Ancestral Reunification

Jon Stark was petting his Ice Dragon on the neck at the inner courtyard, wondering yet again what name to give her. He had thought of Icewing, to take inspiration from the name of the famous she-dragon known as Silverwing that was once ridden by Good Queen Alysanne but it sounded too simplistic for his tastes. Then he thought of Winterscale for obvious reasons but then the name wouldn't fit during summer. He did overhear a few soldiers call her Frostmourne due to the sheer damage she caused the Lannister forces but, while somewhat accurate, he didn't want to give her such a terrifying and aggressive name because it might give his vassals and subjects the wrong idea.

"What about Saphira?" The young king asked.

The mighty dragon snorted at that, ice coming out of her nostrils as she gave him a look of distaste as if to say "after a rock? Seriously?". Her rider raises his hands in a placating gesture. "Alright, alright, not Saphira either. Gods above, you are hard to please."

Before he could think of another name, however, he heard heavy footsteps approaching so he turned around and raised an eyebrow.

His beloved sister's sworn sword approached him and bowed. "Your Grace."

"Huh," Jon muttered. "Being addressed that way is going to take some getting used to," He admitted. "Good to see you again, My Lady."

"Likewise. How does it feel, becoming a king?" She asked with curiosity.

Jon paused then tilted his head. "On one hand, I am honored that Robb trusted me enough to take care of his legacy. On the other hand, it feels like my responsibilities have increased 100 fold and that is just starting to sink in. At least now it should be easier to rally my people against the Army of the Dead, though."

"There is that," She said slowly. "I hesitate to ask but..."

"Speak freely," The new king said with a gesture.

"It's just...are you sure that testament was genuine?"

Jon nodded in understanding, realizing she was looking out for Sansa's rights of succession. "Well, at least as sure as I can be right now. The thought did cross my mind that the will may have been forged but the reality is that they had no idea I was coming to break the siege and they showed me their signed copy not half an hour after I got off my dragon. And even if they had had enough time, Edmure and Blackfish loved Caitlyn. I sincerely doubt they would have tried to crown me and at Riverrun no less if Robb didn't truly ask that of them. Regardless, I intend to confirm their story as soon as I arrive at Greywater Watch. If there are more signed copies, they assure me I will find them there, and then I will know for sure.

"I see," Brienne replied after a moment's pause. "I have also heard that you are planning to...transport half the army to Sansa's location with sorcery."

"That's a recent skilled I discovered after my resurrection," Jon explained. "And before you ask, yes it is safe, I already did it with more Free Folk and Giants from Beyond the Wall and yes, I want you and Podrick at Sansa's side. I suspect that Ramsay will feel the need to attack our forces near Ironrath before long and while it will still take me a few days to rally the Riverlands and recruit House Manderly. So, I would appreciate it if you could protect my sister until I return."

"That would be my honor, your Grace." The tall warrioress assured him. "However, if you intend to send us to the Northern Wolfswood soon, then I guess it would be best for me to return this to you right now."

And with that, the blonde woman handed him over a sheathed blade with a ruby embedded in the guard. Jon raised an eyebrow when he noticed it was Valyrian Steel, especially given that he didn't recognize it.

"Return it to me, you say?" The young king asked, waiting for an explanation,

Brienne of Tarth nodded solemnly. "That blade is one half of a pair of shorter swords that came out Ice, the ancestral greatsword of House Stark."

Jon inhaled sharply at that, remembering his father using Ice to carry the **** sentence against a Night Watch deserter years ago as he stared at the fresh-forged sword.

"What happened?" He had to ask.

"From what I heard, Tywin Lannister hired one of the last few living smiths than know the process for how to rework Valyrian Steel," The soldier explained. "Since he had Ice in his possession after your father's execution, he had the grandmaster of his craft reforge the metal from the greatsword into two shorter blades. This one originally went to King Joffrey who saw it fit to name it Widow's Wail shortly before being poisoned at his own wedding. Afterward, it was given to Jamie Lannister, who decided to keep it after giving me the other half," She said while showing him her own blade. "That one I named Oathkeeper, in honor of the promise Ser Jamie made to Caitlyn Stark to help keep your sisters safe, which he did by arming me and giving me the supplies I needed to go on my way and find Sansa."

Jon scratched his chin, contemplating what she just said. "Huh. Then I guess the kingslayer still has some honor inside him. Did you found Widow's Wail on the battlefield?"

Brianne nodded. "But no sign of Ser Jamie anywhere among the corpses. Blackfish was quite specific in his orders to deliver a report if they could identify him. No one matched his description, though. So, I imagine he lost the blade in the rush to escape from the draconic attack."

"Hmm," The new god hummed, realizing she seemed relieved that he was probably still alive.

"Clearly there is a story there," He thought to himself. "But she has done everything right so far and she did return this remnant of my family's ancestral blade to me when she was the only one that knew exactly what it entailed. I can't say I have reason to distrust her loyalty. And we all have a past."

Deciding her story could wait, Jon sheathed the blade and turned to store it on a sack that was tied to his dragon's saddle, just beside Dark Sister. The keep's men had done some improvement in the last few hours with their leatherworking skills. Now it could carry more weight. Once he was done, resolved to come up with a new name for the reforged half of his ancestral sword at a later date and turned back to the knight in all but name.

"Thank you very much for your service," The young king said, earnestly. "Even if it's not in its original form, this blade is still part of Ice, and having it back in our hands feels like a good omen to me. In the meantime, I will be honored if you keep using Oathkeeper to defend my family."

The tall warrioress bowed. "The honor would be mine, your Grace, I assure you."

"Excellent. Now, as you can see, it's high noon already. So, let's go to Riverrun's Godswood. It's time to send Blackfish's handpicked veterans from the War of the Five Kings to reinforce Sansa's position."