16 chapter 16 : I couldn't intervene

Very early in the morning, they took the horses and weapons to go hunting under the direction of Jon armed with his bow and arrows made only of dragon steel.

 He asked everyone to leave the horses because they had found a large black mutant elk and Isolated.

He was big and even bigger than their horses except Shadow.

 Jon wanted them to observe him before showing them how they hunt him in the Night's Watch but a certain boy wanted to prove to his father that he also had courage.

 Jon: Watch this beast carefully, we must always approach against the wind to-(interrupted)

 "Nonsense ! Look at me father…" Joffrey as if to impress his father the king took his crossbow to start galloping clumsily towards the elk.

 Tywin: That stupid kid!

 Robert: GET BACK HERE BOY!

 The giant elk quickly spotted him and began charging towards him as Sandor caught up with Joffrey on his horse who was already beginning to tremble in terror at the beast.

 The stupid prince fired a crossbow bolt at the Elk but the point had barely penetrated the hide of the great beast already in front of them and ready to crash into them but before contact, Sandor threw Joffrey from his horse, saving the life of kid.

 *KBLAMM*

 With a blow from the powerful antlers of this gigantic beast, Joffrey's horse, Sandor's horse and Sandor himself were sent flying several meters and this power terrified everyone, it was totally unthinkable. Two horses !?

 The elk made an angry sound as Joffrey in front of him was on his knees crying in fear at the towering monster who raised his hooves to try to trample the child when suddenly two completely black arrows penetrated his skull with the ease of a knife through butter.

 The giant elk immediately fell dead near Joffrey while not far away, Jon was in shooting position with his bow brought back by his raven from Nightfort.

 He calmly approached Joffrey as the king and the other lords arrived as well. Joffrey slowly raised his head towards Jon to look at him, he had urinated in his clothes and profusely.

 Joffrey: I...I...

 *SLAP*

 Jon gave him a hard slap on the cheek before grabbing him.

 Jon: DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ALMOST CAUSED AND THE CONSEQUENCES?! I should knock out your front teeth, stupid prince.

Jon was genuinely annoyed, if the crown prince of the kingdom died on the lands of the Night's Watch it would certainly have generated unnecessary problems. 

 "Let me...let me correct this stupid child myself..." Robert said angrily before starting to give him a series of slaps and scold him in front of Tywin who looked at his grandson like a waste .

 "Clegane absolutely needs to see a maester right away..." Tyrion said with concern after seeing Sandor who had a compound fracture in his thigh and Jon called his own horse, lifted Sandor off the ground as if he weighed nothing at all to load him on his horse before removing his arrows from the head of the elk.

 Jon: Lord Stark will take you to Nightfort where I will wait for you, leave the game here, there is no shortage of meat at Nightfort .

 "Let me come with you..." Tyrion asked and he was placed on his horse before heading to Nightfort where Jon left Sandor in the care and then sent men to meet the king as well as the other lords who had packed up camp and and approached the legendary fortress.

 When they left, a large white wolf with red eyes came to start devouring the game, it was Ghost who was hanging around a lot.

 It was already bigger than in the series and its teeth had no trouble tearing the strong skin of the moose.

 He dragged the carcass to his den to devour it there. He was Jon's wolf but Jon wanted Ghost to have space to live like a real wolf, not a common lap dog.

 Robert and the others were charmed by Nightfort, the place was beautiful and very clean.

They saw the building of the volunteers of honor, large and luxurious, then that of the criminals, large and clean.

 They had high quality guest apartments and that's where they were set up. Many of the ornaments and furniture were made of pure gold, showing the insolent wealth of the order now and this seriously shocked them.

 After being reassured of Sandor Clegane's condition, they were brought food made from local fruits and mutant elk meat, they all tasted with shock in their eyes and mouths it was so good .

 The Night's Watch had mutant cooks with culinary programs installed by the nanites in their brains to give them excellent skills.

 Additionally, through trade to Essos, they had spices as well as several exotic ingredients.

 During dinner, Jon let them taste one of his own recent products.

 Jon: I will take this opportunity to let you all taste the new product from the guard, a brand new wine made by me.

 They were brought back a drink created by Jon himself, a sweet and fruity liqueur made from mutant apples in a fermentation process that only he knew.

 They tasted the brand new alcohol and everyone swore they had never drunk anything so good. The aroma was excellent and the taste was just divine although the effects were quick, very quick.

