So this is my first fanfic; something that has been inside my head for some time now, I hope some of you can enjoy it. It contains references from ADWD and a bit from TWOW; it also considers the theory L+R=J to be true and Young Griff to be the real Aegon. The timing and geography may be a little messy; if you find something extremely wrong, please leave a comment so I can correct it.

English is not my native language, there might be some grammatical mistakes as well but it was too weird for me to write in Spanish, so here we are.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the series A song of ice and fire or its universe; all the characters, names, places, etc belong only to George R.R. Martin, I did this just for fun and will never compare to him.

Jon

The cold was inside him; he could feel it filling his insides and, even his mind. He was lost in the middle of cold and darkness, an infinite darkness. He stretched his hand to find something to grasp, but he couldn't find anything and, he was falling deeper and deeper into the cold, the silence and the darkness. He saw snow; he was surrounded by snow, then he heard the shouting voices and the steel song.

There was a fight taking place. He must go. However, he wasn't able to move a single muscle. He looked for Longclaw, but he couldn´t find it. He called Ghost and, received no answer.

I am dead. And the darkness surrounded him completely.

"Kill the boy and bring the man." A voice he knew a long time ago told him.

"Well, the boy has died, but the man won´t come. I'd like to die in peace."

"No, you can´t. You must fight. Winter is coming."

"Bran? I can´t, those are not my words. I am not a Stark."

"No, you are not a Stark," the voice that sounded like Bran carried a great sadness "But you can save us."

"Save who?"

"Fight," and the silence came again.

He saw Winterfell and the godswood; there was someone running and laughing there. He ran as fast as he could, by the time he got to the pond, in front of the heart tree, he saw her.

"Arya! You are back and safe," he shouted; the girl didn´t hear him, but she smiled and, he felt an unbearable sadness in his chest. The girl ran away; she ran away but returned just that she wasn´t a little girl anymore; she was older and more beautiful. She was wearing a dark cloak and, she wasn't smiling anymore. She kneeled in front of the heart tree and prayed. A man in a white armor approached the girl and whispered something to her. She left with him but didn't return this time. The only thing that remained of her was the scent of the winter roses, sweet and sad.

He saw Arya again; she was with Sansa and, they were leaving with the King. She was smiling and waving at him. The Royal procession started to move, but he couldn't follow it.

"Arya, Arya. Don't go, don´t let them marry you to that monster," he was desperate to reach her.

"I'll stick them with the pointy end," She said before disappearing in the road.

"Arya!"

"Wake up. If you want to see her again, wake up and fight. Fight for her." This voice was new; it came from a woman, but he didn´t recognize it. It was different from his little sister´s voice; it came from a distant place.

"Who are you?"

'You know nothing, Jon Snow.'

He was on the top of the Wall and the Others were approaching by hundreds and thousands. He shouted orders to the men from the Nigth's Watch, but no one answered. They were closer and, no one was there to stop them. He turned around looking for help and, he found Robb with snow on his head and, his cold blue icy eyes were full of hate. Robb surrounded his throat with his hands; they were colder than the winter. He was pushing him to the edge of the Wall.

"Wait, I will fall. We need to stop them." Robb produced a sound that could have been a laugh.

"Traitor, you abandoned me and let them kill me." He couldn´t answer; he was falling, the cold air was cutting his face. He stopped before reaching the bottom of the Wall. He was floating; the cold was gone and, there weren't Walkers approaching anymore. He suddenly realized everything was on fire. The Wall was melting and, the castles, the people, and the forest were on fire, soon they would all become ashes.

"No."

"Let him be the King of bones and ashes. His is the Song of Ice and Fire." It was Bran again. He was still floating and, he now realized why. He was riding a green dragon and, it was flying over the Wall.

"Stop. Don't burn everything." Then, he noticed two figures coming for him. There were two other dragons and, they were getting closer. When he was face to face with the dragons they threw fire at him and, he was burning. Now he could only feel the heat.

He shouted; he was burning. The heat was unbearable and, he felt as if he was melting from the inside.

He sat and noticed he didn't have clothes on him but was covered in furs. The place was dark, only a dim light allowed him to perceive the shadows. He was panting, sweating and, his head hurt, but he tried to stand up.

"Don´t. You are too weak, must rest." It was the woman's voice he hadn't recognized. A cold hand came out from the darkness and pressed him down to rest on the furs once more. The hand was cold and full of cayuse, but the touch was somewhat soothing.

