My eyes shot open abruptly and I looked around wildly for a few seconds, what came into my view was my room at Winterfell and not my apartment in my previous life, which made me fall back onto my bed in relief. I had a really absurd dream that I went back to my normal life in my previous world. It was not a dream but a nightmare, the past few years in this new life had been so invigorating that even the thought of going back to my mundane life makes me scrunch up my face in disgust.
I had stayed up late last night so I was a little tired and a bit sleep-deprived. Robb and I were in Sansa's nursery playing with her as she refused to go to sleep.
I flicked the blanket away and got up from my bed, there was a bucket of water placed before the now unlit fireplace. I took a piece of cloth, soaked it in water, and then washed my hands and face with it. When my eyes were properly opened, I found my way to the window and opened them, instantly the frigid wind of the north hit my face and scared away any traces of sleep from my body.
The box with a nest made of blankets in it sat empty on my desk. Frost had started flying about a week ago and since then every evening she would go out to hunt in the wolfswood nearby and return sometime during the day. I was worried for the first few days but after that, I was reassured that she could take care of herself.
I took a couple of breaths of fresh air and then went back to my bed and sat on it cross-legged. I took a moment to calm down and then started to breathe according to the instructions in the journal of the maester I found in the Library. Two deep breaths inside and five quick exhale, and then repeat it until my mind is clear of every thought.
Every few seconds a stray thought will pop up inside my head like what would be for breakfast today, and from there it would lead to the face of the one who cooks our food and if he washes his hands. And every time that happened I would have to open my eyes, take a couple of seconds to calm down and then start over.
I didn't know how much time had passed but my mind suddenly emptied of every thought and I was as calm as still water. I could feel as if I was not inside my body but inside my mind and my mind was not a physical organ like a brain instead it was a wobbly sphere of consciousness and its surface was undulating with every wave of thought inside my brain and the excitement of achieving this state of mind immediately made the surface of sphere get washed with tsunamis of my stray thoughts and I was brought off my mind. I was breathing heavily in excitement and I could not keep the wide grin off my face.
It's been two months since Sansa was born and I've been practicing according to the journal every day. Every morning I try to wake up a bit early and try to meditate. It's incredibly difficult to rid yourself of every thought, and only once before I was able to achieve this state of being where I could feel my sphere of mind. It was said to be the first step of techniques inside the journal. When I could dive into that state at the drop of a hat, only then would I be ready to start proper warging.
And every night before I go to sleep, I try to remember every single thing that I've experienced that day, this was a lot harder than just emptying my mind because it involves a lot of introspection, going through every emotion you felt and why you felt them, that was so emotionally draining that for the first month I could only go halfway through my day before giving up.
The thing is that you are only supposed to start these exercises when you turn 11 because by then you have a somewhat developed personality and these exercises won't hinder it. But because I already have an adult soul, I could practice them and that is also the reason I've not told Robb about these exercises.
There still hasn't been much progress in having complete control over my emotion but I didn't want to give it up, so I still persisted to try and process all the memories of the day.
When I looked outside the window I found out that the sun was already rising on the horizon, so I stood up from my bed and went out of my room after changing into some proper clothes.
I went to Robb's room and found him already awake and waiting for me, we both went toward the kitchens together. We passed by the mostly empty great hall to the high table where Ned and Catelyn were sitting together with Sansa in Catelyn's hands.
"Hello Sansa," Robb said while going toward our baby sister. I was feeling particularly mischievous today so I came up behind him and stuck my tongue out to make a scary face, but I faced the baby in such a way so that from Catelyn's point of view it seemed as if I was sticking my tongue at her.
"Look, Ned," Catelyn said while pointing her finger at me, "He is mocking me again, by sticking his tongue at me. I told you he always does that,"
"I don't know what you mean by that, Lady Stark," I said with a perfectly innocent face, "I was only playing with my baby sister. Wasn't I Robb,"
Robb looked at me for a moment considering something before turning toward his parents, "I think you might have been mistaken, Mother. Jon always makes that face at Sansa,"
"But... But..." Catelyn shot a betrayed look toward her son.
"It's too early in the morning for this," Eddard said with a groan, "Boys take a seat, and Cat, you don't need to create new things to have a fight with Jon."
"Thank you, Robb. I owe you one," I said in a whisper to Robb.
"Oh Don't worry, I got the perfect thing for you to make it up to me," Robb whispered back to me before he suddenly turned to Father and asked, "Father when do we get to start training in the yard,"
"It's too early for you boys, your bones and muscles haven't properly grown yet," Lord Stark gave the same answer he gives whenever Robb brought up that particular topic over the last year.
"But Father," Robb said, "Jon is already training to be a hunter, why can't I start too,"
"What is he talking about Jon," Ned said while turning toward me. I shot a shocked look toward Robb who silently reminded me about the favor I just owed him and I groaned internally before turning to face Lord Stark.
"Old Mark is just teaching me stuff like how to identify an animal or how to quickly climb a tree to run away, he is not teaching me any of the heavy stuff like archery or something," I said while omitting a lot of things, "And he only does it because I teach his granddaughter how to read and write,"
"As if you are smart enough to teach anyone," Catelyn said in a fake whisper while not looking at me.
"Did you say something Lady Stark," I asked sweetly and when she did not reply to me, I continued, "Say Lady Stark, If a tree has 5 birds on it and Robb shoots an arrow which misses obviously," "HEY!" "So how many birds are left on the tree,"
Catelyn looked like she didn't want to answer but couldn't stop herself and said, "Obviously 5 birds because he didn't shoot any of them,"
"See, that's why I can teach someone and not you," I said smugly while looking at her, and before she could say something I turned toward Father and asked, "Why don't you answer Father,"
"There are no birds because all of them were scared away from the arrow," Father answered while not looking up from his food. Catelyn turned red for a moment, from embarrassment or anger I didn't know.
"Don't Wowwy Sansa," I said in a baby voice to my sister, "You won't have to learn from your mother, your big bwother will teach you,"
And Sansa immediately started giggling cutely, which made the situation even more hilarious, even Father cracked a smile at her. The rest of our meal passed like that with me and Lady Stark and taking a pass at each other mostly me winning at the end, while Robb continued to pester Father for starting in the yard early. So by the end of Breakfast Lord Stark was quite done with everything so he immediately took Robb by his arms and after reaching the Courtyard told him to run five laps.
"Do you want early training too, Jon," Father said while looking toward me. Looking at his face I understood the only training he will give us will be just to run us until we are tired.
"No, I am alright, I need to go into Wintertown anyway," I said while slowly backing away and running away before he could call me back.
'Sorry Robb, but you asked for it, so you will have to endure it alone,' I thought while going out of the gates of Winterfell.
///
if you want to read ahead go to pat reon. com/lazywizard
Check out my other work Sirius Black SI
Leave a review if you like the chapter