Familiar

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So this is my entry for the #WakeUpInWesteros Challenge! It took my a while to figure out what I wanted to do with this challenge, before I finally settled on doing something with my favorite character, Ghost. So I hope y’all enjoy! Also there is gratuitous cuddling of a direwolf so just a warning.

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Everything hurt, every muscle and bone burned with an indescribable ache, it hurt more than anything I felt in some time. Maybe it was just a fibro flare up? I squeezed my eyes shut tighter for a few moments before I released a few things other than the ache. The first thing was that my eyes felt sticky, like that gummy feeling in your eyes after waking up from surgery. The second was an awful cold, I hadn’t left my fan on before falling asleep and it never got this cold. And three what ever I was laying on was not my bed, it was hard and cold. I slowly began to open my eyes, absolutely terrified of what I might find.

My vision was blurred and fuzzy but even with my tangled golden hair in my face I could make out a mess of thick white fur. It definitely wasn’t my cat, my cat was nowhere near this big. A curious part of me reached out my hand to pet the furry mass, it had long, soft, warm fur. Almost as soon as I had threaded my fingers through it’s fur I heard a low drawn out growl and pulled my hand away.

I was slightly shocked when ‘it’ turned to face me, and ‘it’ was some sort of wolf. It didn’t look like any sort of wolf I knew of it was to big and fluffy to be a grey wolf or an Arctic wolf. I ran it through my head before noticing the wolf’s eyes. They were stunning ruby orbs and a thought ran through my mind. This was Ghost, everything about this situation screamed direwolf. The giant, fluffy wolf was the biggest red flag and the fact I appeared to be in some sort of cage was also pretty suspicious. I ed what I had learned during my various experiences with animals. I reached my hand out again, this time I let the wolf smell my hand before sitting up. He seems to have calmed down. This wasn’t real though, it couldn’t be. Though with every moment things started to seem more and more real.” Can I pet you?” I mumbled, reaching my hand out a third time. This time the wolf seemed to be more comfortable with my touch, he didn’t love it but he wasn’t fighting it either.

The felling that this wasn’t some dream, that it was real began to wash over me. I felt a few tears slip down my cheeks. Not only that but I was slowly realizing how bad this situation was, I was in a freezing cold stone kennel without any clothes that would actually keep me warm not to mention the million other things that could happen. I slumped over onto the cold floor again, the wolf who I was now fairly sure was Ghost nudged my side. I grabbed him without thinking. He didn’t seem to upset with me, more just uncomfortable with my arms being draped over his neck. I had a feeling that he could sense that I was upset and hurting like a lot of animals can and trying to comfort me. I had a thousand questions and if Ghost had the ability to sense my emotions wasn’t really one of them. Where was I? When was I? All of rushed through my head at a mile a minute.

I needed to figure that out but at them moment I wanted sleep or something to calm my aching muscles. Ghost laid down next to me and let me curl up next to him.” Thank you.” I whispered into his fur, I began to think. I could see a courtyard or what I thought was a court yard from the kennel, and if my memory serves correct it looks to be Winterfell. So then when was this? Was it before, during or after season seven? All of those thoughts seemed to bring sleep quicker. I needed to talk to someone, or maybe it would be like that movie “Midnight in Paris” and I’ll be home. What ever I was going to do it could wait for later. For now I was to engrossed in the familiarity of an animal and the comfort of sleep and the world seemed to stop. I could become a demon hunter in Mossovy later, I could learn necromancy in Asshai later I would do all of that later. For now I just need to sleep. To rest my head against Ghost and forget things in something familiar.