A/N: Well, here I go again, with what is certainly my most canon-compliant story so far. Remember, I own NOTHING connected to Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire. They belong to George RR Martin (the bloody sadist,) and HBO. The closest I come is a copy of Game of Thrones, one DVD copy of each season, and a copy of Lands of Ice and Fire.

The Dragonborn Comes

Prologue: The Wall

The Wall, 299 AL-Jon

"You've been charged with oathbreaking, cowardice and desertion, Snow. Do you deny that you abandoned your brothers to die on the Fist of the First Men and joined the wildling Mance Rayder, this self-styled King-beyond-the-Wall?" Janos Slynt demanded.

"Abandoned?!" Jon Snow cried out in rage. "I joined Qhorin Halfhand to scout the Skirling Pass where we fought a small band of the Free Folk and killed most of them. I was left behind to kill the last, but I couldn't-"

"There, you see! Blood always tells. Not only is he talking like one of them, but now he admits to refusing to kill one of the bastards!" Alliser Thorne insisted.

"We will let Jon Snow finish his testimony before casting judgement, Ser Alliser," Maester Aemon Targaryen stated. Fortunately for Jon, Bowen Marsh and Cotter Pyke agreed.

"Thank you, Maester Aemon. Now, as I was saying, I couldn't kill the girl, Ygritte by name. However, before I could even attempt to kill Ygritte, the Halfhand asked her straight out if he'd be taken prisoner if the Free Folk captured him. Even then he was planning on how to get one of us inside Mance Rayder's camp. Well, they left after that and I attempted to kill her, but I couldn't kill a woman in cold blood, I'm not a murderer, and Ygritte had never done anything to the North before. When I realized I couldn't kill her, I decided to bring her with us, but we couldn't catch up to the Halfhand. During that time, Ygritte kept pushing me to lie with her, but I refused. Eventually we were captured by the Free Folk, and taken to the leader of that particular band, a man called the Lord of Bones, or Rattleshirt. Rattleshirt had already captured the Halfhand. When I spoke to the Halfhand, he told me one brother inside Mance's army was worth a thousand fighting him."

"Don't talk about the Halfhand like you knew him!" Thorne interrupted. "He was my brother."

"Then you know he'd do anything to protect the Watch. Now, he immediately started insulting me in order to give the impression that he hated me so that the free folk could trust me. Eventually Qhorin managed to take a sword from one of the free folk and used it to attack me, and me alone. I defended myself to the point that eventually I had to kill him."

"So you admit to killing Qhorin Halfhand?" Pyke asked.

"Only in self-defence, and knowing that he wanted me inside Mance's army. Once inside Mance's army, I only told him lies about the Watch. For example, one of his commanders, one Tormund Giantsbane asked how many men were at Castle Black, and I told him a thousand were here."

"Look at that, he can't even stay loyal to the wildlings. What else could we expect from a traitor's bastard?" Slynt stated.

Jon huffed at that. "Like you would know anything about loyalty, Slynt. You betrayed the Baratheons by putting a mad Lannister bastard on the throne in exchange for a cursed castle." Jon continued to argue his case, but it quickly became clear that the only man on his side was Maester Aemon, and the only neutral party was Cotter Pyke. Seven hells, even the septon was against him! Eventually he proclaimed "We can debate over what rules I broke and my punishment until the Wall melts, but the fact remains that Mance Rayder is coming south with an army of 100,000 wildlings in addition to several dozen giants."

"Impossible. You can't get 50 wildlings together before they start killing each other," Thorne insisted.

"100,000. Mance went to every single clan and told them that they were all going to die unless they came south of the Wall. There's already at least one band of wildlings on this side of the Wall. They're led by Tormund, I killed their warg and three others, and Ygritte shot me full of arrows. The plan is for them to attack from the south while Mance hits us from the north. The signal for the attack will be a bonfire, one that Mance said would be the biggest fire the North has ever seen. That's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. Now, are you going to hang me, or can I return to my quarters?"

"For the moment, you will be confined to quarters. Personally," and here Pyke turned to glare at Slynt and Thorne, "I don't see why we even started this without Mallister. And until he arrives, I see no reason to continue this farce of a trial."

Two weeks passed before Jon heard anything at all, let alone a single piece of news about the world south of the Wall. Fortunately, his old friend Samwell Tarly arrived with news. Stannis Baratheon, brother to the late King Robert and self-proclaimed King in the Narrow Sea had arrived from his seat on Dragonstone and attacked the Free Folk's army while men from the Shadow Tower attacked from the west. A number had been killed, but there were still more than 90,000 wildlings just north of the Wall. Stannis was now negotiating with Mance while the members of the Watch voted for a new Lord Commander, with the vote leaning towards Mallister.

The next day, Stannis took a break from negotiations with Mance to speak to him, bringing his red priestess with him. After a very interesting conversation, Stannis decided "You are bold enough to be a Stark, that's good. I would like to offer you a deal, Lord Snow."

"What kind of deal?"

"A king can remove the taint of bastardy with the stroke of a pen. I will legitimize you and make you Lord of Winterfell, and in exchange, you will drive the remaining ironmen from the North and fight with me."

"But I'm still a brother of the Night's Watch. I knelt before a heart tree and swore to hold no lands and father no children."

The red woman gave a small chuckle at that. "R'hllor is the only true god. A vow sworn to a tree has no more power than a vow sworn to your shoes. Open your heart and let the light of the Lord come in. Burn these weirwoods and accept Winterfell as a gift of the Lord of Light."

Jon raised his eyebrow at that, but decided not to push it right now. "Fight who, Lord Stannis?"

"First, the ironborn, then the Others, after that, you will help me claim my throne."

"You want me to fight Robb?! I have already broken my vows with the Watch, but I will never fight my brother. That would be the worst treason in the history of the Starks, and you're as mad as Aerys to think I'd do it!" Jon proclaimed with a fire he never knew he had. Then he turned on the red woman. "As for burning the weirwoods, forget it! The godswood has always and will always be the heart of Winterfell, and I will never do it. Find yourself another turncloak, because while I may betray the Watch, I will never betray my family."

"Then you will serve the Lord's chosen in another way, Jon Snow," the priestess stated.

"How?" Stannis asked.

"Because he is condemned to die, and like it or not, he is a king's blood. We can use that to finally wake the dragons from stone, and you won't even have to deal with the Onion Knight's arguments as he is going to die anyway."

Stannis thought about that for a moment before deciding. "You are right, Melisandre. We shall leave for Eastwatch with all haste, then return to Dragonstone. Tell the men that they are to follow the orders of the commanders of the Watch. Snow, you are coming with us, we have a long way to go."