Kapitel 30: Chapter 30 - Adventures in the North 27.
[Chapter Size: 4027 Words.]
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Jon Snow POV
Northern Kingdom, Last bastion of Essos slave traders, 290 AC, at the same moment.
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Jon was accompanied by Jory Cassel as they both walked through the military camp. Jon was seen by every pair of eyes in the place, as he made a grand entrance. No one would fail to look at the boy who commanded armored giants and giant beasts, acclaimed in the realm as a small and brave hero.
"Jon..." Jon heard Jory in front of him. The man showed a hesitant look, trying to say something, but it seemed difficult for him.
"Yes?" Jon spoke softly.
"I... I think I misjudged you that day of the robbery. You are much more than just a thief. So, I ask for your forgiveness for that..." The man said reluctantly, but he seemed sincere.
"It's okay. What's in the past stays in the past." Jon said calmly. It's not like he didn't have conflicting feelings from that time, especially about something he didn't do. But what would it benefit him to keep brooding anger against those people who judged him as a thief? He couldn't do anything, just scream like an indignant child. So, he accepted not harboring much resentment. That didn't mean he had love for them. For Jon, being distant and without socializing was enough.
"I understand..." Jory said, already having some idea of what the boy was thinking, and continued in silence. The path with Jon to the giant tent, where the lords would gather for a feast.
Soon, they arrived at the location. Jon could see they were celebrating now. The stew from before was replaced by some game they had saved for the next day and decided to use this night.
"You can go in. Lord Stark is waiting for you." Jory said, and Jon nodded, entering the large tent.
Jon saw how the nobles were scattered around the tent, except for a few servants serving them. The place was mostly occupied by men, due to being a military camp.
Jon walked to the main table, wearing his armor. It's unclear if it was because of his equipment or the fact that a child was walking in front of everyone, but it drew attention, and everyone fell silent once they noticed Jon walking to the main table.
"You're here, son." Ned spoke as Jon arrived in front of him.
"I'm here, Lord Stark." He spoke respectfully, although his father raised an eyebrow to that.
"Come here, sit by my side, Jon." He said, earning a stunned look from the boy.
"Are you sure, Lord Stark? This place and even this table are not for me and my status." He spoke sincerely, earning many frowns from the other lords with these words.
"It's alright, lad! You're among friends; don't let that fish dictate your life like that!" Someone shouted among the nobles.
"That fish is my wife! And I won't tolerate such disrespect!" Ned growled, making that man shrink with his lord's fury.
Ned didn't like it, but let it pass and looked at Jon.
"But he's right; you're among friends, and I want you by my side at this feast." Lord Stark said, and Jon ended up accepting with some reluctance.
Jon was surprised and happy. When did he ever imagine being where he is now when he was younger? He thought it was a wish he would never fulfill after hearing so many complaints about his status from Lady Catelyn. He was with his father at a high main table, surrounded by nobles and among them, great lords of the realm, with no one complaining about the presence of a bastard among them. That was always the boy's dream since he knew what it meant to be a bastard. He dreamed not of being the lord of Winterfell (that was his brother's place), but he wanted his father to declare him a legitimate son, someone he could be proud of to the realm.
But now, that was exactly what was happening. He tried not to cry with emotion at this thought, and all the lords came to talk to him as they ate in the tent. Many lords questioned his lord about how he educated him in Winterfell to produce a young man with so many stories at such a young age.
Jon had no choice but to become quite shy in the face of these questions and act like a child here. However, he managed to have good conversations with these lords, despite his unlimited life experience. He told some jokes that made them laugh and asked many questions about the things they did and how they lived in their lands. In turn, they responded by talking about their children, families, castles, and the lands they managed.
He also had to recount his adventures and his time isolated from the rest of the world in Wolfwoods, what he was doing, and how he found the immense animals, the giants.
"You were saying that the wolves came to you after the storm? By the gods, I already found that quite unbelievable, but now you're saying you found the giants by chance. Did they isolate themselves after fleeing from north of the wall and hide in Wolfwoods?!" Faced with Karstark's question, Jon just nodded.
"I still find all this very unbelievable, but there are giants in this camp..." He grumbled.
"And the armors, I've never seen metal like that!" Lord Glover said, looking at the greenish and shiny metal pieces that covered Jon at that moment.
