The King who Conquered

F/N: Hey there folks. Here is another chapter. And sorry for the late update. Work pressure at my new job is unbelievable but I managed to squeeze time here and there. Now enjoy the story.

This chapter is not beta read yet.

Chapter 7 : New People, New Connections

Aiden sat in his study looking through the reports of various projects going on in the North. The fruits of his labor are slowly showing up as revenue from 'Wolf's Mouth' and White Harbour are more than doubled in the last year itself. The North, especially Winter Town is having trade boom ever since the development of paved paths. While they are not at the level of Reach or Westerlands, merchants are flocking to the North to get products for relatively cheaper prices. The only problem is that the North currently does not have that many varied and exquisite goods to sell. Even with new crops introduced by Aiden, it will take at least another four or five years before they can even give a competition to the southern kingdoms.

'Small Bank' is still in its infancy. People are still doubtful of its purpose but are curious about it. So far they managed to open one hundred and thirteen savings accounts from several minor lords, chieftains of towns and villages and relatively well-off individuals and sixty three business accounts from merchants doing business in and around the North. The idea of house loans is still a new and foreign concept to the small folk. Aiden is brainstorming with the bankers and other major lords of the North on how to familiarize people with the idea of taking personal gave business loans of around thirteen thousand golden dragons till now. Aiden is thinking of passing a law making a bank account mandatory for merchants to do trade with the North. But that will need to be discussed with other lords before he could make a decision.

As the trade is increased, the number of spying attempts and bandit problems have also increased subsequently. Bandit problem is solved or at least controlled by Aiden forming a new squad of soldiers namely 'Blue Rangers' dedicated solely for the safety of highways and merchant caravans in the North. That being said, the spies became a real menace for him. Although he is fairly sure that he managed to catch all the spies before they could leak any useful information, their attempts on his life increased, causing worry to the young wolf. Why, in the last three years there have been as many as fifty seven infiltration attempts on the new industries under the direct control of the Starks and their vassal lords and seventeen murder attempts on Aiden when he is touring around the North.

However, the last spy caught the attention of Aiden. The thief somehow managed to circumvent the wards he placed around the printing presses and got his hands on the blueprints of printing press and ingredients and procedure for paper production. Fortunately, the spy did not expect the wards placed on the inside of the vault containing blueprints and that alerted Aiden.

He immediately apparated to spot and caught the thief in action but before he could interrogate him, the thief uttered a single word, which Aiden later confirmed to be a spell, and his body is completely burned by fire. On further examining the thief's body and the fire the thief used, Aiden concluded one thing. That the thief is a magical user just like him, probably hailing from Asshai or the infamous warlocks of Quarth. But he is sure of one thing. There are other magical users in this world, granted, they are not as powerful as him, but present nonetheless. And that got him to thinking on how to approach these magical users and recruit them to his cause.

He is interrupted by a knock on the door. A very nervous looking Wilas Manderly, firstborn son of Lord Manderly entered the room. He seemed to be hesitating about something for some reason.

"Lord Wilas? I thought we agreed to meet at White Harbour after gathering required men for our invasion of Skagos? What are you doing here?" Aiden enquired

"Apologies, my lord. But I've an. . . . interesting person…. for you to meet. And she is most insistent on meeting you" Wilas replied nervously.

Aiden studied the man in front of him carefully for a few moments. The subtle twitching of his body, the slightly dilated pupils of his eyes clearly shows that he's seen something which made him nervous and that got Aiden interested.

"Alright, Wilas. When shall we go meet her? If you are here and want me to meet her, then I believe she is in Winterfell or Winter Town perhaps?"

"Actually my lord, she is just outside the door. She-" Just then the door opened, revealing a hooded woman in brown cloak completely covering her body.

"Greetings, Lord Aiden of House Stark. Thank you for agreeing to speak with me" the hooded woman spoke.

