King's Landing 299 AC.
Brienne.
For the first few days, she walked around in a daze unable to believe that he was gone. It seemed impossible to her, unbelievable, incomprehensible that someone had managed to take him from this world. When the king, Oberyn, Arthur, and Loras had arrived back, she'd not noticed that he wasn't with them at first. Then when she had, she'd assumed he was doing something for the king and would be along to speak to her as soon as he was finished. It was only when Lord Jaime and Ser Barristan called for her, Erryk, and Arryk to join them that she began to feel something was wrong.
So she had made her way to the Tower of the Hand and waited. Erryk and Arryk joined her a few moments later and seemed to know as little as she did about the reason for this meeting. The moment that Lord Jaime and Ser Barristan entered the room though she knew something terrible had happened, she just had no idea how terrible.
"I've asked you all here to speak to you about something that happened when his grace was Beyond the Wall. Something terrible that I know his grace would wish to speak to you himself about if he was able." Lord Jaime began and Brienne felt her chest tighten "While helping the Free Folk evacuate, his grace, Prince Oberyn, and the Kingsguard came under attack, there was a battle, many lost their lives, and those who survived were lucky to do so."
She looked to Erryk, to Arryk, and could see they looked just as worried as she was. Had Ser Walder been hurt? If so where was he? Surely they'd have brought him straight to the Grandmaester? Perhaps he was too hurt to travel and was resting somewhere? No, she knew the king too well, he'd not have left without him. Brienne felt her worries increase and as she looked to Ser Barristan and Lord Jaime for a sign that she was worrying needlessly, she found none.
"While they were in retreat, a spear was thrown at his grace, a spear that he had not seen and had no way of avoiding. Ser Walder seeing the danger moved in front of the spear and took the blow that would surely have killed our king, even though he knew it would and did cost him his life." Ser Barristan said his voice full of pride and yet there was sadness there too she felt.
Brienne felt herself almost shrink in her seat, her eyes torn between looking to Ser Barristan or Lord Jaime in order to see they were japing at her expense and between Erryk and Arryk as she saw they too seemed to be almost smaller somehow. It was her that found her composure first, despite the intense sadness she felt and the disbelief that lay beneath that sadness, it was Brienne who asked the question.
"His body, My lord, Ser Barristan, his body, may we pay our respects?" she asked unable to believe her voice sounded how it did, emotionless though she was anything but.
"When the attack came, his grace, Prince Oberyn and the Kingsguard were on a bridge, Ser Walder fell from the bridge into the sea and due to the weight of his armor…" Lord Jaime said and she closed her eyes, her emotions now trying to get the better of her and she worried that in her anger that they'd left him there she would explode and say things she should not.
"I know his grace wishes to speak to you all, his own efforts however have taken much from him and so it'll be some time before he's recovered enough to do so. We felt it for the best that you were told now." Ser Barristan said before he and Ser Jaime turned to walk from the room.
After they had left it was Arryk who gave into his emotions first, Brienne seeing the man grow angry for the first time she could ever remember. His shouts were angered and full of pain as he promised to see those responsible dead. Erryk went to his brother and eventually calmed him down, Brienne seeing that his own feelings were more a mirror of hers. There was some anger there, at the fact he was dead, how he'd died and that he'd not be given the hero's burial that he deserved. She felt proud of him too, he was a Kingsguard, a man who served a true and good king, and twice he'd saved that king's life. The second time at the cost of his own. There was incredible sadness as well, his loss not just one as her mentor, friend, and kinsman but as someone she'd miss every single day.
Walder was different, he was a knight who was different and he had made her different just by taking her under his wing. He'd allowed her to be his squire when few knights would ever consider doing such a thing. He'd trained her, guided her, alleviated her worries and doubts, and just spending time with him was a learning experience for her. How he saw things? How he saw knighthood and the values that made a good and true knight and how he had seen those values in her even if she did not see them in herself.
"Come with me." Ser Walder said.
"Where Ser?"
"Just follow, I'm to leave with the king and head North but there is something I wish to do before I leave."
"As you say, Ser." she said following him through the Red Keep and out through the double doors into the gardens, she kept following until he stopped and pointed down to a small sapling that had begun to grown, its red leaves and whitebark marking it out for what it would one day be.
"You know what they say about Weirwoods, Brienne?" Walder said softly as he looked at the sapling.
"No Ser."
"In the North, it's believed that Weirwoods are the memory of the world, that once something is seen by one then it can never be forgotten. It's truer than if it was written in any book or spoken in any story, it's truer because it's been witnessed by the Old Gods themselves. Kneel, Brienne of Tarth."
"Ser?" she asked looking at him as if he was mad, he must be, surely he wasn't suggesting what she believed he was.
"Kneel." Walder said once again.
She did as he bid and watched as he took his ax from his back, the Valyrian Steel glistening in the light of the sun as it reflected off its blades.
"We of the North believe that an oath sworn in front of a Weirwood is one that can never be broken, a truth spoken in front of one is one that can never be untrue, and to speak a lie is to defame the Old Gods and their punishment will be swift and severe. I tell you this so you know that what I say next is true and good." Walder said.
"Ser?"
"You are as much a true knight as any of them Brienne, as worthy of it as any of them and it's one of the proudest days of my life to name you such.
Brienne of Tarth In the Name of the Warrior, I charge you to be Brave.
In the Name of the Father, I charge you to be just.
In the Name of the Mother, I charge you to defend the young and the innocent.
In the Name of the Maiden, I charge you to protect all women.
In the name of the Smith, I charge you to help those in need.
In the Name of the Crone, I charge you to offer counsel.
In the Name of the Stranger, I charge you to kill only when necessary.
Arise, Ser Brienne of Tarth, A good and true knight of the realm."
Laying in her room that night and the next she cried, her tears falling both with thoughts of the days she'd spent with Ser Walder and the loss of the days to come. It took a few days for the king to come to speak to her, in that time she'd found out that Arryk had been given leave to join the Kingsguard and was awaiting the king's own word before he'd don the white cloak that their kinsman had worn so well. The king himself had been laid up resting for a few days and though she'd seen him laughing and japing when he rode with the queen and the children, she also saw the same sadness in his eyes that she did in her own when she looked in the looking glass.
"Ser Brienne." the king said after she had opened the door, Brienne looking to see that it was Ser Robar with him today, along with the white wolf, Ghost.
"Your grace, forgive me, I'd not expected you." she said moving her clothing from the floor and the bed.
"There is nothing to forgive, Ser, I had hoped to speak to you before now but…"
"I understand, your grace."
She readied a seat for him and sat down on her other chair, this one not one she usually used because the leg of it was a little unsteady. Brienne offered the king refreshments which he turned down and instead he sat quietly for a moment, almost as if he was thinking of the words he wished to say.
