[Chapter Size: 3300 Words.]
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Third Person POV
Arctic, 298 AC.
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And, as Jon had said, Val really did come to the garden where they were. The doors opened, and the blonde entered wearing a dress and well-groomed, with her hair brushed after a bath, even wearing gold and sapphire earrings.
It was a sight that contrasted with what she had worn when Jon and the others found her after her training.
She walked toward them while everyone remained silent, and the one who broke it was the childish voice of "Muña Val!" cried Lyanna, running to her after leaving her brothers seated on the grass, while Val carefully picked her up and brought her into her lap. From everyone's reaction there, it seemed to be a recurring situation.
This was the kind of relationship the two had developed over the past months. Val seemed connected to Lyanna, since the girl was far too curious not to interact with Val in any situation, breaking the wall of ice that the wild princess always placed between herself and everyone else.
Lyanna would always come to talk and ask all kinds of questions that Val could answer, so many that Val could not even respond to some of them. The girl even wanted to know about beyond Arctic, something Lyanna was always curious to learn, and Val seemed to answer that more easily than other questions.
She gave the girl a smile and walked over to the group, not as uncomfortable as she usually was.
"How has your training been?" Jon asked, sitting on some benches near the waterfall that ran through the artificial garden, surrounded by the plants Jon had grown throughout the place and lit by the crystals that were changed every day by the castle's servants. It worked like a system close to natural, some crystals had the ability to send sunlight, but the battery was very short and lasted no more than 6 hours, they were changed twice a day, while the others were only maintained to light the place.
"I'm improving. I can't be as strong as the royal guard who trains me, but I'm much stronger than before." said Val with a certain pride. At first she was treated like a child, looking like a bear trying to hold a sword.
There was pride in the skills Val used to have, but that pride seemed like nothing in front of these Arcticans, she had even been corrected more times than she could count and was angry about it, but defeat in each fight showed her she was below them. So she swallowed her pride and began to accept training better, becoming open to suggestions and really becoming stronger and better after that. Even her sister was impressed with a much more disciplined and even refined type of fighting, as Jon and the other royal guards liked to say.
Jon nodded, satisfied to hear that. Around Jon, Seryna and Rhaenys nursed the babies in their arms, when Laena and Visenya began to ask for their mothers' breasts.
Val stopped for a moment in front of Jon and everyone, it was a curious sight for her. Besides the babies, there were also the older children: both in their mothers' laps and sitting on the grass in the garden. Loki, Jon's eldest son, was in front of his father while they talked, and Jon seemed to be telling him and his siblings some story. Brandon and Jaehaerys were also sitting beside Loki, facing their father. And where Lyanna had also been before running to Val.
It was still strange to see so many children gathered in one place, even more so in a garden full of green plants and various colors, not only because of the magical garden, but because there were so many children in one place, a rare sight in the middle of the North, when they suffered neither hunger nor cold, having the luxury of talking with their father and learning from him, and this inside a castle similar to those of the South. It seemed impossible, but in that place called Arctic, everything seemed different.
She thought of her nephew and fought not to touch her own belly, with the secret desire of also having a child. She was the only one there without children from Jon. Even though, in the midst of war, it seemed unthinkable, she could not stop desiring something like that. Watching Jon's children, she felt even more moved. Perhaps that was why she had never taken anything to prevent a possible pregnancy, sharing multiple nights with him and even trying to steal him away at moments when he was not surrounded by guards or company, to have sex. She told herself that if she became pregnant in their encounters, so be it.
Shame took her with such thoughts, and she turned her gaze away from Jon, hoping he would not notice her thoughts, even knowing he had no such ability to read human minds.
"You said you wanted to meet me later." Then Val turned her gaze back, clearing her mind, and spoke.
"Of course. Let's go to my laboratory, but after talking I want to discuss some matters with all of you later." Jon replied.
"Why not talk now, father?" asked Loki, while shifting his gaze from Val and his sister in her arms.
"Unfortunately, this is not something for children to hear, even if they are our children." Jon said calmly.
"Why?" exclaimed Jaehaerys.
"He's going to say it's not a matter for children... Well, but we're not that little anymore!" Loki said to his brother, before turning his attention back to his father. "We can listen, kepa. We're old enough to understand things."
"You're only 3 years old, Loki. Soon you'll be 4, but that's not enough. Maybe in about 10 years we can begin to talk about matters concerning our families and the kingdom. For now, you must stay out of it, just like your brothers." Jon replied, while Loki seemed to protest.
"Jon is right, son. You are far too young to understand adult things." Seryna offered a gentle voice to the boy.
"That's not fair!" murmured Loki, softly.
"It will be fair when you're strong enough to fight for the family. Then, yes, you'll receive responsibilities for it. For now, you only need to grow healthy and strong. To one day become what you were born to be." said Jon.
"Speaking of that, when are we going to learn to handle swords like the royal guards… and you, dad?" Brandon commented beside him.
"When you are 6 namedays old, we'll start your training." said Jon.
