[Chapter Size: 2900 Words.]
Third Person POV
North, 95 AC.
The winter had not been harsh. It lasted only eight more moons, and the family did not have much difficulty surviving, the forest had not reduced their chances of hunting and the grain stock had lasted very well, to the point that Garen gave some to his brother's family and they shared several meals.
Lord Tallhart had not appeared since the winter began, but as soon as the snow started to recede the man appeared in the region with an even larger retinue, the village was surprised by this and saw them entering it and heading to the small house a little distance away from the village.
Jon was wandering through the forest at that moment, something he had been doing frequently since he completed five namedays. The little boy had become quite rebellious. He liked to venture farther and farther away from home.
This earned him several punishments and scoldings from his parents, but he kept advancing deeper into the woods. For him, the forest was his sanctuary. Without knowing how to explain why, he loved being there, being around animals, running between the trees and staying with animals and especially, his wolf.
Most of the time, riding on top of him, trying to make Ghost reach maximum speed, run as fast as the wind, with Jon grabbing his thick white fur to hold on, sometimes he grabbed the wolf's neck to manage to stay on, but despite the danger, he laughed and Ghost seemed to enjoy his childish laughter.
And that day was one of those occasions.
While running through the grove near his house, Jon was feeling the thrill of being on top of his wolf, running from one side to the other. He had taken advantage of the fact that his younger brother was with his mother and slipped away.
As dangerous as it seemed for a child to be riding on the back of a wolf as big as a pony, he had already done it dozens of times. There was even a trail where he and Ghost usually ran when they escaped from home.
While doing this, he heard the sound of horses and wagons approaching his house, at least several hundred meters away.
That made him stop immediately, widening his eyes as he realized his family had some kind of visitor.
"Stop, Ghost," he said.
The wolf obeyed.
"Who could it be? Let's go back home to see," he asked.
The wolf obediently followed toward their house, coming from behind, where the entrance to the forest was. He could already see his father running from the field to the entrance of the house while the horses approached closer and closer.
Jon came out of the forest and asked Ghost to lie down. He did this so he could get down from the wolf before passing by a small tree that had strangely grown in front of the forest and behind their house.
His father said it was a sacred tree... With a certain astonishment at the time. How it had appeared there, no one knew, but it was growing very fast — faster than any other tree in the last moons.
Jon liked it. He did not know why, but he always felt good when he was near the tree.
Sometimes, when he was hurt after receiving a scolding from his father, he stayed there. Sometimes Sam accompanied him too. He stayed with his brother playing while some animals kept coming to them, his mother was also with them all the time.
The tree was about two meters tall. Its red leaves were everywhere.
Jon, innocently, had asked what kind of fruit it produced, which drew a laugh from his father at the time.
He had said they were trees where people prayed to the old gods and that, if one had grown behind their house, it meant the old gods favored them.
Because those trees had not grown in the North for thousands of years, which also caused some concern for Jon's father.
But these were the old gods and Jon felt intrigued every time he thought about them.
Anyway, Jon left the tree aside and followed along the side of the house.
"Come on, Ghost," he said, while the wolf followed him the entire time.
"Where is Jon?" his father exclaimed even before the boy appeared, clearly worried when he noticed his absence...
"He went to the forest," his mother said.
His father seemed irritated by this, but soon looked at him with relief as soon as Jon appeared running toward them.
"What is happening, father?" Jon asked while running, while Ghost came beside him as well.
"Jon! I... wanted to go too!" Sam immediately began to exclaim. He still had difficulty speaking, but the words were already beginning to come out of his mouth.
Jon gave a light tap on his little brother. "Next time," he said, before turning back to his father with a questioning look.
"I don't know," his father sighed before answering. "But it is Lord Tallhart again. I imagine he wants to hunt, but he came with an even larger company."
Said Garren, making his son raise an eyebrow.
Garren found that look intriguing for a son of 5 namedays. Even so young, sometimes he seemed to think in a very mature way for his age. He thought that was positive, because one day Jon would have to take care of his family. So it was good for him to learn to be an adult before that.
At the same time, Jon was rebellious in many other aspects.
At least he knew how to worry and asked the right questions. Sometimes he even helped them with many things when he wanted to give an opinion about some problem they were having. He was an extremely intelligent boy, to the point that it frightened both him and Rowena.
