Disclaimer: I don't own Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire

Alyssa I Targaryen

Book : The Long Night

Chapter 1: Wights and the Wall

Beta:

A mixed group of about two dozen Night's Watch Brothers and Free Folk of which Tormund Giantsbane was a part and led by Black Jack Bulwer, the Watch's First Ranger were gathered around a group of small campfires in the Haunted Forest in the land Beyond the Wall.

"First Ranger," Tormund called out to the leader of the Crows that he found himself sharing a weak fire with. He normally wouldn't have been so polite to a kneeler, but the damned stubborn man would answer to nothing else despite Tormund's efforts to goad him into doing otherwise.

"What is it Giantsbane?" The bull of a man asked with a tired grunt.

"How does your Queen know that dragonglass works against the wights and Walkers?" Giantsbane asked lifting the weapon that the kneelers had designed to use the dragonglass and which had started arriving at the Wall for moons now. It was a wooden club with sharp bits of dragonglass worked onto two sides. "I thought you Crows only figured that out by chance when that fat, smart Crow-"

"Samwell Tarly," The First Ranger supplied.

"Yes, him. Since he accidentally killed a wight and Walker with a dragonglass arrowhead he found."

"That's how we learned how to use dragonglass." The Crow agreed. "But how the Queen knew? Magic I'd say. She's a witch."

"How's that different from a wood-witch?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Fat load of good you are."

"I could say the same for you and your Wildings, Giantsbane." The First Ranger shot back angrily. "We've been trudging through this wasteland for weeks now and we haven't so much as run into a hint of the wights or the Walkers."

"Do you want to?"

"No," the Crow was honest enough to admit. "But it's what we set out to find. It's the only bloody reason we brought you lot along."

"You don't trust us?" Tormund asked mockingly.

"My Brothers and I trust you about as much as you trust me," the other man spat. "Enough to fight the Others together because none of us want to end up as wights, but that's about it. If we didn't need your experience in dealing with them we wouldn't have brought you at all!"

Tormund just let out a full bellied laugh at the First Ranger's frankness.

"You're a good man, Crow." He told the kneeler genuinely. "You say it as it is. I like that in a man."

To Tormund's astonishment the Crow actually allowed himself a smile.

Their moment of camaraderie was ruined when suddenly the ambient sound of the forest abruptly disappeared and the light showering of snow that had been falling till then grew in intensity.

"They're coming," Tormund said as he stood and brought his new weapon to the ready, the whole party doing much the same.

"Aye," the Crow said as he surveyed the forest as he lit some prepared fire arrows with their dying campfire.

As if sensing that they had lost the element of surprise, the enemy changed tactics and without warning surged out of the surrounding trees towards the ready party of the living.

"I count thirty wights! No Walker!" The Crow shouted as he shot his first fire arrow at a wight that by its clothing and the spear it carried had once been a spearwife. The flame caught easily and the dead thing burned away into ash abnormally quickly, a result of whatever magic that fueled the undead abomination being particularly weak against fire.

"Ain't that a relief!" Tormund shouted back even as he used his bladed war club to slash at a former raider armed with a chipped bronze axe who collapsed back into the inanimate corpse it should have been at the first nick by the dragonglass of his weapon.

"Aye," the Crow said as he set another wight alight, before shouting at the rest of their men. "Remember we need to take at least one of these things alive!"

A roar of agreement came from the living warriors and snarls of inarticulate defiance came from the undead, or at least that's how Tormund interpreted the animalistic sounds the wights were making as he took them down one by one. Armed with proper weapons that could actually hurt these damned monsters, they were hardly as scary as they used to be. Terrifying still, but not unbeatable.

A fact that became apparent when after a short but intense fight that saw them whittling their attackers down to a handful.

"Throw the nets!" The First Ranger ordered, prompting men to begin tossing the heavy weighted nets they'd prepared for the occasion at the surviving wights.

A half dozen of the nets flew through the air in quick succession. Three missed entirely, one even ending up stuck in a tree of all places. One landed poorly on its target and the bulky wight easily threw it off. Two hit their marks though and brought a wight down each.

"Finish the rest off!" The Crow ordered and the living warriors obeyed eagerly.

