Ned in an instant tore the seal of the letter and unfurled the parchment.
Lord Stark,
I hope the letter finds you in great health. I believe that receiving a letter from me might not have been something that you would have been expecting.
There are a lot of things that I can say in this letter. I also know that there are surely a lot of things that you want to say to me.
But I have written this letter for one purpose. To inform you about something.
I am coming to Westeros. To the North. To Winterfell. I am coming.
Lord Aeos
The expression on Ned's face changed from pure and sheer shock to an expression of delight. His eyes almost lit up and his usually stoic face almost widened up in a smile. Catelyn was quick to pick up on the change in reaction from her husband.
"What does the letter say?" She questioned. "What does he want from you?"
Ned remained silent, reading the letter a few more times. He was not able to believe what was written in it. He was not able to believe that Jon was coming back to Winterfell. He knew that it was going to be a temporary thing. That he would be coming only for a few days.
He also knew that Jon was coming here most likely to ask questions. Questions which he had never answered to Jon. Most likely questions about his mother?
But he was still delighted. When Jon had run away and when Ned learnt of the grand empire that Jon had built, Ned had never expected, imagined that Jon would return someday to Winterfell.
"What does it say?" Catelyn repeated.
Maester Luwin was also looking at Ned with an extremely curious gaze.
"Jon is coming to Winterfell," Ned responded with a deep whisper.
"What?" Catelyn snapped.
She was startled and shocked.
"He is coming to Winterfell?" she questioned.
"Why?" she mumbled instinctively.
"It does not say anything else," Ned answered with a shake of his head. "Most likely, it is nothing but a casual visit. Even if he had run away from Winterfell, he could not deny that Stark blood runs through his veins."
Catelyn remained silent. Jon arrived at Winterfell and her nerves had already shot up. In no world, him returning back to Winterfell could be good news for her. She could never imagine that he was coming with good intentions.
"When is he coming?" Maester Luwin interjected from the sidelines.
"It does not specify a date," Ned remarked. "But I think we will receive more communication about dates."
Luwin nodded his head.
"We must make appropriate preparations," Luwin said. "It is not only Jon who is returning to Winterfell. It is also Lord Aeos who is coming to Winterfell. We must prepare things according to his stature."
Ned nodded his head in response.
.
.
.
[A lot of Days Later]
A fleet of ships had just departed from the port of Myr. It was a fleet of six large ships. And more than five hundred men were riding the ships. It included Lord Aeos, Melisandre, General Slyvia, the one hundred Supreme Shadows, one hundred Dothraki warriors, and other soldiers. Their destination. Westeros. Or more specifically, the port of White Harbor.
Jon had settled everything to run smoothly in his absence. He was taking both General Slyvia and Melisandre, both of his two most trusted people along with him.
But he had already established a chain of command filled with competent people like Samwell Tarly to keep things working. And if an emergency did arise, Rhaenys was obviously not far away to take control of the situation. And to be honest, he was not at all worried about his administration collapsing in the Free Cities.
If he had the slightest of worries, it was about the Dothraki. It had been a little over a month since he had been proclaimed as their prophesied leader. In a very short time, he had introduced certain new rules for the Dothraki as a whole, rules which he had already implemented in his Khalasar.
The Dothraki as a people were not really law-abiding people. And Jon had also not had enough time to establish his unquestioned authority over them.
It was true that the show of strength he had done by defeating eighteen Khals at the same time would have left no question unanswered about his strength and abilities. But there was always a chance of someone ambitious to set out a new path.
"We are finally setting sail for Westeros," Melisandre remarked, gazing at the vast and expansive sea in front of her. "For Winterfell."
Standing next to her on the deck were Jon and General Slyvia, and they too were gazing towards the sea.
"Yes," Jon responded softly. "Winterfell."
"What are you going to talk about with Lord Stark?" Melisandre questioned.
"I do not know," he shrugged. "Maybe I will ask him the same question that I have been asking him for a long time."
"The identity of your mother," Melisandre remarked.
"Yes," he answered. "The identity of my mother."
"Will he tell you?" Slyvia questioned.
Jon shrugged. He knew a lot of things about the world of Game of Thrones. But this was not something he knew. Would Ned have ever told Jon about the identity of his mother? It was one of the biggest what ifs of the entire story.
"If we even think from his perspective," Slyvia said, "then he, most likely, refused to tell you or the world the reality of your identity to keep you safe from the hands of Robert Baratheon. If Robert knew that you were a Targaryen, he would have called for your head."
"But this is no longer a factor," she continued. "You no longer have any danger from Robert Baratheon. Even if he knows that you are a Targaryen, he cannot touch you. You are more than powerful enough to protect yourself."
"Lord Stark has no more reason to keep you deprived of your real identity," she added.
"But will Lord Stark tell Lord Aeos anything?" Melisandre questioned with a curious gaze.
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