Jon did not know that the Poachers treasures were theirs for the taking as well. But the more he thought about it the more logical it seemed, why leave the hides to rot away? Let them be used by someone who did not break the law.

Currently he sat by the fire with his companions and the imprisoned poachers, gazing intently at the cub at his feet. Despite being adorable the cub was already proving to be a problem, for she, Alessia had confirmed that she was in fact a she, refused to leave Jon's side.

The others had stated that the Cub would starve if left behind, but none were up for the responsibility of raising the creature that would grown into a massive killing machine. Jon himself was hesitant as well, but refused to leave the Cub to its fate. From the moment he had first laid eyes on it he felt that the creature deserved a chance, just as he had been given.

She ate almost as much as he did, but only ate meat and fish. Refusing any kind of vegetable completely, which he could understand she was a carnivore after all. The little creature was pure white furred with blue yellow eyes, and had taken to Jon as well.

Currently she laid as his feet while he took the first watch, the forests silence was peaceful and gave him plenty of time to think. The little cat being the primary thing on his mind of course. His companions had warned of the dangers of Saber cats, beasts the size of a horse with claws that would rend apart plate armor like paper and were able to move at speeds that seemed surreal for a creature its size.

Jon himself had trouble seeing the small animal currently yawning while laying by his feet as something that could grow into a massive killing machine. The others had declared him insane when he announced that he would take the creature for himself as his portion of the loot, Alessia had just smirked at him in the reassuring way of hers.

Jon shook his head, his watch was almost over and he could soon get his own rest.

...

The trip back to Solitude took significantly longer, having to guard the prisoners and haul their treasures with then as well. There was a single escape attempt, Emitt had ended that swiftly when he ran the man through. Jon was sad to see it, but knew that there was no other option, the others might have tried something if Emitt had not.

The sight of the gates of Solitudes gate was a welcome one, the captain of the guard taking the prisoners to the cells while handing off there reward was interesting. Jon received praise from the man that made him feel a bit strange, the only people who had ever offered him open praise were family. It was a satisfying feeling, he had to admit, though it did bring strange feelings to him.

'You have earned the praise Jon, they were only able to track them thanks to you.'

'I know, its just strange...'

'I understand, I think, praise is unfamiliar to you. Though I suppose you are going to get quite familiar with them if you are still set on the path of adventure.'

'I never said it was a bad feeling though, just strange.'

"Jon! Want to share a drink with us?" Emitt spoke as the small group finished unloading there loot, having sold it to a local merchant. Likely making a nice profit from the sale, leaving them in a good mood. "Our treat?"

He sent a look at Alessia, the offer was very tempting, though he had been attempting to limit his alcohol intake, both due to its cost and the fact that he did not want to become a drunkard, when his eyes met Alessia's he found her in the process of rolling her eyes.

'Just go'

...

The next few days were spent relaxing, training and taking care of the Saber cat. He had yet to find a name for the creature that suited it, animal already showing the signs of growth. Having grown a few inches already, increasing its body mass as well as its awareness, looking around at everything with great curiosity. He often found himself amused by the cubs tendency to jump and by jump he meant flail around mid-air in the attempt.

It was about a week later when Jon decided to find something more to do, Emitt and the group had left on a patrol and he was left without anyone to converse with. Something that normally would not bother him, but with the boredom of monotony began to bother him. It was like an itch he was unable to stretch.

Alessia said that he craved adventure and he agreed, but whilst the little cat was unable to walk independently he was confined to the city until it grew. So he found himself a job assisting one of the smiths in the Black-Bastion with a master smith by the name of Gregory. Gregory was a small Nord, bald with a massive braided blond beard that fell down his chest.

The work itself was simple, mainly repairing armor, weapons and tools. But it broke the monotony and allowed Jon to do something he greatly enjoyed. Smithing was an art that allowed him to pour his every bit of attention into, allowing him to fully immerse himself in the process of shaping metal to his direction.