"Wait…" the boy began to count on his small fingers. "That's in 4 years!" he complained, while Jon looked impressed.
"Who taught him to count?" Jon asked openly who had taught his son to do that, and all the women looked at him in silence.
No one answered Jon.
Val, still holding Lyanna, sat in a corner. The girl in her lap laughed while running her fingers through the woman's blonde hair, which she called "wheat," like the wheat she had seen men bringing from Arctic's farms to the castle.
Mathematics was quite a strange subject for Val. She had been learning it in recent weeks, and it was certainly not easy, but she was having results, absorbing things she had never done before when living outside Arctic's walls. Jon personally taught her, and many times she took part in lessons with the children, since it was part of their arrangement.
"I did, kepa." said Loki then after a few seconds, drawing Jon's attention, while none of the wives responded. "I taught him to count."
Jon looked impressed. "Well… that is certainly surprising. Especially because you're teaching your brother to count… But also because of you, Brandon. Children hardly ever know how to count at your age."
The boy stared at him, surprised. "Is it really that impressive?" he asked innocently, even with a hope of impressing his dad.
"Of course it is. No 2-year-old should know how to count. You counted your age up to 6 years and knew how to tell the difference. I'm proud of you, son." Jon smiled.
It wasn't a giant achievement, but for his 2-year-old son, it was a reason for pride. Even a king of a nation like Arctic would be impressed with such an accomplishment from his fourth son.
"Thank you, daddy." said Brandon proudly.
"So I have to wait 2 years…" murmured Lyanna in Val's lap. She already knew more than counting, even more advanced mathematics, so it wasn't that impressive, but it didn't stop her from drawing everyone's attention there.
"Are you going to train too, little one?" said Hiyori, opening a smile.
"Of course I am!" answered Lyanna with conviction.
"But girls shouldn't fight… Only men." Jaehaerys said, sitting on the grass.
"That's not true! Muña fights too, just like Muña Seryna, Muña Val, and even aunt Arya with a weapon." Lyanna protested to her brother.
Jaehaerys listened to her and seemed impressed, never having thought of that before.
"Women fight too, my little one." Rhaenys said to her son. "Even if the battlefield isn't always with swords, women also have their own fights, and some are also on the battlefield. There are many women who fight here, and mommy also lived in a place where it was normal for women to fight like men. There's no problem at all in taking up a sword." She spoke of Dorne.
"You're surrounded by greater examples: your father's wives can." Rhaenys added, while Jaehaerys seemed a little impressed but ended up nodding carefully.
"Anyway, when Arya arrives in Arctic…" Daenerys turned to Jon as soon as everyone fell silent.
"She'll be here in a few days." he replied.
"I can't wait to see aunt Arya!" Lyanna exclaimed.
"This will be the last ship to leave Arctic then?" Seryna asked Jon beside her.
"Not necessarily, I'm planning to do something in 2 days. But you can consider that we are closed…" Jon said with a more serious tone.
"To prepare us for the war, right, Kepa?" Loki added to Jon. He nodded, the war was no secret to his children anyway.
"We are already preparing for war. We have, at most, a few weeks… at most a moon before they reach our gates." Jon said with a darker tone, while his wives listened in silence and his children seemed only a little concerned.
"Anyway, let's stop talking about that and continue the conversation. Loki, I want to know more about what uncle Benjen is teaching you." Jon said, changing the subject and looking at his eldest son, who began to tell about Benjen, who had spent the last 3 days with Jon's children teaching them some of the Starks' ways.
He was out of the castle, but would return for dinner. Jon had sent a letter directly to him, as he was in district two at that moment.
Thus, they spent the whole afternoon talking, until Jon returned to his personal solar inside the castle in the late afternoon, to plan some things and write letters to some people in Arctic, not wanting to personally go meet people nor even summon them to the king's castle.
He was reading a report about the university; at first a group of scholars wanted to study the energy of the crystals and record them in the library, and they would need a large amount of them to open and study their functioning. This seemed to open doors to new engineering.
This group, one Jon had personally taught in the early years, had followed through with an idea Jon had many years ago, something derived from watermills, but that spun with the wind. Jon had drawn the windmill, but had never put it into practice to place them in the granaries.
There was nothing like that anywhere in Westeros, besides those that used the strength of rivers. Jon wanted then to harness the power of the wind both for agriculture, being able to grind grains—something they used machines created by dwarves for, more based on strength, such as putting 4 giants to circle a lever while the machine ground the grains easily.
There were dwarves in the group, so it was easy for them to fully develop the king's idea, they had done this almost 4 years ago, while Jon was traveling through Essos.
He saw no problem in taking some crystals when the amount was nearly infinite with the special trees he had created, being able to create them easily. And as soon as he signed, a sound came from the door.
"Open." Jon said, and his guards opened it slowly.
"My king, Maester Aemon is here to see you." One of them said, and Jon nodded.
"Great. Allow him in." Jon said.
His men nodded and opened the door, and his uncle entered, wrapped in a cloak, walking with a vitality he had never had when Jon had met him at Castle Black.
