The Bow Of The Vale

Eddard Stark, the Warden of the North and head of House Stark, was returning from the war with the North's host. Most of the host would disperse soon enough as there no longer was a war so there was no need for the conscripted soldiers to remain and they should be allowed to return to their original houses and return their posts as farmers or other works they originally had in the North. Meanwhile, a big part of the castle guards would remain in their position as guards while most lords of the North would continue to wait in Moat Cailin.

Their objective was waiting there for a month so as to receive the noble hosts of the many Northerner castles. The king had decreed that they would call as many nobles from all over the seven kingdoms to celebrate the defeat of the Iron Island.

If it was up to Ned he would have long since told Robert he could not go, neither does he want to go. He misses his children and his wife, he wanted to go home and take care of the North, even if that would include the paperwork related to dealing with the aftereffects of the Iron Born raids on the shores of the North.

Not that this was the foremost thing in Ned's head. No, that place was for some worries he developed during the war.

First, it was that he noticed how the Iron Throne is little more than poison. Robert, who used to be a jovial and manly man who exuded adventure and strength now was fat, easily tired, would molest any girl he passed by, and was drunk during most of the time. At least the war had seen to him focusing on himself more and he had shown improvements, Ned could only pray it would continue. But, he still was better than Stannis.

The man was never a 'people' person' but he now was resentful over every little insult, true or not, and if before he was not loved now he was outright disliked and seen in contempt by the nobles.

'Well, not that I can not understand why' Ned thought with a wry smile as he thought of the reason for Stanis foul mood that was pushing away the nobles.

Roland shone too much from his actions in the Rebellion.

Stannis' only son, during this war, had not only took the heads of 10 of the ship captains including the fleet admiral of the Greyjoys he also took the head of the enemy army commander and took the Valyrian steel sword Red Rain from the head of House Drumm, actually killing all the members of House Drumm as there were only men in the house and they all were killed by Roland. After that, he was the first to rush into the ancestral home of the Greyjoys, killing more than 50 enemies by himself and taking the head of Balon Greyjoy before putting it on a spike and parading with it on top of the castle to conclude the combat.

The King himself knighted Roland on the spot regardless of him being only 13, he also gifted the Baratheon house's Valyrian steel sword to Roland. The sword, Storm Bringer, was the inheritance of the House Baratheon that was previously in the hands of house Targaryan after the Dance of Dragons, the sword was a reason of dispute between the three brothers that all wanted the sword. But, Robert kept it as he is the oldest and the king after all. But, the king was uninterested with the sword as he was focused on his war hammer, and his cups. But, even when Stanis asked for the blade as a reward for the sufferings he faced during the siege of Storm's End the king refused Stannis.

And now the sword was given to his son who was being loved and admired by all lords of the realm due to his valor. Not only that he had two Valyrian steel swords and upon obtaining both he requested of the king if he knew someone who could reforge them as he wanted to make a sword that better fit him. Stannis was horrified and tried to protest against it, that this is a disrespect and would not be accepted, but the king laughed it off and told Stanis to not be such an a.s.s about these little matters, a sword exists to be wielded and that is enough.

If he can use the sword better when reforged then he must reforge it to work better with it.

Stannis, on his part, grew extremely bitter because he considered that sword as something that should have belonged to him. Not only that, he also was even more bitter because of all the praise his son was getting while others looked at him with barely veiled contempt.

Stannis' hunger for power was apparent for Ned, just as he also heard worrisome news from Robert about how the Lannister's were acting in the capital and how the crown prince and the others acted, as Robert was very drunk when he spoke what was on his mind, as he often did when he drank too much.

Ned had his head filled with worries and could well imagine that, if things deteriorated much further, there might be a chance of Stannis launching a civil war when Robert dies.

Ned was worried, but right now he was better off just continuing doing his work as Warden of the North even if that included going to a tourney he had no d.e.s.i.r.e towards.