Currently he was busy hammering a steel dented chest plate back into place, Gregory eating his lunch watching him work. The plate was nothing special, just a simple guards chest plate that was standard issue to the guards of Solitude, a solid slab of steel that would protect ones life if needed but would not last long in a battle.

"You know Jon, I never did ask about that Blade of yours. Mind if I take a look?" Gregory asked, having just finished his lunch, the man was always like to strike up a conversation after his meal.

Jon shook his head, placing the nearly finished plate down to hand his sword belt to Gregory. Jon never went anywhere without his sword, it always seemed like he was missing part of himself if he was without it. A tugging feeling in the pit of his stomach that would not go away until he had it on him again.

The man carefully examined the hilt and pommel, making impressed noises at the sight of the wolves ruby eyes. When he finally drew the blade from its simple sheath with wide eyes, a trembling breath echoed out.

"E-ebony..." the man sputtered, "How did you get this!? I have never seen more then a small chunk of it!"

'Wait what...'

'I concur...'

'Dont tell him how we made it?'

'Seems like a good idea... don't think he will believe you just found it, though he doesn't need to know how we createdthe ebony for it...'

"I forged it Gregory."

"Forged! How?! Jon do you understand how rare this stuff is these days. The only known source is from the red mountain, nearly all ebony that was dug up in the past was lost during the sinking of the summer isle!"

'Our knowledge is out of date.'

'I mean we are some 13.000 years away from the last memory we saw and we have not really studied history much...'

"I am not going to question where you got the ebony from, I don't think you would tell me... But Jon if you can create something like this! Why are you repairing clutter for me! You could make a fortune just selling a steel blade of this quality."

"I know Gregory, believe me I do. But I don't want fortune, I came to this land for adventure."

The man sent Jon a bewildered look before shaking his head. He sheathed the blade and handed Jon back his sword belt back, which he quickly strapped back on. Gregory sat down, taking a deep breath, most likely refocusing himself. The man shook his head and sighed.

"If you want to Jon, I do have a contact looking for some skilled fighters... but I am going to need a favour."

"What kind of favour?" He asked sceptically, Jon did not particularly like the idea of trading favours, they used to be Theon's preferred currency in Winterfell and the Ironborn rarely responded well when someone wanted to cash one in.

"The captain of the palace guard has requested a new mace, ornate but functional, if you make it for him, I will make sure you get the credit and a portion of the pay, along with my contact." Gregory said, pulling up the contract from his desk.

'Should not be to hard correct?'

'It should not be no, but remember our furry companion? She isn't ready for something like this...'

'Did you not say she was getting big enough...'

'She should be... fine, but you will have to at least consider the optionof backing out if that contact wants something too risky!'

"Deal, specifications?"

"Meter long handle, bigger than average head, design should incorporate his family animal, a vulture."

"Easy enough. Time scale?"

"To be finished as soon as feasible."

"I will start forging on the morrow then."

...

'Now Jon try it. Remember fire is volatile so don't lose focus.'

'Alright.'

He pulled his focus inwards, drawing on his reserves to prepare his spell. Fire. It was heat, energy and change. He had analysed the process involved a thousand times over, thought about evry conceivable way of applying it. The spell would work, its process was simple, gather, shape and guide. Gather, shape, guide. That was the way.

Gather the magic. He pulled as much as he felt comfortable with from his reserves, letting the bright blue liquid energy within him drain into his body to be shaped to his wishes. Feeling the slight strain as it flooded his muscles trying to find a new place to reside.

Shape the magic. He moulded the magic like clay, fire was his plan. Fire was heat, energy and change. It was the element of death and life, bringer of destruction but also of rebirth, but most importantly it was heat. He focused on heat, the fire at midnight, the hot springs in Winterfell, the sunlight at the height of day.

Guide the magic. Give it direction but do not force it. Fire seeks to burn to feed on matter to create more heat. Give it something to burn, give it food and it would leap on it. Like the log they prepared, a simple piece of firewood.

