After the meal, I was surrounded by the minstrels and they asked to keep the sheet music and also asked if I had anything else. I had to laugh and promised to make up something over the next few days for them before Sansa's nameday. They left the room with everyone else and talked excitedly about it.

Maester Luwin walked over to me and nodded at Ned Stark, letting me know the raven actually was about me, so I nodded and followed the man as Ned left the Great Hall and went to his office. The three of us went inside and Luwin closed the door. I pointed at the corner of the room and Luwin saw the tall stool that hadn't been there before we entered. He picked it up and placed it in the middle of the room for me.

I shook my head and motioned for him to sit instead, because it was at just the right height for him to perch on it and ease the strain on his old bones without having to lift his feet from the floor. The old man sighed with a smile as he sat and then he gave me a sad look.

“A raven from the citadel arrived earlier today.” Ned said and took out a small roll of parchment from a pocket. “It's both good news and bad news.”

I glanced at Luwin and the man looked conflicted, because he was both happy and sad about it. “Is it a request to send me there under escort or to send someone to retrieve me to protect me?”

“Yes.” Ned said and handed it to me.

I knew it was a test, because I was sure that the notes sent between Maesters was in code. They wanted to know if I could read everything put in front of me and not just Old Valarian writing. I unrolled the note and raised my eyebrows at it, turned it slightly and tilted my head, and blinked my eyes at it.

“What does it say?” I asked and flipped it around to be upside down. “This doesn't look like normal writing.”

Both Luwin and Ned visibly relaxed, confirming my guess that it was a test. Funnily enough, I actually could read it easily. Coded or not, it didn't impair my ability to decipher it and read what it said. I wasn't going to tell them that, though.

“Both Maester Luwin and yourself have been requested to attend to a Council of Maesters in the Citadel in Old Town.” Ned said and he didn't sound happy about it. “Appropriate funds will be brought along to the exchange point at the Crossroads Inn, the halfway point between Winterfell and Old Town.”

“The halfway point?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes, our people will bring you halfway, exchange you and Maester Luwin for the funds, which ensures we can't just keep the money and not send you, and they will take over your safety and bring you the rest of the way to the meeting.”

I knew the blatant distrust grated on Ned's honor like cheese on a cheese grater. “I assume they didn't say how long this meeting will be for?” I asked and handed the note to Maester Luwin.

“No, they did not.” Ned answered.

I stood there and neither man said anything else. I gave Ned a look and then looked at Maester Luwin. “Well? When are we supposed to leave?”

The old man sighed. “With all due haste, since the council is meeting in a month.”

I frowned at that. “I'd say that's impossible, since the Inn is near Kings Landing. It takes nearly three weeks to a month to get there from here, assuming the carriage doesn't suffer too many broken wheels and we only stop along the way for supper and to sleep each night.”

“They requested our fastest horses and funds to replace them will be included.” Ned said.

“I didn't hear the word carriage.” I pointed out.

“That's because a carriage will be too slow, even if we had replacement horses brought along.” Luwin said. “Burden or not, it will be a hard ride, even with fresh horses.”

I looked from him to Ned and back to the old man. “We're going to race the horses to exhaustion for no reason?”

Both Luwin and Ned looked sad.

“Then I refuse to attend their important meeting.” I said and both of them sucked in sharp breaths. “I'll still go to the citadel as requested, only we'll travel at a normal pace and in comfort. We can also sleep in the carriage and rotate the drivers to keep going and we won't have to stop at night.”

Luwin looked shocked and Ned looked thoughtful.

“If you can manage that, and bring a few extra wheels and two spare horses, since even the Kingsroad is rough along the way, you can make the journey in just over two weeks.” Ned said, doing the calculations for travel time in his head. “If we send a raven ahead, fresh horses can be waiting at the Crossroads Inn and the changeover can happen at the same time.”

Luwin smiled and nodded. “If we have our escort coming the other way do the same thing, only with just horses, we can met them at the inn and can leave right away. With luck, we can arrive at the citadel only a day or two late, which will prove we did try to make the ridiculous deadline as best as we could.”

Ned nodded as well. “I'll send word to the stables to have the carriage prepared for tomorrow afternoon, as that's the latest we can allow anyone to set out to travel along the Kingsroad. I'll leave it to the stable master to decide the drivers and if the second best horses he has are good enough for such a long journey.”

Luwin chuckled. “Yes, we did try to get the best studs and they were unavailable.”

Ned smiled briefly and looked at me. “Jon, will you be ready by then?”

I nodded. “I'll finish helping the blacksmith well before noon.” I said and then sighed. “I do have to cancel my brief trip with Torrhen tomorrow afternoon... or modify it slightly. He can still come with us to look at the farms down that way and can return here afterwards.”

Ned gave me an odd look and then nodded. “You can inform him in the morning.”

