Chapter 20: Ch-9 The Second One Part-3
After stretching a bit, I collected my bow and the quiver of arrows before heading out. I passed through the dense foliage of trees before taking the familiar path and arriving at Old Mark's house. The door was locked and there were signs outside showing that the home had been empty for a while.
"They haven't arrived back huh," I sighed before leaving toward Wintertown.
Becca, Emily, and Old mark had all left for WhiteHarbour a while back, along with them went Becca's father and mother. They had all gone to attend the wedding of Becca's older brother, who was a sailor on a merchant ship.
'A Merchant father and Sailor son, what a perfect combination' I thought, 'And they said that the woman Becca's brother is marrying owns a storefront in WhiteHarbour, so almost the whole family works and earns, except for that musclehead, Becca... Sigh, I don't think she's going to ever work on a normal job,'
Leaving the shade of trees I moved on to the well-worn but somewhat clean path leading into Wintertown. With the full advent of summer, Wintertown was back to only hosting its permanent residents along with the occasion travelers and merchants.
While passing through the main street I suddenly saw a congregation of people in the middle of the road, with constant chattering of villagers and someone shouting prices as if auctioning something.
Curious, I went toward the gathering and through the throng of people, when I started hearing the neighing of horses.
What I saw in the middle left me very excited. A small herd of horses, small and big, were tied to some carts in a single line, and the villagers were going around and evaluating the various breeds of horses. A young boy about 12 years old was shouting about the various prices and qualities of horses. The owner was in the corner negotiating with the resident innkeeper who wanted to sell his old horse and buy a new one.
I immediately ran toward the young boy and yelled, "Hey! Hey!" The lad stopped mid-shout and looked toward me, "Did your master get any Foals this time?"
"Yes, we got about...Umm," He looked behind him for a moment before turning back, "...Four young ones this time,"
"Alright, Don't sell them! I am coming back right away," I urged him, already running toward Winterfell.
"Don't take too long," He shouted toward my back and I waved my hand without turning back.
I quickly navigated through the streets of the town before going through the open gate of the Castle and hurrying toward the Great Keep. After rushing up the stairs, I quickly opened my room and deposited my bow, before moving toward Robb's room, but he wasn't inside.
I looked around for quite a while, in the courtyard, the library, and the Maester's Turret but I just couldn't seem to find him.
Ultimately a guard told me where my brother was and I immediately ran toward the empty part of Winterfell and found them outside FirstKeep.
Robb was napping at the patch of grass outside the oldest tower of the Castle while Sansa was sitting on the stairs trying to braid baby Arya's hair.
"Don't Squirm, Arya," Sansa said while Arya just babbled incoherently while playing with the sand in front of her, "And don't put that in your mouth," Sansa admonished while emptying her little sister's hand.
Arya's eyes shot up as she noticed me walking toward them and immediately a gummy smile appeared on her face as she tried to crawl toward me, "Where are you going Arya—Oh hey, Jon," Sansa said while holding Arya back.
I smiled and waved toward them while moving toward Robb. Looking at the innocent face of my brother sleeping, I immediately got bombarded with lots of pranks opportunities.
But alas, I didn't have time for that, so while shaking my head in regret, I took a deep breath and shouted just beside the Sleeping Princess's ears, "WAKE UP!"
"I AM UP M-MOM! I-I am looking after them—Oh...it's you," Robb said while flailing around for a moment before his eyes fully opened and found me, "Did you have to wake me up like that,"
"Of course I did," I said smugly, "Now come on, let's go get Father. Shawn is back here in WinterTown,"
"Shawn Who?" He asked while yawning.
"Shawn—The breeder from Barrowtown," I reminded him while pulling him up, "Don't you remember what Father promised us the last time he was in WinterTown?"
"Oh yes! Let's go quickly," Robb said perking up.
"Can we come too?" Sansa asked when we were leaving, coming behind us while carrying Arya who immediately pushed her hands toward me.
"Alright, Come on then," I said while taking Arya into my arms and all three of us ran toward the Lord's Solar, where Father would most likely be.
Climbing the stairs we found the door closed with a guard standing outside, and the moment the guard spotted us he stepped up and barred us with his hands.
"Lord Stark is busy with the Steward, he asked not to be disturbed," the guard said evenly.
"We need to speak with Father. It's urgent!" Robb said.
"I am sure it is!" the guard replied while rolling his eyes, "But it shall have to wait,"
No matter how Robb tried to dissuade him, the guard didn't budge, so I took drastic measures. I turned my head toward Sansa and winked conspiringly.
She tilted her cutely, a bit confused but I kept on winking while pointing with my finger toward the door, while hiding my hand from the guard, her eyes lit up as she immediately understood and pecked her head like a bird.
