Chapter Text
Italics = inner thoughts or non-english language
The Star Stark
Chapter One
A cold wind rolled down through the valleys of the Vale of Arryn while the snow slowly fell down the hundreds of high peaks of the mountains. The frozen dirt chipped under the hooves of a heavy horse trotting through the thin winding roads of the valley pass. The small roots of the dead fescue were torn from the frozen soil without much effort on the animal's part. The thousands of prints trailing behind the horse were beginning to be covered by the harsh snow of the Vale. The hot breathing of the mounted animal steamed from its nostrils and mouth while it marched towards The Gates of the Moon.
The young man on the horse's back sported a thin beard on his face hidden under a thick woolen hood. The cloak he wore covered him well enough during the harsh winter he rode through. Leather gloves kept his hands warm while he clenched onto the reins. A brown padded gambeson kept him warm along with a rather thick wool shirt and leggings. A thin leather covered brigandine kept his torso more protected from the malcontents that burrowed in the many caves and caverns of the Vale mountains. A thick kite shield bearing a grey wolf’s head was strapped to his back, and a simple longsword was looped into a riveted rawhide belt at his hip. The cruciform hilt caught a few falling flakes of snow, but they fell from the constant jostling of the weapon.
He looked up into the cloud covered sky to see only a ray of sunlight piercing the wintery covering of the heavens. Some of the frozen deluge caused him to turn his head back to the road, but the sudden crack of thunder frightened his eyes back to the sky. He saw dozens of massive fireballs soaring down from the sky, splitting into many smaller fire covered stones. The horse began to panic due to the deafening noise, but its rider pushed it to gallop forward.
It raced forwards while the ground began to shake under the horse. The young man heard the sound of the stones slamming into the mountains. He turned his head to see the top half of a mountain breaking into massive chunks of stone. He slapped the reins hard in his own panic trying to escape the oncoming chaos. Meteors crashed in front of him, blasting snow and dirt onto him while he rode through the shower of fiery stone. Each sound of shattering stone terrified him, but a hellish whistling caught his ear until something massive slammed only twenty yards in front of him.
His horse bucked him into the snow before it raced back into the valley. He groaned loudly while the sound of fire burning the frozen grass popped around him. He rolled onto his stomach before pushing himself to his feet. He spit out a mouthful of blood into the melted snow before turning to look at a large metal object.
What in the world, he thought while fire burned around him. He wiped his mouth before walking over to the huge geometric object. Sharp angular lines cut across its surface into smooth circular swells. It was segmented into overlapping plates of grey metal that all ended with a spherical shape at its front. The welded lines on the front plate all ended in a sigil branded onto the plate. A large diamond shape with a large ‘S’ filling most of the space.
“What the Hell?” he mumbled before the spherical plate split into four equal parts. White smoke escaped the capsule, but the sound of an infant crying caught the man's ear instantly. A baby, he thought while the plates fully pulled back to reveal an infant covered in a red blanket.
He leapt into the fiery crater without second thought, and raced to the craft where the child wailed. He scooped the child out with both arms while seeing a few things that had been seemingly sent with him. He folded a piece of his cloak around the child before grabbing the small trinkets that occupied the capsule. He climbed back out of the smoke filled dent in the earth, and looked at the child. He dropped the trinkets he had taken, and inspected the boy thoroughly for any injury. The baby started to quiet down, yet thousands of questions still filled the space between them.
He knelt down to pick up the few things he had thrown to the ground, slipped them into a leather satchel, and he walked down the snow covered road. He made his way for nearly an hour before he was met by a dozen horse bound Knights bearing a soaring falcon sigil on their shields.
“Lord Stark?! Is that you, good man?” an older fellow asked.
“Aye, it is, Ser Nestor,” he sighed, watching the older Knight dismount his horse. “What brings you out here?”
“Did you…?” he asked before seeing a baby in Ned's arms. “Is that a child, my Lord?”
