Jon Targaryen
Winterfell, the castle loomed large in his dreams as always. Mighty and imposing, it had taken three years but finally Winterfell had been returned to its former glory. The Broken Tower broken since the days of Jon's great, great grandfather had been knocked down and in its place a structure had been built using the correspondence with Aegon and the records from the citadel of how the Dragonpit had been made, a structure with which Jon's own dragon Rhaegal could live comfortably. The halls and walls of the main castle had been nearing completion when Jon had marched south with Stannis Baratheon, and were now fully complete and looking even grander than they had done before. He felt a lot of pride in seeing what he and his wives and the people of Winterfell and the north had worked so hard for had come to fruition and looked as nice as it did.
Then there was the fact that he was a father, something that still surprised even now, something that when he had been a man of the Night's Watch sent there for attacking a bastard of a prince, he had thought he would never have had the chance to have. His eldest son Rickard was five years old now, and looked every inch like Alys did, though she claimed he looked like him, with his dark brown curly hair and grey eyes and long face, Jon's son was very, very active, and a joyful child. Then there was Jon's second son by Alys, whom they had named Torrhen after her favourite brother, Torrhen had been born some three moons ago with a mop of brown hair and grey eyes as well a Stark in look as well as in name. Then there was Jon and Sansa's first child, whom they had named Aemon after the Dragonknight and one of the smartest people Jon, had ever known in Maester Aemon. Aemon looked like Sansa what with his mop of auburn curls and blue eyes, and Jon loved all three of his sons fiercely as he did his wives.
At first he had worried that perhaps Sansa and Alys would not get along with each other, Alys was fierce and independent, whereas the Sansa Jon had known had been very ladylike and very shy with such people as Alys and yet the two of them seemed to have got on from the very beginning, with Alys making Sansa's life so much easier by being caring and loving. Jon loved both of his wives; a feeling that somehow despite what anyone else might say felt just right, after having been married to the both of them now for two years he could not imagine what life would be like without either of them by his side. He knew that there had been some murmuring in the north when his betrothal had been announced, as some of the northern lords may have thought that they would be rewarded for their loyalty, but Jon would not, would never allow Sansa to leave the north unless she truly wanted to. In the south Jon had seen the disapproving looks of the lords who had been raised with the Seven, but to be honest he did not frankly care about what they thought, those southrons with their strange rules and regulations.
Of course both his wives and his mother- for that was what she was no matter whom had given birth to him- insisted that he did need to care about what the southern lords thought of him, as there was a very real chance that he could become the King of Westeros, should a son not be born to Aegon and Allyria. Really, Jon was praying fervently that a son would be born to his brother and aunt; he had no desire to head south again unless he truly had to let alone be king. And he knew that though he had earnt the loyalty of the northern lords, there were still some who grumbled about being part of the Seven Kingdoms, in fact Jon had overheard Lord Ryswell once complain that "The Young Wolf died for our freedom and yet the dragon has given us the chains once more." But simply Jon knew that the north could not hope to sustain itself alone now with winter here, unless it wished to risk more alienation for the time being. If he did become King, perhaps there could be ways he could solve this quandary but that was a matter for another time.
There was yet another matter that had come to plague Jon and his family, that of his cousin Arya. For many years everyone had thought Arya dead or disappeared, but then Jon had been found one day in the godswood by one of the household guard who had pleaded for him to come to Sansa's solar, worried that something ill had befallen his wife, he had run there Ghost hard on his heels, he had entered the solar only to a find Arya standing over a cowering Sansa with a blade in her hand, and a snarl on her face. Jon had not believed what he was seeing and Ghost reacting to his state of panic and anger had barrelled straight into Arya knocking her away from Sansa and Aemon and though they had scuffled for a bit, eventually Arya had been subdued. Though when Jon had gone to speak with her then his cousin had had a fierce look in her eyes that seemed almost demonic, and she had spat "I have a mission to do, kill the Stark brat and end the threat to the Queen. Get off of me."
Jon had stared at his cousin and then moving Ghost with his foot, he had picked Arya up by her arms, she was taller than she had been when he had last seen her but she was still a great deal smaller and lighter than him, and he had held her there and in a cold voice said. "Arya, you're home. You're at Winterfell now you have no one to kill, no need to kill please Arya!" It had taken a lot more than that for Arya to stop thrashing in his arms, but when she had, Jon had called for Maester Gerold and had had the man put her to sleep. He had then checked on Sansa who had seemed visibly and understandably shaken, she kept on mumbling through her tears and sobs "She tried to kill me Jon, because of what I did to father, that's why she tried to kill me." Jon had tried his best to soothe her, and was deeply grateful that no actual harm had fallen to either her or Aemon, he had taken her to his rooms, where Alys, Rickard and Torrhen had been and then had summoned his mother and uncle Arthur and ordered them both to remain there for the time being.
