Seeing that Kal had already made up his mind to reform the Faith, Eddard frowned. After remaining silent for a moment, he could only let out a sigh in the end.
"Your Grace, I do not know what you intend to do, but I only hope you will not bring about too many tragedies."
The gaze Eddard turned toward Kal was deep and solemn, filled with sincere counsel and concern.
As for what Kal intended to do, although he still served as Kal's Hand of the King, he knew very well that in truth he could not interfere with Kal's choices.
It had always been so, yet each time Kal had proven to be the one in the right.
Especially now, when the man before him might even be the incarnation of the Seven.
Thus, the only thing Eddard could do was offer Kal a word of counsel. He was about to step down from the position of Hand of the King, and even most of his present duties were gradually being taken over by Tyrion Lannister. No matter how worried he might be, these matters were no longer something he could interfere in.
Kal merely smiled in response, looking utterly at ease.
"Time will give us the answer, Lord Eddard."
"As for right and wrong, posterity will judge. All we can do is try to lighten the shackles around their necks as much as possible."
After hearing this, Eddard's eyes flickered, and the expression on his face shifted slightly.
He then nodded and looked at Kal with sincerity.
"Perhaps you are right. At the very least, what I have seen is that everything you have done has always been to the benefit of the smallfolk. So although I cannot support you in this matter, I hope you will succeed."
For Eddard, ever since the day he saw Kal again in Winterfell—the man who had just been knighted by Robert—Kal had always been this kind of person.
He seemed to naturally view matters from the perspective of the smallfolk and to safeguard their interests.
And this was something Eddard was glad to see, and also one of the reasons why, back when Robert was still alive, they had both believed that Kal truly could become a qualified king.
Now, it seemed that Kal had already lived up to their judgment, and had also become, as Robert had wished, a qualified king—a better king than he himself had been.
After saying this, the two men could not help but laugh.
But after the laughter faded, Kal suddenly and slowly withdrew the smile from his face, his gaze turning in the direction Catelyn Tully had taken the two children just now.
After pondering for a few seconds, Kal turned back to look at Eddard.
In a grave voice, he said, "Very well, let us leave this matter at that for now. But Lord Eddard, I believe there is something I must remind you of—not as king, but as your son-in-law, as your family, and as a friend of Jon, Robb, Arya, and the others."
Having just set his mind at ease, Eddard was completely unprepared to hear Kal say this. The smile on his face could not help but stiffen, and his heart gave an instinctive jolt.
A vague unease rose in his heart.
After all, for Kal to speak in such a tone at such a time, and under such a deliberately private setting, whatever he wanted to say could hardly be a small matter, much like his intention to reform the Faith.
What was more, Kal had set aside his identity as king and was speaking in the tone of one of their own, while the matter concerned his family.
Subconsciously swallowing, Eddard was both nervous and somewhat trembling with apprehension.
"…Your Grace, please speak…"
In his nervous state, Eddard still addressed Kal by his royal title.
"Did I not just say so, Lord Eddard? I am not speaking with you as king," Kal said. Though he was shaking his head, his expression remained grave.
He straightened his posture slightly, as if to make himself appear more solemn.
"In truth, I was not joking just now."
"You mean?"
Eddard grew even more tense, yet for a moment he could not remember which of Kal's previous words he meant.
Kal pointed in the direction Catelyn had taken the children.
"I mean Arya and the others… Perhaps you have not noticed, but in truth, the Stark children, including Robb, all possess a mysterious supernatural gift."
"Lord Eddard, do you know of 'skinchangers,' or perhaps 'wargs'?"
As Kal spoke, he looked at Eddard seriously and slowly uttered those two terms.
"Skinchangers?"
Not expecting Kal to ask such a question, Eddard's brow tightened.
As Lord of the North and head of House Stark, how could he not have heard of skinchangers, or wargs? So the moment Kal mentioned those two terms, his already furrowed brow drew even tighter.
"…Of course I have heard of them, but what does that have to do with my family?"
Although Eddard had never truly seen a skinchanger, or a warg, he still knew something about them.
