Free Rain

Rhaenys

The mood of the hall was awkward, but she was barely taking notice of it, her own mind was too busy having a crisis to care about anything else. How was she supposed to listen to anything that was being said after what had just happened in her father's solar?

The man, who she'd managed to generate an unhealthy obsession with, was actually in fact her brother, her long-lost brother.

Who wouldn't be freaking out right now?

She was currently sat in between her mother and Dany, and she could feel the tension they shared as they looked out into the crowd of people. The news they'd been told earlier about Lord Stark and the type of punishment he'd be getting had surprised none of them, although Viserys thought his brother was being too soft on the northern lord.

The people occupying the room weren't aware of that punishment yet, her father had told them, mainly the angry northern lords, that Lord Stark wouldn't be losing his head. But she feared that he'd made a mistake, the northern lords looked relaxed now that they believed their liege lord seemed safe from any form of punishment.

That was far from the truth, and it now made telling them a lot more problematic.

She fiddled with the ring on her finger under the table as she cast her gaze around the room, everybody seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations. The northerners were more upbeat for now, the Tyrells looked somewhat tentative to the news they'd been given, but it was the Lannisters that gave cause for concern. Lord Tywin asking about Jon was as much of a shock to her than it seemed to everybody else, the fact that the famously cold Lord showed any sort of emotion towards somebody other than his own family was bizarre.

His attitude was nowhere near as bad as his daughter's though, Cersei Baratheon looking almost predatory as she gazed up at the head table with a small grin on her face and her daughter's arm clutched within her own.

She wasn't stupid, she knew what the woman was thinking. The plotting had already begun, and Jon was the prize.

Over my dead body.

She sighed as she closed her eyes, Jon was her brother, and he wasn't hers to control. If he wanted to marry Cersei's daughter then what possible excuse could she come up with to stop him?

Jon's her brother now, she shouldn't care who he wants to marry.

Then why did she? Even with the knowledge of their relation, she still cared. It shouldn't but it did.

Was this her blood taking over? She knew her Targaryen side of the family practised incest, but the word was dirty and the act even more so. She'd never thought it would be something for her to worry about, she'd not once had sordid thoughts about Egg or Viserys.

So why didn't she feel guilty or disgusted when she thought of Jon the way she did?

Was it Targaryen madness? Was this the beginning of the end for her? Destined to go on a rage filled murder spree the moment she's rejected by him?

She shook her head, that was stupid, this was all stupid. Jon is her brother and nothing more, cross a line under it and be done with it.

Easier said than done.

She looked down the table, space had been made for Jon to sit with them, but he'd disappeared instead. She wanted to be annoyed with him, but she couldn't, she's unsure how she'd be behaving if she was in his position.

"Jon has gone to clear his head, Ser Jaime was unable to follow him due to the dragon."

That one sentence whispered to her as the information was shared was still a hard thing to grasp.

The Dragon.

She'd still not gotten over the sheer size of the creature or the fact that Jon was actually in fact it's rider. She's not sure if she'll ever get over seeing something so incredible and impossible.

How had he ever kept something like that a secret?

She shook her head, how had Lord Stark kept something like that a secret?

Part of her knew that the northerner didn't have evil intentions, no plots to take the crown away from her family and use Jon as a means to do that. No, he seemed to have his reasons, reasons she could kind of see if she was being understanding, but at the end of the day, Lord Stark had taken her brother away from them, they'd lost seventeen years with him, years they could never get back.

Would she have the same feelings for him if they'd grown up together?

When she really thought about it, he wouldn't be the Jon she'd quietly admired if he'd grown up in King's Landing, hell, he wouldn't be the dragonrider that he is today.

In a twisted way, a small voice in her head was thanking Lord Stark for taking him. If it wasn't for him, Jon wouldn't have grown up to be the man he is today.

And he wouldn't have a dragon either...

She was nudged underneath the table, looking to her right, she caught Dany's gaze. Her aunt lowered her voice and spoke.

"Why isn't he telling them?" She said as her aunt looked worryingly at her brother. She turned and noticed her father looking out to the crowd of people, a look of contemplation on his face. Her mother didn't look too different either.

She turned back to Dany "Telling them what?" She asked.

Dany looked back at her like she was slow "What do you think?" She whispered back at her, a hint of harshness in her tone "He hasn't told them about Lord Stark's punishment." She continued.

