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Chapter 22: Ch 13- Don't Bring Back Any Squids!

Chapter Text

The cool summer wind blew through the clearing in the Winterfell Godswood and Robb narrowed his eyes while slowly raising his bow. Nocking the arrow, Robb took aim at his brother before pulling the string in a quick motion.

*Shoot*

The arrow flew through the air toward his brother at a moderate speed, Robb looked at the arrow hopefully but alas... Jon leaned a little to the left and dodged the arrow easily.

"Are you sure you learned how to shoot?" Jon taunted Robb, with an infuriating smirk, "Maybe you should come even closer, or should I tie a cloth around my eyes to give you some more chance..."

"Shut up," Robb yelled, the color of his face matching his hair in embarrassment, "I'll get you sooner or later,"

"Sure you will and I would even believe you if you hadn't said that about 10 times already—" Jon jumped mid-sentence, hopping over the arrow Robb had shot while he was talking, "—And see you missed another one,"

If there had been an adult there they would have been horrified to see one brother shooting arrows at the other. But fortunately, it wasn't something as scandalous as a brother's feud, what they were actually doing was surprisingly! —Training.

About a month ago, Robb had begun to learn the bow from Ser Rodrik and since Jon was learning from Old Mark and was already almost half as good as his mentor, he was exempted from having to attend the lessons. So Robb had started bragging to Jon that before long he would become as good as him, which was of course, absurd.

But for some time Jon had been trying to find some way to learn the art of dodging flying arrows. Considering that he was an archer, Jon knew that arrows were one of the most dangerous weapons in this medieval fantasy world, so not having any insurance against them would be stupid.

So seeing an opportunity to teach his brother some manners and train in the art of dodging arrows at the same time Jon devised the little game they were playing.

The game went somewhat like this, Jon would stand in a small circle drawn using a stick, which was the range in which he could dodge, and about 15 meters away Robb would stand behind a line and shoot arrows at him, and of course, the arrows were without arrowheads. They were young, not stupid.

They both took turns being the shooter and the target, and so far luck hadn't been on Robb's side at all. Both of them got to shoot 10 arrows before they had to switch and this time it was Robb's turn to shoot.

In the beginning, Robb had been able to hit Jon about 5 out of 10 times while Jon had a 10/10 hit rate. But as he slowly got better at dodging, Robb started to hit Jon less and less while Jon managed to hit Robb every time no matter how he dodged.

"Stay still!" Robb groaned while furiously shooting another arrow.

"I don't think that's—" Jon dodged to the left, "—the point of—" Jon ducked,"—this exercise. And it's time to switch,"

Robb grimaced but still approached Jon to switch with him as the target, which he didn't like at all. As he was going to the circle along with Jon's bow, Robb's eyes suddenly widened when he noticed something behind Jon in the distance, "She is back, Jon,"

"I know," Jon hissed back without moving his head, he had been able to feel her approach them for a while, "Don't look in her direction or you'll spook her,"

"OH! I won't," Robb whispered with a conspiratory wink while handing Jon his bow. Both of them stood close and started causally speaking with each other in loud voices about mundane things so as not to let the observer know that she had been spotted already.

"She's close enough now. We'll shoot at the same time on my signal," Jon said in a low voice and Robb nodded eagerly while grabbing his bow tightly, "3...2...1...NOW!" Jon shouted and turned back with a spin while raising his bow and shooting the arrow.

*SQUAWK*

Frost made a surprised squeak when Jon's arrow almost managed to catch but fortunately, she was still able to dodge herself at the last moment. Robb's arrow followed after but unlike Jon's it went wide enough that she didn't have to flap her wings.

"Aww she dodged again," Robb whined when their ambush went down badly, but Jon wasn't giving up yet, "Don't stop Robb, come we'll get her if both of us try it together,"

But Jon was wrong about that, now that she knew they were aiming for her it was almost impossible for them to even come close to hitting her no matter how fast they shot.

The reason for this hunt was somewhat similar to the previous one, as they say, "Every predator is someone else's prey,". Just like how Jon taunted Robb about his abysmal archery, Jon's companion Frost also took great pleasure in showing him that no matter how good he got, he would never be able to shoot her.

