He was a man of duty, always steadfast in his decisions and actions. So when the raven arrived from the maester in Dragonstone, he knew he had to act fast.
Without hesitation, he took care of his affairs in Kings Landing and took the fastest ship back to Dragonstone and made his way to the castle as quickly as he could, his heart heavy with worry and fear.
As he stood by his daughter's bedside, his eyes focused intently on her, he couldn't help but feel a sense of helplessness wash over him. Her once-beautiful face was now marred by the dreaded grayscale, and the pain she seemed to be enduring was almost too much for him to watch.
"How long did you say it would take for the raven to reach Winterfell, Maester Cressen?" he asked, his voice unwavering.
"It should be any day now, my lord," the maester replied, his eyes full of concern.
"And my daughter will be fine until then?" he pressed, his tone steady with a hint of urgency in it.
"Yes, my lord, I have been able to slow down the spread, but it has left her very weak and susceptible to other diseases that would normally not be an issue. The pain and discomfort will not disappear unless she is completely cured," the maester explained, his voice gentle.
He couldn't help but wonder what he had done to deserve such punishment from the gods. If only he had received the raven earlier, he could have asked the white mage to come and save her.
But now, all he could do was wait and hope that the message he had sent to Winterfell would arrive soon enough to cure his daughter's ailment.
"Is there nothing else you can do?" he asked, desperation creeping into his voice.
"I am sorry, my lord. I wish I could do more for her, but it is beyond my abilities," the maester replied, his expression solemn.
"Very well, then. All we can do now is hope," he said, his voice firm.
He turned away from his daughter, his eyes betrayed nothing. He knew he had to be strong for her, to keep her spirits up in the face of such pain and discomfort. But deep down, he feared the worst, and could only pray that the gods would show mercy on his beloved daughter.
-----------
I flew higher and faster than I ever had before, using magic to expel energy from my hands and legs to thrust myself through the air. My new aura protected me from the air resistance on my face, preventing me from needing new eyeballs from traveling at such speeds.
I would have spent more time messing around with my new powers, but I had made a promise and I intend to keep it. My new speed allowed me to reach the outskirts of Winterfell in record time, even though I wasted a lot of time going up instead of straight ahead.
As Fenrir came running out of the forest, I was waiting for him with a cheeky expression on my face. "There, there, slow and steady wins the race," I said while patting his snout patronizingly.
However, Fenrir was not in the mood for jokes and bit my hand in response.
"Ahh, son of a bitch," I exclaimed, cradling my injured hand, which now had two giant holes in it. Although my wounds healed immediately, it was still irritating.
"That's it, no more head pats for you, bad dog," I said, scolding Fenrir.
Fenrir huffed and walked away from me, but I chased after him, jumping on his back to playfully continue our game of chase. It was a sight to behold as we entered Winterfell, with me desperately clinging onto Fenrir as he tried his best to throw me off.
But my fingers eventually lost their grip, and I was launched off his back, skidding along the road. I looked up to see Freya's exasperated expression, and I was quick to point fingers at Fenrir, blaming him for my fall.
"It's all his fault" I was quick to point fingers but Fenrir had already made his escape to god knows where.
"Are you a child?" Freya scolded me, but I couldn't help but smile at her concern.
"A little bit," I admitted with a grin.
She helped me up, scolding me for ruining the coat she had given me.
As I dusted myself off, I asked her, "What are you doing here?"
"I was on my way to the clinic when I heard all the noise," she replied.
"Ah, sorry," I said.
"It's fine. I honestly didn't expect you to be back tonight after I heard you had left Winterfell," she said.
"I gave you my word that I would be back." I said as we made our way toward the clinic.
"That you did, but you still forgot about the patients," she said with a raised eyebrow while looking at the line of people waiting outside the clinic.
"Oops," I said sheepishly.
"Not a problem," I assured her. "I'll be done with this lot in a moment."
As we entered the clinic, we quickly went to work and efficiently dealt with all the patients. I took care of each one until my last patient arrived.
As I finished up with my last patient, I noticed Tyrion approaching Freya with a charming smile. "Ah, you must be the lovely Freya. I've heard so much about you," he said.
Freya seemed surprised but composed herself quickly. "Hello Lord Tyrion, how may I help you?" she replied politely.
