A/N: I've always kept to the belief that it is pronounced omBER and the people are called omBEri, extrapolating from that,

The City Eddar, 280AC.

Edmyne was setting inside what was the throne room of the Kings and Queens of Omber, where once there were ten thrones, now there was a chair behind a disk, Edmyne had sat behind a disk nearly his whole life, in his youth he was in charge of distributing pay fairly to the sellswords, now he delegated authority to them.

Feeling fatigued from setting all day Edmyne stands and walks to a nearby window and looks down at the Kingdom that was once known as Omber, it was nearly impossible to tell the new roofs from the ones that were burned in the attack, it had only been a week of contents cleaning and reconstruction involving the Laborers, legionaries, and the now newly dubbed "Eddarin" people.

His King's had ordered him to erase Omber's existence, from every plaque, panel, and page that lay in the city, and a new name be given, Edmyne was given free reign to govern the new city as he pleased, and so his first act was to name the city after the boy who changed his and Iggar's life, with a slight modification to easily distinguish the two if ever the need arise, he had learned that the city's name came from the ghiscari word Ombardi, which means 'cove' or 'inlet', owing to the natural formation that made attacks from the sea slow and with the recently added ballistas and Trebuchets, suicidal. Said cove was now occupied by three of the biggest ships Edmyne had ever seen in his life, they were so big that the harbor was nearly occupied, luckily none of the ships that frequented the thus place were present, either they were burned in the fighting or used to escape when the kingdom fell, the ships that occupying the harbour now were painted black from keel to heel and their masts almost stood taller than the window Edmyne looked out of.

The sound of the gaudy golden doors opening pulled Edmyne from his thoughts, two soldiers pull the doors wide enough for Edmyne's diminutive guests to enter, the soldiers were part of the forty heavy infantry veterans of Mualik's massacre that were assigned to him as the High overseer's personal and household guards. They, along with Warlord Qorgyle's legion, three hundred cavalry, one hundred rangers, five hundred archers, and five torturers made up his fist. Field manager Pyrton, Fawley, and Bowen's herds, five engineers, ten scholars, and fifteen healers, made up his Hand. he would need to decide who would be his hand, as Warlord Qorgyle had already been chosen as his Fist.

Edmyne walked back to his disk and stood tall as the three Ibbenese captains approached the base of the elevated platform where the ten Omberi thrones used to be and where the new Eddarin disk now sat in their stead, the scholar to his right clears his throat and speaks loudly.

"You stand in the presence of Edmyne of house Reed, son of Hullus and Rhea, High Overseer of the Rose Kingdom, and Governor the city of Eddar"

The three captains look at each other in confusion for a moment, then one among them stepped forth, he seemed older than the rest, although all three had white hair and long beards, this one was far more wrinkled and rugged than the others

"I am Gibb, shipmaster of the 'Sea-Splitter', this one" Gibb pointed a stubby finger to his right and said "this is Brum, shipmaster of the 'Strong-Black', and this one" he points to his left "this is Kiln, shipmaster of the 'Slow-foot'"

"Welcome to the city of Eddar shipmasters, I'm pleased you could come" Edmyne said as three soldiers brought three thick wooden chair and placed them in front of Edmyne's disk, "please come up and have a seat"

Again the Ibbenese looked at each other in confusion, after another pause the one called Gibb moved forward to the prepared chairs, the two soon followed suit, when they reached the chairs they see it was higher than what they're used to but it had a step that allowed them to climb up to it, slowly they use the step and lift their thick heavy bodies unto the chairs, all the while Edmyne stood waiting for them to be seated first, when they were he took his seat as well. The seats the Shipmaster realized were elevated enough so they would be at eye level with Edmyne.

"Thank you for coming" Edmyne started.

"We didn't have much say in the matter" the one called Brum, interrupted in a deep heavily voice "the white wind was already on our tail and Ombe-" Brum choked on his words, he knew that kingdoms along the Dothraki sea were often raided as quickly as they arise, although Omber had lasted longer than most, it's fall was no surprise "Eddar was the closest safe harbor to hide in"

"White wind?" Edmyne asked, Noting how the Ibbenes captain corrected himself.