She turned back to look at her father, Dany was right, she'd been too caught up with her own thoughts to realise that her father hadn't explained to the lords and ladies what Lord Stark's punishment actually was yet.

"What's he waiting for?" She heard Dany whisper as she carried on looking between her mother and father.

"He must be waiting for the right time to tell them that's all." She whispered back. Dany must have accepted her excuse since she went quiet.

He is going to tell them, isn't he?

Out the corner of her eye, she noticed Lady Olenna making her way to the front of the crowd, helped by her grandson's paving a way through the masses for her. The crowd seemed to quieten naturally as they spotted The Queen of Thorns make her way to the forefront.

Everybody in the room seemed to hold their breath as the head of House Tyrell opened her mouth. It seemed weird regarding the woman as head of her house but everybody knew the truth, there was no way her son was the boss in that family.

"And this beast that we've all been well acquainted with, what is to be done to keep it in check, your grace? We've already seen what it's capable of and something tells me it's capable of a whole lot more." The older woman asked. Lady Olenna Tyrell was well known for not mincing her words.

The inhabitants of the room looked up at her father, she followed their gaze to see his reaction for herself.

He still needs to tell them about Lord Stark…

"That beast, you so pleasantly put it, is a symbol of House Targaryen my lady. Rest assured the dragon will be none of your concern." Her father answered. By the look on Lady Olenna's face, she wasn't assured in the slightest.

"And how can you assure us of such a thing your grace? You're as new to this creature as we all are, how can you be so sure that we won't be fried in the middle of our sleep?" She replied. It was clear to anybody that the Queen of Thorns wasn't backing down from this topic.

"My son has assured me that he is in full control of the dragon my lady." Her father said.

He did?

Lady Olenna's eyes drifted towards Aegon and then back to her father with a raised eyebrow.

She heard her father sigh "My...other son." He replied back.

"And how do you know that this other son of yours can be trusted? I mean by the sounds of it, you've only just met him yourself." Lady Olenna replied without any thought. She wanted to be careful, she was entering dangerous territory.

Her Father weighed up his response but it was clear to her that he was getting rather annoyed with the questioning.

"I know I can trust him Lady Olenna because he's my son. I've seen the type of man that he is, the type of man he's become." Her father answered back resolutely.

The Queen of Thorns seemed to reluctantly take the King's answer, nodding before turning back to the crowd and disappearing into it, her grandson's following suit. She knew though, along with her mother and her father that that conversation was far from over. She turned and her eyes connected with Margaery, by the tired smile she gave her, even she knew that there was more to that conversation coming at a later date.

The chatter in the room started to build again, everybody having their own little conversations with each other.

Her father still had to tell the room about Lord Starks actual punishment, but the perfect time to do so seemed to have sailed a long time ago. What was already going to be a hard thing to explain to this rowdy crowd had just become a lot harder.

"You need to tell them soon Rhaegar." She heard her mother whisper into her father's ear, he closed his eyes and nodded before opening them to look over the occupants of the room.

He took a deep breath before nodding over to Ser Arthur, the loyal friend of her father's grabbing an empty mug from the table and banging it on the surface until the room quietened down for his King to speak.

"Order!" Ser Arthur shouted as the last of the mutterings in the room disappeared. Her father giving the famous dornish knight a grateful smile before putting on his royal mask, fully prepared for the battle he was about to enter.

Mainly with the northerners.

"Thank you." Her father said as he looked around the room, his gaze holding strong as it passed over the northern lords.

"I'm afraid I found myself interrupted earlier as I was speaking to you, mainly to the northern lords, about the repercussions of Lord Stark's actions." Her father began. Not the best start, but she honestly couldn't think of a nice way of telling a group of boisterous northerners that their liege lord was taking the black.

"Repercussions? We were told there were none." A northern lord answered, for once it wasn't Lord Umber, although the giant lord was easy to spot, a clear frown on his face.

"Unfortunately, that isn't the case Lord Harrion, I lost the opportunity to inform the room of Lord Stark's punishment. Something I am now rectifying." Her father replied. The northern lords and ladies had now started looking at each other, every single one of them had a frown on their face. The rest of the room muttering to themselves.

Be careful father.

"What sort of punishment are we talking here? Tax inflation? A fine?" Another lord asked, this time it looked to be Lord Karstark.

