat romantic, almost naive, vision on some aspects of life, led Rhaegar to internal conflict when he was not able to accept reality above his ideals.

Inevitably both personalities reached the point of collision, after which fortunately, they ended up understanding.

'Sometimes I do not know how the matter would have ended if it were not for the appearance of the Great Jon and his men.' Thinking about that directed his thoughts towards another of the key reasons for Benjen's visit to Winterfell.

"Ned there is something else you should know and it is better that you know it from me than through for others. Great Jon and the Umber vassals know of Forlond and Tar-nu Fuin and have bended the knee to Jon." Benjen said suddenly and dryly to Ned.

His brother was looking at Benjen as if he had suddenly grown a second head. Possibly if he hadn't witnessed it all, he wouldn't believe it either. But nevertheless, Benjen witnessed everything that happened on the Wall in those almost three weeks in the old Eastwatch before the departure to Essos of his nephew and his entourage.

"How is it possible?" simply asked Ned.

"Shortly after I arrived at Eastwacht By the Sea, the mass of the Free Folk did the same. There were moments of certain general lack of control and mistrust. The Watch had not yet left the old fortress, nor were all the brothers very much in agreement with the treatment made by Mormont and the rest of the high hierarchy of my brothers with our nephew. This led to high tensions with the newcomers. Some of this newcomers, thought that breaking a double oath sworn to a Targaryen was a minor thing." Benjen would tell his brother in a low, broken tone, remembering those feverish days as if he were reliving them.

"One of these wretches who had accepted the citizenship of the Freehold but not its laws, nor the atmosphere that was breathed at that time in Eastwacht, had no better idea than to go to the Umber lands and rape the child of a farmer of less ten days of the name. After that, he brutally murdered him. Not happy with his work, the foul thing tried to do the same with the mother of the child, who until then had been forced to contemplate everything. At that moment Small Jon passed near the cabin, heard the screams and the commotion, apprehending the wildling at the moment. In

exchange for the Umber sparing his life, the wildling told them everything that was happening at the Wall... But the version that the wildling had wanted to understand...and the one that the Great Jon wanted to understand." said Benjen with a bitter and pained tone.

The lies of six and ten years ago had resurfaced in that moment, and they would do so again in three moons. Ned was beginning to frown and look disgusted, although made a gesture with the hand, as if to continue with the narration, so Benjen did.

"The wildling's explanation made the Great Jon think that Rhaegar, the rapist of his boyhood love, Lyanna, survived after the Trident, living beyond the Wall. And now Rhaegar, was leading the wildlings as King-from-Beyond-the-Wall and setting them up in the eastern part of Brandon's Gift." He concluded in anger at the trouble the foul bastard wildling nearly caused.

"While that was going on the Umber lands, between Aegon, Rhaegar, Rykker, Mance, and myself, we managed to bring order to the Wall. Not without some heads rolling on both sides. The reprimand of Aegon to his citizens, climbed astride his dragon is something I will not forget in my life." Benjen said as he shook the head and clasped his hands nervously.

Try as he might, Benjen was still struggling to reconcile the boy he had known, with the man that was in his place now. Jon had changed and it wasn't just the hair coloring. And that was something Ned had to know before the Harvest Festival.

"Seriously Ned, sometimes I find it hard to see a trace of the brooding pouting boy who was hiding in the shadows of this castle...That hardness and implacability that he has now...I don't know where it came from ..." Benjen said with a hint of doubt and with some fear. However, he stopped, to emphasize in a warm voice that the Jon they knew still existed.

"He still has a heart of gold, but for him to show it you have to earn his trust and for that you have to move the mountains more or less. And the greatest example of that is his relationship with his father, Rhaegar." Benjen sentenced, hinting to his brother that he was preparing to clarify his previous doubt.

