[Chapter Size: 3000 Words.]
Third Person POV
North, 98 AC.
Jon continued going to the village to visit Borok; sometimes he sneaked out, sometimes he asked his father for permission, and he had been training with a bow under the old soldier's guidance. He began to shoot his first arrows, but there were still years of training ahead before he would truly become good. Even so, he kept training.
The moons went by. Jon had already been making both Mari and Sam read the books on their own, while helping them with some of the meanings of each word whenever they did not know them.
And when Jon turned eight name days, the expected happened: the Stark banners began to appear on the road, along with the sound of horses. Jon, who was brushing a deer beside Ghost in a corner of the small farm, was surprised to see Lord Stark himself leading the group, recognizing him.
Jon's father, along with his uncle, immediately left the garden area where they were working to receive them with some urgency. The women looked somewhat worried from the doorway of Jon's house, since the families all ate there, as the group stopped at the entrance, with Garren opening the gate for them.
"Lord Stark, I did not expect a visit from you," said Garren, as the man dismounted his horse.
"It has been some time. I see the wolf has truly grown," the man commented, admiring the size of the animal beside Jon.
It was twice the size of when it had been injured by the bear. It was certainly one of the largest ever recorded that the Starks had seen, and it seemed it would grow even more. At present, it was about six feet, but there was no doubt it would reach seven.
"It has, my lord," Garren murmured, as he introduced his brother to Lord Stark.
Some men also dismounted from their horses. Lord Stark was not only with his brothers, who were also present, but with a guard of twelve soldiers, which surprised Garren.
"We need to talk," said the lord, and he sounded serious in his tone.
The man nodded carefully. "Let us go inside, then," he replied, still somewhat suspicious, not understanding why the Lord of the North was there.
Jon watched the guards as Mari approached, trying to look through the window. She also followed him as she grabbed some bench to climb and watch the conversation from the window.
"Is that Lord Stark? Why is he here?" she murmured, still a bit dirty from playing with Sam, while Rowena picked up the youngest son, remaining at the door together with Sarra.
"Well, I would not trouble you if I did not think it important, lad..." Lord Stark began to Garren at the table.
Jon's own father did not know what to say, but the Lord of the North continued: "But I must admit that some things are happening in the North... and I can tell you that your farm is blessed. Otherwise, they would have already found it..."
"What do you mean?" Garren could not help but feel a chill, exchanging a look with his brother, who was also seated beside him.
"You know the stories about your son... The entire North has already heard of him, and the hunt for a giant wolf, a legendary beast, is beginning to rise. People from outside the North are coming here, and their interests... well, they are the rumors about your son and the creature..." he paused.
"We caught many men in Wintertown, asking questions about where your home is, where your farm is. It is a miracle that no one has found it yet. But what is most concerning is that, last week, we found mercenaries hired from Essos. There are many nobles there who are interested in collecting animals, and the news has reached those waters, some mercenaries were found searching for your farm. It will not take long for them to start offering money within the North for this..." he said.
Immediately, everyone in the family looked at each other, worried.
"You are saying that we are in danger?" the man murmured, as Lord Stark nodded with some regret, something visible on his face.
Rowena grabbed her son Sam tightly.
"Yes... and I have a proposal, Garren," Benjen Stark said.
Lord Stark turned his attention to the window, where a boy was watching with those bright eyes. He kept his gray eyes fixed on him for a while.
"I want to take the boy to Winterfell."
"What?" Garren swallowed hard. Rowena trembled. The rest of the family also reacted. Lord Stark did not take his eyes off the boy, who widened his own upon hearing that.
"I will take him to Winterfell. He will be my ward. He will learn everything my children learn, both with the maester and in the martial arts," he explained.
"Lord Stark, this..." Garren did not even know what to say.
"I want you to understand: the boy will have opportunities and will be safe within Winterfell. Your giant wolf will also stay within the castle. They will suffer no harm, and I doubt anyone would attempt any foolishness there. They are bold because they hear that the wolf is being raised on a common folk's farm," he continued.
"Can we discuss this among ourselves...?" Garren said carefully. Certainly, they had to think carefully before accepting or denying a noble's request.
But Lord Stark seemed to anticipate this hesitation, opening a small smile.
"Of course, he is your son. I would not take him for long, but he would be well trained in Winterfell. I would treat him as I treat my own children," he said, turning to look at Jon again, who was still processing what he had just heard.