"Val?" he asked.

"No, she is not here. Drink this, it will subdue the fever." He did as she said. "Well done, now lay down; you need the rest." It was dark so he could not see her face, but he had the feeling she was staring at him. He slept a lot; he could not figure out how much time but he knew it had been a long time. However, this time, the nightmares didn´t come. He woke because of an annoying noise he knew too well.

"Neck, neck. Corn. Snow, Jon Snow. Corn." It was that fucking bird again. His mind was clearer this time and, he remembered what happened, the betrayal. He sat and searched for the scars with his fingers; they were there, it had been real. He turned to a noise. A woman was smashing something near him. She threw it into a pot with hot water and served some of the mixture in a bowl, then offered it to him. He looked at the thing suspiciously.

"What is this?"

"It is for the fever and, to give you strength." He doubted again and she sighed. "If I wanted you dead I wouldn't have been taking care of you."

"Sorry. I just remembered what happened so I became suspicious." She put her hand on his forehead while he drank the contents of the bowl, it was bitter.

"A horrible thing, indeed. They really wanted you dead because they followed us nearly a week, luckily the cold made them retreat. Your fever is gone. Do you want something to eat?"

She asked as if they hadn't been speaking of murder attempt a while before. He realized he was hungry. When he nodded she gave him a bowl of berries and some cheese, there was hard bread as well.

"I know is not too much but with you unconscious I wasn´t able to go hunting but there will be meat when Ghost comes back." He was surprised.

How in the seven hells does she know my dire wolf's name? And he is hunting for her no less.

"You know, I am grateful you saved me and took care of me, but I would like you to tell me who are you and where we are." He sounded rougher than he intended.

"Ah, right. My name is Cyara and I come from beyond the Wall, the three-eyed raven sent me to protect you and, we are currently in the Clan Mountains, traveling south." Now Jon was positively confused. He decided to go in order.

"You are a wildling? I mean… from the free folk?"

"Well, I'm not properly a wildling but I have been living north of the Wall for a while now; working at the service of the three-eyed raven."

"And that bird is…" He regarded the noisy bug that, apparently, had followed him from the Watch. She laughed and, strangely, he felt the urge to laugh with her.

"No, I'm not talking about that nuisance. You could say he is a Northern god or something. He watches over those who believe in the Old gods through the weirwoods and other means." That sounded like something Old Nan would tell to Bran before he went to sleep. Thinking of Bran made him feel down.

"Okay, let's pretend for a second that I believe you were sent by the gods to protect me. Why would they want to protect me?"

"Because you are the prince that was promised." She said firmly without a trace of hesitation.

Now she is talking like Melissandre. I can´t deal with this anymore; I don't want to get involved with magic or those other things. She must have read his thoughts because she added:

"The Red Priestess is crazy and terribly wrong. She wanted to burn you alive after you were stabbed." A shiver made its way through his spine.

That crazy woman. Thank goodness she saved me from her.

"Thank you, again. Why would you think I am the Promised Prince?" He tried not to sound teasing, but it was ridiculous.

"I don't believe anything, but if you want a reason, I guess that would be you are made of ice and fire. At least, that's what the raven told me." If there was any truth in that statement, the ice clearly came from his Stark blood but the fire was a mystery.

Am I really going to consider this? He thought of the possibilities. She might tell me who my mother was and if the prophecies are true I might find a way to defend the Wall.

"My mother was the fire?" He felt stupid when he asked.

"That is… you should wait until we reach the Neck. I don't know the full story, but Howland Reed will answer your questions."

She won't tell me another word. The Neck?

"I can't keep going south and, I can't talk to Lord Reed, I must return to the Watch."

"You can´t do that; there is nothing left for you there. The free folk are fighting with the Watch and the Lannisters had sent men to the Wall. You will get killed." She looked horrified.

"I made an oath and, I can´t leave the Wall just to protect myself."

"You can't help there. They killed you, so you are free from your oath."

"I am alive and I won´t break my oath." He was shouting.

"You have no power there anymore. The have chosen a new Lord Commander with Lannister support and, they will finish you as soon as they see your face. I am supposed to protect you, but I can´t fight a thousand men."

"As if you could fight at all." His anger spoke instead of him. She stood up.

"Because I am a woman?" She asked sarcastically, but her tone sounded very calm."I went through twenty men to get you out of that place." She reminded him of Arya and that made him calm down.

