[Chapter Size: 3300 Words.]

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Third Person POV

Winterfell, 298 AC.

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Jon waited for the group to calmly approach him, and a smile appeared on his face. It had been years since he had seen Bran and, although he had spied on him in Winterfell when he contacted Arya and his uncle through the same bird that had drawn Arya to the sacred grove, it wasn’t the same as seeing him in person.

So Jon stayed there, waiting for them to come closer. The first person to actually react was Arya, who immediately stopped her horse and ran to Jon to hug him, while pulling her dress up so it wouldn’t get caught on any of the grove’s bushes or trampled under her feet.

Jon had already dismounted his horse and smiled as she came toward him. She reached him and embraced him at once, and they both tightened the embrace between them.

No one said anything, least of all the two of them, while the hug continued in silence for several seconds, as the rest of the group approached.

Jon pulled her back, but only far enough as the width of a trunk, so he could look at Arya, while she kept her hands on his waist. He moved his hand, lightly touching her head with a tender gesture, and smiled at her.

“It’s good to see you again, Arya…” he said with a smile.

“It’s also great to see you, Jon. Even more so when the last news I had of you was that you had faced a giant dragon… You could have died! I was so worried!” she complained, holding back some of the feelings she had carried these last few days.

Jon just kept a calm smile, despite seeing that she was upset, angry, and even afraid.

“We are in a fight against the extinction of humanity. We must challenge ourselves all the time, and clearly we will have to risk our lives if we want to face this evil in any way.” he said with a serious tone.

“Especially you… What were you thinking entering this forest when there were dozens of men ready to kill you?” Jon then said, even more serious, almost scolding her as well.

“It was the only way to gather some evidence.” she tried to defend herself.

“Evidence that, in the end, was useless, wasn’t it? That mad queen was still unpunished after her trial. I should have acted against her,” Jon said with a flash of anger in his green eyes.

“I know you’re worried. But what I did afterward, was it right?” she asked.

“Well, if you hadn’t hurt her, or if you had left her unscathed, I would have acted,” he said, as if it were something indisputable. He himself would have done something worse.

“You know that could have made things complicated, Jon.” Arya knew Jon had the power to easily kill the queen. “My family wouldn’t be in any better position than it is now. At the same time, you made a promise to Gerion Lannister in Yi-Ti… You promised to search for Joy. And Tywin would have taken revenge on the girl if you had done more than just scar the queen’s face,” Arya said.

“If I did that, I would have destroyed Tywin Lannister as well. Since I know he’s a problem… But let’s see how he reacts. However, I need to see how I’ll deal with Tywin in a different way, actually with Joy… I need to rescue Joy Hill from Casterly Rock,” Jon said.

“Do you plan to do that yourself or send someone?” she asked, tightening her hands around his waist.

“I want to send Jin Sakai. He proved to be very good at infiltration missions when we were at war against Yi-Ti. I placed him in Arctic to train a team since he joined Arctic, to act in the shadows, both for security and for covert missions for the kingdom. He’s the best we have for the job,” Jon said.

“I see…” said Arya.

“Anyway, I’m glad to see you again,” she said, smiling happily at the reunion as she looked at him again.

“I’m also glad to see you. And that nothing happened to you. Otherwise, Winterfell would be in danger. My stop wouldn’t be the wolf’s wood and I wouldn’t mind showing a terrifying dragon… I wouldn’t care about anything else but dealing with our enemies brutally.” Jon said with a threatening tone.

“And ending the surprise attack the dragon could one day make when the conflict in Arctic and Westeros breaks out…?” Arya asked in a playful tone and laughed.

“There are certain things that can’t be waited for or forgiven…” he said firmly. “I would never let you get hurt.” He spoke with a softer tone than threatening this time, and Arya broke into a silly smile.

“Hrrr.”