Just as the blood of House Targaryen could command dragons, the people of the North, who worshipped the old gods like the children of the forest, naturally also possessed certain special abilities.
For example, the Reed family of the Neck, and the legendary Wolf King of the North after the Long Night, and so on.
So there were in fact quite a few stories and records related to them. When he was young, his wet nurse would speak of such tales from time to time.
Seeing Eddard grow ever more uneasy, Kal stroked his chin and simply laid the matter bare.
"Yes, this matter is not only related to Bran and the others, it is very closely related."
"Because, fortunately, several of your children possess the gift of the warg, and Bran in particular is the most outstanding among them. He has the potential to become a greenseer. You should know that among a thousand skinchangers, there may not even be one greenseer."
"Even Jon possesses a similar gift. I have seen it with my own eyes, and I have even given him some guidance in how to use that ability."
As Kal spoke, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, but he then shook his head again.
"So their having direwolves may not be a coincidence at all, but something ordained by fate."
"Bran is troubled by what happens in his dreams because of his gift, and… precisely because of that gift, he is also being watched by a pair of eyes full of malice."
"And that person is the three-eyed crow that has always been trying to guide him in his dreams."
Eddard's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. He did not question Kal's words. On the contrary, he believed everything Kal was saying.
After all, this was not something baseless, especially when it was Kal who said it.
So when Kal brought up these things—especially this so-called three-eyed crow—he felt an inexplicable sense of danger.
"The three-eyed crow… what is it?"
"Will he harm Bran?"
Eddard asked instinctively, his eyes showing a trace of concern and cold sharpness.
He would never allow anyone to try to harm his child.
"He is a bastard of Aegon IV, the former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. His name is Brynden Rivers, called Bloodraven. And now, he is part of the roots of a weirwood beyond the Wall, in the Haunted Forest."
"A gaunt, ragged figure, with long white hair and one red eye—a man, fused with a weirwood tree, if he can still be called a man at all."
"Weirwood roots pass through his thighs and protrude from his shoulders. Dark red leaves grow upon his bones. Grey mushrooms have claimed his brow, and a thin root crawls down from his other empty eye socket, across his cheek, and burrows into his neck."
"That is the three-eyed crow as he is now. You could also call him a greenseer."
"As for whether he will harm Bran, there is no need to dwell on it, because he has long coveted Bran's body. He wants to devour Bran's gift and soul together, and turn them into nourishment that can sustain his own continued existence."
Kal spoke calmly, describing the state of the three-eyed crow in detail.
Hearing Kal describe him so precisely, even down to his full name, Eddard was first shocked and then angered.
"What?!"
But then a trace of confusion rose in his heart.
"Brynden Rivers? Lord Bloodraven?!"
"Wait—you said he is in the Haunted Forest beyond the Wall. Could it be that you have seen him?"
"…And if I am not mistaken, if he is still alive, he should be more than a hundred years old by now, should he not?"
The moment Kal finished speaking, a stream of shocked questions burst from Eddard's mouth.
As a nobleman—and the Lord of the North, the current Hand of the King—how could he not know of Brynden Rivers?
Brynden Rivers, the legitimized bastard of Aegon IV and Lady Melissa Blackwood, had once been one of the so-called Great Bastards.
But his identity did not end there, for he had also once served as Hand of the King to Aerys I and Maekar I.
Later, however, after Aegon V was chosen king at the Great Council, he was arrested for breaking his promise to Aenys Blackfyre.
Bloodraven did not deny that he had set a trap for Aenys in order to capture him. He had sacrificed his own honor in exchange for the peace of the realm.
And because Aegon V could not afford the infamy of the Iron Throne breaking its word, he had no choice but to sentence Bloodraven to death, while at the same time offering him the chance to take the black and escape execution.
Bloodraven was cast into the black cells by Aegon V, and when given the choice between death and exile to the Wall, he joined the Night's Watch. Afterward, he became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
It was said among the people that "Lord Bloodraven" was an evil sorcerer who ruled the realm through sorcery and spies.
People said that Aerys had merely been the ruler in name, and that the one who had truly ruled the realm was Bloodraven.
One riddle about Brynden said: "How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes, and one."