"Winds that come from the North, it's so cold it freezes everything it touches… and then you sink" Gibb answered gravely, "it only comes when it will be a short winter, perhaps it will last a year at most"

"I have a question, if I may ask it, Overseer?" The one named Kiln spoke up, interrupting the other two shipmasters, silence fell between as Kiln waited for Edmyne's permission, after a pause Edmyne nodded and Kiln asked "where are the Kings and Queens of Omber?"

The question had silenced the room once more, the Ibbenese had dealings with the Omberi as they were one of the few harbours that were willing to purchase what the Ibbenese sold, which were the products rendered from whales and the whales themselves.

The most common and expensive of the two is purchasing the products that have been rendered and refined in Ibben by the Ibbenese, which was extremely laborious, but this also made it expanitialy lucrative, so much so that producing the products became vastly more profitable than actually whaling, as a result the value of whales and whaling in general plummeted. This was also how the ruling class of Ibbenese culture controlled the masses, only purchasing whales from their supporters and loyalists, while those who rejected the rulers of Ibbin were left to only be able to sell whale meat and oil which were less valuable, the rest of the whale would either rot on their ships or at the bottom of the shivering sea.

This was why the Ibbenese shipmaster docked at Omber, here trained butchers and brewers harvest the whales and make the products themselves, however it would still be inferior to the Ibbenese since they were the only ones that can truly render high quality (odorless) oil. Moreover, the Omberi could only sell three or four whales in a year as they were not as large an operation as one on Ibben.

"We flayed them at the docks, in front of every citizen still living and nailed them to their own thrones" Edmyne said, Kiln's face morph into a look of repulsion and then rage, but Edmyne looked at the short stocky man with calm and continued "then we paraded them around the city before we put them outside the walls for the wolves have, they were very much alive if their screams were any indication"

"We understand, your customs are different from our own" Gibb said eyeing Kiln to silence him, Kiln bit his tongue and lowered his head, "we of Ibbin have quarrels amongst our people and our neighbors also, we understand the grudges your kin held against the Ombedri Kingdom"

"But surely" Gidd continued "you could have granted them mercy, for even if they had done you wrong, you would have done the same if you were in their place?"

"I understand they were kind to you and your kin and welcomed you into their harbor" Edmyne said, the Ibbinese nodded in approval "we, like your people, also war amongst each other, we understand that the Ibbinese are loyal to their friends, even to a fault, as we are to ours"

"But you must understand" Edmyne spoke up quickly to cut off any interruption, "we are in their place now, and we will be kind to you, and any of your friends who wishes to be our friends"

"So, Shipmasters of Ibbin" Edmune stood up and gestured with his hands to the scholar beside him. The scholar nods and a side door leading to a hidden room is opened, two men pull the door apart while a procession of four coffin-sized chests, each being carried by ten men streamed into the throne room and place the chests in the middle of the room.

"The manner in which it is conducted and the people may be different" Edmyne said as he walked around the table and approached the chests but I believe "but, the arrangement is still the same"

With another gesture, the men pull out the locks and open the chests, the contents gleaming in the sun, each box containing clean newly mented iron Braavosi coins, all uniformly arranged into blocks of shining polished iron, worth nothing in any other city except Braavos.

"And what is this, high Overseer?" Gibb asked while still stunned at the sight of more iron coins than he had ever seen in his lifetime.

"This is ten million Bravoosi iron squares, we would like to commission the building of ten Ibbinese ships" Edmyne answered, "the design of which will be slightly modified to our purposes"

"Ten ships?" Brum repeated the words, speaking after he was silenced at the sight of the coins, the shock was evident in his tone, "High Overseer, ten ships would take ten years to complete?"