Anyway, Garren's eyes returned to the entrance of his small farm — if that was what he could call it — as he saw more wagons and horses appearing.
They advanced while the first riders carried banners.
The sigil of House Tallhart was there, but there was also another symbol.
A wolf.
That made Garren frown.
"A wolf?" Jon asked, quickly noticing it and asking curiously. His green eyes were fixed on the banner with the gray wolf.
"It is House Stark. Why would they be here?" Rowena murmured, clearly worried.
Jon immediately noticed the cautious tone of his mother.
It was obvious that he had already heard of the Starks: the sovereigns who commanded the entire Kingdom of the North. Those who were once called the Kings of Winter and who went into battle accompanied by direwolves the size of a horse...
When Jon heard that, he also began to imagine things while looking at Ghost.
He once wondered if he was a Stark.
When he asked that question to his mother, she shuddered upon hearing it, but said that he was not.
Jon seemed disappointed with the idea that he was just someone from the common folk, that he would not have a powerful surname, that he did not represent any great family. He did not hate his life, for being from the common folk, he loved his family.
Even so, as a boy, he began to fantasize stories of glory and war, in which he was a warrior powerful enough to make everyone respect him. In his innocent imagination, the world became fairer: bad people were punished and good people were kept happy.
When he told his mother about his childish tale, she relaxed, amused. His father also seemed to enjoy hearing that, but soon told him that the world unfortunately did not work that way and that things tended to be much more dangerous for everyone — especially for common people like them.
In any case, giant wolves were no longer a living symbol of the Starks, since they had not been seen in the North for centuries.
Well... that was until Ghost appeared.
Garren immediately looked at the wolf the size of a pony.
When he found him, he believed Ghost was just a common wolf and that it would be extremely dangerous to keep him, to raise him like a dog, to the point of even letting Jon try to raise him. The initial idea was that, the moment he became dangerous, he would be sent back to the wild.
But the wolf not only proved loyal and docile with them, he also kept growing and growing.
Now he was more than five and a half feet tall, larger than any other wolf, larger than a ten-year-old child. And it seemed he would not stop growing, even after three years with them.
It was probably the wolf that caught the nobles' attention, when Garren had to hide him from the village, since it could bring many problems.
It was no wonder Lord Tallhart had come the first time. Perhaps it was not only because Garren was an experienced hunter. After all, he had many areas to hunt.
Perhaps everything connected to their house — both the abundant hunting in that area, and the wolf — awakening the lord's interest.
Now Garren took a deep breath.
Whatever they were doing there, he needed to prepare himself. He would be dealing with lords, and any order from them could simply take anything from his family.
The horses finally began to stop in front of the gate, while some men got down to open it and the guards checked the place.
They did not look cautiously at the family.
They looked at the wolf.
Ghost remained beside Jon, watching those humans entering their territory.
"Garren!" the booming voice of Lord Tallhart came from the front ranks as he stepped out from among the guards and approached the family with a smile.
The man had always been very polite with Garren and had always paid him for his services as a tracker.
"Look at this wolf. It got even bigger after the winter," said Lord Tallhart, laughing.
"Now do you believe me, Lord Stark?" said Lord Tallhart, turning back as a sturdy man approached, hearing the guards whispering.
Jon studied the man with the wolf drawn on his chest. He was about almost 30 years old, older than Jon's father, but younger than Lord Tallhart. Perhaps he even looked a little older with that rather long beard, while fixing his eyes on the wolf and then on the members of the family.
"That really is a giant wolf..." he said in an impressed tone, and his eyes settled on the child the wolf kept closest to him.
A very unusual boy, he noticed right away.
"My lords, welcome... I just did not expect a visit from you, otherwise I would have prepared better..." Garren bowed, as did everyone else.
Jon also obeyed his parents. They had always told him that when Lord Tallhart appeared, he should bow.
Jon felt the man's gaze on him the entire time. When he looked back at him, the man gave a small smile as he observed the boy. There was a tenderness in the Stark's gray eyes toward Jon that the boy did not understand.
Jon also gave an innocent smile.
"I told you the boy is impressive," murmured Lord Tallhart.
There were other people approaching as well. Both Lord Tallhart's son and two other young men wearing Stark uniforms looked curiously and astonished at the wolf. They immediately whispered among themselves.
"You have a fine family, lad," said Lord Stark as he looked at Jon's father.
Garren felt that he needed to respond. "Thank you for your words, my lord. You honor me."