"What do you suggest then?"

"I am not saying we won´t fight the Others, just that there are other ways to do that. We will travel south to Storm's End to find this other way."

"Another way you say... Do they have spare valyrian steel swords there?" He was incredulous.

"No, something better." Her eyes almost shined. Only then he realized her eyes were the color of the sea and just as the sea they shifted from stormy green when she was upset to the clear coral reef water when she was calm. For a moment, he was about to drown in the sea that were her eyes.

"What could be better?"

"Fire made flesh. Dragons." The last word made him feel dizzy and he remembered his dream.

It can´t be true. He had the sensation he was getting closer to the fate the dream had shown him. He couldn´t breathe.

"I need some air." He stood up and motioned to the entrance of what he now knew was a cave. She held his arm. "Let go of me." She wasn´t looking at him.

"You can go out but put something on first or your fever will come back." She said nonchalantly. Jon blushed fiercely, meeting this woman was getting worse every second. She noticed he was ashamed because she laughed at him and, despite the embarrassment, for the first time since he became Lord Commander, he allowed himself to laugh like the boy he still was.

At some point, silent as ever, Ghost came back, he had managed to get two squirrels and Jon was grateful for the meat. He remembered he had eaten squirrel when he was going to the Wall. That had been s a lifetime ago; a time when all his siblings were alive. Suddenly he remembered his little sister; he couldn't go to the Neck, not yet.

"We have to go to Winterfell first, to rescue Arya." She raised her head from whatever she was doing and scowled.

"It would be a waste of time; she is not there."

"How would you know, did the raven told you?" He spat; for some reason he was being rough with her and he felt bad but she didn't seem to care.

"Yes, he told me but I doubled checked before going for you and, she wasn´t there." His anger was up again; somehow since he awoke his temper had changed, it had become more explosive.

"You don't even know her and, she might still be there with that monster!" He felt warm again.

"I do know her; the raven showed her to me in a dream. Ramsay Bolton is dead by the way. Stannis Baratheon holds Winterfell now." He gaped at her.

"How long did I sleep?" She calculated the time.

"Around a moon." She always managed to maintain her calm demeanor while saying stunning things, that irritated him.

"What?! This is crazy. What about the Others?!"

"They are taking their time, I guess." She shrugged.

"Aren´t you worry about them?"

"As we are now, they would kill us in a week, so I won´t ponder over it until we have a chance to turn the tides. And right now, I can´t take my eyes off of you." He blushed, but her face kept a stony expression.

"I didn´t mean it that way. You are still weak and I have to keep you safe, that is what I meant."

"Would you keep her safe as well?"

"If she were here I would. But I swear on my life that she is not at Winterfell." Her tone was earnest.

After a long discussion, he agreed to leave Arya's issue aside and meet Howland Reed. He decided he would make up his mind about the dragons after talking with the man. They left the next day.

Surprisingly, she had two good horses and some supplies so the journey wouldn´t be so severe. He asked her where he got them and, she confessed without shame that she had stolen them from the clans. He realized she was well accustomed to long journeys in the middle of the falling snows; she had a good sense of orientation, was skilled at collecting food and hunting, detecting and avoiding potential dangers.

She is amazing; her skills put to shame the best of my rangers, maybe even uncle Benjen. He made a pause. They are not my rangers anymore, they tried to kill me and uncle Ben is no more. He must have been looking at her back intensively because she felt him staring and looked back at him, holding his stare. For some unknown reason that made Jon feel embarrassed. He cursed and tried to avoid the shame he was feeling talking to her, trying to sound casual.

"You are really good at this, how did you develop these skills? You could be a Ranger from the Watch."

"It´s nothing especial, half of the free folk are able to do the same; this has been an everyday circumstance for me since I was ten... I thought the Watch only accepted men." Now they were riding side by side so he could see her face but it didn´t have a single shade of emotion.

"You are right but it was just a comment." He felt stupid. "Since ten? How old are you?"

"Soon I will turn eight and ten." She answered while scouting the near lands with her eyes.

She is not even a year older than me, but she seems to be so much wiser than I will ever be.

"You have traveled a lot for a seventeen-year-old girl. What about your family?" That produced a shift in her face; she tried to hide it by looking away from him, but he recognized she was uncomfortable. She didn´t answer. He contemplated her face a little longer and wondered how he had not perceived how beautiful she was until then. Their first encounter had been in the deep darkness of the cave, but they had been traveling together for six days now. It was as if she had been hiding her true self from him and only came out at the mention of her family.