He opened his eyes, and flexed his magic, focusing on the steps he pointed his palm towards the log. From the tips of his fingers a small bolt of flame leapt forwards. Jon felt his reserves drain to nearly nothing as the small flam leapt to the log, lighting its side with a small fire. All in all the process felt rather unimpressive, a little bit disappointing in truth.

'That's it... really?'

'Expanding your reserves is key here, though practice will reduce the amount of energy required too. What did you expect? You have been trained for less then a month.'

'This is going to be such a long process.'

...

Forging was something that he enjoyed more than anything else, it relaxed him greatly, it was an inspirational thing. To create something from but the most basic of items. To make art from simple iron and coal. To impress with every creation the one it was meant for.

Forging this mace was no exception, whilst its materials would be inferior to his own blade, Jon would make sure that it was a impressive piece. He begun with the most basic part of it, rolling the haft of steel into shape, the rod would be a solid chunk that would last a lifetime, if not more.

Then came the end piece, a polished steel cap with a bronze vulture statuette the creation of which had been surprisingly simple with Alessia's assistance, her knowledge of metalworking exceeded his own by an astronomical amount. On this part Jon also included his makers mark, something he had developed in the days working under Gregory. A stylized J that crossed through a S.

Then came the most important piece, the head itself it would need to be solid enough to survive being slammed into shields and chest plates without receiving damage. Jon began the process by pouring steel into a standard mace mold, before beginning to shape it properly. He hammered away at the steel for a solid afternoon, creating a head that had nine ridges, each marked with the symbol of one of the nine-divines, done in bronze or gold.

Jon himself had never been a fervent believer in any gods, he found the seven-who-are-one to be irritating, binding their followers to rules that made sense only to those who had written them. The old gods were simpler, but Jon found them dark, having read up on them long ago, being creeped out by the fact that his ancestors worshiped by spilling the blood of their enemies om the trees.

The religions of Essos did not interest him much, they all seemed weird or plain insane. But the Nine seemed to have a silent sort of power, they did not demand worship, and their followers did not force their words on others. Every one who worshiped the Nine venerated one more than the others, Jon found the thought peculiar.

The Nine were varied greatly, yet seemed to fit together perfectly. Alessia had encouraged him to get to know more about them, and he had acquiesced, learning about them from the books in the library of solitude.

After he finished his reading he had even considered dedicating himself to Akatosh, the leader of the Nine, people dedicated to Akatosh were usually priests but several heroic figures in Tamriel's history, which he had taken to studying intensively, were dedicated to the god of time.

Turning his attention back to his work he shook his head, the captain of the guard was a man who above all worshiped Talos, the god of rulership and righteousness. As such Jon had made sure that the symbol of Talos was the one inlaid with gold instead of bronze. With all pieces done, Jon began to assemble them, the process was quick, the ends screwed on to the heft without issue, before heating all to fuse it solid.

Gregory had been watching him work the entire time, though Jon had been ignoring him almost completely. Distractions were not something he could tolerate while working on something like this.

"Amazing craftsmanship Jon." Gregory spoke softly, "I will make sure the captain knows you are its creator, my contact will be in town tomorrow, I will bring you to him."

"My thanks." He nodded at the man before picking the cub up, preparing to leave and get a good night of sleep.

"Quite a miracle that the young thing survived..."

"That is true, a real miracle." Jon smiled, "That's what we will call you."

The cub yawned showing its mouth of growing teeth, white fangs reflecting the light of the forge.

"My little Miracle."

…

The meeting with the contact had to be delayed for a few days but Jon did eventually get to meet him, he was a strange one. Grey skinned with hair of the same colour and pure red eyes, a Dunmer of Morrowind.

"Greetings young man, I assume you are the one our mutual friend spoke so highly off?"