"Rhaegar was having a lot of problems in his relationship with Jon for continued discussions on the positions to adopt towards the essosi slavers nobility and some Westeros noble houses. This subject opened a gap between the two, because our nephew did not quite trust that his father had realizing that to carry out parts of their plan, they cannot allow themselves to be seen as weak or soft, nor to be idealistic. For his part Rhaegar thought that Jon might have the problem of having too much power without any check ... you know... Harrenhal, Field of Fire, the wars against Volantis in Essos..." said Benjen, hinting perfectly what he meant.

'The use of Balerion as a weapon of war.' thought that made Benjen ran a shudder down his spine.

"This reached its boiling point when Rhaegar, through Lya who had befriended one of the wildling woman, learned about the Call to The True Struggle or The Speech to the Free Folk. As you prefer the song and the bard who sings it. Or what is the same, how Jon managed to win over 127,000 wildlings that appear in the official census of the Province of Tar-nu Fuin." He said with some admiration in his voice at the achievements of his nephew.

"Rhaegar suddenly appeared maddened in the courtyard, eyes blazing and transmitting a fury that caused dread to those who watched him. There was where Jon was sparring with Ser Jaremy and Sigorn Thenn, at the same time." Benjen commented casually on the latter, still not wanting to delve into Aegon.

Ned shot him a look and a questioning gesture, as if asking how long has Jon been able to fight

with two people at the same time, but the story itself would explain everything, so Benjen decided to continue with the narrative.

"Without a word, Rhaegar landed a right punch to Jon's jaw, calling him Maegor Reborn and that he was ashamed to have for a son someone who had considered ending all Free Folk if they didn't join him." Benjen said almost laughing as he remembered Jon's shocked and incredulous face at his furious father.

'In the end the only thing Rhaegar needed to win the respect and affection of his son was to awaken his inner Dragon.' Benjen mused to himself.

Without a doubt, the members of the Forty Families, truly did possess dragon blood. When this appears in a Targaryen, they are human dragons and as such, they solve their disputes.

"I never thought I would say these words, but Rhaegar is right. That's not the boy I raised...I don't understand why you laugh when Jon has turned into a tyrant."said his brother Ned censuringly and with evident disgust in his voice.

To prevent his brother from doing the same as his brother-in-law, Benjen quickly interrupted him. He raised the left hand to allow him to finish before jumping to the wrong conclusions.

"As with your reaction now, Rhaegar didn't know the idea had come from Bran and more as an empty threat than actually a card to play. Jon wanted that there was no population beyond the Wall and he thought that that, would at least convince them to seek protection on this side of the Wall, even if it was on the terms established by him ... Besides, it is not such a mad idea, although it may seem excessive and drastic. We know and we have proven that everything that dies north of the Wall comes back to life, if you can call that that, enslaved by the Others. If by any chance all those people decided to stay on the other side, possibly they would have ended up recruited as puppets of the Others." concluded Benjen his defense of Jon in his Call to the Free Folk, while trying to draw a thick veil on a new direct participation of Bran in the events.

His brother Ned was so shocked to hear his son's name and what it was associated with that Ned's face turned almost the color of the Heart Tree. "From Bran?" asked almost choking, Ned.

Of course, the new Bran was a subject that Benjen wanted to talk as little as possible with his brother. Anything Benjen explained was going to be worse, and Ned was leaving for Essos in less than five moons.

'Seeing him in the flesh, surely Ned can better understand what Bran is now.' thought Benjen seeking some consolation on how his brother would take the news that his second son was the reincarnation of the Builder , as well as the Last Greenseer and the Three-Eyed Raven. 'And I don't want to imagine Ned's reaction when witnesses the scars of the interaction between Bloodraven and Bran.' so Benjen tried to quickly steer Ned's attention from Bran, albeit without lying

"Bran took the idea from a book about the Wars of Jon Stark ... He is the third in command practically after Jon and Rhaegar, but... but Bran has experienced things that are not mine to tell. I can only tell you that one day you will be very proud of him, even if you may not understand his past or future actions."