It was now or never.

Her father sniffed before looking at Lord Karstark in the eye and answering his question.

"Lord Stark will be taking the black for his crimes against the crown my lord." Her father replied, in a tone that denied any sort of argument. An argument they all knew was coming.

"YOU BLOODY WHAT!?" Lord Umber bellowed out at the top of his voice, a furious look on his face.

Please return soon Jon.

Jon

The rain hadn't let up as he and Kireina left Harrenhal, if anything, it had gotten heavier. They'd been flying for only ten minutes but enough distance had been made from the castle for Kireina to land and let him off. The rain was relentless as he dismounted, the dirt softened by the weather was just right enough for him to avoid any injury as he landed, the only thing giving him trouble being his shoulder.

They'd travelled up river away from his problems, some would say ran away but he didn't care, and to be honest, he was finding it increasingly difficult to care about anybody's opinion of him lately.

Ghost had decided to stay behind in his tent, he didn't seem too interested with the wet weather they were experiencing, and seeing him snuggled up his makeshift bed, he couldn't blame him.

The riverbank they'd landed on was well out of the way of any main roads but he'd still be surprised if nobody saw Kireina land like she did, almost knocking a tree down with her bulk.

He walked towards one of the trees near the water edge, the sound of the rain hitting the river's surface was pleasant to the ear. The canopy of the tree had managed to keep the grass around the base of the trunk dry, he leaned his back against it as he sat down. He released a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, the last thing he saw was Kireina making herself comfortable with the little space that was around them.

The best thing he could do right now was to just sit there and let the sound of nature calm his emotions, but the fact that he could feel Kireina gazing at him intently, that wasn't going to happen.

It felt like she was waiting for him to talk, and the stubborn part of him was delaying such a thing.

He kept her waiting for a few minutes but eventually relented when he felt a hot gust of wind hit his face, the huff of her breath evident in the air around them. His eyes narrowed as he opened them, Kireina averting her gaze away from him and across the river into the distance. Another rumbling huff confirmed to him that she was pleased with herself.

He sat there, waiting to see what she was going to say, and only after a few minutes did she decide to let him know her thoughts.

"The little person struck me." Kireina said to him through their bond, and it was the last thing he expected to hear her say.

He cocked his head and looked at her in confusion, temporarily distracted by the way the rain trickled down the scales and crystals of her back, creating a prism of colour not too dissimilar to the colours of a rainbow.

"Eh?" He replied, not quite sure what she was talking about. He was expecting her to comfort him or tell him he's being stupid, not that she'd been attacked.

"The little one, the one that seems to follow you a lot. It struck me." Kireina answered. He realised who she was talking about almost instantly.

"Arya? Arya hit you? When?" He said, chuckling whilst doing so. The way Kireina huffed implied she didn't find it as funny as he did.

"When I took you away from that place. I picked you up and it attacked me." Kireina answered.

He shook his head and smiled "One, Arya isn't an it, she's a girl. And two, she's never even seen you before. She was probably scared that you were going to eat me or something." He answered, the smile still on his face. He couldn't believe that Arya had gone as far as to attack a dragon, all for his sake.

It made him feel even worse for what he was putting her and the rest of his siblings through.

Kireina readjusted in the spot she was laid in, the scrape of her bulk against the dirt sounded like a rumbling stampede.

"She still shouldn't have attacked me." Kireina replied through their bond. It sounded almost like a mutter, like she was telling herself that.

"Aww, did she hurt you?" He asked, a laugh bubbling in his gut at the ridiculous notion of a small girl managing to annoy an actual dragon with something so trivial.

"No, but I could've hurt her if you weren't my priority." She replied back as her head swung round to look at him, those mesmerizing eyes that looked like sparkling sapphires baring down on him.

It was like a bucket of ice water over him when he realised that she was right, Arya had nearly gotten herself killed for him. She was unaware that Kireina and him were bonded like they were, she didn't know what would happen if she attacked a creature like Kireina, but she'd done it anyway.

All because of him.

He looked down at his lap, the sword he'd brought with him from his tent laid across it. He preferred the terrifying simplicity of his own swords but he'd be lying if he said that the valyrian steel he was currently in possession of wasn't beautiful.