"That would be me yes, I am called Jon Snow, might I incuire about your name?" without even realizing it Jon had slipped into a much more courtly manner of speech, using words he never would have in a normal conversation.

"Good to meet you young man, I am called Calador, now Jon what do you know about Gauldur?"

…..

Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter, its been uncomfortably hot over here and I have trouble focusing on writing with the heat. Anyway hope you all enjoyed.

Replies:

Zoom99:

R: You might as well have made an oc in Skyrim. Besides Jon's identity it has been all Elder Scrolls lore with no hint of asoiaf whatsoever. If you made a fanfic like this why bother bringing in Jon?

A: Well I made the fic about Jon because it is about him... I mean sure I could have written an OC, but I want to tie ASOIAF into ES with this story, to create an adventure that will last.

RuebyRose:

R: Yay! Another chapter! This made my day! I loved how you made poaching a thing here. There are quite a few animals that won't attack you in Skyrim, and I always go out of my way to not kill them. I'll stab a bitch that attacks me, but if they leave me alone? I leave them alone. I love that you gave an in story reason why this would and should be a thing. Explosive population growth of rabbits was an actual RL issue in Australia when they were introduced to the ecosystem, and there weren't any natural predators. They seriously messed up the balance in the area, and there was a mad culling that was called for. The same thing happens with deer in the US when the wolf population gets too low. I love how you brought this into the story organically and made a cool introductory quest for Jon to do that wasn't something like 'kill the giant' (which I always hated. They're just hanging out herding their mammoths. They're not bothering anyone, leave them be.) Also... KITTY! - Thanks for the awesome update! This was great! 333

A: Yeah poaching is an issue for many reasons, explosive population growth due to lack of predators being a big one. Personally I have never been a fan of ES's tendency to just send a lone adventurer after some bandits or a monster without a logical reason, it makes the conflict feel forced and meaningless beyond what the character gets at the end of it, one thing I learned from some of my older stories. I have to thank you for your review as its these kinds of review that make writing worth it for me.

Nsydian:

R: So... 9000 years After Skyrim, interesting.

Did someone reverse engineer Dwemer Tech? WightsDraugr ?

So many questions :D

A: All questions will be answered, those posted in the reviews will be answered faster!

Apokalyps117:

R: "Tamriel is roughly the size of Ibb, an island that would be about the size of Iceland in our world."

Why is Tamriel so small here? It's about 12 million square kilometres in canon. How does a continent go from being larger than the entirety of Europe to the size of Iceland?

A: unfortunately the size of Tamriel has never been confirmed since then TES: I Arena, where it was only said in the manual. As its such an old piece of unconfirmed lore I decided to ignore it and go with my own estimate for its size based on travel time in the games. As such Tamriel is roughly 500 kilometres north to south and 600 kilometres east to west, this is as the crow flies so not really reliable but average travel time from solitude to the southern tip of Pelletine would be between 7 and 10 days depending on weather and how much time of day is spent moving.

Hope that answers your question, always willing to offer a more expansive explanation if you wish.

Guest:

R: saber cat? No, saber lion

A: Little difference really, Elder scrolls Saber-cats are essentially Saber lions.

Tonester:

R: I would like to say I am currently very much enjoying this story you are writing. I'm obviously unsure about how I feel about Jon leaving Westeros but that's only because it's too early for his purpose to shine through yet. Personally I hope you gains titles/lordship or something like that to make him a person of extreme importance rather than him just randomly wandering around but I know even if you do that I will enjoy it if you write it well. I hope read future installments of your story.

A: Its very motivating to hear that you like it, thanks dude! As for Jon's role, just know that its going to be a big one, even though it wont really show for a few (multiple-dozen) chapters yet. To the hope of titles and recognition, I have something in mind for that, though the wandering is likely going to continue for a while.

Again to all of you, many thanks for reading, follow favourite and review, each notification makes my day.

I wish all of you the best and see you next chapter,

Tombstone signing off!