"Past?" his brother said almost choking on his words. The face and voice of Benjen's brother denoted a misunderstanding that in a way made Benjen feel sorry for Ned. But if he tell Ned the story of what had happened to his nephew Brandon, Benjen first doubted that his brother believed him in the slightest and if he did, Ned was capable of bolting towards Essos at that moment.

"As I did tell you Ned, it's not my story to tell." Benjen said in a way that implied that he would not speak more about Bran's powers.

"Okay, continue with the fight of the Dragons." his brother Ned pronounced with a certain bitter aftertaste in the tone.

"Ha! It's funny, that's what they call it among the population of Forlond." Benjen replied with certain humor thinking about how the societies on both sides of the wall called an episode, in which father and son aired their problems in the old fashion way.

From what Benjen had seen among the Free Folk, sometimes these father and son disputes were resolved in the same way even nowadays, so he didn't understand why was getting so much hype the subject. And even the Starks' vassalage on Bear Island was won with a fist fight.

'Maybe it will be because no one has seen two Targaryen fight with fists before between each other.' Benjen thought trying to find the explanation why people seemed so fascinated by the fact that Jon and Rhaegar beat the shit out of each other. However, Benjen did not tell his brother anything of his misunderstanding, whom awaited tensely and scowling for Benjen to continue his narration of the events in Forlond.

"Total, the bluff that Jon threw before the Free Folk to urge them to join his cause, almost two months after saying it, ended up turning into a bare-knuckle fight between father and son. During this fight they said each other everything they had for the other, while Bran and I held Lya and Arya so they wouldn't intervene." Benjen sentenced trying to relativize the seriousness of the dispute and the matter.

"Why didn't you do anything to stop that fight Benjen?" Ned said with a tone of absolute reproach and accusation.

"Because those two had to solve the problems they had sooner or later. One saw in his father someone weak and soft, irresolute and incapable of doing his duty. All this for a failure, that if you look at it carefully, Rhaegar had almost no way of avoiding it, even if he had deposed the mad king after Dunksdale. The point is that while Jon saw Rhaegar as a possible weakness, the father feared that his son would become a tyrant or a potential Aerys." Benjen replied calmly, explaining how that situation had come about by seeing it up close and with insider information from within the Targaryen circle.

"Why is that?" Ned asked inquisitively, with some reproach still present in his voice.

"Lya told me the way Aegon spoke of the Conquest in your solar the night of the ritual and after seeing him perform with some men on the Wall and with the Free Folk during the disorders ... if I had not known what had transpired before to the false threatens the Free Folk, I too would have thought that he could have meant it. But before drawing conclusions I would have asked Jon." Benjen confessed in all seriousness to his brother.

"The fundamental problem really was that Rhaegar still didn't really knew Jon well, nor did they have the confidence that they now have. So instead of doing as you or I would have done, asking him first about his words and the truth behind them, The Dragon in Rhaegar immediately came to the conclusion that Jon was willing to kill thousands of people, by the mere fact that he's able to do it." Benjen concluded bitterly.

Ned did not seem to have been very convinced by all that Benjen said and had a certain worried face. Surely, Ned might think that with the ritual and his resurrection, maybe Jon could incur in the Targaryen madness.

'Another myth spread by the victorious side of the Rebellion.' Madness actually only affected seven of house Targaryen members throughout its history, but it was so accentuated on Aerys that it marked part of Westerosi society.

'The problem with the Targaryen is that. Everything is extreme. When they are bright, they are extremely bright; when they're mediocre, they're extremely mediocre and when they're mad, they are extremely mad. And madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin, both of which are impossible without each other. That's why the Targaryen always find the third way. It is never black or white. It's all gray for them.' Benjen reflected now that he had had a chance to meet two Targaryen who were the epitome of what it was to be descended from Old Valyria and Dragonlords.

Benjen knew that for his part, Ned had certain acquired prejudices about house Targaryen, which were reaffirmed at the time by the sadistic and criminal treatment of their father and brother at the hands of the Mad King. This leads to any action taken by Aegon and Rhaegar being judged negatively beforehand. And not only by Ned, but in the near future that would be the reaction by almost the entirety of Westeros.