"By the looks of their clothes and weapons, I'm thinking those wights used to be one of your people's raiding parties." The Crow said as they made the trek back to Castle Black with their prizes now locked inside a pair of heavily reinforced wooden crates. "Know any of them?"

"No," Tormund said with honest relief that he wasn't lying. "We aren't so small a people that I know every other Free Folk, ya know?"

"I know." The First Ranger acknowledged. "Just asking. I know the blasted Others like sending our own people against us when they can. Rattles our nerves."

"Aye, they do like doing that." Tormund agreed shuddering as he recalled instances of such.

"So what do you think they were doing? Those wights I mean."

"Hunting stragglers I imagine." Tormund said with a heavy heart. "By now they've likely killed and added almost all of us Free Folk to their Army of the Dead already. Those that didn't make it across the Wall thanks to your Queen that is. There are only stragglers left in the True North."

"So that's why there wasn't a Walker? Their job wasn't important enough?"

"Probably." Tormund said with a shrug. "I don't honestly care about the reason, I'm just glad we didn't have to fight one."

"I'm with you there Giantsbane." the Crow said as the Wall came within view in the distance and with it the end of their journey.

"Hello, Alyssa." Lord Nameless' familiar voice said as Alyssa found herself in a white void.

"My lord?" Alyssa asked as she looked around her in surprise. "Why am I here? Last I recall I was-"

"Falling asleep in your lovers Margaery and Jeyne's arms." Nameless supplied. "I am currently visiting your dreams."

Alyssa nodded her acceptance.

"You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes," Lord Nameless agreed, conjuring a pair of chairs for them and Alyssa took her seat. Only noticing as she did so that she was dressed. It seemed her god respected modesty. "I believe congratulations are in order. Congratulations on becoming Queen Regnant of Westeros."

"Thank you, my lord."

"And congratulations as well on a healthy baby boy."

"Yes, thank you." Alyssa said with far less enthusiasm.

Lord Nameless frowned at her reply but didn't comment.

"But do not think that these victories mean that your hardships are at an end, my servant." The god told her. "The hardest battles are just about to begin."

"I am aware, my lord. The news of the wight hunt's success arrived earlier today. With proof in hand I can now properly begin preparing for the war with the Others. A war that I assure you will provide you with the entertainment you long for."

"It better," The god said as the dreamscape began to fade into nothingness. "Or I might be forced to take drastic action."

"I repeat, I am perfectly fine!" Alyssa told the gathered party of her concubines, the newly appointed Grand Maester Luwin and the rest of her Small Council as she used Levitate to mount Ghost, the morning after the arrival news of the successful wight hunt and her meeting with Lord Nameless.

"Even if you are physically recovered thanks to your magic, your grace, surely you need the rest? For peace of mind is nothing else?" The Grand Maester argued with a disapproving frown.

"I will have peace of mind after I've convinced everyone of the threat of the Others and that means I need to fly those wights south so I can present them at the Great Council," Alyssa argued. "And before anyone mentions Ned-"

At the mention of his name, her young son turned in Jeyne's arms to glance at his mother for a moment before yawning and falling back against her concubine's shoulder where he drifted off back to sleep.

"Ned is in trusted hands." Alyssa said simply, hiding how torn she felt.

Not at the idea of leaving her newborn son behind. But with the ease with which she had accepted the need to do so. If she had a child in her past life, she doubted she would be able to do something like this. In this life however it was easy. She had the mission of defeating the Others to accomplish and even if it required taking time away from her son to accomplish than so be it. This did not mean that she did not love Ned, he was her son and naturally meant the world to her. And in order to ensure he had a future, she needed to leave him. At least that's what she told herself.

I'm a terrible mother. Alyssa concluded but shunted the thought into the depths of her mind. She had no time for self-loathing.

"We'll take care of Ned," Margey reassured her. "But he needs his mother so please, Alys, be back soon."

Alyssa nodded and used Levitate to help Brienne and Loras, her Queensguard escorts for this trip, mount Ghost as well, whilst her dragon growled his agreement with Margey's words.

Even my dragon is against me. Alyssa lamented even as she remained firm.

"I will return as swiftly as I can." Alyssa said before turning to her Hand. "Lady Olenna, in the meantime, I trust that you and the rest of the Small Council can finish the arrangements for the Great Council?"