She was about to respond, before feeling someone clearing their throat behind them. Jon and Arya turned their attention to the group waiting for them. All the royal guards of Arctic were there, lined up, and the one making that sound to call their attention was Jill, who was ignoring Trinsmy’s furious glare, since she had clearly interrupted the king who seemed to be having a more intimate conversation with the princess, and they should do everything to make them feel comfortable there.

When Jon and Arya realized, looking at each other, they were very close, still with their arms around each other. This happened while they hadn’t even noticed, Arya with her arms around Jon’s waist and Jon with one hand on her shoulder and the other on her head. All the while ignoring the crowd that was waiting for their greetings to end.

Jon finally stepped back, and his gaze shifted to Bran behind the royal guards, whom he wanted to greet before anyone else. Bran had a somewhat strange expression about it, but only smiled at Jon, ignoring what had just happened.

“Bran, come here,” Jon called, while Bran hesitated for a few seconds before starting to dismount his horse.

“Come, Bran! Come see Jon, our b… brother,” said Arya, seeming to falter as she called him that.

Bran passed through the royal guards who did not move and approached Jon still with some caution. The boy did not stop fixing his eyes on Jon, seeing how much he had changed since the last time he had seen him, more than seven or eight years ago.

Back then, Jon was just an eleven-nameday boy when he came to Winterfell, while Bran was even younger, with his seven namedays. Since then, much had happened. Now Jon was already eighteen years old.

‘He is a king… and his appearance is more of a king than the king who is in Winterfell at this moment…’ Bran stopped thinking, analyzing Jon as he approached.

Jon, who had longer hair, though still very curly. His eyes shone, full of wisdom and confidence, while his smile gave the impression of someone friendly and open — at least to him. Bran could see that Jon missed him and seemed satisfied, if not happy, to see him.

Bran didn’t know how to behave, whether he should kneel or not, since the royal guards were behind him, perhaps ready to reprimand him if he didn’t act as he should, but he remembered that Arya had simply run to him.

‘But she was the princess of Arctic…’ Bran thought as he reached his brother, wondering whether to kneel.

But what happened was Jon opening his arms and grabbing him before he could do that. Bran felt himself to be much more fragile as Jon’s arms closed around him, while Jon showed himself to be extremely strong.

Jon pulled him close, wrapping him in an embrace, without Bran being able to do anything but accept it.

“Look at you, Bran… You’ve grown so much,” Jon pulled back from the hug while touching his face to see him better, with a tone full of tenderness.

“It’s good to see you again, brother,” Jon said, even though he was only his cousin. Still, he didn’t stop considering him a brother, even if their time together hadn’t been strong enough to truly create that kind of bond. After all, Jon had spent very little time with Bran, as with almost all the others, but he was happy to see him. It wasn’t his fault that Jon had been kept away from him in Winterfell.

“I was too, Jon… It’s been so long, I missed you!” Bran admitted, while pulling back a little, looking at him with a smile.

“I missed you too, Bran… Look at you, soon you’ll be a man,” Jon said, satisfied to see him there, as he studied him. “Your sister wrote that you’re getting great with bow and arrow, I’m sure you’ll be better than Theon,” Jon commented with pride.

“I could be, Jon…” he said a little embarrassed. “However, Theon… can’t shoot anymore, Jon. He hasn’t done that since… you know,” Bran murmured with the same shyness.

“Ah, I see. I admit I didn’t hold back much back then,” Jon said with a small smile. He had broken Theon’s hand when he was only eleven namedays old, during his visit to Winterfell. He had been so enraged with the older boy at the time for insulting him. Jon was already a monster back then and made sure the boy would never forget him. Theon should hate him more than anyone, but that didn’t matter to Jon.

Besides, Bran spoke again more excitedly. “Besides archery, we also… Arya trained us about entering the minds of animals, about the Warg abilities! She started with dreams and even gave us a potion at the sacred tree.” he said, while Jon raised an eyebrow.

“She did that?” he said, sending a look at Arya, who just shrugged with a smile at him before he turned his attention back to his brother. “And how has it been?”

