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At Winterfell, Ned and Catelyn sat in the seats of honor, while the great hall filled with northern bannermen.
Lord Wyman Manderly had come to Winterfell in person. For a man so heavy he could scarcely ride a horse, the journey alone said plenty about his sincerity.
"Wyman, it does my heart good to see you."
"Hah. Ned, I never knew you were a two-headed wolf."
The two embraced, then entered the hall side by side.
Robb, Sansa, Rickon, Jon. If Bran and Arya returned as well, House Stark would finally be whole again.
After everything they had survived, the bonds between them had only grown stronger.
And once Catelyn learned that Jon was the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar, her guilt toward him deepened even more. She fussed over him so much that Jon barely knew how to respond.
Princess Shireen was pestering Gendry, trying to get him to help her. She wanted to fly on Horus just once, because Gendry had said he had ridden on the great bird's back before.
Tormund was off daydreaming about the woman who still haunted his thoughts, while Tyrion kept muttering beside Jimmy.
"Jimmy, do you know what I feel like right now?"
"No."
"Like a lion surrounded by wolves. Worse, a very small lion. Just look at the way everyone here keeps staring at me. Half of them seem ready to eat me alive."
"Relax. No one's going to bother you while you're with me."
"Yes, yes, that's comforting enough. But I'm more worried that the giant beside you is going to reach for the wrong platter, grab me by mistake, and decide I'm the side dish."
"Enough of that. Interested in serving as Hand to the King of the Free Folk? Or better yet… Hand to the King of the North?"
Tyrion looked up sharply. "Are you joking? The Starks are going to make a Lannister their Hand?"
"I'm serious. You've got the mind for it. Your talent is worth far more than this. You could serve as Hand to the ruler of all Seven Kingdoms, never mind just the North.
If you agree, I'll speak to the old wolf myself. I can make it happen."
Jimmy looked at him steadily.
Tyrion hesitated. "Let me think on it."
Jimmy leaned in slightly. "Then let me sweeten the offer. If you become Hand in the North, I'll do everything I can to persuade the wolves to let go of their hatred.
So long as the Riverlands return to House Tully, House Stark will not raise war against your family."
Tyrion studied him for a long moment.
"Very well. If you can convince the northern lords, I won't object."
…
"My lords," Ned said halfway through the feast, rising with a goblet in hand. "There are two matters I wish to announce today."
The hall quieted at once, and every eye turned toward him.
"The suffering the North has endured began with my imprisonment in King's Landing. For that, I carry deep shame."
He paused before continuing.
"The first matter is this. From this day forward, the North shall be entrusted to my eldest son, Robb Stark. He will carry on the will of House Stark."
Ned raised his voice so the whole hall could hear.
"I swear that there will always be a place for you by the Stark hearth. You will drink at our table. You will eat at our table. I swear, in the names of the old gods and the new, and in the name of House Stark, that your service shall never be repaid with dishonor."
"The King in the North!"
"Stark. Stark. Stark!"
Robb took Ice, the great sword of House Stark, from his father's hands and raised it high.
Ned let the cheers roll on for a moment before speaking again.
"The second matter concerns my bastard son, Jon Snow."
At once, Jon looked up at him, pulse quickening.
"I once told you that if we met again, I would tell you who your mother was."
Ned's voice rang through the hall.
"Today, Jon shall reclaim the name that was his by birth. From this day forward, he will bear his true name."
"Jon Targaryen."
A wave of shock broke over the room.
"What?"
"Shouldn't he be Jon Stark?"
"How can that be?"
Jon himself stood frozen.
What was happening?
Ned rested a hand on his shoulder.
"He is the son of my sister Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen. I brought him back myself from the Tower of Joy."
Then Ned gave him a faint, tired smile.
"Jon… from now on, you may call me Uncle."
Jon still looked completely stunned.
Jimmy laughed. "He's gone blank. A dragon raised among wolves. A lonely little Targaryen at last."
Tyrion gave a faint smile. "Not so lonely, I think."
"Of course not," Jimmy said, thinking of Daenerys. "There are still Targaryens left."
Tyrion, however, was thinking of Jimmy.
If the North could accept one Targaryen, then perhaps it could also accept one Lannister serving as the King in the North's Hand.
House Umber already felt uneasy enough, with the Free Folk settled in the Wolfswood to one side and the wildlings beyond the Wall to the other. Tyrion did not want friction between the Umbers and the Free Folk to drag Jimmy into the middle of it.
It was not a matter of hurt feelings.
It was a matter of Jimmy losing his temper and smashing Last Hearth to pieces.
Jimmy had never been an easy man to reason with.
So House Umber was reassigned to Moat Cailin, where they would guard the passage there. With House Manderly keeping watch on them, they behaved themselves well enough.
What the North needed most now was time to recover.
That was true whether they were preparing for the White Walkers or for the wars still to come.
They needed peace, supplies, and breathing room.
So, following Tyrion's advice, the North sealed off as much news as possible and did everything it could to buy time.
At that moment, Jimmy opened his status panel.
Luo Dagen / Jimmy Halstead
Character Level: 20 (0.08%)
Age: 3
X-Gene: 2
Abilities: Super Regeneration, Wolf Senses, Enhanced Smell, Mastery of Unarmed Combat, Mastery of Claw and Blade Weapons
Secondary Ability: Absorption (Damaged)
Equipment: Memory Adamantium Alloy
Tempered by dragonfire and refined by lightning, attacks now carry the burning effect of dragon venom-fire. Sustained attacks also build a lightning paralysis effect over time.
Temporary Skill: Eye of Insight. Can identify divine envoys and priests.
Godslayer's Hand: Title-equipped ability. Under specific conditions, can kill spiritual-form gods. Limited to the Westeros world.
Incomplete Flame Constitution: Though damaged, it still grants immunity to ordinary fire. Even fourteen-hundred-degree magma can no longer do much harm. A bath in molten rock is no longer impossible. Of course, the hair on your body still has no fire resistance.
Yellow Gem: Not equipped. Level 12.
Weapon Effect: 1 to 22 lightning damage.
Shield Effect: 22% lightning resistance.
Strength: 72
Coordination: 73
Spirit: 75
Available Points: 0
Skill Points: 3
One skill point gained every ten levels. Can be used to develop X-Genes or awaken dormant X-Genes.
…
Jimmy's task was to kill the Night King.
As the Lord of Light had put it, the Night King was the discarded shell of the Great Other. Sooner or later, Jimmy was bound to face both the Great Other and the Three-Eyed Raven.
But the idea that the Lord of Light was helping out of kindness?
Jimmy did not believe that for a second.
If any of those gods had truly meant well, he would never have received that warning telling him to beware the gods.
The points he had saved, the ones that could upgrade his X-Gene at any time, were being reserved for them.
He could not afford to let them know where his limits truly lay.
During this time, Jimmy also went out of his way to avoid the Lord of Light's followers.
Melisandre had never been well liked to begin with, and this time she had not brought Jon back from death. So she was thrown straight into the dungeons beneath Winterfell.
She was not mistreated, but freedom was out of the question.
And that was only because she might still prove useful in the coming war against the White Walkers.
Otherwise, no one would have found it strange if they had simply taken her head.
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