Chapter 10 - Weirwood

Waking up early as usual, I went to do my routine training, took washed myself, and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

The Great Hall is the place where we eat and receive guests. The hall outside is covered in gray stone and crammed with Stark house banners, with wide oak and iron doors opening onto the castle courtyard, while a back exit leads to a dimly lit gallery. Inside, it can hold eight long rows of trestle tables, four to either side of the central corridor, and can seat 500 people. There is a raised platform, which is where the Lord of Winterfell and his family stayed, or, guests of high status.

Arriving there I saw my father, sitting at the highest table in the hall, with Lyanna and Benjen beside him, helping themselves to slices of bacon, hard boiled eggs, and two loaves of bread with butter and honey.

"Good morning, father" I spoke.

"Good morning my son, sit with us to eat"

Nodding my head I headed towards the raised dais, greeting people seated at eight adjacent tables.

Giving Lyanna a kiss on the cheek and ruffling Benjen's hair, taking a seat next to Lyanna I started to grab some food.

"Harry, have you seen Maester Walys, he is always the first to arrive, I haven't seen him yet." Asked my father to one of the servants.

"I haven't seen sir, he may be in his quarters yet."

Nodding his head to the servant my father went back to eating.

After eating I went towards the sacred forest, my favorite place in Winterfell, in the years that I have been living in this world, I have accepted the Old Gods with a good heart, even though I know that there is a God outside this universe, Buddha told me one day that nature and animals are divine, so when I worship nature, somehow I will be worshipping the God who gave me the opportunity to be here, that was the conclusion I reached.

Sitting against the dam I started to plan my next steps.

My father didn't allow me to be adopted, my only option left to me is to run away, the only problem is that I am three years old, and to leave here aimlessly and unprepared is stupid.

'Looks like I'll have to wait a few more years, I guess at 6 years old is enough to manage, but I'll have to work on my appearance, a child with white hair and heterochromatic eyes will draw a lot of attention.'

Thinking about what to do, I felt a warmth on my back, getting up from the ground and looking at the weirwood tree I saw that something red began to come out of his sculpted eyes.

A sort of blood-red colored liquid, extending my hands, I slowly approached what I assumed was the tree sap.

When my fingertips touched the liquid, I felt a kind of shock spreading through my whole body, I felt every pore in my body open up, and that's when I realized what it all meant.

Magic

Somehow, the sap made me connect with the magic present in the tree and some surrounding subways.

I remembered my studies, with my professors of magic, botany, alchemy and occultism, they taught me that magic is present all around us, however, some have the ability to sense or even use magic to their advantage.

The sap was basically liquid magic, and thinking about how I could make use of it, that's when I remembered a phrase Lavoisier told me while we were studying chemistry.

"In Nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed"

That is, I could use the sap to write the runes I need, the magic contained in it will not cease to exist, it will still remain, just in another format.

With my new goals set, I ran to the kitchen to get a container that could store the sap.

With the container in hand, I went back to the tree, and took all the secretion that the tree was transmitting through its eyes carved in wood.

Getting a good amount, I placed the bowl containing the sap on the ground and knelt before the tree and murmured.

"Thank you for your blessing Gods, I will make use of your gift, and may I one day spread your faces all over Westeros, as you once had."

After I finished thanking the tree, I went to my room and wrote down on a piece of paper the items I would need for what I was going to do.

Finishing the notes I went towards my father's manor, but I noticed a strange movement happening.

Arriving nearby to see what had happened, I saw my father talking to some guards.

"Didn't you see him leave? Where the hell could the maester have gone? Especially without notifying anyone!" Exclaimed my father.

"We went to the Maester's quarters, but it was locked, so we went out and asked the other servants if they saw Maester, but no one has seen him since dinner" said a guard.

"Take the copy of Maester's door, we will go see what happened." Spoke my father rising from his chair.

"Yes, my lord!" Exclaimed the guards.

"What are you doing here Arth? Unfortunately I am busy at the moment, can we talk later?" Asked my father upon noticing my presence.

Nodding my head, I asked my father.

"Dad, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with the guards, is it true that Maester is missing?" I asked with a sad face.

"No one has seen him since dinner, we are worried about his health, Maester is not one to leave unannounced." Spoke my father.

"Can I help you look for him? I consider Wylas as family." I spoke

"Sure, come on, let's go to Maester's room to see if he is there" my father said going towards Maester's room.

Following him, we arrived at the door of Maester's room, and after a few minutes the guard arrived with the spare key, opening the door of the room, everyone was faced with a body.

The body was of Maester Walys, who lay on his bed, with an expression of struggle, his eyes sunken into his skull, the color of his skin was purple, because of the hours that had passed after his death, his clothes still a little wet, with a glass of water beside his right hand and in his left, lying on the bed, some cards, the room smelled of piss and shit, because after some time of death, his bladder and intestines empty, releasing urine and waste.

The guards upon noticing the dead man, rushed to the body to check if he still remained among the living.

"He is dead my lord." Said the guard.

My father upon noticing the body was surprised, and tried to hide behind him.

"Guard, take Arthur to his room and call the captain of the guard and have someone call the maester of the Cerwyn to come here." My father ordered.