"You'd think after having some time to think on this, I'd have prepared better." The king said with a half chuckle "The truth is it's not a conversation I feel that I'll be good at, so forgive me in advance, Ser Brienne. I knew Ser Walder all my life, you know. Many years ago when those of us thought him a lost mind and named him Hodor, I knew him then, but I truly didn't' get to know him until I returned to Winterfell and he became the man he was always meant to be."
She nodded, Walder had told her some of the story of how he ended up in the King's service during one of their many talks.
"I...Despite knowing that he'd never think that way, I…find myself at times wishing I'd not gone to Winterfell, that I'd stayed in the West and we'd never met up again. Despite knowing that the life he lived was one he hated and that were he here today he'd tell me I was being a fool, I find myself thinking that. Thinking that six years as Ser Walder Alyrs was too short a time, that he deserved far more time…far more.." The king said his voice trailing off.
Brienne rose to her feet and grabbed the jug of water nearest her bed, pouring out the mug and handing it to the king, seeing him drink it down and trying not to look as he brushed his hand over his eyes, the tears only threatening to fall.
"I have lost far too many people so I can be here today, Ser Brienne, far too many and there are times when I doubt that I was worth even one of their lives. Were it not for Ser Walder I'd have fallen in the Riverlands six years ago, were it not for Ser Walder I'd have fallen a little over a moon ago. What I owe him can never be repaid and how much I miss him can never be expressed, I simply don't have the words, perhaps one day I will." The king said.
"I feel the same, your grace, but I know how much he thought of you, how honored he was to serve you, and that had he a choice in how he went, then protecting you, saving your life, that would have been his choice." she said firmly.
"Ser Walder was a wise and good man, Ser Brienne, knighting you shows that and to that end I have an offer to make you. As you know Ser Arryk has been recommended to join the Kingsguard, with both Ser Loras and Ser Barristan putting his name forward. A good and true man and like his brother and you yourself, a man who shares blood with a knight we should all be proud of." The king said and she looked at him.
"Ser Duncan." she said with a smile only for the king to shake his head.
"Ser Walder." the king said and she felt a lump in her throat "I have people I care about Ser Brienne, people who mean the world to me. One of them is as you well know, Lady Joy, I wish for you to swear yourself to her, to guard her back as if it were mine own. I cannot name you to the Kingsguard, but I can do the next thing and so I offer you a charter to be the first of a new order, the Knights of the White Wolf. An order that is dedicated to protecting those who while they may not directly have royal blood, they may as well have in mine eyes."
"Your grace." she said shocked.
"I can think of no one that would serve this order better as it's first, Ser Brienne, I'll give you time to think on it." The king said rising to his feet.
"There is no need, your grace, I accept humbly." she said with a smile.
"I thank you, Ser Brienne, I'd ask you to be on the lookout for others to serve alongside you and to speak to Ser Richard Lonmouth about your cloak and armor." the king said, Brienne watching as he rose and headed to the door "He was right about you, I hope you know that." the king said as he left.
The Gift 299 AC (From when Jae left until three moons later)
Benjen.
The march to Queenscrown hadn't taken them too long and while a few had found ground near Eastwatch that they had settled, most had decided it was not for them and had instead moved with Mance and the others. Along the way they'd had some more drift off, some of the clans seeking their own lands rather than to stay as part of the larger group. Some of this he knew was due to the independence of the clans, some to the food situation, as they rightly felt that too many together would use up the resources.
Most though stuck with the larger group, what they'd seen in Hardhome having been enough of an incentive to not wish to be separated from the protection numbers brought. That a few of them still feared that they'd not be welcomed in these lands, even after Jae's assurances was down to their history with the Night's Watch more than anything else. It was why the closer they got to Queenscrown, the more some people had worried and when the Night's Watch rode out to meet them, Benjen feared trouble.
"Do you think they'll attack?" Val asked as she looked at the large group of men riding their way.
"If they wish to bring my nephew's wrath down upon them, then perhaps but even my former brothers aren't that foolish." Benjen said.
"They'll not attack." Mance said and Benjen looked to the man, seeing a small smirk on his face.
"How can you be so sure, Mance?" Tormund asked.
"As Benjen says, Jae would end them if they do." Mance said and Benjen smiled a little upon hearing how much faith Mance had in his nephew, faith that he'd earned with all he'd done, yet still it was good to hear it spoken aloud.
It didn't take too long for the riders to meet up with them, Benjen looked and saw it was Jeor himself leading them with Stannis and some of the men he'd been happy to name his brothers, such as the Halfhand among their group. He didn't need to look to the faces of the Free Folk to see the Halfhand wasn't welcome here. Yet he knew they'd not be the ones to start any trouble, they had too much to lose if they did so. No, it'd be the Night's Watch or the Northern Lords who broke Jae's peace and not his people.
"Benjen." Jeor said when he reached him, Benjen noticing how angrily the Halfhand and Jeor himself looked at Mance.
"Jeor, while it's good to see you what brings you here?" he asked.
"Quentyn Martell and some deserters Benjen, they killed some of my men when they made their way out through the gates. His Grace said that he'd seek to find them and yet we've heard no word. I wished to see if they were amongst your group." Jeor said.
"They're dead Jeor, each of them." Benjen said and Jeor looked at him curiously.
"You know this for certain, Benjen? " Jeor asked.
"I do. Quentyn and a few of them turned on the others when they got to Craster's. The worst of them tried to have their way with Craster's wives and killed the man himself. Quentyn and some others stopped them and those who didn't lose their lives brought the women and children to Hardhome." he said.
"Quentyn Martell was amongst those who made it to Hardhome?" The Halfhand asked a note of surprise in his voice.
"He was, Qhorin. When the king arrived we began to evacuate, we came under attack and the dead almost ended us all." Benjen said and he saw how the Halfhand and Jeor looked to Stannis, a small nod from Stannis all that the man gave them back "In the fight to get to safety, Quentyn and the other men fell, they died as heroes Jeor, despite what they were or did, they died and others lived because of them." he said.
"You saw him fall?" I'll need your word on that." Jeor asked.
"You have it Jeor, I saw him dead." He said and Jeor nodded.
"There are some wildings back at the Wall, made their way from Whitetree, You heading to Queenscrown?" Jeor asked and he nodded "I'll have them meet you on the way."
"I thank you and I'm sure the king does too." Benjen said and Jeor just shrugged before turning to ride away.
Benjen could see the Free Folk were happy about that and as he turned to look at Mance and Tormund, he found them both smirking.
"You two kept very fucking quiet." he said annoyedly.
