Chapter 02

Robb's POV Age 04 (284 AC)

Life had been good to him just because he was born as the eldest son & heir to Winterfell. He had known that. After Mance had taught him about old gods he had gone to Godswood every day to pray to them. He knew what he felt. When he is with his mother in Sept, he doesn't feel anything but in front of the carved face of a weirwood tree, he feels peaceful. Like when he is with his parents talking.

When he had finished learning reading & writing common tongue fluently Luwin had been surprised by his learning speed. He had taken him to Father Solar. "My lord, good day to you. Pardon me for the sudden interruption but for the past two moons, I have been teaching young Robb to read & write common tongue. My lord, he has a bright mind, and like a tree sapling, we need to nourish it. Can we start lessons early, just for an hour after breaking his fast?" Said Luwin.

His father has raised his eyebrows after listening to maester luwin, retrieved a book from his bookshelf. "Robb, sit down and can you read this page out loud?" the father replied while placing the book in front of him. When he completed reading the whole page stopping only to ask the meaning of some words his father gave him a small smile and agreed with maester to start his lessons early. While doing this his objective to read books on his own and do his research was also achieved.

From when he was four namedays old he started to split his time between activities. After breaking fast lessons with Maester Luwin start for three hours with half a candle-long walk in Godswood to clear his mind and to organize what is has learned today. After that, he would spend the rest of the time in the library for a late lunch. Later he would spend his time playing with his twin sisters Sansa and Arya.

Sansa was the elder twin and had the same blue eyes and red hair as their mother while Arya was the younger twin and had the same grey eyes and brown hair as her father. They were born in 283 AC, when he was three namedays old. Mother or father or old nan will be watching us play. Sometimes instead of playing with them, he used to play around Winterfell or sneak around winter town. After an early dinner, he picks a few books to read till it's time to sleep. While repeating this sometimes gets boring, he finds all the things he can learn interesting.

When his lesson started for one hour by the end of the moon, he spent three hours learning with maester. By the end of two moons, already he had become as good as the Common Tongue with High Valyrian and Old Tongue (or as he likes to call it First Tongue because Northerners were also referred to as First Men). He had learned all maester luwin knew about languages. Luwin had said, "Young lord, if you were in Citadel currently you could have gained three zinc links one each for a language".

Luwin had links of two grey iron for warcraft, single tin for pottery, single yellow-gold for economics, three zinc for three languages, two electrum for logistics, three silver for healing, two leads for diplomacy, three black irons in ravenry, three copper in history, single valyrian steel for magic, single bronze in astronomy, single platinum for natural sciences, and lastly two links of antimony for survival in wilds.

"Young Robb, your learning speed is simply astounding. Except for ravenry and magic, I will teach you everything I know. After our lessons for the past four moons, you have spent a good amount of time in the library reading. On the morrow, we will start on other subjects" Luwin had informed him while exiting the library.

So, after one year and nine moons of grueling with the maester and in the library, he had learned all that maester to taught him. Except for learning of ravenry, healing, and higher mysteries (magic), he had learned it all. History, Warcraft, and logistics were his favorite subjects to study, and had already cleared out Winterfell library for these subjects. His father had looked extremely proud while his mother beamed at him all the while holding Sansa and Arya.

For his sixth nameday celebration in a sennight, his father had announced that they would have a small feast for him and his achievement of completing his studies early. With hours free from studies, he had taken to sleeping in godswood. He felt safe there, safer than he felt anywhere else. He had completely given up his mother's Andal religion, the Faith of the Seven, as it is called but he never told his mother that.

Although he had told the children of servants he plays with when they teased him about worshiping the Faith. Also, he had told Old Nan about him praying to old gods and the feeling he would get whenever he was in godswood. He thinks that children had spread information regarding him praying to the true gods, first parents of his friend then every servant would give a respectful bow to him when passing through corridors. That was a respectful bow because his father was given the same bow while his mother was given a short bow that felt almost forced.

Now he had taken a small break from his studies to spend his sixth nameday as relaxed and peaceful as possible. That's how he had found himself sleeping on the large stone in front of the heart tree. Sansa and Arya sleeping on his chest, Septa Mordane was also begrudgingly present sitting a few yards away from the heart tree. She was a complete Seven fanatic.