The moment the woman entered his room, Aiden could feel the familiar feeling of magic flooding his senses. Whoever this woman is, she clearly does not know how to conceal her magical aura. That or she is purposely radiating her aura in front of him. Aiden eyed the woman distrusting because the memory of the last magicals' attempt to spy and steal from him is still fresh in his mind. He gave Wilas a questioning look to which he simply shrugged and said "Told you she is most insistent on meeting you, my lord"

Aiden rose from his seat to greet the woman. "Welcome to Winterfell, my lady. You know my name but I'm at a disadvantage"

"My apologies to you, your grace. My name is Katherine Abara. I'm sent here on behalf of my family to discuss some. . ." she glanced toward Wilas "unique matters with you"

Aiden immediately understood what those unique matters she wished to speak about. "That will be all, Lord Wilas. Thank you for bringing her to me". Wilas looked surprised by the sudden dismissal but complied with his lord's orders nonetheless and left the room.

As soon as Wilas loft the room, all signs of casual calmness are gone from Aiden's face and are replaced by seriousness. Seeing the serious look on the face of Lord of Winterfell, Katherine slowly lowered her hood to reveal her face. She looked to be in her early to mid-twenties. She has long brown hair with hazel brown eyes and high cheek bones.

"I know I gave a short notice but I once again thank you for agreeing to meet me, your grace" she started slowly, careful not to offend the man in front of her. While to normal people the man in front of her may look like normal man, she knew better. She could feel the magical power he kept suppressed just beneath his skin, ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice and if she is not careful in conveying her family's message, she and her family could be in some serious trouble.

"You apology is accepted, my lady. Take a seat. Shall I order any refreshments?" Aiden offered

Katherine graciously accepted the offered seat and declined any refreshments. "Good then. I believe you said you have some unique maters to discuss with me"

"Of course, your grace. I-" Aiden cut her off saying "I'm no king, Lady Katherine. Not even official Warden of the North. I'm only the head of Great House Stark. So a simple 'my lord' will suffice"

Katherine shook her head in negative. "Magic has already marked you as a King, your grace and whether you accept it or not is up to you. But we accept you as our King and shall address you as such"

Aiden narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. He already knew that one day, war will be broken out between the seven kingdoms if his uncle Robert continued to rule the same way as he is now. According to his informants in Kings Landing, the crown is already six million dragons in debt to the Iron Bank, three and half million dragons in debt to the Lannisters, half a million to the faith citadel of seven and another half a million to the various merchant groups doing trade with Kings Landing. And the way he saw it, he could only see the Iron Throne drowning in more debts in the near future. But even then, he could not see how he would be becoming a King. Even if, by some miracle, Robert is dead, he has a son and two brothers who would be in line for the throne. The only way he could be called a king is, if he declared himself Winter King and the North as an independent kingdom. But he would never do that seeing as doing that would be seen a treachery to his family from his mother's side and if there is one thing Aiden loathes more than anything, it is people who betray their own families.

Aiden pushed all those thoughts aside and finally got to a decision and decided to indulge the lady for the time being. "I will indulge you for the time being, Lady Katherine. What more does you magic say about me?" Aiden said in a slight mocking tone.

Katherine narrowed her eyes at Aiden "Mocking me when you know I am telling the truth is beneath you station, you grace. You and I both know that magic is real. Or how do you explain the wards you placed in and around the Winterfell castle and all your factories or the fact that your own cousin is capable of warging?"

A knife immediately made its way to the brown haired lady in front of Aiden and stopped just before her throat and remained floating in that position. "How long have you been spying on me and my household? I will be very careful with my next words if I were you"

After Aiden learned of the true history of the Starks from the tomes he found in the Throne room in the crypts, he called both his uncles and shared this information. Benjen looked excited at the prospect of his children capable of doing magic but Ned hesitated a bit. After studying the tomes carefully himself, he momentarily gave his permission to test his children for magical abilities. Aiden tested Robb and Jon and was disappointed that they could not do any actual magic but later they found that Robb could do warging when he accidentally warged into a guard dog. Since then, Aiden has been looking for a direwolf cub for Robb to practise.

