54

hapter 54: Ch 45 Reunion

Chapter Text

"JON?!!"

The moment the trio of delighted girlish screams echoed in the surroundings, Jon immediately dismounted from Peggy in one swift and prepared himself with his arms open and he wasn't a second late as in the next one his torso was suddenly hit with a duo of small missiles one red and one brown.

*Uffff!!*

Jon grunted with an amusingly overdramatic expression of pain and said, "Ugh! I think you girls just broke one of my ribs..."

"LIAR!!" Both of them shouted simultaneously with wide grins, hugging him even harder.

"No! Seriously!" Jon continued with a warm smile, rubbing their heads, "You girls have gotten too heavy now... I may just have to visit Maester Luwin for a look."

Arya giggled loudly, but Sansa asked with a cute tilt of her face, "But Jon, I thought that you wouldn't be home for another two days... How come you're early?"

"Oh that was just a coincidence," Jon answered with a shrug, "There was a ship going for Torrhen's square, so I hopped on it instead of taking the usual route from Bear Island through the forests. It turns out that travelling by sea cut a surprising amount of time, so I was able to come home quicker." He caught the third occupant in the clearing who had been silently watching so far. "No hug from you, Becca?" he teased. "Your teacher's very sad..."

"I think you would have broken more than just a rib if I jumped towards you like these little ones..." Becca replied with an eye roll while giving him a one-handed hug.

"Hmm, You're right about that... You've grown up quite a lot since I saw last you," Jon said while putting a hand on her head to measure their height difference, which was no more than a few inches. "If you keep this up... It won't be long until you reach my height."

His once naughty little student who always used to run away from Maths had grown up quite well. She looked like a mature warrior now standing there with a tight bun, a strong leather jacket and breeches, and a spear by her side that spoke of the hours she spent in the training yard honing the skills he had laid the foundation for at a young age.

"Ah! That'll be the sight..." Becca replied with a wistful expression on her face at the thought of being taller than him, as it was quite irritating to be looked down upon by Jon who was six years her junior.

"ME! ME! What about me, Jon?" Arya questioned, jumping up and down excitedly while pulling his hands, "I grew up too, didn't I?" Didn't I?" she asked with a proud grin while subtly standing on her toes and raising her head to make herself a little taller.

"Hmm, Let's see..." Jon said, with a pondering expression on his face while looking at Arya. He maintained his appraising eye for a moment before he shook his head with an overly disappointed expression, "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! I am sorry, little sister, but sadly you haven't grown a single inch... In fact didn't you actually shrink instead? I think Bran might actually be taller than you now..." he turned to Sansa who was also trying to hide her smile and seriously asked, "Tell me, Sansa, is bran taller than—" he didn't get to finish his sentence as his teasing was too much for the little girl and she punched him in the gut with all her might.

"He's Not!" Arya replied hotly, her face turning comically red almost like a tomato.

"Argh! I think you just broke another rib, little sister," Jon said with a grimace before he staggered and kneeled, giving a convincing performance. The little critter packed a surprisingly strong punch.

"Don't lie, You LIAR!!"

It seems that his acting wasn't enough for the little girl as she showed him no mercy, and immediately started hammering him with her little fists as if he was a drum. Each hit of hers was accompanied by a loud shout of "Liar!!". Becca and Sansa snickered from afar at watching Jon crouching while hiding his head from Arya's furious barrage.

"Stop! Stop! I am sorry!" Jon apologised and when Arya showed no signs of relenting, he finally gathered her swinging arms by her side and picked the struggling girl up, "I was wrong, little sister. Please forgive me!" he said with a pleading face.

"No!" she snorted while turning her head away with a pout, "I hate you!"

"Oh! No! Do you really hate your brother, Arya," Jon asked in a sad tone.

His puppy dog eyes made her hesitate just for a moment but she still persisted with her reply, "Y-Yes, I do!"

Anyone else in their family would have been hard-pressed by the girl's stubbornness but Jon knew just what to say to persuade her.

"That is very unfortunate then... since that means that you wouldn't want all the gifts that I got for you, so they would go to waste..." Jon said sadly before he suddenly said in a sly, "Maybe I'll see if Bran wants them—"

"NO!" Arya screamed as he head whipped around in panic, "Don't give them to Bran! I'll take them! Where are they?" she asked, her eyes wildly looking around.

