"I did," Jon said while moving to stand beside Robb, Lady stark was heavily pregnant at the moment so the people gathered here at the moment were the decision maker of the Winterfell and The North.
There is a reason why Lord Stark started teaching Robb about ruling from an absurdly young age. If a person from Jon's previous world looked at it they would find it unbelievable but Jon had understood from a young age that it was wrong to think about the customs of a medieval fantasy world through the eyes of the Modern world.
One of the main reasons Starks have been able to keep ruling north for thousands of years was that they almost always start teaching their heirs as young as possible. This was a world where dangerous things happen all the time and even someone as young as 7 years old could suddenly become a Lord responsible for thousands of lives.
So The Starks were very cautious about these things, like their other saying perfectly demonstrates, 'There must always be a Stark in Winterfell,'. It's a motto that helps separate the Starks from the other noble houses of the North because they're more than that. They are essentially the royal family of the North.
And Joffery in the canon perfectly shows what happens when a person is handed a lot of power at a young age without learning about all the responsibilities involved.
"What are they arguing about?" Jon asked in a whisper to Robb while looking at Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik who were each talking with each other, with the steward trying to meditate between them.
"Maester Luwin says that the villages along the coast should be emptied and situated more inland for their safety," Robb replied with a sigh, "While Ser Rodrik says that the villagers won't agree to leave easily,"
"I am telling you it won't be the last one, and it won't be long before we hear the news of another raid," Ser Rodrik said with a grim look and his hands tightened into a fist, "The ironborn run a circle of our coastal areas before they go on an actual raid to see if they can get lucky. It's almost like a ritual for those squids," He ended with disgust.
"I understand that perfectly, Ser," Maester Luwin replied calmly while fiddling with his chain, "I am just saying that the first summer harvest hasn't arrived yet so there is not enough food yet. And with the war going for who knows how long, we may have to tighten our belt for a while. And most of those villages depend on their daily fishing so they will be very reluctant to leave their home as that may mean starving. So if they were going to die anyway, they will definitely choose to go after a fight with the ironborn,"
"Can we not provide them with protection from the reserve forces we have?" Robb asked after a while after both the adults stopped speaking.
"That would not be possible, My Lord," Ser Rodrik shook his head, before running his finger along the coast on the map in between them, "It may not seem so on this Map but our coast is too long with small villages scattered everywhere. It would be possible to protect a few but almost impossible to do so for every single one. And without knowing their target we would just be running from one village to another, without ever catching them,"
Robb nodded before asking Maester Luwin about how much food they would have to supply, if they were able to situate all of the villagers inland, or if it was possible to buy from Riverlands and how much it would cost us.
While they were discussing, Jon remunerated about the problem in front of him in his head. There was a very obvious solution to the problem presented in front of him. But the resolution required him to share some things that may leave him a bit vulnerable and expose some things before he was ready to.
In the end, he remembered the survivors that had arrived this morning and his conscious couldn't take it without him doing anything if he could help it. Besides if he played right it may not even be that dangerous.
Jon took a deep breath and asked, "What if we were able to learn about the targets in advance? Will it be possible to prepare a defense then?"
"If that was possible then we could set up a few decent size forces in between and assign them to 4 or 5 villages each, and send them to the target village quickly," Ser Rodrik said immediately, "If we know about their target a few days in advance, forget defense we could even set an ambush for those reavers and show them what North is made up of," He humphed in agitation before he calmed down and said while shaking his head, "But alas that all depends on an advanced scouting system we don't have in the north,"
"I may have a way to know in advance when and where they would strike," Jon said after taking a deep breath.
Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik exchanged glances before the Maester asked skeptically, "What way?"
"You all know about Frost, Don't you?" Jon asked and they all nodded, "I think if I can get a hold of all the Ironborn flags. I can teach Frost to recognize them and she could fly back immediately and warn us,"
"That is really hard to believe, But what do I know about Bird Rearing," Ser Rodrik said before looking toward Maester, "Is it possible then? I know that Ravens can do all kinds of things but this seems a bit farfetched,"
"I know that frost is uncannily intelligent but... I don't know," Maester Luwin said frankly, "There's no precedent of it happening before that I've read of,"
"I believe in Jon," Robb said decisively before they could talk about it any further, "If Jon says he could do it then he can,"
They took a bit more to be convinced but they ultimately decided to trust Robb and started planning for the ambush sites and where the forces should be placed for the best efficiency and where they would be able to react in a timely manner.
After a very long session, all the adults left one by one, and ultimately only Jon and Robb were left behind. And the door closed after the last one, Robb turned to his brother, "Can you really do it?"
"I already showed you how I warg into Frost," Jon said calmly, "And she is really fast so it would be very easy for her to patrol a very large area. She would be able any ship long before they even come close to the coast,"
"That is good because a lot of lives depend on this," Robb said in relief before he expectantly looked at Jon, "So when are you going to teach me?"
"I told you that you need to reach an appropriate level in the techniques I taught you," Jon said while giving him the excuse he had told his brother. If he told Robb that the real reason was age, it would open a can of worms of why he could do it if they were the same age.
"Ugh those are very hard," Robb said while pouting, finally being his age after being forced to act like an adult for so long.
"Come, let's go to the Kitchen," Jon said while moving toward the door, "I don't know about you but I am very hungry, and I hunted a very delicious Stag today so..." Jon didn't even finish and Robb was already rushing in front of him.
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