Katherine gulped nervously at the sudden change in the demeanour of the previously calm man and a bead of sweat rolled from her forehead to the side of her face. She very slowly moved her hand and touched the blade handing in front of her throat and moved it away from her. "I apologize if I struck a nerve, your grace. I swear on my life that I mean no harm to you or your household. But I saw no other option as you seemed to be intent on beating around the bush and this is very important for my family"

Aiden took some shallow breaths to calm his raging nerves and motioned for her to continue. "I can help you in training your cousin and any such others you find. I know as well as you do that these children need to be carefully nurtured for their own safety as well as for the safety of those around them. My family is very old and have been around the time the dragons still roamed the skies of Old Valyria and the wizards of Chroyane still performed wonders with their water magic. We have experience in dealing with children like your cousin" she offered

Aiden mulled over her statements. Truth be told, ever since he discovered that this world is full of squibs or mundanes as he calls them, instead of complete non-magicals (muggles), he knew it is only a matter of time before he find others just like him and the very thought both excited and dreaded him at the same time. Excited because he will have people with whom he can relate to and help him in eradicating the ancient evil that he is supposed to eliminate. Dreaded because he knew first-hand the prejudice the mundanes held over anything remotely resembling magic. And while he managed to alleviate some of that in the North, he still had a long way to go before people can accept magic as a whole. But since this world has mundanes who can at the very least understand and feel magic in their bones, maybe he can build a better world for both the magicals and mundanes to live in.

"You said something about my decision being important for your family. Care to elaborate?" Aiden asked, ignoring Katherine's offer.

If Aiden ignoring her offer bothered the witch, she did not show it and instead answered with a smile "As I mentioned earlier, my family is an ancient one. But the magical powers stopped manifesting in my family after 'The Doom' happened" Katherine paused before continuing "That is, until you are born. Your birth paved path to the revival of magic in this world again. Thirteen days before you were born, my niece, Kara Abara gave a prophecy.

'The Wolf who is not a wolf will revive magic,

and will search out for the dragon who is not a dragon

Together they will end the dead which is not dead

and lead the world to a new era'

Aiden cursed his luck as he seemed to be dragged into yet another prophecy. The Wolf part he is pretty sure is about him. He is not of this world yet at the same time he is born in this world. But the dragon part befuddled him. Who is this dragon who is not a dragon? Is this person just like him? A dimensional traveller? Or does this mean some other thing? Dead which is not dead? Who is this? Is this the ancient evil death told him about? And what does it mean they will together usher this world into a new age? Does that mean they both have to marry each other? He is already betrothed to Alys and is set to marry her once she reaches of age. Now does this mean that their marriage will be cancelled? Or will anything happen to Alys?

Aiden immediately cut off that line of thought. It does no one any good to mull over something one has no control over. So, for the time being, Aiden decided to fake ignorance and let the scene roll itself over.

He leans forward on his table and steeples his fingers "And you think this Wolf who is not a wolf is me?"

"We do not know but we certainly hope it is you" Katherine answered

"Hmm... What about this other person? The dragon who is not a dragon? Any idea who that person is?"

"No, your grace. But we think it might be one of the last Targaryens"

Aiden suddenly burst out laughing. It took him a few minutes to subdue his laughter. "My apologies, but I very much doubt that I will work together with Viserys Targaryen. According to the reports, he is nothing but an arrogant little bastard who thinks everything should be handed over to him just because he is the last Targaryen. He doesn't know when to shut his mouth and is already kicked out of several magisters and nobles houses. And his sister, Daenerys Targaryen is a meek little girl who cannot say anything against her brother even her life depended on it. People in free cities are already calling them the 'Beggar King and Queen'"

"While I cannot dispute your report of the last male Targaryen, the same cannot be said about the last lady dragon" Katherine supplied her own input.

Seeing Aiden cocking an eye brow in questioning manner, Katherine continued "Last I heard, Viserys with the help of magister Illyrio Mopatis tried to arrange a marriage between his sister and leader of a Dothraki horde known as Khal Drogo. But the little princesses managed to escape a day before wedding. Since then, she just disappeared. That made the dothraki very angry and are actively searching for the last Targaryens"

Aiden thought over the new information. It has been eight moons he last got any real information about the last Targaryens. So it can be true. But that doesn't matter at the moment "And you think this dragon who is not a dragon is her?