"We Understand correctly shipmaster" Edmyne answered with a pleasant smile, "we request you build them one at a time with the aid of as many men required, so that they may be in use as soon as possible"

"But the amount of wood to build just one-" Gibb's explanation was cut off by Edmynes's raised hand

"Aid will be provided to you" Edmyne said as he stood and stepped around the desk "to whichever extent as you deem fit"

"What if we refuse?" Kiln asked loudly, the room fell into silence again, the two shipmasters were wide-eyed and pale.

Edmyne answered while locking eyes with Kiln "then we will replace you as we did the Omberi who ruled before us"

Kiln looked furious and stood from his chair, then Gibb stood beside him and spoke firmly "we will begin construction immediately" Kiln moved to protest but Gibb grab him by the shoulder and dug his finger into it, Gibb fixed a vicious stare at Kiln, daring him to disobey, at this Kiln bowed his head in submission and sat back down.

"Very Good" Edmyne said with a smile, he snapped his fingers and another procession of men came out of a door directly beside the scholar, they carried bottles of brownish liquid and wide-rimmed glasses, the men then quickly poured an equal amount of the liquid into the glasses and passed them to each of the shipmasters, "let us drink to our friendship and our fortune"

All three shipmasters stood with their glasses, including a frowning Kiln. "Hail the wolf king" Edmyne proclaimed.

"Hail the Wolf King!" all the soldiers in the room repeated.

"Hail the Wolf King!"

"Hail the Wolf King!"

"Hail the Wolf King!"

Somewhere near the Neck, aboard the 'Seas-Splitter', 281AC. five months after 'the attack on Omber'.

The overgrown mangroves of the Neck filled the horizon, the wind blew in their favor and the sea was calm enough to allow a thin sheet of frost to form on the surface, the only waves that could be seen were those made by the ships as it did what its name implied, seabirds were squawking and screeching in the distance as if to demanded the sailers to toss chum or scraps into the sea for them to eat, the sun was blazing down from the heavens, however, its heat could be barely felt as the strong sea breeze swept through to ship's deck, snatching the warmth from everything it touches.

"It must be bringing a message!" Willis said, loud enough for the two other teens to hear him over the wind.

"What!" Howland asked, looking at Willis for clarification, Willis gestures with his gloved finger and Howland follows it to the site of a lonely crow tucked inside a rolled-up sail, staring intently at them with abnormal focus.

"It must be hiding from the wind!" Willis commented loudly, squinting his eyes to see if he could spot a piece of parchment tied to its leg "or hoping to spot something to eat on the ship!"

"Who fucking cares!?" a voice cut through the banter, Willis grimaces while Howland grins.

"Nervous!, meeting your father and such!?" Howland yells from where he sat cross-legged against the railing of the ship, the bright sun a casting dark shadow over the short crannogman, he now wore a simple green tunic and a thick green fur-lined cloak that depicted the open-mouthed Lionlizard of his house, black leather boots and gloves, his long hair was tied into a ponytail that framed his round face, even at seventeen Howland still appeared much younger.

Roose stood with his hand on the railing, squinting his eyes to protect them from wind, he was looking intently in the direction where the DreadFort should be, his hair was cut very short and his jaw was cleanly shaven, he wore a crimson red long-sleeved doublet that was covered by a bright red thick cloak similar to Howland's, but depicted a flayed man of the Boltons, "No!" he simply answered, not caring if they heard him or not, Roose was trying to plan out his responses to his father's query about his disappearance.

"How bout you Will!, gonna be meeting your nan soon!?" Howland directed his question to the eight-foot tall teen, Willis was rubbing the pummel of his axe as he stood nervously, waiting for Eddard to join them.

Willis now sported a full beard and his dark auburn hair was in a long braid that hung down along his armored back and reached below his shoulder blades, unlike the rest, he still wore his heavy infantry armor, only now it was modified to deal with colder climates, with a fur cloak, leather boots and gloves. "She'll forgive me! she always does!" he said with a deep voice.

Willis and Howland were at opposite ends of the spectrum, where Willis was twice as strong, Howland was twice as fast, where Willis used overwhelming force to wear down and kill his opponent, Howland would use his blinding speed and perfect timing to deliver a fatal strike, not to mention how they've aged, where Willis looked to be a full-grown man, Howland still looked and could sound like a boy half his age.

