A long way

Archery with surprises

I enter the kitchen and see that Ser Rodrik and Jory are sitting at the table, eating over the food. "Good morning Joanna. I hear Lord Stark has given you a promotion" Jory grins at me. Ser Rodrik smiles at me as well. "Good morning gentlemen. And yes you heard me right Jory. I am Lady Sansa's maid from now on" I tell him. "Well, not today anyway. You will train as Lord Stark instructed" Ser Rodrik says. "Of course, Ser Rodrik," I nod at him. "You will practice archery with Bran today. You are very skilled at it, so I think that will not be a problem. Besides, Robb and Jon will be at your side. You can join us right after dinner, Joanna. Lady Sansa and her sisters will be embroidering with Septa Mordane then anyway." "I will ser. However, if you will allow me, I would like to change before we begin our training" I say and look at the knight. He just nods and continues eating.

When I have finished breakfast, I make my way to my chambers. I take off the dress and exchange it for brown leather trousers and a linen shirt with a leather waistcoat. This is actually men's clothing, but for training, a dress is rather impractical. I tie my blond hair into a side braid, which nevertheless comes halfway down my waist, and make my way to the courtyard.Bran is already there with Jon and is just arming himself with bow and arrow. Jon is positioning the target correctly and when he spots me, he grins at me. Jon and I are good friends. The difference between him and Robb is that when he disappears for a while, no one is really interested. For this reason, he and I have already roamed around the surrounding woods a few times, exploring the landscape. "Well, I guess you finally got father to stop wasting your potential" he says with a grin. I box him lightly against the shoulder and laugh. "I guess he realised that you're not very talented at teaching Bran archery," I tease him. This elicits a laugh from him. "She's got a point," comes a voice from behind us. We both turn and look at Robb in surprise. He looks back with a serious expression. So we stand there for a moment before all three of us burst out laughing again.

"If you've finished chatting, we can start," says Jory amusedly, who is just entering the courtyard. "Joanna, would you please show Bran how to do it?" Jory says, turning to me. "I'd be happy to," I reply and walk towards the little brown-haired boy. On the way, I take my bow and arrow from the holder and stand next to Bran. "So Bran, you have already shot, I have seen that. However, you should pay attention to a few things" I put the arrow in the string and draw the bow. "Make sure you always keep both eyes open. As we all know, two eyes see more than one. It is best to hold the hand with which you draw the bow very close to your cheek, at about the level of your mouth. Hold the bow straight and then you can loosen the string very slightly with your fingers" I loosen my fingers and the arrow whizzes towards the target and right into the middle "and the arrow finds its target itself" I finish.

"Wow" goes Bran next to me. I look at Jon and Robb who also both nod impressed and bow theatrically. "Thank you, thank you so much" I laugh. "Go on, Bran now you" I prompt the second youngest Stark. He puts in the arrow, draws the bow and shoots. Unfortunately, however, the arrow misses by far.

Up on the parapet I spot Lord and Lady Stark, who are watching us. Bran's next arrow lands in a barrel next to the target. Jon walks over to Bran and leans down to him. "Go on, father's watching you" he encourages the little boy and they both look at Lord Stark "and your mother" he adds. Lord Stark smiles encouragingly at Bran and he nods. He draws his bow again and shoots far beyond the target. It's too much for Robb and Jon and they burst out laughing. I smirk and then look sympathetically at Bran. Rickon has made himself comfortable on a barrel behind us and laughs at his older brother as well. "Which one of you was a crack shot by the time you were ten?" asks Lord Stark, addressing us. "Keep practicing Bran," he encourages the little one. "Go ahead" he demands. I now bend down to Bran as well "don't think too long Bran". He draws the bow again. "Turn out the bow arm" Robb interferes and his little brother does as instructed and the arrow lands in the target. However, I realise that it is not Bran's arrow at all, because it is still in the cocked bow. We all turn around and there is a grinning Arya standing in front of us, bowing. Bran immediately runs towards his big sister and tries to catch her. "Come on Bran, catch her!" Jon calls after him. We stand there laughing.

Up on the parapet I can still see Ser Rodrik hurrying towards Lord Stark and informing them of something. It must be very serious, because Lord Stark's amused expression suddenly changes to a serious one. Jon and I, meanwhile, are putting away the arrows and the bows and I can see out of the corner of my eye that Lady Stark is eyeing Jon with a look of disdain. I really don't understand why she treats him like that. I mean, it's not his fault that his father was involved with another woman. He's just the product of it.

I'm putting the rest of the things away when Lord Stark comes up to me. "Joanna, good, you're still here," he speaks up. "I want you to get Bran and take him to do his pony already. Take one of the horses too. I want you to accompany us" he demands of me. "May I ask where we are going my lord?" I ask. "A deserter from the Night's Watch has been found," he says curtly, and I understand immediately. As a Guardian of the North, it is the duty of the Lord of Winterfell to punish deserters from the Night's Watch and the punishment for desertion is death. "And you want to take Bran already?" I continue cautiously. "He is old enough. His brothers are there too and he has to learn to deal with it" is his answer and he walks away. I've been there too, but it's not something I like to see.