"Aye, Jae told us you were his representative Benjen, we just let you represent." Mance said to a loud laugh from Tormund as they turned to walk back to the others.
"Funny fuckers the both of ya." he said and looked to see Val trying to hold her own laughter in.
They met with the people Jeor had sent to meet them a couple of days later, the entirety of Whitetree Village having abandoned the lands Beyond the Wall and he doubted there were any Free Folk left on the other side of it now. When they reached the first of the lakes on the way to Queenscrown, Mother Mole and her people took it for their own. Some more leaving when they reached the river and the forest. By the time they reached Queenscrown itself, they had perhaps half the number that had set out from Eastwatch, far more than he thought the village could sustain.
Yet when he saw it and the tower he was stunned, as was Mance and the others. The buildings were firm and sturdy and apart from some of the roofs, almost habitable as they were. The Tower was even more so and so he, Val, Mance, Dalla, and their babe along with some other families took that for their own. Tormund took one of the largest buildings and within a few days, he'd fixed the roof and had begun helping others to do so to the other buildings. By the end of the first two weeks of being there, most people had a stone home to live in, something that was very much appreciated as the nights drew colder.
True it was a tight squeeze for them all but each had more room than their tents gave them. Some having more than they'd ever known and they'd even begun to build more, though these would be wooden and not stone. They'd been there less than a moon when the first shipment arrived. Benjen had just risen and was looking out the window of the tower in what was his and Val's room when he saw them.
"Val, you need to get up." he said shaking her shoulder, Val moaning something about having no wish to "Val, men arrive with supplies, I think Jae sent them." he said a little more loudly.
"I'm up, I'm up, you fucking spoilsport." she said grumpily and he tried not to laugh, or stare at her as she moved to grab her clothes, her naked body drawing his eye and attention as it always did.
While she dressed he hurried downstairs and found Mance was already dressed and leaving his and Dalla's rooms. Soon enough, he, Val, Mance, and Tormund who'd gotten drunk the night before and stayed in the Tower, all made their way to the men who rode towards them. He was stunned when he saw the number of carts, Mance looking at him and shaking his head in disbelief.
"Lord Benjen Stark?" the tall man asked, Benjen looking at him and seeing the red apple of House Fossoway on the man's sigil.
"I'm Benjen Stark." he said moving forward.
"Ser Edwyd Fossoway, Lord Benjen, here on behalf of his grace and the Master of Coin, Lord Willas Tyrell. I've some supplies that I've to leave with you and they're to be distributed to those you wish. We left some at the camp near Eastwatch but most of them we brought straight here as per his grace's request." Ser Edwyd said.
"I thank you, Ser Edwyd, We'll see that they're taken off your hands." he said looking to Mance and Tormund, the two men and Val moving quickly to gather men to see it done.
"I'd heard this place was a ruin, my lord, deserted." Ser Edwyd said as he got off his horse, his eyes looking around at the Tower and the Village that surrounded it.
"It was, my nephew, his grace, who saw it repaired." he said and Ser Edwyd smiled.
"A good man, the king. I only met him but the once but even then you could sense it about him."
"You met him, Ser?" he asked curiously.
"At the Tourney of Highgarden, left us all in the dust on that horse of his, like a bloody centaur he was." Ser Edwyd said with a laugh.
Benjen offered the man some ale which he turned down though he did agree for his men to stay the night and to be feasted, a Free Folk feast something he'd enjoy telling people he'd been to, Ser Edwyd said. After making sure the man and his men were comfortable enough, Benjen made his way to Mance and the others, seeing the smiling faces of Val and Tormund long before he reached them.
"You have to see this." Val said excitedly.
Benjen moved to the cart and saw what it was that had her so excited, there were spears tipped with Dragonglass, box upon box of Dragonglass arrowheads, and ax heads. There were bows of a quality that the Free Folk couldn't even begin to replicate, there were tools, steel tools, and some steel weapons though these were mainly for hunting rather than fighting, Benjen surmised. In one of the other carts, there were blankets and furs, but it was the food and ale that he knew would be most appreciated.
There were many cartloads of food, flour, grain, and there was fruit and what seemed to be seeds for crops too. How much or how long it would supply them for he knew not, but he knew they would need to split the supplies up and send part of them to some of the other clans. He looked over to Mance and could see the man standing a little taller, a little straighter. His own faith in Jae was something he'd spoken to him of many a night as they sat in the large room in the tower where they would gather. How he'd worried at first that he was leading his people astray and then once he'd met Jae he had known that he was right to believe in him, this only proving that even more so.
They received another set of supplies a moon later and then a visit from Ned, The Greatjon, and Lord Karstark a little after that. Ned was completely amazed by the changes in Queenscrown and when Benjen told him how it had come to be, he'd been even more so.
"He sang it into being?" Ned asked looking at him as if he was japing.
"He told us so when he was at Hardhome Ned, while he was there I saw him sing a bridge that spanned from Hardhome to Skane, sang it and where once there was nowt, suddenly there was a bridge. I saw him sing a section of it away as if it was nothing too." Benjen said.
"This was when Walder fell?" Ned asked.
"Aye, you heard."
"We got a raven from Lord Jaime, he said he saved Jae's life and that without him it would have been Jae that fell." Ned said worriedly.
"He did, a true Kingsguard, Ned, Jae took it badly, very much so but he was a little better when he left." he said and Ned looked at him curiously.
"The Free Folk, Benjen, can I trust them?" his brother asked.
"We know what's coming for us, brother, better than any, it's not us you need to worry about." he said firmly.
"Us?" Ned asked looking at him curiously.
"My wife is one of them, my goodbrother is one of them as is my goodsister, and by the gods, I'm one of them too, Ned. I'm happy brother, truly happy for the first time in my life. I'm also fucking terrified by what's coming our way, we need to be ready, you, the North, the Free Folk, we need to be ready because he is coming, brother and the storm comes with him." Benjen said.
"Thank the Old Gods we've got a dragon to lead us through the storm, then." Ned said.
"And a wolf to call us to arms." he said with a chuckle "Now come, The Greatjon may very well be half a Free Folk man himself and Karstark may have a stick up his arse, but my wife and I will want you to fucking smile tonight, brother, we're celebrating." Benjen said with a laugh.
"Celebrating what?"
"Being alive." he said firmly as he slapped Ned's back and the two of them walked towards the tower.
King's Landing 299 AC.
Joy.
She had been so worried about him when he came back and had thought she'd not be allowed to see him just like the last time, but Margaery had let her into the room and told her it was different. Joy had felt it too, known that if she was being allowed to spend time with him that it wasn't as bad as she had feared and that he had just been tired. When she had heard them speaking about Walder, she knew that he was sad too and so she had resolved to play as many games with him as she could so that he would feel better.
