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Chapter 3: Ch 3-The Grumpkin

Chapter Text

I was standing at the bow of my ship looking far into the distance with the help of a far eye. My assistant was standing beside me giving me a report.

"Only 2 ships need an emergency repair, Captain. The rest of them are working in optimum condition" He said to me while reading from a notebook.

"2 ships out of the 115 ships I have in my fleet falling to pieces, is a lot better than I expected. How about our food stock" I asked.

"We should be fine for the return journey, as long as we reach Valariya in 5 days, Captain," he replied after looking at the report in his hands for a while.

"Well then, that should not be a problem, because I can see the smokes of valyria in the distance," I said while handing him the far-eye. I started shouting immediately.

"Bring out the filter masks and give one to everyone on the ships. You! Flagbearer! Send a signal to every ship in our fleet for them to..."

"Jo... Jon ... Jon... JON"

An irritating voice was shouting from somewhere far away and jostling me and I was telling it to stop.

Suddenly the fog inside my head cleared and I found myself inside my room. The source of that irritating voice was my brother,

"JON! JON! WAKE UP!" who will get the beating of his life if he doesn't stop shaking me.

"Go Away Let me sleep," I shouted back and pulled the blanket on my head. For a moment of bliss I thought he had gone away and the next second I felt my blanket pulled away from me. I sat up on my bed angrily and looked at him standing in the corner with that infuriating innocent smile on his face.

"I'll KILL YOU, STARK," I said through my gritted teeth.

"You'll have to get up for that," he replied smugly.

I fell back with a groan on my bed. Now wide awake but too tired to walk across the room and beat the snot out of that annoying brat.

"Why in the seven hell did you wake me up at this ungodly hour, Robb," I sighed and started slowly getting out of my bed.

"You promised to teach me to swim," he said eagerly, "and If we don't go now then everyone's going to be awake and someone will catch us,"

"You already know almost everything you need to swim," I grouched while changing my night clothes into something suitable for the cold outside, not that they are going to be any help while swimming naked, I shivered at the thought.

"Yeah, but what If I drown because I am all alone out there? You'll lose your favorite brother," he said while making a sad face.

"You just want someone to be there to share punishment with you if we get caught," I snarked toward him while walking toward the door, "And you are my only brother,"

He stuck a tongue at me and went outside the door with me following right behind him. I closed the door behind me and as I looked around, I noticed it was still quite dark outside and it would be an hour before the sun rises. As I was slowly walking down the stairs, I found Robb, already at the bottom of the stairs, waving at me to hurry up.

I sighed and went down the stairs two steps at a time. We silently crossed the courtyard toward the armory. We only had to hide twice, one time because of a maid rushing to the kitchen and the other time because of a sleepy guard doing night patrol.

After that, it was a smooth journey, we passed the armory and went straight into the godswood. We kept walking silently between the thick canopy of trees which mostly consisted of birch, oak, and ironwood. The ground was hard and packed with moss and thousands-year-old humus.

The godswood was a dark primal forest that had been left untouched for thousands of years, and the silence was only broken by the sounds of unidentified creatures of the forest and leaves crunching under our feet, so it could have scared a grown man into running let alone two kids. But we had been coming here for so long, mostly with Father, that the place had lost its mysteries to us.

We passed by a couple of more trees before we came into a clearing with a tall weirwood tree. The weirwood had bark white as bone, dark red leaves, and a long and melancholy face carved in the bark, its deep-cut eyes red with dried sap. In the center of the clearing was a small, dark, and cold pool.

We both kept walking in until we stopped in front of the weirwood tree and then simultaneously knelt there to pray. I prayed to the old gods for the autumn to end a bit sooner and for the health of everyone in our family, even Catelyn.

When I came into this world I had not been a particularly faithful person, never quite believing in any of the gods. But as Lord Stark began to bring me and Robb to pray here once or twice a week, it became a habit for me. And I found it so calming to pray here that before I knew it, I was a follower of the old gods not that there were any particular requirements for it. The old gods don't actually demand anything unlike the faith of the Seven.

After a few seconds, I stood up and found Robb stripping his clothes in front of the pool.

"What are you doing?" I asked while moving toward him.

"Going for a swim, the thing we came here for, you know," he said while rolling his eyes.

