I was about to leave the training yard when Wayland blocked my path.
"I demand a rematch." Like the other squires, Wayland looked aggressive. But at the same time, he was different from the others.
He was certainly angry, but his anger was unlike the other squires'; they were all impatient to face me. He was different in that respect. He wanted to spar with me and beat me, but he lacked the others' impatience.
"I hurt my arm today. Let's talk another day."
He looked at my arm, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, then said, "I don't want you to have an excuse when I beat you. We'll fight again next week. Let your arm heal and face me at full strength. I don't care what Ser Rodrik says. You're not stronger than me."
"What do you mean? What did Ser Rodrik say?" He gave me another look, then turned and left without explaining.
I had meant to leave, but I had to find out what had happened. I went to a squire I got along with. Even he harbored some negative feelings toward me, but I learned the whole story from him, so afterward, I went to find Ser Rodrik.
He was with the other knights, who were sparring as well. They all seemed like monsters to me. There were about twelve of them, and I sometimes came to watch them spar.
When they warmed up, I could follow their movements, but when they truly started fighting, I couldn't keep up. Now, though, things were different. I could see their movements clearly. My dynamic vision had definitely improved.
I still couldn't match their speed. Judging by their movements, I could tell they had around 6 to 8 points of speed. As for their strength, I couldn't be certain, since I had never sparred with any of them, but I could make an educated guess. I thought they had around 6 to 7 points of strength. At full power, I only had 3.9 points of strength and 4.1 points of speed.
I approached the sparring area and said, "Ser Rodrik, may I have a word with you?" He stopped watching the sparring knights, turned to me, and said, "Go ahead."
"Could we speak in private, ser?" He turned and walked away, then said, "Follow me."
When we entered his room, he walked to his desk and sat down. "Say whatever you want to say."
"Ser, why are you stirring up the other squires against me?"
He smiled and said, "When have I ever done that? I merely increased their training time and made it a little harder."
"Yes, and while doing all that, you also criticized them, saying they were far worse than me, and that I wouldn't even break a sweat doing such light training."
"Did I lie? Do you sweat when you do their training? Aren't they less talented than you?"
I had no answer to that. The training they did had lost all meaning for me since last year.
"Ser, may I speak frankly?"
"Hmph, suit yourself."
"Both Lord Stark and you want to use the squires to temper me. I'm not a sword that needs tempering. I don't like being manipulated all the time."
His smiling face grew more serious. "I thought you were more mature, but it seems you still haven't outgrown your childishness, or your talent has gone to your head, boy. Just because your lord gives you some leeway because of your talent doesn't mean you're above everyone else. Like everyone else, you must obey Lord Stark's orders. If he wants to forge you into a man of steel, he will. You don't even understand how high his expectations are for you. Now go do whatever you want. That is a right the duke granted you. You may use your free time however you please, but never come to me complaining about your feelings, and stop acting like a child. He wants you to become a leader of the knights of the future, so act like a leader."
After his scolding, I felt he had a point. If I were a lord, I would do something similar, and I also had to abandon the modern ideas in my head.
I wasn't free to do whatever I wanted. Others could take my belongings for no reason, or even take my freedom. Of course, if they pushed me too hard, I could run away and become an outlaw.
Thinking about it now, I supposed that was why Lord Stark gave me so much freedom. He didn't want me to run away. He wanted me to stay in the North.
"Please forgive my shortsightedness, ser. I didn't know your plans for my future were so extensive."
I should keep my head down and do what they wanted, but if they thought I was a sword they could wield however they pleased, they were sorely mistaken.
I supposed Aunt Bris was right: you should never give nobles a hundred percent of your strength. I left his room and returned to mine to prepare to go to the Wolfswood, but first, I had to put some ointment on my bruised arm.
I had made an herbal ointment to reduce swelling. Its main ingredients were arnica flowers and Blood of the Old Gods. As its name suggested, the latter was unique to this world. It was a blood-red flower with large petals that only grew near weirwoods.
