Bran's eyes rolled back into seeing and Arya instantly knelt at his side. His body shivered against the cold and she instinctively tucked his furs tighter around him. Despite his physical response to the frozen night, the cold didn't truly faze him. Just like the pains of his broken body no longer troubled him, neither did such mild discomforts. He was too far removed from the brevity of mortality to care for such things.

He turned his head slowly toward his sister, looking at her, but not truly seeing her as he once had. He remembered the annoyance and admiration he'd felt for his slightly older sister in the days of his youth. She naturally excelled at all the things he was supposed to surpass a girl at. At the time, it had bothered him. But he'd grown to admire the capability of woman. There was a part of him that still knew her as his sister, still loved her as such, but that part was overwhelmed by everything else. And there was so much.

He'd seen too much, felt too much, to entertain any single emotion or indulge in a singular memory for more than a few seconds. As though the boy that had been Bran was no longer just physically paralyzed, but mentally as well. Trapped within a larger conscious that had overpowered him when the old Raven passed on and would not free him so long as he remained its host.

For what was Brandon Stark compared to the Three-eyed Raven?

"Where did you go?" Arya demanded, her voice shaking and unnerved despite her training. "We need you present."

"I've been where I needed to be." He said. "This battle is being waged on many fronts."

Arya's forehead creased in confusion and then her eyes went wide in understanding.

"The caravan."

"Lost."

Arya sank back, paling at the news. "Sansa?"

"Alive."

"Safe?" Arya pressed.

"None of us are safe."

"Can you keep her safe?"

Bran tilted his head in thought… more accurately, in many thoughts. He considered all the pieces at play and how tugging one thread might cause others to unravel.

"I can." He decided. "But only if she heeds my warning."

"Then go. Keep her safe."

"What of the plan?" Bran asked. "The greater good."

"The lone wolf dies." Arya said.

"But the pack survives." Bran considered her. And for just a moment, the three-eyed raven was overpowered by the wish of a crippled boy to save what family he had left.

With that, his eyes rolled back into his head and his consciousness left his body once more, leaving to dwell somewhere larger. Hotter. He calmed the panic in the mind of the great dragon, taking to the sky to escape the piercing blades of the dead.

The beasts mind was wild and powerful. As the panic subsided, the realization that its rider was no longer on its back rose to the surface. The beast started to dive, but Bran pressed his control, forcing the dragon to accept his thoughts as its own.

The dragon resisted, but Bran pressed harder until the great beast submitted to him and soared to the West.

For those who don't like short chapters, sorry! By way of making amends and because I've had a couple of reviewers ask when we'll see our girl again, I'll tell you the next chapter is a Jon POV and Chapter 20 will be our girl Sansa. As for the hearts I broke with last chapter's character death... I'm sorry. My first complaint about season 8 was the lack of damage done to "real" characters in the Long Night. I was expecting absolute carnage, instead like 3 people of note died. I'm starting to feel like a gameshow host though... if that gameshow host was a grim reaper. "Death for you!" "Death for you!" "And here's some maiming and dismemberment for you!" (I think the power is going to my head)

Okay... Now that tangent is over, have a lovely day!

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