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Part 1 of evermore
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Jonsa Valentine 2021
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Published:
2021-02-14
Completed:
2021-02-14
Words:
1,067
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2/2
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34
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real enough (to get me through)

Summary:

Historians have long believed that the first Queen in the North after the War for the Dawn, Sansa Stark, maintained regular contact with her cousin, Aegon Targaryen, after the Great Council of the Six Kingdoms exiled him from Westeros in 305 AC for the slaying of his aunt Daenerys Targaryen.

However, no definitive proof of this correspondence has ever been discovered, until now.

For Jonsa Valentine 2021!

Notes:

I still am not sure how to tag this whole thing, but here we are.

Title is from Taylor Swift's evermore.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: all the things that will be lost now

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Historians have long believed that the first Queen in the North after the War for the Dawn, Sansa Stark, maintained regular contact with her cousin, Aegon Targaryen, after the Great Council of the Six Kingdoms exiled him from Westeros in 305 AC for the slaying of his aunt Daenerys Targaryen.

However, no definitive proof of this correspondence has ever been discovered, until now.

Last week, a team from Winterfell University, the Northern Westerosi History Museum, and the University of Castle Black announced their findings from a recent expedition in the North. Remnants of ancient furs, tools, and other items were discovered among the ruins of a Free Folk village near the mouth of the Antler River, including a bundle of letters inside a waterproofed pouch hidden inside a smaller chest. Northern History Digest has obtained exclusive photos of the artifacts and a transcript of one of the letters!

Each of the letters is sealed with a howling direwolf, universally acknowledged as the symbol of the seat of power in the North. The ruling family of the time, the Starks, used the direwolf as their family sigil, reaching all the way back to Brandon the Builder of the First Men, and maintained it throughout their reign as Wardens, and later, as Kings and Queens in the North.

The dig team believes that these letters are from Queen Sansa to her exiled cousin during his sentence and second tenure as the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, the precursor to our modern-day Northern Rangers.

As the ruler of an independent kingdom, Queen Sansa would not have been beholden to any terms of punishment inflicted upon Aegon by the Great Council or the new ruler of the Six Kingdoms—her younger brother, King Brandon I.

However, one of the Queen’s letters to the Lord Commander refers directly to a royal pardon, an offer of legitimization, and an invitation to return to Winterfell. It also hints at a strong familiarity between the two cousins; she refers to Aegon as “Jon," his childhood name, as do other Northern documents recovered from both this era and the pre-Independence time period.

“While we haven’t been able to find any direct evidence that the Lord Commander accepted the Queen’s pardon, or replied to this letter or any of the others, there are accounts of a man fitting written descriptions of Aegon Targaryen walking around Winterfell Castle in future years,” Northern Westerosi History Museum’s lead archaeologist Jon Snow explains to us over a video call from his Winterfell office. “It’s possible he accepted the Queen’s pardon and lived the rest of his years as a Stark within the walls of Winterfell Castle. These letters from Queen Sansa to her exiled cousin is another important piece of the medieval Westerosi puzzle, and we’re excited to begin the archival process.”

This letter and other recovered artifacts will be displayed at the Northern Westerosi History Museum in Winterfell as part of their permanent "A Dream of Spring" collection later this year. Click below the jump to read our exclusive transcript of one of the letters!

Notes:

Read on for the letter!

Chapter 2: and when i was shipwrecked i thought of you

Summary:

And here's the letter.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Jon, I write to you from within the walls of Castle Black—today is the fourth day of trade negotiations between the Free Folk and the Northern Realms. There are three more days of this to endure. I wish you were here to see it; we could use your steady temper to cool the heated arguments, though I suspect Tormund finds more entertainment in the near-clashes than he should.

Tormund also tells me, constantly, that the lands beyond the Wall are the True North, but what does it matter now, with the Wall’s collapse? He also tells me you’ve halted the reconstruction projects and directed the resources instead to rebuilding the fortresses and creating open squares within them. We will support these projects as much as we can—we are short on laborers, but the Council will do its best to send you men when we have them to spare. It is time both sides embrace each other as allies, and not as enemies. What a shame it would be, to have fought against a common enemy for so long, only to turn our back on each other again when the need is no longer dire. I will not stand for it during my reign.

I tell you all of this, because I miss you. I miss you desperately, the way I miss Arya, and Bran, and Robb and Rickon, and Lady too. Their ghosts walk these halls with me every day.

Where are you, Jon? Are you happy now? They gave me the same room here at Castle Black as you did all those years ago. When I look into the fire, all I see is the way you smiled at me and said that you forgave me for all those petty insults from our youth. But will you forgive me what I did after? I told Tyrion your secret to defend our family—but here I sit, Queen in the North, while you are somewhere in the wilds. Whatever penance you feel you must pay, I do not begrudge you that. You, of all people, deserve whatever measure of peace you can find.

But it just seems too high of a price, some days, to exile you from both the Six Kingdoms and the North, a place they no longer rule.

The North gave us crowns, and the North will return yours whenever you’re ready—no matter what the Six Kingdoms say. So this is my promise to you: if Bran and Tyrion have an issue with the contents of this letter, they may march their armies north of the Neck to talk to me themselves. To them, I make no promise of a peaceful welcome.

There are two other scrolls included in this chest—I’ve entrusted it to Tormund only, so you should receive them with no issue. The pardon will allow you back into the North and through the gates of Winterfell. The offer of legitimization ought to speak for itself. The guards will know you—if not by face, then by reputation as the Hero of the North, the one who saved all of us from near-certain destruction. As Jon Stark, not as a bastard son, not as Aegon Targaryen. Not as a traitor. You should have never been known by any other title.

When you’re ready, come home.

Notes:

Happy reading! I post occasional jonsa over on Tumblr.

Notes:

Read on for the letter!

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