Maybe it is because the sadness has revealed something from her true self. Has she lost her family as well?

"I haven´t seen my family since I got north of the Wall." When she answered she had already put her emotions under control, so her voice and expression were the same they had ever been.

"Were they killed or something?" It was an impolite question, but his curiosity was growing each second.

"No, I have no idea whether they are dead or alive. Not even where they are or what they are doing." That statement was strange.

"I don´t understand. Did you run away or were you stolen by a man?" She frowned deeply.

"I have already told you I am not a member of the free folk; I wasn´t even born among them." There was a subtle anger in her voice, but it disappeared rather quickly. Then he remembered she said she had only lived there for the last seven years.

"Then where did you live before? And how did you end serving the three-eyed raven?" There was something inconsistent with her story. She breathed deeply and locked her eyes in the horizon.

"I don´t remember. I just appeared there as a ten-year-old girl; for all I know I could have been born from a tree." She laughed loudly, but he noticed the laughter was full of bitterness.

She makes no sense. If she doesn´t remember who is she so sure she is not part of the free folk? She doesn't want to tell a thing about herself; is it such a bad thing to tell? Well, I myself want to remove some parts of my life. He realized he had been pushy.

"I am sorry if I offended you but I think is unfair that you seem to know my whole life but you are not giving anything about yourself in exchange." He wanted to know about her, so he expected his last words would soften her attitude towards him. It didn´t work, in fact, it made things worse.

"My life is completely irrelevant for you; me telling you about it will get us nowhere. I was sent to guide you and protect you, to give you advice, not to become your friend." Her tone was cold.

"If we are going to be together for such a long time we could at least try to get along." He felt so curious about her and her refusal only made the feeling grow.

"We won´t get along. We will only play our parts in the wheel of destiny and when you have accomplished your destiny I will get my freedom and disappear from your life for good." It was like trying to speak with the winter itself. He analyzed her words and freedom popped out instantly.

"Are you being forced to do this? I didn't know. You can leave if you want, I won't stop you."

"No, I can´t. I owe my life to the raven and I can't leave until you fulfill your destiny or I will be indebted forever." There was something desperate encrusted in her eyes.

I don´t understand a single thing. Was she separated from her family because of me? If that is so then she is right, we can't ever be friends because my mere existence keeps her trapped, so she could only hate me. He shouldn´t care, but he didn't want her to hate him. Damn raven, I have done nothing to deserve her hate.

'You were born.' The cruel voice of Catelyn Stark whispered in his head. None of them said another word.

For fourteen long days, they didn´t speak to each other aside from the strictly necessary. She would hunt, collect food and then offer it to him, then keep guard until morning; she only slept three hours a day while Jon was awake and ghost was running in the woods exploring the road they would be traveling during the day but he knew it wasn´t a proper sleep since she always remained alert. Jon offered to help with the guards, but she didn´t even consider the suggestion.

"You can't help. You are able to move, but you are still weak. You don´t need to bother about my health or anything else related to me." He didn't push further since he had no intention of fighting again, but he kept worrying; there was no way a human could live that way for a long time without getting sick.

Perhaps she is not human.

He started to watch her every move to detect any weakness and point it out to her, but he found none. Instead, he noticed that even if she made a great effort to hide them, she did have emotions but she kept them to herself. Most of them appeared to be anger, hate and frustration, but there were also longing and kindness; longing whenever she looked at the distant horizon, more likely remembering something; kindness was the strangest and she would only offer it to ghost. There wasn't happiness or excitement, even if she had laughed when they met, it had been completely false.

Perhaps when this madness ends and we part from each other and this cursed destiny I will be able to see a bit of emotion coming from her if only a single time.

The day she finally spoke to him again the weather was clearer than usual. The cold remained, but it wasn't snowing. When he woke up she was already readying the horses for the ride. She sat to eat breakfast with him and informed that with that kind of weather they should be able to get to the Graywater's Watch around sunset. That was good news because just as she had said, he was weaker than he originally thought. He wouldn´t dare to complain but he got tired really fast and he slept more than he would like. Getting to the residence of the Reed household meant at least three days of proper rest and food and, the promise of the truth. He thought that would be all she would tell him that day but was proved wrong.

"I apologize." She spat suddenly and Jon chocked.