"Hello, nephew." He said with a grandfatherly tone to Jon.
"Hello, uncle Aemon. How have you been?" Jon asked.
"I've been taking good care of the university, although the students, according to the rector, are becoming restless and nervous with what is coming to the kingdom." He said.
"I imagine so…" Jon leaned back in his chair and looked out the window, while the city began to light up with the crystals at the fall of night. "We will win." Was all Jon could say.
"I know that very well, but it's more than that, my nephew…" He said as Jon turned back to him.
"And what is on your mind, uncle?" Jon asked, still not knowing where Aemon was heading.
"Speak to them. They need to hear the words of the king. I came here precisely to ask this of you. The people need you, Jon." Jon raised an eyebrow.
"I'm trying to do everything to save this kingdom, even taming a dragon that could easily kill me." Jon raised his eyebrow. What more could he do? He would speak to the people, but not now. He was busy doing so many things that he hadn't done that in many moons.
"They certainly know what you've been doing, nephew. People tell of your deeds, and the bards create melodies about your courage and how you will triumph over the White Walkers. But the people need their king… I came here tonight because I'd like to ask that you speak to everyone, all will need to hear the confidence of their king." Aemon said, the atmosphere seemed more tense throughout Arctic, people were beginning to question what the king was doing, always sending ministers to speak for him, they wanted to see and hear Jon as well.
"Well… I think you're right, Seryna and Daenerys said the same thing this afternoon." Jon said in the end, he was far from having the same connection he once had with the kingdom when he was a boy, walking the streets without worry, but the kingdom had also grown so much, it was dozens of times larger, more populous, with the main streets becoming chaotic with all 4 races walking through them.
"I want everyone to have confidence in you, you are a fantastic king, no one can complain about you after everything you've done to change these people's lives. Nowhere in the South do common folk live as the common folk in Arctic can. Not even most nobles eat and live so well. I can say you've created a true miracle, but I want you not to forget a few things, and one of them is always speaking to the nation." Aemon said as he did not sit in front of Jon but instead began walking through the solar until stopping at the window, looking out at the nation stretching with intense lights before them, able to see the reflection of the lights in the waters cutting through the kingdom to the canal.
Jon had not stopped to think about how he had been distancing himself, not that he had been doing nothing, he was doing everything the kingdom could to survive. However, it was still a point, and perhaps he should return to speaking with everyone. The last time he had done that was at his wedding with Rhaenys, Daenerys, and Hiyori??
"All right… I'll go to the city tomorrow. I'll show some of the confidence you ask of me to the people. Maybe an event in a week where I can explain to everyone how we will fight…" Jon murmured.
"That sounds very good, the people revere you, but they will have more confidence in you if you show that you are also a man, to people who have never seen you." Aemon laughed, returning to Jon.
"Only if it's those who were with Mance." He commented. "Anyway, it's time for dinner." Jon noticed before the door opened, seeing with his other eyes the royal family's dinner already prepared while everyone was invited to attend. Jon ignored the knock on the door and turned back to Aemon. "Would you like to join me and my family for dinner?" he asked as Aemon smiled.
"I'd love to." He said with a smile as Jon stood and Aemon followed him.
"That's enough work for today. Later, send the sealed letters I left on the table to the university." He said on his way out the door to the royal guards, who nodded, used to doing such things for the king.
Walking through the castle, Jon went to the kitchen with Aemon, while Daenerys, Seryna, and Ygritte had already arrived with their children. They had their handmaidens helping care for the little ones.
Missandei was settling little Aegon in his chair beside his mother when Jon entered the place.
"My king." Missandei immediately greeted him, as did the other handmaidens of the other queens.
"Aemon will join us." Jon announced, taking his place at the head of the table while Aemon sat down after the 5 wives and one fiancée of the king.
"Uncle Aemon!" Lyanna, Loki, and Brandon exclaimed to Aemon in chorus upon seeing him behind their father.
"Hello little ones, I hope you are well and learning, tomorrow we'll have classes together." He said with a smile and cheerful laugh.
"Yes!" They answered happily, they loved Aemon, who seemed like a grandfather in the children's lives, he always made an effort to be that kind of figure.
As they talked, with Aemon beginning to listen to the things the children had done during the day, mainly about what they had done in the garden with Jon and the queens.
Rhaenys and Hiyori also came accompanied by their handmaidens, helping to care for the babies as well.
The last to arrive was Benjen Stark.
"Jon! I just arrived at the castle." Benjen said, seeming like he wanted to speak of other matters.
"We'll talk about that later, uncle. After dinner." Jon said as they began to serve themselves and Benjen sat across from Aemon, greeting him as well.
Jon knew Benjen wanted to speak about Arya, but they would talk about that after dinner, for he had an important meeting with his wives.
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Raccoon Here:
The windmills were not something I had ever seen in Westeros, only watermills, so I made it as a new technology.
I think Jon needs to go back to giving speeches to the people of Arctic. That's why this was made into a small problem that Aemon advised him to reconsider.
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