He rubbed a thumb over the ruby pommel, using the edge of his tunic to rid the smudge that it left on the surface. This wasn't his to play with really, it belonged to House Targaryen and for some reason, he'd still not found the right moment to give it to them.

In the back of his mind, he could hear whispers telling him it was already in House Targaryen's possession, but deep down he knew that wasn't the case. He felt more like a Stark than a Targaryen, and even that had waned after what had just happened back at Harrenhal.

If he wasn't a Stark, and he wasn't a Targaryen, what was he?

He knew exactly what he was, what he's been for his entire life.

He was a Snow.

To most people, that'd be a source of shame or ridicule, a target above their head for the trueborn arseholes to poke at. But to Jon, it'd become somewhat of a game to him, almost hoping for somebody to make a point of his last name.

It gave him an excuse to retaliate, and he almost craved the confrontation. It was like some twisted form of entertainment to him, watching somebody's face morph as they realised that he was going to give as good as he got and then some.

He knew he was very lucky in the position he was in, not everybody had years of intense training and teachings under their belt, or backup in the form of the creature laid in front of him right now. Not everybody had the power to stand up for themselves.

But he did, and he took pleasure when he did so, a sick satisfaction when the target of his ire would realise that Jon was better than them in every way and that the only thing they had on him was a single word.

Snow.

The feeling was like the moment the warmth of a hot bath seeped into his muscles, an itch that couldn't be reached finally being scratched, cracking his back after a full day of riding.

"Jon?" Kireina said to him through their bond, his eyes blinking as he looked up at the she-dragon craning over him, looking at him in quiet contemplation.

"Hmm?" He answered back, a hand combing through his hair as he cleared his mind in the hopes that Kireina didn't pick up on any of it.

She looked at him for a few seconds before speaking again, the only thing heard was the flow of the river and her deep breathing.

"What are you going to do?" She asked, he couldn't help but let out a humourless chuckle at her question.

He looked out towards the river, the rain seemed to be picking up in pace.

What are you going to do? If that wasn't a loaded question, he didn't know what was.

"There's not much I can do." He replied after a moment. Kireina carried on looking at him intensely, something that was starting to make him uncomfortable. It was like she was waiting for him to come to some sort of realisation.

"What do you mean?" She replied back.

"Well apart from threatening to go to war with my own family, what else could I do? I'm not a warmonger Kireina." He told her.

"I never said you were." She replied back simply. He huffed, he was hoping that she'd have some sort of idea as to how he was supposed to fix this mess.

He looked up through the canopy of the tree he was sat under, fat beads of rain were managing to get through the gaps of the leaves and branches. The sky was getting darker, the rain was getting even heavier and he couldn't tell if it was Kireina's breathing or heavy rumblings of thunder in the distance.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, stay out in the pissing cold rain or go back to the castle and face the music.

They all know who I am now more than likely, they'll be no hiding from anybody any more.

So much for clearing his head he thought as he slowly got up to his feet. Kireina craned her head backwards and looked at him intently.

"Remember who you are Jon," She said to him as she lowered her wing for him to climb "...and remember who I am." Was the last thing she said before spreading her wings and taking off, the gust of her powerful wings sending a huge wave of water across the river.

Remember who you are Jon.

He was starting to forget in all honesty, he needed someone like Master M or Gerion to remind him.

The rain battered his face as Kireina upped her pace back towards the castle.

Remember who I am.

That sounded like a threat in all honesty.

Aegon

As soon as his father had told the room of Lord Stark's punishment, all hell had broken loose, the northern contingent of the room being the main culprits to nobody's surprise. His father was trying to get a grip on the situation but the proud northern lords were having none of it, Lord Umber being the figurehead of their retaliation.

Next to him, Margaery was trying to keep Alysanne calm, shushing her as she rocked her. He gave her hand a supportive squeeze as they locked eyes, a slight undertone of worry in the smile she gave him back.

He shook his head as he carried on watching the Lord of Last Hearth froth at the mouth, sending word after word towards his father in a clear act of fury.

And in all honesty, he couldn't blame the man.

His father had made an absolute mess of the whole situation, the reveal of Lord Stark's punishment being handled with as much care as a drunkard carrying a pot of wildfire.

Trouble was indeed promised.

"Where is he? Where's Jon?" Lord Umber asked as he paced back and forth in front of the high table, the look of fury still very present on his face "...I know the lad, there's more to this story than you're telling us. He'll tell me like it is, none of these flowery words you're feeding us." He demanded, a few northern lords nodding in agreement.