“It was a little strange at first. Sometimes we dreamed of being inside our wolves… And in the room it was weird, and sometimes horrible, when I woke up in the morning with a bad taste in my mouth,” Bran said with a grimace.

Jon nodded. “You can understand that this is normal for anyone starting to practice such abilities. But the sooner you get through it, the better, since most people who don’t receive training spend many years dreaming such nightmares without knowing how to stop…” he said calmly, while waiting for Bran to continue.

“Then she gave us the potion while we leaned against the sacred tree… Well, it seems that Robb and Rickon woke up quite quickly, but I stayed unconscious for more than two days… And it was very strange, Jon… Because I had weird dreams. I dreamed of Arctic, would you believe me if I said I saw your city? I also dreamed of dragon roars, of green flames exploding, of dangerous blue eyes, of lions dying, and many other strange things.”

This made Jon raise his eyebrow immediately, narrowing his eyes and turning his attention to Arya, since that was not at all common — to begin with, Bran had been in a coma for two days.

“I believe he is a greenseer. Don’t you think so?” Arya broke the silence, while Jon went back to analyzing Bran, who had an anxious look, waiting for some answer from Jon.

“If he had visions, yes. He is a greenseer, there’s no doubt about it. I’m just surprised that one was born among the Starks… not even I am a greenseer,” Jon admitted. Not that it was really important to him, but it was a curiosity, considering he was blessed by the old gods.

“Really? Am I that important… that strong?” Bran asked, with the hope of a little boy believing he was very special.

Jon smiled at seeing this, nodding his head.

“Yes, Bran. That means you are very special. But I doubt you’ll be able to properly use your powers staying here, south of the Wall. If you want to become powerful, you’ll have to come to Arctic. The greenseers there, though not numerous, receive training from the Three-Eyed Raven, the most powerful greenseer of all, for any greenseer that appears. But I’m glad one of them came from the Starks. That shows how special our family is,” Jon said with satisfaction.

“Arya said I could… only I won’t be able to do that now, will I? I won’t be able to go to Arctic, right?” Bran asked, with a tone of sadness.

Jon shook his head. “Unfortunately not now, Bran. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it in the future, when things are better.”

“It’s about the war… against the dead?” Bran murmured.

Jon raised one of his eyebrows before nodding. “Yes, about the war against the dead and preventing humanity from being destroyed,” he admitted. “However, don’t worry… We will win it, and then I’ll come for you when it’s all over. You’ll learn to control your powers and become a very important person, wherever you choose to act.”

Jon said this without expecting Bran to have loyalty to Arctic. He didn’t mind giving that to his cousin without asking anything in return, even if he wasn’t in his service. He was his family.

“Arya said maybe you could help me become a royal guard… I wanted to be a royal guard of Arctic!” the boy suddenly said, while Jon lifted his gaze, staring at the royal guards surprised by this.

“What kind of influence have you had on this boy?” Jon said with a playful tone, drawing some smiles, while other guards kept a serious but satisfied look.

“He saw that we’re amazing, what else would you expect, my king?” said Vandgur, one of the royal guards who had arrived with Trinsmy.

“Speak for yourself, Vandgur. You weren’t with us for a year. We showed the boy what we’re capable of doing. Obviously he’s enjoying it properly. And, since we defended his sister truthfully… as we showed how strong we are and how we put the royal guards of the Seven Kingdoms to the ground when we went to the training yard,” said Bari, almost like a poet.

Some smiles were drawn from them with the comment, and Jon also smiled. He knew his men’s temperaments well; his eyes seemed amused, but Trinsmy kept a serious look — he had always been like that, prone to a hot temper as had happened as soon as they arrived in Winterfell.

“Well, anyway, Bran… How about we keep our communication through messages? Bran, I’ll take Arya with me now, for we’ll have to fight the most important war of Arctic. I don’t know when it will end, but we can communicate by writing. I just can’t guarantee frequent communication, since there will be things preventing the sending of ravens in the northern skies,” Jon explained.

