[Chapter Size: 2454 Words]

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  Third Person POVNorthern Kingdom, Farm north of Tallhart Territory, 289 AC, a few hours ter

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  The farm Jon discovered to be called Icehill Farm was managed by three families. They harvested every four months during the summer years ahe produce to their lord's town to the south. Iurn, they received profits after dedug the use of their nds, tools, and seeds.

  The eldest man Jon had met a few hours earlier, named Dult, was a North-born man and the overall head here, being the oldest. His younger brother, from another family, was another Northerner, introdug himself to Jon as Lucas. Their parents, the Pik family, were the former owners of the farm, a family of peasant farmers. The farm was managed by their parents' parents, brothers, and some sisters who married other farmers in the area. They were the only ones left from the old geioo past winters; their parents had passed away, leaving the children to take over the nd.

  A third family joihe farm to work as traders aiators for the farm itself. The patriarch of this third family was in Torrhen Square to duct business with their lord's test shipment of grains.

  Dult, the 40-nameday man, had four children. Three of them were on the farm when Jon arrived, with one son and one daughter the same age as Jon, and two young adults aged 18 and 20 namedays. His wife was at home taking care of their younger children and household chores.

  Lucas, at 30 namedays, had only two teenage children since his wife died giving birth to the you. He initially left the farm to his older brother and became a guard for the Tallharts' house for years, but returo the farm a few years ago to help his brother after their parents died.

  The trader family's patriarch was Greg, with three daughters and two sons, both still children, as Greg Juit was 24 namedays old. The family had no blood retion to the two brothers here, but their parents knew Greg's parents, so they were weled to work as iators here because Greg had some literad khe Juit family's business.

  Jon, initially cautious, opened up to the families and got along well with the weling families for a night. The adult wome sympathy for Jon's story and easily embraced him with warmth. The girls were excited about such a handsome boy with eyes they had never seen before arriving at their door. As children, they wao py with him all the time. Even the elders, with a brief exge of words with the boy from the forest, ended up liking talking to Jon. They still found his story absurd but appreciated Jon's ability to speak and handle words like any noble's child. He shared various things he had heard and read in Winterfell, which garnered much admiration from the families as they could learories. The boy realized for the first time how making friends was so easy, unlike his old home where he would have to hide from any visitor, and the servants would never be willing to talk to him.

  Jon, in turn, was moved by the families of this humble farm. He couldn't remember being treated so kindly in Winterfell, except by his sister and father. He warmed up to people like these. They weled him, despite his absurd and suspicious stave him some food, even though the ditions of these families would make aurn away a stra their door, let alone bring him to their own table to spend a night here.

  For Jon, after seeing all this kindness firsthand, he didn't care how poor their ditions were or how the food was inferior to that of Winterfell. The boy was beginning to see how the world was much bigger than he imagined while in Winterfell, and of course, Jon had a great help here to get along with the families, and that help was Caraxes, who, with Jon's magic, developed an intelligehat a normal bird shouldn't have. This made everyone enjoy his attempts at singing and his ce to attract people's attention. The young eagle had a somewhat narcissistic personality and had a pulsion to bee the ter of attention.

  At the end of the night, Jon y in a bed on that farm and ehe cold to get some sleep that night. It was something many families like these were used to, and he was too, to some extent, due to his cold room in Winterfell. But his heart was warmed for the first time in a long while.

  -------------------------------------------Dult POVNorthern Kingdom, Icehill Farm, 289 AC, the m.-------------------------------------------

  That child was kind, amiable, intelligent, and even literate.

  "How could anyone send a child like this to the Wall? If this child's parents are sending him to such a fate, I'll raise the child myself!" the older man on the farm said to himself.

  "I agree, my love," said his 35-nameday wife, Myka, who heard him murmur as she woke up.

  "He would be an addition to this farm, and we could have him marry our you daughter, Petra, in a few years," she added, and I had to agree with her reasoning.

  "When I asked him the reason foing north, to the Wall, he avoided all my questions," I said i; the boy was a mystery. "Knowing it was a sensitive subject for him, I didn't press it for now, but I want to stop him from going to the Wall."

  "Anyway, you talk to him while he's here; now let's prepare a meal for our children while they're still asleep," she said, getting up and heading to the kit.

  I sighed and got up too, hoping to talk to the boy ter.

  After setting the tables, while my family along with my brother's and Greg's were ing for their meal, Jon finally appeared with his little eagle. He seemed well-rested, not that I say he looked tired to begin with, but I'm always surprised by his geics with incredibly handsome features for a boy and his peculiar eyes. It's amazing that even though he's a Snow, he had a good education and lived well, despite being a bit lean. His education was good, something that would even make my older children ashamed.

  "Good m, everyone," Jon said with a shy smile.

  "Good m!" The children and wome greeted him. Jon sat down; he didn't seem very fortable, but he managed. His children, nephews, and Greg's children began chatting animatedly with Jon.

  Ahing that surprised me, despite his manners, our families had terrible ditions, something that shouldn't be the reality for someone like Jon. However, there was no disdain in his eyes, more like empathy. I am determio have Jon join our families; he would be a great addition with Greg. Greg knows a few things about reading and writing, but nowhere near ideal, and Jon growing up here to be a trader would be highly appreciated by someoerate like the boy, who was also very intelligent.