It turned out that Jon wanted to play even more than she did and so not only did they get to go riding, to eat together before they all went on a picnic, but she got to make him laugh more than once. He'd even come and told her a story, one about giants and she knew it was about Walder too. Joy smiling as she remembered seeing him at her door and hearing him ask her if she wanted to hear a tale about giants.
"Do you want a story, Joy?" he asked softly.
"I do." she said with a grin.
"Let me tell you about the giants that live Beyond the Wall and of a man whose heart was larger than the world, a man who I was happy to name a friend." Jon said.
"Giants, Jon?" she asked shaking her head and laughing.
"Aye, Giants', real-life giants, bigger than Brienne, Erryk, and Arryk, bigger than Sandor or that big man from the tourneys."
"The Storm?" she asked disbelievingly, shaking her head and seeing him nod.
"Their leader is called Mag the Mighty, but he's not the biggest, the biggest is named Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun but everyone calls him Wun Wun."
"No they don't." she said giggling.
"They do, for true." Jon said laughing with her and nodding his head "They ride on Mammoths, just as we do on Winter and Apples, not as fast as we do though." Jon said making her laugh again.
"Do they speak?" she asked, getting more into the story now that she knew he wasn't playing a jape on her.
"They do the use Old Tongue. Wun Wun is ainm dom, sásta bualadh leat Joy." Jon said and she looked at him curiously.
"What does that mean?"
"That's how Wun Wun would greet you, My name is Wun Wun, pleased to meet you Joy." Jon said and she tried to say the words for herself, looking to Jon when she could not "Aye, I'll teach you how to speak giant." he said and she nodded.
She listened as he told her that there were people even scarier than giants and that despite their size the giants were gentle and didn't wish anyone harm. Though she laughed when he told her what Wun Wun said the first time he met him.
"He didn't say that." she said shaking her head, laughing still.
"He did, he said nothing this small could fly on a dragon, that if I was there to save them all they may as well just give up since I was no bigger than a babe."
"Their babes are bigger than you?" she asked a little later.
"Scary isn't it." Jon said laughing and making her laugh again.
She knew when he began speaking about Walder, how his voice changed and he told her that though he was smaller than the smallest of the giants, his heart was bigger than any of them. Bigger than the entire world combined and when he stopped speaking she hugged him and felt him hug her back just as tightly. When he spoke again was telling her that he'd take her to see the giants one day and that when he did she'd be able to speak to them.
Over the next few weeks, she did her best to be there if he felt sad, which sometimes she knew he did. But he was happy too, they rode and the closer it got to her nameday the more excited both he and she got. A few days before it, her papa and Ashara arrived, Joy meeting them on the docks with her new sworn shield by her side. That had been a surprise to her, that she needed one and that it was to be Ser Brienne who was to be the person to guard her. Jon though said it was time she had someone just as he had Arthur and the rest of the Kingsguard. When she went to object he'd told her that if even he needed a guard then so did she.
He was right, she knew so, and yet she worried that even though Brienne was nice, she'd try and stop her from doing things she liked to do. In the end, she did not, though at times she'd tell her she couldn't do certain things and Joy would agree knowing it was for the best. When her papa found out he got an odd look on his face and she worried that perhaps it wasn't the done thing for her to have a guard the same way that Jon did. Ashara though quickly explained that it was her papa being very happy that Jon had done it for her.
Today though was her nameday and she looked forward to it immensely, waking up early to break her fast and then spending most of the early morning with her friends. With Oberyn's youngest daughters, with Martyn and Tommen who'd been given the day off, and with Sansa, Joanna, her papa, and Ashara too. That night they held a family dinner with Jon and Margaery both coming as did Oberyn and Ellaria and Jaime and Dacey. Even Jon's aunt and uncle were at it and other than Tyrion, aunt Genna, Jon's aunt Dany and Cregan who was all the way in the North, everyone she wished for was there, even Ballon.
"Presents Joy." her papa said and she looked at him excitedly before looking to Jon who winked at her.
"If I must Papa." she said a moment later and then she had to do her very best not to laugh as Jon rolled his eyes at her and made funny faces.
She was given some pretty new dresses and riding clothes by her papa and Ashara. A beautiful scarf by Sansa and a book by her friends about giants and mammoths which she knew she'd spoken of far too much since Jon had told her of them. Cousin Jaime and Dacey gave her a beautiful necklace that had the sigil of her house on it and was so small and pretty that she knew she'd wear it every day. Even more so when they said that Joanna and young Jon had gifted it to her too.
When it was time for her present from Jon and Margaery she felt even more excited, even if she was only getting part of it today. The saddle was just as she'd imagined it, well that wasn't true, it was just as she'd seen the drawings of it and then how she'd imagined it. She knew that Jon had left the drawing out on purpose, that he'd wished her to see it, but seeing the saddle now it was made, she thought it was even more pretty.
"Will we?" she asked turning to them both after she'd thanked them and she saw Margaery laugh as she looked to Jon.
"Aye, we'll go riding, with your new saddle. But in a few days, Joy, remember we've something else to do on the morrow." Jon said and she felt even more excited by that.
They were to go flying, just him and her, he was taking her to Dragonstone and was going to show her the island just as he had promised her many years earlier and that was the best present she could have ever gotten. Not the flight, or even seeing the island that she'd heard so much about and that she knew Jon's family had always called their home. But a whole day with her brother, just the two of them, she could and would ask for no more than that.
Myr 299 AC.
Torrhen Snow.
He knew as soon as he saw the ships, there were so many of them that not all could even dock, most having to drop anchor a little way offshore. Amongst there number there must have been at least half a dozen Pinnacle ships and had he not already understood, that would have been enough to make it clear. It was time, they were to finally head home, and while the idea of seeing the North once more excited and thrilled him, he worried too. That it was to fall to him, that he would see the end days was something he'd both hoped for and prayed that he'd not live to see.
"Brandon, ride back to the camp and have the men make ready, the White Wolf calls and the Company will answer.
"We're going home?" Brandon asked excitedly.
"We're going home." he said.
Looking at the sails, the Three-Headed Dragon flying high and proud made him almost laugh. They had not known this, or it had been forgotten in time. Perhaps it was simply that to keep the cover he'd come up with Brandon Snow had just concentrated on the White Wolf part of the prophecy. Never had it even entered his mind that the White Wolf could truly be a White Dragon too. Even when Melisandre had spoken the words he'd not given it much thought, and it was only when he'd read the letter and saw it written did he understand.
It had to be this way, the song of ice and fire was to be sung, and never could it be sung by someone who was not both a dragon and a wolf. He looked at the man who walked down the gangplank, his silver hair marking him out for being what he was not. Monford Velaryon may look like a dragon, there may even be dragon blood in his veins, but he was a Sea Horse and belonged on the waters and not in the skies. Nodding to the man, he saw him smile as he made his way to him, one of relief rather than of joy but a smile all the same.