From the information I had gathered from books, this was the herb they used to make ointments for swelling, but if I added arnica flowers, it became an orange ointment that was at least three times as effective.
An ointment made only with Blood of the Old Gods could heal a large bruise in a week, but this ointment could heal one in two days.
My arm was hurt worse than I had thought. The pain came like waves crashing against the shore. The injury had turned deep purple in the middle, with redness and swelling around it. I began to wonder whether a hairline fracture was the source of the pain.
I really hated that I still didn't have any healing spells. If I had one, I wouldn't have to bother with herbs. Everything would be much easier. Fortunately, I had extensive knowledge of the effects of herbs, or I would have to rely entirely on Maester Luwin.
Let's find a way to ease the bruising and pain today. If the pain hasn't subsided tomorrow, that means there's a fracture in my arm.
My orange ointment would work for the bruising. For the severe pain, I needed a medicine made from white willow bark, frankincense, ginger, and honey.
Frankincense was hard to find. It only grew in the southern regions of Essos. I shouldn't use this arm today. Just to be safe, I shouldn't use this arm today. But I also wanted to go to the Wolfswood. What should I do?
To be safe, I could stay in the castle today, play with the Stark children, and rest.
After some searching, I finally found the Stark boys at the kennels. They were all there, even Bran.
Time passed so quickly. It felt as though he had only been born yesterday, yet today he was already a two-year-old boy, climbing the kennel fence and hanging from it like a monkey.
With the kennelmaster's help, Robb and Jon were trying to teach the dogs some new tricks, but I couldn't say they were very successful. The dogs wouldn't listen to Robb or Jon. They ran everywhere, jumping over one another.
Sansa, meanwhile, sat primly to one side as always, watching them and lecturing Arya on how she ought to behave.
As always, little Arya did whatever she wanted, no matter what Sansa said. Arya was growing more mischievous, but I could never be angry with her. Now she was even trying to ride a large dog like a horse.
When she saw me, she began waving and shouting, "Aermir, hurry over! Look, I've become a dog knight!"
Her eyes shone with happiness, but on the other side of the kennel fence, Sansa looked furious.
"Arya Stark, get down this instant, or I'll tell Mother what you're doing." This time, at the mention of their mother, Arya's smiling face twisted. I was about to say something when Robb called to me.
"Aermir, come and look! We taught this dog to shake hands." As the dog held out its paw, both of them looked at me, seeking praise.
So I obliged and said, "Wow, teaching a dog to do that must have been hard." I could tell they were proud of their achievement.
Robb said proudly, "I bet you couldn't teach a dog to do that as quickly as we did." He was challenging me, so I would take him on.
I walked over to the kennelmaster and said, "Could you give me some dog treats?" He took a few pieces of what looked like some kind of dried meat from the pouch at his waist and handed them to me.
I approached the dog they had just tried and failed to train, crouched down, and began stroking it. The moment I touched it, it began trembling and whimpering because I had begun dominating it.
I pretended to train it, since giving it commands outright would look suspicious, and it immediately began obeying my commands. I pushed the dog with my hand to make it roll over while also giving it verbal commands.
"Come on, roll over. Yes, just like that. Roll over. Good boy."
As I stroked it, I gave it some treats every time it completed a roll. Afterward, I made a whooshing sound and pretended to shoot it with a bow and arrow. Then I said, "Play dead," while pushing it to lie flat and still on the ground.
By then, Robb, Jon, and the kennelmaster were all staring at me with their mouths open. When I returned to their side, they were still dumbfounded.
"So I just taught it two other tricks I thought were easier, since I know how hard it is to teach a dog to shake hands." After I said that, Robb narrowed his eyes at me, then jumped on me.
He pressed against me, grabbed my shoulders, and began shaking me, then shouted, "Why are you so good at everything? I hate you!" I lost my balance, and we both fell to the ground.
I thought he would cry because of the fall, but he started laughing, and then I laughed along with him. At that moment, I felt a surge of aggression in my heart. A second later, I realized what it was and shouted.
"No! Yimu, stop!!!"