“Aye. I need to see Lord Arryn, now,” he said to the Knight who served his warder. A heavy stone flew into the helmet of one of the Knights, knocking the man dead off his horse. The rest of the men ripped their swords free before twenty Mountain Clansmen stormed them from their hiding places up the cliff faces.
“Burnt Men! Knights of the Vale, keep Lord Stark safe!” Nestor shouted, cutting one woman's stomach open. Ned pulled the baby tight to his chest while the horsebound Knights began to chase some of the Clansmen off, but one man whose eye was burnt out dashed towards him with a pike. He stepped aside at the last moment, driving the tip of his sword into the attacker's throat. Blood spewed from the Clansman's mouth until Ned ripped his sword through the warrior's neck.
Another man bearing an ash bow let loose an arrow into Ned's back, but it buried itself in his shield. Ned stumbled to one knee before the archer's head was smashed with a massive hammer. “Fucking bastards!!” roared a large man with an antler helmet.
“Lord Robert! What are…?” Nestor yelled, smashing his weapon's pommel onto a Clansman's head.
“Shove it, Ser Nestor! We've got Clansman to crush!!” Robert shouted, watching the few men who remained scatter back into the jagged mountain. “Fuck you then, you damned cretins!!” he huffed, laying his hammer onto his left shoulder. “Damn… this has been… quite a day. Hasn't it, Ser Nestor?” he huffed, beginning to laugh.
“I'd say, Lord Robert,” the Knight said, bowing his head. Robert clenched his jaw while he dismounted his steed.
“Don't call me that,” he said, laying the hammer's head on the snow. “You… alright?” he asked his friend while he pulled the poorly made arrow from the shield.
“Aye,” he said, standing back to his feet. “You?” he said, trying to calm the baby back into silence.
“Is that a baby?” the large young man asked.
“No, Robert. It's just a rock,”
“I should have asked where you got the damn thing. Is it a bastard, maybe? You whelp a boy out of some village girl while I was gone, you devious fuck?” he chuckled, wagging his finger in the baby’s face.
“I would never dishonor a woman like that. I know how to finish outside, unlike you. Tell me, how's Mya fairing?” he asked, causing the both of them to laugh.
“She is ten moons now. Healthy as a horse, I'd say,” he said, smiling once the baby began to sleep. “So, why do you have this child?” he asked his friend.
“I… I found him on my ride back from Redfort Castle,”
“You just found an infant in the mountains, and you took it? That's ridiculous, Ned. This could have been someone's baby,”
“It wasn't. I know it wasn't,” he said, walking towards The Gates.
“Where did you find it, Ned? We can send some men to look for it's family,”
“You won't, Robert. I don't think it has any,”
“Ned! Damn it,” he groaned, following after his friend. “How could you possibly know this?”
“Go eastward down the valley road five miles. You can't miss it,” he said, kneeling down to the dead Knight who fell from his horse. “Ser Nestor, who was this man?” he asked of the Keeper of the Gates.
“Ser Castor. Nathan Castor,” he said, cleaning his sword with his cloak. “Take his horse back to The Gates. We'll get him home to his family,”
“Family?”
“A wife and two boys. Phillip and Samwell,”
“Their fate?”
“They'll be fine, Eddard. Lord Arryn will see to it,” he assured the young man. “Get going. The boy does not need to be out in the cold any longer,” he told the young Notherman. Ned mounted the horse slowly with the boy in his arm, and rode west down the road in a smooth canter.
The young Ned finally arrived in the bustling castle where his warder ruled during the bitter years of winter. All the folk who raced through the yard had faces of anxiety while the guards stood in their posts.
“Welcome back, Ned,” a man of nearly thirty said. “I'm glad to see you didn't receive any wounds from that meteor shower,”
“No, but we were set upon by some Clansmen. They killed Ser Castor I'm afraid. Nestor and the others will bring his body back to his family,” he said, dismounting the horse. “This stead belonged to him,” he said to the heir of House Arryn.
“I'll have his horse returned to…” Elbert said, finally noticing the child in Ned's arms. “Is that a…?”
“Yes. I found him along the road. Where is Lord Jon?” he asked the Knight of House Arryn.