"All will be ready, your grace. Just come back safely and swiftly."

Alyssa just nodded. "Then I leave matters in King's Landing to all your capable hands. Gate."

With that Ghost leapt into the air and flew through the portal and into the air over Castle Black.

Ghost landed them just outside the collection of stone towers and timber keeps that made up Castle Black and was immediately greeted by Lord Commander Thorne.

"Your grace, welcome to Castle Black," the kneeling Lord Commander said as Alyssa and her Queensguard floated down from Ghost's back courtesy of a Levitate spell. The man looked just like she remembered from her last life, humorless, dry and hard.

He was surrounded by a reception party of kneeling Night's Watch Brothers and the odd defiantly standing Free Folk. All of whom were looking at Ghost in awe and hope.

They probably think I can solve the problem of the Others by simply flying Ghost north and torching the Night King with dragonfire. Alyssa realized. I almost wish it was that simple.

She knew it wasn't though. While the Night King might be susceptible to dragonfire, especially Ghost's magically altered dragonfire, the monster would not be alone and any attempt to just fly off and face him would be suicidal. The only way to defeat him was to fight his armies with her own, lure him out then kill him.

"It is an honor to be here," Alyssa told the slim and sinewy leader of the Night's Watch honestly as she signaled for him and his kneeling Brothers to stand. "Now show me the wights."

The Lord Commander looked startled, probably expecting pleasantries or that she would request to be shown to her rooms first. To his credit however, he recovered quickly.

"This way, your grace." The knight said as he led her down a familiar path through a building, the Shieldhall if she remembered correctly, then along the subterranean wormwalks down to the Ice Cells.

"You have stationed guards," Alyssa observed as they passed the fifth man holding on the dragonglass weapons Lord Velaryon's craftsmen had designed and shipped to the Wall.

"Of course, your grace. We can't risk the things getting out." Lord Commander Thorne said as they arrived at a pair of the frigid cells carved out of the ice of the Wall itself and secured by a set of sturdy iron gates.

Inside the two cells in front of them, which were flanked on either side by a guard, were crates. Both were heavily reinforced by strips of metal bolted on and wrapped in thick chains. It was somewhat excessive Alyssa reasoned but was reflective of just how much the men of the Wall feared the abominations they had trapped within.

"Open them." Alyssa ordered. "I need to see that they are what you claim they are."

Lord Commander Thorne winced but nodded at one of his Brothers, who rushed off.

"We'll need more men and equipment." The old knight said. "My Brother will be back with what we need."

"I'll wait."

They didn't have to wait long, though it was long enough that Loras had to accept an additional cloak to ward off the chill as the cold began to get to him. Though they had all prepared for the trip by wearing warm furs, it seemed Loras had underestimated just how cold it would get.

"I don't understand how either of you aren't freezing." Loras asked as he adjusted his additional cloak so that it wouldn't get in the way and the men carefully began working on opening the crates.

"I grew up in the North and my magic helps." Alyssa told the Lord Commander of her Queensguard with a shrug.

"Brienne?"

"At the her grace's suggestion I'm wearing thrice the layers I normally would." Brienne told him with a shrug.

"Her size helps," Lord Commander Thorne added. "The bigger sized people always seem to have it easier with the cold."

"Is that so?" Brienne asked, intrigued.

"Yes, but we can continue this later." The leader of the Night's Watch said. "The men are almost done. Follow me, your grace, but keep your distance from the crates themselves."

"You're not opening them entirely?" Alyssa asked as they cautiously advanced into the first cell where a group of Brothers very carefully pulled the lid of the crate off slightly. It was more than enough however for a rotted, frostbitten hand to lash out as the snarling wight within struggled to get free, its blue eyes glowing with an alien contempt for the living.

"By the Seven!" Loras shouted as he and Brienne pushed Alyssa back, both of them drawing their swords.

"Very good, Lord Commander." Alyssa said calmly. Unlike her Queensguard, she was sadly familiar enough with wights to have lost her sense of shock at seeing the pitiful creatures. "Seal it up and let's see the other one."