"For you to rest calm, apart from the ten citizens of the Freehold tried and executed for break the laws of the Freehold, by the scum of a wildling who called himself the Rattleshirt and except for the sentence to the rapist in Umber lands, Aegon did not kill anyone else. And the ten whom he had executed, was with the same desire and the same pleasure that you take with Ice when you do it. If it weren't for his silver hair, it would have been like seeing you in pretty, executing some deserter." Benjen said with some sarcasm at the end, though coldly and firmly the rest of the time.

"What do you mean Ben?" Ned asked with a tone of doubt, without understanding that what Benjen was trying to do was to calm Ned down and reassure him that their nephew was perfectly sane and was neither a sadist nor a tyrant.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, you have educated him in the ways of the North and you know 'Who he passes the sentence ...' For that reason, Jon is neither Maegor, nor the Mad King. Jon is the fucking Conqueror, who by the way, what a coincidence, it is very well documented that also passed the sentence three hundred years ago"

Benjen said a little exasperated, because in the Citadel's own memoirs and scripts there were exact descriptions of how the Conqueror was and how his nephew is. And despite having read them Benjen never put all the pieces together and seen who Jon really was. Not to mention that those writings testimonies made the verisimilitude of the entire ritual unquestionable. 'The one who believed himself Jon Snow, conquered the Seven Kingdoms.'

Ned looked at him with a mixture of relief as well as some respect, for who his nephew was now. And that for Benjen was exactly the problem. Jon now commanded a respect like no person he had ever met.

"But that's not what makes me uneasy about the new Jon, Ned. It's what happened after the fight and how the Great Jon was introduced to a Dragon what makes me it." Benjen said now shakily, causing his brother to close his gaze on him even more.

"While the fight between father and son was taking place, we did not know it, but the Great Jon, along with the Small Jon and a contingent of two hundred men on horseback had marched towards Eastwacht with the wildling as prisoner and witness days ago. And they were arriving to Eastwacht by the time the fight of Dragons was at its height." Benjen said with a certain aftertaste and the same low tone only audible to him and Ned.

"At that point Lyanna broke out of my control and tried to get between father and son. The same way Arya tried to stop Jon. During the father-son fight, the winged mounts of both Dragonlords were dancing in the air over the Bay of Seals, while the four direwolves threatened the newcomers Umber. As can you imagine, an unusual and quite terrifying scene." Benjen told Ned, while his brother widened the eyes and raised the right eyebrow in a way that seemed to want to escape from Ned's forehead.

"When the chaos seemed like it couldn't get any worse, pandemonium was formed. The Great Jon recognized Arya and thought that Rhaegar had kidnapped her, to do with her the same as with Lyanna, although with much foul words, calling him from rapist up and making references to house Targaryen that in the Freehold are punished with the death. Whereupon The Great Jon drew his great sword and spurred his horse in the direction of Rhaegar, Bran was able to warn our brother-in-law just in time to avoid losing off his head, but unfortunately, Lya was not so fortunate and suffered a superficial cut on her right shoulder, immediately falling to the ground." Benjen expressed with some regret.

"What happened to Lya? She's fine?" Ned asked worriedly.

"Easy, she is fine, it only required seven stitches and it was superficial." He immediately told Ned in a more reassuring voice and continued with the story.

"As Lyanna fell to the ground, both dragons immediately stopped fighting between them and let out a thunderous roar that nearly collapsed the Wall, to then begin descending quick as arrows towards the assembled Umber men. But before the dragons even arrived, or I or anyone else present could even react to what was going to happen, Jon with his blunt training sword and a round shield of the Watch that had been around, launched himself for the Great Jon and for the Small Jon at the same time. Although the latter was only around and hadn't even drawn his sword or spoken." Benjen was telling his brother, unable to hide the amazement in his voice. 'You had to have them very well on to go after the Great Jon. Going after him and his heir was something beyond the reach of a mortal.'