“He's in the central hall with a few men to coordinate a response. Should I fetch you a wetnurse?”
“Do. Send her to the hall for me,” he said, walking into the great castle. Jon was leaning over a table with several well dressed men surrounding him.
“I'm sure most of the other Lords are already coordinating a response in their lands, but some sort of a response from you wouldn't be out of the question,” the steward said to his Lord.
“We may not be able to send much aid to the further Houses, but send out a group of Knights to Redfort Castle in the next few days,” Lord Arryn said, standing tall from the table.
“Lord Arryn,”
“Ned! Thank the Gods you're safe,” he said, walking over to the Stark he has raised. “I was worried you had been hurt,” he said, stopping less than an arm's length from his foster son. “Is that a child?”
“It is. We need to speak in private, Lord Jon,” Ned said, seeing Jon's face begin to twist into a frown. “It's not my bastard, Lord Arryn. I found him along the road,”
“You just took a child?”
“Should I have left it to die in the snow?”
“No. I do not fault you, but what about its parents…”
“We need the chamber. Please, Jon,” he whispered to Jon. The old Arryn Lord waved out the men who were around the table, and they quickly left the hall to the two men.
“Now… what is it, Ned?” he said, looking down at the infant. “You don't have to worry,”
“You need to understand what I'm about to say is the truth,”
“Ned? What are you about to tell me?” he said, watching Ned pull out a foot long blue shard of crystal ice.
“This boy crashed on the road from the meteor shower. I found him in some kind of metal… craft with these things around him. I don't know anymore than that,” he said while Jon took the crystal.
“I… Ned this is… beyond unbelievable. Do you have any proof?”
“The craft is still on the road, and the crystal I just gave you. There is nothing like this I have ever seen. The ice of The Wall is the only thing like it I have ever seen, and I don't even know what it is,”
“Are you certain?”
“Why are you questioning my words, Lord Jon? Have I ever lied like this before?”
“What you're suggesting is beyond madness. You're saying that this boy might be… I frankly don't even know what you're trying to imply,”
“That… maybe this boy isn't… from this world,” Ned mumbled, seeing a woman enter the chamber.
“Lord Stark, Ser Elbert sent me to find you,” she said, bowing her head to the two men.
“Yes, my lady. This boy requires your services, and I'd ask you to provide them until he's old enough,” he said, handing the boy over to the wetnurse.
“Of course, but I doubt they'll be needed for too long,” she said, cradling the boy in her arms.
“May I ask why?” Ned asked the wetnurse.
“He's too heavy to be an infant. He's maybe… a year and a bit. I'd say eighteen months,” she said, pulling her breast free of her dress. “Best he eats some soft solids more than my milk,” she said, coaxing the baby to latch.
“We can speak more about this later, but we need to keep this quiet,” Jon said to Ned. Some time passed by until the Knights returned from the valley road with Robert at the head of the formation. The Baratheon Lord quickly dismounted his horse, and made hisbway to the massive round tower at the top of a set of stairs. Robert stormed into the central hall with Nestor at his back.
“Where the Hell is it, Ned?!” Robert shouted, stomping towards his friend. “Where's the boy?!”
“Calm down, Robert,” Ned said, shooting to his feet. “You do not need to shout like a mad man, Robert,”
“Mad man? That… thing came out of that metal craft. The damn thing is stronger than steel, and heavy as a fucking war galley for fuck sake. We couldn't get it moved with nearly a dozen horses. Not a single budge, so I doubt it was made in Westeros. You seemed to think it fell out of the damn sky, so did it? Did this baby drop out of the fucking air like rain, or was this just some massive coincidence?”
“Does that really matter, Robert? It's a child for mercy's sake,”
“It's not human, Ned,”
“It looked human enough! It has eyes, a nose, fingers, toes, and a little cock just like every other baby boy in Westeros!”
“That doesn't mean anything! Valyrians looked normal as well, but they could ride dragons. This boy is not a human, at least we can't make that assumption,”
“Why are you making the assumption he's not human?!”