Katherine again shook her head in negative "Again, you grace we do not know. We are not even certain if she is even alive at this point"

"Good. Because that is a very vague prophecy and there are several ways to interpret it. I have no interest in being a part of someone's fucked up interpretation of a stupid prophecy" Aiden said intensely.

Katherine was taken aback by the intense with which he said those words. Maybe there is something here she is not seeing but that is not what she is here for. So she just accepted his words for the time being and simply nodded.

"So, before we were side tracked by the prophecy, you were saying?" Aiden restarted their discussion.

"Before you were born, we certainly knew our heritage but only one or two children in every two or three generations in our family exhibited any talent for magic. But that changed after you were born. Now almost every child born in the last five and ten years are exhibiting magical talents. And we are saying after your birth because we all and I'm sure most of the magical folk alive felt it; the wave of magic which originated from Westeros. While we were the first ones to locate you, I'm sure given more time, other's will also locate you and either try to make you their ally or try to subdue you or if that is not possible, kill you even"

Aiden cursed his luck as he heard Katherine described the events surrounding his birth. Now every magical in the world will be after him or his family. 'So much for keeping my magical ability a secret' Aiden thought ruefully. "I've already had an encounter with one such person. He tried to infiltrate and robe our blue prints of printing presses and ingredients and procedure of paper making. I stopped him and he committed suicide by incinerating himself" Aiden supplied him experience

Katherine's eyes widened at Aiden's admission "If that is the case, then it is even more imperative that we help each other, your grace. My family is scattered all across the free cities of Volantis, Pentos, Norvos, Myr, Tyrosh and Lys. We have to hurry and secure the North before other magicals find you"

Aiden's both eyebrows vanished into his hairline as the lady in front of him iterated her family's expansion. "How large is this family of yours we are talking about?" Aiden asked incredulously.

"Two hundred and thirty seven, your grace"

Aiden laughed at Katherine as she said the number but seeing the serious look on her face, he stopped. "You are serious, aren't you?"

"I am not known to joke regarding the matters of family. So yes, I am serious" Katherine replied in monotone.

Aiden straightened up in his seat "How am I supposed to provide asylum for two hundred and thirty seven people? Even though the Northerners love me, hiding so many people will definitely be difficult, even for me"

"You misunderstand me, your grace. We do not need asylum for all of us. Like I said earlier, our younger generation needs to be trained. We are doing what we can but people are beginning to notice. We already lost one of our children to the shadow binders of Asshai and another one to the warlocks of Qarth. My people are devastated as it is and we cannot lose another one. I want you to provide a safe place for our children here in the North. The rest of us will immigrate to the North over the next three to four moons. I heard that you have several projects in progress and several more yet to begin. Because of that, there are many who are immigrating to the North to find a new life. We can use that to settle here and mingle with people. Amongst my family, we have several experienced workers in glass and textile industries in Myr, several spice merchants and others experienced in carpentry, masonry, ship building. All these people can bring with them several others and you can use their expertise in helping make the North a better place to live"

Aiden sat there stumped as she listed the various professions of her family members. While on the outside Aiden kept an impassive face, inside is a completely different matter. While Aiden could conjure glass, he cannot do that in an industrial scale and unlike cement where he just drew some runes in furnace, threw in materials and waited till cement is made and teach others to do the same, glass making requires precise hands and technique which Aiden lacks. So he tried several times to get someone from the glass makers of Myr to work for him and every time he thought he got someone, they died of one reason or other. He always suspected that some sort of sorcery is involved but could never get a solid proof. Now if he could get Katherine's family members to start a glass making company and textiles industry in North, it will boost the economy of North indefinitely.

"You will also be interested in noting that we have some people in sell sword companies of 'Wolf Pack' and 'Company of Rose'"

Aiden cocked an eyebrow at Katherine "I already have several trained men and several more in the process of training. So I will not be needing them specifically. But they are free to join the North's army in any capacity they wish to" Aiden said, simply shrugging his shoulder.

"You do not know?" Katherine questioned

Aiden tilted his head and his face scrunched in confusion "I do not know what?"