"Can't believe it's been five years already!" Howland said with a sigh as he tucks his head back against the wooden railing, hiding it from the bright sun and cold wind. "Feels like it's only been months!"

"But you're still short!" Roose said having looked away from where his home is, to stare and sneer at the seated crannogman, "grow a fucking beard you baby-faced freak!"

"Speaking of beards!, why don't you let yours grow out instead of constantly shaving it every morning!?" Howland fired back with a smirk, he had learned how to deal with Roose from their many interactions along the years "or is that you don't want us to know that it comes out patchy and uneven!?"

"I don't want it to be my defining feature!" Roose shouted so they could hear him, then looked at Willis and said "unlike some people!"

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!" Willis counters, they would never be friends, they were too different, Willis knew, no amount of comradery would bind them to each other, yet they could at least tolerate one another. "Maybe if you smiled every once in a while you'd have some company in that frosty cage you call an apartment!"

"Or better yet!" Howland added with a grin, "if you grew out your hair like us maybe you'd have highborn ladies clamoring for that (i'm assuming) shaven ferret between your legs!, you uptight cunt!"

Willis and Howland share a loud boisterous laugh that ripples through the whole ship.

"Five years ago!" Roose said with a sigh while turning to look at the approaching mangroves "if I had taken that shot sooner, your little ass would be dead!"

Willis's eye twitches at the unspoken implication, he could have just as easily killed Eddard with that shot had he done so sooner, but he said nothing, remembering Eddard's request at cooperation.

"Aye!" Howland stood from where he sat and approached Roose casually, he caught Willis's eye twitch and so he decided to defuse the situation. Howland flung his arms around the hand of the Kingdom of the Rose, resting his head on the crook of Roose' neck and he whispered "but then you'd never enjoy my company"

Roose let out a low growl at the invasive gesture, but made no effort of pushing the Cronnogman away, he had tried it before and it resulted in Howland pestering him further, surviving several close encounters with Dothraki scouts and landing his so-called Glaisemir technique on them, had given Howland a feeling of invulnerability and making Howland far more outspoken than Roose would have liked, ignoring him seemed to be the only way to placate such behavior. Willis however grinned at the site.

"That's enough!" Eddard's voice cut through had come from the lower decks and joined them at the stern. Willis quickly stood straighter and stepped to the side Howland let go of Roose, and smiled widely at the King, Roose lazily turned his attention to Eddard as he patted down the wrinkles Howland's antics made on his cloak.

"We'll be boarding the boats soon!" Eddard said as two men carried a large crate and rested it beside Eddard, they then open the crate and bow to their King, one of them takes out a roll of leather with a rose sigil from the crate, and with his head low, he offers it to Eddard "but before that! I must show my Gratitude to you three, for following me in this venture and services rendered!"

"In your case Roose, under duress!" Eddard said with a knowing grin as he passed the roll to Roose who grimaces at the reminder and opens it, inside were a set of ten small knives and several tools, each had a specific function that Roose was very familiar with "to aid in your inquiries!"

Roose looked closer at the knives and realized they were "Valyrian steel" he looked up at his King and was answered by a simple nod from him, the knives each had a handle of black dragon bone inlaid with a golden rose within a wreath of thorns.

"To you!, my Fist!" Eddard said as the other man offers something bound in white cloth to him, Eddard takes it and passes it to Willis "as promised! an heirloom for your house!"

Willis takes the object and unwraps the cloth revealing an axe similar in design to his own, but the axe head was made from valyrian steel and the handle was made of black dragon bone with the same golden rose sigil inlays, Willis grips the axe tightly and nods to Eddard "thank you, Ned!"

Eddard nods back and takes the final offered item, "and finally to you, my shadow!" he walks towards a smiling Howland and presents him with a long shrouded object. Howland unwrapped it and beheld a pitch-black thin curved sword with golden inlays, its dragon bone helt was fashioned into a serpent coiling around a woman, "an heirloom to for the house of Reed!"