He looked at the letter on his hands from Catelyn. She had sent this letter not too long ago, it was to tell him that she would be going with most of the children to meet with him on the Kingsroad, while Rob would remain in Winterfell as the Stark in the North, and the state of affairs in the North.

That was another worry that Ned had, it seems like his daughter Mila was getting too close to her cousin. But, this cousin was also close to two other girls, one being of Lannister blood and one of Tully blood and both bastards. That was not that big of an issue to Ned but Catelyn's letter described things like if this was terrible. Siging Ned could only keep going and pray to the Old Gods that nothing would happen.

Pushing the thoughts to the side, he felt his attention shift to the two wards he had taken on.

The first one, Theon Greyjoy, was one of the very few Greyjoys left in Westeros, and Ned had decided to take him in and raise him among his own family. He was a ten-year-old youth with brown eyes and hair, and was currently wearing thick clothing to keep himself warm as they traveled further north. The boy had been highly upset that his family had been destroyed as it had and was fairly unresponsive.

With a shake of his head, he turned to the other one.

Olga Harlaw was the second ward he had taken in. Her hazel colored hair and plum-colored eyes and was dressed in similarly thick clothing as they traveled. She had a dull and stoic expression throughout her travel, originally Ned thought she might be nervous with going to somewhere else but she didn't show the discomfort Theon was showing nor did she look back in longing at the Iron Islands when leaving. If anything Eddard would even dare call her relieved.

After getting to Moat Calin she had asked him if she could ride a horse and after he allowed her she smiled slightly and thanked him before mounting one and moving as if she had spent years riding one, an impressive display of skill if Ned had to admit.

Ned could only count the days until his family arrived, if at least to have his kids around and to have someone to serve as a buffer between Theon and Olga. The only thing that seemed to animate Theon was trying to talk to Olga about 'repopulating the Greyjoy house' and how it would be to do so with her, who was to marry him. The result was normally him with a punch to the face or be completely ignored.

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Tigre and the others from Winterfell descended on the Kingsroad, they had a clear objective and needed to hurry if they are to arrive at the tourney in time.

Rob was honestly the most annoyed of everyone since he had to stay behind in Winterfell, his goodbyes to Tigre, Liza, and Sofy were heartfelt and he asked them to keep communication via letters at the very least and they all agreed easily enough.

For John, this was an opportunity, the first time he was allowed outside of Winterfell's premises. It was kinda sad that he was to be locked up like this, but it was his reality on the end of the day. Now, traveling south he would be able to see more of what the world had to offer, he was even offered by Tigre to follow him later on to Kings Landing or the Vale, to not have to live under the oppressive shadow of Catelyn Stark, and while he refused since he did not want to leave his family behind he was still nonetheless grateful.

The road was quite peaceful, they had set up camp near the Kingsroad on the hills of Cerwin and Tigre had left alone to hunt today. He wanted to exercise for a bit and he adamantly refused for any guard to come with him, they don't know how to hunt at all and their armor made far too much noise that would scare off any animal before he could find them.

The soldiers reluctantly agreed, but they all would stay at a decent distance and if anything were to happen he was to call for help immediately. The decision may seem too lax, but these soldiers were from the Vale, a place which puts honor above everything, and as such they could not go against their lord's decision, especially considering how they respected his hunting skills. They also knew that in this forest there were no bandits and no dangerous animals, they made sure to ask the local hunters beforehand if there was any such thing.

As Tigre moved forward he smiled slightly, this place reminded him of the forests near Alsace, his previous life's domain, and how he enjoyed hunting there. The peace of the place, everything in it was wonderful for his eyes. And for a time he allowed himself to be taken in by the scenery, at peace with the wilderness.

He remembered how his Maester that taught him history told him how the Andal invasion on the North was mostly stopped at this point and how there might still be some reliques of the Andals here, it interested Tigre slightly but he would not care much for it anyway. It is not like he would find any of them so easily anyway nor does he have that much time on his hands to waste away.