"For what?" He cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand and she passed him a handkerchief giving him a frown. That action made him think of Sansa and her manners, but he set the memory aside.

She definitely has nothing of wildling; no wildling would care for such trivial things as manners. He had to repress his smile to avoid her anger.

"The other day… I had no reason to be angry at you." She had her eyes fixed on her food.

"The raven took your life away from you for my sake." She raised her head and her eyes were wide open as she shook her head.

"You didn´t. You are not responsible for anything that has happened in my life and I won't hold you responsible for anything that happens from now on."

"So you don´t hate me?" He blurted the question without a second thought and prepared for the rough response.

"I have no reason to." She sighed. "You might be right; if we are meant to spend all this time together we could at least try to get along."

"You were so angry when I asked about your life." She frowned but kept calm.

"I don't want to think about the past. It is a waste of time." Her eyes became stormy and he thought she would cry but it didn't happen.

"You remember." It hadn't been a question.

"I do." She locked her gaze on his eyes, "Please don´t ask about the past." Her voice was even, but her eyes were pleading.

"Can I ask about the present or the future instead?" The question surprised her. She considered it for a moment and gave her consent with a light nod. "What will you do when you recover your freedom?" Her eyes lost all the emotion immediately; the sea was frozen again.

"I will die." She stated and left him there. He remained the rest of the journey wondering why in the world she would desire to recover her freedom so eagerly just to die right after that, but he couldn´t find a suitable answer.

I know nothing. He reminded himself. Ygritte would have known. For some reason, he was certain of it.

Sunset reached them when they were carefully sorting the swamp. She told him to stop his horse, he was about to question her but then he heard a voice without an owner.

"Identify yourselves."

"We need to see Lord Howland Reed." She answered as calm as ever.

"Who wants to see the lord?"

"I am Cyara; I bring him Jon Snow." His name was all that was needed because the harsh voice immediately became friendlier.

"He has been waiting for you." A little man came out from nowhere and they followed him without further question. It wasn't long before they arrived at the floating fortress of Greywaters. Some servants as short as the man who guided them took care of their horses and Ghost, strangely enough, they were the first people not to be afraid of the dire wolf even it was their first meeting and Ghost seemed to accept the strangers as well. They were conducted to small but comfortable rooms without a word. They were fed as well as provided with water for a bath and clean clothes, but no one utter a single word to them. He fell asleep until another short man knocked at his door.

"Follow me, please. Lord Reed will receive you now." He noticed Cyara was in front the door of her own room and he was going to ask her if she would come as well but she read his mind, not for the first time.

"It will be better if it is just the two of you. After you hear what you came to hear and, have made up your mind about Storm´s End, we will speak." She was wearing a soft expression almost as if she was offering him some sort of comfort.

Howland Reed was a slim short man with dark green eyes. When Jon entered the room the man regarded him with the saddest look he had ever received from anyone. There were no introductions. The man would explain in detail later but his first phrase was all that was needed to shatter Jon´s life into pieces with the weight of a truth he always wished to know but he would want to forget from that day on.

"You look just like your mother." Jon couldn't say anything. He remained still as stone as the man told him the story of the Knight of the laughing tree during the tourney of Harrenhal, the Rebellion, the Tower of Joy and the prophecies. The man surely spoke for hours, but Jon had lost the ability to process his words. Howland Reed ended his story with a long tired sigh and told him he would answer whatever question he had when he was ready. Someone took him back to his room and left him there. He didn't want to speak to anyone, but he didn´t want to be alone either. In fact, he didn´t know what he wanted to do. He was wondering what to do when he realized he was not alone; Cyara had been watching through the window waiting for him. She turned to him as he walked to sit on the bed and she did the same.

None of them said a single word, there was something trapped inside his chest, something that he wasn´t able to identify and wouldn't allow him to breathe properly. With the most awkward of movements she hesitantly reached for him and surrounded him with her arms; he stiffened. He thought he was about to laugh at the strange scene they were performing but it was a cry that came out from his mouth instead; the cry was followed by another and one more after that, soon he was crying hard as she rubbed his back and stroked his hair with a tenderness he would have believed impossible coming from her.