From the lower decks behind Eddard and his friends, soldiers wearing armor and cloaks blowing in the wind gather, in response Eddard turns to them and addresses them all.

"You all know your parts to this mummer's farce and the reason you must follow them!" Eddard said to them, Roose Willis, and Howland tuck their presents away and straighten their backs at their king's statement. The gathered men all raise their open palms to Eddard, "go now, to your duty!"

All the soldiers disperse quietly and begin collecting their camping essentials as they move down ladders that lead into several skiffs already bobbing on the water at the side of the ships.

"Luck to you, Ned!" Willis says as he engulfed Eddard into a strong embrace, his bear was so thick it covered Eddard's whole head "give my love to my nan, hmm!"

"I will!" Eddard's answers were muffled by the giant's size, he claps Willis' back to free himself, Willis then goes down to the deck and follows the soldiers into one of the skiffs.

"I'll see you when I see you!" Howland said before burying his face into Eddard's chest, then he dislodged himself and said "give my love to your sister!"

"I will Howl!" Eddard said with a grin as he watched the Crannogman head down to one of the skiffs.

Roose approaches Eddard, looks into his blue eyes with his grey ones and for a moment longer than comfortable they stood silent and still, then Eddard offers an open hand and Roose clasps it with his, then he pulls him closer and whispers "good luck, Rose King" Eddard smiles as he pulls back, he nods his head then turns and departs for his own skiff.

On the water there were seven skiffs, each carried ten men with their arms, armor, rations, and equipment stowed away, the skiff carrying Eddard and two others broke off from the ones carrying Willis and Howland, Eddard's skiff headed for White Harbor, while Willis, Howland and the rest headed for the Neck, Roose aboard the Sea-Splitter raised his palm at them one last time, a gesture everyone on the departing skiffs returned to him.

Moments later…

Roose looked out into the horizon where his companions had gone, where the sun was now sinking out of sight, the skies were now a deep orange and the cold winds bit deeper, the wind was now deafening and was starting to rock the ship, Roose turned to the short uniformed man standing behind him, [sun-gone, give-order, Lord-Hand] a Rose sailor signed to Roose

[Give-order] Roose signed back.

The sailor bowed, turned around, and raised both open palms in the air [gather-attention] then he pulls them down as if breaking something over his head, [all-move]

The sailors all scramble to their places, the sails are opened and the anchor was hauled up from the sea, they raced over and under each other like scrambling mice, however, except for the footfalls, they made no other sound. Roose walked down the steps all while sailors froze and bowed their heads at him, only to scramble again when he passed them, he entered his cabin and closed the door behind him.

While all this was happening, the lonely crow that Willis spotted earlier had now moved from where it was perched to Roose's window, he sees the short-haired Bolton heir walk into the room, a long-haired olive-skinned girl greets him with a bow, she then helps pull off his cloak and hangs it inside a wardrobe, Roose seats himself in a chair and says something to the girl, the girl bows again and leave through a different door, the Bolton, however, begins to write something on a piece of paper.

The crow hops down from the window and sneaks under the bed, the door was locked and winds outside were too strong to fly in, so it waited. Moments later, the same girl came back out from the door carrying a tray of steaming food, Roose seemed to have finished his task and had already cleared his desk, the girl placed the food on the desk, the crow used this opportunity to sneak behind the girl and Roose and hop into the door the Girl used.

There it found stairs that seem to lead downward, so the crow hopped down the steps, careful not to make any noise, deeper and deeper it hopped, its black feathers made it invisible in the shadows of unlit corned of the ship, it finds another door that was also closed, so the crow waited again, half an hour of waiting and the crow heard the footfalls of the girl, her sandals feet reached the door and she unlocks the door and the crow entered with her, making sure t stay quiet and sneak to the nearest shadow, the smell of fish, fruits, meats, herbs, and spices felled the air, sound of knives cutting, pots boiling and pans searing, mingled with the smells, men were yet the one thing the crow didn't hear was the men speaking or shouting,

It peak from where it hid and saw that the cooks were flapping their hands and making gestures to each other, they seemed to be perfectly synchronized and systematic with their movements where, someone did one part of the task then he would pass it to another, and on it went, a steady stream of food came out of the kitchen while a steady stream of dirty dishes came back, the crow crawled slowly to the door that leads out of the kitchen making sure one saw it.