Arya had woken up sometime later, thrashing about demanding to be set free and over the next three days, Jon did what he could to bring his little cousin back from whatever nightmare she had lived since her father had been killed upon the steps of the Sept of Baelor. He learnt various things during this time, such as Arya's travels around the Riverlands, how she met Gendry- who was here in Winterfell serving as Uncle Benjen's squire- and how she had been so close to the Twins when Robb and Aunt Catelyn had been killed. He also learnt chilling stories of some of what she had had to do with the Faceless men, all of these stories were told through a looking glass as if Arya was not truly present when she told them and for many, many days afterwards she was silent and still and not really present, and it seemed as if she was still in Bravos half the time not here in Winterfell. It was only when Jon sent Gendry in with Ghost that Arya- the real Arya- seemed to come back and then the dawning of what had truly happened came upon her and she cried and cried and cried and begged for forgiveness though Jon simply told her he was not the one she should ask forgiveness from.
After Arya and Sansa had spoken Jon had entered the room and had simply stood at the foot of the bed and looked at his cousin in silence, debating whether he should feel angry at her or not. "Who sent you Arya? Do you remember that?" Was the first question he asked her.
Her response confirmed his fears. "I do vaguely. I remember being in Bravos and then meeting the Sealord and being sent to Lys where I met a woman with silver hair and a pirate. They sent me here I think."
Jon had nodded and then had walked out of the room and spoken with uncle Benjen and uncle Arthur had had simply said. "Daenaerys sent Arya to kill Sansa and Aemon. This means war, send the ravens out we must march." And so the ravens had been sent out and the men had started trickling in, despite the war in the south and the war with the Others, the northern lords continued to prove time and time again that whenever the Starks called them to arms they would reply with their full might. In all some 8,000 men arrived from Last Hearth, Barrowtown, the Rills, Cerwyn, Deepwood Motte, Bear Island, Karhold and the mountain clans. With Torrhen's Square still under Ironborn control that was the first place that they would strike out to bring back under control. With Jon stating, "The kraken still remain here in our lands. We shall drive them off and then we shall defeat the mad Queen."
It was just as they were about to march that Arya came to him then, recovered from her sleep and illness or so she would have had Jon believe. "I want to come Jon. I can fight, you know I can." She had said all righteous anger on display.
Jon had looked at her, and then his thoughts had gone back to how she had stood over Sansa with her blade- Needle- drawn and ready to strike. "No." He says coldly.
"But Jon!" Arya begins to protest Jon cuts her off.
"No. You may have been trained in the arts of assassination Arya, and whilst such a thing maybe useful at some point during this war, you shall not becoming south with us. This is war. Not how the Faceless men would train you, to kill an unsuspecting victim, the men we fight will know what we are about and they will be on their guard. And besides, you still have not earnt my trust. You did nearly kill my wife and child. You shall remain here in Winterfell where uncle Benjen and Ashara may keep an eye on you. And if you do anything that displeases them or Alys or Sansa you shall have me to answer to." He says his voice still cold.
Arya tries a different tactic then, knowing that protesting she knew not what she was doing will sound hollow. "But I have skills that could be of great use to you Jon! I could help take out key commanders of the enemy armies for you and lessen their strengths. You know I know who the key commanders are in this war!"
Jon had merely looked at her then and said simply. "Yes but some of those men will be our allies in the future. The Vale is not as united behind Daenaerys Targaryen as either she or Littlefinger would want you to believe. I will not have them killed simply so that you can have your revenge."
Arya had said nothing and had stormed off then. Jon had been left in his solar for a long time before Uncle Benjen had come to find him. "I take it you spoke with Arya then Jon?" his uncle had asked politely.
Jon had sighed then and said. "More like I told her she could not come and she tried to protest about it. Thank the gods Gendry is not marching south with us otherwise she definitely would have demanded she come south."
"She could be useful Jon. She does have the ability to take out men without them knowing about it." Uncle Benjen had said carefully.
Jon had merely stared at his uncle for a moment before saying. "I will not take an assassin with me and my army to the south. Not when I know how angry Arya is, her anger needs to cool down before she can ever be of use. I will not have her near a sword or a battle until I know she can be trusted."
"And how will you know she can be trusted unless you let her come with you?" uncle Benjen had asked.
"I do not. But I want her here, with Sansa and Alys and her nephews so that she can understand the meaning of family again. So she can get her memories back and be more of a person and less of a machine. And besides you will be here for sometime will you not uncle?" Jon had stated.