As he strongly held to her, he cried for Lyanna Stark and her cruel fate, for the lives that were lost so that he could come to this world, for the undeserved hate he received from Catelyn Stark, for his lost siblings that were not his siblings, especially for Arya who was no longer his little sister. But he cried the most for Ned Stark, the man who betrayed his best friend and gave up his honor to protect his poor life, the one who endured the rage of his insulted wife; the man that did his best to raise him and love him as one of his own children. No matter what, Ned Stark would be the one he would ever recognize as his father.

After a while, his cries became quiet sobs but she would not release him; they remained like that until his tears stopped and sleep came to him.

The nightmares returned. He was Ghost; I wasn't a wolf´s dream though. He was running in the forest, kept running until he reached the Wall. He ran through the halls and buildings looking for someone; he had to warn them about the cold and the danger that was coming, but there was no one there. He knew the Others were getting closer, but he could not find a soul and no sound was produced from his mouth. He heard steps and when he turned he saw a few members of the Watch; all of them were armed with short slim swords. Needle. They stabbed him and he thought he would bleed to death but there was no blood just smoke; the smoke became fire, he was burning.

No, he was surrounded by fire but it was not burning him, the fire disappeared and he was still alive; he was no longer ghost but a dragon.

That was the end of the dream.

He awoke abruptly in his room with a sole candle as light source which was enough to notice that Cyara was sleeping in a chair next to his bed. Jon remembered the events of the last night and felt both ashamed and grateful for what she had done for him. She opened her eyes without warning and he looked away as fast as he could. He thought she would comment about the other night or ask him about his decision, but she didn´t say a word; just remained sat waiting for him to speak first.

"I haven´t made up my mind yet." He said in an apologetic tone.

"I know."

"I may need some time, don´t know how much."

"I can wait." She reached for something and gave him a soft fabric soaked in hot water, "for your eyes." They were swollen because of the crying. He rested his back against the pillows and put the fabric over his eyes.

"I would like to be alone." She gave him no answer, just stood and walked to the door. Before she left the room he managed to utter the words, "Thank you." This time he fell into a dreamless sleep.

When he awoke the second time he was alone and that gave him a frustrating feeling; for some reason he was expecting to find her by his side like the first time.

He decided he should use his time alone to think about what he was going to do from now on. He had lost too much in such a short time; he was no longer a member of the Watch and he was no longer Ned Stark´s bastard son.

But I am still a bastard. It was curious, the truth had stripped him of most of his entire identity but left intact the only thing he would have handed over willingly.

Does this mean it is no longer my responsibility to protect the Realm from the Others? It is not like I can go back to the Watch anyway. What should I do from now on then? He thought about the dragons. Even if I am no longer myself, I could still do something for this world.

He asked to see Howland Reed once more. One of the many short men in the place conducted Jon to the Lord´s presence. It was only the second time they saw each other, but Jon had the feeling that the man was always sad for some reason; this time he was watching through the window. When the man noticed Jon in the room, he turned ad offered him another of his sad smiles and told him to sit with him at a nearby table.

"I came to thank you for telling me the truth and explaining everything, last time I was…" He wasn´t able to complete the sentence, even then he wasn´t sure what was that he was feeling.

"It is understandable for you to be confused and hurt. You don´t have to apologize for not being able to utter a word after what you heard." The man responded in a calm tone so similar to the one she used, "So, do you have any questions you would want to ask?" Howland Reed stared directly at his eyes.

"Am I really the Prince that was promised? I have heard about the prophesy more than I would have liked and I don´t think it is me the person it talks about." Ever since he heard about it from the Red Priest he had a bad feeling about that and discarded it as insanity but between the truth and the dreams he had been having, he wasn´t that sure now. Howland Reed had realized his doubts.

"Prophesies and green dreams are rare and difficult to interpret. A wrong interpretation might lead you to a dangerous position but in your case there are some things that support the fact that you are the prince. I know you don´t trust magic and prophesies and while I find that way of thinking wise, there are some things that we can´t ignore. Your parentage, the fact that it is you who has been preparing to protect the Wall from the Others attack…" He paused a moment. "I talked to the lady you are traveling with and she told me something interesting: 'I thought I would not be able to save him, the injuries he received were too severe but when I was about to treat the first one it wasn't bleeding but smoking. The smoke had cauterized the injuries and all left for me to do was to take care of his fever.' When dragons are injured, their injuries smoke." Jon didn't know about that.

"I have been having dreams," he confessed. "Dreams in which I become a dragon. Am I really transforming into a dragon? I don´t feel comfortable with that."