Finally, it was out, then it was frozen in place at what it saw, a vast and wide hall opened up before it, ten rows of tables and benches lined up lengthwise to the ship, the sight of hundreds of men eating their supper or moving into benches and moving out of them, some were conversing loudly while others did so with that strange hand movement they did and some simple enjoyed their food, the sound of hundreds of wooden plates and wooden spoons being used, food being chewed and soup being slurped, coughs and chuckles accented the wood squeaking as it swayed with the high waves and hissed with the strong wind.

The crow started hopping under the table along the space in the middle of the table, all while observing the men that occupied the hall, they spoke in unintelligible jargon and gibberish, but they didn't slur or stammer as drunkards do, these men moved in a set pattern and reacted in a specific order, when they walk out of the benches they would use one side of the path to move in one direction and another to in the opposite, no one bumped into another as when two were directly in front of someone, they would immediately move to the right, as all this was a well-choreographed dance.

Eventually, the crow noticed that some of the soldiers used an open door, where streams of men came and went, so the crow headed there next careful not to be seen by them and always sticking to the shadows, the open door leads to a flight of stairs that in turn lead to another hall, equally as vast and equally as occupied, they behave as the men above did, the bird was so stunned by this that it didn't see the man walking don from behind him.

[hey look, a crow] the man said, swiftly catching the crow with both hands, [how did it get here]

[don't hurt it, Ruol, it must have escaped the cages] another said, he then gestures to another flight of stairs connected to the one that leads this hall with his chin, while the crow was squirming in the first man's hands. [take to the scholars, he will deal with it

[alright wait for me?] the first man walked to the stairs and climbed up to the second, then the upper deck where he then when ducked and dodge sailors frantically working as they tried to catch and keep the wind, luckily there was no rain to make the wood slippery, the man finally reached a section of the ship where two guards stopped him.

[What-business?] One guard signed.

[Found-crow] the signed back while showing them the bird, the guards look at each other and come to an agreement, the other guard knocks on the door and it is opened by a blue-robed figure, he and the guard who knocked whisper to each other,

[I'll take the bird] the robed man sings and the one holding the bird gives it to him, after which the man leaves thanking the robed man and then the guards. The robed man tucks the crow in a cage and leaves to finish his work.

Inside the crow sees that it was also a large cabin, filled to the walls with parchment and palettes, tools and trinkets, all alien to the crow, it also sees the numerous other crows that are kept within the room all resting comfortably, tired from its adventure the crow slips into sleep.

elsewhere beyond the reach of men, pass the wall and deep into the frozen north, a man woven into a tree gasps awake and opens his one remaining eye, "This is not what I saw, this is not the how it should be"

A/N: this chapter is just set up for the next one which well connects with Eddard's return to Winterfell, Willis, and Howland's arrival at the Neck. where Roose is going you'll have to wait for the next chapter.

A/N: I don't know how to set up a voting poll so if you want Catelyn Tully to be paired with Ned comment below if you want him paired with Cersei Lannister instead comment below, whoever has more comments by the time I PUBLISH CHAPTER 10! wins.

A/N: consequently, if Catelyn wins, Cersei, her aunt Genna, her uncle Kevan, the Children of the forest, and the three-eyed raven will all be HORRIBLY KILLED!.

A/N: if Cersei wins, Robb, Sansa, Bran, Maisie Williams, and Rickon all seis to exist, Renly Baratheon dies. Casterly Rock is SACKED!, and the River lands are annexed by the North. Catelyn marries Robert.

A/N: I already have a name for Howland's sword, comment a name for Willis' axes and Roose's knives.

A/N: chap 10 is dropping some time June-ish.