And the song A Thousand and One Eyes had likewise sprung from this.
In short, no matter how one put it, the stories of "Bloodraven," Brynden Rivers, had long since become legend.
And now Kal was telling him that the so-called three-eyed crow coveting Bran was actually that same Lord Bloodraven from more than a century ago.
Faced with Eddard's questioning gaze, Kal spread his hands.
"Maester Aemon is also more than a hundred years old, yet he is still alive and well."
"When Bloodraven accompanied Aemon north by sea to the Wall as his 'honor guard,' I imagine Maester Aemon became very familiar with him. Perhaps you might learn something of him from Aemon."
"And the reason I am telling you this now is only because I hope that, if possible, Bran and Arya and the others can remain in the south, at least until I have dealt with this three-eyed crow."
"Lord Eddard, I do not wish you to take this as my wanting to keep your children here as hostages. You know that would be meaningless to me."
"And based on Bran and the others' gifts, I intend to have Erevi become their teacher, so they can make better use of their own power, rather than doing nothing each day but slipping into the minds of their direwolves in their sleep and then roaming all over the Red Keep."
After going around in such a large circle, Kal finally bared the dagger and stated his true purpose.
With the ties and relationship that now existed between him and House Stark, he truly did not want Bran to repeat that path and become a puppet parasitized by the three-eyed crow.
As for Brynden Rivers as he was now, in truth he had already died during that earlier ranging. What was twisted into symbiosis with the weirwood was nothing more than a ghost that had somehow persisted for who knew how many years, lingering on in a wretched half-existence.
But whether the three-eyed crow was merely some sorcerer, or even one of the so-called old gods, Kal would not allow any accident to occur.
And at the same time, he had to find a way to kill him.
Hearing all this, Eddard still sat there blankly on the stool, his expression a mix of bewilderment and struggle.
As for what Kal had said frankly, he did not believe that Kal's purpose in keeping his children at his side was some precaution born of fear that he might grow too powerful with his armies.
After all, his daughter was about to become queen, and the North was Kal's most loyal ally. So no matter how one looked at it, House Stark could never become Kal's enemy.
Even though the situation in the North had long since been turned upside down by the appearance of the White Walkers.
So, in his subconscious, he still believed some of what Kal had said.
But it was simply too shocking, too difficult for anyone to digest in so short a time.
Seeing that he could not absorb it, Kal waited with great patience.
After a long while, Eddard gradually came back to himself.
The expression on his face turned bitter.
"I… Your Grace, I hope you can give me some time to think, and… if the children are all truly left here, Catelyn may go mad."
"I understand your concerns, but what I wish to say is that for Bran and the others' safety, you had best explain this matter clearly to Catelyn."
"At the same time, you may also ask your children more about it, and see whether they are still having strange dreams, and whether, after falling asleep, they still unconsciously slip into their direwolves and think of themselves as beasts."
"In any case, at least until I can be sure I have truly eliminated the threat of the three-eyed crow, I hope Bran and the others will not suffer harm that should never have belonged to them."
Kal naturally knew that this was not the sort of matter that could be settled overnight, so he gave Eddard some proper room and time.
Eddard swallowed with difficulty, and his gaze could not help drifting toward the direction the children had gone just now.
"Thank you for telling me all this, Your Grace… I will seriously consider your suggestion."
The pressure Eddard had been put under today was simply too great. As a result, even though he did his best to maintain himself during the dinner, Catelyn still noticed that something was wrong.
Only the children remained carefree, still eating the delicious food on the table, happily discussing amusing things, or playing and roughhousing with one another.
And as he looked at the smiles on the children's faces, the depth in Eddard's eyes only grew more bitter.
After seeing the king off and sending the still-excited Arya and the others to bed, Catelyn took a bath, then came to her husband, who was in the study with his head in his hands, doing nothing at all.
"What happened, Ned?"
"Ever since Kal came today, you have seemed to have something on your mind…"
Catelyn's face was full of worry. Closing the study door, she bent down to her husband's ear and asked softly.
Eddard, his eyes red, raised his head and looked at his wife.
"Cat, I think there is something I have no choice but to tell you…"
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