"Not in this cold pool, I thought we were going for the three pools by the guest house, where the water comes from the hot springs," I said speaking slowly as if talking to a particularly dimwitted child, "The summer has not arrived yet, you do know that,"

"I heard old Nan say that it's almost autumn, so the water's not going be that cold," he said while stripping the last of his clothes to stand in front of the pool naked while looking at me in anticipation.

"You are insane!" I said while not moving at all to join him.

"It's called being valiant and manly," he said while puffing his chest and standing with his hands on his waist.

I stared at him in silence for a few moments before speaking in a deadpan,

"You look stupid,"

He looked sheepish for a moment before he took a few steps away from the pool and then after giving me a challenging smirk took a running start and jumped right into the pool.

"Whoohoo... " his excited shout echoed in the silent forest before he went under the water. It took a few seconds before he came back up and looked toward me with a wide grin on his face.

"Come... onnn...ittsss...noottt... thaaat... cooooldddd," he said with his teeth clattering.

"I believe you," I said sarcastically while taking a seat on a rock.

"You're not going leave me all alone here, Are you?" he said smoothly after a few minutes, having already gotten accustomed to the cold water. It gets really hard to doubt magic is there in our blood when looking at the sight of a kid adapting to almost freezing water in a matter of minutes.

While we both are only 3-year-olds we are taller and more robust than any 5 or 6-year-old kid out there. We very rarely get sick with a cold and while other people would shiver uncontrollably on a particularly cold day we barely feel it.

"Are you coming in or not!" he shouted.

"I am not"

"If you have the blood of starks of winter in you then you will not be afraid of a little cold and If you don't come inside then you're not my brother," he said while pouting and looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

"You think your childish provocation will work on me," I said while raising an eyebrow with a little smile on my face.

"Come on pleaaassse..." he whined like a 3-year-old.

"Alright! Alright! I am coming don't start crying," I said before standing up and divesting my clothes beside Robb's. I took a breath and jumped straight into the pool.

The cold water knocked the wind out of me and I felt like needles were pricking at my skin, all over my body. I swam to the surface of the water and took slow deep breaths while keeping my eyes closed. Only a couple of seconds later, my body got used to the cold water and I could almost feel the pores across my body shrinking and blood circulating faster.

After a moment of just enjoying the coolness of the water on my skin, I opened my eyes and was instantly splashed with a huge amount of water out of nowhere. I started coughing and rubbing my eyes while listening to Robb laughing his ass off. I opened my eyes and glared at him with murderous eyes.

He must have seen something on my face because he immediately started swimming away from me.

"Get back here, You Bastard!," I shouted while swimming after him.

"I am not the bastard, You are!" he said while laughing out loud and when he looked back to check on me, he squealed like a little girl when he found out how close I was and tried to swim away even faster.

We played in the pool till the sun's rays could be seen on the horizon, and after having our fill of the fun, we wore our clothes and lay down beside the pool to calm down our breathing.

After having sufficiently rested I stood up and walked toward the trees in the godswood. I walked around for a while before I found a tree that I considered appropriate for a beginner then I took some distance from that tree. While facing the tree I took a deep breath, and then ran toward it at a moderate speed, just before reaching it I took a jump and then started climbing it, I didn't even make a meter above the ground before I fell toward the ground hard.

"Ow Ow..."

As I lay there trying to catch my breath, I felt a shadow on my face, when I opened my eyes I found Robb standing there with his face crunched up in confusion.

"What are you doing?" he inquired.

"I am training to become a hunter," I said while standing up for another try at it.

"By practicing how to fall from a tree," he asked, bewildered.

"No by learning to climb a tree very fast," I said before I ran and tried to climb the tree, this time I was able to reach a higher place before falling down on my feet.

"How are you going to become a hunter by learning to climb a tree?" he asked in a skeptical tone as if questioning my sanity.

"Do you remember that old hunter in Wintertown who hunted that big stag last year?" I asked while not stopping my training.

"Yeah, Old mark, right. What about him?"

"Well I asked him a couple of days ago, about what should I do to become a good hunter, and he said that the most important thing for a hunter is how fast he could climb a tree. Apparently, there is a saying between the hunter, 'The faster a hunter climbs, The longer he survives ', so that's why I am training so that if I come across a wolf or something, I could climb a tree in a heartbeat... Ow..ow..."

I was able to almost reach the first branch this time but I lost my balance before catching it. Robb had already found a rock to sit on.