I moved Arya in my hands in such a way that Sansa was completely blocked from the guard and while Robb was distracting him, Sansa went behind the guard and immediately opened the door.
"Hey Stop—" By the time the guard noticed it, Sansa had already gone inside and when he turned toward Sansa, both of us also took the opportunity to barge into the Solar while dodging the guard. Spotting Father all four of us siblings started shouting at the same time:
"Father you promised that when Shawn came—" "I just saw him in Wintertown Father. We have to go quick before—" "I wanna come too, Father—" "WaWaWa,"
Lord Stark who was talking to the steward Vayon Poole sitting opposite, just looked at us in exasperation for a moment before taking a deep breath, "Alright SILENCE!" He shouted and all of us stopped except for Arya who kept on babbling.
"I am sorry, Milord," The guard said from the door while bowing, "I tried to stop them but..."
"It's alright, Mike," Lord Stark said while sighing before turning towards his children, "Now what is this about—Not all at the same time! Jon, you tell me,"
"Father, the breeder from last time, Shawn, is back in town and he's got some new foals, and you promised to buy Robb and me our own Horses," I said excitedly.
"Couldn't this wait?" Eddard said while waving his hands toward the book opened before him.
"No, he only has limited stock!" I exclaimed.
"Yes father, Come on, you promised," Robb joined me in persuading him and even Sansa turned her big eyes toward him.
"Alright! Alright! Fine," Eddard said while closing his book, "Vayon we shall go over the books later,"
"Yes, My Lord," The steward said while bowing and collecting his stuff.
"Let's go then," Father said while moving toward us before taking Arya from me into his own hands and leading us out.
We set a quick pace toward the gates where some household guards immediately joined our group. Cutting through the townspeople who bowed and saluted when they recognized the Lord of the Castle and his brood.
The second we approached the crowd still surrounding the horses, Shawn the breeder immediately spotted Lord Stark and came towards us eagerly while leaving the innkeeper who was negotiating with him, behind him.
"Lord Stark," Shawn said while bowing, "What would you like to purchase, Milord? I have some of the best breeds of horses this time, all in the prime of their life,"
"I don't come to buy for myself this time," Lord Stark while waving his free hand toward his children who were already closing in on the horses, "Two of my sons want to look at your Foals,"
"Of Course, Milrod. Follow me," Shawn said while moving toward a section behind where all the adult horses were tied up, "Here are my youngest horses, this brown and red one is my best one, comes from a long line of Warhorses and is sure to grow up to be very strong, and it's very docile too,"
"I want this one, Father," Robb said excitedly while jumping up and down in front of the small horse.
I looked toward the foals but didn't feel that any of them were particularly special, I was moving toward the last horse when I found a small foal sitting down and just looking at everyone curiously, it was as white as snow and actually looked bored, if a horse can convey that emotion.
"Hey," I shouted toward the breeder who immediately turned toward me, "What about this one?"
"Oh, that one I am afraid is somewhat of a defective product," the man said while moving toward me, "It's one of the smartest horse I have ever seen, but alas that also make him the laziest one. It would only do something if he was bribed properly and is prone to using his legs and teeth quite skillfully if someone talks shit about him, I would say he would make a very bad companion,"
"Oh, is that so," I pondered while looking at the beautiful creature in front of me, I don't know what it was but I had a strange feeling it was a special horse.
I closed my eyes instinctively and went inside my mind zone, but instead of approaching the needle tunnel leading toward Frost, I just sent a small spike of a tendril in front of me, in the direction of the horse, and immediately I felt myself touching the surface of the horse's mind before my mind snapped back inside my body. I had never done this before with any animal besides frost.
I opened my eyes and found the horse looking at me with curious eyes as if he had also felt what had happened, the horse slowly stood up and approached me. I just stood there and when he stopped in front of me, I brought my hand up and slowly stroked his face, and he closed his eyes enjoying it before he nudged me softly.
"I'll name you, Pegasus," I whispered and he neighed his approval. I turned toward the breeder with a grin and shouted, "I'll take this one,"
"Are you sure?" he said while looking at the suddenly docile horse skeptically.
"Yes, I am,"
Father approached me with Robb and Sansa following behind, "Did you choose this one, Jon,"
"Yes father," I said with a grin before saying to baby Arya, "Look Arya, he's my horse and his name is Pegasus. I'll take you on a ride when you grow some,"
"Howse," Arya babbled and all of us were astonished and exchanged incredulous looks with each other.
"Nobody mention this to Catelyn," Lord Stark said sternly while looking at all of us before he sighed, "I don't think she could take it if she found out her daughter's first word was 'Horse',"
///
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