Game of Thrones: The Long Night Begins At Dawn – ASOIAF/GOT GOT

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[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]

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Cornelia's unusual silence on the way back to Winterfell worried Ned and Robb for a long time, but no one commented. Everyone knew that words would not make sense at that moment.

Cornelia was stunned. Although she felt better than she had at the execution site, her mind was still confused. Thoughts wandered through her head, but she couldn't focus on any of them.

Maybe she just needed time to adjust. Time was running out, and she knew she had to adjust quickly. Compared to the wind, rain, and storms the future would bring, the events of that day were just small ripples on a calm lake.

While she was still lost in her thoughts, Ned and the others abruptly stopped their horses, bringing her back to reality. She looked in the direction of her father and brothers, confused, but couldn't see anything. Even so, she felt the tension and silent anger building in the air.

"What happened?" Cornelia asked.

She noticed that Ned and the others had dismounted and moved forward. She hurried to dismount as well and took her walking stick, given to her by her father, holding it firmly. She began to walk slowly, exploring the terrain ahead. At the same time, a rancid smell reached her nostrils.

"Lia, don't go any further! It's too dirty here!" Robb warned.

Cornelia was already close to them. Robb stopped her before she could go any further. They weren't going back the same way they came; Ned had decided to make some detours for them to relax. However, they found a carcass of a moose in the middle of the road.

At a glance, it was obvious that the animal had been dead for a long time. Its body was decomposing, and worms were eating the rotten flesh. Cornelia, who always valued cleanliness, was disgusted. A scene like that was too much to bear.

"What is it?" Cornelia asked, being stopped by Robb. She already had an idea of what was happening from the smell in the air, so she obeyed and stopped where she was.

"It's a dead deer," Jon replied, frowning, looking at the fallen animal with its exposed intestines.

"Was it a mountain lion?" Theon speculated, stepping forward to get a better look.

"There are no mountain lions in this area," Ned said, looking around attentively. Suddenly, something in the rocks near the river below caught his attention. Without hesitation, he began to descend toward the river, followed naturally by Robb and the others.

Bran took Cornelia's hand and carefully guided her around the deer carcass so they could follow the others. When they reached the edge of the road and were about to descend, Jon stopped them, forcing Cornelia to wait there.

Initially, Cornelia planned to obey and stay still, but then she heard her father's voice from the river below. It woke her from her trance.

"Yes! Every Stark child had a direwolf, and it was at this moment they would find them!"

Cornelia remembered watching Game of Thrones in the past. She had always admired the Stark family and, especially, envied Robb and his brothers for having such majestic direwolves.

But her excitement quickly faded. In total, there were only six direwolves, enough for each of the six Stark children in the original book. She, being an outsider in this story, had no right to one.

"Alright," Cornelia thought. She might not have a direwolf, but that wouldn't stop her from playing with theirs, right?

"No!" Bran's exclamation brought Cornelia back from her distant thoughts. She had to admit that she had been distracted ever since they left the execution site.

When she focused again, she clearly heard her father's order for the direwolf pups to be killed. Since the mother wolf was dead, the pups wouldn't survive on their own. Theon was already holding a dagger and was about to act, tearing the small wolf from Bran's hands. Fortunately, Robb stopped him in time.

"I obey your father, not you!" Theon retorted, holding the pup tightly. Cornelia frowned, surprised and irritated.

Bran watched the little wolf struggle in Theon's hands and desperately pleaded for mercy from his father. But Ned did not retract his order.

"Lord Stark, there are six wolves in total! One for each Stark child. The direwolf is the symbol of your house. Finding them is destiny," Jon said, trying to appeal to Ned's sense of honor.

Jon couldn't bear the idea of seeing the helpless pups killed. He intervened when Ned was about to walk away. His words, however, deeply frustrated Cornelia.

"How is this right? Isn't one missing? Are you forgetting Rickon and me?" Cornelia questioned. "But if there are only six, then I don't want one. You boys and the wolves make the perfect match. Arya will love having hers. As for Sansa, even though she's a little younger than me, she's my sister, and I should let her have one."

Cornelia frowned and finally grabbed her cane to explore the path. Ser Rodrik, who had already descended, took her hand, helping her so she wouldn't fall.

She knew her mother, Catelyn, had never liked Jon. To Catelyn, Jon's existence was proof of Ned's disloyalty. Cornelia understood her mother's pain but saw that her brothers lived in harmony and that Ned had never been biased. To her, they were all family, and Jon was part of it.

Cornelia also knew that her mother's unfavorable treatment of Jon must have left him resentful. That's why, for years, she had tried to bridge the gap between them.

Repeatedly, she had tried to convince her mother to give Jon a true surname, something that recognized him as a Stark, instead of "Snow," which symbolized illegitimacy. However, her efforts had been in vain.