 Jon only allowed them to drink one cup because it was a really strong alcohol, Tyrion that evening fell in love with this drink.

 He let them digest while watching the men practice archery or go on patrol atop the wall. They saw the sworn brothers being active in maintenance as well as patrols but especially in almost constant training.

 They were seriously shocked that all of them were above average in sword or bow handling with complete and good quality equipment.

 However, those they saw were not mutants, they were former criminals because mutants were exclusively honorary volunteers who had separate training.

 Jon wanted to do things once and for all and the next day he took them to see the mines starting with the gold mine where they almost got sick because of the abundance of gold everywhere.

 There was a significant concentration of gold dust in the earth to the point of being perfectly visible in abundance to the naked eye, not counting the large nuggets that they saw.

 Ned Stark had a proud look on his face as he looked at Tywin about to turn blue with jealousy and they also saw the iron mine but that wasn't all as another small mine had been discovered recently and it housed a small very pure sapphire deposit.

 This time, Tywin vowed to do his best to get Jon or the guard and him on good terms, he even wanted to bribe one of the captains but gave up on this ridiculous idea because they already had wealth on their side .

 As for the king, he regretted having made these lands independent of the kingdom at the same time as the Night's Watch.

 They had huge debts to the crown and fortunately he could count on the Starks who were now the richest in the kingdom.

 Jon organized a feast in the evening in honor of the King where the leaders of all the occupied fortresses of the wall were invited and Robert demanded that he be served the same wine as earlier but Jon refused.

 Firstly, because they are not under the authority of the crown but then because this wine was made exclusively for storage but also intended for sale to Essos.

 Jon declared an exclusive sale to Essos by orders only. He could say "No" to this drunken king and his fortresses were not a tavern, the night watch was not the bar of any king or lord.

 Robert almost exploded like a volcano but Ned calmed him down before convincing Jon to pour him a pitcher of his delicious alcohol.

 Robert complained about the lack of women when he grabbed one of the girls hired there by the hips but his arm was grabbed by a very angry Jon.

 Jon: King Robert, respect the Night's Watch, we are not in an inn or a brothel, I hired these women with the promise that no one was going to touch them against their will. Respect your host, majesty.

 The room :…

 Robert: Have you just laid your hand on your king?

 Jon: I no longer have a king my lord, just a black coat and brothers who will die at my side. Winter is coming majesty and things happen on the other side. Mance Rayder, the king-beyond-the-wall is bringing together all the free folk clans and they are determined to go above the wall.

 Robert: Stupid!

 Tywin: Kid we know about these wildlings is that they are so stupid and wild that they don't even get along with each other.

 Benjen: Then you don't know anything. You've never been beyond the Wall, Lord Tywin, don't talk about people you only know about the rumors. 

 Jeor: However, this is all the truth and there were at least 70,000 who gathered to cross the Wall the last time we checked.

 Robert: It's YOUR duty to stop them.

 Jon: We will, we will need more men but recruitment will not be a problem. We will defend this Wall until the "others" come.

 Tyrion: Are you talking about the White Walkers my friend?

 Jon: Exactly.

 Robert: I thought you were an intelligent boy but you disappoint me.

 Jon: I'm not looking for your pride majesty, I already have the honor of serving the Watch until my end. I am only doing my duty.

 Robert: (stands up) Your delicious edt wine definitely stronger than the others. I'm going to fall asleep since I can't fuck and drink my money instead of listening to this nonsense. (points at Jon) You, my child, are even more of a Stark than you think with your manners. Your father's ancestors were fearless and proud, just like you... 

 He left for his chambers and his guards who were eating accompanied him. Tywin also did the same and they stayed there.

 Tyrion: White walkers? Really ?!

 Jon: What kind of threat can make it possible for dozens of enemy clans to ally like this? 

 Tyrion: Survival...it's survival. But perhaps it's because of the approaching winter, it seems that it will be the coldest never seen in living memory.

 Benjen: And there are now direwolves south of the wall, not to mention my brother who will become Hand of the King. We can really say that winter is coming.

 Ned: Winter is coming.

 Jon: Winter is coming.

 ...

 It was almost morning two days later when there was a knock on Jon's door. Apparently a horseman has ridden from Winterfell to bring some very serious news.

 From what he said, Bran suffered a serious fall from the heights of a tower in Winterfell and his condition is critical.

 Robert saw the distress in his friend's heart and hurried everyone to Winterfell.

 Joffrey grumbled that the young Stark could wait a few more hours with sleep still in his eyes and it cost him another slap from his father.

