"I had guessed that I would find you here," A voice suddenly drifted over and broke my concentration and brought me out of my internal world. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs inside my head before I heard Robb shout, "Uncle Benjen!"
I opened my eyes and found Robb already running toward Benjen from where he was lying on the other side of Sansa, who was still sleeping peacefully. I stood up and gently took Sansa into my arms while making sure that she didn't wake up.
"When did you arrive Uncle Benjen," I said while walking up to Benjen, who had already caught Robb in his hands and was throwing him into the air making him laugh loudly.
"I arrived just this morning, Jon," Benjen said while giving me a wide smile while placing Robb on the ground and rubbing my head, "And is that my littlest niece, she's grown so much from the Last time I had seen her,"
Benjen cooed at Sansa who was sleeping blissfully unaware of the new presence. Benjen would make sure to take a trip from the Wall to Winterfell to visit at least twice a year. He stays for about a week before leaving with quite a few essential supplies for the Watch.
"You boys do know that Lady Stark and her Septa had been searching for you and Sansa all over the place," Benjen said while looking at the two of us with a strict face, but he couldn't keep up the pretense, and his face immediately cracked up, "You were really clever, using such a basic distraction tactic,"
We both looked at each other with a grin, there was a reason he was our favorite adult. Every time he arrived, it would be like a party for a week in Winterfell. Even Father loosens up a lot and doesn't mind us roughhousing as much.
"Now come on," Benjen said while putting his hands behind us and leading us toward the gate, "You boys must be hungry and we should really take Sansa to Lady Stark before she turns any redder... nothing more dangerous than an angry pregnant woman," he mumbled the last part to himself.
All the way toward the kitchen, he regaled us with tales about his adventures as a First Ranger, and the wonders he saw when he ventured beyond the wall. While he was definitely hiding a lot of the grim details, Robb seem to be taking it all in with wide eyes.
He was a really good storyteller, and it made it easy to imagine why the previous Jon would consider the Wall such a good option.
By the time we arrived at the Great Hall, Sansa had woken up from her nap and was looking at the stranger in curiosity. She had been too young the last time Benjen arrived, so I introduced Sansa to her only uncle. She was shy at first, but Benjen's charm was enough to make her laugh by the time we were done with our lunch.
"Now, I heard someone say that today is your Nameday," Benjen said with a warm smile while looking down at Sansa, "And I think I have the perfect gift for you,"
Bengen reached into a small bag placed on the table by his side and pulled out a small necklace. Tied to a thin string of rope was a small wolf made of a black material that shimmered and glittered under the light.
"It's made out of Dragonglass, I made it from a broken dagger I found in the Wall's armory,"
"It's so pretty," Sansa said with wide eyes while taking it into her hands.
"And don't think that I forgot about you guys," Benjen said to us before once again reaching into the bag and pulling two wooden swords out of his bag, "These have been made from one of the sturdiest wood found on the other side of the wall,"
"It's heavy," Robb said while taking a sword into his hand.
"It's supposed to be," Benjen chuckled.
"Does that mean..." I asked eagerly while looking at the sword in my hands.
"Yes, Ned thinks that you are finally ready to train. He is already waiting for you in the yard," Benjen said while pushing both of us to stand, "Go on, from today onward, your training to become the finest Stark warriors begins,"
Robb immediately ran out of the yard while carrying his sword, I was just about to follow him but suddenly remembering something, I looked toward Sansa.
"Don't worry about her, I'll take her to her mother" Benjen said and I nodded in thanks before running straight out of the Great hall.
I caught up to Robb at the entrance to the courtyard and we both entered together to find Father standing there along with Ser Rodrik and his nephew Jory.
"Looks like benjen finally managed to find you two, huh," Lord Stark while looking at his sons who were grinning widely.
"Is it true, Father?" Robb asked stars in his eyes, "Uncle benjen said that we could finally start training,"
"Yes," Eddard said with a small nod before he continued with a grim face, "Now before I let you start, there are a few things you need to understand. The training yard is a very dangerous place, even a small mistake could lead to heavy consequences. Do you understand?"
We both nodded with very solemn faces. While to the outsiders Eddard's face would look the same all the time, over the years we became very good at reading his deadpan face, and deducing when he was in a joking mood, and when not, and right now he was dead serious.
"So I am being very serious when I say that if I find you pranking, roughhousing, or causing your usual mischievousness in the training yard. Then, I assure you won't see the face of the training yard again until you are taller than Hodor," Eddard said and stared at them for a few moments to convey his seriousness before he turned to Ser Rodrik and nodded.