"Torrhen Snow?" Monford asked.
"Lord Monford Velaryon." he said back and the man nodded.
"I've brought word from my king, a letter, and a message." Monford said handing him the letter.
"The message?" he asked.
"The White Wolf howls, Torrhen, he calls you to arms, will you answer his call?" Monford asked with a little bit of worry and doubt in his voice.
"Gladly." he said and saw a far truer smile on Monford's face now.
He escorted the lord and his guards to where his horses awaited and they rode to their barracks. Monford and his guards were given refreshments while Torrhen opened the letter and read it, before then heading to the large open rooms where they took their meals. Brandon, Artos, and Hugo were already standing at the front of the room and Torrhen made his way to them. Almost the entirety of the Company of the Rose had gathered, with only the guards on the main gate and those looking after Monford and his men not present in this room. They were packed tightly and the doors were opened so men could stand in the halls and corridors nearby and listen to what he was about to say.
"The White Wolf has called." Torrhen said loudly to cheers "I have it here in his own words.".
He held up the letter so most could see, some men leaning on others just to see it in his hand and he could see the eager look on most faces as he began to read it out aloud.
"To the Company of the Rose,
For almost three hundred years you've waited, knowing that this day was to come. That the call to come home would one day be sent out and that the years you spent in exile would one day be proved to have been for the reason you all believed. Brandon Snow may have left the North but the North never left him nor did it leave the Company of the Rose and the North still thinks of you as its sons.
I too left the North, my friends. I too was sent on a journey, a journey where I started off as a lost pup, grew to be a cub, and ended up being from both my houses. I am the White Wolf, the Winter Dragon, The Prince that Was Promised, and the Song of Ice and Fire. I've seen the true enemy and faced the army he brings. I've lost men to him, good men and true, men of the True North and a man who gave his life so that I could make this call.
The day is upon us, the war soon to be fought and that war will need good men and true, it'll need sons of the North and it'll need the Company of the Rose. I cannot promise we'll all come through this, I fear before it's done we'll see far too many of those we love fall. What I can promise you is this, together we will be victorious, together we will see the Night King and his army defeated, together we will Bring the Dawn.
The White Wolf Calls on the true sons of the North to come home for he needs each and every single one of you by his side, come home and fulfill the oath that Brandon Snow swore to his brother and to the North.
Jaehaerys Targaryen, son of the North, the West and of Dorne, Son of the Dragon and the Wolf. "
Looking around the room he could see the words had hit home, the nods and the looks his way as they waited for him to sound the call and he, turned to Brandon, Artos, and Hugo and as one they began to howl, the rest of the company soon joining in. He hoped he could hear it, that the White Wolf could hear them answering the call, he hoped the Night King and the army of the dead heard it too and that it sent shivers down their cold dead spines. The Company of the Rose was no longer a company of exiles, its place was no longer Essos, the White Wolf had called and they were going home.
Dragonstone 299 AC.
Dany.
The times he was away from the island she felt his loss and so she concentrated ever more on her work to see Dragonstone brought up to what she wished it to be. Missandei had started teaching the younger boys and girls and spending some time with some of the older ones. Though she'd found they were harder to teach as they wished to do other things rather than learn to read and write. Some had even wished to work rather than learn and with help from her aunt, uncle, and Ser Bonifer, she'd found things for them to do on the island.
Sandor and Strong Belwas had started to train and recruit men to form her own standing army and she'd needed to buy weapons and to purchase a large number of horses for them. Lord Willas had made sure the ones she got were the right ones to form a cavalry and it hadn't really put a dent in her coin. With the taxes that she was being paid by the Lords of the Narrow Sea, the coin people earned from the mining, and the extra trade that she had been given thanks to Lord Wyman, she was actually beginning to earn rather than to just spend coin.
It had worried her at first, thinking that she'd spend all the coin she'd amassed before she ever got the chance to replenish her treasury. It concerned her so much, that she'd been incredibly relieved when Ser Bonifer had told her how their books were truly doing. It wasn't that she was averse to spending her coin, more she feared what would happen to Dragonstone and its people were she to run out of it. Something that for now at least she thankfully didn't have to fear. So well were they doing that it was only within a couple of months of her truly making this her home, and she now had more than a thousand people working directly for her and the keep.
Dany had a household guard made up of the Unsullied and few other chosen men, almost one hundred servants, from maids to stable masters and smiths. Her standing army had two hundred horsemen and another four hundred infantry as well as almost a hundred bowmen. She had four ships that were hers, not Pinnacle ships but large enough and they all traded on her behalf. Each time her aunt, uncle, or Jae himself came to visit they'd tell her how proud they were of her and that Dragonstone hadn't been as well provisioned as it was now for many a year. Even when Stannis Baratheon had control of the island he had fewer men than she had under her command. It made her proud, happy that she was helping the island to thrive, and yet in some ways, it was a distraction as she waited for Aurane to return.
"He'll be back on the morrow for fucks sake." Sandor said as she stared out the window.
"Don't mind this grumpy fucker, princess." Belwas said as she turned to say something pretty much the same to Sandor.
"How can you eat that shit?" Sandor said looking at Belwas and the cockroach that he held in his hand.
"You have no locusts in this place, a man must make do with what he can." Belwas said and she watched as he dipped it into the large bowl of honey and put it into his mouth.
She tried not to smile at the look of disgust on Sandor's face, but as soon as she saw Missandei wearing the same one she couldn't stop the laugh that came from her mouth. Belwas was laughing too as he rubbed his belly and made a noise she suspected was him telling them all how tasty the cockroach had been. This was her nights, most of her nights when Aurane wasn't on the island with her. She'd eat her meals with her friends, her family in some ways. Sandor was the grumpy brother, Belwas the funny cousin, Missandei the quiet and contemplative sister, and Grey Worm the protective uncle. While in the corner Ser Bonifer would sit and chide them all with his eyes and smile each time she looked at him, just like the father she'd never had.
"Sails." she heard Missandei say just as she was about to say something to them all, Dany quickly turning to the window instead and smiling when she saw the green Seahorse and the Three-Headed Dragon flying high.
Though she wished for nothing more than to go down to the docks and welcome him back, she knew she could not and so instead she was forced to wait for him to come to her. Time seemed to pass so very slowly as she waited, Missandei and the others had left her alone and she stood in the Chamber of the Pained table, just looking out on the bay and waiting. She didn't turn when she heard the footsteps, nor when she felt his arms go around her and it was only when she felt his lips on her neck and heard the words that he spoke that she even looked at him.