 They rode non-stop and once they arrived at Winterfell, they were immediately led to the room where Bran was lying as Maester Luwin examined him.

 "NED…OUR SON" Catelyn said and he hugged her.

 Robert: Ned, Cat, I am deeply sorry for what may have happened. Do we know what caused his fall?

 Jaime: There's nothing, he just...fell.

 Jon: Were you with him?

 Jaime: No, but he's certainly not the first child to fall.

 Jon: I've seen Bran climb that tower dozens of times without even staggering once. Something has happened and we will undoubtedly know it when we wake up.

 Maester Luwin: His life is no longer in danger, the fateful 24 hours have passed but alas, the young lord will never walk again. His spine was very seriously injured.

 Jon: Can I see?

 "I don't want you near him..." Catelyn left Ned's arms and said this to Jon with all her animosity.

 Jon:…

 Others :…

 A silence reigned and Jon left the room without any commotion or problems in front of his little brother.

 He later discussed this with Ned in the sacred grove while drinking the apple liqueur and they were going to leave for King's Landing with Sansa and Arya in a month while they waited for Bran's condition to improve.

 Having too much to do on the Wall, Jon said he definitely won't be coming back to see them go.

 Ned: The next time we meet, I'll tell you everything about your mother and me, I promise.

 Jon: Be careful Lord Stark. Be honorable but don't be naive, if things don't go well, evacuate the girls and go home, I won't be able to intervene because of my wishes no matter the circumstances so please be very careful.

 "No father would have been more proud of you than I am, Jon..." Ned took Jon in his arms and the boy's eyes watered even though he wanted to remain indifferent.

He didn't know why but he also hugged his father like it was the last time because he was scared.

He could force Ned to stay with the nanites, but what kind of son would do that to his father?

 Just like in the series, Jon came to find Arya who was doing her business and offered her "Needle" which this time had been made by himself with dragon steel.

 For the good memory, they shared a small cup of apple wine containing nanites, he had done the same for Ned.

After laughing and talking with her, he took her in his arms.

 Arya: I'm going to miss you a lot Jon.

 Jon: I'm going to miss you too. Now listen to me carefully, Jon Arryn is dead and at the rate things are going, King Robert may die and I mean "Risk". In the event that happens, I want you to beg Lord Stark to come home. He's too honorable and his sense of duty as well as his loyalty risks leading him to his downfall, this is the mission that I am giving you Arya. I am a sworn brother of the night watch and unfortunately whatever happens to you, I will not be able to intervene.

 In some incomprehension, Arya nodded and Jon left. He would have liked to see Bran before leaving but Catelyn was still there like a guard dog so he returned to the wall after seeing Rickon as well as Jory Cassel whom he also had mutated.

 Robb wanted to talk to him so he and Jon chatted for a bit. They laughed at their games and moments of joy in their childhood and then Robb confided in Jon that he missed him, that he was haunted by what his mother had convinced him to do, and that he bore the shame of it. 

Jon told him he understood and thanked him for his sincerity before asking him to take care of others. 

 Whatever happened to the Starks now, it was none of his business…that's what he thought His duty lay elsewhere where the stakes were certainly higher. His duty to the Night's Watch was what mattered most to him now. 

 [ The entities]

 Death: Why do I have the impression that Ned Stark will die in this reality too?!

 Eternity: We made a different Jon, not a different Eddard Stark. Jon has no knowledge of the future and has distanced himself from the Starks.

 Reality: He said it himself, he won't be able to do anything. He knows where his limits are and respects them, despite the gifts he has. Besides, he takes us for the old gods of his world.

 Eternity: This is the most plausible explanation he has had with his powers, so much the better. I just hope the Starks come out of this better.

 Death: DAMN ! I'm stressed.

 Eternity: You can't stress, it's for Living things. 

 Death: Damn, I forgot ahahahah. It would still be a shame if Ned Stark died.

 Fact: Game of Thrones had its charm because anything could happen to anyone, in the well-written early seasons. Everything has always been a question of choice, Ned died in the series because of his choices and his risk-taking in thinking that everyone could be as honorable as him. As I see it now, this is not about to change, We would like it to survive, it would be ideal but inconsistent with the notion of choice and consequences in this world. None of them know the future, so we have to expect certain events to happen .

 Eternity: There is hope, Jon made him a mutant and even gave advice in case of emergency.

 Reality: We'll see.

 -END OF THE FIRST PART-