His uncle Benjen had sighed then, the sigh of a man with so many cares on his shoulders. "You know I cannot stay for long Jon. I am still sworn to the Night's Watch, and though the Wall and the Others may no longer be here, there will come a time when the Watch will be needed again. Even now we are needed, where else will the criminals and destitute of the Kingdoms go?"
"But must you go Uncle? You could marry and start a family of your own; you could stay here for the rest of your days and help me run Winterfell. You could do any number of things uncle. If it is your vows you are worried about, I could write to Aegon once the fighting is done and have him release you." Jon had said desperately.
His uncle had sighed even deeper then. "You know I would not want that Jon. I do not believe that Kings should have the say in whether or not a man can be free of his oaths to the Watch, only under the most extreme of circumstances should such a thing happen otherwise it sets a bad precedent. And besides you have Alys and Sansa here and Lady Ashara and Ser Arthur to help you, you do not need me. I served as the Stark in Winterfell during Robert's Rebellion and I hated it, I will serve as the Stark in Winterfell for now, but once this war is done I shall return north."
Jon knew by his uncle's tone that there was no pointing in arguing with him and so he had simply nodded, the next day he and the northmen had set of first for Torrhen's Square, where the minute Rhaegal's wings were heard over the castle, the gates opened and Dagmer Cleftjaw and his thirty Ironborn warriors had come out and bent the knee and recognised Aegon as their true king, then the march south had begun. At Moat Cailin they had been joined by 500 men from White Harbour led by Ser Wylis and Ser Wendel Manderly and some 200 men from the neck itself led by Lord Howland's brother Uthor Reed. Jon declared that some 500 men would be left to hold the Moat and with the Iron Fleet and the strength of the Iron Islands at the Vale there should be no risk to Moat Cailin. It was at the Twins where they were greeted by Mors Umber's wife that they learnt of the battle of the Red Fork between loyalist riverlords led by Lord Edmure and rebel riverlords led by Lord Goodbrook. Jon declared a quick pace march and as he flew on the back of Rhaegal he got the first understanding of the fighting.
The Riverlords were engaged in fighting on the banks of the Red fork, swinging and hacking. The sounds of the fight and men dying and screaming reached him from up high on Rhaegal, when the she dragon let loose a terrifying roar, the men on the banks froze and the northmen charged. Jon himself took more of a laid back role in the fighting watching as his men began to turn the tide of the fighting, and whenever there seemed to be a shift toward the rebels he would pull Rhaegal into a dive and get him to breathe fire onto the enemy lines.
Eventually after hours of fighting the rebels threw down their swords and Jon landed, he was dressed in dark blue armour with the direwolf of House Stark emblazoned onto it. He greeted Sansa's uncle Lord Edmure with a stiff nod and then walked toward where the prisoner Lord Goodbrook, the only remaining rebel lord alive was being held. Together with Lord Edmure and Lord Blackwood he advanced forward and then said "You fought for the wrong side today Lord Goodbrook. Your host has been defeated your men killed or having bent the knee. Why did you rebel when King Aegon has brought peace to the realm?"
Lord Lyman Goodbrook a proud and valiant man Jon had been told, looks up at Jon then and sneers. "Because that man is no king. A pretender, the real Aegon was killed during the sack of King's Landing, and Queen Daenaerys is the one who will save us from his sin. He hath married a harlot, and she shall bring sin down upon us."
Jon feels anger well up inside of him at the insult done to his aunt and simply says. "Then you shall die." Lord Lyman is shoved to his knees his head shoved onto a block, and Jon swings his sword and in one clean stroke takes off Lord Lyman's head. Sometime later as Jon and the northmen and the Riverlords are sat in the command tent discussing what their next move should be, march east and take the attack to the Vale or march west to aid Martyn Lannister a messenger comes in and informs them of a host being led by Lord Arthor Ambrose numbering some 30,000 strong marching from the Reach toward King's Landing, having captured Ser Garlan Tyrell, another host some 15,000 strong under Lord Matthew Meadows is laying siege to Highgarden. Jon looks at the lords assembled and says. "We must send word to the capital, and we must free Highgarden. Send word to Moat Cailin to strengthen their defences."
And so they march, on and on they march rushing to get to Highgarden to free it from the traitorous lords, only to find the siege lines gone, the enemy departed and Lord Willas Tyrell there informing them that. "My father died during the siege, and the rebels left the minute word came that Prince Oberyn was martialling men. But there has been word from King's Landing my lord of Stark. White Harbour has fallen to Nestor Royce and the Valemen."