SCREEEEECH

Suddenly Tigre heard a bird's screech, he went to look for it as it might be a good dinner in his opinion. As he moved through the foliage with caution he finally found what he was looking for.

It was an old falcon, from its appearance if looked about to die of old age on top of its nest and, before it, there was an approaching owl. Tigre observed as the two birds started to fight desperately but the old falcon lost and was thrown on the ground, the owl moved to eat whatever was on the nest before eating the old falcon but Tigre acted first.

With one swift movement, he took out his bow and aimed at the owl, the bird turned to him but it was too late as an arrow was launched and the owl was killed then and there. Tigre smiled slightly, now he had good food to eat to lunch and considering how large the owl is it might be enough for him to share with the others as well.

He moved to collect the own and the falcon, however, he decided to first take a look at the nest to see what was inside. As he climbed the nest he found an egg, it was much bigger than he would have expected for a falcon egg and looked almost like a rock.

"Well, that is weird." He said to himself as he moved down with the egg in his left hand. He then moved to the old falcon who didn't move at all.

He moved his right hand to it and

SCREECH

It moved almost like a snake, it's beak moved before Tigre could react and it pecked at Tigre's right hand just as he moved his hand over it. It was too fast but the injury wasn't that deep, not reaching the bone but getting close to it.

"... I will need to see a maester after this, and soon." Tigre said, it might be a bit annoying to end this outing so fast but he knew what an infection could cause, he would not risk it and since he didn't have alcohol with him right now he could only go back.

He then saw that the falcon now was really dead, he would take it and the owl back but he would not use his right hand to carry them, it would not be hygienic to do so and he'd rather not risk it. So he put the falcon egg on his right hand and caught both the owl and the falcon by their legs with his left hand, moving back to camp swiftly after this.

What he failed to recognize was how the blood on his right hand was being absorbed by the egg greedily, it would be something he would not realize at all until much later.

As he got to the camp he quickly went to the Maester and had to listen to the tongue lashing from the guards, it was not his idea of fun but he could manage it anyway.

He ate and enjoyed their rest on the region for a while before they had to move again, it would be a strong march until they arrive at Moat Cailin to join the North host.

He decided to leave the egg be, he would not eat it since it didn't look like there would be anything to eat and it would be a bit sad to destroy something that old falcon was so desperate to protect. It was a bit of an attraction for the others when he showed it around and some of the guards said it was almost twice the size of a normal falcon egg. It was only later at night that Tigre put it down and went to sleep on the carriage.

At night Tigre was sleeping beside Sofy, which her father allowed after she asked, but he promised Tigre that if he gets any funny ideas he would make him the first lord paramount eunuch, Tita, and Liza, and they would sleep on the same carriage while the Stark children would sleep on another, much to Mila's irritation at Liza's active provocation and Sofy's passive provocation. They were already used to it by this point, but as a chirping sound started they all slowly woke up as the egg Tigre brought with him made everyone look at the source.

On the ground a falcon hatchling had its head peeking out of the shell, it was of beautiful silver-ish color and was chirping happily as Tigre and the others looked it over.

Tigre instantly felt himself connected to this hatchling and took it on his hands, it was a small but cute little thing, and Tigre could see how happy it was when it got out of its shell and looked at him.

"How will you name it?" Sofia asked, her soft smile on her face as she looked at the hatchling.

"... Bertrand, the name of the Aide of the Vorn family who helped raise me, he was almost like a father to me in all but name, or a grandfather depending on how you see it. He gave everything for me and my family, even sacrificing his life for me when he was old and never having a family of his own, he, he was family. I want to honor him on this life, to see him fly freely across the skies and enjoy all the freedom in the world. So this is your name, the falcon Bertrand." Tigre said, memories of his old aide who died for him flashing on his face as he looked at the little falcon.

And thus the journey continued.