Chapter 1

 Bastards grow up much faster - a truth widely known in the lands of Westeros. So the hero of our story could not escape this fate either. One of little Jon Snow's first memories was not the happiest moment of his childhood. The gray-eyed two-year-old boy stretches his tiny palms in the direction of his father's wife and utters: "Mama!".

 What did he expect? That Lady Stark would take him in her arms as she had taken her brother, praise him, and stroke his head. Instead, all he saw was the woman's face twisted with anger, her lips drawn back into a thin line and her eyes flashing with ill-concealed anger. The woman hissed something under her breath and turned and walked away. John could only stare, first at her and then at the sympathetic maids whispering quietly around the corner.

 No one noticed that it was the first time the boy had spoken a word clearly, for up to that point he had been mostly silent and not eager to participate in conversations of any kind. Maester Luwin claimed that the boy was perfectly healthy and would speak sooner or later anyway, while the septon claimed that the child was punished by the gods, as befitted the fruit of sin. It was probably best if the boy continued to remain silent for the time being.

This memory was not the very first, but it was the one that lodged itself particularly firmly in his mind, the one day he would never forget and could never eradicate.

 The boy soon learned that he was a bastard, and by extension, he learned the meaning of the word as well. A bastard has to notice everything: all the looks directed at him, all the ulterior motives and truths in people's eyes. To be safe, it was necessary to always remain observant and diplomatic. A bastard would not be grieved over much, his life was not that valuable or important, even if it was the bastard of the Guardian of the North. As it turned out, he had never received a warm glance from his father's wife, nor was he likely to.

 Against all accepted traditions and rules, little Jon grew up and was raised with his legitimate brother, and soon with the rest of his father's legitimate children. Robb became his best and closest friend, they spent a lot of time together playing or studying, which did not please Lady Stark at all.

 When Snow was four years old, he had his first serious quarrel with his brother. They were playing ancient heroes from the tales. Jon identified himself:

 - I am Theon Stark, nicknamed the Hungry Wolf - he was one of the Kings of Winter - to which he received a reply from his brother:

 - You are not a Stark and will never be a Stark, as you are a bastard, Jon.

 Snow wouldn't have paid attention to this statement if it hadn't been delivered in a deliberately cautionary tone. Robb was clearly imitating someone when he voiced his thought. Who, exactly, was not hard to guess.

 Jon was angry; he hadn't expected his brother to betray him, and he couldn't take it any other way than betrayal. He jumped on his brother and beat him badly. Despite the difference in age, however slight, Jon was much stronger than his brother physically, and to everyone's surprise he was not hurt in the fight, and Robb clearly did not want to be beaten. Lady Catelyn demanded that the bastard be sent away that evening, for he clearly intended to kill his brother.

 Lord Stark only sighed heavily when he heard from Jon the reason for the quarrel. There was wolf blood in the boy, it was clearly visible, just like in Lyanna or Brandon. Ned didn't think much of the fight, he was glad Jon was so much like Lord Stark's long lost brother and sister, but he was still being punished.

 Jon realized one thing that day: his father's wife fears and dreads him, as he resembles Stark more than all the children she gave her husband. This annoyed Lady Catelyn greatly, and she would never forget to remind her children that they were better than a bastard. At the very least only because they were born into the marriage.

 Jon's looks played a cruel joke on him once, well, or good, it depends on which way you look at it. Lord Glover was visiting Winterfell with his lady wife and children, and when he saw Jon, he remarked that he looked a lot like his father and gave him a gift, which, as it soon turned out, was meant for Robb.

 Lady Stark was deeply offended by the fact that the bastard and the legitimate heir to Winterfell had been confused. She spoke to Lord Glover in a polite but emphatically cold manner. Lord Glover wanted to say that it wouldn't have happened if she'd been able to give birth to a Stark instead of two Tullys, but he didn't dare insult his suzerain's wife. The Northerners did not much approve of Ned's marriage to a Southerner. The same embarrassment happened a couple more times, only with other lords. Maybe they also mixed up the boys, maybe they just wanted to annoy the southern lady who did not respect the old gods.

 After the quarrel, Jon and his brother didn't speak for nearly a month, but they soon reconciled. Robb was not interested in the company of a year-old Sansa, and the servants' children behaved with him carefully and politely, without the directness that was in communication with Snow. As it turned out, Snow spent a lot of time in the company of a raven found in the woods. It was probably weak and had been thrown out of the nest, but somehow the boy had managed to get it out. Meister Lewin noted that the bird was perfectly healthy. The bird was tame and calmly obeyed the boy's commands.

 - John, why didn't you ask your father for permission to keep the bird? - Robb asked him.

 - There was no need. The people in the castle don't care what the bastard does, as long as he doesn't bother them, and I don't bother them.

