Lord Stark had summoned him to the Godswood at Winterfell early that morning. Right in front of the weirwood tree. Ned stood there, calm as he looked at the face carved into the tree.
The weirwood was gigantic. The second largest in Westeros, only behind the one on the Isle of Faces. The one in Argentstone might surpass it in time, but it was still slightly smaller.
"It looks smaller," said the prince as he walked.
"That's because you've grown quite a bit," Lord Stark said firmly.
Jaehaerys looked around, searching for any animals that might be spying on them. Then he looked directly at the Weirwood; it was likely that the Three-Eyed Raven was watching them. He felt the weight in his hand; he was carrying a jug full of red sap, produced by the weirwood on his lands.
"May I?" Jaehaerys asked, pointing to the jar. "The Weirwood is tainted... is not… itself. This will set it right, back to the old gods," he explained when Ned's face looked lost.
"Tainted?" Eddard asked in a serious voice. He was a pious man, one who lived by the laws of the first men.
"Get away!" cried a small child's voice.
Jaehaerys turned and looked at Bran. The boy looked as if he were about to cry.
"Bran, what are you doing here?" Eddard scolded him.
Jaehaerys felt a sharp pain in his head. It was similar to the pain he had felt when Bloodraven had sealed his memories so long ago. But the pain was quickly dismissed.
"He... he's going to damage the weirwood," Bran said, looking very uncomfortable.
"I'm going to heal it," said the prince. "After that, you won't have that old man wandering around in your head anymore." Bran opened his eyes.
A flock of crows flew toward Jaehaerys.
GRRRAAH!
The dragon soared through the skies and roared. The flock dispersed. Was the fear of the dragon greater than Bloodraven's control? Or was Moonfyre's roar magical? Jaehaerys removed the lid from the jug.
"Jaehaerys," Eddard murmured. "What are they talking about?" Lord Stark said.
"It's a long story," the prince seemed reluctant to speak. "He is the one who contaminated the tree, and, it seems, your son's mind," Jaehaerys summarized, but he didn't wait before tipping the sap into the tree.
"We have the same goal, dragon prince," Bran said, but his voice lacked the fear and anguish of before.
"Do we? "Perhaps, but... do I need you?" asked the prince, looking into the milky eyes of Bran's body. The red sap fell onto the roots.
"Bran!" Eddard rushed to his son's body, which collapsed as soon as the sap touched the roots. "Jaehaerys!" He seemed genuinely angry. "I need an explanation," he demanded.
The prince nodded. He began to prepare his mind. What would he say, and what would he keep out? He didn't know.
"Let's go to your manor, Lord Stark," he said, walking toward them. "Bran is fine, he'll just sleep for a while," he said to reassure him.
It didn't work.
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After the maester examined Bran and determined that he had only fainted and was out of danger, the prince and Lord Stark went to the lord's castle.
Jaehaerys held nothing back. What was the point? Bloodraven was a greenser who lived beyond the wall. The prince wondered, what would the Starks do? Because the greenser was certainly not exactly an enemy of theirs, but of the prince. Maybe they wouldn't care, maybe they would help him against the prince.
"Did he go against the gods?" Ned asked, his brow furrowed.
"He did, he went against them," Jaehaerys replied. "He betrayed them, tainted the trees, and somehow found a way to achieve immortality."
"Immortality?" Eddard asked, the word tasting sour in his mouth. "You say he wanted Bran's body?" Jaehaerys nodded at his question. "It sounds like madness. Absolute madness," he breathed deeply.
"I know, children's stories," said the prince.
"How did you find out?" asked Lord Stark, seeming hesitant between believing him and judging him as if he were mad. Jaehaerys was a Targaryen; it wouldn't take much to convince him of the latter.
"In the GodsEye." Jaehaerys shrugged. Eddard nodded.
"What is Bloodraven's goal... that nickname, it's like Brynden Rivers'," Eddard realized.
"It is. Brynden Rivers, my bastard ancestor, is the current vessel of the Three-Eyed Raven," Jaehaerys explained. "His goal... initially is to fight the Others." Upon hearing that, Ned went for a jug of beer.
"The Others," he whispered. "I have beheaded two men who claimed to have seen them, men from the group lost in the north of the wall," he said as he took a bitter sip.
"They exist. They never left. The wall is there; it is the last defense against them. I wonder if it will hold," the prince said softly.
"Is that why you're sending resources?" Ned asked, and Jaehaerys answered, nodding. "You could have told me before," he said.
"And you would have believed me. Even now, I can see how you doubt, how your eyes look at me as if I've gone crazy." The prince replied. "Do you see me, Ned?" he asked. "Or do you see..." They were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"We have found a deserter from the night's watch, Lord Stark," said a man in armor.
"I will judge him. I need a moment," the guard withdrew.
There was a tense silence in the room. Jaehaerys sighed heavily. He had said too much. Perhaps Ned was looking at him as if he were a fool now, or had begun to doubt him. He had mentioned the White Walkers without proof.
"I'm sorry," the words came from Lord Eddard's mouth.
"What?" The apology could not enter the prince's head.
"I took out my frustrations with your family on you," Eddard said, uncomfortable. "You were a child, but I always saw the shadow of Rhaegar and Aerys behind you," he admitted, seeming ashamed of it. "Now, now, I can see you, Jaehaerys. You have become a better man than either of them. Even though I wasn't there to raise you, even though it was my duty," Jaehaerys clenched his jaw, not knowing how to respond.
"My childhood wasn't bad. Just like a spoiled prince. There's nothing to apologize for," he got up and walked to the door.
"They tore you from your mother's bosom and sent you here. To the north, with no family, no familiar faces. To be raised by a man who couldn't treat you as his own son," Eddard said, also getting up.
"You weren't obligated to do so. I know what happened in the war. I doubt you could see the son of the man who destroyed my family as your own," the prince said, glancing sideways at Lord Stark.
"Even so... it wasn't the right thing to do. Jon Arryn was a father to me, even though he shouldn't have been. Different circumstances, yes, but I should have stuck to his teachings," said Lord Eddard. "I'm not going to lie and say I'm not skeptical of what you're telling me. But I'm not blind either. I've seen the dragon, and you'll show me magic. Isn't that so?" Eddard asked him.
Jaehaerys did not say that the increase in harvests would be achieved through magic, so he looked at him a little surprised.
"If you need the purified weirwood, you will probably ask the old gods to bless the crops. I will not ask you for the method, nor will I divulge anything about the magic, although the kingdom is capable of drawing those conclusions for itself," he added at the end, to allay the prince's concerns.
"You are a man of faith," said the prince, neither denying nor affirming anything.
"To the old gods, I always have been. In the raid beyond the wall, I will make sure that eyes are kept open," he told the prince. "I will trust that the harvests can sustain the north if necessary," he said to Jaehaerys, and the prince nodded.
"Good," the prince nodded quickly. "May I ask something?" he asked, and after Lord Eddard nodded, the prince continued, "The deserter, I want to judge him myself," he said, looking at his hand.
"You follow the way of the old gods," Eddard looked him in the eye. "Then pass your judgment," he said.