“Humans don't just fall from the fucking sky, Ned. That is just ridiculous, even for a fool,”
“Enough!” Lord Arryn roared, entering the chamber. “The people here are frightened enough by the recent disaster, and they don't need you two shouting like hysterical women,” the Vale Lord said, stepping to his foster son's side. “The both of you will come to my chamber now. You will say nothing of this until the door is shut behind the both of you. I want this under control for now, so go find those Knights who rode out with you Ser Nestor,”
“As you command,” the Royce Knight said, nodding his head before turning back out of the hall. Jon waved the young men to follow after him to his chamber. The three Lords walk for some time until Jon pushes the door open. The first thing Ned hears is the crying of a baby, causing him to push past Jon with considerable force. Ned saw the old Maester inspecting the crying boy with metallic tongs. Blood was running down the boy's foot into a thin glass dish that was held by the Maester.
“Stop that! You're hurting him for Gods’ sake,” Ned shouted, pulling the child into his arms away from the Maester.
“I… I was just doing some inspections of the boy as Lord Arryn requested,” the Maester said to Ned in a huff. “Nothing too invasive, young Ned,” he told him while Jon brushed himself.
“You had no need to cut his foot as you did. No good reason,”
“The inspection of blood is vital to understanding the creature,”
“Do not call the boy that,”
“For fuck sake Ned. This isn't your son, so stop acting like it,” Robert groaned.
“He may have no Father, so who will protect him? Raise him?”
“You're still a young man, Ned. This shouldn't be your responsibility to bear,” Jon told him.
“I am the second son of Winterfell, so what responsibilities do I have?”
“Many to your family. You may rule a holdfast of your own one day,”
“You think that means I can not care for this boy?”
“I am saying you shouldn't have to. You are young, and free of responsibility as of this day. You do not have to burden yourself with this child,”
“I would one day, so why leave this boy to some orphanage? I have already protected him from danger, so why should I send him away?”
“Ned, this is not a choice to be made so rashly. This boy could be dangerous, so all I ask of you is to be cautious and patient. Rushing into this could be a foolish decision,” Jon told the young man. “I know you might be attached to him because of what has happened, but you may change your mind, or how you feel could change. All I am asking is for you to… take it at a slow pace. These decisions you've been making are rash, so just calm your nerves,” he said while Ned cooed at the baby.
“I… I just…” he sighed, wiping off the child's tears. “He needed me, and I don't know why… but I just acted. To protect him felt like the first real decision I have ever made. I don't know how to explain it, but it felt right,”
“Every good man feels that while protecting the innocent, but raising a boy takes more than that,”
“I didn't say I would make the boy my own,”
“You may have not said it, but you sure are acting as his Father. Now, hand me the boy,”
“Why?”
“So that I may see him. I haven't gotten a good look at him yet,” the old Lord said, taking the child from Ned's arms. “My word! He's a heavy boy. I think the young lady was right. About a year and a half I'd guess,” he said, watching the boy reach back to Ned. “Aw… come now. I'm not that foul looking,” he said before the baby began to cry once more. Ned quickly took the boy back into his own arms, and the boy began to calm down. “Well, it seems he's rather attached to you already,” Jon said, folding his own arms.
“Ukr… ukr,” the boy mumbled.
“By the Seven! It just spoke,” the Maester gasped. “Incredible! Simply amazing,”
“What does it mean?” Ned asked, looking over at the Maester before turning to look back at Jon.
“My guess. Father… or something like that. Papa perhaps,” Robert grumbled.
“How could you know that?” Ned asked, looking down at the baby.
“I know that look… that sound in a child's voice. It sounds like he feels safe,” the Baratheon Lord said, walking over to Ned's side. He leaned close to his friend's head while placing his hand on the Stark's shoulder. “I don't want you to make a rash decision, but I'm here for you no matter what is ahead of us,” he whispered to his friend. The barrel chested Lord quickly made his way out of the chamber while the others stood in the silence of the large chamber.
