Author's note: Welcome to my new story! Trying out a different style of our world-OC fanfiction. Also, would have added more characters on the line up, but unfortunately they aren't on the list. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones. They belong to their rightful owners. Any characters you see here that are not from those stories are my own.

Update: I've decided to divide the story into arcs to make it easier to manage plots and timelines.

Arc One: The Adjustment Period

Chapter One: Alive

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As Jasmine Switzer's mind slowly swam into consciousness there were two thoughts that managed to make their way to the surface. The first was simply "I'm alive". It was less a realization of joy and more of a bland notion akin to the "I think therefore I am" philosophy. The second was a painful notice that the world was spinning and turning without end and a pounding headache that made her want to split her skull open. Unfortunately, she didn't have the energy to even groan much less get up and call someone for an aspirin.

Closing her eyes again, Jasmine tried to concentrate on her breathing and slow down the spinning in her skull.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Okay...

Breathe out.

So… I'm alive. That's good. That's progress.

Wait. Her face scrunched in concentration. Why did I think I was dead? Was it all a dream?

Feeling braver in her faculties, she opened up her eyes to take in her surroundings. Brushing away black curls of hair as she let her eyes adjust to the light. She was in a bed, which is always a good sign. Covers, pillow, and a mattress, check. A little too thin and lumpy for her tastes, but that was an aside at this point. The room itself was dark, cramped, creaky and brown from wood. That… Jasmine wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. The cruise ship she was on didn't have any rooms like that. At least, none that she could recall. And why would the cruise ship be rocking so much?

A thought niggled in the head, and she tried to focus on it. Something happened. There was wind. And rain. She remembered now. A hurricane had come up, almost unexpectedly. She, her cousin Sandra, and Sandra's friends had strapped themselves into their cabin for safety. But something hit the ship and tore through to their room. And one of the straps of her backpack broke off and she was ripped away from the bed post she had tied herself to-

"Shit!" She bolted up from the bed, only to have it slam into a low ceiling and fall back on what she now realized was a bunk bed. "Ow! Fuck!" She growled. Rubbing her forehead profusely at the pain the hit caused. Which had the extra burden of making her headache feel six times worse. Lovely.

The sound of quick steps echo added to the creaking wood as someone came forward and opened the door to the cabin. Peeking through her right eyelid she glanced at the new figure. Tall, lean, dark skin, a shaved head, a rather decorative braided beard on his chin, and even more decorative clothing that burst with a rainbow of colours. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. Perhaps this was a local ship here in the Caribbean?

The man gave a bemused smirk and began speaking to her in another language.

"What?" She asked. He had definitely asked her a question, but it didn't sound like Patwa or anything else recognizable. Then again, outside of Sandra's maternal side of the family, she didn't know much about people from the Islands.

"Ah, many pardons." The man smiled, switching to the familiar language. "You are from the continent, yes? I am Boru Xhoan, first mate of the Soaring Wing."

"Jasmine Switzer." She offered to him. "I don't suppose you have some aspirin on you?"

"Aspirin?" He looked puzzled. "I do not know what this is."

Crud. Well, maybe he's from a small region? "That's alright. Do you have anything to clear a headache?"

"Xanda can bring some tea for you when she comes to change the bandages."

"Bandages?" Lifting the covers, she found a red stained bandage wrapped around at the hip. She poked at it and grimaced at the pain. Yep. Definitely a gash. How she didn't notice that before was beyond her. "Ah." She sighed through the pain and brought the sheet back down. "I would appreciate that. Thank you."

"You are welcome, Jasmine Switzer." He brought a small chair to the bedside and sat down. "If I may ask, how it is you came lost in the sea? The Captain will wish to know."

"Oh. Well there was storm. It damaged the part of the ship I was in and I got swept away." She frowned, thinking on the events of the night before. "Did you find anyone else? My cousin and her friends were in the cabin with me, but…" Did they also get dragged in? Or did their knots keep them safe on the cruiseliner?

"I am afraid that you are the only one we found." He gave a reassuring pat on my arm. "There was not much to find. There was only your body on the wood that cut into you, some pieces of the ship, and that sack you were carrying." His head gestured to a large grey backpack/carry-on suitcase leaning on the other side of the little room.

Well, at least that survived. Hopefully the others were fine too.

"That was a grand storm last night. One of our sails had been damaged. But all else was secure." He saw her distracted gaze and gave her a nod. "I am sure your family is secure as well." She gave him a nod of thanks and, with a bid to get rest, he left her to her thoughts.

If there's one thing to be thankful for in life, it's being in the company of good people when life has gone to shit.

Over the next two days, Jasmine remained bedridden due to her injuries, but in that time had made friends with some crew members aboard the Soaring Wing. Xanda Mo, the Captain's wife, would spend a couple hours a day nursing her back to health. Boru's younger brother, Maro, and some of the younger shipmates would come in to play games or ask her about her life. There were some barriers with each other's' languages and accents (especially since Talano, Xanda, and Jhalu didn't know English at all), but they still made the best of it and had an enjoyable time together.

When her injuries were mostly healed (and she started getting a little stir-crazy), she was assigned to help out with light work in the kitchen. Sort of an odd thought to get 'assigned' work when you aren't even a member of the crew, but considering they had literally saved her life, it seemed reasonable that she should help out in what little way she could.

It was also a good opportunity to get some fresh air and explore (well, hobble around) the ship. The one thing that surprised her the most was that the ship was actually very nice. As in clean, large, and built professionally, with a well kept body of golden wood, powerful white sails and a decorative carving of a conure as the figurehead. She had been under the impression that the crew was from a small island village or something along those lines. But to have a ship like this would imply a fair bit of wealth and resources that didn't fit that scenario. Mind you, she refused to bring that up. Didn't want to accidentally offend anyone with her preconceived mindset.

On the morning of day six aboard the Soaring Wing, the ship came to port. The crew were in a flurry gathering supplies and chests of trade goods. Jasmine helped out with some of the smaller boxes, careful not to strain the healing gash, and then gathered her own things for departure.

Dried-out clothes? Check.

Wallet and passport? Check.

Smartphone? Ruined, but present.

Toiletries? Check.

Books, sketchpad, and pencil crayons? Dried out and crinkly as hell, but operational.

Alrighty, we are good to go!

Only trouble with backpack/suitcase hybrids is that they're heavy and in no way a good mix with surface wounds. But… ya, not about ready to abandon what few possessions one has when lost at sea and away from home.

"I see you are leaving us!" Boru called out from the quarterdeck as Jasmine made her way towards the ship's entrance.

"Ya. It's about time a get myself home." She answered.

Boru made his way down the steps towards her. "That is good. It will be much easier now you are in your kingdom." Well, technically Jasmine was Canadian, and neither the US or Canada were kingdoms (well, there is Queen Elizabeth II's family; but, that hardly counts, all things considered), but she didn't bother to correct him.

She smiled and shook his hand. "Right. And thank you so much for everything. I would be dead if it wasn't for you. And please let Xanda, Maro, and everyone else on the ship know how much I appreciated their help."

"That I will." He grinned. "Farewell, Switzer. May the gods be with you!"

"And with you, Boru. Good bye!" She waved as she made her way down the plank, saying more goodbyes to nearby crew on her way down.