Chapter 2: Ch 2-He Fu**ed UpChapter Text
I was rolling around inside my crib while making random noises. It had been a few days since we arrived in Winterfell and I was already bored out of my mind. I was inside a nursery in the Great keep, which had been used by generations of stark babies and most recently my mother and benjen. The room looked like it had been recently cleaned which would make considering it had been left empty for almost 15-16 years.
The room was colored in gray colors with a crib in the center in which I was staying, while two other cribs were thrown haphazardly in the corner, I guess they could be repaired or cleaned if more than one child arrives in the Stark family. There were half a dozen toys strewn around just beside the door which consisted of little wooden swords, a wooden wolf, and a wooden horse on which you could ride.
The door opened and I immediately stopped rolling around. A woman around 25 years old entered the room. She was a bit plain looking with brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes.
She was from winter town and had been brought in by benjen to feed me as the wetnurse who had arrived here with us all the way from Dorne went back home. Benjen had tried to persuade her to stay and take care of me and she did try to stay for a few days but she couldn't stop her teeth from clattering and her body from shivering constantly, so benjen finally took pity on her and gave her enough money for a trip home and some more, as well as sent a couple of guards to escort her to White harbor from where she could catch a ship to her home.
"How are you today little lord," the wetnurse cooed to me while taking me out of the crib. She always called me little lord even though she knew that I was a bastard and not some lord but I guess to normal villagers, everyone who could live in a castle without being part of the staff is a lord.
"You are going to grow up to be a big man, little lord," she said while feeding me from her breast, "You are always so eager to drink milk, I wish my little sam back home, could drink as much as you, he always turns his face away from my breasts. But you like my milk, don't you,"
The wet nurse put me back in the crib after I had my fill and went away after thinking that I fell asleep. I don't know about the exact amount of time, but enough time had passed since my birth that I could now stay awake for more hours every day. So at first, I thought that it would be fun being in the legendary castle of Winterfell and exploring it, but my body, unfortunately, disagreed with me as it was not yet strong enough to walk or even crawl yet.
So besides staring around the room and looking at the dull gray walls, all I had to simulate myself was when the wet nurse came to feed me or when benjen could find the time to come entertain me. Benjen would come into the nursery at least once per day to spend some time with me. And he would always try and make faces that were supposed to be funny but were really not, but I liked him so I indulged him with a laugh now and then, and that always seem to make his day.
Anyway, other than that I was pretty much left alone to my devices, and that was slowly but surely driving me up the wall. I was a man who had lived in the 21st century, a man who was online 90% of the time he was awake, and a man who never spent more than a week without reading some kind of novel online (like light novel, web novel, or manga, etc), or watching an anime, or watching some youtube videos. In short, I was a man (like everyone else from my home planet) severely addicted to the internet.
So being cooped up in a room with almost nothing to entertain me, it was only a matter of time before I suffered through some kind of withdrawal symptoms from my internet addiction. I don't know what they would look like but I didn't want to go through them, so I tried to find other things to capture my attention, things that would not require me to use anything other than my mind.
The first thing I could think of was MATH. I know! I know! it's a nerdy thing but I was pretty okay with math when I was in school, nowhere near good enough to go for something like a Ph.D. but good enough that I enjoyed it.
Anyway, there was a video that I saw in my last life about a kid from somewhere in Asia who could do all kinds of complicated calculations in his head and I was told in that very video that it was a good exercise for the mind, and who knows maybe it would help me increase my mind potential or something, and if not, it would at least be useful if I ever wanted to be a merchant in the future.
I started small, by taking any random 2-digit numbers and performing addition and subtraction with them in my head like 93-15 or 27+15, etc. And when I get comfortable enough with those I would make the numbers 3 digits then 4 digits, and so on. And when I eventually get bored with those maybe I could even make it more difficult by doing multiplication, or division and if I was ever comfortable enough with doing the multiplication of 4-digit numbers in my head, then maybe I could even open the box of calculus.
Now, while doing maths did keep me busy for a while, enough not to get bored. But there were times when I would just get sick of seeing numbers after a while and that is when another thing that I saw in an anime (don't remember which) came to my mind. I think it was called something like Image Training, it is where you train yourself against an imaginary opponent inside your mind.
Anyways, when I tried to do that, it turned into a total failure, I could not even make an image of a simple stick or rod in my mind last long enough, let alone create a stable enough image of a person for Image Training. So I backtracked a little and thought that if I ever wanted to do image training in the future, I would need to start small, then maybe I would eventually get better.
So what I would do is I look at any object in my room like say the small wooden wolf hanging above me in my crib and try to remember all of its details, from its exact color to its texture, to where it had been chewed in its leg and to what shape it was, and when I had retained enough details of it, I would then close my eyes and try to recreate the exact replica of that object inside my head.
To be honest, when I had the idea in my mind, I thought it would be very easy, I mean it was from an anime, how hard could it be? Right!