  Watg the boy eat and verse with his childrehusiastically, I couldn't help but notice how he sometimes talked to the bird. Besides its magical appearahere was that strangely intelligent bird, as if we could speak to the bird itself, and it uood us most of the time, something greatly appreciated by my children. Yes, an animal shouldn't uand humans, but this bird seemed to do just that.

  While lost in my thoughts, the boy suddenly called me.

  "MR. Dult, could we talk aloer this meal?" the boy said, pulling Dult out of his thoughts.

  "Of course, Jo's talk, and you don't o address me like that; I'm not a Lord, just a oner, so just Dult is enough," I said, feeling that this would be the opportunity to talk to the boy about my ideas and his future, even though I didn't think it would be this soon to discuss it with him.

  After the boys had their first meal, where everyone was still chatting with Jon about legends, wars in the South, and ughing at Caraxes's antics, they finally went for a walk together. He was sure he could prevent the boing to the Wall, seeing how Jon became emotional and ected with his family, despite being a bit shy. Knowing equally well that bastards didn't have a normal or very happy life, even here in the North, where they might be treated better than in the South, it was still a tough life. From what I saw, though, from that expression Jon gave most of the time and how he was very cautious initially with strangers, it seemed like it was a much worse life than usual. I wondered which family Jon beloo and why they would send him to the Wall, something he refused to ent on his reason and family all night, saying it ersonal for his children. I wao know who in the North behaved like a southerner around bastards; I khis because I had heard from traders that bastards in the South live a shitty life when I visited the city with Greg. If the illegitimate children weren't killed at birth, they were thrown into some random orphanage. After thinking for a bit, I gathered ce and said to Jon.

  "Little Jon, would you like to stay with our families instead of going to the Wall?" I said without expeg much, but I noticed the expressions aions on the boy. I saw a shocked expression on his face; I even saw his eyes get a little moist. "What kind of life has this boy lived?" Dult thought in shock when he saw this rea.

  "Dult, I'm sorry, if it were some time ago, I would really accept, but going to the Wall is something even the gods need me to do..." the boy said relutly. If Dult could read his mind, he would see that Jon was gerying to stay with his family.

  Ign the godly things, thinking it was a way of saying, I tinued insisting.

  "I really would like to insist that you stay; we're poor, but we wele a child with such a cruel fate," I said. But when I saw the boy not responding to me and looking at me cautiously, I thought about discussing this at aime. Now I was curious about why he called me to talk.

  "But, if that's not the case, may I ask why you wao talk?" I said a bit curious. Jon looked at him and said:

  "I need a map, Dult, to get out of here and go to my destination in the north, for that, I need silver stag s and buy a..." Jon said, and Dult looked cautious as to where the boy was going; he was still insisting on going to the Wall.

  "What do you mean, Jon? You know we're poor; money is a hard thing for us and to sustain three families," I said to the boy.

  "But I have a way to make you earn the money I need; I make your harvest thrive like no other, turn your ile feions to e, you won't be poor anymore. I just want enough money for a map iurn," the boy said, making me remain silent for a while processing everything I heard.

  "How could I say anything after hearing this? Wasn't it absurd for a child to speak such fanciful words? Does Jon think he's blessed or something?" I excimed all these phrases in my mind as I looked at the child the same age as my own.

  After a while, incredulous, I said, "And how do you pn to do that?" I finally said, not that I still didn't think all of this was absurd, but I wao see the child's response. Without saying anything more, Jon walked a few steps to the harvest area where we had removed all the new grains and pnted new ohat we still had in stock.

  I watched him carefully the whole time, w if the child would perform some kind of trick or py. I was even starting to find the situation amusing, something that reminded me of my children and their childish absurdities. But when he was about to py with it, my jaw dropped a little.

  Jon pressed both hands into the ground; I was now looking in disbelief at the child, w what he was doing because I felt that something was going to happen, a premonition like no other.

  "I pn to do it like this, watch." Jon said, and in his hand, a green glow began to appear where he touched the soil while pressing the ground.

  I was looking in shock at that magical light, w if I was still asleep after all.

  And then I had the vision, the vision that I would never fet in my life. The harvest they had just pnted with the new seeds i few days, the pntation that wouldn't be ready for the 4 months, the ohat I was sure most of it would die, due to ck of nutrients, pests, or wild animals, suddenly in front of my eyes, began to magically grow at an instant speed, and soon, in that harvest area, it transformed entirely into a green pntation, c 100% of the area.

  I fell on the ground directly with my butt on the soil after losing my bah this; I still couldn't believe my eyes, was pletely incredulous with this miracle.

  This small pnting was at least 5 times rger than what he would harvest throughout the year ial area of his farm.

  'How is this possible?'

  'Did the boy really do this?'

  'Is he truly a child of the forest?'

  'I've never heard of anything like this, let alone seen it in person!'

  'Is this real?'

  'What in the North is this child?'

  "This child... this child..." I began to whisper as my gaze returo the child responsible for all this.

  I noticed Jon on the ground too, breathing irregurly and with blood on his nose.

  "YOU ARE... YOU ARE... BLES... YOU ARE BLESSED BY THE GODS!?" I shouted hysterically, no longer ag like a 40-year-old adult should.

  The boy looked at me timidly, shamefully, and said

  " you keep a secret?" He asked me as I was about to faint with all of this.

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