So Jon had taken the challenge issued by his icy bird very seriously, and every chance he got he would find ways to shoot her, and Robb obviously joined him because it felt good to be the attacker than the target.

But alas no matter how much Jon improved his arrow's speed, how far he thought ahead while shooting, or how many arrows he shot in a second, Jon wasn't able even to come close to touching his friend's feather.

As she grew with time, Frost's supremacy in the air started to become even more apparent. And while her size also increased by a lot, (she was now almost equal to the largest eagle from Jon's previous life,) making her a bigger target, her speed, and maneuverability in the air also increased along with it, which more than made up for it.

"What are you doing!" Sudden girlish yells interrupted the two boys who were happily shooting dull arrows at Frost.

When he turned around, a very weird view appeared in front of Jon, Emily and Sansa were standing in a similar posture, with their hands on their waist while indignantly staring at them. And just behind them, were Becca and Arya, who were clapping at the fun game in front of them.

Frost took that opportunity to fly straight to his rescuers (even though he never needed one,) and immediately hid behind Sansa and Emily.

"Where they being mean, Frost," Emily said while rubbing Frost's feather expertly, she had her own bird, the small snow eagle, nestled in her front pocket.

"Don't worry. We'll protect you," Sansa said throwing a nasty glance at her brothers while imitating the way Emily moved her hand, and Frost soaked up all the praises and rubs, acting as if she had been wronged.

"Hey, don't blame me, it was all Jon's idea," Robb said while pointing toward his brother, "And besides we never even managed to touch a single feather on her," Robb tried to explain but the girls ignored him.

It was a very common thing to see all four of them together nowadays and the reason for that is very complicated.

It all began with Lord Stark wanting to create some more units of archers in addition to the one supplied by his Lords because he thought they would be very useful against the squids who were almost always on a boat or a ship so most of them had only leathers for protection.

So of course, the first person he thought of was Old Mark, and Jon was sure that had to do with Eddard being impressed with how good of an archer he became under his tutelage. So he called him and asked him to train a new unit of archers and if that wasn't enough he even offered him a job here in Winterfell after they were done with the rebellion.

And while Old Mark hesitated in the beginning, he eventually realized that he was too old to still live on his income from his weekly hunts and that it was finally time to settle down and take a stable job, so he accepted the offer.

And of course with Old mark came his granddaughter, Emily, and not far behind her was Becca, and while Becca didn't live here in Winterfell as Emily did, she still spent most of her day in the castle playing with Emily so it wasn't much different.

And a few days after that they ran into the lady of the castle, and surprisingly (or maybe not) Lady Stark had taken an instant liking to Emy, she seemed to like that Emily was so well-mannered and well-spoken, and the cherry on the top was when she found out that Emy knew the Seven-Pointed Star book inside out,( of course, Jon was behind that).

Lady stark wasn't much of a fan of Becca as she didn't like her mischievousness and her constant rough-housing, but on the opposite end, she seemed to have found an admirer in Jon's littlest sister, Arya, who would follow her everywhere and wouldn't leave her alone without a mighty tantrum.

And since Lady stark was pregnant with the newest stark as well as had to handle all the work involved with the sudden outpouring of guests (which Eddard had repeatedly told her not to) due to the rebellion she couldn't handle her rowdy daughters on top of that, so she finally delegated her daughter's.

And that was how both of Jon's students become his little sister's babysitters, Emily taking care of Sansa and Becca of Arya, of course, there was a maid that followed them around to make sure everything was alright but most of the time they were left alone inside the castle.

"What are you doing here anyway," Jon said after coming to a stop in front of his sisters and students.

"Oh! We are here on Lady Stark's orders," Emily said while standing up gracefully from where she was petting Frost, "She called both of you to Lord Stark's chambers,"

"Why?" Jon asked while exchanging confused glances with his brother, "What happened?"

"I am not sure... But I think maybe its because the army is finally ready to leave,"

Over the past few weeks, the gate guards of Winterfell were kept busy throughout the day with the irregular times the Lords of North arrived along with their army. Some arrived early in the morning, while others during the evening, so even the cooks and the staff had to be ready at all times to make sure everyone was settled properly.

"Oh! Then we should hurry up..."

