The Silent Wolf

Chapter 2

It was a jarring experience being an infant again, not that I remembered my first time being one.

It was hard to get my body to cooperate with my thoughts, which I suppose was a normal thing considering what I was. My body was still developing, getting used to the world around me and my thoughts. Though it was not like I tried to push my body to develop faster, trying to move how I wanted or trying to speak. So far the most I could do was fling my arms and legs around, which was a funny sight for the man and woman who were my parents.

Speaking of my parents, they were the Lord and Lady of the Castle I lived in. Yes, I was living in a castle, I was shocked when I realized it. But then again, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, who had gone through some bizarre experiences before being reborn.

Thanks to whatever it was that sent me here, I had certain memories. Some of these memories were odd in the sense that the same scenario had a few sets of memories, each one consisting of the same people with the same outcomes but with different details, like the same situation but unfolding in different worlds. But one thing that remained constant in all of those memories was which family I was born into.

In this world, there was only one family that carried the name Stark, and there was only one Eddard born into that family. I was Eddard Stark, affectionately called Ned in the future by those that would know me, son of Lord Rickard Stark and Lady Lyarra Stark of Winterfell. I had an older brother named Brandon who was a year older than I was, making me the second son. I knew a lot more about myself, Eddard Stark, including how he died.

The other Eddard Stark, as I called him in my head, was an honourable man who lived his life abiding by his code of morality and honour. But it had also cost him his life. I could see multiple ways where he could have survived his death and recuperated and garnered support before going against his enemies. I did not feel inclined to make the same mistake.

When I thought about those mistakes, I saw many other avenues where I could intervene, and manipulate events where I wouldn't get torn apart. I could save the lives of people who were precious to Eddard, I could potentially make a war end sooner or stop it from happening altogether if I played my cards right. I did not want to fight in a war, so I found myself pondering ways to avoid the coming war. Pondering was what I mostly did because I was a baby and I had literally nothing else to do.

On the off chance that I had something to do, it was either to go out with my mother or with my father. My mother Lyarra Stark was a kind woman underneath her usually stony appearance. She cared for the people that served her, liked to go out on walks in the castle with me in her arms and tell me all sorts of stories about our ancestors. She did not seem to mind telling me stories that children my age should not be hearing.

With my father, it was always the Godswood. He would take me and my brother there, sit under the Weirwood heart tree and just speak about what it meant to be a Stark, or of the glory our house had. Sometimes he would just take us there and sit in silence. I didn't mind that. The silence of the Godswood was calming to me, always made me feel like I was home. My brother on the other hand did not appreciate sitting down and doing nothing for too long.

Brandon was a year older than me and had just learned how to walk by the time I was born. He would insist on coming to see me in my nursery and just stare with a smile. He would try to talk but he was only a year old, the most he could do was say 'Ned', which was weird because nobody else called me that for him to pick up on it. Mostly he preferred to have his playtime in my room, and insist that I be included in them as well. The nurses taking care of him or Mother did not let me join him of course. I was still an infant after all.

Most of my days were spent in my crib, hatching plots for the future, feeding, sleeping, and shitting in my nappies. It felt utterly disgusting doing the last one and extremely humiliating when someone came and clean me up after.

But all this free time laying around did give me ample time to think, to plot and make contingencies should those plots start getting undone. It was a lot of thinking and more often than not I would end up getting a headache. I was an infant, and like any infant who felt pain, or fear, or got startled, or tasted something sour, I would bawl my eyes out and then be drifting off to sleep when someone came to calm me down. Curse the emotional default setting of an infant.

But I did still get the opportunity to think freely. I was not allowing myself to die by being too honourable in a world where honourable men were chewed and spit out. There would be certain traits of the other Eddard that I would embrace, like his kindness and coldness towards injustice. But my sense of honour would be a lot different, more flexible to take in the circumstances. Basically, I would not be judging too quickly and end up getting bit in the ass.

Outside of those thoughts, I planned on saving as much of my family as possible. I would save my stern father who would lose his life trying to save his son, I would save my brother Brandon who would get overwhelmed by his hot-bloodedness and make a dumb move. I would protect the two little ones that were yet to be even a thought in my father's and mother's minds. Or maybe they had already thought about more children. Regardless of whether they have or not, I would protect them and make sure they would die or be miserable for the rest of their lives.

I had many plots in my head, but not all of those I could do on my own. Some if not most of those plots would require another set of hands to work on. My father for example would need to be on my side. And I knew just how to reach out to him and have him where I want him. All I had to do now was to wait for the right time. For now, I would be the infant I was, pushing my body to develop faster. But in a few years' time, my plans will be in motion.