I bowed slightly and nodded at Luwin, then left the office. The trip was going to mess up a few of my plans and also give me a very good opportunity. I left the main building and everyone that saw me waved, said hello, or gave me a particular look that would mean something different if I was older.At least, I hoped so.

I made my way to the godswood and even the man that was following me backed off and let me enter without bothering me. I went right to the heart tree and cast a notice-me-not charm before I knelt on one knee.

“I came early because I have to leave for the south. There are no weirwood trees down there, that I know of...” I paused when I felt a slight fluctuation in the presence. “...wait, there are?”

There was no other ndication, so I closed my eyes and let my clairvoyance power out once more and looked specifically for a heart tree at the bottom end of Westeros.

It took me a few minutes before an image of a huge tree, that looked like three large weirwood trees twisted together, and they were in Highgarden, the ruling place for the Reach. After another few moments, a second large tree was seen in Old Town, near the Citadel.

“Well, alright then. I won't be as out of touch as I thought.” I said and stood. Instead of leaving, I walked around the huge tree with a face on it and tried to imagine how the Children of the Forest travelled through the woods.

I discarded that line of thinking and found a good spot for what I needed. I had to use some earth moving powers and a few spells to untangle some of the other tree's roots to make enough room. Once I had a circular area big enough, I pulled out a set of transfigured stones that recreated a teleportation circle I used in Danmachi.

I set them in the proper order and set the location as 'Winterfell', then merged the pieces together to form a complete circle and poured magic into it. There was a clap of thunder and I felt something poke me. It wasn't painful, though. It was almost searching and I let my magic kind of grip it briefly, like a hug, and let it go.

No sooner had I let it go and the circle finished activating as the first node in many to come, the tree closest to the circle seemed to flow like water and the same small being slid out of it. She gave me very wide eyes when her feet touched the circular stone and she could feel how much magic was in it.

“I'll be making a few along the way if I can get away from my escort. If not, then I'll wait until I reach Old Town and I'll make another big one like this one.” I told her and she shivered. I assumed she knew what that would mean for the world if people that knew about it could travel so far instantly, like she did through certain forests.

When I held a hand out to her, she shied away from me and stepped off of the stone. She frowned slightly and looked down at it, then touched it with only a clawed toe. She blinked her eyes at it and looked back at me.

“I was only going to key you into the magic.” I said and dropped my hand. “Maybe when I make the other one and come back, you'll accept the offer.”

She didn't say anything and I waved a hand over the teleportation circle. It was covered in fake leaves and the whole thing was completely hidden from sight. Even if someone stumbled across it, and no one should, they wouldn't see anything by an odd circular clearing and nothing else.

“I'll see you again in a month.” I said and walked back around the heart tree. I felt her presence inside the tree's presence, right up until I stepped far enough away from the tree to not feel it or her anymore. I knew she was still there, though. “I would have given more if you asked.”

The soft huff of air made me chuckle and I felt a nut be thrown at me. I turned and caught it, smiled at the shadow at the base of the weirwood tree, and I crushed the nut's shell with one hand. I picked through the broken pieces for the nut and ate it, then tossed the sheel pieces at the base of the closest tree.

“The gift returned in full.” I said, in case she thought I was holding the handful of blood I gave her against her or something. I waved and walked back towards the main building, because I had a little girl I needed to apologize to and to promise I would be back to visit as soon as I could.

*

“Why can't I stop thinking about him?” Sansa asked her best friend as they lay in bed and cuddled.

“Because everyone else is.” Jeyne said. “If no one said anything, no one would remind you of him.”

Sansa sighed and pet her friend's hair. It was surprisingly soothing, both for her and her friend. Jeyne didn't complain about it, anyway.

“Where did he find that gold thing?” Jeyne asked.

“It's called a violin.” Sansa said and her fingers combed the other girl's hair. “I've never seen one that looked like that.”

“It was so pretty.” Jeyne said. “And shiny. Like... like...”

“Like a golden dragon coin.” Sansa suddenly said and she caught her breath. She had only seen one in passing, when her father paid a ship's purser for every bag of oats he had in his hold. “There's no way...”

“What?” Jeyne asked.

“N-nothing.” Sansa said and started petting her hair again. She knew it wasn't possible to make gold coins into something like that. It wasn't possible, or so she thought, then her mind went to Jon spending so much time at the blacksmith's every morning that he didn't have lessons.

Maybe it was possible to melt them... but... where would he find the coins to melt? Even her father only had a couple handfuls of the large gold ones.

*

Ned had already checked his coin chest and none of the coins were missing. He had counted them before Jon's visit and again after he had heard about the things Jon bought from the blacksmith and the stables. He wasn't going to ask where he found the money, though. If he stole it, he didn't want to know. If he earned it, he didn't want to know what Jon was doing to earn so much.