"This was made by some accident, while I studied magical runes that the children, the Children of the Forest, used thousands of years ago." Jon said in his childish tone.
"That is really incredible, besides being beautiful, it seems to be resistant. You designed and created this symbol, but I saw you in a black wolf, not white." He said, looking at the symbol on the detailed armor chest.
"Yes, it is a metal superior to the common, and yes, I drew it. About the symbol, it's about the wolf that is a cub of the black one named Shadow, I named him the little wolf with its ghost name. He's only a few months old." Jon said.
"You made the armors, are you also a blacksmith, lad?" He said, disbelieving.
"Yes, I have help from William, a recent apprentice in the trade, but I can detail the armors. But the huge armors, we had help from the giants; I just instructed them, and one of them was being trained with William." Jon said, earning many raised eyebrows. It was very incredible for a 9-year-old boy to talk about all this.
"Damn Ned, your son is blessed by our gods!" Karstark proclaimed.
"I don't even understand this properly, but everything indicates that..." Ned seemed tired saying this.
"Anyway, our gods must have their reasons with Jon, let's stop questioning him about these things." Lord Stark spoke again, not wanting Jon to receive this kind of attention.
The questions about Jon's mystical abilities were closed, but the conversation continued. Lord Glover, in particular, showed favor to the boy after what Jon's group did to rescue his daughter and began treating him like part of his family.
In addition to the vassals of the Glovers, Karstarks, and Starks, there were some nobles from the Umbers' region that their lord sent and a group from Bear Island. Dacey Mormont was present as well. The Mormont family sent support, as Jorah Mormont was involved with the slavers and escaped his crimes. So, she was sent while her mother organized the mess her criminal nephew created for the family.
She invited Jon to visit Bear Island, as did all the lords present. They didn't miss the opportunity to invite the child, saying that he would be welcome in their castles. Jon never received so much attention from the nobility, very different from the contempt he had already become accustomed to. There was a tone of respect for him, almost as they directed to his father, Lord Stark. They even mentioned possible marriages, despite being a bastard. He was creating a great name and had a lot of potential. Jon blushed a lot at this part, which made everyone laugh.
Jon stayed at this feast for the next 3 hours, talking with the lords and his father, who also spoke with him about the adventures. Jon asked about Winterfell, listening to his father talk about the family. Of course, the boy knew that his father had hidden some things. He heard through his birds how the common people spoke of the Starks. The commoners always treated Jon and his father with respect, but it was different regarding his brother and Lady Catelyn.
Lady Catelyn must be crazy saying how the common people of the North spoke of her, and his brother must be disrespected and belittling the things Jon did in the North. He could even understand a bit, but he didn't respect his brother talking about him as he heard since it was never his intention to harm Robb's reputation in the realm.
When the topic he and his father touched upon took that direction, it ended up creating a somber atmosphere between the duo, stabilizing over their pleasant father-son conversation. Jon, not wanting to discuss this and not wanting to bring up the incident that happened with his raven that Lady Catelyn tried to get rid of, quickly diverted attention to a subject he wanted to discuss with his father as soon as they arrived at the camp. He preferred to do it in private, but since everyone was here and as an escape from darker topics, Jon mentioned it now.
Putting his father aside, he turned to everyone in the feast.
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[I am combining two chapters into one!]
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Third person POV
Kingdom of the North, Last stronghold of Essos slavers, 290 AC, at the same moment.
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Putting his father aside, he turned to everyone in the feast.
"My Northern lords, I would like your attention for a moment!" Jon raised his childlike voice with these words, and everyone in the tent looked at the boy consciously. He had enough respect to grab their attention, even his father looked curious, and Jon continued to address everyone.
"Did you see the metal I brought, right?" They all nodded, and Jon glanced at Jory at the tent entrance.
"Jory, can you ask someone to fetch Ducken and William at my camp and tell them to bring the equipment I've set aside." He spoke, and Jory seemed to obey, calling someone to go to the camp where he and his group had settled.
While whoever went there, Jon took this time to draw his weapon from the sheath, a short sword under the gaze of everyone present.
"Take the sword and note its quality, then pass it to the others." Jon did this with his second short sword and handed the other row of lords, who began to look at the material of the weapon carefully and moved on to the next hand.