Wrong! It was very hard and It had not been going so well for me. I could never get the image of the object inside my head stable enough, it would always be a little wobbly and its shape kept on changing with its color reverting back to black. It was as if my mind was not under my control at all and would make whatever random shapes it could without listening to my desires at all.
It was all very frustrating for me, but I didn't give up and remembered the mantra PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, and went right back at it.
...
It was around midday and the wet nurse had just exited the room after feeding me and I was hesitating between doing math or image training, as I was starting to hate both of them equally when the nursery's door slowly opened and Benjen's face peeked through.
"Hey little wolf are you awake," Benjen whispered while looking toward my crib. I immediately stood up in my crib and gave him a big smile as I welcomed the distraction instantly. He came into the room when he saw that I was awake. He stopped beside my crib and took me gently into his arms, and sat on a nearby chair while still holding me.
Benjen was a very young-looking man with blue-grey eyes and long black hair. He had the long face of the starks which always looked a little sad, and slouched as if the weight of the world was on his shoulder. Losing almost all of his family so young must have been hard on him.
"I have very good news to share with you little wolf," he said while smiling slightly and bouncing me on his lap "Your father is going to be home in a couple of days, you remember your father, don't you? He's the one whose face is always a little grumpy, "
"And you know what's even better news, he's bringing along your little brother with him, so you won't have to be so alone anymore, and you would finally have someone to play with. Isn't it the best," he said with a long look in his eyes as if remembering something.
"I used to play with your aunt all the time you know, there was not a single place in the whole of Winterfell that we left unexplored. I was very close with your Aunt Lyanna, not so much with your father as he had been fostered in the Vale since I was a baby and your uncle Brandon had all those older friends of his to run around with so..." his voice took on a morose tone by the end and it looked as if he'd forgotten about me before he shook himself off and looked toward me again.
"What am I talking about, you don't care about that at all do you?" he said with a bitter tone before he smiled, "you know now that you're going to have a brother how about when you grow up a bit, I could teach you all kinds of tricks to annoy your brother. I used to take lyanna's brush or her sword to annoy her all the time and then she would chase after me all around Winterfell from the kitchen to the training yard to the broken tower.
Whenever father caught us, he would always scold me instead of lyanna because she was his favorite you see, in fact, I think she was everyone's favorite. Not a single person in the whole castle had anything bad to say about her... " he went a little quiet for a while.
I had just been fed just before benjen came so I was starting to get a little sleepy and my head started to roll around in benjen's lap.
"Oh! looks like it's time for the little wolf to go to sleep," he said while standing up and bringing me to my crib before laying me down and tucking me in.
"How about I sing you a little lullaby, huh," he said while taking a seat on the ground beside the crib and started to slowly swing my crib back and forth. He sang in low voice, it was a very sad song. I couldn't remember the whole lullaby, just that it was about a wolf pack and a cub who got lost, it was really soothing.
"Lyanna used to sing that to me," Benjen continued after the lullaby finished, "Whenever I was sad or I had a nightmare about something she would always be there to comfort me and hold my hand. I lost my mother at a very young age, so lyanna was the one who took care of me most of the time.
"Every single place in this castle reminds me of her, of her smile, of her fierceness, of her gentleness. Everywhere I look I see the faces of my sister or father or even Brandon and they haunt me every waking moment," his voice started to crack and he started sobbing while lying on the ground in a fetal position.
"I think I will join the Night's Watch after Ned gets here," benjen said after his tears had dried up and he was half asleep "I don't think that I can stay in this castle any longer. And there will be nothing holding me here after Ned gets here, he will have his new wife who will look after him and you and Robb too. And if I join the Night's watch I could even atone for all my sins, because if it had not been for me then maybe lyanna could still be...still be..."
...
Two days later, the whole castle woke up before the morning fog had cleared and while it was still dark out there, there was a sense of excitement in the inhabitants of Winterfell. The Lord of Winterfell was finally coming back and was bringing along with him a Southern wife as well as a newborn heir.
Some were happy that their Lord was coming back after winning a long war, while others were sad that only one, out of the four Starks that went away, was coming home. A scout had spread the news while eating in the great hall that he had seen the party only half a day away so people started to rush even more in a bid to make everything better.
Jon was already awake by the time the wet nurse came into the nursery in the morning. After finishing the usual morning routine, she took Jon out of the nursery and down the stairs straight into the throng of people that were gathered in the courtyard. Apparently, Uncle Benjen had instructed her to bring Jon here so that he could be present when they welcome Ned into Winterfell.
Jon didn't think that his being there was a very good idea because, while Eddard might be happy to see Jon again. Happiness or Joy will definitely not be the emotion that Catelyn would express after she sees him and Jon didn't want to be present for that.
