Chapter 13

*Time Skip 9 years General POV*

Much has happened since the rebellion.

The Stark family grew a couple times, Ned and Catelyn had 2 more children over this time making 7 children in total.

Bran was born in 291 and Rickon was born in 295.

Robb, Cyrus and Jon are 15 name days old,

Sansa is 12, Arya 10, Bran is 8 and Rickon is 4.

Even though on the surface the Seven kingdoms have been at peace, but the undercurrents of Cyrus' action since the rebellion has caused many tensions to increase between the North and her southern neighbors.

It wasn't particularly Cyrus' fault, he was young and lived more in the moment, not putting any thoughts into consequences. Always putting it on "Future Cyrus", a few years after the rebellion Cyrus had finally grew up after seeing the damage his younger self did. He really wanted to strangle his younger self for putting so much trouble on him.

But again not entirely his fault, the reason? Someone in the south was instigating the tensions. Fueling the tensions more, the only reason open hostility never came was due to the relationship the Warden of the North had with the crown. The Reach was where most of the issues came from, due to they had continued to increase the cost of food to northerners.

All of it mainly stemmed from how stable the north gradually as a whole. Ned, Catelyn and Maester Luwin had really put together a really good plan. Catelyn Stark was not the most intelligent when it came to actual knowledge, she wasn't dumb in the slightest but she never increased her knowledge past knowing how to read and write. What she was good at was subterfuge and playing the game, no she wasn't a master strategist as the Spider or Littlefinger, but she was the best in the North. The north didn't play the game at all, so they had zero experience.

She had came up with the idea to give some of the inventions of Cyrus amongst the most loyal of houses, and for those such as Bolton and its bannermen to share the less profitable but still allowing enough benefits to keep them in line.

After much thought both Ned and the Maester agreed, in fact it would actually over time make much more gold for the Starks long term. Spreading the wealth not only reduced the load on Winterfell by having to produce everything there, it also would increase the tax revenue annually collected, increasing year after year from each house.

Not as much money in the beginning if they did it themselves, but limiting to one location would stagnate the income, eventually capping off the gold income very quickly due to limited supply.

Ned, even though he had told himself that day in the Tower of Joy to take Jons heritage to his grave, he ended up telling the truth to the Northern Houses he trusted; like Karstark, Umber, Mormont, Cassel, Manderly, Forrester, Cerwin, and Manderly. House Reed already knew the truth. It was done separate from the other houses, he wasn't going to trust the Boltons and it's bannermen with that knowledge.

He did so because he wanted his loyal men to know just how important it was to remain hidden as long as possible. He did get an earful from Catelyn for him deceiving her for so long, but with her own son in danger from her religion and people, she had a perspective on things she never had when she was younger. Its easy to shun someone you don't know or have no relation, but to have your own child to experience hate for nothing of their own doing but being born had really opened her eyes.

Had Cyrus not been born, she would've never seen it from the other side and would've remained ignorant to the truth.

After using the knowledge that Maester Luwin received from Cyrus they distributed the products amongst the lords growing the north stronger as they gradually improved.

This is what led to people like Petyr Baelish, who as master of coin has been enacting his own plans to weaken the realms enough for it to be destroyed so that he could take the Iron throne and Catelyn Tully for himself. He refused to call her a Stark even after her spawning 7 children for them.

He hated the Starks, his reminder of that hate evident from the scar on his chest, from his collarbone to his navel.

He had been in love with Catelyn for as long as he could remember, when he heard about Brandon Starks betrothal he challenged Brandon to a duel for her hand.

Needless to say he was crushed swiftly and completely, the only reason he wasn't killed was because Catelyn had plead for his life.

But doing so made things worse, in Petyrs mind Catelyn loved him too which was why she saved him, even though she only saved him due to he was a friend.

So he put his talents to use, seeing he couldn't get his Catelyn thru physical strength the would get her thru sabotage and deception.

He fueled the rumor's and stories of the north practicing magic. He used his relationship to write letters to Catelyn mainly to try to get more information.

He was able to get enough info to feed multiple stories, making sure to exagerate things.

It wasn't hard for him, he owned almost all the brothels in King Landing using gold he embezzled from the crown. Having the whores spread the rumors to their clients made sure word spread fast.

Maester Luwin had received multiple letters from the Citadel regarding the truth of the rumors, but Luwin always maintained his loyalty to House Stark and never confirmed any rumor.

What really helped the North was the Red Temple. After Thoros had met with Cyrus, the Lord of Light had issued a command to back Cyrus Stark for he was important to the realms.

So after a long discussion with the High Priest an agreement was struck between the North and the Red Temple.

They would bring in healers and advisors for the houses of the North so that they could slowly remove Maesters from their roles.

Meanwhile the Red Temple wouldn't burn northerners alive or force the religion onto their people.

Ned was hesitant but due to no other option he had reluctantly agreed, it was the only way to be able to rid the north of the grey rats.

It was just too convenient, the morning after Cyrus and Thoros spoke was when Thoros spoke of the others and the wights, things that Old Nan spoke of and told stories of even to himself when he was younger.

The things he told Ned made his head hurt, he didn't believe in those stories and myths.

But having to choose between the Citadel and Red Temple, Red Temple just seemed the lesser of the two evils. At least the temple said they were there to protect his son due to being needed in the future, where as the Citadel would do the complete opposite.

Cyrus became known as the "War Wolf" due to any who he commands in battle fought better and moral was always high. He never lost a skirmish or soldier, whether it be with bandits or wildlings. The name "War Wolf" spread like wildfire in both directions of the wall.

He was able to get close to the level cap over all the years. No major battles had occurred and he wasn't trying to spark a war just to level up.

After realizing the errors of his youth he wasn't as open about his abilities but didn't shun from using them if needed.

He had become a well known healer in the North and even in the South, many people had made the trip north to try their luck getting healed.

Even without those people openly speaking of how they were healed it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

They didn't know if it was truly Cyrus or due to the Red Priests in the North but many came to know of the North's healing capabilities.

Even though it created more headaches for Stark there was good that came out of it.

Mainly it put Ned onto Littlefinger. After his wife received multiple letters from Petyr, Ned began to want to see what the man had to say to his wife. It wasn't that he didn't trust his Cat but any husband would question such regular communication.

After asking his wife and her willingly offered the letters for him to read, even without knowing what she replyed he could sense the fishing for information.

He may not have been good at the game but Ned had good instincts, his honor just hindered him often.

He knew of Petyrs love for his wife, he was there when Brandon almost cut the man in two, so he also knew Petyr had no love for the Starks.

So after informing Cat about his thoughts, she agreed to limit the information in her responses back. Even though she herself didn't believe it, she still agreed because it involved her sons lives.

Ned was in his solar reviewing his brother Benjens report on the reconstruction of Moat Cailen, after returning from the Tower of Joy Benjen had brought up taking the black. But after a long discussion and finding out how much danger his family was in Benjen had agreed to wait on joining the Nights Watch till the boys came of age. He still planned to join but not till after his family was safe.

Rodrik Cassel entered the solar and informed him that a deserter was caught from the wall. Seeing it as an opportunity to teach young Bran, he ordered his sons to join him to pass judgement.