When one of the swords fell into the hands of Lord Glover, Jon decided to speak again.
"As you can see, this slightly greenish metallic tone on my sword is superior to common metal. Not like Valyrian steel, but there's something special about it that even Valyrian steel can't do. Now, Lord Glover, can you tell me what you feel when holding the sword?" Jon asked the first lord who had one of the swords and was analyzing it carefully, but there was a surprised look on his face, just like everyone who saw the weapon.
He thought without answering at first, but the words ended up coming out of his mouth.
"It... it's light!" He said, and people began to whisper to each other, especially those who hadn't touched the metal yet.
"Yes, it's light, my lords. Could someone take a sword and cross blades with my sword in Lord Glover's hand? Since lightness can represent fragility in metal." Jon said, and soon a man at the tables unsheathed his sword. The whole hall was interested in the events and where Jon wanted to go with these words.
Lord Glover trusted Jon's words and raised the sword for a small lord coming to test the boy's words. It didn't take long for them to go to a larger space, and the swords clashed, starting with a weak blow, as they were still unsure about this light metal that the boy showed. But things changed when the sound of the blades crossing with tremendous force came on the third attempt.
The hall fell silent. Lord Glover looked at the sword in his hand in disbelief, and Jon continued.
"Yes, Lord Glover, I know that expression, and I ask you. You, who have a sword much lighter and even shorter than your opponent's, still felt any loss to the impact when crossing blades with the bastard sword?" Jon asked calmly, with a smile on his face.
He saw, in a corner of the tent, Ducken and William entering the place, and he was waiting for some signal from the boy.
"No, lad, I felt no loss upon impact, despite having a light and short sword. It seems there's magic..." He said with a tone of disbelief, allowing more whispers to happen among the tables.
"Now, Lord Glover, as a veteran in battles who fought two wars, can you give me your opinion on this sword?" Jon asked again, even with curiosity to know the opinion about his created metal.
"That... is incredible, young one... I've never seen anything like it. It might not look like Valyrian steel, like Stark House's Ice or Mormont House's Longclaw, but it is precious and invaluable from what I could perceive!" He said, intensifying the conversations in the hall even more.
"Now, I would like everyone to take the sword and test it, passing it to the next people who haven't touched the metal yet." Jon solemnly requested, and everyone began to do so, each giving an incredible opinion of the metal, and some testing its impact with other swords, as Lord Glover did.
Jon didn't know, but his father was watching him the whole time from his seat, seeing how the boy was leading the conversation among the realm's nobles and leaving all these stubborn and closed lords curious. Not to mention, he was doing this as a 9 nameday old child, something incredible.
Ned only thought that Jon would be a fantastic king if things were different.
Once everyone satisfied their curiosities and tested the metal, they turned again to Jon.
"Ducken, William, bring the things!" Jon announced with a signal to his men.
"Now that everyone has seen the metal, I have some gifts for all the lords present!" He exclaimed, and William, at that moment, entered with a cart full of metal.
The lords were all surprised and very excited about the turn of events, to the point that even some felt they should give the little Jon a kiss now.
"First, to my father. Since you have Ice, and my weapons are of inferior metal, I'll be giving you this armor, which will make you move faster or tire less without losing quality against common metal, lighter and more resistant, I would say. So, I made these pieces to accompany you on the battlefield and protect you from any danger!" These words left everyone speechless. The sword is very light, but it didn't even cross their minds what armor with such light metal would be like, despite the boy wearing one at the moment!
They looked with envy glints at their lord, who even felt uncomfortable with this kind of attention. But he couldn't help but be eager to see this kind of armor. He just took the sword in his hand and inspected the quality of the weapon but saw how it clashed with other common metal weapons. Seeing the armor that his son was wearing, he could only imagine something incredible, and that would make him very excited, as if he had returned to being a boy dreaming of battles.
Ducken entered behind William carrying a second cart. An armor mounted on a dummy in the shape of a man was brought to him and in plain view of everyone.
It had the special metal, Eldenmetal, with symbols and designs of House Stark. The armor had the shape of a wolf also between the shoulders and the helmet, adding to its beauty and charm. Ned personally had never seen any armor that represented House Stark as much as this one in front of him.