*

Catelyn left the rooms where the seamstresses of Winterfell worked and she felt frustrated. They had said the work on Jon's outfit was top grade and that they would have trouble copying it without a lot of time and practice. The cloth was also superb and nothing they had access to could match it.

Where had the boy gotten his clothes? Arya's dresses? And those boots? Catelyn asked herself as she entered her room and went through the motions to go to bed without thinking about them. Her mind was too occupied with all the things the bastard had done. The fact that he was no longer considered a bastard by everyone in Winterfell, didn't matter to her.

Catelyn climbed into bed and all she could think about was that the keep would finally settle down and go back to normal, now that Jon had been sent for from the citadel. With luck, they'll find him smart enough to be inducted and she would never have to see the little bastard again. There were just too many things wrong with the boy for her to be comfortable having him around her children.

*

Robb Stark lay in bed and he wondered why he was pretty much ignored by everyone. At the last meal, no one looked at him, not even the serving girl he thanked for delivering the food. The only acknowledgement he received was from Jon and that was a conflicting feeling, especially with the way his lady mother treated him.

They should have grown up as best friends, half-brother or not, except Catelyn made sure they were never left alone long enough for anything but polite exchanges. It was frustrating, because they were nearly the same age and only a few months apart, so they had a lot in common. Well, they should have, only it was always their differences that his mother always pointed out.

But, since he was leaving on the morrow, it didn't really matter what Jon had been doing for the last week to surprise everyone. The instrument playing was the biggest thing, to be sure. He made a song that the people loved and everyone knew his name and called him by it.

No, he wasn't jealous. No, he wasn't. He wasn't. Robb let out a sigh and admitted that he was jealous. His father's bastard was better known throughout the keep and the surrounding lands than he was. If they had been close friends like they should have been, he could have been right there at Jon's side as he basked in the fame he was going through. He might have been involved from the start, too!

Robb rolled over in his bed and resolved to do better as the future Lord of Winterfell. He would reach out to the smallfolk and talk to them, maybe see if there was anything he could do for them, and perhaps offer to help do a chore or two and make himself look better in their eyes.

It was unfortunate that the future lord thought that this was the right thing to do to earn the people's respect. It wasn't. Jon wasn't doing things to earn their favor. He was only doing what he thought was needed to help and not to gain anything from anyone, let alone their respect. That was not why you helped someone. Hopefully, Robb would learn the truth in time and would become a better lord.

*

Arya felt like her heart was breaking as a very sad Jon told her about having to leave much sooner than he was supposed to. His promise to return as soon as he could, sounded hollow to her ears. He was leaving and she wouldn't be seeing him again for at least a month. A whole month! That was four lessons with Maester Luwin! And he was leaving, too! Who was she going to have lessons with?

Tears came to Arya's eyes when she realized she would have more lessons with her lady mother. She didn't want to act all stuffy and stiff and like a statue when all she wanted was to run around and play and have fun and she didn't want to be a lady! At all! She didn't like how her mother or sister acted! Why did she have to be like them? She didn't look like them at all!

Jon saw his words were having the opposite effect of calming the upset girl down and he had to do the one thing he didn't think he had to do in front of anyone. He sat back and clapped his hands together, held them closed, and created a plushie of himself. He then opened his hands and made the thing grow as he spread his hands and Arya instantly stopped crying and stared at it.

“This is for you.” Jon said and stopped when it was as big as she was.

Arya squealed loudly and grabbed onto it and hugged it, like a body pillow, and tears came to her eyes for a different reason. She forgave him for leaving and would hide his replacement, so no one but her knew that he had literally made it for her from nothing.

“Try to pretend to be good and I will be back to visit. I've put something in the godswood to let me com back as many times as I want, as long as I make another somewhere else.” Jon explained.

Arya wasn't really listening. She had a Jon in her arms and he was just as cuddle-worthy as the real one, only it wasn't as warm. As if he knew what she was thinking, Jon reached over the poked the plush Jon on the head and it glowed slightly, then it was as warm as the real one and Arya let out a satisfied and happy sound as she laid down on her bed and hugged her replacement Jon as tightly as she could.

“Goodnight, little wolf.” Jon whispered and kissed her forehead and tucked her in.

Arya hummed and closed her eyes, her little heart calmed down, and her thoughts were all about how Jon was the best thing in the world. She loved him and would always love him no matter what, even if he had to leave her behind.

When Jon went out the window, Arya couldn't help but wonder if he really did have to leave her behind. They were taking a carriage, the large family one, and there was a lot of room inside and out for luggage. If they were taking feed along for the horses, they might not notice an extra burlap bag added to the pile.

Arya's smile would have lit up the room if she hadn't been hiding it under the blanket and had it pressed against the plushie Jon's lips like she had seen her mother do to their father. She blushed when she realized that and pulled away briefly, then she shrugged and decided she didn't mind it and pressed her face right back against the fake Jon's and let his warmth comfort her as she drifted off to sleep.