"So you don't hate me, then?" Jon asked with an amused expression.

"No, I don't," she quickly shook her head like a rattle, "I love you, Jon, you're the best," she said with a wide grin while giving him a quick hug, "Now, where are they? I want them?"

"They are right there," Jon said while pointing towards the two sacks on Peggy's back. Arya immediately struggled while extending her hands towards them, but Jon stopped her. "But you can't open them now, you need to wait until I get you home..."

"Why? I want to see them now!"

"Because if we don't get you home to your mother soon... I think she's finally going to lose whatever little patience she had with me and decide that it is time to bring out her dagger to welcome me at the gate..." Jon said, his eyes going comically wide with horror.

"No! But I don't want to go home," Arya said in a pleading tone, "That's why I left... I want to go with you and travel here and there..."

Jon knew better than to deny her with something logical, like that she was too young or that it would be too dangerous for her or that her mother would probably send an army after him if he did that... instead he decided to give her an offer that he knew she couldn't refuse.

"Tell me, little sister," Jon said while sneaking a wink towards his Shadowcat, "Was my Tiger here very rude to you before I came here?"

"Yes! Yes, he was," Arya nodded her head like a chicken as she suddenly remembered the tussle she had with the cat a while back, "He ran away from me and didn't even let me ride him even though I am so small... he is a bad tiger, Jon. You need to punish him," she said while giving a prideful grin at tiger who just rolled his eyes.

"So, How about this? If you agree to come home with me, I'll punish Tiger by making him give you a ride all the way until the forest ends," he said while sending a look towards Tiger that promised him future rewards if she complied with his little request. The Tiger shook his head with an exasperated sigh, but he stood up nonetheless.

"Really! I can really ride him,"

"Yes, you can... You'll be the first girl in the whole world to have ridden a Shadowcat,"

"I want to! I want to! let's go! let's go home," she shouted excitedly, her Mother having completely left her mind.

...

"... And that was how Queen Nymeria led her surviving people on Ten Thousand Ships across the narrow sea to Westeros during the Spice War..." Jon finished in a soothing tone, barely above a whisper. He closed the book that he was reading from, it was one of his gifts that he had bought from Oldtown.

Jon was sitting on a small chair between two small beds, the same that he and Robb used to occupy when they were little. But at the moment they were being used by the next wolves, with Bran on the left side, who had already gone to sleep at the start of the story reading, and Arya on the right side.

Jon slowly tiptoed to Arya's bedside and closely looked at her face suspiciously for a few seconds checking to see if she'd squirm and give herself away but thankfully nothing like that happened as it seemed the little wolf had finally gone to sleep.

"I think she's already asleep..." a whisper came from behind him, and Jon turned around to find his other student, Emilia, standing against the door with an amused smile on her face. Jon waved his hand at her to keep quiet before slowly lurking towards the door.

"Well, she's already faked it two times before, so I just had to be sure..." Jon said in a hushed voice while closing the door behind him.

The little girl hadn't left his side since the moment he had set foot inside Winterfell. She knew that she did wrong by running away and making her parents worry and that she would surely be scolded and punished for it, especially by her mother, so she stuck by him for the whole time... probably hoping to use him as a shield.

This seems to have worked for the moment as the moment she laid eyes on him, all of Lady Stark's displeasure and her scrutinizing glares had been automatically transferred to him.

And even when she occasionally caught sight of Arya, she didn't do anything more than send a few glares at her that promised future scolding. Because if there was one thing in the world that Catelyn hated more than anything... then it was when she lost her temper, especially in front of Jon.

Jon guessed that it was probably a trauma from all his childhood pranks.

"You're quite scared of her, Aren't you?" Emilia asked with a smile when she saw him being so careful to not wake up the little critter.

"Terrified!" Jon said with a fake shudder before he grinned widely and asked her, "Now tell me, How are you doing, little Emy? How is life as the Lady Stark's assistant treating you?" he hadn't been able to talk her too much with her when they met at the gates before, because he was too busy greeting his family.

"There's no such thing as an "assistant"," Emilia said with air quotes, a habit she'd picked up from him, "I am more of a helper... most of the time I just follow her around and help her as she goes about doing all the tasks that she has to do to manage the castle. For the rest, I am mostly babysitting your sisters, and teaching them their number, stitching and most recently... about the Faith," she glared at him at that last bit as if it was his fault, "While there's nothing exciting about it... I get to learn a lot so I am quite happy with it..."