The resentment in Catelyn's heart ran too deep. Even mentioning this subject made her unhappy, and now, Jon's words frustrated and saddened Cornelia deeply. She just wanted him to understand that he had always been a member of the Stark family.

Besides, there were only six direwolves, and they rightfully belonged to her brothers. Even though she loved them, she had no claim to them.

Jon looked at Cornelia, who insisted on walking to the river. He wanted to say something, but the words died in his throat. His eyes welled up, and he lowered his gaze, resigned.

"Father, if Bran and the others like them, let them keep them!" Cornelia said firmly. "What Jon said makes sense. Maybe it's destiny to find them."

"You must train them with your own hands, feed them with your own hands, and, if they die, you will bury them with your own hands," Ned stated, looking at each of his children.

Cornelia's words eased some of the tension in Ned's heart. He glanced at Jon, who remained silent, and finally nodded, agreeing to let the wolves live. However, thinking about Jon's words, a feeling of helplessness overcame him. He turned and began to walk away.

Catelyn's resentment was a knot that was hard to untie, but Ned only wished that his children could truly be brothers. That would be enough.

With the decision made, Theon sheathed the dagger and handed the little wolf back to Bran. Robb stepped forward, took two of the pups, and handed them to Theon, then held onto two more himself.

"I'll give this one to you! I don't need it! I know you like it. As you said, as a brother, I must give in to my sister."

Jon took a step forward, grabbed the last direwolf, which was still circling the dead wolf's body, and walked over to Cornelia. Without saying a word, he placed the wolf into her arms.

Jon knew that Cornelia loved direwolves. She had always liked these furry and fierce creatures, but he knew the wolf became particularly docile in her presence. Jon didn't mind being without a wolf if it could make her happy.

"I said I don't want it, I don't want it! This one is yours!" Cornelia insisted.

Although she smiled happily at Jon's gesture, she resolutely handed the direwolf back to him. She knew that, in the original story, there were only six direwolves, one for each Stark child. This would be Ghost, the white wolf who should be Jon's loyal companion. She couldn't take something that belonged to him.

"Stop arguing, you two! Is something missing?" Robb said, helplessly seeing both of them insist on giving in. He was about to intervene when his eyes noticed a movement in the grass behind a tree. A white, fluffy tail swayed gently.

"Another direwolf?" Robb murmured.

"There's another one?" Cornelia thought, surprised, her hand still hovering in the air. "There were only six wolves, right? Why is there another one? It can't be that there's one just because of me, can it?"

"It's true, there's another one! So this one is yours, Cornelia!" Jon said, walking to the tree and pulling out the pup. It was completely white, with no traces of gray fur, looking like a small fox.

"In that case, there's exactly one for each of us!" Bran exclaimed, petting his direwolf with joy.

"Hey, Snow! This one's as white as you! A bastard to another bastard!" joked Theon, looking at the pure white wolf in Jon's arms.

"Theon! Shut up!" Cornelia scolded, irritated. She really hated when he spoke like that. None of her brothers ever mentioned Jon's origins, and even though their mother didn't like him, she never said it openly.

But even in Winterfell, there were always people like Theon saying cruel things about Jon. Cornelia couldn't control what they said behind his back, but she would never allow them to speak like that in front of her.

"Sorry, Lia!" Theon murmured, noticing Cornelia's displeasure. His voice was filled with shame and frustration.

"By the way, Jon, what did you mean by that? Why do I feel so lost?" Cornelia asked, shifting her attention away from Theon.

She stepped forward and raised the direwolf in front of them, frowning as if she were truly distressed.

"I can't see anything during the day! You just grabbed one and tossed it into my arms, saying it was mine. How am I supposed to know which one is the prettiest? I want to choose the prettiest one before Arya and Sansa come back. And none of you, not even Bran, can compete with me on that!"

Cornelia shook her head seriously. She wasn't joking. She had never denied her ability to perceive beauty. Even if it was a direwolf, she believed hers should be the most beautiful.

"Didn't you say you didn't want one? Now you're choosing?" Jon smiled, a genuine warmth filling his heart. He knew the real meaning behind Cornelia's words. Still, he looked seriously at the seven pups in everyone's arms and chose one of the wolves Robb was holding.

"How about this one? He's the most majestic!" Jon said, handing the wolf to Cornelia and taking the one in her arms to give to Robb.

Cornelia always preferred beautiful things. Just like she had been enchanted by the blacksmith Bob's beautiful horse, while ignoring the black, bald dog named Happy from the Aris family. Of course, maybe it was because Happy was too dirty.

As for the wolf in her arms, Jon liked it.

Sometimes, many things do seem to be the work of fate. Like that pure white direwolf, it stood out from all the others.

But it was there, with the other direwolves and her brothers.

Whether in the past or the future, perhaps that was the most important thing.

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