Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Nothern!
"Well, how about that?" Mark Ryswell cockily uttered, "Gregor Clegane is a Westerlander by birth. Now he's living in the North as a Northman with a Northern wife and a Northern child."
"Must be little of the Westerlands left in him," Ethan Glover commented.
"Well, I'm partly inclined to think of him as a Northerner through and through," Howland Reed remarked, "But we cannot make any presumptions. We'll have to wait and see if he can raise his child in the fashion of the North."
At least he has the opportunity to raise his own child.
For every day since Lyanna Stark and her company left the Tower of Joy, her son had been the primary focus of her thoughts.
Eddard wrote to her as often as he deemed safe to. From her brother's missives, Lyanna learned that Jon was doing very well in Winterfell.
Lyanna never doubted that Ned would be a good father figure to Jon. What really troubled her was how her sister-by-law would treat him.
To her vast relief, her worries were unwarranted. Catelyn Stark was very loving and caring towards her nephew. She was every bit the mother figure Lyanna would have hoped to have been.
Like Eddard, Lyanna knew Gregor Clegane was to thank for that. He had been the one to propose the false account of how Jon had come into the world.
It was their good fortune that the story that he was Brandon Stark and Ashara Dayne's bastard son was both believable and consistent.
Neither Lyanna nor Eddard enjoyed tarnishing their late elder brother's memory so, but if it meant ensuring Jon's survivial, they could live with that lie.
They were lucky that Ashara had been so willing to go along with that story, as well.
At first, Lyanna wondered why it was necessary for Ashara's "suicide" to be part of it.
Then Ashara had given her a simple but logical reason: Jon would not be compelled to seek his alleged birth mother out if she was presumed dead. Even if she travelled across the Narrow Sea to Essos, he might still go after her when he came of age.
So it actually had been necessary for Ashara to fake her death. In addition to that, anything other than a suicide would have drawn unwelcome attention.
Even though Jon would have excellent parenting, she still worried for his safety.
Ser Gerold Hightower had come to the North with Eddard and his bannermen after the Rebellion. He had new clothes, a new haircut, and a new name: Ser Marvyn of the Reach.
As for his background, he was a travelling knight who had chosen to come north in the aftermath of Robert's Rebellion.
He had elected to serve the Stars of Winterfell as a symbol of goodwill between his homeland and the North.
Such a benign gesture was very much needed after Lord Eddard had defeated Lord Mace at Storm's End. So it was easy enough to buy.
In any case, Ser Gerold would be able to guard Jon without compromising himself or the boy.
Lyanna knew the Reachman would be capable of protecting her son.
He had been the Lord Commander of Aerys' Kingsguard, and he had kept her safe in Dorne for weeks.
But even with all her anxieties put to rest, Lyanna was not content with the knowledge that her son was loved and sheltered. She would have given anything just to hold her son in her own arms.
She never expressed that desire to any other person vocally, as she did not wish to make anyone else share in her misery.
Unbeknownst to her, though, Ashara Dayne had caught on to Lyanna's unhappiness. As someone who had lost her own child at birth, she knew the look of a grieving mother all too well.
Lyanna had that very look right then.
"Are you alright, Princess?" Ashara asked in concern.
Lyanna softly nodded her head, but her countenance suggested she wished to shake it instead.
"Can we have a moment?" Ashara requested of the others.
The lounge was promptly cleared of everyone except the Dornishwoman and the wolf woman. Once they were alone, Ashara sat down next to the younger woman and assumed "Jon?"
Lyanna merely nodded her head and confirmed "Always Jon."
A tear had begun to form at the corner of her eye.
Ashara swiftly reached out to Lyanna and pulled her into an embrace, which the other female openly accepted.
That was one thing the Northwoman loved about the Dornishwoman; she was always so sympathetic to the anguish of others.
That must have been one of the things that attracted Brandon to her in the first place.
This was one instance where her sympathetic nature would really come through.
She told Lyanna hopefully "I have been doing some thinking about your situation. Some very deep thinking. I believe there may be a way to bring you and your son together."
That immediately grabbed the wolf woman's attention. She looked the older woman in the eye and asked eagerly "What?"
Ashara revealed "Well, I have an idea. It is a risky one, but if executed properly, it could work. It could reunite you with Jon without posing any threat to either of you."
"I'm listening," Lyanna Stark proclaimed, leaning in closer.
…
One of the last two messages was sent by raven to King's Landing.
As king of Westeros, Robert Baratheon had a right to know that the Master of Order on the small council now had an heir.
Of the five people Gregor had written, Robert had the most positive reaction to the message.
He had sent a follow-up letter back almost immediately, expressing his joy for the arrival of Gregor and Dacey's firstborn child.
He had also given Rickard Clegane his royal blessing.
By contrast, the receiver of the final message had the most negative reaction. But considering who it was, that was hardly shocking.
The last letter had been delivered by raven to Casterly Rock.
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