The courtyard was filled with servants standing in different clusters according to their cliques while almost all the guards were gathered on the wall of the castle and looking into the distance. Just behind the open gate, standing in front looking regal in his new clothes was Benjen, and standing just beside him was Maester Luwin along with the steward, Vayn Poole as well as the Master at Arms Ser Rodrik Cassel.
Jon was just behind them in the hands of the wet nurse who was fussing over his clothes. They must have been standing there for about half an hour before a guard suddenly shouted from above that he could see the party in the distance. A nervous current suddenly ran through the crowd with the steward trying to straighten his clothes while one maid was trying to hide the stain on her clothes.
Everyone stopped what they were doing when the sound of horses came into their ears and they simultaneously looked toward the open gate in anticipation. In just a couple of minutes, the party entered through the gate bringing along sand clouds in their wake. In front of the party, wearing leather armor and riding a black horse was Lord Stark and along with him came a handful of guards in stark sigil and they all looked incredibly travel-worn.
Behind them came a white carriage with four huge wheels along with half a dozen guards shadowing it on both sides. Behind the carriage came a couple of carts carrying chests and almost a dozen servants and maids. If anyone had looked closer then they would notice that almost half the guards had the fish sigil on their chest, so it looked as if Lady Catelyn had brought quite a household along with her.
Lord Stark stopped his horse in front of the welcoming party and just looked around the castle with relief and nostalgia in his eyes. It was a couple of minutes later that he was able to break himself out of the trance and get down from the horse in one swift motion.
Benjen had silently waited until Eddard was standing in front of him before he bowed and spoke, "Winterfell is yours My Lo—" Eddard stopped him from bowing with his hands on Benjen's shoulder and brought him into an embrace and hugged him with all his might.
"I missed you a lot, Ben," Eddard said in a voice thick with emotion.
"I missed you too Ned." Benjen croaked with moist eyes hugging him back just as tight.
While the stark brothers were reuniting with each other after a long time, Lady Catelyn had gotten down from the carriage with a bundle in her hands. She looked around the castle and all the servants with a timid gaze before she started walking toward where her husband was. She stopped just short of reaching them and then stood waiting while fussing over the toddler in her hands.
Catelyn was a young girl about 17 years old. She had luscious auburn hair that seemed to shine in contrast with the snow. Her eyes were sky-blue eyes and she had white smooth skin without a single blemish anywhere, along with a symmetrical face she was one of the most beautiful women any of the servants had seen in their whole life.
The brothers broke up their hug after a few moments and Eddard finally noticed his new wife standing beside him.
"Benjen, Let me introduce you, this is my wife Lady Catelyn Stark," Eddard said while putting a hand behind Catelyn's back.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, good-sister," Benjen said while blushing.
"Likewise, Lord Benjen." Catelyn smiled a little, benjen reminding her of her little brother back home, and did a little curtsy while awkwardly holding the toddler in her hands.
"And this is my son and heir Robb Stark," Eddard said loudly with pride in his voice while taking Robb from Catelyn's arm and raising him a little so that everyone could catch the sight of their future Lord.
"He is a really beautiful child, Ned," Benjen said with a soft smile while touching the sleeping toddler's cheek with his fingers.
They stood there in the courtyard for a few minutes getting acquainted with each other while the crowd slowly started to thin as people started going back to their duties.
"You all must be very exhausted from the long journey, I've already had rooms prepared for you in the great keep with warm baths and the kitchen had also been notified so a meal will be waiting for you whenever you want," Benjen said while looking at Lady Catelyn who looked to be dead on her feet.
"A warm meal sound's like a wonderful idea," Eddard said in a grateful voice and started walking toward the direction of the great keep, before he abruptly turned around, "Oh, I forgot to ask but where is Jon?"
Benjen looked around for a moment in confusion as he had been very sure that he had seen Jon there just a while before.
What had happened was that our little Jon was not in the mood to participate in any kind of drama, so when he had seen that Lady Catelyn had gotten down from the carriage, he used "the most potent weapon" available at his disposal to make the wet nurse take him inside, "THE SHIT MISSILE". The wet nurse was helpless against the weapon and could only admit defeat and take him inside to get him changed.
"Oh he was just around here somewhere, the wetnurse must have taken him inside. I will send for a servant to fetch him immediately," Benjen said while turning around and raising his hand.
"No it's alright, I'll meet with him later," Eddard said while putting a hand on benjen's shoulder to stop him from calling a servant.
"Who's Jon?" Catelyn asked quietly while tilting her head.
Benjen looked toward her with a confused expression while Eddard's eyes widened comically as he suddenly remembered that in his haste to travel from Riverrun to Winterfell he had totally forgotten to tell his new wife about his "bastard" son.
IT WAS AT THAT MOMENT HE KNEW THAT HE FU**ED UP
There was complete silence in the courtyard with not even the horses making any sound. All residents would swear that they all collectively felt a sudden chill in the air as if the Long Night had come back.