"No! No! I am not asking you about those mundane things," Jon said shaking his head with gleaming eyes, "I am asking you if there were any embarrassing stuff that you found out about her... like if she ever tripped absentmindedly, or if she ever picked her nose when she thought no one was looking, or if she ever stole treats from the kitchen... you know, all the juicy details, things I can use against her," he finished with a villainous giggle.

"There are no such things," she replied while looking at him with an exasperated expression, "And even if there were, I wouldn't tell you..."

"What? Why?!" Jon asked with an overdramatic betrayed expression.

"Well... because I like her... and I think she's quite fond of me too..." Emily shrugged with a small smile, "We spend most of the day together, and she teaches me all kinds of things and she even takes me with her when she goes to pray in the Sept... which is quite soothing, in fact, I think I've taken quite a liking to the Seven pointed star and the Faith because of her..."

"Y-You! You Traitor!" Jon breathed with an exaggerated shocked expression, "Here I thought that I finally got my spy beside her, but it turns out that the Evil Southern Lady was just too smart for you," he looked at her with a disappointed expression, "I don't know how she managed to enthral you to her side but... I expected more from you, my student..."

"Yeah right!" Emilia nodded her head sarcastically, "I have already been charmed by her, but don't worry too much, I'll try my best not to spill too many of your secrets..."

"You shouldn't and remember the most important thing is..." Jon said while grabbing her shoulders with a serious expression, "Whatever you do, don't let her turn you into a septa..."

Emilia rolled her eyes but still nodded her head, "I won't, I promise..."

"Thank you..." Jon sighed in relief, "And also please don't pick any of her bad habits, particularly the one where she makes that expression, you know, the one when she scrunches up her nose and her mouth curls up as if she smelled something funny," he helpfully accompanied his explanation by making a face as similar to pig as he could.

"Pfft... and then you wonder why she hates you so much," Emiia snorted while shaking her head with a small smile.

"HeHe..." Jon smiled before he suddenly remembered someone he had forgotten about until now, "Oh! That reminds me, How is our other resident Southerner doing?"

"Who? Oh! You're talking about Sam!" Emily said and continued after he nodded, "To be honest I don't know much about him since, most of the time he's either in the Library reading a book or with Maester Luwin in his tower, either helping him or asking him questions, I think the Old Maester is quite delighted to have some company, so he's should be doing fine for the most part..."

"What do you mean "for the most part" ?"

"Didn't you place some kind of restriction on him before you left him here? You know, about how he needs to spend about half the time that he reads in the library, training in the courtyard..."

"Ah! I did do something that..." Jon said with an enlightened expression, he remembered that when he had seen the ecstatic expression on Sam's face at the sight of Winterfell's Library, he knew that if it was left to him he would spend all his time in there so he had placed that restriction on him to help him with his abysmal body as well as his martial skill, hoping that the lure of books will at least make him try.

"Well, the boy was quite half-hearted and slacked a lot when he first joined the courtyard at least until... Becca caught sight of him during her training, and she was absolutely flabbergasted at seeing him blundering around like that, so she decided to take him under her wing and made sure that his form was correct and he was not just going through the motions..."

"Something like that happened...huh," Jon said with a weird expression, "To be honest... I had just been hoping for him to get into the habit of regularly using his body... so this quite the happy coincidence,"

"Yeah... while I am sure he's quite miserable under her, he's also a lot healthier than before," Emily nodded slightly, "In fact, even though it hasn't been that long, Becca told me that he has gotten quite good with an axe..."

"Is that so..." Jon murmured with narrowed eyes, he was wondering if the boy was already ready to accompany him on his adventure. Because he could definitely use someone, who could read and write and someone who had gotten the basic noble education, for his future plans in the Esoos.

"Oh! No! I completely forgot!" Emilia suddenly exclaimed with a panicked expression, "You need to go to the Lord's Solar, Quickly!"

"Huh? What?"

"Lord Stark asked me to call but it completely skipped my mind because of all your questions," Emily said while hastily pushing him towards the stairs, "Now, quickly go! They are waiting for you,"

'Who's they?" Jon wondered while going towards the stairs leading towards his father's solar.

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