Wayward King - 008 (Patreon)

[A/N: Man, these chapters are just massive! To put it into perspective, one of these chapters is as long as 2.5 chapters of the average 'The Wanderer' chapter. Anyway, Enjoy!]

Chapter 008 – Dreamers and Rulers

[289 AC – Winterfell]

“When we are already on the topic of war and your father, I have good news for you, Jon.”, the Maester continued, interrupting the young boy's musings, “A raven has been sent, carrying the message of victory.”

“Your father wrote, informing us that he will return to Winterfell in at most two moons.”, Luwin added with a smile, slight relief in his tone.

In medieval times like these, the Lord being back was always good news as it discouraged restless parties from making trouble. In this case, there had been a notable increase in wildling raiders slipping through Wall and attacking villages, hunters, merchants, and travelers.

It was obvious that they had heard of the war with the Greyjoys and used this period of time to make trouble. Ser Rodrik had already sent out regular patrols and hunting parties to suppress them but the lack of men made truly dealing with them a problem.

With his uncle's return, the people felt hopeful that he could deal with the wildlings, which was a correct assumption since he would also bring back the Northern men that had gone to fight in the war, which numbered in the thousands.

And that wasn't even mentioning the lacking workforce in the territory, which had caused many places to fall into disrepair and farms to be short-handed.

Thankfully, the war had been comparatively short, lasting barely eight months.

“That is indeed good news.”, Jon responded with equal relief, though distinctly lacking joy.

With Catelyn Stark ruling Winterfell in his uncle's absence, it was often as if he sat on pins and needles, so he was naturally relieved to hear of Eddard Stark's return. But the knowledge that he wasn't the father that Jon thought him to be, caused complex emotions to surface in his heart.

Maester Luwin's brows furrowed slightly as he saw the rather impassive reaction, though he didn't say anything since he thought that it wasn't his place to talk about such sensitive matters with the boy.

He didn't have any prejudice against bastards and Jon had always been a polite child, but the learned man also understood how much potential conflict Jon's heritage represented, especially since the Lord had acknowledged him as his son.

In any case, his duty was to simply educate the young boy and he would do it to the best of his abilities.

Grabbing the covers and pulling them a bit higher, he rose from his seat on the bed and said: "Well, I suggest you rest some more so that you can go back to your training with Robb soon. I will also see if I can get a servant to send some more books to your room so that you will not be bored."

"Thank you, Maester. I will.", Jon nodded gratefully, thinking of something else as he inquired, " If there is such a book in the library, could you send me a book about High Valyrian, Maester?"

"You want to learn the language of the dragonlords?", the Maester voiced out with intrigue, a playful smile on his face. Obviously, a child being interested in anything related to dragons was not a surprise.

“Well, isn't it also the most-widely spread language in Essos? If I ever want to travel there, wouldn't it be a good idea to learn it?”, Jon countered.

"In the Free Cities of Essos, while most of higher standing do indeed speak High Valyrian, the common people do not.", Luwin corrected, somewhat surprised by the answer, "They speak a bastardized version of High Valyrian that differs from city to city. But learning High Valyrian would certainly be a good start."

"I learned it myself when I was much younger, though I am afraid that my proficiency in it has waned greatly with the years. It isn't an easy language to learn, child, but I do indeed recall seeing some books about it in the library."

“Still, I didn't know that you had thoughts about leaving Winterfell, Jon.”, the Maester ended with a bit of surprise and hints of probing.

"I am a bastard, Maester Luwin. I would much rather leave the North than be sent to the Wall without ever having even lived my life.", Jon stated calmly, his tone flat, his eyes strangely hard and mature.

Somewhat shocked by those blunt words and the way the young boy uttered them, Maester Luwin took a moment to regain his focus, giving the child a deep look as he sighed quietly.

“I will see if I can find those books about High Valyrian. Rest now.”, he eventually replied and turned away.

