House of the wolf

Waking up as I hear a knock realizing I fell asleep in the bath “Who is it”  

“Catelyn asked me to give you a haircut m´lord” I hear a young girl's voice 

“Come in” Opening the door is Jeyene Poole the daughter of the steward of Winterfell who has been helping organize the feast she is also Sansa´s best friend 

She blushes scarlet when she sees me sitting in the bath I don´t know why though the water from the hot springs has a lot of minerals in it so it is not clear but never mind that.

“You know how to cut hair?” 

She regains he composure “Yes I´ve always been the one to cut and style Sansa´s hair.” She says proudly chin pointing at the sky.

Amused I look at her “You ever cut a man´s hair? I don´t want frills and flowers on my head!” 

“A boy´s hair you mean! And yes I´ve cut my father´s plenty of times hmph” 

“Oh, are you to blame for his hairline has receded to the back of his skull? And what do mean boy? Call me a boy again, and I´ll stand and show you what a man is!”

She looked at me offended and abashed, unsure if she was offended on her father's behalf or for me questioning her skills with scissors. She takes a deep breath.

“No, it was… sigh it was time that did that to Father´s hair now shall we get started”

“Yeah…sorry about that” I decide to make peace with the person who will cut my hair its never a good idea to piss off your barber! “Don´t cut it short and make it stylish instead of pretty”

After the haircut, she leaves because the feast is starting.

I decide to go with something form-fitting I only wear the coaks from the crypts as they are not as heavy as the pelts that my Father and brothers wear, and while not as warm as the pelts the cold does not bother me.

In fact, I´ve never gotten a cold before. I know that I´m not a superhuman since I´ve gotten stomach aches and headaches before but never a runny nose. Must be that the blood of the first men is strong in me.

Before I go into the hall I go to the stables and feed Hunter who is growing quickly. Walking in I see my parents and the king and queen elevated above everyone and the Stark and Lannister family plus Renly seated at a table near them. 

There is an empty seat next to Myrcella who is talking with Sansa and Jeyne they all giggle when they look at me and Jeyene blushes no doubt they were gossiping about her catching me in the bath.

The hall is full and loud and seeing the wine at the table I grab the chance to drink myself into oblivion because after this night. Ned goes with Robert to Kings Landing taking with him 150 of our house guards with him, or with us, I should say as Ned managed to convince Robert that Sansa is still too young to marry at only 11 years old.

Thankfully they both have children at a whopping 12 years old so guess who´s coming with. 

Myrcella will no doubt become a great beauty and her personality is good but I have to admit it is a little anticlimactic to have such a large part of your life decided for you on a whim.

But I won´t protest! I still don´t know for certain if the Lannisters will attack us or not. And if not they are a strong ally to have.

I absently talk with the people at the table while I get lost in my thoughts.

I have no doubts about how brutal the world is. Even in my past life where a normal person could have food delivered to their home and sit in a massage chair until they became grey and old. There were still people who died like dogs or were treated like dirt raped and murdered over power plays or pleasure.

And here in a medieval world wicked things are happening in every corner of this world, of this I have no doubt. While I am uncertain how magic affects this world the only things I have seen so far are mild potions and Direwoves.

And looking past the positives they have brought to my life I am aware that direwolves are not just cute puppies and the creation of even mundane potions can have terrifying trial and error if they are anything like medicines or vaccines from my world.

Alchemists are said to be a noble profession but I would venture that potions and remedies have hurt far more people in their creation than helped people in their creation.

And Direwolves to me its a precious puppy but to most people they are fearsome beasts who must´ve eaten countless smallfolk over the years because even in places they´ve long gone extinct they still talk about them to spook children like it's ingrained in their bones to be afraid of them.

So as I fill my cup to get out of this somber mood I feel a tap on my back to see Uncle Benjen has arrived surprised I stand up and hug him “Oof you´re growing so fast nephew if this keeps going you´ll be taller than me soon”

“Come your Father wants to see you” 

“Now?”

“Now”

Taking my goblet with me because no way to go back into the banquet sober walking with Benjen to see Ned outside we start walking to where we keep criminals.

Remembering what I promised Ned if Benjen decides not to take Will back to the watch I gulp all the wine down from the goblet and prepare myself mentally to kill a man for the first time.

The first time I saw Ned behead a man I almost hurled not out of disgust, it just felt overwhelming. Seeing a man die is much different than seeing a dead body it was like a shock to the system.

“First ranger?” Will the deserter lift his head to look at us.