"Just your presence alone has been all the help I would need," Tyrion replied, causing Freya to blush lightly.
"Careful there, Tyrion. I can make you even shorter, you know," I said pointedly.
Tyrion raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying that I am complimenting your acolyte as some sort of twisted revenge for you not helping me out at the brothel today?" he asked, his tone laced with amusement.
Before I could reply, Freya asked me with a dangerous glint in her eyes, "What were you doing in a brothel?"
"It's not what you think. I just passed by this idiot trying to convince the lady in charge that he was not a child and wanted to enter," I hurriedly explained myself before she got the wrong idea and threw a dirty look at Tyrion, who was whistling innocently like he didn't know what he had just done.
She looked at me suspiciously but moved on to Tyrion. "El told me that you have been healed but it will take time for you to grow."
"Yes, I was here for my, what did you call it, ah yes, a check-up," Tyrion replied.
"How have you been adjusting so far?" I asked.
"You mean other than everyone treating me like a child?" Tyrion said, whining.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes."
"I'm slowly getting used to walking. I trip a lot, but it's manageable so far," he said, excitedly.
"Sounds about right. Give me your arm."
I scanned him and saw nothing wrong with the changes I had made.
"Everything seems to be fine. Come back in seven days if you can walk and run without tripping, and I'll make you taller. We'll keep doing that until you're the most handsome Lannister there was," I said with a smirk.
Tyrion grinned. "I can't wait."
He then became serious. "So what do I owe you?" he asked.
"I normally only charge a silver, mainly because that's all most people can afford to pay," I hummed.
"But you are not most people, and this situation is not normal, now is it?" I continued.
"Very well, healer, state your price."
"Hmm, I honestly don't know what to ask. Gold doesn't really appeal much to me, so how about this: I'm going to ask you for a favor someday, and you complete it for me without any question." I said with a wide smile.
His expression became more grave, but it looked quite funny on his childlike face.
"That sounds too ominous for my tastes so how about this I will owe you a favor within reason in my lifetime, plus fifty thousand gold in whatever form you want it to be," he countered.
"Interesting offer. Make it a hundred thousand plus the favor, and we have a deal," I said.
I knew he wouldn't have agreed to my first offer. He was too smart for that.
"I thought you weren't interested in gold," he asked.
"Then why did you offer it?"
"Fair enough. We have a deal," we shook hands.
"What are you going to do with all that gold?" he asked me.
I just shrugged and replied, "No idea, probably dig a hole, dump it all in, and dive into it to go swimming."
He looked at me like I was insane and asked in genuine confusion, "But it's gold. You will just land on it. How will you swim?"
I just sighed at the lost reference and said, "Never mind."
"So what interesting things do you do around here?" he asked lightheartedly now that we had dealt with all the serious stuff.
"You're asking the wrong person. He spends all day cooped up in his lab, setting things on fire or in the forest," Freya said in a dry tone.
"I most certainly do not. I'll have you know I am a very fun person," I said in mock offense.
"My most recent achievement being that I outdrank King Robert during my recent visit to King's Landing." I boasted
Both Tyrion and Freya looked at me in disbelief for entirely different reasons.
"That's because you can't get drunk," she said.
"Wrong, I can get drunk if I choose to, but I can never get hungover." I explained.
"I was impressed at first. Now, I'm just jealous," Tyrion said.
With that, he got up and said, "Well, I'll leave you kids to it. If rumors have to be believed, you two have a lot of catching up to do," he said with a smirk followed by, "And I need to go drink a lot and figure out how to break into a brothel."
"That is not going to end well," Freya said, watching the literal manchild walk away.
"No it's not" I said with a smile. "Odds on him ending up in the stables tonight?"
Freya snorted and replied, "I know a sucker's bet when I see one," as she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards my room.
"Enough of that," she continued. "You have a lot to make up for after ditching me today. It's better you get started now."
I stayed silent as a dumb grin spread across my face and followed her lead.
----------
A/N: Apologies for the silence—I have no excuse. I was sent to business school, and despite how laid-back it might sound, it's actually more demanding than being unemployed, particularly for an introvert like me.
But onto more tangible news: I am going to start uploading one chapter per week.