And what else could he say? That his father would see if he could find a good match? That he might be able to serve by his brother's side? The Maester knew that the older Jon would get, the more the Lady Stark would want him gone and even the Lord may not be able to refuse her forever.

For Jon to see his future path with such clarity might not be a bad thing too as it might allow him to find his place elsewhere.

Jon, on the other hand, simply nodded and took the book about the history of the North back into his lap, opening it where he had left the silk string to continue his reading.

He had intentionally told the Maester about his wish to one day see the land east of the Narrow Sea since he knew that the more exceptional he became, which was only a matter of time with his Support System, the more desperate the Lady Stark might get.

If her worries could be dispersed by thinking that he did not plan to stay in the North once he had grown up, Jon knew that he would have an easier time in Winterfell.

Naturally, there was also the part in him that just wanted to tell her to shut up and leave him be, telling her that he was the trueborn son of Lyanna Stark and that he had every right to be in Winterfell. But those were just the impulsive thoughts of a child and they might cause an adverse reaction.

After all, who was to say that she wouldn't be even more worried about him than since Jon's identity was simply too sensitive? His very existence threatened the safety of everyone around him as long as King Robert was alive.

The potential risk of confronting her like this was incalculable and might lead to an early grave for him, so Jon thought that he might as well instill the belief that he wished to travel the world in those around him, which could be beneficial in many ways.

If he really traveled to Essos or just went wherever else he might want to go when the time came, that was another question altogether.

Jon didn't want to be deceitful but this was about his own survival, which held priority over honesty, especially towards those that either saw him as a nuisance anyway or those that liked to play fast-and-loose with the world honesty themselves.

He wasn't resentful towards Catelyn or Eddard Stark, he just knew that he couldn't trust them, which wasn't an easy thing to accept since the latter had been a parent for him all his life.

Turning his mind to less depressing topics, Jon was somewhat eager to get his hands on a book about the High Valyrian language.

Now that he knew that the slots for skills in his sub-crystals were limited, he naturally had to be smart when it came to which skill he wanted to be rewarded for by the System. Knowledge-type skills though were difficult to study when it came to the prominent subjects of his former life since the technology was just lacking and he was also only a single person.

The advancement of science was a group effort in the end, even though it was often spearheaded by exceptional minds.

But in a world that didn't even have electricity, he couldn't rely on a group of scholars to learn advanced physics or chemistry. Even his 'Arithmetic' skill wouldn't be too easy to advance, though he remembered most manual calculation methods, which was lucky on his part.

So, after thinking about this for some time, Jon realized that languages would probably be his best bet when it came to quick advancements of his skill ranks since it paired wonderfully with the enhancements that he got through learning history.

Not to mention that he wanted to learn the language of his ancestors either way as any Targaryen should know to speak the tongue that commanded dragons. It would certainly feel as if he would fail his heritage if he didn't learn the language.

But he also hadn't lied to the Maester when he had said that it would prove useful when visiting Essos since all Valyrian dialects descended from High Valyrian.

In fact, this was also somewhat of a test since Jon wanted to know what kind of rewards learning a language would get him since he planned to eventually learn several others too. With an enhanced memory, it would be a shame to not do this given the chance.

The world was large in his eyes, after all, and it would only grow through his studies of those languages, adding more possible locations that he might find himself drawn to.

And if the reward for High Valyrian was as good as he hoped it would be, he could also quickly register another language skill so that he wouldn't accidentally register a skill that was too difficult to study.

Naturally, the prerequisite for all that was that his own memory could support such intense studies, so he quickly focused and started to read 'The Kings Of Winter And Their Bannermen – Noble Houses Of The North'.

To be honest, Jon had heard of most of them already, especially the bigger houses like Umber, Karstark, Glover, Manderly, and Bolton but since it wasn't really appropriate for Eddard Stark to bring his bastard around when invited to weddings or name day festivities, he had never been to any of those houses before.

He had only visited some of the villages around Winterfell when he had ridden through them with his uncle and others.

But the book didn't just talk about the different houses but much more interesting events, which were recounted from different sources, some of them from noble houses in the North and some from the houses in the Vale, the Riverlands, and the Iron Islands.