Garren had learned a few things about how they should behave in front of a lord since he started going out to hunt with Lord Tallhart. He always saw the noble's men saying such words to their lord, so he began to imitate them.
Not that Lord Tallhart had demanded it before. Common folk were not used to interacting with greater nobles.
"Well, Garren, we are celebrating the wedding of my eldest son here, Edric. He married an Umber from Last Hearth two days ago." Lord Tallhart spoke again, but did not give many more details than that, since it would not be important information for someone of the common folk, he would learn the name of the Umber lady through the gossip of the common people themselves.
"I had spoken about what an incredible hunter you are, and also about this wolf. Lord Stark became interested in knowing if there really was a giant wolf in the North bound to a child," said Lord Tallhart naturally, without hiding the reason they were there.
That seemed to worry Garren a little, and Lord Stark noticed.
"Well, I am not here to steal your family, if that is what worries you, lad," said Lord Stark naturally. "My name is Benjen Stark, and these are my brothers, Rodrik and Walton." He pointed to the two Stark teenagers. "The story of the wolf certainly intrigued us, and now I see that it is true. You have a very impressive wolf, child."
Lord Stark had taken his attention away from Garren to look at Jon, who nodded.
"Thank you, my lord," Jon said, as his father had taught him.
"What is your name? And how old are you?" Stark asked, taking a step forward and approaching the boy, but looking at the wolf carefully.
The white wolf, with red eyes, was a fascinating creature.
"I am Jon! I have 5 namedays, this is my brother Sam!" Jon said and pointed to Sam who was very shy and somewhat afraid of those men.
"Jon... I am Benjen. I have a son your age, you know...?" said the man, which explained the certain tenderness he felt when seeing Jon. His son Rickon of 5 namedays was also at the square of Torrhen's Square, unable to come, since Benjen's wife would not allow it.
"Benjen..." Jon pronounced that name quietly and strangely, it had a bitter taste in his mouth when he said it...
"And the wolf?" Benjen asked.
"Ghost!" Jon said enthusiastically before turning back to the wolf. "Ghost, lie down," Jon immediately asked.
Ghost, who had been standing and seemed a little threatening, simply began to lie down on the ground.
"I see you have control over him, boy."
"Ghost and I are very close companions," Jon said with a cheerful smile.
"Yes, I can see that. But that makes me wonder... Giant wolves are usually linked to the Starks. So I wonder if you have the blood of our family running through your veins..." he asked, stepping a little closer while scratching his beard.
The boy widened his eyes.
"I asked Mom once, but she said I am not..." Jon replied immediately. "Maybe Ghost just liked me after I found him in the forest." Jon said a little hesitantly.
"Found him in the forest?" Lord Stark raised an eyebrow.
"We were returning from the town. I had gone to deliver some dead animals to the butcher, my lord," Garren explained this time. "Then Jon said that something had called to him in the forest. He went there and found the small wolf. He took him despite my objections at the time, even so, I still allowed it. There were no other wolves nearby. It was as if the small white wolf had appeared out of nowhere. He has been with my son ever since, I had no idea how big he would become after that..."
"I see..." said Lord Stark.
He found the story a little impressive, but soon turned his attention back to the parents.
A direwolf should not bond with just anyone.
"Tell me... did any of you have any Stark relatives?" he asked with a penetrating look.
That made both Jon's father and mother shrink slightly.
It was not a polite question.
He wanted the truth.
Rowena and Garren looked at each other.
"My lord..." the woman began. "My grandmother... she was a Stark Snow."
Lord Stark was surprised. Even Lord Tallhart raised his eyebrows, while the others began whispering among themselves.
For Lord Stark, that made some sense.
He expected some connection to the Starks. That was normal. There were those who simply got women pregnant here and there, recklessly, without caring if they would have bastards — especially among the common folk.
No woman could complain to her lord. No father could complain that his daughter had been made pregnant by a noble. Some might even receive a few coins... others might receive a sword at their neck.
Perhaps that was why the father of Jon's great-grandmother had never really dealt with it.
Lord Stark knew he would find many Snow branches spread across the North. Jon would not be the first, and certainly would not be the last.
There were probably dozens of them alive.
The Stark blood would grow weaker with each passing generation, as he understood it. However, there stood a great-grandson of a Stark bastard... bonded to a giant wolf.
That certainly was something quite unusual.