Jon.

He still couldn't believe it, everything that had happened today still refused to process in his head.

Jon Snow…

His brother…

...And he had a fucking dragon.

The situation was mad.

The first thing he felt when he found out that he had a brother was sheer glee, he already had a sister, two if he counted Dany who he'd grown up with all his life. But a brother? No, he had nothing like that. Some would say Viserys was like a brother to him but he'd have to commission the biggest handkerchief in existence to be made for him to wipe the tears of laughter from his eyes.

Viserys wasn't his brother, he wasn't anybody's brother.

Viserys was just...Viserys, a perpetually unpleasant person to be around.

How Arianne hasn't caused a war by murdering him in his sleep he doesn't know.

After the glee, came the worry, two different sources for said worry. The first being that his new brother would want nothing to do with him, that he wouldn't even get a chance to be a brother to him. The second source of worry came when he realised that Jon was in control of the greatest war asset Westeros has seen since the dragons died out.

And if he really wanted to, he could take whatever he wanted, including the lives of his loved ones.

The different emotions carried on circling through his mind earlier as he followed through with his grandmother's orders and escorted everyone to one of the rooms on the family wing. Talk between Rhae, Dany and Marge was plentiful, but him, along with Viserys, stayed silent, too busy thinking things over in their head to join in the conversation.

He hadn't missed the fact that Viserys was quiet either, something to worry about at a later date.

"My son is currently busy Lord Umber, if we could all just calm down, we can talk about this like rational adults." His father said to the giant lord. In his opinion, he'd just made things worse by telling the emotional lord to calm down.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!? Don't tell me to calm down you bloody swine!" The Lord of Last Hearth snapped back, pointing towards his father with undisguised rage.

Ser Arthur stepped forward and stared down the larger man, his hand gripping the hilt of his famous sword "Do you need reminding of who you are speaking to my lord?" He said, threatened really.

Lord Umber got close to Ser Arthur "Aye, why not. And while you're at it, you can leave the steel where it is, let's sort this out the old fashioned way." The large lord said as he started rolling one of his sleeves up.

Most of the occupants in the room had moved to the sides to distance themselves from whatever was about to transpire.

However, before anything bad could happen, the scrape of a chair being abruptly moved filled the room, the source of such noise being his grandmother as she stared down at the two men.

"Stand down, the pair of you!" His grandmother said, her raised voice echoing through the room. "The both of you are acting like bloody imbeciles!" She continued as she gazed at the arguing men.

"One of you is regarded as one of the most respected lords in the entire North, the other is one of the most gifted knights to ever wear the legendary white cloak." She added as she looked back and forth between the two men, her royal mask fully in place with a hint of the Targaryen rage behind those violet eyes.

"Act like it!" She finished.

The two men carried on looking at each other, Ser Arthur looked calm as he followed the instructions he'd been given. Lord Umber was now breathing heavily as he carried on looking at the Dayne knight, eventually huffing as he turned away.

The room seemed to let out a collective breath, who knew what would've happened if the two men had decided to ignore the Dowager Queen. A few people turned their head towards the high windows of the hall, the heavy rain battering the glass.

Jon's out there in that. He thought to himself.

"I demand to see Ned." Lord Umber said as he turned back around to look at his father, the room looking up to their King to see what his response would be.

"My lord..." His father started, but was quickly interrupted.

"Piss on whatever excuse you are about to give me." Lord Umber said, a few murmurs around the room at the sheer audacity of the northern lord.

"I need to hear it from his mouth and in his words what it is that he's done." The lord continued "I need to know that we aren't being fooled here." He finished as he looked up at the King with a stern facade.

His father looked at the Lord of Last Hearth for a few seconds with a blank look on his, eventually leaning his head towards his Queen.

"Let him talk to Lord Stark, it might save us a lot of hassle." He heard his mother say to the King, his father kept his eyes on Lord Umber as he seemed to reluctantly nod to his Queen's suggestion.

"Alright." His father said as he carried on nodding "Alright...I'll allow it." He said, both him and Lord Umber looking at each other sternly.

Before anybody could move into action, a piercing roar erupted from outside, everybody in the room flinching from the shock of it. Some people turned and looked at the windows, some people looked towards their King for guidance.