"In less than a blink, both Umber were unmounted from their horses. Small Jon was knocked unconscious just as he fell to the ground. However, Great Jon was totally out of his mind and charged at Jon as if there was nothing else in the world." he said seriously, with a certain bitter aftertaste at the blindness from hatred that had possessed Great Jon.

As Benjen told him all this, Ned has opened his eyes and mouth even more, if that was possible. The expression of disbelief on his brother's typically stoic face was priceless.

"Do you remember when Robb was training with Jon, how many times it seemed like Jon was playing with him until suddenly, Jon always lost?" Benjen asked his brother, leaving Ned not understanding for what that reference was coming from.

"Yes, what does it have to do with this and the Great Jon?" Ned asked with incomprehension.

"That's exactly what Aegon did with The Great Jon, play with him. But without losing." He told with a certain reverence in the voice and continued "Almost without breaking a sweat, Aegon began to tell the Great Jon his whole story, including that of Rhaegar and Lyanna, while playing with the giant Umber, dodging, parrying or repelling his blows as if the Great Jon was a mere child with a wooden stick and not the huge man with a fucking huge sword and very fast for his size. Lyanna also contributed with comments from where she was being treated by maester Aemon, assuring the Great Jon that it was her, trying to stop the fight."

"When they finished telling him everything and the Great Jon maintained the hostility, our nephew

Aegon got bored of playing with the Giant Umber. All of a sudden, Aegon dropped his shield and with a speed that I have never seen or think I will see again, he dodged a blow that would have cut him in the middle by leaning on his heels and arching his back backwards. At the same time that he turned his body to get parallel to the Umber's greatsword. As it passed over him, Aegon sprang to his feet, stomping first on the giant Umber's right knee, bending it inward. Before anyone could process what Jon had just done, he landed a two-handed blow with the blunt sword in Great Jon's deft hand, so hard that he dropped the sword on the spot and began to howl in pain. The Great Jon tried to grab his hand with his other hand. But due to the blow to the knee the Great Jon lost the stability and fell to the ground screaming in pain." Benjen concluded the explanation of the encounter between the Umber and the Dragons.

Ned let out a sigh of surprise and admiration, the gaze reflecting total shock. Ned's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets and the mouth was open to the point that Benjen was sure his brother's jaw would hurt later.

"Ned, our nephew made the Great Jon cry in pain. Aegon broke the Umber hand and three fingers. From the rumors that have reached me, one of the toughest and most bloodthirsty wildlings I have ever met, second only to the Weeper in cruelty, Rattleshirt threatened Bran before the gathering with the wildlings. Aegon cut him in the middle from shoulder to hip with a single blow. And that was before the wildling even realized what was happening. That episode was why he never went into details about his meeting with the Free Folk and for why Rhaegar or Lya never learned from Aegon what transpired between him and the Free Folk. Because he doesn't enjoy killing. And less so in a brutally manner, so Aegon was afraid of being judged by his family as a monster." Benjen explained with some sadness to his brother. Sadness that Jon thought that his family was going to leave him aside, for protect them with all the means at Aegon's disposal. Even if this mean cut an enemy in the middle.

"After the fight between Jon and Rhaegar. And after how Jon defended his parents' honor against the giant Umber, they finally had an open conversation where they learned to trust each other. Since then, Aegon and Rhaegar became inseparable. By the time they marched to Braavos they began to form an unstoppable tandem, which was in total harmony at all levels. Both on a political level, as with a sword in hand. From the day of the fight onwards, they both began training for three hours in the morning each day. First an hour between the two of them and then, the two of them against four or eight rivals, depending on the mood of both. Finally an hour sparring with Bran, Lya and Arya. After that every day, they spent another two or three hours with Lyanna, Maester Aemon, Arya and Bran discussing policies, movements and strategies." Benjen explained to his brother how the two Targaryen went from punching each other to had something resembling a relation between a father and a son.

"Arya and Bran?" Ned asked incredulously.