"I missed you, my love." Aurane said and before she knew it they were kissing passionately.
Unfortunately, as their passions grew, once again his sense of decorum and propriety took over and left her frustrated and annoyed. Dany felt herself about to have the same argument they'd had more than once about her not caring about her reputation and wishing to be with him for true and him saying they could not, yet. Instead, the words weren't hers, they were his, and what he said soon made her forget about the argument she was on the verge of starting.
"Marry me." Aurane said and she looked at him, seeing the look of hope and desire in his eyes "Marry me, Dany, be my wife and I swear I'll spend the rest of my days trying to make you as happy as you do me."
"Yes, I'll marry you, yes." she said happily, kissing him repeatedly as she said it over and over "Yes, Yes, a thousand times, Yes."
She slept alone that night and yet it didn't bother her as much as it sometimes did. The knowledge that she'd soon be married, that they'd be together for all the nights to come quickly making her feel so happy that she cared not that she needed to wait a little longer until it was done. It was to the sound of the dragon's happy roars that she woke the next morning, Dany moving quickly to the window to see Ellagon, Sandorix, Rhaegal, and Rhaenix all flying over the bay. She looked closer at the white dragon and saw her nephew on its back, Jae holding onto someone she couldn't make out in front of him.
Had he known? Was it fate that brought him here? Either way, she cared not as she called for her servants and readied to tell her nephew her happy news. She knew she didn't need his permission, Jae had made that clear to her from the moment she'd spoken to him about Aurane. But he'd wish them married in the Great Sept and the sooner she spoke to him, the sooner that would be. Dany smiling as she wondered how quickly a wedding could be arranged.
After she'd dressed and before she'd even broken her fast, she, Grey Worm, Sandor, and a number of her guards made their way to the cliffs where she had seen Rhaenix and the other dragons land. When they reached them she saw it was Joy that Jae had brought with her, her nephew, and the young girl laughing at something the dragons were doing. When Jae saw her, he looked confused for a moment and as she reached him, he began to apologize for not letting her know he was coming.
"I'm sorry, Dany, there's nothing wrong I just, it was Joy's nameday yesterday and I've been promising her a trip to Dragonstone for years." Jae said and she shook her head to let him know that his visit hadn't worried her or put her out.
"I'm glad you came, Jae, there's something I need to speak to you about." she said and he nodded before turning to Joy and speaking to her, and then following Dany when she moved closer to the dragons.
"Dany?" he asked when he saw her nervously stroke Ellagon's back, the thoughts of actually saying the words suddenly becoming hard for her "Dany?"
"Aurane has asked me to be his wife." she said softly.
"And this makes you happy?" Jae asked as he looked deep into her eyes.
"Very much so." she said smiling at him.
"Dany, I'm happy for you truly. We need to make arraignments, send out invitations, a tourney, the Great Sept, I'll speak to Margaery when I get…" her nephew said his words hurried.
She grabbed her nephew and hugged him tightly, his words finally stopping and though she welcomed the excited way he'd spoken them, It was simply that he wished her to be happy that she cared about.
"I wish to do it soon, Jae, I care not about the invites or a tourney, I care not as long as my family is there but I wish to do it soon." she said looking at him.
"Then we'll do it soon, arrange it for some time in the next moon and any who can come will come, those who cannot, so be it." Jae said and she kissed his cheek, glad he'd agreed with her and not fought her on it.
"I'll send a raven to Tyrion." she said and he looked at her, his hands on her cheeks as he asked her again if this was what she wished for "More than anything I've ever wanted, Jae." she said happily.
King's Landing 299/300 AC.
Jaehaerys Targaryen.
He'd ridden with Joy, spent as much time as he could with Margaery, sparred with Tommen and Martyn, and had even found himself lying in the grass watching as the Weirwood sapling grew larger. Jae speaking words softly to the tree and telling the gods that wherever Walder was now that he had best be in his family's embrace for no man deserved it more. While they unlike the Iron Born didn't believe that when you fell you ended up feasting in the Drown God's halls. Jae himself believed that you'd get to see those you loved when you died. That you'd get to go to them, get to spend time with them and to speak on things that you never got the chance to do while you or they lived.
He prayed to the Old Gods that Walder was with Nan and his mother, with Duncan the Tall, Gwenys, and Jenny and Prince Duncan. It was with thoughts of this that he was finally able to accept his loss, accept it but never forget and never forgive the thing that took him from this world. When he had accepted it, he had then listened as first Loras and then Barristan had told him that Arryk wished to take his kinsman's place.
"You're sure he's skilled enough, Ser Barristan?" Jae asked.
"He is, your grace."
"Were there another man in the North I could think of then I'd perhaps suggest him or were it anyone but one of Walder's kinsmen seeking to replace him, then I'd perhaps turn him down. But I can find no reason to do so and no one I could think of that is better suited to replace Walder than him. If it's what you think is right Lord Commander, then you have my blessing." Jae said.
They had held the ceremony in White Sword Tower, Jae present but not saying more than a few words to Arryk. There was no need to speak to him about the man he was replacing or to glorify and speak highly of Walder or his deeds. Arryk knew them far better than most and he had known the man more personally than perhaps even Jae himself had. So he'd just wished him well and told him that he was proud to have him as one of his seven. Then while the oaths were being sworn, he'd snuck away to look at the white book.
Ser Walder Alyrs, Kingsguard to his grace King Jaehaerys Targaryen, the Third of his Name 293 to 299 AC. Winner of the Grand Melee at the Tourney of Highgarden 295 AC.
Knighted by Lord Jaime Lannister in 294 AC for great valor and courage when he saved his grace's life from assassins who wished to see him dead. Despite being outnumbered and the loss of his fellow guard, Alyrs Hill, Walder fought off the men alone and was wounded in doing so. Even with the loss of blood and a number of arrows in his chest and shoulder, he stayed by the king's side until help arrived, and were it not for him then a king would have fallen that day. Upon his knighting, Walder took the name of his fellow fallen guard, Alyrs Snow, and from that day on was known as Ser Walder Alyrs. For the next five years, he stood by the king's shoulder, traveled with him Beyond the Wall, and offered both his counsel and his ax.
When his grace decided to let the Free Folk pass the Wall, Ser Walder along with Ser Arthur Dayne, Ser Loras Tyrell, Kingsguard's one and all, and Prince Oberyn Martell journeyed with the king to seal the accord. It was there that Ser Walder proved his valor knew no bounds as he fought side by side with his brothers, Prince Oberyn, and with the king himself when the Free Folk came under attack by the Night King, his army of dead men and his legions of others. During the battle, Ser Walder was one of only two men who took down an other, a feat unheard of even in the books that speak of the Age of Heroes.