"Well, why do you want to become a hunter all of a sudden?" he said while watching me from his seat.

"Do you know how much money Old Mark got for that big buck?"

"Enough to last him for a while, I guess"

"Well he got about 70 silver stag, if it was not so full of arrows he could have even gotten a gold dragon," I said to him while stopping for a moment to catch a breath.

That old mark had gotten quite lucky to be able to hunt down that big of a beast. While they were not a rarity, they almost always escape because they are not slowed down by a couple of arrows at all. The second he had gotten that money, he married his daughter to our blacksmith Mikken's son.

"Why would you want to earn money ?" he asked bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Do you remember what I told you two days ago?"

"What are— Oh, about your dream to travel the world" he replied quietly.

"Yeah, and you need a lot of money to do that so I have to start early. I don't want to turn into an old man before I earn enough money to go to White Harbour, Do I?" I said while laughing lightly.

But Robb wasn't laughing, he was looking at the ground morosely. I sighed and went toward him and sat beside him before putting a hand around his shoulders.

"Hey what happened? Why are you sulking?"

"I'm not sulking," he sulkily said while looking at the ground.

"Of course, you are not. Now tell me what happened,"

"I don't want you to go," he said while looking up at me with moist eyes.

"Hey! Hey! I am not talking about going anywhere soon, You know. It'll probably be a decade before Father even allows me to step foot outside Winterfell," I said while rubbing his shoulder in comfort, "So you don't have to worry about me disappearing tomorrow,"

"I am not worried about you," he said while looking away from me and rubbing his eyes.

"Of course, you're not," I said while standing up and walking toward the exit "Now come on let's go before the grumkin comes looking for you,"

"She'll be with my mother, so we don't have to worry at all," he said while catching up with me.

"How is lady stark by the way?"

"She's alright, just angry with father because he told her that she was not allowed to go outside." he said before continuing with a crunched-up face, "And she doesn't like being fat or being called fat,"

"Well it won't be long before we have a little sister"

"Mother thinks that we'll have a baby brother but father said he wants a little baby girl," he said while kicking a pebble before continuing, "But I don't understand how mother getting fat will get us a baby brother or a baby sister,"

"Did you not ask Lady Stark," I asked while imagining Catelyn's face when Robb asks her about where babies come from.

"I did, but she said I am not old enough," he said before turning toward me, "But you know about that right, so you can tell me,"

"I do know but she's right, you're not old enough yet to know about this secret," I said in a mystifying tone.

"Hey! We are the same age. Come on, tell me! Please!" he whined while swinging my arm back and forth.

"Alright! Alright! Tell you what, if you win the race then I'll tell you," I said while taking my hand from him.

"What race," he said while tilting his head.

"The race to the kitchen that starts..." I said before bending to get into the runner's position and then took off with a shout of "NOW!"

"Hey! that's cheating!" he shouted from behind me before I heard his footsteps as he ran behind me.

We ran for a while between trees and then went straight out of godswood. As we were passing by the armory and I took a turn around a corner, I came to a complete stop.

"Hey, why did you stop," he asked while slowing down after seeing me stand at the corner looking toward the other side.

"Look's like the grumkin found us!" I said to him in a whisper as he came to stand beside me and when he found out who was in front of me he immediately understood the reason I stopped.

"Where are you two up to?" Septa Mordane said while looking at us with suspicion in her eyes.

Before I could reply to her with something that would definitely not be appropriate for a child, I saw Robb looking at me with wide eyes, silently asking me if I wanted to mess with her. I obviously replied in an affirmative via rapid blinking of my eyes.

"Nothing!" We shouted simultaneously.

She looked at both of us for a few moments before turning toward Robb.

"Lord Robb, I've told you this before but you should not associate yourself too much with him," she said while pretending as if I don't exist.

"And why should I not associate with my brother, Septa," he inquired as if genuinely curious.

"Because he is a bastard," she said while looking at me from the corner of her eyes to see if would react, but I only smiled back not offended at all, "And they are creatures born out of sin and lust so they are not to be trusted,"

"Oh! they are," Robb said in an exaggerated tone, "And are children of bastards, bastards too, Septa,"

"Of course," she replied while directing a smirk at me

Robb nodded as if he understood everything she was telling him and then abruptly turned toward me.

"Do you remember Jon?" Robb asked, "What Maester Luwin was teaching us two days,"

"Of course, he was teaching us the history of Baratheons," I replied while hiding my smile, having understood where he was going with this.

