The song of fire and ice - The dragon and the wolf

Farwell to Winterfell

Jon and Daenerys walked into their hall with their twins in their arms, Rhaella walking in front of them. Jon looked up at their table and saw Ned and Sansa sitting there, with their back to them, laughing about something that was on Ned's face. "I'm going to miss you Aunt Sansa" Ned said as he looked back at his plate of food. Sansa smiling down at him. "Will you be here when we return?" He asked as he pushed his food away. He had had enough to eat. "Of course I will" she said as she caressed the side of his face. "I hope you're not gone long. The last time the Starks left Winterfell..." she began then decided to stop. 'He didn't need to know that' she thought to herself. "I hope you're not gone long" she repeated as she too, pushed her plate of food away. Ned looking back at her. "I don't even want to go" he said as he looked back and saw his mother, father and siblings approaching their table. "I love it here" he said as he turned his body to meet his sister. Sansa looking down at him, worried. "Good morning Rhaella" he said as she walked up to him and gave him a hug. "Good morning Ned" she said as she pulled out of their embrace and continued to hug her aunt, Sansa pulling the princess on top of her. "You're getting heavy" she said as she sat her niece in the spot her brother once sat. Ned had stood and was now standing beside the table, waiting for his parents to join them. "Mother, father" he said as he watched them sit at their table, his twin brothers sitting on their laps. "Morning Robb" he said as he walked towards his mother, giving his brother a kiss on the head. "Good morning Rhaegar" he said as he then moved to his father, repeating the process. Both Jon and Daenerys smiling at his ability to tell the twins apart. Ned then took a seat next to his mother and poured himself a drink. "Ned, I was wondering, since you've already eaten, would you like to go out of the castle to find your friend?" He asked as he saw a smile appear on his sons face. Ned nodding at once. "You're right, we are leaving today, and your mother told me that she did something very nice for you last night... so I was wondering, if your aunt Sansa doesn't mind, would you want to go with her to find your friend?" He said as he watched the smile disappear from his face once more, Rhaella giving her father a look of disapproval too. Ned looked at his mother, who smiled and nodded at his fathers request. Ned looking back at his Papa, nodding his head at once. "Yes please" he said as he looked at his aunt. "Would you mind aunt Sansa?" He asked hopefully, Sansa standing at once. "Of course not. Let's go" she said as she held her hand out, smiling as Ned took it. The both of them, walking out of the hall.

"Why doesn't he trust me?" Ned asked as they stepped out of the castle doors, Sansa letting go of his hand, allowing him to walk beside her freely. "I'll bet my father was much younger when his father allowed him to run and play freely in and around this castle" Ned said as he looked around at the Stark and Targaryen sigils flying and hanging around him. "It's not that he doesn't trust you Ned" she said bluntly. "It's everyone else he doesn't trust. You, you are so important Ned. You are a descendant of dragons and wolves. That is rarely seen" she said as she stopped to face her nephew. "I know how important I am" he sighed. He was really sick of people telling him how important he was. "The difference between you and your father Ned is that, he was raised as a bastard" she said blatantly. Ned looking at her curiosity. "What's a bastard?" Ned asked as he watched his aunt take his hand, and guide them to the nearest bench they could sit on. She wondered if she should be the one to tell him this, then realised that this is the only way he would understand the reasoning behind his fathers continued need to protect him. "A bastard is someone that is born into this world, whose parents were unmarried" she said as she watched his face decipher what she had just said. "Do you know who your fathers parents are?" She asked curiously. Ned nodding at once. "Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen" he said confidently. "My mother tells me stories about her brother Rhaegar before we would go to sleep" he said lovingly. "What else did she tell you?" Sansa asked curiously. "She told me that my father was born to Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, during the time of King Roberts rebellion" he said as he looked in front of him, closing his eyes so that he could remember the story better. He kept his eyes closed as he continued to speak. "My fathers mother died when he was born, your father found her and took my Papa as a baby and raised him as his own, here, in Winterfell" he said as he opened his eyes and looked back at his aunt, who was looking back at him, astonished. She could not believe how much he knew. She knew that Jon and Daenerys had decided to inform their children of everything when they decided to have children, but she didn't think that they would take it to this extent. He knew more than they ever did at his age...