There were even mentions of the Night's Watch as a source of information, which impressed Jon rather greatly since the author had obviously considered the subjective recounting of events from one perspective.

Maester Luwin had been absolutely right when he said that it was a well-written book.

The part that John found most interesting, among others, after reading for almost half a day was obviously the occurrence of the first Long Night, which had marked the first of the White Walkers to date.

This event also marked not only the founding of the Night's Watch but also the construction of the Wall and Winterfell, where the first Kings of Winter had appeared to unite the North after the Long Night was over. Interestingly, House Stark had been forced to ally with a King-Beyond-the-Wall, as one would call him now, to push back the White Walkers and their army of dead.

Considering the long-standing conflict between wildlings and Northmen, this simple fact seemed to have been forgotten by the world.

Recalling what he remembered from his last life, Jon really started to believe that the Tyrion Lannister of his somewhat blurry memories had been right when he stated that the only difference between the wildlings and the rest of the people of Westeros was where they had stood when the Wall went up.

Other interesting events were the Rape of the Three Sisters, Brandon the Shipwright's attempt to cross the Sunset Sea, the formation of the Company of Rose, and Queen Alysanne's 'gift' to the Night's Watch.

The Three Sisters were a group of three islands south of the White Harbor, the most prosperous and only city of the North ruled by House Manderly, one of the most loyal supporters of House Stark despite the fact that they were originally from the Reach.

The Sistermen who inhabited the islands had once been raiders and their constant pillaging of the North had eventually led to the Northmen gathering an army and invading the Three Sisters as they had grown tired of their raids.

The interesting part was that the information from different sources differed on what had taken place during this invasion.

Sources from the North told that it was just a normal invasion while those from the Three Sisters and Vale told of the incredible atrocities committed by the Northmen in their anger. They recount stories of children being boiled and eaten, of thousands of executions of innocent men, and the abuse and rape of as many women.

There were also stories of hundreds of people being flayed and their skins being knitted together to create a 'Pink Pavilion' by the Boltons.

As all that had happened roughly two thousand years ago, no one could tell for sure what had happened. What was known though was that this invasion had caused the Three Sisters to pledge their allegiance to the King of Mountain and Vale at that time, leading to a thousand-year war between the Starks and Arryns.

Jon was somewhat shocked to read this since he knew that House Arryn had been a pivotal ally to House Stark and Baratheon during Robert's Rebellion and that Eddard Stark himself had grown up in the Vale as Jon Arryn's ward.

Jon's own name was proof of how much his uncle respected and loved Jon Arryn, who was like a father to him.

Reading this 'tidbit' of history thus surprised him.

'A thousand years of violent conflict, gone and forgotten. This is what time does … ', Jon couldn't help but think.

Brandon the Shipwright's attempt to cross the Sunset Sea was equally interesting since he had been the last King of Winter that had commanded a powerful naval force.

He had apparently loved the sea and was enamored with the thought of crossing the Sunset Sea to the west of Westeros, which had never been before.

Eventually, he had truly set out for those unknown waters but was never seen again, which caused his son, also named Brandon, to burn all the remaining ships in his grief, thus destroying the North's naval forces and becoming known as 'Brandon the Burner'.

Jon couldn't help but shake his head as he read that.

One King willing to leave behind his throne to follow his dreams and another King too immature to accept and honor his decision.

Brandon the Shipwright, undoubtedly another person Jon wished that he could have met. A man so passionate about his dreams that people didn't remember him as the King that he was but as a crazy explorer that vanished on his journey.

Reading about him, Jon wanted to believe that Brandon had eventually found what he had been looking for, that he had died with a smile on his face even though he hadn't managed to come back home again.

The formation of the Company of the Rose was less inspiring but not less interesting.

The Company of Rose were a sellsword company operating in Essos in the present day but they had been founded nearly three centuries ago by the Northern Lords that had refused to bend the knee to Aegon Targaryen after Torrhen Stark's submission.