[Author here: Ned's armor will be the Nordic Carved Armor from Skyrim, with a greenish tone]
"This is a gift from me to you, Lord Stark." Next to it, there's a box with gifts for your children, made with the same metal. Maybe they'll use them or keep them as ornaments."
In the box, there's a short sword for Robb, a dagger for Sansa, a pointed sword for Arya, and a slightly smaller short sword for Bran. Ned smiled pleased with this; his son still thinks of his siblings, even with the unfair treatment of some of them.
Right after that, Jon began to distribute swords, axes, hammers, and shields to the lords at the tables, who were immensely pleased. They came out of respect for their lord during the siege against the slavers, but if they knew they would receive such high-caliber gifts just for being present for their lord, they would have come ten times if called, and all the northern lords would have fought to find a place to accompany Lord Stark in the siege. It was likely that the entire northern army would be here if it meant getting pieces with this metal.
Those who were at the tables for comfort or safety could only look with envy at their lords receiving these weapons. Jon made sure that the lords passed their blades to them as well. Jon saw their looks and spoke again as the lords chose the best weapons that suited them.
"Unfortunately, there are not blades for everyone, but I would like the help of all the nobles present. I have 10 bastard swords with 10 shields left. I intend to give them to the 10 soldiers or commanders who stand out in the next battle of the siege, and I need your help to inform the soldiers and select them in an honorable and fair manner. This is valid only for those who have not yet received the blades!" Jon declared.
This was appreciated by everyone, and they wasted no time in thundering the name "JON SNOW" again. The soldiers outside the hall wondered what the reason for the commotion was again inside the main tent.
With that, everyone enjoyed their new swords, shields, axes, or hammers. Jon stayed a little longer before deciding to return to the camp again. With Ducken and William going earlier to the place, Jon was accompanied by his father and Jory by his side.
Jon was given a corner of the camp for his group, and his father was surprised by the giant tents, at least 4 meters high, for the giants to sleep in. Even late at night, this side was still active, not only because the giants and animals were eating some things they brought, but there was a crowd of northerners around their group. As much as they had tried to be discreet, their numbers were quite obvious.
Not that Jon blamed them for that; the soldiers never took their curious eyes off them. After all, it's not every day that you see legends from the north in front of you.
"Does your group always attract attention like this?" His father asked, arriving at the site with the boy.
"You have no idea..." Jon smiled at that.
"Jon, do they sleep in armor?" His father asked, looking at some giants entering the tents with their armor.
"Actually, they do take them off, normally, but since we are in a siege and it's good to be prepared for any night attack. Ducken always taught them about that." Jon said innocently. The boy didn't know, but Ned was smiling ironically at how his 9 nameday old son gave some obvious lessons in warfare.
"I'm proud of you, my son. You have not only brought terrible wolves under the wings of a Stark blood but also created armor like no man in the North has ever seen before." His father said proudly.
As they arrived at the site, Jon greeted everyone beside his father, and Blackarrow, the she-wolf, took the initiative on her own, stood up, and walked toward them.
Your father became cautious, taking a few steps back.
"Thank you, Father. My dream has always been to be recognized and bring pride to House Stark. And tonight at dinner was very significant for me," Jon said, intercepting the she-wolf and petting her head.
"Here, she seems to recognize you. Her name is Blackarrow, a female and the mother of all those pups there," Jon said again and let the wolf approach his father.
His father, cautious, slowly extended his hand over the head of the 2.5-meter wolf, with Jon carefully managing the contact between them. Jory stood behind, but Jon asked him not to make any hostile moves.
"Father, she seems to like you. I've established a temporary connection between you two. In the next battle, you won't need a horse..." Jon said with a smile, and his father was stunned by these words. Jon saw his father looking at the wolf, who, in turn, stared intensely at him. Both felt the connection at that moment.
Jon couldn't give the wolf he already has a connection to just anyone, but he could open a temporary contact, which he ended up doing since the wolf recognized the blood of his father, even if the magic was weak in the Lord of Winterfell.
"Blackarrow, my name is Eddard Stark. You are a beautiful girl." Ned couldn't help but marvel at this.
Jon talked a little more with his father about light topics and went to sleep in his tent. Lord Stark went to his part of the camp, accompanied by a wolf and a cautious Jory behind. Everyone was left in awe, seeing their lord with a wolf larger than him following him like a dog.
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