Personally, he wanted to go outside and see if his brother had returned along with the dragon, and so did a few other people as chairs next to him scraped against the ground.

Another roar came a few seconds later, this time it sounded closer. His father held his hands up in the air in the hopes of calming people down, a few of them starting to show signs of panic.

"Everybody stay calm!" His father shouted, a few people listening to their King as he continued "The dragon means you no harm!"

He hopes.

If Jon wasn't in control…

He took a slow breath, even he was starting to get a little anxious all of a sudden.

"How can you be so sure?" Someone in the crowd of people shouted towards his father, a few murmurs of agreement.

Before his father could answer, the main door to the great hall was opening, one of House Whent's guards stepping in. The majority of the room's occupants turned and looked at the guard, the damp looking man squirming under the attention.

"Your grace!" The man shouted, his father motioning for the man to approach.

"The dragon your grace, it's landed outside the castle walls." The guard declared.

"Was there somebody mounted on it's back?" His father asked eagerly.

"I think so your grace, it's a little difficult to see much out there with all that rain." The guard answered back.

Another roar erupted from outside, he turned to his side and saw his daughter clutching his wife tightly, her face buried in her mother's shoulder.

What is happening out there?

His father moved from his spot at the table and whispered a few words to Ser Jaime as he passed him. Whatever was said had the Lannister knight nodding before moving in the opposite direction.

He stood up from his seat shortly after, if his father was going out there then he was going with him. The King only made it half way through the hall before a commotion near the hall door was noticed.

He father stopped in his tracks as Jon squeezed past the Whent guard and entered the room. The guard in question was quick to grab hold of the hilt of his sheathed sword but with one word, his father halted whatever the man planned on doing to his brother.

His brother.

He was still coming to terms with that idea.

"Stop!" His father shouted to the guard, the poor man looked so confused as his eyes back and forth between the King and the drenched man who's just walked in on them.

The entire room was staring at his brother, the weather clearly as bad as it sounded as drops of water dripped from the tips of his hair. The wound where his father had accidentally struck him had stopped bleeding but the rain had clearly gotten to it as one side of his face was damp with a mixture of water and blood.

To somebody who didn't know what had happened, they would think Jon had killed a man.

Both his father and brother looked at each other, neither of them moving a muscle. Whispers heard from each corner of the room, Jon the subject of every single one of them.

Before Jon or his father could open their mouth, the hulking presence of Lord Umber was making his way towards the pair. He had his back to Aegon but with the way that he walked, he could tell the man was far from pleased.

"Jon!" The lord barked as he made his way past his father and approached his brother. He didn't miss the way Ser Arthur readjusted the grip on his sheathed sword as the larger man passed.

"Lord Umber." His brother replied as he held his hand out for the bigger man to shake. It was at this point he noticed the scabbard Jon moved underneath his arm as he went in for the handshake.

He's already got two swords on his back, why does he need three?

It just seemed excessive.

"Is it true?" Lord Umber said as he pointed to the King without looking at him, eyes still locked with his brother "What he's saying, is it the truth or is this all some big ruse?" The agitated lord continued.

Jon looked towards the King, momentarily looking over his shoulders and locking eyes with him before looking back towards his apparent friend. At this point, the whole room was getting front row seats to the juiciest gossip in the realm.

Lord Varys will be livid that he wasn't here to witness this, the nosy bastard.

"It depends on what he's said." His brother simply answered back as he looked Lord Umber right in the eyes. It was at this point he realised how big his brother was as he stood next the giant lord. He was still smaller than the older man but the Greatjon wasn't dwarfing his brother, far from it.

He's a threat. His subconscious whispered to him in the back of his mind but he chose to ignore it.

Listening to any voices in his head was a sure fire way of breeding madness, something he was very aware of being a bit of a problem with some of his relatives in the past.

"He's trying to claim that Ned isn't your father and that you're his bloody son of all things!" Lord Umber explained, ending with a humourless chuckle like he still didn't believe it himself.

Jon looked towards their father again, then looked around the room, his eyes drifting around the different lords and ladies currently watching before looking back at Lord Umber.

"Aye, the man speaks no lies." Jon answered back, an odd feeling of pride swelled in his chest seeing his brother defend his father's word.