"It isn't necessarily a physical transformation." Reed realized he hadn't understood a single thing. "Listen boy, you don´t have to be neither a dragon nor a prince but I believe you can save us because you care and you took this responsibility on your own accord when you became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch." The man didn´t add anything else so Jon ventured another question.

"What do you know about the dragons at Storm's end?"

"I had no idea about that either. The raven has his ways of knowing things we don't. And he only shows what he believes convenient to show." Jon had expected he could offer him further information regarding the dragons.

"I don't know what to do." The words came out from his mouth without a second thought; Jon wanted advice and he was asking it from someone he barely knew.

"I don't know any better but be sure that we will aid you as much as we can. You are her son and she was a great friend of mine." He made a brief pause. "Rushing won't help you, take your time to decide." There was nothing else to be said so Jon thanked him and left the room.

He wanted to see how Ghost was doing so he started to wander around the place but got lost almost immediately. He asked one of the short men to show him the way; the man nodded and Jon followed him. The inhabitants of the Greywater's Watch were all quiet but amiable and seemed to hold an undeserved respect towards Jon.

Maybe because of Lyanna. He could not bring himself to call her mother, not even in his mind; it was too recent.

The man showed him out of the main building and signaled to the dire wolf, then he bowed and quickly disappeared. Ghost was not alone; Cyara was with him caressing its fur. He walked towards them and sat the other side of the dire wolf, not sure of what to say. She might be waiting for his answer.

"Is it such a horrible thing? To be a Targaryen, I mean." She said without looking at him.

"Have you ever felt as if you have been stripped of your entire identity and there's nothing left of who you were?"

"I think it is called emptiness and, yes I have felt it." He was about to ask her about that but then, remembered their talk.

"Well that is how I feel and, it seems like everything I have done until now has no meaning at all. I have been taking a place that was never meant to be mine. Plus, I am not a Targaryen; if anything I would be a Blackfire, I guess."

She turned to face him this time, her face as emotionless as ever.

"I was never his son." She locked her eyes on his and took his chin in her hand to make sure he would not try to look away.

"People overestimate blood and, that is foolish. You are Ned Stark´s son; he raised you and, made you the man you are, no one can take that away from you. Even if your name changes to Jon Targaryen or Jon Blackfire, you will always be Jon Snow in the core of your soul." She released him and waited for his answer.

"You say that; still all of you expect me to be a dragon when I am not; how am I going to accomplish my destiny if I am not a dragon in the inside?" Her gazed made him feel weird.

"I guess having the magic blood is more than enough." He scowled deeply at her words so she added. "Maybe the prophecy needs a Jon Snow instead of a Targaryen. Who says Jon Snow can´t be a dragon?" She gave him one of her false yet pretty smiles.

"Do you really believe all this?" She was too smart and realistic to be playing the part she was.

"Not everything but I have seen some things that proof this insanity is real. The whole Realm should have paid some mind to the White Walkers long ago, yet you were the only one doing something."

"I guess now I have to go meet those dragons."

"How about doing what you have always wanted to do instead of what others expect?" Her eyes were locked in the distance without really seeing anything.

What I have always wanted to do is being the Lord of Winterfell but that would be treason to Ned Stark. There was no way he could tell her that; there was no way he could tell that to anyone.

"What if what I want to do is look for Arya, recover Winterfell or go to the free cities?" He asked.

What of your freedom then? Although that was the question he wanted to ask her, he didn´t say it loud. Nevertheless, she had proven to be able to read his thoughts; she had understood and gave him the answer.

"The raven only ordered me to protect you not to force you to do anything, so I guess I would have to follow you for the rest of my life. I have heard the free cities are beautiful and, the weather is way nicer there." She offered with a hint of emotion.

Is she trying to be funny? or is she trying to make me feel better? I don´t think so. No matter how confused he was, he had already made his decision. He had made an oath to defend the Wall and the Realm of men. The way he was going to do it may differ from what he had originally planned, but he would fulfill his oath all the same. And maybe then, I will be able to set the both of us free to do whatever we want to do with our lives.

"We will go to Storm's End." She sighed heavily; it sounded as if she was wishing he would have selected one of the other options.

"I´ll make the preparations. We'll leave the day after tomorrow." She stood up and made her way into the main building more likely to see Howland Reed and, tell him about what Jon had decided. The journey to Storm's End would be long; he would have enough time to decide who he would be from the on and, what he would do with his life after his destiny was fulfilled.