Chapter 19 - Northbound

Once the party boarded from Dragonstone, Hanko hid the royal party in their own compartment and requested the Captain hoist the sails immediately.

Since then, a couple of days have passed.

Hanko had prepared Viserys and Rhaella with their own disguises, and they were introduced to Lydia and Elane. Once everyone's real-names were brought up there was some tears and comfort shared between Elia, Rhaella, and Viserys. Lyanna wasn't included at first as Rhaella wasn't as forgiving of the young woman after all that had occurred. The only reason she seemed to not outright ignore her was due to her newly discovered grandchild Aegon within Lyanna's care. It took Elia's words, combined with Aegon's presence, being the bridge between the two for Rhaella to warm up a little towards Lyanna.

Viserys on the other hand was surprisingly quiet. Whether it was talking to his royal family or Lyanna and Hanko, it was one or two word answers followed by scowling. If Hanko didn't see his obvious silver-hair, he would have thought there was another Uchiha in front of him.

Of course he felt like repeatedly ricocheting his head off the guardrail of the ship when 'The worst storm in living memory' arrived followed by Rhaella going into labor.

I knew I was forgetting something.

Glad you summoned me beforehand then, Shi stated through their mind-link from the bowels of the ship as she helped the other ladies with Rhaella's labor.

Hanko knew he would need as many hands as he could get when the time came. In this case, he had the ladies helping Rhaella, a clone keeping an eye on Aegon and Viserys in a separate cabin; while he himself was attempting to figure out a way to keep their ship afloat in the storm that was occurring around them.

Boar - Ram - Dog - Snake - Hare - Dragon

Wind Release: Cyclone Technique

Utilizing his utmost concentration, he made hurricane-like winds outside the ship. The 'Eye of the Storm' was around the ship. Some of the rain was kept back, while the ship rocking was reduced only slightly. Not noticing the crew around the deck exchanging looks between the wind-cyclone and Hanko, he thought out to Shi again.

How are things going down there? I won't be able to keep this up for long.

I'm doing what I can to get everything along.

Time table?

Could be anything from 10 minutes to an hour at the rate she is going.

10 minutes. …don't…have…longer.

Hanko had Shi and a clone in use so he was on one-third chakra already.

There was a ping of acknowledgement through the link with Shi. Thankfully or not, the ship was far enough from any coast they wouldn't be pushed against rocks. This also meant they were stranded if anything happened. The crew already put away the sails a while ago, which meant they were only moving by the waves of the storm.

10 minutes passed at a slow crawl for Hanko as his concentration was truly tested.

Rhaella still hasn't given birth yet.

Hanko was already exhausted. Tapping…into…reserves

I'll dispel immediately once Lyanna takes over babysitting for your clone.

Hanko could only send an acknowledgement.

As a Jinchuriki to a Shinigami he always had the special ability of absorbing the left-over lifeforce of the recently deceased. The amount of life-force however varied and there was a conversion percentage where he didn't get the full amount left. What he did acquire he could convert to extra power in a pinch. It seemed he would have to activate it at this point.

With a pulse of pressure, the atmosphere seemed to shift with the change in Hanko's powerbase as the fuinjutsu seal over his left pectoral crept further around his body like Orochimaru's curse-seal. With the increase in power, he breathed a sigh as the added power made up for the pressure on keeping the jutsu running. Holding that however for the next 10 minutes seemed to bring the pressure back.

Finally it seemed the labor was at the end.

It's done, I can get your clone and we can dispel.

No, don't…dispel. We need to…do something. This storm…not stopping.

What can we do? You need this shipment to get to the North and you have the royal cargo.

…We might need…Hirashin out.

…Damn.

We don't have…choice. I can't hold…Mother Nature…for too long…we…need…to…go.

Shi gave him an acknowledgement and within a few minutes, Shi and his other clone both made enough clones to use the closest Hirashin on Westeros.

We have landed.

Good…be…right there.

With a breath, the jutsu stopped and the storm came across the boat once again. The crew was moving faster than before now trying to confer orders with the captain. The captain himself was a seasoned veteran who gave out orders, but was still keeping an eye on the obvious sorcerer in their midst. If the sorcerer himself couldn't get them out of this, how much luck did they have.

One of the crewmembers came up to Hanko who was already kneeling down with exhaustion. He offered a hand which Hanko took to get standing.

"Sir, you should probably get below deck with your guests so you don't fall overboard."

It was as if providence spoke as a huge wave was forming and the ship was starting to rise with the wave itself. Hanko could tell this was a capsizing wave as the rest of the crew made to hold on for their lives. Both the man and himself held onto the railing close by. The man looked towards Hanko now in fear.