When the need for retreat became unavoidable, Ser Walder fought bravely and truly and saw the king to safety. It was during this retreat that he made the ultimate sacrifice, one that all Kingsguard must be willing to make but only the truest of us would ever have the courage to do. A spear was aimed at the king and would have most certainly struck home and ended his life were it not for Ser Walder taking the blow himself. He fell and yet in doing so he ensured that his king lived to fight another day, that his brothers lived to fight another day and that the Free Folk lived to fight another day.
Over the course of our great order, there are men who fell beside their kings. Some whose deaths ensured that their king lived and some died fighting alongside the king and their brothers. Men like Aemon the Dragonkniight and Duncan the Tall, whom Ser Walder was a kinsman of, men like Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Gerold Hightower, who too served King Jaehaerys as Ser Walder had, though long before his own service had begun.
Ser Walder rightly is named and should be held in the same esteem as men such as those. As his Lord Commander, I Ser Barristan Selmy was proud to name him my brother. He will be missed by the men he served with and most especially by the king he gave his life for.
Ser Walder Alyrs,
Kingsguard to a grateful king.
Reading it he felt the tears fall and he was glad he had the time to wipe his eyes before Ser Barristan and the others came to see him. He nodded to the Lord Commander when he saw what he was reading, and hoped it was enough to thank him for the words he'd written. Later that day he made his way to speak to Ser Brienne, Walder having named her as a knight before they'd gone Beyond the Wall, much to his surprise. Not the naming itself but more the timing of it and Jae wondered if he'd had some idea of what was to come.
After she'd agreed to become Joy's sworn shield, he'd then gone to his bed happy, Margaery was already asleep when he got there and so he kissed her cheek and slept a night without dreams. Over the next few weeks, he'd made sure that the letters and words that Ser Richard and his men had sent out and spoken to the lords were being followed. He'd spoken to his sister more than once and made sure she was doing well and the wound hadn't had any long-term effects. He'd kept busy and yet he'd done things to lighten his mood also, none more so than taking Joy to Dragonstone and spending the day with her.
It was on the flight back that he felt it, or more clearly Rhaenix felt it. Jae had been thinking more on what Dany had said to him than on anything else.
"We must hurry brother." Rhaenix said excitedly.
"Rhae?"
"A dragon, Jae, a dragon is being born." she said and he felt his heart begin to race.
They landed in the courtyard and he knew then that they had only barely managed to make it in time. Arthur and Jors waited for him and he turned to Joy and to Jors and asked him to see her to her room before he ran with Arthur through the Red Keep. He felt it then, the call, the need and so to Arthur's shock it wasn't to his bed-chamber that he went but to his solar, entering in through the other door so as to not be in the way.
The chest lay under his desk and Jae opened it up and looked at the eggs that were inside. Looking at the three eggs he could feel it, the indigo one was calling to him and as he picked it up he felt the movement inside. He carried it with him and entered their bed-chamber. Margaery was laying in the bed breathing heavily and she had sweat pouring down her face. Gormon, Aemon, and Shiera were with her as were her mother and grandmother, though no sooner had he entered than his uncle told him that he could not stay and it was almost time.
"Marge, I need you to hold this, can you do it? Are you able?" he asked worriedly, as he stroked her cheek with one hand and held the egg with the other.
"I..I...I can." she said and he leaned forward to kiss her cheek before he handed her the indigo egg.
He'd no sooner done so than he, Olenna, and Shiera were shooed outside, Alerie only allowed to stay because Margaery had demanded it. Olenna looked at him curiously and he knew that it was more the egg and his request that caused that curiosity than his arrival just at the right time, though he felt the need to explain that too.
"Rhaenix told me a dragon is being born." he said as she walked with him and his aunt.
"A dragon?" Olenna asked and he knew she wondered if he meant that literally, something he did and did not.
"When I was born, when Rhaenys was and Tyrion and Dany were, when I saw that through Rhaenix and our connection, she told me that a dragon was being born. It's hard to explain but sometimes my family is born without one and sometimes with one, I think it's what makes us able to bond with the dragons." he said as they stood left the room.
"You think the babe is a Dragonrider?" Olenna asked excitedly.
"Not only that, I think their dragon is to be born today too." he said.
In the corridor outside their room, he saw Willas standing with Sansa, Jaime, and Dacey along with Oberyn and Ellaria. Joy was there as well as Ser Richard Lonmouth and some others and out of all of them, he reckoned he was the calmest of them all. There was a time when he'd not have been or when he'd have worried to the point of not being able to think straight. He had lost his mother, his grandmother and Tyrion had lost his mother in the birthing bed, that should give him pause, and yet it did not. He'd seen to the ends of those responsible for those crimes, they were not and would never get close enough to his wife to put her or their babe in danger.
Gormon was a Tyrell and even were he not trustworthy, he wasn't the only Maester in the room. His uncle was there too and no man was more invested in their house than he. So while the others worried, Jae waited eagerly and not even the pained sounds of his wife made him lose his composure. Nothing did until Aemon opened the door and told him the news.
"Uncle?" he asked looking at him.
"Your wife and daughter are well, nephew and it seems we have another addition to our dragons as well." Aemon said with a large smile on his face.
"Can I see them?" he asked and Aemon told him he'd need to wait a few moments, while around him people congratulated, him, each other, and Margaery's family, and who else he knew not only that there was no one not happy with the news.
When he was allowed inside the room to see her it was the dragon he saw first. Gormon was looking at it with a stunned expression that Jae felt he'd perhaps been wearing since it had hatched. Its scales were a deep indigo color, its eyes a shade of bright violet and when he reached out to it with his mind, he felt it welcome him and yet push him away at the same time. The dragon was happy to speak to him, to have someone to speak to, and to learn it had bigger brothers and sisters, but the door was not for him to open. He looked to Margaery and the small bundle that she held in her hands, his wife's smile beaming and though she was tired, she wouldn't sleep for some time he knew.
"Our babe, Jae." she said softly as he moved to the bed and reached down to take his daughter in his arms for the first time.
She was beautiful, the small tuft of silver hair on her head and the deep dark indigo eyes reminded him so much of his father's own looks, and for some reason seeing her look so Targaryen brought an even bigger smile to his face. His daughter was a tiny little thing, her fingers, her toes, he believed he counted them all and touched each one before he even considered handing her back to her mother.
"We should let the others see that you're both well." he said softly handing the babe back to her.
"Aye, we should." she said as he kissed first his wife and then his daughter and then picked up the dragon who had almost fallen from the bed, its little chirps both thanking and admonishing him at the same time.