"Alright Boys, Lord Stark tells me that you've been doing some stamina training over the last few months, so I don't need to give you the usual Rookie treatment as such we will go straight into the thick of things," Ser Rodrik said gruffly before he turned around and pointed toward his nephew, "Jory here will go through some of the basics sword forms and you are to observe him carefully,"
Ser Rodrik nodded toward Jory, who immediately took a training sword placed on the stand beside the wall. He stood in the center of the yard with a very stable stance and started to go through the various forms.
"Did you memorize them?" Ser Rodrik asked after Jory went through all of them. Both of us nodded eagerly and his eyes widened a bit before he said, "You did! Well let's see it then, go and perform the first form,"
We stood in the center of the yard side by side and went through the first form. While Robb was a bit wobbly, I went through it seamlessly.
Eddard and Ser Rodrik looked at each other in surprise, "Maybe it was a fluke," Rodrik whispered while shrugging and had both of us go through the rest of the forms.
"Looks like someone has been training with the sword," Eddard said sternly while walking toward us after we stopped, "Even though I don't remember giving you permission,"
"Of course not Father," Jon said while not looking toward the fidgeting Robb, "It's just we watched while the guards trained that's all,"
"Yes, Father," Robb nodded vigorously. He had caught me training secretly a month ago and had pestered me to teach him, that's the reason he was not very good as he had not been training for long.
Eddard glared at us for a few moments before he sighed and shook his head before turning back, "Alright, Jory pad them up. Let's see where they are at,"
Jory nodded silently and placed his sword back and took some pads from beside the stand before going toward Robb and tying them on him before he did the same with me. The pads gave us protection toward all the important places while not hindering our movement too much.
"Alright, the first one to get hit or fall down loses," Ser Rodrik said while standing between us, after getting our nods, "Ready, Go,"
Robb immediately ran at me with the wooden sword above his head. My mind automatically predicted what he would do and the many ways to counter it.
I chose the simplest option and just stood there, and when he came close I pivoted on my left leg and ducked to the left. The moment he passed by me I whacked him gently on his head.
"Stop!" Rodrik said and sent us back to our positions. The second one played out the same as well, Robb charged at me and I dodged his strikes twice before I kicked him from behind.
I won two more duels before Robb got smarter and during the fifth duel, when I parried his sword, he immediately abandoned his sword and tackled me into the ground with a wild move.
"I win!" Robb said with a wide grin while sitting on my stomach.
"Yes, you did," I gave him a wry smile while shaking my head, "Ugh... Now get off me, you are too heavy,"
"Alright, boys come here," Ser Rodrik said while waving us over to where he and Father stood watching.
We went toward them while still carrying wide grins on our faces from the rush of having our first proper duel.
"Now, Robb you look like you still need a lot of work on your forms, so you will practice those until I am satisfied with them," Ser Rodrik said before turning toward me, "Jon, while you seem to have a very solid foundation, you still need a lot of work on your footwork and you won't survive long if you just wait and counter,"
Robb pouted and I nodded silently, while I had been training by myself a bit every day, It couldn't compare to getting instructed by a proper teacher.
Ser Rodrik took Robb to Jory to show him the forms once again and correct his posture. I stayed back and went toward the silently watching Lord of Winterfell.
"Father, I wanted to ask you something,"
"What is it,"
"I was wondering if I could learn to wield the spear too," I said while looking him straight in the eyes.
"You don't want to learn the sword," Eddard asked while tilting his head.
"No, I do. I just wondered if I could learn more than one weapon,"
"When you have become proficient in the sword," Eddard said while folding his hands, "Ser Rodrik will make sure that you have the passing knowledge of all the most common weapons,"
"I know that, but I don't want to be just familiar, I want to be proficient in more than one weapon,"
"Jon," Father said placing a hand on my shoulder, "if you focus on too many things, you may not become good at any of them at all,"
"I think you said something similar when I wanted to learn the old tongue," Jon cheekily said.
Eddard looked at him for a moment, before he nodded, "Very well, Ser Rodrik will teach you about both the spear and the sword for a month and if he deems that you can't keep for that month then it will stop. Understood,"
"Yes," Jon nodded happily and started to walk away before he suddenly turned back, "I forgot to ask something,"
"Now what," Eddard sighed in exhaustion.
"Well you know how I use both my arms for all kinds of stuff and don't have any dominant arm," I said sheepily. From a very young age, I had forced myself to use both of my arms equally so as to have no weak arms, and now It has finally paid up, "I was wondering if I could learn to duel wield like the Sword of the Morning,"
"Of Course, you do," Father sighed while facepalming.
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