#ocsof

Eddard POV:In a flash, Ned was back at the Tower of Joy, kneeling next to Lyanna’s bloodstained bed. In one arm he clutched a sleeping babe while his free hand held his sister’s clammy and weak one. She was weeping tears of blood and her breathing became more and more strained.

“You name him Ned…” Lyanna had said. “The best of us… you were the best of us. I trust you to watch over him… my babe… keep him safe…”

“Of course, Lya.” He’d wept as well. “I’ll care for him like he’s my own.”

“His name Ned… tell me it before… my son’s name…”

The choice had been easy for him in a way, to name this boy he would love as a son he thought of the man who had loved him as a son. Who had sheltered Ned in the Vale when the Mad King called for his head.

“Jon.” Ned had kissed Lyanna’s hand. “This is your son Lya, this is Jon.”

“Jon…” She reached for the babe and Ned let her press a gentle kiss to the babe’s brow. “Oh gods Ned spare him all this pain… all the follies… keep him safe…”

“Promise me, Ned.”

Now there was nothing holding Rhaegar to accepting Jon’s name as it was. He could’ve changed it to something more Targaryen-esque. If Lyanna hadn’t died, he probably would’ve.

It just wasn’t in him to overrule one of her last acts as his short-lived queen.