Winter's massive body cut through the gray skies of the North.
When the familiar outline of the wolf-gray castle appeared in his sight once more, a sense of reassurance Lynn had not felt in a long time welled up within him.
He was home.
The gale stirred up by the dragon's landing sent snow swirling into the air, rousing all of Winterfell.
Ned Stark was the first to rush out of the Main Keep.
When he saw Lynn leap safely down from the dragon's back, his perpetually tense face finally softened a little.
"You bastard... gone for more than half a month! I thought you'd fallen into the Sunset Sea and fed the krakens!"
Ned came forward and gave Lynn a hard punch. His words were reproachful, but his eyes held genuine concern.
Lynn smiled without offering much explanation, merely turning his gaze toward the figures emerging from the castle at the commotion.
Margaery, Sansa, Cersei, Myrcella... their faces were full of delight and worry.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Lynn shut himself in his room.
He had no time to enjoy the happiness of their reunion. The enormous dragon egg he had brought back from beyond the heavens was his most pressing concern.
Inside the room, the fire in the hearth burned brightly.
Lynn set the dragon egg, larger than a pumpkin, on a rug covered with thick furs.
Its shell was as smooth as a mirror, and the naturally formed nebula patterns across it shimmered with magnificent, mysterious light in the glow of the fire.
Lynn could sense the faint pulse of a sleeping life within the egg.
But no matter how much magic he poured into it, the egg swallowed all the energy like a bottomless pit and gave no response.
"A king's blood..."
Lynn murmured