"You heard her grace," Ser Thorne barked and his men used long wooden poles to force the wight back into the crate as they slid the lid back on even as he began leading Alyssa and her escorts over to the other cell to repeat the inspection.

Alyssa stood outside the King's Tower and looked up at the long wooden stairs leading up the Wall with nostalgia as the servants she'd used Gate to transport in from King's Landing tried to make the best of the ancient and ill maintained quarters within.

"Who goes there?" Brienne issued a challenge from behind her, causing Alyssa to spin around to see who had approached her.

It was her old friend from her past life, Samwell Tarly. He was just as fat as she remembered and his dark hair, pale eyes, and a large moon-shaped face were likewise unchanged. Nor it seemed was his nervous disposition as he fidgeted anxiously as she looked at him.

"Y-Your grace," the man stuttered out. "I, uh, am Samwell Tarly. I am Maester Aemon's assistant."

"No need to be nervous, young man." Alyssa urged as comfortingly as she could manage. "Just tell me why you are looking for me."

"R-Right. Uh. Maester Aemon would like to see you, your grace. He is, uh, your-"

"My great, great granduncle," Alyssa breathed in shocked realization. She had not given the matter much thought before now but the old Maester of the Night's Watch was indeed a Targaryen.

"Yes," Sam nodded looking surprised that she would know that. "He, uh, would like to see you."

"Lead the way."

"May I touch your face, your grace?" The bald, wrinkled, and shrunken Maester Aemon said in a surprisingly strong voice for a man clearly on his deathbed. "I am blind you see."

"Of course, Uncle." Alyssa sat kindly as she moved to the side of the small bed inside the tiny, cramped quarters her Uncle occupied inside the wooden keep at the base of Castle Black's rookery.

"I hear that you take after your mother?"

"I do, Uncle." Alyssa said kindly as the old man ran his hands slowly across her face as he tried to create an image of her appearance in his mind. "But you have your father's chin, my brother Egg's chin."

"Aegon V?"

"Your great, great grandfather yes." Uncle Aemon said with a gummy smile as he removed his hands and Alyssa clutched the one closest to her lightly. "You have his long, elegant hands as well. He got them from my mother, you know?"

"I didn't." Alyssa admitted. Feeling sad that she knew so little about her family.

"Do you have your father's talent for music?"

"My sisters, I mean my cousins," Alyssa said, correcting herself quickly even though Uncle Aemon just smiled at her uncaring of the mistake. "They claim that I do though I always think they exaggerate."

"A musician and a conqueror." Uncle Aemon praised. "You truly are a talented young woman."

Alyssa couldn't help herself, she blushed at the compliment. Here was a man that was a hundred years old and had seen the most turbulent years in Westeros' recent history praising her achievements!

"It is a great joy to me to see that our family once more sits on the Iron Throne as is our right." Uncle Aemon continued. "I've only held on as long as I have to see that. To see you."

"Uncle?" Alyssa asked worriedly. He couldn't mean what she thought he meant could he?

"I am dying, child." He said with a surprising levity despite the situation. "Nothing can change that. But before I go there is one last thing I want to do. Sam, give it to the Queen."

"Yes, Maester Aemon." Sam said, fighting tears in his eyes as he presented Alyssa with a sword.

Its slender blade bore the distinctive rippled patterns of Valyrian steel, its guard was inlaid with gold in the pattern of coiling dragons and at its pommel sat a large ruby.

"Is this-"

"Dark Sister." Uncle Aemon confirmed. "I have kept in my care all these years since Lord Commander Brynden Rivers disappeared while ranging beyond the Wall. And now it has at last found its new rightful owner."

"Uncle, I am not worthy."

"Says the second coming of Aegon the Conqueror." Uncle Aemon said with a laugh that soon descended into a coughing fit.

"Uncle!" Alyssa cried out in alarm as she leaned over him and prepared to cast her healing magic but he grabbed her hand.

"No." The elderly man insisted through his increasingly labored breathing. "I've lived long enough. Let me die."

"But Uncle, I just found you."

"And that just proves you don't need me, child." Uncle Aemon lifted a trembling hand to caress Alyssa's cheek. "Look at all that you have accomplished without my help. Now that I've given you Dark Sister, I have finished my final duty in this world. Let me have my rest, your grace. I beg you."

