Jon laughed along with the blacksmith's unfunny joke as he opened the door, but stopped abruptly as he was on the doorstep because he suddenly came under a large shadow and when he looked up he saw the face of a young teen plastered on a body that wouldn't look out of place among the tallest guards of Winterfell.
"Oh... it's you again," Bryan said in an unfriendly tone when he recognized the man blocking the exit, "I already told you I don't have any work for you. Why do you keep on coming back?"
"Pease just give me one chance," the man in front of Jon begged in a surprisingly young voice, "I would be willing to even work for free— just give me a place to stay and some food and I would work very hard—"
"My answer won't change no matter how much you plead. I don't have an abundance of work as it is, and I would have to starve if I even started sharing that," Bryan briskly said before turning to Jon, "I will have your things ready by the week's end," Jon nodded and Bryan closed the door with a snap.
The large man looked at the closed door with disappointment and after sighing in defeat turned around to leave.
He was wearing clothes that had definitely seen better days and seemed to be carrying all his possessions in the sack on his back, and also carried a heavy hammer on his waist. He also looked as if he hadn't been eating well and his body looked thin and dirty as if he didn't hadn't had a proper meal and rest for quite a while.
"Hey, wait up!" Jon shouted toward the man, who immediately stopped and turned around and found Jon coming up toward him.
"Huh... Do you mean me!" the man asked in confusion while pointing a finger toward his face.
"Of Course, Who else is here on this empty street," Jon said while coming to stop in front of him before he narrowed his eyes and looked intently at the person in front of him for a while before his eyes suddenly gained a triumphant gleam and a small grin appeared on his face.
"I guess..." the teen-man said after looking around and finding no one else, "So do you want something from me,"
"I saw what happened back there," Jon said while pointing behind at the Blacksmith's home, "So I was curious. I haven't seen you around here before, Are you a Blacksmith from out of town?"
"Yes, I am... Um... I mean—I will be, I guess," the teen-man stuttered for a while before he sighed and continued sadly, "An Old Blacksmith in my village taught me some things during the last winter but he wasn't able to teach me everything because... the winter took him away,"
"That would make you a novice blacksmith," Jon said while massaging his neck that had started to hurt from looking at an awkward 70° angle, so he took the teen-man toward a tree stump nearby and made him sit so that they could talk on the same level, "That's better... Now, are you looking for some work, or were you hoping for someone who can take you as an apprentice,"
"I am trying to find some work, but haven't had any luck so far..." the teen-man said with a bitter smile, "And do I look like someone who's got enough money to pay someone for an apprenticeship,"
"Hmm..." Jon stood there for a while with his hand under his chin, his mind churning a mile per second trying to rapidly work on whether the idea that appeared inside his head was feasible.
"Umm...Why are you asking me so many things, anyway," the person in front of Jon hesitated for a moment before saying, "Do you know of someone who would have a job for me?"
"Maybe, I do," Jon said with a small smile before asking, "But first tell me, how old are you?"
"Hmm... 12 or maybe...13 I think," he replied unsurely.
"Brilliant!" Jon cheerfully said before he stopped and looked at the teen up and down with some skepticism, "You look so young but you are already traveling? And, Where did you say your village was, again?"
"I am from a village close to the Last Hearth, A-And..."
'So he hails from the land of Umbers, his absurd height completely makes sense now,' Jon thought before nodding encouragingly, "And..."
"Well... I was a fourth son of a farmer and though I learned under a blacksmith when summer arrived my father wanted me to become a farmer just like the rest of my family but I liked being a Blacksmith, so..."
"Go on..."
"But becoming a blacksmith wasn't as lucrative if there wasn't a war around the corner... and nobody wanted to pay a half-learned boy to make even the simplest stuff, and my pa didn't have money for me to complete my training. So one day I heard from an elder that wintertown was thriving and that it would be very easy to find work here..."
"So you ran away from home and arrived here..." Jon completed.
"Um yeah..." the boy agreed while rubbing his head with a silly smile before he suddenly lost his smile and said with a defeated sigh, "But it looks like the elder was wrong... because I wasn't able to find work, even though I have been here for more than two weeks,"
"How about you come with me, then," Jon said with a pure smile while extending his hand, "I'll make sure that you can get the apprenticeship you wanted and you can even get a place to stay,"
"Really..." he said in elation while taking Jon's hand before he suddenly realized something and asked, "Aren't you a bit... Um... young,"
"Don't Worry about that, I just don't look my age," Jon said waving his hands and he wasn't lying as he definitely looked a lot taller than children his age.
There were two reasons Jon decided to help this "boy"... Number 1 he had very good potential and could become a warg in the future if he was trained properly. And of course, Number 2 was it never hurt to have a blacksmith friend in a medieval world.
Ever since Jon got skilled enough at using Mind Sense, he had taken to using the skill very liberally on every person he came across inside Winterfell and in Wintertown too. And most of the time the people he came across were already past their prime age with their minds already being set and not having enough fluidity for them to improve with practice.
So the second he felt this boy's mind he was astonished to find that he had the fluid consciousness of a young one inside the body of a full-grown man, so the moment he asked his age his confusion got cleared.
"I am Jon by the way, What's your name..."
"Oh I am Tom but everyone in my family called me LittleTom..." LittleTom said sheepily.
"Um... Sure," Jon said while looking up at the "Little" tom before he put his hand on the shoulder which he could barely reach, and continued, "Well, then—tell me LittleTom, have you ever been to a castle..."
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pat reon.c om/lazywizard —> To read ahead
Sirius Black SI —> My other fic