All of them went out of the godswood together, with Frost having left them for the Wolfswood for a hunt. While they moved toward the Great keep they through the armory and smithy which was more crowded than ever, and at all times during the day, the constant hammering and the smoke churning out of the chimneys could be seen.

Even little Tom was being told to handle a lot of work even though he wasn't a proper expert yet. But while he was busier than ever, there was a constant smile on his face whenever Jon saw him, which proved his initial claim that he loved being a blacksmith.

But while all of them were busy doing different things, Jon still managed to find some time during the day to take his students (which had increased to three,) to the now empty hunter's lodge for a warging lesson.

Halfway through they came across Jory who confirmed for them that the army would be leaving Tomorrow, after the last and the farthest Lord Umber arrived from the last hearth that morning.

So Emily and Becca separated from them there, as they wanted to say farewell to Old Mark as he would also be leaving with the army. Jon told Emily that he would go to Old Mark's room after he was done to say his own farewells.

Before long all four siblings came to the Great keep and after climbing the stairs before the Lord's Solar they found Catelyn there standing outside the door speaking with the Steward.

"I'll make sure that everything's ready, My Lady," The steward said before bowing and going away.

"... You're finally here," Catelyn said when she turned and found all of them, and immediately turned around to open the door and ushered all of them in, "Come inside,"

Eddard was going over some papers alone in the solar and looked up when he saw his whole family entering, "Oh... What are you all doing here?" he asked while standing up and coming toward them.

"I called them," Catelyn said, "I thought you would want to say your... " She hitched and stopped mid-sentence and turned her head away to hide her face.

"Thank you, Cat," Eddard said while warmly rubbing his hand behind her back to console her before turning to his children.

"Robb," Ned said while putting his hand on his eldest son's shoulder, "You know that I must leave to do my duty to the king tomorrow. You'll be the Stark in the Winterfell then, so I am counting on you,"

"I won't let you down, Father," Robb said while puffing his chest as much as possible before Eddard rubbed his hair with a small smile while giving him a hug, "I know you won't, Son,"

Eddard moved to his other son, before similarly patting his shoulder, "Jon, you're the smartest of the lot so I am leaning on you to take care of your siblings and keep them in line, Understood," Jon nodded and Eddard hugged him fiercely, but before moving away he whispered so that only Jon could hear, "And give Catelyn too much grief,"

Jon nodded with a laugh as Eddard went to his Daughters, "Now, Sansa, my baby girl—" Eddard started but before he could go on, Sansa immediately jumped into his arms and started crying loudly, "Please don't go! Father,"

"Calm Down, Sansa. I won't be gone for long," Ned said while rubbing his daughter's back but she started crying even louder, which set off Arya who started bawling even louder than his sister, so took her in her arms too, "Damn those squids," he hissed to himself while looking at his crying daughters whom he had to leave behind because of the reavers.

Eddard tried to console his two daughters in his arms, but he wasn't having much luck, he looked to his sons for help but Robb was barely holding himself together with his wet eyes, and Catelyn wasn't even looking at them but he could see her shoulder's shaking, so finally he turned to Jon, the only one who wasn't crying in the room along with Eddard.

Jon nodded immediately and took the crying Arya into his arms, and started to rock her which after a few minutes turned the crying into silent hiccups.

"You know father, I heard that the squids have eight wiggling slimy legs and I heard somewhere that when the people on the iron islands eat them they wiggle inside their mouths..."

"Eww..." Sansa said in disgust before giggling wetly at the way Jon was wiggling his fingers, Eddard finally sighed in relief when the crying finally stopped, he immediately changed the subject to a friendly one about that day's dinner.

...

The next day all the lords were leaving through the gates of Winterfell along with the Warden of the North. The army had already left an hour ahead of them, and they were bringing the rear along with the end of their baggage train.

They were just out of Winterfell's view and Eddard was talking with GreatJon about something when he heard a sudden shout behind him, and when he looked back, he could just make out his sons standing on the walls shouting at the top of their lungs, "Don't Bring Back Any Squids!"

"HaHa! HaHa!" GreatJon laughed loudly and said, "Your sons sure are lively,"

"That they are..." Eddard shook his head before waving his hand and turned around to leave after taking a final look at his home.