The appearance of the Three-Eyed Raven instantly made the atmosphere in the room eerie.
Two eyes were black as ink, and one was red as fire.
He simply stood quietly on the windowsill, his head tilted.
He stared at Lynn without blinking.
That gaze was nothing like a beast's.
It was more like that of a highly intelligent being.
One who was studying him through the shell of this bird.
Maester Aemon's body trembled slightly.
Though he could not see, he could clearly sense that familiar presence.
"Brynden... is that you?"
Aemon's voice held a trace of uncertainty, a trace of reminiscence.
Brynden Rivers, known as Bloodraven, was a bastard of House Targaryen, a former Hand of the King, and a former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
A legendary figure, a Greenseer, a skinchanger.
He was also Maester Aemon's uncle.
When Aemon had gone north to join the Night's Watch, Brandon had been among them.
He had been sentenced to join the Night's Watch for violating guest right.
But after venturing out on a ranging, Brandon had never returned.
His weapons were the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister and a weirwood longbow, an heirloom of the First Men.
Lynn's heart clenched.
Of course he knew who this raven was.
The Three-Eyed Raven.
Everyone named Brandon here was unnervingly strange.
Brandon and Brynden sounded more like American and British pronunciations of the same name.
The embodiment of that ancient will that Brandon Stark would inherit in the future.
Why was he here?
Had he sensed the Dragon Egg's presence too?
Or had he been watching me from the very beginning, an unpredictable factor who didn't belong in this world?
Question after question exploded in Lynn's mind.
He thought again of the irritating raven calls he had heard earlier at Winterfell.