Lord Umber looked struck as he looked at his brother, his face morphing into a look of anger. He wasn't the only one to see it either, both Ser Arthur and Ser Gerold, who had been escorting his father, looking to be getting into position in case they had to defend Jon.

Who to them, was primarily the King's son and a Prince of the realm.

Lord Umber's face morphed into an angry scowl as he replied to his brother.

"I see you've chosen sides then, from bastard to prince in a day. Meanwhile, your actual father, the man who brought you up, is being punished for refusing to leave you with this lot." The man growled as he nodded his head towards his father. He had the instant urge to go down there and defend his family from being bad mouthed by an angry northerner.

He didn't get chance to though, if it wasn't his mother holding his arm down to stop him from standing, it was definitely the headbutt his brother sent right into the face of Lord Umber.

That was when all hell broke loose.

Gasps mixed in with shouting as his brother and Lord Umber started to scrap with each other, Jon grabbing the old man by his head and holding on to him in a headlock.

"You fuckin'..." He heard Lord Umber growl as he tried to get his brother off of him.

"I didn't choose sides you cunt." Jon replied back as he struggled to keep a hold on the bigger man. The fight didn't go very far though as his father was pulling Jon off of Lord Umber and Ser Arthur and Ser Gerold were restraining the Lord of Last Hearth.

He turned and looked to see the northerners reaction to all of this, surprised to see a few disappointed faces looking on. One of the lords was being held back by Ser Oswell, and with how big he was, it was most probably Lord Umber's son.

He didn't understand, did most of the northern lords want to see Jon and Lord Umber fight?

"This stops! Now!" His father declared as he let go of Jon, his brother straightening his surcoat.

"Let go of him." The King said to his two Kingsguard, the two men reluctantly releasing the bigger man, giving him chance to wipe the blood away from his nose where Jon had cracked him, staring daggers at his brother as he did so.

Whilst that was happening, his father bent down and picked up the dropped scabbard and sword that Jon had released during the confrontation, an odd look on his father's face as he inspected it.

"Everybody out! Return to your camps please!" His father all of a sudden announced, men and women looking at each other in confusion at the declaration. His father had not torn his eyes away from the sword in his hands.

"Did the King stutter? You heard him, out!" Ser Gerold shouted as the room seemed to get the message.

"He stays." His father said as he nodded in Lord Umber's direction "I told him he can see Lord Stark, I'm a man of my word if nothing else.". A few northern lords patted the giant lord on the back as they passed him on the way out, a couple of them sending his brother odd looks as the exited the hall.

It wasn't long before the only people left in the room were his family, the Kingsguard and Lord Umber.

It was quiet for a moment or two, nobody knowing how to proceed after all that had just happened. Then all of a sudden, his father looked up at his brother with a shocked look on his face.

"How do you have this?" He said, his voice hard to hear with the amount of awe that was in it.

Now what? He wondered as he looked on. It was safe to say that his days wouldn't be boring with Jon in them.

Daenerys

What was happening?

She'd never seen her brother look the way he did right now, he looked, dare she say it, childlike with the look of awe on his face as he looked at her nephew.

Nephew.

How had that happened?

One minute he's Lord Stark's bastard son, making a name for himself in and around the tournament grounds, the next, he's her long lost nephew and probably regarded now as one of the most important people in realm, in the world even.

A long lost member of the royal family, a Targaryen prince of the realm.

A very capable warrior, proven in front of the most important people in the realm, something that will demand respect regardless of ones personal feelings of him.

Charming in his own way and easily liked if the way people acted around him were anything to go by.

The first and only dragonrider Westeros has seen in over a century, his mount truly the most wonderful thing she has ever seen in her life.

All that…

...and he's unmarried, the most eligible bachelor that all the unmarried ladies of the country will be foaming at the mouth with the idea of sinking their or their daughter's claws into him.

He's also nice to look at. She supposed or whatever.

The same person who was in her thoughts was now slowly unsheathing the sword that he'd just taken off her brother. As soon as the sword was out of its scabbard he said one word to him.

"Blackfyre."

She heard a few gasps around the room, mainly from the table the rest of the family was sat at. Aegon, who seemed very restless earlier, didn't waste any time at all as he stood up from his chair and moved around the table. Like some unknown force, the rest of the family rose to their feet too, everybody following Egg around the table and towards the King and his long lost son.

"Where did you get this?" The King asked as Jon handed him the sword, her brother gripping the hilt like it was made of glass.