"You need to pay more attention to your own history, your grace. 'The Company of Rose' and 'Wolf Pack' are formed and is still to this day maintained by the Northmen or at least, the descendants of the North. 'The Company of Rose' is formed by the Northerners who rejected Torrhen Stark's submission to Aegon the Conqueror and thus choose exile over bending the knee. And the 'Wolf Pack' is formed in the aftermath of 'Dance of Dragons' and collapse of 'Triarchy' or 'King of Three Daughters' by Hallis Hornwood and Timothy Snow. And now, both these sell sword companies are being led by the direct descendants of your ancestors. In short, if you play your cards right, you can have these sell sword companies under your thumb" Katherine said with a Cheshire cat grin.

Aiden went into deep thought as he thought of the implications of Northerner's presence in Essos. If he moved his pieces correct, he can have his trade post in free cities with little to no hassle. But first he will need to get in touch with these sell sword companies and gauge their reactions for the possibility of working for him in future. But that is then and this is now. So, he decided to ponder on the matter at a later date and think on the present matter at hand.

"Thank you for that information. I will speak to my…. contacts in Essos. I will leave them be for the time being and contact them when the time is right. Now let return to the matter in hand; you and your family"

Katherine nodded "If your grace accepts my proposal, then my house will serve yours so long as you can keep your word"

"Can you give me some time to go over our conversation and give you my decision? You can stay in the castle or in Winter Town in the meantime" Aiden offered

Katherine nodded her head slowly "That is agreeable, your grace. If it is not too much, I would like to stay in castle and explore the Godswood"

Aiden rose from his seat and offered her a hand "Excellent. And of course you can explore to your hearts content. We will meet same time tomorrow". Katherine shook Aiden's hand and excused herself out of the room.

Next morning:

Yesterday after Katherine left Aiden thought hard about his conversation with her. In truth, he never thought he would be in such a position. While he knew that him being the Lord of Great house means that he would be asked to give asylum for others and do some things as favors, he never thought he would be encountered with such a situation.

The situation itself is not such a complicated one. It is the abilities of the people who he is being asked to provide shelter for and that got him to think and rethink a possible solution. If they were normal people, he would have welcomed them with open arms and warm hearts. But here he is dealing with people with the same abilities as him. One part of him is happy that he can relate with them. But the other part of him is cautions of them because he first hand knew what people with his abilities are capable of.

He is brought out of his dwellings with a knock on his door. Aiden gestured Katherine to a seat "I've gone over our conversation yesterday and reached a decision" Aiden started slowly

Katherine moved to the edge of her seat, anxious of Aiden's decision. His decision will either make or break her family. While she herself can certainly protect the members of her family, she certainly cannot protect all of her them.

"I have decided to provide protection for the children of your house. In fact, I will personally draw runic schema for the protective wards that will be placed in and around the place which will house your children and train them whenever I can. And I will also welcome any and all of your people to work under me and provide investments if they are willing to start businesses. And if you prove that you are worthy of it, I will elevate the position of your house to the status of Masterly house, maybe even to Noble".

Katherine bowed to Aiden in gratitude "That is most generous of you, your grace. I prom-"

Aiden held up a hand for Katherine to stop "I am willing to provide all these facilities to your people provided they are willing to swear their oaths of loyalty to me and my descendants"

"Of course, your grace. You will have our oaths of fealty as soon as my people reach the North" Katherine answered.

Aiden narrowed his eyes. "For the normal people words may be enough, but I will need more than that from you, Lady Katherine"

Katherine already knew where this is going but asked anyway. "And what will you be needing, your grace?" she asked slowly.

Aiden unsheathed his family ancestral sword. "This is the ancestral sword of House Stark held by the head of the house. 'Ice', we call it. I'm willing to swear on my magic and honor of my being a Stark that I will protect you and your wards so long as your head of house and his descendants are ready to return the favor"

Katherine stared hard at Aiden, looking for any signs of betrayal because what Aiden asking of her very huge. He is basically asking her to make her people his and his descendants life-long servants. While people may have several different position under a lord or a king, those are all fanciful ways of being servant to their lord or king and what he is asking here is doing so magically. If anyone of her people abandoned their oath to house Stark then they will be cursed. But given the position of house Abara, they have no other choice. And it's not like their new master is asking for a one sided oath.