"Why help us, Lord Stark? This should be for the children of great houses..." Garren murmured, not understanding why that proposal was being made to them, people without a name, titles, or lands...
Lord Stark merely kept a faint smile. "Because I believe in this boy. I believe he has a future, from the moment I heard about him I became quite curious... and when I saw him, I was sure that the boy would be more than just a common boy tending a farm, no offense..."
"No offense was taken, Lord Stark," said Garren quickly.
"Well, in any case, I have learned that that bear acted again and killed a group of hunters hunting in that area... I am heading to Torrhen's Square to deal with matters with Lord Tallhart. I will stay there for two or three days and then return to the North. I will pass by here on my way back to Winterfell and I expect to take the boy with me. This will not only deal with your current problems with these groups of people after the wolf, but it may also give your son a future."
Garren nodded, and everyone watched Lord Stark leave again, mounting his horse and moving out, saying his farewells before disappearing from sight. The family remained there, looking at one another.
Jon did not hesitate to approach the giant wolf, while Ghost lowered his head so he could touch him affectionately, rubbing his little hands through his fur, somewhat worried.
"Is Jon going away?" Sam asked, in tears.
Rowena knelt down to hug her son. She did not know what to say. She could see the opportunity, but at the same time, she did not want to simply send Jon away — her beloved son.
Garren also seemed worried. If there were people searching for them, even from across the sea, the family would be in danger.
"This was expected," Sarra commented, with the baby in her arms. Her son, Perterick, was already more than one name day old. "We are common folk, there is no way for us to simply defend ourselves..." she added.
"Let us finish things and talk about this tonight. We have a few days to decide until Lord Stark returns," Garren said in the end, seeming frustrated. Everyone nodded.
Mari approached Jon, with tears streaming down her face.
"Are you going away?" she asked.
Jon bit his lips, not knowing what to say. "I do not know," he answered, looking at his parents. He did not want to leave, to be honest, but the farm was in danger with him there, because of him and Ghost.
The wolf itself let out a somewhat mournful sound...
That night, the family discussed the pros and cons.
Jon would have a future, perhaps serving in some stronghold. He had intellectual abilities and could develop military skills, since, even training every day with a sword, he was still too young to say whether he had talent or not.
Jon might even be known in the South, perhaps become a knight — although some said that this would be difficult for a common man, since they would not easily accept someone without a surname.
At the same time, suspicion arose that Lord Stark might want Jon's wolf, but that did not seem to make much sense.
The main issue also came to light: they were in danger. And, somehow, no one had managed to find them, even though the entire village knew of their existence and of the farm and merchants passed by there frequently. Even so, the location of the farm had never been discovered by outsiders.
"I just think that the heart tree..." Sarra said with emphasis. "The heart tree behind the house protects this place."
At that moment, the heart tree was not just a medium-sized tree — it was already gigantic, about eight meters tall. Red leaves spread all around, and it did not even take a child of the forest to carve a face into it; it created the face on its own.
The place was used for prayer. The women made their prayers there.
Jon stayed in a corner, listening to everything. Ghost occupied an entire part of the house, lying beside him, with his tongue out, watching everything along with Jon.
Sam was crying in Rowena's arms, while Mari looked sadly at Jon. The adults remained silent.
"Jon... what do you want?" Mari asked, looking at him.
Jon could see the pain in his mother's eyes as she turned to him. He did not want to be separated from her.
"I want to stay," he said, but soon pressed his lips together. "However... if you are in danger with me here, I believe that would not be a good idea. Lord Stark has no ill intentions, I could feel the sincerity in his voice. I believe that going to Winterfell would be a good thing. I could learn about the castles of the North... and we only have four books. Maybe, if I learn more, I can return smarter... and also learn to be a soldier, a warrior. There must be a competent master-at-arms there. Borok always told me that, if I wanted to be truly good, I would have to learn from the master-at-arms of a castle," he explained.
Everyone looked at one another, thoughtful and worried.
Jon said that despite hating the idea of being away from his family. Even so, he could not ignore the opportunity. He felt somewhat guilty, because there was a part of him, quite excited about the possibility of learning in Winterfell away from his family...
"And it is not as if the boy will be gone forever, is it? And Winterfell is not that far," Roman said, crossing his arms, looking at Jon and then at Garren.
"We have our mother living in Wintertown. Visiting Jon would not be difficult. We just would not see him as often. But, if the boy believes in Lord Stark, and if that is his intention... I believe it would be good for him, brother. As much as it pains me to have my nephew far away, he will be well. We will be safe, and he will have the chance to have a future that none of us had," Ronan murmured.