"Gerion Lannister." Jon replied, his eyes catching the large group of them walking towards him and his father.

"So the rumours were true, I was going to broach the subject with Lord Tywin but I refrained in case I was making an error bringing up such a sensitive topic." Her brother replied. She'd heard those rumours too and nearly asked Ser Jaime about them but for the same reasons her brother had, she'd stopped herself.

Their group eventually made it to her brother and Jon, the latter's eyes roving across them all, taking in all their faces. The silence was particularly awkward.

"Come here." Her mother said as she moved towards Jon, one of her handkerchiefs in hand as she wiped the mixture of blood and rainwater off of his cheek. The face he pulled as her mother cleaned his face almost made her giggle, she'd seen Alysanne pull the same type of face when she was having her dinner wiped from around her mouth.

"Alright mother. I think he's capable of doing that sort of thing himself." Rhaegar said as he handed the sword, which was apparently the long lost sword of House Targaryen, over to Aegon. Her nephew handled the precious heirloom the same way his father did, and when she caught a glimpse of it, she knew why. She wasn't much into swords or that sort of thing but even she could see how truly beautiful the piece was.

"Never too old for a grandmother's love." She replied as she finished her work, Jon's face clear of any blood. The mark that was the source of it had clotted up and seemed to have stopped bleeding.

I bet Rhaegar feels really bad about that.

Her brother sighed as he looked past her mother and Jon towards the waiting Lord Umber who she'd honestly forgot was still in the room with them.

"Right, a promise is a promise. Let's go and see Lord Stark, he should still be in the library with his family." Her brother said, Lord Umber grunting in reply, seemingly sick of the sight of what was happening in front of him.

"You might need this, for your nose." Her mother said to the large lord as she held the handkerchief she'd just used on Jon out for him. The man reluctantly took the piece of cloth, eyeing Jon as he wiped his noise clean of the small stream of blood coming from it.

"Lucky hit boy, next time will be a different story." He said as he finished wiping his nose. She eyed Jon to see what his reaction to that veiled threat was, all he did was look at Lord Umber.

"There won't be a next time, this whole mess will be concluded today or by your old god's and the new I'll start swinging for people as well." Her mother intervened, thoroughly surprising Lord Umber with her statement.

"I think the last thing people want to see is you threatening people mother." Rhaegar said as the group started moving out of the hall and towards the library, she didn't miss the way Ser Arthur and Ser Gerold stuck to Lord Umber like glue, almost daring him to try something.

"I'd like to see that." Jon said as he walked side by side with her mother "I'll even teach you some useful moves if you like?" He continued.

She'd noticed that since arriving, he'd barely looked in anybody's direction other than her mother, her brother and Lord Umber.

Maybe he's shy.

She knew she would be if she was in his situation, thrust into a family of people she'd barely met and expected to act like everything was normal.

She wasn't worried though, they'd all soon rectify that problem, all of them happy to welcome him into his family.

Some more than others.

"Who says I need to learn some new moves? Your grandmother isn't as delicate as you think she is." Her mother replied, a raised eyebrow aimed at her grandson as they walked down the same hall the library was situated in. A small grin appeared on her nephew's face in response to her mother's reply.

She ignored how much she enjoyed seeing it.

All of a sudden, her brother stopped and turned to look at them, everybody stopping themselves. Just ahead, she could see Ser Barristan and Ser Jaime waiting outside of the library, guarding the door.

"Me and Lord Umber are the only ones who need to go any further, the Queen shall escort everybody to my solar, you can wait for me there." Her brother said, something she was honestly expecting. This situation really didn't need an audience.

"I'm coming with you." Jon said as he stepped forward.

"Jon..." Her brother started to say but Jon was already walking past him and approaching the library doors. Her brother just sighed and shook his head, she just gave him a supportive smile when he looked at her. He was definitely going to be a handful, that's for sure.

"Him being Lyanna's son is making more and more sense in hindsight." Lord Umber said to nobody in particular. She saw Elia lower her head, her brother turned around and followed Jon before she could see how he'd reacted.

Rhaegar, Jon and Lord Umber eventually entered the library leaving the rest of them stood in the hallway.

"C'mon," Her mother said as they all turned to make their way to her brother's solar "...I need a cup of wine and a sit down."

That sounded like a brilliant idea.

..