Hanko shook his head and gave the man a grimace. "For what it's worth…I'm sorry."

And with those parting words, he disappeared in a flash of red. Leaving the crew and ship to be capsized shortly afterwards.

When he reappeared at the same Hiraishin seal as Shi and their group, he only saw they were in a forested area before he passed out.

A few hours later, Hanko woke up slowly at first, then rapidly awoke in readiness. Quickly he took in his immediate surroundings to find he was now in a broken-down cabin of some kind. Elia was in the room and looking at him now with a slight smile.

"I'm glad you are awake. How are you?"

Hanko was too tired to shrug, "could be better, could be worse." He grumbled.

"You've been passed out for a whole day at this moment. We are currently in a former village in the Riverlands."

You around?

Off hunting at the moment for everyone's food. We are currently in the Riverlands.

Thanks, Elia just told me.

What are your reserves like?

Mostly gone. Don't know how I'm going to replenish most of it as I am trying to prevent the next war.

Elia coughed as it looked to her Hanko was lost in thought. Hanko turned to her and smirked.

"The other ladies cat-fighting while I was out?"

"Cat-fighting?" Elia's brow furrowed.

"Nevermind, how are Lyanna and Rhaella acting around each other? How is your new sister-in-law?"

"It seems things have mended since Lyanna helped as a midwife for the birth. Combined with Shi using your…healing jutsu, few complications occurred. Rhaella gave birth to a girl newly named Daenerys."

"I'm glad that expending all that effort at least went for something."

"...What about the crew of the ship?"

"...They didn't make it."

Elia nodded with a blank expression.

Silence seemed to be the way to go as Elia seemed to gaze off into her own thoughts. It wasn't long until Lyanna arrived holding Aegon as she walked through the open doorway.

"Glad to see you awake Hanko. Prince Viserys and Princess Rhaenys are with Queen Rhaella at the moment," she said to the room.

Hanko sighed. "We all have to work on removing their titles from their names. Even I'm forgetting to do so."

"True," Elia agreed, "It would be bad if we are found-out immediately upon getting to the north just from forgetting to call each other by our made-up names."

"I know we agreed on Lydia for me, Elane for Elia, Rhanya for Rhaenys. No one outside our major alliance knows 'Hanko' so you don't have to change your name. As for Aegon, do you think we should stick to 'Jon' as it was from the Focus' information?"

"It depends. I know Ned used 'Jon' as a cover name because he wanted to name him after Jon Arryn. However, now that we know Arryn, Baratheon, and Tully's were part of a bigger conspiracy to get themselves into power, I'm not sure how comfortable you feel doing that."

"I mean," Lyanna started, "Jon is a fairly common name too. I wasn't thinking about Jon Arryn when I thought to just stick with it."

"Suit yourself," Hanko smiled. Made things a bunch easier for him to remember anyway. "I've had enough rest. Let's go see what the others are doing." Hanko got up from the straw bed they had him on and they all made their way out the hut.

Lyanna and Elia led Hanko past some more dilapidated huts.

"Guess this village must have gotten hit during the Rebellion."

"I would assume so as well," Elia surmised with a frown. 'It does put things into perspective'.

Lyanna nodded as she looked down to 'Jon', attempting to keep him occupied while making silly faces.

The village itself didn't look like one which had any large population to begin with. The huts themselves didn't look large enough for more than one or two rooms. Most of them also spoke of fire damage and had holes in their structures due to it.

After passing by five unevenly spaced huts, they seemed to arrive at a less damaged hut when they entered and found Rhaella propped up on a bed against the wall holding Daenerys against her covered chest while breastfeeding. Along the opposing wall were Rhaenys and Viserys both tapping in the air as Hanko noticed Viserys now wearing a Focus device.

Did you give Viserys a Focus?

Figured and proved it would be a good way to get him to shut up.

Good point.

"Hello Rhaella, glad you and your newborn are doing fine."

"Indeed, I would say the same to you as well, glad you are doing better than before Lord Hanko," Rhaella smiled warmingly as she greeted the ninja. "I would present my sweet Daenerys to you, however since she is currently feeding, it would be inappropriate to expose myself instead of just waiting for her to be done." She shrugged as if motioning to the blanket currently covering her chest.

"No problem whatsoever," Hanko concurred. "We will have to create your fake names and background soon however. It will be a good idea to remember that before being questioned by officials or anyone not in-the-know."

"I agree," Rhaella confirmed. "It would be hard to hide our hair however."

"Think you could get away with 'long-lost descendants of House Velaryon? Maybe cousins many-times removed by a bastard-branch?"

"That could work," Elia agreed. "It would be hard to place as well since not all Velaryon children had silver hair so you could say your family was at Driftmark throughout a long time, but then you relocated."

