Chương 3: Journey to Winterfell
Kings Landing, Crownlands
The ship docked at Kings Landing, from there Ned ond his party were led to the Red Kep into the presence of the King Robert Baratheon. Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King was seated nearby. Robert looked happy to see him. Jon smiled at Ned.
"Where is she? Where is Lyanna?" Robert asked looking behind Ned.
"She is gone Robert, we were too late," Ned replied.
Robert looked angrier than sad and started cursing Targaryens. Ned now understood why Lyanna, did not want to marry Robert. His friend has changed much after the war. Robert and Jon assumed that Lyanna was killed by Rhaegar's Kingsguard while Ned and his friends killed them in return. Ned didn't correct them. He felt bad about lying to his friend and mentor, but like Tully family motto 'Family, Duty, Honour', family canne first and he will do anything to protect them. He saw that Tywin Lannister along with his daughter Cersei had entered the throne room, no doubt to offer his daughter's hand as the queen.
Jon decided to change the subject and asked Ned," Who are these children?"
Ned introduced Aryan to them and said, " This is Aryan Stark. He is Brandon and Ashara's legitimate son. He then explained to them about their secret marriage and Ashara's recent death. Both Robert and Jon listened sadly
Jon said, " Hoster will not be happy. He planned to have his blood as the next Lord Paramount of North."
Robert roared with wine spitting out of his mouth," Tell the Tully he will deal with me if he has any objections. He can have a taste of my hammer."
" Thank you Robert but I can handle him.'' Ned said.
"What about the other child?"asked Jon. This was the moment Ned knew if he could he could fool the three people in the room then Aegon would be safe. With bated breath and without meeting Robert's Eyes he calmly told them "He is my bastard. His mother recently died so I took him along with me to raise him." He waited for their reaction.
Robert suddenly started laughing very hard and said," The honourable Ned Stark has a bastard. What is the world coming to. Hear that Jon. It seems the quiet wolf has a wild side we did not know. Tywin's face remained expressionless but his eyes showed amusement while Cersei did not even bother to hide her disgust.
Jon released a sigh and asked him what his name was. Ned proudly replied," I named him Jon Snow in your honour." Robert started laughing again while John said," I can't decide whether to feel honoured or insulted to know that you given your bastard my name. Ned felt very embarrassed hearing that and did not say anything. They then changed the the conversation two other matters.
Robert requested Ned to stay at Kingslanding and offered him a position in his small council but Ned declined as he wanted to settle many affairs in North as well as to make sure Aryan has a proper upbringing.
So when he was taking his leave, Robert surprised him by saying," I want you closer to me Ned. You can rebuild the Moat Calin and make it your holdfast. That way you can be closer to both Winterfell as well as Kingslanding. For that I am giving you five million dragons."
Everyone in the room looked surprised. Tywin's face was unreadable but his agen showed his surprise. Ned told Robert it was needed. Even Jon tried to discourage Robert but Robert was insistent. He said, " We have our coffers full. Ned has lost so much of his family. Its the least I can do for him. Consider this as the King's order."
Ned knew how difficult it was to change Robert's mind. So he reluctantly accepted Roberts gift and then he bid their leave promising to bring Aryan to swear to Robert when he reached 17 to take up the title of Lord Paramount of North. Ned was eager to leave Kingslanding. He could not bear the stench of the city, also he could see the blood around at some places after the Lannister army had sacked the city. So by next morning he and his party set their journey towards Riverrun to meet his wife Catelyn and then finally return to Winterfell. He had enough of this war now he wanted peace and rest.
~
Riverlands
On the way he saw burnt fields, rotting dead bodies, burnt holdings etc at many places a reminder of the lives lost in the war. During the journey he interacted with Aryan and showed him the places on their way. He could see the boy was very attentive and could also identify the sigils of many houses. Ashara was right, the boy was very intelligent and he could make a very good Lord of the North.
On the way he contemplated whether to tell Catelyn about Aegon but later decided against it. May be later he thought. No need to endanger their lives too.
They passed Harrenhal and Ned told Aryan about how this was the largest castle over the whole Westeros and how it was burnt during Aegon's conquest Aryan seemed to listen very attentively. Soon after half a month journey they had reached near the castle Riverrun. They could see the red sandstone castle and so Ned decided to camp for the night and enter the castle next morning. They set a camp nearby and promptly fell asleep.
~
Riverrun, Riverlands
As they entered the castle he saw his wife and his good father there to welcome him. His wife came to him and placed a bundle into his hands and said," My lord this is your son Rob Stark. Ned looked at the child and saw that he had blue eyes and red hair, and smiled at the baby. He then hugged his wife and exchanged greetings with his good father He then introduced his companions Howland and William to them. And finally he introduced Aryan and Jon to them and as expected both Catelyn and Hoster became angry. Catelyn was angry that her husband had sired a bastard while Hoster was angry that Catelyn's children will never inherit the North like he coldly told Ned," Of course husband, please come in and take rest. We will talk about this later." and went inside. On the other hand Hoster immediately started convincing Ned to leave Aryan aside and take title as the Lord of Winterfell. He tried to convince Ned that Aryan maybe a bastard and Ashara may have just like to him. Ned became angry when he heard that and shouted at Hoster for making false decided to cut short his stay at the Riverrun and after two days they started their journey to Winterfell. His wife quarreled with him occasionally regarding Jon and she also requested him to dispose of the bastard to which he finally shouted at her angrily. After that remained cold to him during the journey.
They quickly passed that twins and were hosted by Lord Walder Frey but did not stay there much longer as the 'late' Walder Frey used the occasion to subtly insult the Northeners and at the same time trying to setup marriage alliances for his extended family.
~
The North
And from there after a few weeks journey they reached the Moat Cailin. They set a camp and stayed there for few days. Benjen had already sent Mason and Stone workers there as per Ned's letter from Kingslanding. Ned met them and they discussed the plans on how to renovate the great castle. After giving them the necessary instructions they continued their journey to Winterfell. Howland and William parted ways to their respective castles. On the way they stayed at castle Cerwyn and from there after a few days they finally reached Winterfell.
Ned looked at Aryan and said," We are home," and both smiled at each other. Both for different reasons.
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