Garren nodded in silence. His brother was right, but Rowena could not stop crying.
"Can I go with my brother?" Sam asked immediately, making Rowena break down even more in tears, holding her son tightly. Jon also looked shattered upon seeing this scene.
That night, he slept restlessly. Sam would not let go of him, and Jon had to sleep holding him, with his brother crying until he fell asleep.
Jon fell asleep some time after his brother calmed down and had a strange dream that night.
He dreamed that he was floating in the air... until he realized he was inside an owl. It seemed he could see very well, even though the colors were somewhat different from what he was used to. Still, he could see every detail as he flew, moving his wings.
It was a strange feeling. He had never dreamed of that before. Until the vision ended, and he woke up the next morning.
This dream of flying over the tree felt so real, not like the visions he had before, he truly felt that he was flying over some place near his home...
The dreams always filled him with visions. He copied many things he saw in them, especially sword movements, which he tried to replicate while training.
In one of those dreams, he saw a version of himself, a bit older — perhaps eleven or twelve namedays — training alone in a yard beside a heart tree so gigantic that he looked tiny, he had never imagined there would be a tree of that size. The tree was about fifty meters tall, much larger than anything he had ever seen.
But the dreams continued.
On some nights, he dreamed of women, kissing him... and even doing things that he did not have the courage to tell his parents about.
But no dream disturbed him as much as the time when he dreamed that an older version of himself held a baby with white hair and violet eyes, calling her his daughter, Lyanna. He held onto the image of the girl staring at him with somewhat tired eyes, but he could see the curiosity in those purple eyes...
A strange and unsettling feeling came with that, and Jon spent an entire week thinking about that baby and why it made him so sad and disturbed... He was lucky not to dream of it again, but the memory marked him without him knowing why — as if he were reliving old and nostalgic memories.
There was a longing... that Jon cried about in silence every morning that week.
Along with that, he also dreamed of many things, arguments with ministers of a kingdom called Arctic, he spoke with giants, commanded troops, walked through busy cities. The dreams never stopped. He told many things to his parents, who grew more and more worried. But there were things he did not tell.
The strangest part of all this was that he always dreamed of being the same person — just older. The age changed sometimes, sometimes more adult, but he always knew it was him. And they always called him Jon... although, sometimes, someone called him Aegon, especially two of those women who seemed to love him and do things that a boy of 8 namedays did not seem used to...
Jon went back to thinking about this as he followed his routine. He did not stop praying with the family, going to the heart tree every day.
He had already accepted that he would go to Winterfell.
He did not want to simply leave, but he knew it was what had to be done. Besides, there was a condition he wanted to tell Lord Stark. He wanted Lord Stark to agree that, every three moons, he could return to spend one or two days on the farm with his parents.
He knew he was asking too much, but he did not want to be so far from his family. It hurt to think that he would no longer see his beloved mother, father, and his brother every day. Mari, uncle Roman and aunt Sarra, nor little Perterick.
Still, it was the best for everyone.
And it was also, finally, the chance to leave that place.
Because, as much as he loved the farm and his family, Jon knew that staying there would not be something that would happen forever. His visions and dreams took him to other places — sailing on the sea, cities, castles, distant lands. After seeing all that, he knew he would not be able to live there forever.
He had already seen, in his dreams, places such as Yi-Ti, Volantis, Valyria, Braavos, Oldtown, the Iron Islands, Highgarden, Lannisport, King's Landing, Sunspear, Storm's End, the Eyrie... and even Winterfell and the Wall.
But of all these places, he wanted to know the most beautiful place he had ever seen, Arctic... He just did not know if it existed, because he asked people in the village, and no one knew... Maybe Lord Stark would know, he should know many places...
He had come to know all these places around the world through dreams that had arisen over the past years. How could he remain still after having such grand visions? Immense castles, vibrant cities... all the places he wished to know awakened something within him.
He did not want to just see them as images from a dream, he wanted to live and feel those places!
His adventurous spirit called to him.
It filled him with guilt for wanting to leave that place, his family, but at the same time, it made him long for a future full of adventures — as many as those he saw in his dreams.
And, after seeing all that, he could no longer see things as he used to, he would never remain stuck in a corner of the North living as a farmer... he could no longer imagine how his life could be less grand than everything he had already dreamed...
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