"And wasn't the founder of House Baratheon, Orys Baratheon a Targaryen bastard,"

"That's what it says in the history books," I replied while trying to hold my laughter in.

"And isn't there a very important man who is a descendent of Baratheon," he asked while turning toward a rapidly paling septa.

"Yes, I think the King, the ruler of Seven kingdoms is a Baratheon,"

We both started advancing toward the septa who slowly started stepping backward while looking as if she had seen a ghost.

"So what the good Septa here is telling us is that the king is a creature born of sin and lust,"

"No, I didn't mean tha—" she tried to say but I interrupted her.

"And isn't Lord Stark a very old friend of the king?"

"Yeah, he is and we should definitely tell father what the good septa here is saying about his childhood friend," Robb replied while we both looked maliciously toward the septa.

...

A few minutes later the septa walked out of that corner looking as if her soul had left her body, she hurriedly walked toward the great keep with her head down.

"She will definitely leave us alone for a while now,"

"Where did you learn to blackmail people like that," I asked Robb as he was dipping freshly baked bread into his soup.

We had gotten some breakfast from the kitchen and were sitting in the great hall. It was mostly empty with the occasional guard coming for an early breakfast.

"From you," he spoke while spraying food from his mouth everywhere.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," I said while moving my plate away from his.

"You sound like my mother,"

"Just because Lady stark is not here, doesn't mean you should forget your manners," I replied while hitting the back of his head, "And when did you see me blackmail someone?"

"That one time you blackmailed my mother into letting you sit at the head table or the other time when she tried to move you into servant quarter but you somehow suddenly persuaded her, or the—"

"Alright! Alright! I get it, you don't need to say anymore," I interrupted him when he looked like he would go on for a while, "And you should not do it anymore, or else your mother will really murder me in my sleep,"

"If you can do it, then I can do it too,"

"I am more mature than you, so you should listen to me," I said while trying to make my voice firm.

"We are the same age," he said petulantly while sticking his tongue out at me.

Before I could teach the brat about respecting his betters, a guard suddenly came into the great hall and started walking toward us intently. He came to a stop beside Robb before he started speaking.

"Lord Stark requested your presence in his solar m'lord,"

Robb nodded to let him know that he had gotten the message and then tried to hurriedly finish the rest of his food.

"Is today one of your lordly lessons?" I asked while eating slowly.

"Yeah, today he is going to teach me all about our army and how to call for them," he said excitedly, before standing up, "I'll tell you about it later, Bye"

He ran out of the hall toward the great keep while dodging between the maids. Once or twice a month Father calls Robb into his solar for long lessons where he teaches him about things a Lord is required to know. They are supposed to be secrets that Lord passes onto his heir, but Robb always tells me everything that he learns in there.

After cleaning my plate of all the food, I slowly stood up and went out of the great hall. As I looked toward the sky I felt that it should be around the time that guards start their daily training, so I turned toward the direction of the courtyard and started walking leisurely.

Almost the whole castle had woken up by this point so it was really bustling, I passed many servants, guards, the steward, or the stable boy rushing toward their daily chores.

It only took a couple of minutes for me to reach the courtyard, it was filled with men of all kinds of ages. From the elderly master at arms to young new recruits being drilled by the Guard captain.

I passed by everyone only stopping occasionally to say hi, before I came to a stop in front of a ring where some of the guards were having impromptu duels. I found my regular spot which was an out-of-the-way tree stump and sat on it while looking toward the ongoing duel.

Since I had been able to walk, I had been coming here to observe the guards practicing their forms or competing against each other. And while I was too young to practice my arms for a few years yet, I thought that I would still learn something from watching them.

The most important thing that I learned was all the different kinds of forms the guards used in their sword fight. I slowly started noticing a pattern, like a particular form is used by most guards when they are on the defensive or the other form they use while on the attack.

I still had the habit of doing the complex calculations in my mind and doing image training and after all this, it had paid off here. My memory retention was outstanding, so whenever I saw a guard use a particular, I would remember everything about it from the location of his hands and legs to when it was being used, etc.

So after I've got enough data from watching all these duels, I should be able to predict what my opponent would do next by the position of his arms and legs as well as his center of balance. It was all a theory for now but when I start practicing for real, that is when I would find out If it would pay off.