Taking a deep breath Katherine procured twin Sais from her sleeves and placed on Stark's ancestral sword. "These are valerian Sais. We call them 'Issa'. They have been in my family for as long as I can remember and are held by the head of house"

Aiden nodded in understanding. Katherine then placed both the weapons at Aiden's feet and in a kneeling position gave him her oath of fealty. He then placed his sword on her shoulder and accepted her oath and gave her the return oath. As Aiden finished, a bright light covered the room, signifying the witness of the oath by magic.

"Come on pretty eyes. Beat the shit out of the bastard" shouted a ten and five name days old girl from the side lines of one of the training grounds in Winterfell.

"Damit Alys. I do not have pretty eyes. Stop calling me that" gritted Aiden from the middle of his spar with the Jojen Abara, newly appointed personal guard of Aiden.

"Sure you do, pretty eyes. Now stop talking and start beating the shit out of him"

"Alys Karstark! The others take you! A lady should never use such foul language" screeched an auburn haired girl beside her.

Alys scowled on hearing the voice and turned to her. "Sod off Sansa. I'm not in a mood for you right now"

Before the two drove swords into each other's guts, more like Alys doing it for Sansa, Jon interfered "What did he do to you anyway, Alys? I doubt any personal guard of Aiden will purposefully get on your red ledger" he asked, gesturing to the sparring ground.

Alys simply shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing really. I made a wager with one of the guards that Aiden will break at least a bone of his opponent before the end of the spar. The more I rile up, the more my chances of winning"

Seeing everyone giving her incredulous looks, she said "What? He said the new guard is more skilled than Aiden in combat because he is a former sell sword. I'm just protecting my betrothed's honor"

"By placing a wager on him?" Jon deadpanned

Seeing her shrug her shoulder non-committedly, Jon just shook his head. The guards posted there chuckled but Sansa got a bit green in her face "You are sick, Alys" she declared.

Alys just glared her cousin and huffed "Just because you daydream that a knight in shining armor will come to rescue doesn't mean that your fantasy is real" Honestly, how much more naïve can a girl become. Ever since her father agreed to have her foster at Winterfell to allow her to know her betrothed better in exchange for Ned Stark's eldest son Robb Stark to be fostered at Karhold, she had to endure Sansa's constant looking down on her. She honestly could not under why the auburn haired girl thinks that she is better than her.

As the two girls are having a verbal spar on the side lines, Aiden parried the sword aimed at his gut, then feinted left but ducked under and brought his practice sword slashed upward and struck hard on his opponents' hand. His opponent's sword flew from his hand from the hit and Aiden finished the sparring by kicking the man hard in his gut and swiping under his legs. He then pointed his sword at his opponent's throat.

"YIELD" Aiden bellowed, still from the high from the intense sparring session.

"Aye, I Yield, I Yield" said the downed man. Aiden offered the man a hand and lifted him up and patted him on his shoulder. "Great sparring session. I look forward to our next one"

"Me too, my lord" replied the man. He winced as he tried to move his bruised elbow "Although, it will be some time before I can get into sparring ring with you again"

Aiden chuckled at the man he just defeated "Go to Lady Katherine and ask her to give you the special healing salve I created. You should be up and running in no time"

"You could have broken a bone or two of him before beating him down ya know" came a voice behind him. He turned around, only to come across a pouting Alys Karstark. Aiden shook his head exasperated at her. "How many times I have to tell you, Alys that I do not break bones. Especially not the bones of one of my personal guards"

"I know, I know. But still, even a little finger would have been sufficed"

"Alys…." Aiden drawled out in a warning tone.

"Sheesh….Aiden. You are no fun at all" She looked up at his face with concern etched in her eyes. "You've been closing off more and more lately. What happened, Aiden?" she asked

"War tends to do that to people, Lady Alys" answered a new voice. Both youngsters twirled on their foot to come across an old man who looked to be in his early seventy's.

Aiden narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He could feel the magic rolling off of this man and yet he did not feel the man approach him just like he could not do with Katherine. "Greetings, my lord. This is my grandfather Lawson Abara, a glass maker from Myr" introduced Katherine from beside him.