Hanko noted, "We could say, since you didn't have access to House Velaryon money itself, combined with the fear of being near Kings Landing due to the genocide planned against House Targaryen due to your similar looks; you decided to try your luck in the North. You would technically be arriving before the education reforms become wide-spread knowledge throughout Westeros so you wouldn't be able to use that as an excuse."

"Sounds fair," Rhaella acceded.

While they discussed details further, Shi came back with her hunted game. Hanko excused himself so he could go back outside with Shi to prep the meal outside.

"You know you can't save everyone right?" Shi spoke while he was skinning.

"What do you mean?"

"You forget, I know your expressions well-enough. Besides the fact I'm in your mind. I know when you are beating yourself up."

"...I should have remembered about the storm from the series."

"First, we already changed events as it is. The events you remember happening could be considered 'out-the-window'. There isn't even a Citadel anymore for crying out loud. That decrepit order being gone helps prevent a bunch of issues."

"Taking out the Citadel takes out Maester Pycelle from his seat of power. Pycelle was an integral plant from the Lannisters which allowed Jon Arryn to pass away from poison. Without him there, Jon Arryn might not meet his same end. This means that the 'War of the Five Kings' might not start." Hanko summarized.

"...Not exactly my point, but I see you understand at least that events which were predictable before might not be feasible. The same could be for saving people that otherwise would have lived. Yes, you made moves that got people killed, however we can't predict everything with how much things have changed already."

Hanko frowned as he paused in his work. "If I had not been adamant about saving the former Queen, we would have not traveled there by ship. Which means the crew that came with us might not have been sailing, and thus could have lived. All because I had an ego about being heroic." Shi was about to chime in, however Hanko continued. "I know what you are going to say. I already stated they might not have been sailing. For all we know, they might have sailed for some other shipment, that is true."

Hanko sighed. "I'm too used to the Naruto-verse where people can defend themselves easily enough, and the Horizon: Zero Dawn-verse I never hung around too many of the regular citizens as I traveled with Aloy and other warriors mostly. I know I need to…re-calibrate."

"You can also think about it this way. You know events were supposed to go a certain way before. To these people, anything that happens to them is not already known; their events to them are what they make them and are fresh. They don't have any 'past events' to compare too."

Hanko nodded. He slowly tuned out his own self-deprecating thoughts as he worked through his current task.

Eventually, the animals were skinned, and dinner was being cooked over a camp-fire that Hanko made. When the meat was done cooking, Hanko asked Elia to take Rhaella and the kid's share to them as Rhaella was still in bed. This left Lyanna, Jon, Hanko, and Shi to themselves by the fire.

"So what are we going to do next?" Lyanna asked the two most powerful beings she knew of, on Westeros.

"For our immediate needs, we will have to purchase a cart and horse to get the other ladies up North." Hanko confirmed. "I'm having Shi stay here while I find the nearest populated village to barter for a covered cart. I'd ask Shi herself to purchase the cart, but sadly in this backwards age, I doubt a man will take a woman attempting to trade anything, seriously."

"I can ride a steady horse, as long as Jon stays bundled up in his sling." Lyanna smiled as she looked down at her cuing baby boy.

"I might have to ask you to drive the cart then," Hanko offered. "I know it's not as great as riding a single horse, however it would stand out too much if we have enough to buy multiple horses past the one or two for the cart."

Lyanna looked put-out at first, but quickly changed expression as she recognized the thought process behind the request.

"Once we are in the North, we will have to figure out what to do next," Hanko continued, looking too Lyanna. "I know you grew up as a lady in a castle, but with your new identity, you won't be able to just walk in and continue getting the same treatment unless something changes." He paused, trying to figure out how to put his next words lightly.

Lyanna looked at him with a grimace. "Yea, I get it. I don't have much skill besides horseback riding and fighting. I never took my stitching and courtesy lessons seriously so I can't act the courtly lady and stay in the family household at home."

"You might still be able to get into the 'household' of Winterfell."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how I'm going to be working closely with your brother right? I will most likely be included in the household myself." His mind wandered in thought before pressing further. While Lyanna nodded in understanding. "If I can claim you as part of my own family, then you could become part of the household as an extension of myself."

"I still don't get it, what are you…" Lyanna's eyes went wide.

Hanko cringed as he took in her expression. "...So I guess the big question is…will you marry me?"

Author Notes:

I know this chapter has been incredibly late. My only excuse is I got lost in other fanfictions while trying to find my inspiration to continue writing. Due to this, I can't promise the upload timings anymore. I will attempt to do better.

Otherwise, Next Chapter: The Execution of Ser Gregor Clegane.