"Yes Ned. Arya and Bran. I repeat, except for Aegon who has the last word, the power of the five that left from here is similar. In the same way that it will have happened with Rhaella, Rhaenys and Ser Jaime. Jon doesn't mind being the figurehead of everything, but if you are with him, you have to be an equal with him. That includes being able to navigate any situation that Aegon might get involved with. It's our nephew's command style. He makes known what he intends, knowing and trusting that his entire inner circle would successfully resolve the situation, reaching the final objective for the intended. This reaches the point that Lya in the near time, may end up commanding an army." he told his brother about his nephew's modus operandi and how Aegon delegated power. The best example was Bran, but Benjen couldn't justify in any way that Ned's son was the Master of Whispers of the Freehold of Valyria and Westeros, without telling his story. For this reason he proceeded to continue with the narration of his family's stay in Forlond.

"In the afternoons, the five after their lunch, walked through the great camp of the wildlings, getting to know them and taking care of their needs. Looking jobs for the people and helping them in what they could. That when Rhaegar and Jon were not in their dragons helping in the new constructions or forming part of the lines of people who pulled the pulleys to lift stones in the new constructions on the south side of the Wall." Benjen said with pride as his nephew, despite to the power he now possessed, was still one more despite everything.

"For everything you have tell me, our nephew will be the best King this continent is going to have in hundreds of years. Possibly since himself, Jaehaerys or Daeron the second. Although this dislodge me and it is still difficult for me to accept some things, brother. When I already thought that I was being able to internalize and grasp everything that happened more than eight moons ago, what you tell me distorts any mental image that I had created in any plane. What you are describing to me, seems more like something out of the legends than normal people. However they are our family. That makes it difficult to reconcile with everything that one has mentally established. I imagine it must have been like that for the relatives of people like Symeon Star-Eyes, Florian or Brandon the Builder. Possibly in hundreds of years they will sing songs about Jon, Lya, Rhaegar and even about Arya and Bran. How do you think we will go down in history Ben?" asked Ned with curiosity and already totally relaxed.

It seemed that knowing the future of his family and the path of greatness that lay before them, had reassured him and even in a way, reassured Ned that was doing the right thing.

However, Benjen needed to be completely honest with his brother about Jon and because he had begun to believe the same as Rhaegar and Bran; That is that Aegon is the only one that could end with the coming of a second darkness.

"But there is something else Ned." Benjen told his brother with some seriousness, whom noticed the sudden change in Benjen's attitude and voice.

"So I must think that everything you've told me before this is bullshit?" Ned asked with disgust and reproach.

"No Ned. Everything I have told you, is as it was and is. But that is not the problem. What worries me and more is what dislodges me about the new Jon, is that he himself is a weapon to kill. Aegon himself is who has power. I think our nephew scares me more with Blackfyre in hand than astride on the Black Dread. And I am especially scared when someone in the family is threatened. I don't want to know what Aegon would do in retaliation if someone would do something to what he considers to be his family circle or those who are innocent." Benjen said with a trembling voice full of concern to his brother.

He knew that the new Jon would be ruthless with anyone who tried to harm those he considered family. And Ned needed to understand and internalize it as well. "Seriously Ned, our nephew enjoyed humiliating the Great Jon. But if something serious would had happened to Lyanna or Rhaegar, I have no doubt that Aegon would have separated the Great Jon's head from the shoulders in less than a blink with his bare hands and then, given it to Balerion for dessert."

"Why are you telling me all this now, Ben?" asked his brother puzzled and with some concern on his face.

"Ned, when Jon fought the Umber, I realized that the one who was fighting was not human, much less our nephew. It was something else. It was a Dragon. His predatory gaze, his bodily security, his voracious half smile ... I am telling you all this so that you realize that even if only eight moons have passed, just like me you have to accept that our nephew Jon died in the crypts and instead, now our nephew is Aegon The Dragon Reborn." He explained to his brother, trying to convince

himself at the same time.