"Greeting, Lady Katherine. And welcome Lawson Abara, to the North and Winterfell. I thought it will take another moon or two before your family members from Myr can escape from the glass makers" Aiden asked, surprise sprinkling in his tone

"You are right, your grace. But we were presented an opportunity and seized it to our own" the old man answered. Seeing the inquisitive look on Aiden's face, the old man continued to elaborate "The merchant prince we are working under wanted to sell his glass making business to settle his debts. I immediately informed Katherine here. She arranged a fake business deal and bought us from him. Suffice to say our plan went flawless and here we are"

"I thought that glass makers in Myr are forbidden to sell their businesses to outsiders. And I doubt that even Lady Katherine can establish herself as a Myr merchant in such a short deal of time" Aiden sounded his doubt.

"You are right about him, Katherine. He is a rather clever one and do not take everything at face value and do not trust anyone easily" the old man said to the young witch. Aiden looked at the old man unabashed but a pleasant smile made its way on his lips before disappearing.

"I can only hope that you can come to trust me in the future, young Stark. And you would be correct. But the merchant prince is so desperate that a few hundred extra gold coins and agreement to not extend our new business to outside Myr made him agree to the deal. But even then, the other glass makers did not like a new player and set our workshop on fire. Now everyone in Myr thinks that all the workers died in the workshop, providing us the perfect opportunity to escape unnoticed"

A grin made his way on Aiden's face. "That is rather Slytherin of you, Lawson Abara"

"I'm sorry but what this…Slytherin, your grace?" Lawson asked, confusion portraying in his face.

Aiden face palmed lightly and shook his head. These days, his vocabulary from his old life is making it's appearance in his speeches more and more. "Never mind about that. You and your people are welcome to stay in the western wing of castle just beside the Godswood till I can find you a permanent residence. That part of castle and Godswood is restricted for commoners. I will post my most loyal guards there. You and your family will be safe from prying eyes when you train your children. Unfortunately, I will be leaving for Skagos invasion on the morrow. We will discuss about our arrangement after I return from the invasion. And please do not address me as 'your grace' when we are outside and in company of others"

"As you wish, my lord. I will pray for your swift victory" the old man said.

"Is that what you meant" Alys asked, garnering everyone's attention on her. "When you said 'War tends to do that to people', were you talking about the Skagosi invasion?"

Lawson looked at the young girl with an intense gaze and took a deep breath "I can sense a war looming over our heads, young lady. Whether it is this Skagosi invasion or another full scaled war, I do not know. But I do know that this war will change the very way we are living our lives"

Alys scrunched her eyebrows in deep thought. "How do you know that? Are you a seer or something?"

"When you are alive as long as I am, you tend to start noticing things which will most probably keep you alive" Lawson answered mysteriously. He resolved to ask his seer of a grandniece about this feeling he is getting as soon as she reached Winterfell. Last he heard about her, she mounted a ship from Volantis to the North and will be here in another two moons.

Aiden furrowed his forehead, going over those words over and over in his head. Is something going to happen during the Skagos invasion? If so, then he might need to unleash his powers well before he planned to do so. His initial plan was to slowly introduce the Lords of the North to the idea of him having powers. And when he is sure that the North is in a stable condition and free from the threats of southern kingdoms, he planned to venture into the lands beyond the great wall to investigate about the ancient evil he is supposed to face in future.

White Harbour (Ten days later)

The bustling sounds of men shouting orders and screeching sounds of cartwheels moving goods to and fro from the anchored ships to harbor's warehouse or merchant's waiting wagons could be heard from the bustling and boisterous city of White Harbour.

The city got its name from the whitewashed stone which is used to build the buildings in the city. Even before the city's re-planned architecture by Aiden, White Harbour is a clean and well-ordered city with relatively wide cobbled streets.

Even though Winter Town developed to be as large as White harbour, to the southern kingdoms, White Harbour is the only city in the North. The reason for this is two-fold. One is because Aiden made sure no one except people he trusted knew the true size and population of the city. The other one being, the southerners unwillingness to accept that the North is capable of building another city without their help. Their unwillingness and ignorance helped Aiden in concealing the true strength of the North.

