"The great BEAR ISLAND launches an all-out attack on Duskendale!" Lyanna Mormont announced as she zipped over to Shireen, who sat on the grass a few feet away with a couple of toy boats and a book in her hands, only to bring a foam sword down right on her head. "I win again!"
"Lyanna, don't you think you should wait a little bit before attacking again? Perhaps recuperate?" Shireen suggested, looking up from her book. Having already lost Nightsong (a bucket of sand), Nightwater Keep (more toy boats) and Cape Wrath (literally a cape on the ground. Not one of Shireen's proudest thought processes) to the apparent 'great soldiers' of Bear Island, she hadn't exactly been putting up much of a fight. Its namesake must have been obsolete by now, given Lyanna controlled a lot more than one island, but she seemed adamant to change the name, or establish new ones.
"My men don't need to rest! They can do the work of ten of your men, and stay up past their bedtime while doing it." Lyanna insisted, leading Shireen to dejectedly step out from the boats. Guess that's what happens when one tries to talk politics with a ten year old. Shireen liked Lyanna, their fathers often had business together and every time they did Lyanna would drag her out into the backyard to continue their ongoing 'Game of Thrones' as the ten-year-old liked to call it. Or as Shireen thought it, 'Bear Island Is Ridiculously Overpowered'. It had been a constant battle between the two, with the outgoing Lyanna calling herself the Lady of Bear Island, whereas Shireen had simply reserved herself as the Princess of Dragonstone. While the title wasn't the usual for someone with her amount of appointed power and influence, she used the game for a little bit of self-indulgence every now and then. And relating to the princesses in her stories was just the way to do it.
"Alright, Lyanna, just you try and breach this! Dragonstone, my most protected and unbeatable city.' Shireen challenged, standing amongst a few scattered rocks and a worn Barbie© Dreamhouse™ that was dug out of the garage whenever the Game of Thrones resumed. Lyanna stood unfazed, thrusting her sword out towards her and laughing.
"You should have retreated when you had the chance, Baratheon! Left, never to return!" She spoke with great gusto.
"And gone where? Dorne?" Shireen fired back, pointing over at the sandbox. "I don't think so. I think I'll stay right here. My father would neverwant me to retreat from a battle!" That trait may have been born out of his father being a stubborn, stubborn man, with nobody except a creepy redheaded secretary keeping him in check, but that didn't stop the younger Baratheon from adopting a similar mindset.
"Imbecile!" Lyanna laughed, making Shireen wonder how long she'd known that word for. Probably found about it on the playground three days ago and had been dying to use it. "Your castle is no match for my army, who can do the work of ten…"
"My men can do the work of twenty."
Lyanna's eyes widened and her speech faltered, clearly quite taken aback by the horrifying idea of an army that could fight with twice the strength of hers. "W-Well… Uh…" The Mormont continued to search for a solution, her tried and true solution to all her diplomatic problems suddenly made redundant. "Well, I can bring in some reinforcements from Ironrath that have the strength of a HUNDRED men…" Shireen pleasantly giggled at the image of what a man with the strength of a hundred would even look like. Probably as big as a mountain.
"I have more in here that could do the work of a million." Shireen said calmly, by now once again cross-legged on the ground with her book in her lap. Lyanna was floored, unable to even comprehend what a million was. Was that even a number?
"Shireen?"
"Yes?"
"How big is a million?"
"A thousand thousands, Lyanna." Lyanna gasped. That was a really big number. She didn't even know any number beyond that… But she had a plan.
"Well then, I'll bring in my strongest men, from Winterfell! They have the power, bravery and skill of a million…" A wicked grin spread across her face. "And one men!" She announced, these new men now very, very slightly stronger than Shireen's. And to her, that was all that mattered. Shireen glanced up from her book.
"Infinity."
"What?"
"I have a man with the strength of infinity men."
"Is that higher than a million and one?"
"Yes."
"But what about a million and… And two!?"
"Yes." Lyanna was absolutely terrified. She dropped the sword to the ground, sinking to her knees in surrender.
"I don't wanna play this game anymore." Now that really grabbed Shireen's attention. Had… Had she won? Fought back against the mighty Bear Island dynasty and one with her precious Dragonstone? "You're… You're gonna invade me now, aren't you?" Lyanna whimpered, accepting defeat at the hands of infinite strength. Shireen calmly shut her book and stood up, stepping out of Dragonstone and picking up the sword.
"Of course not, Lyanna. Why don't we join our forces? With your men of a million and one strength and my man of infinite strength, nobody would be able to stand between us!" Truthfully, there was nobody for them to actually fight against being the only players, but the notion seemed to perk up Lyanna all the same.
"Yeah… We'll be unstoppable! Nobody will be able to stand up against the Queens of Bear Island!" She said with a reinvigorated will, shaking her fist in the end at the invisible enemy that they'd one day face off against, together. She plopped herself back on the ground, a few seconds of silence falling between the two before Lyanna turned to her new cohort. "…What now?" Shireen smiled sweetly, holding up the book in her hands.
"Why don't I read to you? With these tales of great leaders and fearless battles, I'm sure you'll quite enjoy them." Lyanna thought for a second, before nodding her head eagerly in agreement. "Come on then, let's go inside. It's far too cold out there." She quipped, standing up and brushing herself off. She took Lyanna's hand in hers, glad to finally be out of the cold as she walked the girl back to the house.