The castle of Winterfell loomed in the darkness, its walls and towers silhouetted against a starry sky. Only a handful of lamps flickered here and there, casting feeble pools of light on the cobblestone paths.
The only people awake and moving in the castle of Winterfell were the night guards and in some of the private chambers, couples were hard at work, striving to increase the population of the North. Their faces glowed in the dim light of torches as they laboured through the night.
An exception to this was Jon who was neither a night guard nor old enough to participate in contributing to the population yet.
He had slipped past the guards after his family had retired for the night and made his way to an isolated stretch of the wall, where the guards rarely ventured, it was a place where you could get the best view of the night sky in Winterfell Castle.
Jon lay sprawled on the wall, his eyes tracing the glittering constellations that speckled the night sky. He fancied himself a bit of an expert on the subject, having spent countless hours poring over dusty tomes in the castle library. The Moonmaid, the ice dragon, and the Crane were old friends to him, but others were more elusive. The Stallion and the Shadowcat, for instance, were so similar that he struggled to tell them apart.
But don't be fooled into thinking that Jon was simply star-gazing to while away the sleepless hours because at that moment the neurons in his brain were firing at light speed at full intensity as he fought hard to keep his eyes open and his focus sharp to stay in his own body.
Jon's attention was split in two: one half focused on the twinkling stars overhead, while the other half delved deep into the mind of Frost, who was far away on the other end of Wolfswood near Last Hearth, dashing through the trees on the hunt for prey.
It had taken months of gruelling practice, but Jon had finally achieved a level of control over his warging abilities that he'd never thought possible. He could now seamlessly slip into Frost's consciousness while maintaining full control over his own body and senses.
The first time he did it properly, it felt like a bolt of lightning had struck him, and his mind felt as if it had levelled up, and his thoughts suddenly were clearer, more agile, and he could multitask with ease that he never could before. But at first, he was only able to maintain that state of being in two bodies at the same time for a few dozen seconds so he had decided to come here to train in this ability until he could reliably do it.
About ten minutes later, Jon's eyes snapped shut as he began to pant and sweat from the effort. The mental strain of warging was immense, and warging while keeping his body fully functional was a Herculean feat that pushed him to the limits of his endurance.
A grin spread across Jon's face as he glanced at the hourglass beside him. Ten minutes of warging without losing control was a new personal best, and he felt a surge of pride and satisfaction at his progress. As mentally taxing as this training was, the thrill of improvement kept him motivated.
His mind began to wander, seeking relief from the strain of warging. Jon's thoughts flitted from one topic to another with no discernible thread. He mused aloud about the three ships he'd recently acquired, "I hope Sam is playing it safe with those ships..."
He had told Merchant not to take any risk with the three new ships, and only allow them to take the safest trips, even if it means sacrificing profits. At the moment his priority was to build up a skilled crew so he had also told him to select youngsters from Wintertown and to rotate them on the ships to learn so that when they increased the number of ships in the future they have skilled captains, first mates, and sailors readily available.
As his mind wandered, Jon's thoughts turned to his animal companions. Frost, who he had just been warging into, was currently moving towards the wall at Jon's request. He had always wanted to see the wall and since it was inconvenient at the moment to physically be there himself, he thought to see through Frost's eyes.
Frost had never stopped growing and despite Frost's size - having grown larger than Jon himself - she remained light as a feather and incredibly fast. But with such a large creature, Jon had to be careful about when and where he met her. Frost's size was sure to scare the inhabitants of Winterfell, so Jon only met her at night to avoid causing any unnecessary rumours.
Frost had made the entire North her home, and she could move fast enough to traverse the distance from Moat Callin to the Wall in just one day. However, she mostly wandered through the mountains and forests without leaving the North. This was a source of joy for Jon, as he got to see the many beautiful things that were hidden from the rest of the world through her eyes.
Speaking of that, Jon's other companion, Tiger, the shadow cat he had bought from the Wolfswood along with its sibling, had grown large enough to hunt on its own. Jon had found a cave in the nearby forest for Tiger to live in, and he visited him every other day. However, Jon mostly left him alone so that Tiger could grow up naturally in the wild. The only thing Jon told Tiger was to avoid any humans he might come across.
Jon didn't know if it was a coincidence or not, but somehow every single animal that was associated with him seemed to be growing abnormally quickly, with their diets being almost double the normal amount. In addition, they all seemed to be smarter than their counterparts
A perfect example of this would be his horse, Pegasus. Despite both Jon and Robb acquiring their horses on the same day, Pegasus had already reached the normal height of an adult while Robb's horse was still far from it. And Pegasus didn't show any signs of stopping his growth anytime soon, which meant he might break some records if he continued at this rate. Similarly, Jon's tiger was growing much faster than its sibling.
The only thing he could conclude at that moment was that all this abnormal growth was related to him. His frequent warging into the animals since they were young might have stimulated their brains to grow, which in turn forced their bodies to bring out their full potential.
Jon wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but the next time he opened his eyes, he noticed that the sun was rising on the horizon. He let out a big yawn and slowly climbed down the wall before Sansa or Arya started looking for him.
As Jon made his way through the courtyard, he couldn't help but overhear a couple of maids gossiping in hushed tones about something in the distance. His curiosity piqued, he quietly approached them and began to eavesdrop.
After a few moments, Jon pieced together the gist of their conversation: Lord Stark was preparing for a trip to the Bear Islands because the young lord Mormont had broken a sacred law by selling to slavers, and now Lord Stark was obliged to punish him.
The news jogged Jon's memory, and he suddenly realized that the Jorah poaching incident was supposed to happen around this time. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks as a chain of thoughts raced through his mind, and an idea began to formulate in his mind that might turn out to be his brightest yet.
If he could execute his plan properly, this seemingly irrelevant incident could be turned into North's biggest advantage.
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And if you're wondering—A time skip is coming soon...