The port of White Harbor is divided into two parts. The smaller inner harbor provides better anchorage and movement of goods while the larger outer harbor can hold around a fifty ships before the reconstruction. Now, with the opening of 'Wolf's Mouth' and keeping in view of future demand, the outer port is extended to around six miles on both sides with five distinct port areas, each one with a capacity to hold twenty vessels at a time. Three distribution areas are also under construction to facilitate the needs of the hinterland. Plans to construct a huge crane for each port area for easy movement of goods are under consideration but that is yet to get beyond the stage of drawing board.

A lone figure could be seen standing on the outer edge of the ringfort sitting on a massive stone dominating the approaches to the Outer Harbor with another not so small four legged figure perched at the legs of the lone figure. Another partly figure could be seen approaching the lone figure with a slight huff in his breathing.

"My lord Stark, the last of the Crannogmen and Flints of Flint's finger have arrived. The captains are almost finished with loading the ships. We can set out to Skagos the moment you give us orders" reported the partly figure, who is recognized as Wyman Manderly, Lord of New Castle(castle in White Harbor) and its surrounding lands. Aiden said nothing but simply continued staring at the sea in the direction of Skagos.

Wyman hesitated before continuing, "My lord, if may be bold enough to say" he halted then continued "Don't you think you are over-estimating the strength of our enemy? I mean, you issued new orders to gather a quarter of our forces instead of earlier tenth just to invade a wayward island. Don't you think it is a bit of an over kill even for you"

Aiden remained silent for a bit more time then took a deep breath before giving a long sigh. "I have a bad feeling about this, Lord Manderly. Something is happening on that Island and no matter how many men I sent to gather more information, none have returned. And on top of that, this new Cold God the Skagossons are worshiping is giving me bad vibes"

Aiden took another small breath as his hand went to the pommel of his Valyrian sword 'Ice'. He turned to the Warden of White Knife "Send word to the captains. We leave in an hour. And give strict orders to the captains that they, along with a quarter of the men are to stay in the ship after we reach Skagos and that the ships are to be ready to depart the island on a moments notice"

Wyman made to say something but immediately backed off seeing the intense look in his lord's eyes. He vigorously nodded and hastily left the ringfort. As the fat lord disappeared over the corner Aiden turned to his familiar dire wolf and stroked his head and behind his ears, earning a low whine as an approval of his ministrations.

He kneeled in front of his familiar so that he can be at the dire wolf's eye level. "I have an important task for you Sirius. I want you to stay and protect my mother, Alys, and other Stark children while I go deal with the Skagossons. Want to do that for me" he asked, scratching the sides of his jaw. Sirius barked at him human familiar as if asking 'do you even have to ask'. Aiden chuckled and started making way to his family to give them his goodbyes and the black dire wolf trotted down beside his two legged friend.

The farewell affair with his family was an eventful scene to say the least. While his surrogate mother clinged to him, not wanting to let him leave for the invasion, his betrothed and his cousins Robb and Jon wanted to come with him. Catelyn did not know whether to feel disastrous that her surrogate son is leaving for war so early in his life or to admonish the children for wanting to go to war. Finally after several promises to return safe and in no time he managed to free himself from his family and climbed his ship 'Fury', his uncle Stannis's gift to him for his coming of ten and four name day. He did not get a chance to modify his ship to his needs but planned on doing to so after they returned from Skagos.

The trip to Skagos will take two days as the captains will need to be extra careful while dealing with the treacherous currents around the isle. Luckily, there are no autumn storms on the horizon at the moment because if they are caught in one, sailing for them would have become extra hazardous. Aiden still could not shake off that bad feeling and prayed to the gods to make the rest of their journey go without a hitch. With that last thought in mind, Aiden drifted off to sleep and embraced the realm of dreams.

F/N: I believe that you all noticed that I started calling the North again. After the last chapter, I got an overwhelming amount of requests to not change the name of the North or if I do, give a damn good reason to do so. So until I can think of a better name or give a good reason for the previous name, the North will remain the same. Please review and send your opinions of the chapter. Thank you