"Although he has the body of a boy of five and ten days of his name, his speed and his strength do not belong to this world. And I think there is no one to stop him with a sword in hand. Aegon seems immune to the cold. Our new nephew possesses the warlike experience of someone who has fought and won hundreds of battles. Has extensive construction, engineering and architectural knowledge. On top of that, since he had come back to life, our nephew has already formed four provinces in his quest to resurrect the Freehold; The Lost Daughter, The Daughter of Steel, The Forest Beneath the Shadow, and Valyria over the Rhoyne. Aegon now roughly commands around ten to fifteen million people as subjects, fully and firmly controlling the Northwest of Essos."

No doubt talking out loud about Benjen nephew's accomplishments and exploits made them more real and therefore at least a little easier to process. 'I hope it's the same for Ned .'

In addition, Ned needed to know not only because his nephew was involved, but because he had to have all the possible information in hand for the time of the Festival. If Ned knows exactly who the Jon is after the ritual is, it will be easier for him to deny false accusations about possible tyranny, madness or brutality.

In calm, if slightly shaky voice, Benjen continued to share the details of the new Jon with his brother Ned.

"Remember the child rapist the Umber brought with them to the Wall? It is seen that Elia's death marked Jon in some ways. When the Umber told our nephew of the situation in which the wildling was found, Aegon did not blink. He simply said in his usual metallic tone, to prepare a stump in the center of where the Tower-Citadel of Barad-Suvion is rising[1]. When everything was ready, he passed sentence and cut off his head as if the matter was not even with him. After that, Aegon asked everyone to move at least fifty meters away from the site where the wildling had been executed and where the deep foundations of the tower would be excavated." Without realizing it, Benjen was reliving the events as he recounted them, causing his tone to get lower and lower, being unable to prevent a little trembling from him.

"Our nephew then climbed astride onto Balerion, spoke a few words in Valyrian and incinerated the corpse and the ground surface, until at some points the earth itself began to melt from the heat, resembling obsidian. When the flames dissipated, there was a gully twice the amount you say was on the First Keep site. That dragon can pulverize anything Ned." He confessed to Ned with far more fear than he wanted to admit, the healthy respect Benjen had developed for his nephew's dragon and why.

However, with all of this, Benjen wanted to make his brother see the new reality that they should be vigilant of. Preventing something that would trigger Jon's more implacable side from happening.

"You have seen its flame in the first person as I have. You know that there will be no one to stop Aegon. And they will try to hurt him where it hurts the most and where he is most vulnerable. And that will be our family. The Starks. That's why now more than ever you have to be a pack and follow him, because if one of us suffers a mishap or the gods don't want it, someone thinks of betraying us and giving us Robert, Aegon will release the seven hells on Westeros."

"Why are you telling me all this, if at the same time you tell me that you are proud of Aegon and think he is the ideal leader for what is coming?" Ned asked a bit out of place and decomposed after what Benjen had told him about the nephew they has in common.

"Because sooner or later, here will be discussed Aegon's actions in the North and in Essos. And it

is better that you know first-hand how and who your nephew is, than through rumors and exaggerations. And not only will it be known here and you know it, brother. Soon rumors and news will cross the Neck. Fortunately, all the noise they are making in Essos will make the events that have happened here in the North less likely. You know, we are barbarians, savages with excess of imagination and time." Benjen said the last with absolute contempt for the southerners, for the widespread image that exists of the north, at the south of the Neck.

"Soon the rumors and stories will become more and more exaggerated, crazier and reaching a wider audience. In Tar-nu Fuin, some think that Aegon is one of the Old Gods who walks among mortals again. Some citizens from Essos venerate him as Aegon The Liberator or Aegon The Lord of Valyria. Not to mention that Visenya's nickname seems to be the most widely used, The Dragon Reborn. Although many directly opt for The Dragon or Dragon King." Benjen told his brother with a certain humorous tone, but for some reason, his voice was shaky as he enumerated the list of names earned by his nephew.

'Some even justifiable.' Benjen asserted to himself, with some surprise and admiration for Jon.