Giving Aemon and Gormon a nod, they soon let each of those outside in to see the babe. Jae making sure they didn't crowd Margaery or his daughter but that each got to see them both. Olenna smiled beamingly at them before she asked Margaery if she was well and once she had heard she was, she was then torn between looking at the dragon he held in his arms or the one Margaery held in hers. Jaime, Dacey, Sansa, Joy, Loras, Arthur, and Barristan, all of them took the time to share in their happiness and to express their own. It was when Oberyn came to see her and as he told him and Margaery how precious she was, when Ellaria did the same that he knew what he had to do.
"I want to thank you all for being here, for welcoming our daughter into the world with us, it means a lot to us both to have those we care about and love here with us today. There are others who we'd have liked here too and in time my aunt and uncle, my family in Winterfell, in Dorne, and in the West will no doubt wish to spend time with our daughter too. Margaery and I have thought long and hard about what name we would wish to call our babe, names for a boy or a girl, and in the end there was only one name I could ever give my daughter.
So to you, to my family and friends, I am pleased to introduce you all to my heir, to our daughter. to Princess Elia of House Targaryen." Jae said and he smiled at Oberyn as his uncle tried to wipe away the tears from his eyes.
A/N: Thanks to all who've read and reviewed and for your kind words. Up Next As the Realm comes together to celebrate a wedding and the birth of a princess, Jae tries out the armor that Gendry and Tobho have made and realizes that it requires too much steel to make more which sends him on a mission to Valyria with the dragons and reveals what happened when he was in Essos. The Company of the Rose arrives in the North and takes up position while Harrold Hardyng plays a dangerous game and a queen watches and waits for the right moment to strike. Sansa and Willas grow ever closer as thoughts of weddings makes them consider their own and Beyond the Wall, the Night King prepares a show of force.
Daryl Dixon: So glad you liked it.
Remi: It really is that, he needs to deal with the loss, which I've tried to show while at the same time readying for what's to come.
Biohazard: So very glad you enjoyed it.
Jman: I'm very glad to hear it, in these times especially to be without your laptop is like torture. We'll be given a decent look at the Nk's plans next chapter.
Emerald Duke: I wanted to show the effect of Walder's death, but not make it fully depressing, this was a slightly lighter chapter too.
Jaimerey: Shireen está un poco curada, quiero decir que usa su encanto para que no se vea ni la afecte. En Armas / Armadura, veremos algunos de ellos a continuación.
Vfsnake: With the NK it's the fact that Jae is as powerful as him so while he has hubris he has fear too, Jae has it now also. He really needs those closest to him at times, they strengthen him greatly. Harry is up next.
Flame55: Really happy you liked it.
Tfranco: For me the key thing here was always the characters, it's why the story has expanded way beyond what I had thought, to show the interactions, the relationship and effects on them has been such a big thing for me. The NK can work if you don't see him but here he's the flip side of Jae in a lot of ways, the anti Jae so to speak, and you really need some explanation of him and also the magic's themselves. The grief or how the characters react to it is a big thing and in some ways when we hit the fight against the NK, there won't be time to grieve as much, so you need to show it in the slower more peaceful times I feel.
Guest; So glad you felt that way.
Celexys: This to me is something very important, characters who've known, cared for and been a part of things for some time falling should be a big thing. I think in the hurry to the end of the show we missed out on so many of those moments. We never truly got to see Dany grieve for Jorah or Missandei, it was just straight to madness almost.
Fletcher: For the Night King, I have a lore built up for him in my head, that both plays into his book/show things and to my own story overall. Before the end of the story, I intend to explain that lore fully. We'll see some of Arya in a little bit, in some ways though she's suffered and I've kinda written her into a corner by being logical with her. So we'll see her when we look North again, but she's not going to be a huge part of things because of where she is if that makes sense. Her time on Bear Island almost sidelines her from events.
The Sphynx: No worries my friend, glad you liked it.
Silverglow: So glad you enjoyed it, my friend. We're heading into big storm territory, I had honestly thought we'd go right to the war by now, but it's taken a few more chapters than I had imagined, but it's coming and so there will be some big action chapters, this is more calm and almost everything I want to do outside of the War for the Dawn is just about done. I'm glad you like the FM idea, it's one of those things I think has a lot of potential and it's different which is always fun.
Lady Octarina: From early on with Jae I've been showing the way he is with those younger than him, partly because so later when you say something like he feels so much better just by being around them it makes sense. There's an innocence in how they look at the world, how they look at him that he just welcomes and it makes him forget that he's a prophesied prince with the fate of millions on his shoulders. That he's so young is a funny thing because I know I've overdone his maturity but at the same time I've tried to show him being immature too, the lines being difficult sometimes. The NK thing with the dead falling helping Jae, we'll see that more clearly in a while but basically I've been trying to show they are almost opposites of each other, two sides of the same coin in some way.
Jae creates/NK Destroys, live/death, love/hate etc. But if every living who falls fuels and strengthens the NK, then surely every dead man he takes from him, should have a similar effect on Jae is pretty much the mindset.
I had thought of Brienne for the KG but felt this was a better use of her and setting up the thing with the twins, Brienne and Walder all being part of the same bloodline, the Duncan the Tall thing, always gave me the option that one would replace Walder if he fell. You're right, it's the greatest honor for a KG to die saving the king, fighting by his side, which is why I used it here in the words in the White Book about Walder. Arthur drinking is just such an easy way to show, things got messed up and Jae's feeling of insecurity/unworthiness is just his nature, though I think any of us would feel that way if someone gave their life for ours.
Victoria: Thank you my friend. It's funny I went through a recent loss and though most of this chapter and others were written some time ago, in the proofing I do some things do end up being changed. I think here I worked out some of my own feelings too. I hope this chapter had more laughs for you, while it's nice to reflect on losses it's also nice to have a laugh and put a smile on our faces in these troubled times. So I hope you got at least a giggle from this chapter and or a nice moment, stay safe and well my friend, and if possible do something that makes you laugh, even if it's just for a moment of two.
Irish Hermit: That's it precisely, I think deep inside him Jae has some of his father's melancholy, it just takes certain things for it to come out and thankfully he's got these people around him to make him forget. One of the things I was trying to show also was just how important Margaery is to him in that regards, again I think it's the link to his father. I think Rhaegar changed when he met Lyanna, he just never got the chance to fully live that change, so here Jae has found his reason for it. Joy is the big bright spot in his life that is always guaranteed to make him forget. I have a young niece who she's based a lot off of, no matter how things are going, how stressed, upset or even angry I am, one moment with my niece and the world just fades away.
I think with the NK that it can work not knowing his motives and his game plan and only seeing him through other's but here we need to see him, to learn more and to build it up to the battle that's coming.
Xan Merrick: Thank you my friend: Glad you liked it.