This wasn't an unheard-of practice to Jon since he remembered that other sellsword companies had been founded by Westerosi people that crossed over the Narrow Sea to Essos to escape pursuit. The most famous one was no doubt the Golden Company, founded by a Targaryen bastard named Aegor Rivers.

Though he was better known as 'Bittersteel' and his role in the Blackfyre Rebellion since he had been a legitimized bastard.

Jon had known about the Golden Company not only from his memories but also from the stories told by the Maester about Essos and its Free Cities. After all, the Golden Company's reputation was rather remarkable and their history undeniably interesting.

Jon though hadn't expected that people from the North had similarly founded a sellsword company all those years ago and that it still existed to this day.

The last interesting event that he read about was the famous 'gift' of Alysanne Targaryen, who had convinced her husband King Jaehaerys to have the Warden of the North of their time, Alaric Stark, increase the land that had been gifted to the Night's Watch so that they could feed themselves.

That particular piece of land had been known as 'The Gift', which grew at least two-fold with Alysanne's intervention.

What was intriguing about this was that different sources told different stories about this event. Some said that Alaric Stark was displeased with this since he believed that the Watch was too focused on the lands beyond the Wall and would neglect the land given to them.

There was also the fact that this land had already possessed owners, who he worried might not be willing to part with it.

Another version of the story though told that Alaric had been enamored by Alysanne's wit and beauty, her righteous charm leading him to concede to her request while she likewise reciprocated those feelings.

It was said that during her stay in Winterfell, she had been together with Alaric in secret, that she had managed to break through his well-known cold and humorless temper, which no one else had done before.

He had even laughed occasionally during their time together but with Alysanne's eventual departure, his laughter had also vanished, never to be seen again until his death.

It sounded like a great yet tragic story to Jon, the romanticism of it almost made him want to believe that it was true. But he also knew that it was highly unlikely as Alysanne's husband had been Jaehaerys the Wise, indisputably the greatest king that House Targaryen had even sat on the Iron Throne.

He had ruled over fifty years and never had there been any rumors of him treating his wife unkind, not to mention that he and Alysanne had their own story to tell.

Jon knew some of this from memory but Grandmaester Archwin, who had not written a single personal note into the book or let his own thoughts shine through during his retelling of the history of the North, instead relied on the sources that he had found on his travels to unveil history from as many angles as possible, had added a passage in the book that expressed his serious doubts about the rumors of Alysanne and Alaric having ever shared more than a well-intended talk with each other, much less having slept together.

Still, while all those events enriched Jon's knowledge about the history of the North, there was something that he understood while reading through the different passages that talked about times long past.

Especially about the recountings during the 'Age of Heroes' when Theon Stark the Hungry Wolf had set out to Essos and slaughter towns and villages before returning and placing the spiked heads of his victims on the Eastern Coast as a warning to the Andals.

House Stark hadn't been built on 'honor' or 'chivalry' like his uncle tried to portray it at times. House Stark had been built on ruthlessness and blood, an ocean of it. One needed strength to rule over such a harsh land and its even harsher people.

Naturally, the Starks were also fiercely loyal and mostly fair rulers but one just couldn't rule the North with simple honor, no kingdom could be ruled with honor alone. To believe in such a fairy tale was foolish.

Honor alone wouldn't stop those with ambitions and the will to see them fulfilled.

Even Jaehaerys the First had known this as despite his nickname as 'The Conciliator', he had never stopped his training with the sword, knowing that it was almost a sin in itself to be seen as a weak king.

Though, admittedly, he had also been wise enough to not call upon his dragons whenever a threat had presented itself to him, even though he had ridden Vermithor, the third largest dragon after Balerion and Vhagar.

Jon couldn't help but ponder what made a good king and ruler as the position truly demanded much from a man, or a woman in the case of a Queen. How could a person live up to such a task with all its complexity?

'Conquering was indeed much easier than ruling.', he thought to himself.

['History – Apprentice(14)']