"If that's what you want, Uncle." Alyssa said, even as tears flowed down her face.

"Stay with me till the last moment?" He pleaded. "It shan't be long now."

"Of course."

Thus Alyssa spent the next hour keeping vigil at the bedside of her Uncle as he breathed his last.

Lifting Dark Sister in a salute to the man who had guarded it for so many years, Alyssa called on her magic.

"Flame Strike!" She cast, her magic to her surprise streaming into the blade before shooting out its point and causing Uncle Aemon's pyre to ignite into a bigger than normal pillar of flame for the spell.

Valyrian steel can channel magic!? Alyssa startled at the revelation even as she flinched back from the more powerful than expected fire. She didn't know if she was immune to fire like some of her ancestors were said to be and she was not exactly eager to find out.

"And so ends the story of Maester Aemon Targaryen, faithful Brother of the Night's Watch." Alyssa said solemnly, hoping it would hide her earlier surprise. "May he rest in peace."

"May he rest in peace." Chorused the gathered mourners that included all the Night's Watch in Castle Black, the entirety of her own entourage and many of the Free Folk who now also shared the stronghold with their ancient enemies. Even Ghost gave a mournful roar in honor of his mage's deceased relative.

They all stood in silence watching as the flames of Alyssa's overpowered spell consumed Uncle Aemon's body. It took mere minutes before nought but ash remained of the man with the storied history.

Alyssa kept a vigil for a moment more as the last embers of the spell conjured flames faded before she turned away and walked towards where Lord Commander Thorne stood a respectful distance behind her. Next to him stood a number of Free Folk, none of which she immediately recognized.

"Your grace, my condolences." Lord Commander Thorne offered with sincerity.

"They are appreciated, Lord Commander." Alyssa said formally as she blinked away some tears. "But we have no time for grief. There is much to do. Are these the delegation Free Folk leaders I asked you to gather for me to represent their people at the Great Council?"

"Yes, your grace. They are led by-"

"I can introduce myself, Crow." A broad chested man with a massive belly and a beard white as snow interrupted Ser Thorne. "The name's Tormund Giantsbane, pleased to meet you Queen of the Kneelers."

This is Tormund? Wasn't he red of hair in my past life? Alyssa thought even as she couldn't resist her smile at the man's forwardness. I suppose if the Imp looks different then it stands to reason others would too.

"The pleasure is mine, Tormund." Alyssa said back politely surprising her Queensguard and Lord Commander Thorne how had tensed at his rudeness. "Though I must ask that you try to be more polite when we head south. While I am understanding of your culture's preference for openness and frankness, many of my lords will not. Thus any impoliteness will only serve to be problematic in your dealings with them."

Tormund blinked and frowned.

"You kneelers have too many rules. But for the Queen who saved our people, we will try." Tormund said with a sigh.

"I ask for no more," Alyssa told the Free Folk leader with a sincere smile. "Now then, are you all ready?"

Tormund exchanged a look with the others in his delegation and received affirmatives from all of them.

"Good, then Lord Commander, your man is ready as well?"

"Yes. First Ranger Bulwer is." Ser Thorne said nodding to a broad shouldered, muscular Night's Watch Brother that stood some distance away discussing something with another of his Brothers. "He's just giving some last minute instructions to the man he's leaving in charge of his Rangers while he's away."

"Then please see to moving the wights out to the yard would you?"

"At once, your grace."

A few minutes found Alyssa waiting impatiently in Castle Black's training yard, looking forlornly at the scorch mark in the packed earth and snow that was the only remaining sign of her Uncle's pyre as the wights were transported out to the yard so that Ghost could carry them for the return trip to King's Landing. No easy feat considering the narrow passageways they had to be maneuvered through from the ice cells. Her grieving was interrupted however one a little Free Folk boy caught her attention as he approached.

"Your grace," the fur clad boy said with a passable if rough bow just before Loras or Brienne could challenge him. "I work for Lord Varys."

Alyssa's eyebrow quirked up then. The Spider had already managed to hire little birds among the Free Folk? The eunuch certainly worked fast.

"I found the spearwife you asked us to look for."

"Is that so? Bring her to me." Alyssa ordered, eagerness seeping into her voice.

