Scratching them behind the ear idly, he and Jon made for the Godswood from the small wooden gate next to the Guest House and was greeted by a pleasant scent of pine and oak.
The canopy above blocked out the sun, and on the ground, the gnarly roots and stones were covered by moss, surrounding the packed earth.
The heart tree stood at the center with its pale bark and its red leaves moving in that sourceless way they always moved, and at its roots the hot spring ran shallow and clear, the steam rising from it in the cold air in a way that made the place look, in the early morning or the late afternoon, like something out of a story book.
Both he and Jon put down the pups who began nipping at each other and running through the woods.
Robb shook his head, the direwolves were fast, terrifyingly so.
He remembered the size of the mother, the one gutted by a stag’s antler.
Would Grey Wind ever grow to that size?
And if he did, how terrifying would his wolf be if he moved just as fast as he was now?
They shed their clothes before entering the spring.
At first, the water was hot enough to hurt, then it became the best thing in the world.
Robb let out a satisfied breath and leaned back against the stone, feeling the heat work its way through his sore muscles, the steam rising from the water and drifting through the red leaves above them.
Jon settled opposite him in his usual manner and they sat in the comfortable silence, the only sound being the occasional chirping of birds and the rustles of the direwolves running through the forest.
A sudden hooting had Robb look up to see a snow white owl, perching on one of the sentinel trees.
“Did Father say anything to you?” Jon asked, eventually.
“About the fostering.” “He mentioned it,” Robb said.
“Would you go, if Father agrees to Uncle’s suggestion?” Jon was quiet for a moment.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“The Night’s Watch seems to be a better place.
All the captains in the fleet have been noble sons, I’d hate to sully that tradition with my bastardry.” “That’s horseshite, and you know it.” Robb looked at him.
Jon met the look and returned it steadily.
“You know what I mean, Robb.” He did know.
He did not like it, but he knew it.
His mother’s opinions regarding his brother were well known, and the Night’s Watch was the one thing that could put Catelyn Stark’s fears at ease.
It wasn’t that Robb didn’t understand where his mother was coming from.
Three Blackfyre Rebellions was enough for anyone to realize the danger of bastards in a succession crisis.
Not even the Starks were free of it, for the tale of the Greystarks remains to be an important part of their history.
But what his mother got wrong was that she refused to see Jon as his own person.
Robb loved his brother, and he knew that Jon would never harm his family.
“Lord Karlon seemed to think well of you,” Robb offered.
“He seemed to think well of the idea,” Jon said, which was not agreement but was not dismissal.
He looked at the water for a moment.
“Arya would be insufferable if I left.” “She’d probably offer to come with,” Robb said, chuckling.
“She and Bran have always been the closest to Uncle Karlon from all of us.
Hells, he even managed to convince Bran that being a captain is just as prestigious as being a southron knight.” “No ship captain ever got as famous as the Sword of the Morning or the Dragonknight,” Jon chuckled.
“Other than the Sea Snake, perhaps.” They continued just like that for another minute, the steam rising from the spring and drifting through the red leaves.
Eventually, the two direwolves appeared through the canopy before laying down on the forest floor, their tongues lolling.
Robb was only beginning to feel himself getting drowsy when the sound of footsteps came along the path and Alyn appeared at the edge of the Godswood.
“Lord Robb,” He stopped at the margin, correctly not approaching the spring.
“Lord Stark requests your presence in the courtyard.
The First Ranger is expected within the hour.” Robb sighed.
Between his lessons with father and Maester Luwin, the time in the yard with Jory and Ser Rodrik, he scarcely had time for himself anymore.
Never say that being the heir to Winterfell was ever easy.
“Thank you, Alyn,” he said.
He stood, immediately feeling the cold air in his skin as he shivered before reaching for his clothes.
“No rest for the weary, eh?” Jon said, already moving.
Robb cracked a smile as he reached for his doublet, the dark grey wool with the direwolf worked into the collar.
He looked at Jon, and saw he was doing the laces of a new doublet himself, with a white direwolf’s head stitched on it by Arya.
Robb remembered the story fondly.
Apparently, his mother had made Arya stitch it as some form of promise that she could join her and Sansa to a ball in Bear Island.
The embroidery itself looked crooked, the direwolf’s head tilted at an angle and one ear was distinctly larger than the other.
Arya had gifted it to Jon, to her mother’s indignation.
Despite the obvious mistakes, Jon had loved it, claiming that it was a gift from his sister and he would treasure it.
It reminded Robb that Jon’s name day was coming up soon, and he would have to think of a proper gift to give.
‘Something proper, something that can be useful if the Night’s Watch is really where he wants to go,’ He did not yet know what, but he had time to think about it.
… AN: There we go, another chapter.
Things might seem a bit slow right now, but that’s done by intention.
Things will pick up the moment the King arrives in Winterfell, which should be a few more chapters.
I do have some semblance of a plan for this is fic and it is going to be epic in length.
Probably about the same as my Fairy Tail and Skyrim fics, potentially going into the hundreds of chapters.
Anyways, this chapter encompassed a few things.
Chief among them being to show that Karlon isn’t a perfect MC, personality wise.
He absolutely hates the south and the Ironborn in particular.
The hatred is going to be the driving factor for a bunch of his decisions going forward, which is where Ned will come in and tame some of that hatred.
Check it out if you’re interested, at least chapter 13 (long form, which is around chp 24 in webnovel) should be available by the time this chapter was uploaded.