 At some point Jon realized that he would never get a noble lady wife or a rich inheritance, be it castle or gold. Lady Catelyn hates him, and that means he won't be legitimized. But at least he's not bound by rules or obligations like Robb. He's a common bastard and therefore less demanded and more allowed. He clearly had no intention of missing out on anything.

 Soon the boys' training began. As befits noble offspring, they were taught literacy, horseback riding, swordfighting, and everything else. As soon as John learned to read, he never left the library. He was especially interested in everything he could learn about dragons and religion, geography and military craft. He had even argued with his father that dragons could not breed themselves, which he had heard a lot of proven facts and then grudgingly agreed to. He never explained why he came to that conclusion.

 The boy seemed to be good at everything he took on, regardless of direction. He was good at horseback riding, sword fighting, archery, and the exact sciences. This, too, had an effect on the boy. Snow quickly learned to become inferior to his brother when practicing with weapons, if only for as long as their parents were watching. That the bastard might have turned out better spoiled Lady Stark's mood and thus the servants' attitude towards the boy on days like this. Be it severely over-salted food, little wood to stoke the room, or clothes not washed and sewn by the servants.

 Bastards grow up early and the boy was soon taking care of his own clothes, chopping his own firewood and sneaking into the kitchen when he was hungry. It is quite easy for a child to be inconspicuous, especially if he is quiet. He too "bit" Lady Catelyn back, but what could a five year old do? Well, like call Catelyn Rove Catelyn Rove during lessons simply because his father's wife is annoyed by it.

 John didn't need to be on the lookout all the time, and he devoted his time to self-improvement, whether it was reading, practicing, or whatever. He had plenty of free time.

 As the years passed, the boy grew. Half a head taller than Robb, thin, with dark brown, almost black hair, he was the most like him of all Lord Stark's children. Jon was asked to help the castle blacksmith with his hard work. The boy turned out to be a wizard at blacksmithing. For his age, of course. He had no trouble forging nails, horseshoes, arrowheads and bolts, and some tools. Working in the forge hardened an already strong boy.

 Jon's relationship with his sister remained warm, but only until Sansa was old enough to understand the meaning of the word "bastard," when she copied her mother's behavior. The loss of her company did not upset Jon much, though it was fun to tease and frighten Sansa. One day, after old Nan's tales of the White Walkers and the Long Night, Robb sprinkled flour on his brother at Jon's request. That day, a weeping Sansa burst into Lord Stark's solarium, claiming to have seen the Other in the crypt. "The Other" was discovered right there, in the company of her brother, they were still laughing and speculating about who else they could scare. John was punished again.

***

 Dovakin had once made a bet with his immortal companion about where his soul would go when he died. There were many contenders, and it is likely that each new one did not even realize that he was not the first in line.

 Would his soul go to protect the Twilight Tomb, fulfilling his vow to Nocturnal, or would it go to Hirsin's hunting grounds, even though Dovakin had been cured of lycanthropy? Could it be that Hermeus Mora's slave will spend the rest of eternity in his Oblivion plan? Or will the devotee of Namira's cult fall to her? Will he make it to Sovngarde as a valiant hero and Forerunner of the Companions?

 By the end of his life's journey, the dragonborn had reached Talos's level of enlightenment and had become almost a god, maybe he would end up as a nobody. Alas, it would be Serana who would find out if he would become the tenth deity, or if he would be replaced by Talos, or forgotten as an ancient legend. The dragonborn thought that Hermeus More would have to negotiate with Akatosh for the fate of his soul. In theory, it was Father Time who should control the fate of a man with the soul and blood of a dragon, who had given a part of himself to almost all Daedra princes.

 To Dovakin's surprise, after his death, his soul traveled beyond Nirn and traveled far away, entering the body of a newborn baby and merging with his soul. Perhaps the gods decided to play a joke on him and sent him to another world that would no doubt need a chosen one.

 Now he was in a new world, born a bastard of the High King of the Northern Kingdom. This was different from his past life where he grew up as an orphan in the Imperial City, although his appearance remained almost the same, he was still born under the constellation of Lord, which grants him protection from magical and physical effects. The only difference was that he wasn't Bretonian in this world, he knew that for sure, but what he was, he wasn't entirely sure anymore. The name was almost the same too, "John" instead of "Jonathan", though he didn't know anything about the meaning of names in this world either. Maybe they were the same name.

 He couldn't remember his mother, only the vaguely familiar silhouette of his father and his strong, yet warm and trembling hands. The first thing he had to do was to figure out what his purpose was in this world. Unfortunately, he still had a long time to grow and learn before he could handle a dragon.

Hi! Join my Patreon, there are many additional chapters here: patreon.com/fanfiction_TV