Sketching another rough bow, the boy scurried off and returned moments later with a round faced, pug nosed woman with pretty blue-grey eyes that seemed too far apart. Her most distinctive feature however was her thick, shaggy mop of curly bright red hair. Despite some minor differences this was undeniably Ygritte, the love of her last life. Yet strangely enough Alyssa felt none of the romantic attraction towards her that her past self had. Even her physical attraction was limited.

How odd. And disappointing. She thought fighting a frown. Is this the result of my experience with vastly more beautiful women? I mean, Ygritte, past or present, cannot hold a candle to the likes of Margey.

"Your grace," the spearwife greeted reluctantly as she was dragged in front of Alyssa by the boy.

"Ygritte, how would like to become part of my Queensguard?" Alyssa offered.

She had initially intended, hoped even, that the Ygritte of this life would be compatible with her and her magic would resonate with her like it had with the others. Now that it hadn't, she had to fall back onto her second option. One she'd come up with if her fears came to pass as it just had.

After all, just because she could not love Ygritte in this life did not mean she didn't want her close. Alyssa knows Ygritte. Better than she knows any of her existing Queensguard and even some of her concubines. She thus has faith in her skills as a warrior and was certain she can trust her if she can get the proud woman to agree.

"Why the sard would I want that?" Ygritte refused fiercely. "Working with you kneelers is bad enough, but I don't want to become one."

"If so then why did you and your brethren accept my offer to settle the Gift?" Alyssa countered with a sly smirk. "Included in that offer was a requirement to become my subjects, to become kneelers."

"We had no choice." Ygritte spat. "It was either that or face extermination at the hands of the Others."

"So you and your leaders accepted it for the good of the people. To survive. And accepting this rank would do the same."

"How in the world would it do that?"

"Titles, ranks, these things have power in the South. More so than in the True North." Alyssa explained, her use of Free Folk terms startling Ygritte slightly like she had hoped it would. She needed to shake the spearwife's certainty that she was right. Only then could she convince her.

"If you accept this position, the standing of all Free Folk in my Realm will be bettered. Not by much, not at first," Alyssa admitted knowing honesty was also necessary. "But it is a first step. And if the Free Folk are to make a life south of the Wall, then they need to start taking those steps."

Ygritte was quiet for a moment as she pondered the matter.

"Why me then?" Ygritte asked quietly, her earlier belligerence gone. "There are better warriors among the Free Folk."

"Perhaps," Alyssa allowed. "But of all the Free Folk warriors and I've observed many via magic, I trust you most of all."

The redhead's chest puffed up at that, the flattery obviously having an effect.

"Alright! I'll be your Queensguard."

Alyssa smiled in satisfaction at a job well done as she offered the spearwife a hand in welcome.

"Then get your things," Alyssa ordered glancing behind her and seeing that the crates containing the wights were already being carried out into the yard. "We leave soon."

Done!

For those who are curious, the dragonglass weapon that Tormund uses is essentially a mesoamerican macuahuitl. I imagine it is easier to mass produce than casting obsidian into a new shape. More logically straightforward too, just embed sharp bits of obsidian into a wooden club or other shape as needed and you'd have effective obsidian weapons.

As for Alyss's apparent dislike for Ned… She might be in denial but she's actually suffering postpartum depression or the Planetos equivalent of it. This is because of a variety of factors. One is that she never really wanted the baby in the first place. He was a political necessity but that's about it. Most importantly, he is Renly's child. And husband or not she did not respect or even like him and given a free choice would never choose him to father her children. Then there's the fact that she is very much homosexual. The entire idea of having a man's child was something that never sat well with her. I'll try to stick to the recognized symptoms of the IRL illness but I'm no medical professional and this is a minor plot point so don't expect fidelity to the matter.

Why didn't I add Ygritte to the harem? Simple. It's a matter of taste on my part. I just think Alyssa can do better. Plus her harem is of the Seven Kingdoms because that's what she rules and this is Nameless'/my way of symbolically showing her where her focus should be. Elements of the Free Folk might integrate into the Realm by the time everything is done but they won't need representation like the various Kingdoms do.

So after that long AN let me sign off at last. Till next time viszontlátásra!