The night was remarkably quiet despite the absolute pandemonium the day had wrought upon the people of the Vale of Arryn. The only folk who still walked about the castle were the well covered guards who huddled around lit sconces, or gathered around an oiled torch that was held by one of them. Most folk inside the thick stone walls of The Gates were resting as much as they could, yet Ned remained completely awake watching over the new crib he had in his chamber. The baby boy laid on a pile of furs while the crib he slept in was close to the burning hearth. The young man listened to each of the struggling breaths the boy took, but Ned couldn't seem to make a choice regarding the child. He sighed with his hands running down his haggard face until he heard a soft noise coming from his bedside table.
He looked down at the boy once more before he softly walked over to the noise. He saw one of the otherworldly trinkets that seemed to be humming in a rhythmic manner. The crystal flashed a soft white light while the noise began to fade. He grabbed the shard softly, and brought it close to his face while the light faded as well.
“So, you are the one who found my son?” a voice said from some unknown part of the chamber. Ned spun around the chamber until he saw a man standing in a strange garb near the crib. “Do not be afraid, young man. I am not really here, not in any physical sense,” he said, leaning over to look down at the baby.
“Who the Hell are you?” Ned growled, grabbing his sword from his bedside. He tossed the crystal to the floor, but the man vanished without a sound. He felt the noise run out of his ears, but he didn't bother trusting his own senses. He slowly drew his blade free of its scabbard before the noise returned. He looked down to the shard, and saw its light blinking once more. He placed his hand on the sharp geometric object, but saw feet appear back near the cradle.
“Worry not, young man. I am not here to harm anyone,” he said, disappearing again once Ned took his hand from the crystal. He began to ponder what he thought was a foolish idea, but he laid his palm onto the thickest part of the crystal. “So you finally understand it then, yes?”
“How… is this even possible?”
“It projects my consciousness into your mind through means that you wouldn't understand if we had a year to speak. You can perceive me with all of your senses, and I can gather what you perceive into my false consciousness,”
“False consciousness?”
“Yes. I am not really here. Merely a… facsimile of the man who was Jor-El,” he said, lowering his hand into the crib. “A worse fate than death of which the real Jor-El has already suffered,” Jor-El said while Ned strode over to him.
“What are you babbling about?”
“I am really dead. So is my wife Lara… as are the rest of my people… all of Krypton,” he said, trying to run his fingers down the baby's face. “Now I remain here, unable to feel my son's skin on my hand… all because they would not listen… because I didn't have enough time to send our family away to this world. I could only save him. My Kal…”
“So he isn't from this world… Robert was right,” Ned sighed, laying his hand on the rail of the cradle.
“Does that change what you shall do?”
“I don't even really know what I was going to do with him. I… I have quite a bit of thinking to do,”
“Have you not been caring for him?”
“I have, but I don't really know how. I don't have children of my own, but I felt… like this boy needed me,”
“You protected my Kal?”
“Aye. We were attacked by some Clansmen, but they're no problem now,”
“Then you are worth a hundred men to me. To protect him is something I do not know how to repay with something… physical until he is older,”
“He needed me, so I did what any man would do,” Ned said to the man in his mind. “He's struggling to breathe though… and I do not know what to do,”
“He's just adjusting to your… air. It's richer in certain elements that his lungs are not used to. It will be a few months before he's accustomed to it,”
“So… this is natural?”
“He'll grow stronger. Stronger than any man on this planet,” Jor-El said, looking over to Ned. “All of this will be told to Kal when he is ready. All I have to ask of you is to protect my son. Promise this dead man you'll be the Father he needs. Promise me,” he said to the young man. The young Stark saw the deep blue in Jor-El's eyes, and understood what he needed to do.
“I swear it, Jor-El,” he said with a nod. He watched as the ghost smiled before vanishing from his presence. Ned looked down to the toddler in the crib, and ran his thumb across his cheek. “So, I guess you are… a Stark now. You may not have my name, or my blood… but you have everything else I can give you,” he whispered before walking over to his bed for some much needed rest.
End of Chapter