“Yes… Arya told me about the army of the dead. Will you be alright, Jon? Will you be able to protect Arya?” he asked, in a tone heavy with terror every time he thought of the enemy that Jon and Arya would be fighting.

Jon nodded as if he had no other option but to face them.

“Of course. Don’t worry, I will protect her. We will be victorious.”

Bran looked at him, staring with eyes shining with admiration. His long-lost brother was so confident, so sure of what he was doing… Even Robb seemed like a mere peasant compared to what Jon had become; no one else seemed to come close to his way. He made Bran feel more confident than his father did when he tried to cheer him, because Jon’s words carried clarity and certainty.

That also made him compare Jon to the king of Westeros. And Jon was nothing like Robert Baratheon, who spent his life drinking, shouting, and letting his rage dictate his actions. Even though Jon had spoken with him for only a few seconds, Bran knew that this was his brother’s true personality. Even standing in the middle of a forest — something unfit for any king — Jon didn’t seem to care.

If Jon could see what Bran was thinking, he would say that the forest was like his home too, with Jon feeling freedom and belonging there.

‘So this is what a true king is like?’ Bran asked himself inwardly, knowing that from that moment on, he would admire Jon for the rest of his life. More than the idea he had built through Arya’s words, since he had not seen him in his visions — this was the first time he looked upon Jon at 18 namedays.

“I’d like to hear more about your adventures. You said you saw Arctic… I’d like to hear more about that,” Jon said, changing the subject, while Bran quickly nodded.

“Yes. The images are a little distorted, but I saw the city, I saw the tree… It’s immense!” the boy exclaimed.

Jon nodded, and Bran suddenly widened his eyes as he realized something.

“Wait, Jon! How did you get here?!” He hadn’t even asked how. But it should have been impossible for Jon to appear in the middle of the wolf’s wood like that, while Bran looked at him full of questions.

“Let’s say I had a special ride.” Jon opened a mysterious smile when everyone began to hear a sound coming from kilometers away, yet so loud it seemed like a monster.

ROOAAAARRR

That frightened Bran, making him step back while looking between the forest and Jon, then Arya, and all the royal guards as well as the Arctican soldiers behind them.

But no one seemed to care about it more than he did.

“What… was that?” he murmured in fear.

“I think it was the wind…” Jon said calmly.

“Jon…” Arya wanted to scold him.

“Bran, would you believe me if I told you I have a giant bird? I caught a ride with it to come here,” Jon said.

“Arya talked about that, is it Caraxes?” Bran asked, widening his eyes as he remembered the eagle mentioned in Jon’s letters when he traveled north. Later Arya had spoken of the eagle growing so large it could carry Jon. No one had ever told him about the dragons, and Bran seemed to believe Jon’s words.

“Yeah, something like that…” Jon said, a little embarrassed for deceiving his cousin, while at the same time Arya stared at him with a look that seemed to say, ‘That’s not Eragon and it looks much bigger…’ She already guessed which dragon Jon had come south with.

“Anyway, Bran. Can you tell me more about your dream? I’d love to hear about the things you saw…” Jon asked, seizing the opportunity to hear someone who could see the future with genuine interest — after all, Brynden had lost that ability.

All the creatures and beings with magic, whether wargs or greenseers, had lost a part of their powers when Jon was blessed by the old gods. After all, the powers he possessed now had been drawn from every form of the old gods’ magic. And this had been accumulating since Jon’s birth until the day he touched that tree.

Jon had discovered this later with Brynden: the old gods had been gathering the magical strength of all creatures to give to Jon when he was old enough to begin his journey. It was as if Jon had been predestined for this, not as if the gods had merely taken pity on a child like him living in Winterfell.

Only the new wargs and greenseers would have their powers in full strength again. That was why the wargs of Arctic seemed even more powerful than the older ones, aided by the potions and training the kingdom provided, and new greenseers would once again see the future.

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