"Great Jon despite his first meeting with Aegon, kisses the ground where Aegon has walked, in the same way that his son does. The Umber iron mines and sawmills have never been so busy. The Umber are turning to gold and they know thanks to whom. Not to mention they are ultra loyal to Lyanna to death. If they were blond with violet eyes, they could very well be Velaryon for their conduct towards the Targaryen." Benjen explained with some humor to his brother, who looked at him in surprise when Ned found out that one of his most faithful vassals had become one of the most staunch subjects and loyalists of the Targaryen.

'The Long Night is coming. I doubt that this would be possible otherwise.'

"It's something you're going to have to get used to, just like Robb. The North supports House Stark unconditionally for the most part, but there are now two factions in House Stark. The second of which really is House Targaryen." Benjen tried to reaffirm his brother, but it is clear that the words chosen by him were not the most appropriate.

Although this new division of loyalties was a great plus for the meeting with the Lords of the North, his brother surely have not been amused that any of them could think that Jon could command the North equal to or better than Ned himself.

Although his brother in this should be calm. 'Neither Jon, nor Lya, nor any future descendants between my sister and Rhaegar if any, have interests in the North.'

"On the other hand, the Manderly as lords of the port that many of the specialists I see in the New Winterfell are arriving at, or that which is diverted to the Moat of the Moat, I don't know if they already know or not. But they must suppose something, since the braavosi ships sail under the flag of the Freehold and are leaving hundreds of thousands of gold dragons with the faces of our nephew and our brother-in-law struck on the coins, in White Harbor. Not to mention, that the visit to the Lord of the Mermaids by the special envoys of the Free Bank of Valyria, it must not have gone unnoticed by the plump lord either." He said with a bit of superiority to his brother "It is because of all this that you must tell everything in The Harvest Festival." Benjen concluded.

Ned sighed with resignation, leaving the body in a half defeated posture, but exuded a certain acceptance and decision about what Benjen's brother had to do.

Once everything was exposed, it was clear why the lords of the North needed to know all the details and information possible. If Ned wanted to maintain his control over his domains, Ned should be the one who supplied all the information to his vassals, before it reached them distorted

from other sources, causing a possible schism with house Stark . And that was something Jon, Lya, and his brother-in-law had made clear to Benjen was the last thing they wanted in the North.

'Although in the rest of Westeros his strategy will be based precisely on dissension and confusion, Jon sees the North as the battlefield against the Others and wants it firmly under his control and ready for when the time comes.' Benjen was thinking as he watched to his brother Ned thoughtfully and nodding to something Benjen didn't know.

"Now that you comment on the Moat. I haven't seen it yet, but Howland in command of the works until I go there, wrote me that less than a moon ago the first batch of Wildfire arrived. Where the hell did they get it from? Aren't only Kings Landing alchemists supposed to do it? Are they planning to use it as a weapon of war?" Ned asked with some curiosity to the first and with some concern and terror in the last.

"As you well know, there are things that are only the domain of the old blood. To be honest, I don't even know where they got the formula for making the substance, but I have my suspicions that old Aemon has something to do with it. With regard to the latter, except in the case of the Great War, the only purpose of the Wildfire is for construction." Benjen replied to his brother, relaying direct words from his nephew and Rhaegar.

"You know that when I carry out the entirety of Jon's plan in the Moat, I will be responsible for finishing something that the Children of the Forest began more than eight thousand years ago. From what Howland told me, by the time I get to Moat Caitlin, everything will be ready to definitively separate the North from the rest of the continent..." Ned told him with a heavy voice and full of disbelief at what he should do.

Taking advantage of the occasion, Benjen decided that it was time to give his nephew his final accolade

"That is why I was telling you before that I am convinced that Aegon is the only one who can lead us to victory. Look what he's done in nearly eight moons that have passed since the ritual. Imagine how everything will be when Winter really comes." Benjen told him soberly, but not without admiration and respect for Jon.

"That is coming, Benjen. Winter is Coming and we will be prepared to face it with Fire and Blood."